Here comes the official week two of training. On the weekend, the schedule makes you work out longer. I've figured out what they are doing. They have you work out longer so you say to yourself "OH MY GOD I AM IN PAIN I CAN'T DO THIS," so that when you finish, and then go back during the week to an easier schedule, things won't seem nearly as bad. I mean, if you workout for an hour on saturday, and then you only have to work out 30 mins during the week, those 30 mins are going to seem like a piece of cake, right?
I'm currently sitting on the floor of my room, with no chair or desk or bed. Moving days are here. I'm moving up north to a great place by a park and running course, so I'm pumped. And I haven't seen a mass amount of homeless at my new place (unlike my old place) so I'm pretty pumped.
GREAT NEWS! I went shopping this past week with my grandmother while back home. She always likes to go shopping. So we went to Lane Bryant (or as I like to call it Lane Giant), where we always go. The LB should give me clothing, I've given them so much business. It's really the only half decent place for a plus size girl to shop. And I mean half decent, because they still got some ugly shit. So anyways, we go shopping, and I walk in and ask the girl, "do you have any sports bras?" She replies, "why do you need a sports bra?" Picture this overweight, giant hipped women with a smirk on her face asking me this, and I reply, "because I'm running a marathon." She sort of snorted and smirked and went and got me the only sports bra they had, a flimsy one with no support, and she didn't ask my size, but gave it to me in their largest size. Well jokes on her, because since I've been working out I WENT DOWN A SIZE IN TOPS! I got all these shirts to try on, and none of them fit, too big! So I had to have her get me a sports bra two sizes smaller than what she gave me. And the new shirts look cute! I looked so cute! It was all soo exciting. You see, I've never gone down a size, only up, so it was a HUGE joy for me. My grandmother commented that she had never seen me so happy in a dressing room. I did a happy dance people, a happy dance. To the bad Tina Turner cover they were playing, and I never dance to bad music!
So needless to say, that was a great moment this past week. I also lost 2 lbs so far. The doctor told me it would take a while for me to loose weight, because I'd be building up muscle, and muscle weights more than fat. Hey, as long as I'm loosing dress sizes and feeling good, I don't mind. I took a salad to my graduation party with my family while I was home, and had it and a half of piece of pizza, and a tiny (like 2 bites) piece of cake. All the family thinks me and Dad are crazy for doing this, but are impressed. It was a very good trip home.
Some bad news...Got my blood test back, and my cholesterol is way bad and I'm the closest to being diabetic that you can be without actually being diabetic. So basically I'm the 21 year old with the health of an overweight 45 year old. Awesome. But the doctor said no meds are needed, because I AM DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. It felt nice to hear that from him. My dad said that if I wasn't changing things, the doctor would have put me on a few different medicines. So, this aspect of things gets added to why I'm training. I don't want to have a heart attack at 25, no thank you.
So training is going, moving is a bitch, and things are going well! Hope everyone is having a great memorial day!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
"One more time..."
Today is a Daft Punk day I've decided. For those that don't know, my life revolves around music, (it is my job after all) so I usually have music when I'm doing anything, especially running. Daft Punk makes some pretty good "get pumped cause your gonna walk Missy" type of music. Which I need after the humiliation of my early morning stress test and EKG...
Ok, it wasn't that humiliating. Nothing like rising at the crack of dawn to go have someone slather rubbing alcohol and sticky band aid type patches all over your boobs. Yup, great way to say hello to a new day. Needless to say my heart rate was up before I even got on the treadmill. See, I'm a very modest person, no ones sees me naked, not even myself half the time. So needless to say an early morning medical flashing of my chest is not my favorite pastime.
I did enjoy telling the nurse why I was in for my test though. Here's how it went down...
Skinny chipper nurse lady: "And Lisa, why did Dr. Brackett have you come in to us today for these test?"
Lisa: "Well, you see I'm running the Chicago marathon."
Now very surprised skinny chipper nurse lady: "Oh wow...well congratulations?"
I still get a kick out of telling people that I'm running the marathon. Many people are really impressed and supportive, and thankfully I haven't meet any mean people yet about it, but the best are the shocked people that seem in awe. They aren't doubting my ability or anything, I'm young and I'll bounce back and be fine and all that jazz that they say, but the shock of seeing a statistically overweight American deciding to run 26.2 miles is a lot to take in, and so it's fun to see the reaction from people.
Regardless, things went really well, at least I think they did. My heart rate wasn't too high after my exercise, it was pretty normal, and my blood pressure was good for my age and health (which that health part isn't saying much). I did the program for 7 minutes, and the could have gone a bit longer but could tell I was about to feel light headed. The nurse said people in really good shape usually can go for a max of 12 minutes, including the two 80 year old people she mentioned that were buff that did about 10 minutes. Well, the old people maybe beating me, but for my health I did pretty well.
