10.29.2010

things. things? things!

1) You know what I really don't like? People who get movie titles wrong. Okay, so sometimes I get movie tiles fucked up too, but it usually goes something like this: "You know that movie...? The one about spies from the future... I can't remember what it's called? I think it starts with an 'N' maybe." So I don't actually ever say what the movie is called because I never remember. What I mean is people who keep calling a movie the wrong title. The only reason this pisses me off is because doesn't everybody have internet these days? You can't just look that shit up so that you start using the CORRECT title? It's not difficult.

2) Ditto for people who always spell names wrong. Especially on thing like Facebook, where you can actually see on peoples' profiles how their names are spelled. I don't like people like that. Heck, I bet their own parents don't like them much.

3) What is the point of having a phone that you never answer? or voicemail you never check? Honestly, should I just delete you from my contacts? Because dude. really.

4) Is it bad that when I'm driving and see that the person behind me is talking on their cell, I sometimes slam on the brakes to see how good their reflexes are? I'm guessing it's pretty bad to do that. But still... I like to check. At the very least I can make them drop their stupid phone, and then I win.

5) No, I don't spend my whole life doing mean stuff like that.

10.18.2010

so, how lucky do you feel...?

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about where I am in life, and about whether or not it is a satisfactory place to be. And guess, what, for the most part it is. I live a fairly average life, but a good life, nonetheless. I probably could stand to make a few bucks more than I do (seriously, my tastes are just a tad more expensive than my salary allows for), be in a little better shape, be more friendly to people, take better care of my car, clean my house more, live in a city I like a bit more, blah blah, etc., but let's face it, my life is far from terrible. I'm not starving, I can pay all the bills on time, the dog is fed, the car is always full of gas. And yet, some of the people in my life try to tell me that somehow all of this is not enough. They constantly badger me about things like why I don't date, and remind me that I'm almost 35 so if I want kids, I should somehow force myself to have them.

Okay... what now? I have known since I was very young that life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. Do I sometimes feel left out- at almost 34 years of age- that almost all of my close friends are either married or in relationships that will result in marriage? Sometimes. Do I feel the need to have children at some point? Well, it would be nice, I suppose. But the way my life has played out, I have already accepted that neither of these things may ever be a reality for me. I can shoulder most of the blame for that, because I made some extremely questionable choices over the years; the types of choices I ultimately knew I'd end up paying for.
So, I totally resent people I know constantly rubbing their relationships and children in face, like it's some kind of trophy, and in the race to be awesome, I am coming in dead fucking last. I know they mostly mean well, but I just wish they understood that not everybody needs that sort of life to be okay. Throughout my life, I never got my hopes up that certain things would or wouldn't happen. Sure, you do have a certain degree of control, but occasionally things happen that totally derail you. You could stay derailed for life, or you could dust yourself off and say "life, it fucking sucks you did that to me, but I'll be okay". Do I think I might have been one of those happily married people with two kids? Oh, probably. In a way, though, I'm glad that I'm not. There are still so many things I need to accomplish, and I kind of feel that in order for any of it to happen, I cannot be bogged down with a relationship and mouths to feed. And I am not saying that sort of lifestyle is any less of an adventure; you guys are lucky to have your own families, and I will always somewhat envy that. But I feel really lucky, too. I haven't always had it easy, but it's been a mostly fun life so far, and full of some pretty awesome people, places, and times. I'm lucky to know what I know, and to also still have a nice, long road ahead of me. So, no regrets. It's go time.

10.06.2010

grrr, argh.

Um... so I have a small hip flexor strain from running. Left one. Why? Because apparently this is a common injury when one has little 'core strength'. This translates in English to that I am too fat in the gut still, and the lower half of my body is working over-hard to compensate for it.

Ugh. Anyway, this is what has lead to me deciding to take a 7-week pilates class starting November 1st. Yeah, I hate stuff like pilates and yoga, but it is probably less bad for me than high impact things like boot camp (which I kind of struggle with due to my lack of core strength). I want to do this to avoid serious injury, because right now that sort of thing would really set me back on my goal of running a half marathon by the end of next summer, and then a full marathon the spring or summer after that. A lot of people have said it's not a realistic goal, since it's taken most of them 3 or 4 years to train to run a half (I have only been running seriously for around 5 months... really), but I'm pretty optimistic I can do it. After all, I just finished running a 10k race with barely any experience. That's right. I ran a couple of 10k flat-land runs before, and before that the farthest I'd ever gone on a run was 8.6k. I did no hill training at all (and the race was one with a huge hill right at the beginning). But I still managed.

