The Bet

I recently got a free health screening at work and they sent me a 32-page “heath profile.” Although most of the blood work results were mumbo jumbo to me, the profile was still able to peg me pretty well.

Area of Interest: Nutrition

Generally, I’m healthy but I need to work on my nutrition.

No surprise there. I’ve known this for a while. I try to eat better each and every day. I pack my lunch for work almost every morning and I try not to keep ice cream in the house. However, if I have a craving or see any stray cookies in the office then GAME. OVER.

Packed lunch. This little lunch bag is the best thing I've ever bought. Ever.

Considering how much I work out, I should be a lot skinnier than I am. And this is not a woe-is-me statement nor am I fishing for compliments. I’m saying the truth; looking from the outside in. I need to build muscle and lose fat.

So, my sister-in-law and I---via text message---started a bet. The terms are:

• We both have to lose 20 pounds by Christmas (which is about 17-weeks away, calculating to a little over a pound a week)
• On the line is $250. Whoever doesn’t lose the weight has to pay the other person $250

This sounds impulsive, but it is all very strategic. Here’s our thinking:

• $250 is enough money to be damn good motivation. We can both afford to lose it, but not without a fight!!
• We are both good with our workouts, but where we fail is our diets. So, the goals are to focus on good dieting, calorie control, and clean eating while still working out
• We are both competitive. Very competitive

Everyone talks about clean eating. It shouldn’t be so hard, right? Right? Well, three days into the diet we have both been fighting headaches. I feel like I'm having a harder time than she is. Not fair! Processed food is an addiction, y’all!!! An addiction!!

And, to be honest, I’m really struggling this morning. I’m hungry. I want white flour. And salt.

But instead I’m going to eat my oatmeal with chia seeds and strawberries (really yummy, actually!), drink my green tea, and continue to repeat this mantra: $250. $250. $250. $250. $250.

Whole Foods salad for dinner last night

RUN-GER

I have always wanted to be a writer, but I rarely write. I’m too scared or embarrassed or whatever. But you can’t get better if you don’t write. So here I go.... back to the blog. There’s so much to talk about.

I’ll start with the biggest event that has happened recently: I completed my first marathon!

My goal time was 4:30. My race results were:

I'm so proud of myself for beating my goal time! However, there is room for improvement.

I made the classic rookie mistake of going out waaaaay too fast. I tagged behind two people and before I knew it we were doing 9-minute miles and I felt great! If I was doing the half marathon, I would've PRed. That is, until I hit mile 18. I then slowed down at mile 22 and basically crawled through miles 24-26 (look at my 19-mile split versus my finish time). Oops. My bad.

Beyond that, here are some of my thoughts about the training and the race:

1. Wanna know a great way to NOT lose weight? Train for a marathon. Besides now having a giant ghetto-booty, I lost muscle and got flabbier in the whole training process. The run-ger (running+hunger) was unstoppable. Not even one week after the race and I’m hitting the weights again---and I already feel better!
2. There’s no way I could have done the program without my training group. I trained with CARA and I loved my group and my group leader! I admittedly was horrible about my mid-week runs but I was able to get through the long runs because I couldn’t embarrass myself by falling over or stopping in front of 20 people. Marathon training is all about the long runs. Whatever get us through it, right? Pride is a powerful thing.
3. People who are “runners” are funny. They’re both elitist and yet they embrace newcomers. I had so many runners and friends congratulate me on training for and later completing my first marathon! Their concern and support was surprising and absolutely wonderful!! However, behind the scenes they also like to compare times and gloat about past races and how many miles they “conquered” in a given week. The worst part is that I could recognize these traits because I pass the same judgement in soccer! It’s interesting to be on the other (read: "loser") side of the spectrum. I can only hope that I'll one day be fast enough to be an elitist runner.
4. The course in Kenosha, WI was really nice. It wove through pretty lakeside neighborhoods and some open spaces. I'm glad I picked a smaller race for my first marathon.
5. I never keep my race medals. I'm very superstitious about superstitions. I avoid all of them. I refuse to knock on wood, etc, etc. However, I think I might keep this medal. I fought hard for it, damnit!
6. Am I going to be a regular marathoner? Probably not. Despite this, I am excited to start training for the Chicago Marathon in October. Now that I know what the training schedule is like and now that I have made some of the classic mistakes, I think that now I can become better focused and---fingers crossed---faster.

Overall the experience was a good one. I learned a lot about running and about myself and that's the whole point, right? Right. Tell that to my aching legs.

Andrew flew out from Colorado to come support me! He surprised me with a Snickers bar for after the race (my favorite candy) and massaged me and took me out for margaritas and queso and was overall just wonderful. LOVE!

Even though I called him "the worst pacer ever" in my mile-24-I-hate-my-life rage, I adore Sean. I couldn't have gotten through the race without him! I don't know how he was able to manage running 6-miles with me after he had just PRed in his own half marathon race. This sexy runner amazes me!

Inspiration

From PhotoPreneur

I love motivational statements and quotes. I have a little binder of quotes that I started in high school. Although I haven't added to it in years, this is one thing I would grab if a fire raged through the house.


