TBT: What I Love About Running

I'm happy to introduce a new feature on the blog: Throw Back Thursday featuring posts from my archives. You know, because sometimes there is a post I love so much I want to share it again. And sometimes the words I mash into sentences on this blog are relevant or thought provoking. Either way, throughout the year I will be dredging the archives for relevant posts and offering them up as TBT.

Today's post is special to me seeing as how my running season is over (sigh). I stumbled across this post (originally published in Oct 2008) while cleaning up some old (aka ancient) social media. It's simple and I really connected with the passion in it. So, today, for my first TBT, I want to share What I Love About Running:

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Today I was running my first 10k and somewhere around mile 5 I started counting the top 10 reasons why I love running.

10. I don't have to look pretty. I don't have to wear makeup or have cute hair. I can just sweat it out.

9. I get to see new places. I love running races in new parts of town...site seeing is fun.

8. Meeting new people. There is always some nice old guy and some crazy ladies to chat with...today I ran with a 90 year old man for about half a mile...he was great.

7. Competition. I love the little triumphs running provides.

6. Measurable goals. I can set goals that are actually attainable...I don't need to be a track star to feel good about my accomplishments.

5. You can be gross if you want to be. I wont lie...I giggled when I had to spit around mile 4. Where else can you just spit with no apologies? lol!

4. Reconnecting with your body. The human body is so amazing and is capable of great things.

3. Time to think. I like having time to zone out and just let my mind adventure.

2. Running gives me an excuse to rawk out to crazy music. My running mix currently includes the William Tell Overture, some Luda, Flo Rida, and crazy hip hop from Japan. Yeah buddy. That's right.

1. Its hard. Didn't someone say that if something was easy it wasn't worth while? Or hard things are great? Either way, running is wonderful because when you push yourself you grow.


What do you love about running?

Fitbit: helpful friend or negative nancy?

I got a shiny new toy for Christmas this year: a Fitbit.

It’s actually surprising that I didn’t get on this bandwagon sooner. I’m typically all about fitness gadgets (I may or may not have two Garmin watches, a foot pod, a heart rate monitor, and other techy stuff affiliated with fitness). So, I was thrilled to get it as a gift (kudos to my hubby for the great gift idea).

I’ve been using the cute little Fitbit for a while now and wanted to share my thoughts:

1. It’s eye-opening: I’m a runner. I like working out. I like when my muscles are sore and I tend to look forward to workouts (not always, but generally). I’m technically overweight for my height but I’m happy with the way my clothes fit and my general strength (I can move my furniture myself, etc.). So all things considered I would call myself ‘fit’. Sure, I could lose weight and eat better (couldn’t we all) but I’m capable and strong.

When I started getting my Fitbit stats I was BLOWN AWAY by how little activity I did on non-gym days. On days I go to the gym (generally only three days a week) I hit 10,000 steps no prob.

But on days when I don’t go to the gym I am seriously sedentary. On non-gym days I average 2,000 – 3,000 steps. That’s it. That’s not great.

I decided to change my habits (take more steps on non-gym days) based on the information Fitbit provided. Now, I’m not beating myself up over it or running every single day (recurring injury prevents it). But I’m making a conscious decision to walk more and so far so good....like this guy:

2. Tracking sleep is harder than I imagined: One of the things that sparked my interest about the Fitbit was its ability to track sleep. I was pretty confident that I was getting 7-8 hours a night but how many minutes of that sleep was restless? Inquiring minds (well, my mind) want to know.

Here’s the thing, tracking sleep requires that you remember to turn ‘sleep mode’ on before you zonk out. At first I did this no prob. But as the weeks wore on I forgot more than I remembered. So now my sleep data is incomplete (which bums me out).

What data I did collect was interesting. I was actually getting far less sleep than I thought (think 5 – 6 hrs instead of 7-8). No wonder I was tired every day.

3. Getting badges (Fitbit awards for achieving goals) is actually fun: My little brother described it best when he said, “so it’s like your life is an RPG and the Fitbit tells you when you level up?” YEEEEEESSSSS.

It is just like that. I love getting badges for achievements. And I love when it vibrates to let me know I’ve hit my step goal for the day. It’s actually pretty fun to use.

4. The web interface is better than the mobile interface: This bums me out. You can do so much more (and see so much more) on the full ‘web’ version of the app versus the mobile version.

Here’s the rub, I pretty much only use the mobile interface on my phone. I rarely think to log into my Fitbit profile on my laptop. So it’s a bit discouraging to have limited capabilities on the mobile side of things. Maybe this will improve over time (or as I learn more about the mobile side of the app).

Overall, I really enjoy using Fitbit.

I like to think of the Fitbit as my fitness CP. Sometimes I don't like what my Fitbit has to say but most of the time its feedback is hugely empowering. Too often, I think we default into believing we are doing ‘enough’ to stay healthy.

I know I certainly fell into that boat. So having new information on my habits helped me make better decisions. And, so far, Fitbit has been fun to use and unobtrusive.

I would definitely recommend Fitbit to someone interested in better understanding their current habits or looking to make changes.

January 2015 Month in Review

Recapping my monthly progress serves two purposes: 1. it keeps me honest and accountable to my goals, and 2. it reminds me just how much work I’ve done over the last year. So let’s get down to it:

January has been a wild ride – not dissimilar from the good ol’ ride at Disney World: Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (ah, I loved that one. Good thing the Winnie the Pooh ride is just as good ;)).

First and foremost, January brought vacation (woo hoo) and running (Dopey Challenge Achievement Unlocked).

We also spent time with family and friends at Disney.

January was basically kick @$$!

I loved our Disney trip and I had a blast running the races (check out my Walt Disney World 5k, 10k, Half Marathon, and Marathon recaps).

I also got to see both sets of my parents this month (my parents and my in-laws). I always feel super-charged after spending time with family.

Oh, an interesting side note, I finally went to see the eye doctor about my headaches. I had my vision surgically corrected (yay Lasik!) back in 2008 and had been vision-issue free since that time…until now. Turns out I need reading classes to keep me from over focusing. I am really excited about the idea (frames can be fun!) and hope that I can report fewer headaches as my eyes and brain adjust.

With all this going on it might be hard to believe that I got anything done this month – but I did. Here are the details for January 2015:

1 Amazing, Wonderful, Fun Walt Disney World Vacation
4 runDisney races (5k, 10k, 13.1, 26.2) completed!!
13 gym workouts (including elliptical/treadmill and personal training)
1 YA novel read “for fun”
2 law school prep books read for…eh…”fun?”

And on top of all of that I still had words. *does happy dance* This month’s grand total is 7,545 words. Which brings my total ‘tracked’ word count for 2015 to 7,545! Not too shabby. I feel like I’m off to a good start.

And as for miles, this month’s grand total is 74.3 miles, bringing my total ‘tracked’ mileage to 74.3 miles. I am making a bet that January’s mileage will be the highest recorded mileage this year (for me). It’s hard to top running a marathon AND a half marathon in the same month. And knowing my race schedule is going to be light this year (mostly 5k’s and 10k’s) I’m pretty confident this will be my best mileage month this year.

All in all, January was tremendous. I feel good about starting off 2015 with a bang. #NeverGiveUp #NeverSurrender

How are your goals coming along?