This winter is my 10k training, then pretty much right after that I will start my half marathon training. I will stagger all of the running with core strength classes, and other things I feel will be useful to keep me in top shape like resistance training (possibly Crossfit... but I may still have a ways until I can stomach something that intense), spin class (potentially), and swimming.

I have already begun to alter my diet to fit these demands... so far, it's not as terrible as I thought. It mostly involves reversing the traditional way of thinking about dinner being the largest meal of the day. On weekday mornings, I eat a fairly decent-sized breakfast usually consisting of oatmeal with some nuts and fruit, sometimes a banana, a glass or two of water, half a protein-powder beverage (other half is for before a run) and sometimes toast and yogurt too. On weekends I will usually consume stuff like sausages, eggs, and hashbrowns (made at home, not of the fast food variety). I try to keep lunch pretty simple; soup and salad, or if I am eating at a restaurant I will eat either an entree OR and appetizer (never both), and I try to keep side dishes limited to salad or veg (I will have the fries only if I plan on some sort of physical activity in the near future). My dinners are primarily now a sort of pseudo-extension of lunch, and I try to limit them to being protein and vegetables, with some carbs (and the other half of the protein beverage) if I'm going for an evening run. My after-run refuel is usually yogurt, an apple, and on occasion a piece of whole grain toast. I stay away from soft drinks as a general rule, and limit sweets and snacking to maybe a couple of times per week (unless the snacks are something healthy... and I never overindulge anymore).

Whoa. Sorry if that's a lot of info to process. It is what it is. After all, no one ever got into prime shape by lying in bed watching TV and eating extra-large bags of potato chips.

10.04.2010

this is what we do, and this how we do it.

Are you getting bored of my health and fitness posts yet? Then maybe you need to find another fucking blog to read... because this is mine, and this is what I feel like talking about right now. I trust this is clear.

So, in my last post I wrote that I don't care about how much I weigh. While that is mostly true, I realize that I am also one of the most vain people in this world, and a lot of how much I weigh has to do with how I think I look. And...? Let me just say- for the record- that I have looked better. When did I look better? Well, here's the problem; I looked better when I was a pack-a-day smoker. I know, right? I had the most positive body image when I could keep the weight off with cigarettes. Most of you know that I quit smoking almost 3 years ago, and I have no intention whatsoever of picking up the habit again (sometimes when I'm on holidays I will have a 'cheat' cigarette, but since holidays for me happen only once a year, it's inconsequential). What this has meant for me is that I no longer have a method of staving off my cravings for bad food. I am definitely the type of person who, while primarily making healthy choices at the supermarket, will totally load up on ice cream, cookies, and potato chips. For 'emergencies' is what I say. What that actually translates to is an 'emergency' almost every night while watching TV.

Yeah... not good. Currently, I weigh in at almost 150 lbs (okay, so it's really 147.5, but that is dangerously close), which is fucking terrible considering my height is just a hair under 5'6. To be fair, a lot of the weight is probably leg weight since I am a runner, but it's still not ideal, since I am now considered almost overweight. So, for the first time in a long time, I went grocery shopping yesterday and DID NOT purchase any junk food. No ice cream, no potato chips.
I am determined to lose around 25 lbs by next June.

This morning I found out that my 10k running clinic has been postponed until December 7th, which will kind of set me back... so I am filling the space with boot camps and pilates classes (which I probably really need, as I have barely any core strength to speak of), and I will keep doing the practice runs on Wednesdays and Sundays. Plus, it will snow in no time, so skiing should make its way into the agenda in another month. I would say I want to get rid of alcohol as well, but the truth is that I do not drink much anymore. Really! Not even once a week. So for now booze can stay. And what about fast food? After all, I am notorious for hating to cook, and loving the convenience that McDonald's etc. bring to my life. I've decided that fast food is okay occasionally, but will need to be counteracted by a run. A good run, too, not some shitty little lunch-time faker.

So, that's that. Stay tuned to hear about my progress. Or maybe just for other posts about the crap that regularly runs through my brain that has nothing at all to do with my physical well-being. Either way.

Later, skaters.