I recently found a short, motivational article online at Men's Health and loved it (thanks, Twitter). This gets my quote-book-stamp-of-approval. You'll have to read the whole article here, but these are my two favorite tips: 

6 Navy SEAL Tips to Achieve Mental Strength   

Control Your Emotions Physically 

"Ask a family member or friend to study your posture when you're happy or content. Then practice it, over and over. Your psyche will follow your body. You can literally control your emotions this way."   

Break Big Goals into Small Targets 

"How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time. Don't wake up Monday morning and say, 'Four days and 16 hours till Friday.' Instead, wake up and say, 'Two hours till breakfast.' And then, 'Three hours till lunch.' Try to stay in the present."

***

I admit that I catch myself slouching. My physical actions can be disheartening and I can feel it everywhere.  

So, Claire, stand up straight! Take every day moment by moment! Smile! 

Smile...

Learning New Things About... Myself

Despite the 20-some-odd years of living within my head, I'm still learning new things about myself. My thoughts, emotions, likes and dislikes---you name it. It's all fascinating, and sometimes a little shocking.

Things I've recently learned about myself:

I bought a dress (gasp!). I never wear dresses unless attending a formal event, such as a wedding. I love this dress and I feel like I belong in the show Mad Men while wearing it. Except that it has been sitting in my closet for 3 weeks. For some reason, I can't seem to wear it in public. Sigh.

I don't like coconut milk (or anything coconut flavored, really). I made this great spicy Thai Green Curry recipe. Except that it calls for coconut milk to mix the curry. Coconut is a giant mask that covers the taste of everything surrounding it. It's like crop-dusting your food with coconut-foul. The leftovers are now sitting in my fridge, untouched. Next time, I'm using broth instead of the abomination that is coconut milk.

The Denver Art Museum has free admission on the first Saturday of every month. I need to go more often. I recently killed some time just wandering around their gift shop and it took everything in me to not buy out their print and card collections.

I often pride myself as being a very motivated and hard-working individual. But some days I need a little help getting out of bed when the alarm goes off. (More days than I'd like to admit, actually.) So I took some cornball advice and created a motivational poster. The magazines I clipped from also tells you something about me: Better Homes & Gardens (thanks, Christy!), Runner's World, and Oxygen. There is a lot of blank space because I plan on regularly adding to it. This poster has only been in my life for a couple of days, but I already love it! It's amazing what a few words and a little bit of glue can do for you.

From Eco Street

Moving. Moving is scary, scary shiz. First, though, I need to find a new position that suits both my interests and my skills. I'm excited about the prospect, and a little nervous. But if it isn't hard then it isn't worth doing, right? Right??

In the end it'll work out. It always does.

And I'll have fun learning new tips and tricks about myself along the way.

Dear Societal Norms: FU! Love, Me

May I please vent for a minute?

The older I get, the more I realize that some "societal norms" are stupid.

I've also realized that we all say these things and yet we still mold ourselves into expected behaviors and actions. We're all hypoctrites. I'm one too. I get it.

Despite this, I want to point out three lame expections:

1. Debt. Keeping up with the Joneses. All that good stuff. Want to know how to piss me off? Tell me to buy a new car. Nothing gets my blood boiling than the thought of it. My car runs great. It takes some maintenance, yes, but why get rid of it "just cause"? I love my car. I love not having car payments. I love not being in debt. So, FU.
2. I'm in my mid-20s and I don't own a house. Thank god. I have no idea where I'm going to be in 6 months, much less in 5 years. The best article on why renting is better than buying is here: http://patrick.net/housing/crash3.html. 'Nuff said.
3. Marriage is overrated. My new favorite quote: "Marriage asks you to sacrifice yourself for the common good." I'm not saying that I disagree with marriage and families, I just think that people can rush into it and a couple years later ask themselves---while undergoing a divorce---"WTF was I thinking?" Ladies, let me be clear: Being married does not complete you as a person. It's all about the dress anyway.

These three things can connect to make your life either amazing or awful.

Confession: I only watch one show, The Biggest Loser. What fascinates me is that all these contestants are out of control not only with their weight, but with their lives in general. From a recent show and MSNBC article:

Last time, [Suze] Orman predicted a winner based on credit scores, and her pick, Danny Cahill, turned out to be a record-setting champion.... Then — speak of the Loser — Danny showed up, looking as good as the day he won, to talk to the current players about overcoming his 526-pound weight and $45,000 debt (and he had the best credit score last year!).

The best credit score was 45k in debt? Are you kidding me?

So, my rant is this: Our focus needs to be on self-control and not on societal expectations. Personal goals, health, family, happiness. Is it really that hard? Yes, it's hard. It's f-ing hard. But it's worth it. Society demands the American Dream---consumerism and debt; leading to divorce and obesity. I won't buy into it.

Motivation

Generally, I'm a very motivated person. Probably too much so.

I'm often in over my head with 60-hour work weeks, late nights at the office, and countless soccer teams.

Except for right now. Right this very second (well, this week really), this is how motivated I am:

Can a gnome please come into my life and do all of my work and make all of my decisions? I'll be accepting resumes starting... now.

Equal Opportunity Employer. Pay comes in the form gratitude and reduced grumpiness (both worth their weight in gold).