The Incredible Shrinking Krista

Friday, May 31, 2013

Quay 5k

Tomorrow morning, I will be heading out for the 5K in my town.  I have run this race before, and it is a bit hilly, but also a really neat race.  It is very well staffed, lots of volunteers, no question on when/where to turn, well marked course, and awesome spectators.  I do believe it is patently unfair for the spectators to sit on their front porches eating pancakes and bacon at about the 2.5 mile mark (I swear that is exactly what happened 2 years ago), I'll enjoy it.

I have run 2 5ks in the past, my first was in 50:49, the second took 52:15.  I haven't really gotten to train like I should have, and while the reasons are valid, I won't use them as excuses.  I have the simple goal of going out and enjoying the run/walk.  The last two years since I ran my first 5k I've allowed the desire of being a "Good enough" runner to make me hyper focus on all kinds of things like pace, training plans, bucket list races, gps watches, nutrition....you name it.  While all of these have a place and a time that the discussion of them is necessary, now is neither.  The reality is, when I finished my first 5k, I was so proud I cried, since then, I've been striving for a goal which is neither necessary nor valid.  What does it matter if I can run a 5k in 30 minutes?  While I would love to, would it make me a better person?  Nope, sure wouldn't, it'd just make me a faster runner.

I came to the realization tonight while talking to my son who is also running the race and telling him to run his best race and enjoy it, I should be aiming for the same things.  Why am I worried about pace or timing?  Why not just go out, run the best race I can run tomorrow morning and go from there.

In light of that, and thanks in part to the awesome support of the Running Moms Mafia I am proud to be a member of, I'm going to go run/walk/crawl my race.  I'm going to try to have fun.  I'm going to put on my iPod, my headphones, and just GO!  None of this other crap matters, because truth is, I'm still lapping everyone on the couch.  I'm lapping every other girl my size who wants to try, but talks herself out of it due to fear.  I'm going to go have a good time, in my little town, with 500+ other runners.  I have but 2 goals:
1--No blue light escort to the finish line
2--Have a good time
The rest will take care of itself.

Krista

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Um...hello.....I'm BACK!!!!

Hard for me to believe that it has been about 6 weeks since I last posted a blog, but it has been a CRAZY month-and-a-half!  Justin has been playing on 2 teams, Ada has been playing on 2 teams, we've been having dance recitals, crazy game schedules, work schedules off the charts, and I haven't been in the box but twice since the Princess Half Marathon on February 24. 

In addition to working out, the other thing I haven't been doing is sitting on my ass without trying to at least gain some knowledge about what my next step should be.  I have read about half of one book on nutrition, and I have 3 more that I want to read.  I went to see Jillian Michaels, and it was the first time in my life that someone explained nutrition in a way that I actually "got it" and it made sense to me.  It seems stupid to say that I'm just starting to get it at the age of 38, but it's true.  Let me see if I can put what I've learned into words so that it makes sense for any of my readers that have struggled on this part as well. 

First thing I learned was that if I'm going to get this weight off, nutrition is the key.   To be more specific 70% of the results I will see (and thus haven't seen to date) are based on nutrition. 

Clean eating is becoming more and more important to me, the more I hear/read.  When Jillian explained how hormones, antibiotics, and corn fed cattle affected not just the meat supply, but also dairy, It finally made sense.  Not only did she tell us, she showed us pictures of what the cattle, and their cuts of beef looked like side-by-side.  There is no way to deny the differences, and if the cattle and their cuts of meat look that much different, there is no doubt your body must process and handle the food differently.  And if that same cow is being milked for your cheese, milk and other dairy products, it stands to reason that your getting the bad meat, milk, cheese, and your body is struggling to digest that crap.

Eating totally organic can be very pricey, so as Jillian mentioned, $20 extra for organic meat and dairy is where you should spend it.  Organic produce is great if you can afford it, but since you should be washing all of these things before you eat them anyway, doing so should mitigate anything they have on the exterior. 

I have also figured out that the sheer volume of differing information about eating plans/lifestyles is absolutely overwhelming.  I'm sure that different people see successes with different plans, for different reasons.  The fact is, eating is not a one size fits all venture.  What works for 1 person may not be do-able for someone else for various reasons.  The fact remains, you have to find what works for YOU and do it.  I'm still not 100% sure what is going to work best for me, but I'm not ever going to give up reading and trying to figure out what is best for MY body and MY lifestyle. 

I have figured out that 2 things are going to be absolutely vital to my success; support and preparation.  I'm a very social person, and I have to have people to talk to as I make these connections and find what works best for me.  I have a good friend that I met through an asshole that we both used to train with at the gym.  She and I are very similar in our struggles, and personalities, and we have WAY too much fun together.  She and I will be shopping together and spending time together preparing meals for our families that are healthy.  My kids are in for a RUDE awakening.  There won't be anymore 2 meals cooked/night and their processed chicken nuggets, sugary cereals and other crap are about to disappear. 

Tomorrow morning I'm going to be taking some "before" pictures, and posting them here, as well as measurements and weight.  I will not be weighing myself regularly, in fact, I think I'm going to do my best to only weigh myself once a month.  I tend to get very caught up in the numbers, and can get very easily discouraged when I think the # on the scale doesn't reflect the work I am doing.  I'm going to use my measurements, weight, how my clothes fit, and overall fitness levels and how I feel working out, to guide how I feel about my journey. 

Here's to continuing this journey, with a new perspective on food/nutrition.  I'm interested to see how I feel.  I'm going grocery shopping on Sunday, June 2, so I won't weigh myself until I get back from Vacation on July 6th.  I might have to ask hubby to hide the scale from me to make this happen, but I'm going to do my best.  Stay tuned for my "before" pictures tomorrow...

Krista