Marathon Obsession

Summer, 2011

My last post was quite a while ago and a lot has happened since then. I will update you all in future posts, but for now, I want to talk about running.

Running has been one of my hobbies since I was a sophomore in high school. I lettered early, became captain of both cross country and track, and was voted by my peers to be the most inspirational runner on the team. In college, I would occasionally get out and run a bit, but running was essentially put on hold while I was studying.

Now, I run regularly. My friend runs with me occasionally (although we often degenerate into socializing instead, but that is half the fun of running with somebody). In the past few months, I have participated in a couple of races. I ran a 5k in 32.40.7 minutes, which improved my time from last year pretty significantly. I also ran a 10k with the flu, so I was just happy to finish.That 10k is the most challenging race I have ever participated in due to that flu.

Marathon training has become something of an obsession for me. I somehow ended up on the Napa Valley Marathon website and I felt this burning need to run it. The feeling that came over me was incredible; I got chills and this feeling of destiny. I try not to ignore fate, so I decided to begin training for a marathon.

Running a marathon is on my Kick-Ass Lifestyle list which is just one more good reason for me to pursue this dream! I hope my readers will enjoy following my marathon journey. Through my research, I have learned and re-discovered so much about running that I can't wait to share with you.

Ciao!

The Stress Balance

As you probably know, I am a college student. This last week, ALL of my papers were due, ALL of my art projects were due, and sleep did not factor in. While I generally think that sleep is overrated, going days with minimum levels of sleep is, well, exhausting. My brain was fried, and my body was achy.

Your body basically has three reservoirs of energy: emotional, physical, and mental. When you are perfectly awake and balanced you should theoretically be completely satisfied in all three of these sectors. When you wear yourself out in only one of these areas, your life will start to feel out of sync.

For example, when you go through a breakup, you feel emotionally drained. You probably sit around moping, eating ice cream and watching sappy movies. You exhaust yourself emotionally, but physically and mentally you have too much energy. To balance this out, you should probably go exercise, or take a class. Keeping yourself "busy" is what gets you over the emotional troubles.

The same goes for stress related to school. I mentally wore myself out without physically wearing myself out. Even when I had time to exercise, it would not have been safe since my brain was so out of it. I really needed to catch up on my sleep and then get to the gym.

This upcoming week is finals. To stay mentally alert, I have decided that to stay healthy (since I have a habit of becoming ill just towards the end of finals), I am going to start out my days with the gym and a run. Emotionally, I will be fine since my wonderful boy friend is a constant source of strength for me.

My goals for this upcoming week are to:

• get enough sleep


• exercise daily


• study effectively


• Stay on track with my eating

Good luck to all who are graduating!

Weight-loss to date: down to 152.4lbs from 157lbs (2.5lbs gained from lowest point, but still down 4.5lbs)
Current BMI: 27

Weight Loss Blog

My final whole quarter of school has begun. It is the beginning of Week 2 of 10 weeks of classes. It is also the beginning of my active lifestyle FOR GOOD. I am going to update this blog at least 4 times a week with my activities, tips, recipes and exercise advice.

By the time June comes I will be within my BMI range, thinner than I was after mono, and fitter than I was in high school when I was a competitive runner (cross country and track). I will be eating fresh vegetables, not wasting money on caffeine, and running daily.

This blog will help me track my progress, improve my writing skills, help other people educate themselves about nutrition and health, and keep me motivated.

Tomorrow I will post an image of myself in a sports bra and shorts, with all of my stats and measurements. Get ready for the most epic 10 weeks of my life!

Weight Loss Start: 157lbs
Current BMI: 27.8 (Overweight)

Trying to Get to Healthy

Right now I am not at a healthy weight. I am in a BMI range that puts me at "overweight," so I am not being unreasonable. I am actually 15 lbs above the weight I was when I entered college... Thank you Freshman 15... I don't fit into clothes that were fine last year, which signals to me that changes need to be made. Taking this and how I feel, I am between 20 and 30lbs heavier that I want to be.

Where I am now doesn't feel healthy for me. I am winded going up stairs, I don't run anymore, I am almost so out of shape that backpacking is a problem. I used to be an extremely active person, and I am so sedentary that I scare myself sometimes.

I am serious about changing myself to be a healthier person, and make lasting habits that will last.

I tentatively started trying to be healthier in January. I have put some, but not much effort into changing my ways. However, I have lost 3 lbs and around 1.5 inches all around. If I did that without thinking too hard, imagine how healthy I will be with some effort! This has given me the motivation I needed to actually start changing my habits.

Wish me luck! and if you know me and want an exercise buddy... hit me up!