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Stretch, Stretch, Stretch

June 21, 2011 by 1 Comment
super stretch for blog

Ugh. Injury. Double UGH. I pulled something in my calf playing tennis the other day. I sat out a week and played again. Wrong choice. It is not something devastating. It is just irritating because I know better. I haven't been stretching for quite some time now. Not stretching is a big no-no.  So, a friend recommended the Super Stretch.  "Why, I have never heard of such a thing," I replied. Super Stretch. It is my new best friend! One week of faithfully using this, and my ailment has been cured. Question:  When is the best time to stretch?  Before or after workout.  Answer: According to a sampling of my trainer friends, there … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fitness, Running, Training Advice Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Discouragement

June 10, 2011 by 3 Comments
bike-trail1

I was starting a new week of the Couch to 5K program. I laced up my shoes, stretched out, drank from my water bottle and pulled up the app on my phone. The five minute walk was fine. The first block of running went well. More walking was followed by more running. Halfway through the five minute run, my legs hurt so bad. "Just keep going," I told myself, out loud through gritted teeth. More pain and I slowed down so much I surely would have been able to walk faster. I walked slowly for the next couple of minutes and then the ding commanded more running. I started out okay and then it happened. Right in the middle of the trail, I stopped, … [Read more...]

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Stress Eating

June 2, 2011 by 3 Comments
greasyburger

Last year, I had an unexpected realization. I am a stress eater. Meaning: when I am stressed out, I reach for some food. Before this, I had not considered that my eating was tied to my emotions. It would be okay to be a stress eater if I craved crunchy carrots or a leafy green salad. Neither of those things sound good to me when I'm stressed out. When I'm stressed out, I want the unhealthy trinity--Sugar, Fat, Salt. I realized that when I was having a stressful day or very busy or feeling upset, I craved sweets and junk food and pizza and burgers. Sticking to my diet is so hard on days like that. Plus, I also now know that I'm … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Food & Recipes, Health Tagged With: , , , ,

Put Your Own Mask on First

May 13, 2011 by 2 Comments
day planner

I did it! I finally got out the door on a run this morning. I don't even want to tell you how many weeks it's been since I was last out. I did have good intentions over these weeks. Most nights, I would tell myself: "In the morning, I'll run." But "stuff" came up. You know, the kids needed stuff for school. My spouse needed me to bring something to the office. People had emergencies. This "stuff" didn't always come up at run-time, but doing that "stuff" for them left me with little or no time/energy to do my other "stuff" like work and grocery shopping, so running (or any other exercise, or eating well, and often my prayer-life...) went … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balance Tagged With: ,

The Hills

April 28, 2011 by 2 Comments
mountain_run3

Dunh-dunh-dunh-dunh, another bites the dust! Ever since I was on the cross country team in high school, that Queen hit has been the song I instinctively go to in my head when I am running. I find the cadence to be just about right to my foot speed, and it has always been something that I can turn to when I need some internal motivation. I like it, and it works. Enough said. But today, well, today was different. Queen couldn’t help me out today, unless maybe it was the beginning of Bohemian Rhapsody. The reason is that today I tackled a hill by my house. Now, it has been mentioned that I live in Seattle. A poet once called Seattle … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Running Tagged With: , , , ,

Small Steps

April 23, 2011 by 1 Comment
6a00d8354dc5ac69e2010535f21f5f970b

“I want to be a minister,” I would say. “I feel called to a church, to work with people, to serve God.” Ah yes. To serve God. Problem is, I don’t really look like a minister. I used to smoke. A lot. Heck, I picked up smoking while I was in seminary. I drank. I worked my way through seminary waiting tables in a bar. I was up late, slept in, listened to rap music and watched South Park. I had “converted” at the end of high school and had worked so hard to develop an image as a renegade, a maverick, a feral non-conformist. I would be different, I would be real. Well, we all know that story. Smoking and drinking has a tendency … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Balance, Fitness, Ministry, Running Tagged With: , , ,

Pushing Through

April 18, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Pushing Through

Every so often, I have one of those "just not feeling it" mornings. Today was one of those days. Last night, we went out for dinner and I probably ate a bit much. My stomach felt sour most of the night, and I only got around 5 hours of sleep. The plan this morning was to get up and run a 5-ish out and back. When I woke up, I got dressed and woke my son up (he's my running partner). As we were stretching, it hit me, I "just wasn't feeling it" today. The thought of being a few miles out and vomiting didn't sound fun. Problem was, I have a weekly mileage goal, and taking 5 miles off won't help me hit it. So, we went out for a quick 2-miler. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fitness, Programs & Goals Tagged With: , ,

Exercise Hater

April 16, 2011 by 2 Comments
Oprah

You might judge me for what I'm about to admit. But I can't tell this story without first confessing: Oprah made me feel okay about hating exercise. I don’t normally pay attention to Oprah, but one day I read a quote from her about how she hated exercise. That made me feel better because I hated exercise too, but I’m surrounded by people who are all “yay, exercise!” and “I get such a rush from running!” and “I work out two hours a day eight days every week!” Ugh. I was a haphazard exerciser. I owned a treadmill and a bike and DVDs and walking shoes and I used them sometimes, usually when I felt guilty or when I … [Read more...]

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I’m a Slacker

February 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Well folks, I have a confession to make…I’m a slacker! Or at least I have been one in the past couple of weeks. I’ve only been on one run. Here’s the evidence from my Runkeeper Activities List It was a good run, well at least I felt good. I walked a little of it with Beloved, my wife, wasn’t really feeling it and as she said, “I was just doing this to get you out of the house.” I love her and I also was pushing my daughter, TLO, in her jog stroller for the majority of the run. The last mile or so I ran at race pace. All I can say is that March 19th…wait did I just say MARCH 19th! That gives me 28 days to be in shape … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Programs & Goals, Running Tagged With: , ,