Pavement or Dirt

Way back when I was in junior high my sisters and I did cross country running for our after school sport and we kicked ass.  We were consistently in the top 5 and it was great.  Come high school though we had other things to get into so we didn’t do it.  Now almost 19 year’s later (eek I just dated myself) I am getting back into it, loving every moment of it.  In September I have my first 5k.  This is the first one that I have done in a few years that is not the kiddie course or have obstacles to play on. Don’t get me wrong, those were really fun because I was doing them with my nieces.  But this one is for me.  To prove that I do still have it.

While I’m training to get my ass back into shape to be able to actually run the full 3.5 miles I have been plagued by really sore hip joints the day after running. Shin splints are much more tolerable than hip joint pain.  At least to me they are, and my shin muscles are getting stronger so it’s not bad anymore.  But the hip pain…Holy Hannah!!  Sundays are usually my rest days, but since I was frustrated with hubby I decided to go for a run.  I started out walking to get the blood flowing and all warmed up then started my running route.  I have discovered that I actually run better and longer on dirt than on pavement.  This brings me back to my cross country days as the scenery is much better on dirt trails than pavement and you get to jump over tree roots and rocks.  That is just fun and adds a bit of a challenge as you try to not trip.  I’ve noticed my body is getting stronger each time I go out.  It is also fueling my old desire to get out and run more.  Sunday I was proud of myself as I ran a total of 1.5 miles out of the full 4 mile route I chose. 

Not too shabby for a gal that just started a little over a month ago and could barely run 20 feet without feeling like I was going to pass out from breathing so hard.  The best part about it is my hip joints barely hurt the next day unlike when I run on pavement.  So from now on, I will be running on dirt or grass, exploring the horse trails and staying off the pavement unless there is no other option.  I can deal with the pain later as it’s usually nothing a hot bath can’t cure.

So mad at myself

So last night was weight and measurement night.  I usually get nervous on these nights as I don’t want to see the results.  But sometimes it’s not that bad.  Well, except for last night.  I was doing great.  I was eating like I was supposed to and exercising my ass off (it was shrinking).  And then…WHAM!!  I was so disappointed with myself last night.  I could tell Master Trainer was disappointed as well. 

I kept up the exercise and was slowly starting to get back into my old eating habits.  During the week it’s super easy, I can control it.  But it’s the weekends that I have issues with now.  I guess I still have the mentality of “I can eat anything and work it off later”.  Okay, that’s fine but I’m not 20 something anymore and I can’t eat just anything and work it off later.  The weekends are going to a huge challenge as everybody slacks off on the weekends.  It’s a given.  Weekends are time to relax, enjoy and just go with it.  I stay active, but don’t eat well enough for my body to start dropping like it should have done already.  As my trainer put it, my body is happy where it’s and doesn’t want to change.  And why should it if I don’t force it too.

So tonight the fridge gets purged and my beloved husband can have his chocolate and sweet things as long as it stays off of my shelf.  Out go the sweet thing and in come the healthy fruits and veggies.  I’m thinking maybe we should put the sweet stuff in the garage fridge and the healthy stuff in the house so that way I have to really think about it and if it’s worth the time to go out there when I can grab a snack right then.  That might be a good idea.  Will have to think this one over.

Let's start from the beginning

It’s a very good place to start (Sound of Music is stuck in my head now).  I have always had a distorted body image, but then again who doesn’t.  Even when I was a size 2, I thought I was fat.  Its amazing things you hear as a child that roll over into adulthood and you still believe it even people tell you different.  It’s those stinky little voices that just won’t be quiet.

My sisters and I were always active kids, but then again growing up in the country there was so much to get into.  Didn't do much in grade school, but we always kicked ass in the physical fitness tests.  Junior high we got into cross country and did well in that, but were not able to keep our grades up enough to continue doing it.  Then we moved and were so bored the first summer we were at our new house.  We went from almost 10 acres of playground to just 1 and didn't know anybody.  Once school started, we made new friends and found some amazing swimming holes that we had to hike too.  It was the best of both worlds.  Hiking and swimming all day?  Sign me up!! Didn't get into sports in high school though. 

Junior/Senior year in high school my dad and I got really into bike riding on the weekends.  We were up to 100 miles easily.  My mother was afraid that he was pushing me too much so we both backed off and it made me sad as I loved every minute of it.  Then just stopped altogether.   After I graduated from college, I joined a gym and went faithfully every day after work.  I felt great about myself and started to look fantastic too.  Or so I thought until my brother-in-law that I love dearly told me that I was getting too skinny and needed to back off just a little bit.  And then I got in a car accident (one of many and non were serious, just another rear ender to add to my resume) and the doctor told me that he didn’t want me to go for a bit as I needed to do physical therapy instead and he didn’t want me to injure myself further.  So I took that as a sign to just not go.  So that’s what I did.

After a couple years, I piggy backed onto my father’s gym membership at a completely different gym and fell in love with it again.  But didn’t go nearly as often as the first go around, but I still went.  Then it became an off and on love.  Go for a while, do really good then not go.  This repeated itself for a long time until I finally just stopped going.  But I stayed (or tried to) fairly active.  I would go for walks around my neighborhood or take the occasional spur of the moment hike on some trail somewhere.  I wasn't completely sedentary. 

January this year I decided to get my ass back into shape and hired a trainer.  My sister was the inspiration that I needed to really do it.  So I started changing my eating habits and was doing well.  Could have done better but hey everybody starts somewhere.  And it’s been proven if you try to make too many huge changes at once, you fail at them all.  But it was when I got married at the end of February and saw what I looked like at my ceremony that I really got that swift kick in the ass to really bear down and do it.  I was over weight and out of shape (still am).  How the hell did that happen?  I was doing great for quite a while.  I was working out 4-5 days a week, eating as best as I could and even wrote everything down.  Well, that 4-5 days a week turned into 3-4 and my eating was starting to slip a little.  Then I decided to sign up for a 5k in September.

I asked one my girlfriends (who is always road biking, mountain biking, running in duathelons, marathons and whatever else she can get into) to join me and to also help train me.  She’s an amazing person.  She’s lost over 100 pounds on her own and is so driven, she inspires me.  She gladly accepted and this is what we do now on Monday nights.  So now I only go to the gym 2 nights a week and that’s when I meet with my trainer.  My eating is slipping and I’m trying so hard to keep everything on track.  I still write everything down that I eat and drink.  Not only does it look bad on paper, but I am started to feel terrible again.  I enjoyed having energy and being pain free from sitting all day. 

I have never had to worry about these things since I was lucky when I was younger to have a fast metabolism and be naturally skinny (don’t know why I thought I was fat).  So now that I am older I have to watch what I eat and how much.  I have always been fairly active to a point, but the need has come back to get back into bike riding, the gym and running.  I did all of these things at one point in my life and really want to get back into it.  I know where there is a will, there is a way.  I am finding my way and am excited to have a new journey in life.  Being newly married I was afraid that I was going to lose identity that I had for so long.  I didn’t want to lose me.  But my husband is an amazing man and encourages me to do what makes me happy. 

Some things I have slowly given up or at least don’t do them as often anymore like my Dimple music runs, and I’m okay with that.  Those who know me, know that I have more than enough music to last through a Zombie Apocalypse, but I still do them.  I just don’t go in with a huge list anymore.  It’s only 3-4 now instead of 10.  I now have to get the courage to do the “before” picture which I am dreading, but want to do it.  I have the exercise part down pretty well I believe, it’s the other part that comes with it that I now understand why people say that is the hardest part.  Cheers to a new journey in life!!