So it looks like I won't die from this marathon training! Of course my body will try to convince me otherwise around mile 22, but no fooling me! I've got the test to prove it. It's all in my head, so it's now a battle against my own endurance.
Well despite today's schedule calls for cross training today, my Dad just insulted me by telling me that "your walking pace is about like relaxed cross training." Zing Dad! Way to go...ass. So off for a walk I go!
Back to Chicago this weekend, hurrah!
Ok, it wasn't that humiliating. Nothing like rising at the crack of dawn to go have someone slather rubbing alcohol and sticky band aid type patches all over your boobs. Yup, great way to say hello to a new day. Needless to say my heart rate was up before I even got on the treadmill. See, I'm a very modest person, no ones sees me naked, not even myself half the time. So needless to say an early morning medical flashing of my chest is not my favorite pastime.
I did enjoy telling the nurse why I was in for my test though. Here's how it went down...
Skinny chipper nurse lady: "And Lisa, why did Dr. Brackett have you come in to us today for these test?"
Lisa: "Well, you see I'm running the Chicago marathon."
Now very surprised skinny chipper nurse lady: "Oh wow...well congratulations?"
I still get a kick out of telling people that I'm running the marathon. Many people are really impressed and supportive, and thankfully I haven't meet any mean people yet about it, but the best are the shocked people that seem in awe. They aren't doubting my ability or anything, I'm young and I'll bounce back and be fine and all that jazz that they say, but the shock of seeing a statistically overweight American deciding to run 26.2 miles is a lot to take in, and so it's fun to see the reaction from people.
Regardless, things went really well, at least I think they did. My heart rate wasn't too high after my exercise, it was pretty normal, and my blood pressure was good for my age and health (which that health part isn't saying much). I did the program for 7 minutes, and the could have gone a bit longer but could tell I was about to feel light headed. The nurse said people in really good shape usually can go for a max of 12 minutes, including the two 80 year old people she mentioned that were buff that did about 10 minutes. Well, the old people maybe beating me, but for my health I did pretty well.
So it looks like I won't die from this marathon training! Of course my body will try to convince me otherwise around mile 22, but no fooling me! I've got the test to prove it. It's all in my head, so it's now a battle against my own endurance.
Well despite today's schedule calls for cross training today, my Dad just insulted me by telling me that "your walking pace is about like relaxed cross training." Zing Dad! Way to go...ass. So off for a walk I go!
Back to Chicago this weekend, hurrah!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
heart monitors, treadmills, and 6 am wake-up calls
So it's about 12:40 in the morning, and I have to be up at 5:45. I just finished my one book (the non-French women) and it was hilarious, insightful, and much needed inspiration from a women that I feel is a lot like me when it comes to running.
See, I loathe running. I don't see the point of it, unless you are running from something really bad or scary, or you're running to something totally awesome. I hope a naked Brad Pitt holding a giant banana split with 50 can can dancers and fireworks are at the end of my 26.2 miles. Somehow I fear that at the end of my 26.2 miles, (which maybe anywhere from 6 hours to 10 days at this point) everyone will have gone home at that point. I won't even get to congratulate Kenyan Steve on his 5th Chicago Marathon win. Damnit.
I go in a few hours for my EKG and stress test. After I cross train aka bike downstairs at 6am. WTF? When do I EVER get up at 6am, especially to warm up with a workout for another workout. The cool thing is I get to put sticky heart monitors on me and feel like a lab rat. I'm still holding hope that one of these doctors will go WHAT THE HELL and slap me and bring me back to reality. This is just the fear talking. I will just ignore it.
My knee has a small bump under it, and it hurts a tiny bit. I think I'm imagining things. Did I mention I get to pant and almost pass out in my baggy t-shirt and spandex-ish pants in a few hours in a room full of people? Who the hell thought it was a good idea to make spandex anything in my size?! What is wrong with these people? I look like an oddly shaped grey pear. It is not a pretty sight. Thankfully I'm still walking during training at this point. See, years of a fat southern style cooking from my country family has taken it's toll, and I'm a prettty big girl. So I would assume if people see me running at them, they will run away, assuming that if this fat chick is running, she must be running from something pretty scary. Oh, if they only knew. I'm just waiting to scare small dogs and children next.
But the bright side is I am burning more calories than I consume, which means weight loss! And better health! My clothes are already looser. Fascinating I tell ya. That's really the main reason behind this crazy idea of a marathon. Nothing has made me care about my health. I don't want to die at 25, and the road I've taken thus far is leading to that. Mental picture, I weight close to 300 lbs. I carry it better than some fat people, but no doubt about it, no point in lying, I'm fat. I am not happy with this, never have been. I am not one of those content jolly fat folks that are like "oh give me some more cake, look at my button pop off my shirt, too funny, haha." I've always been pretty unhappy with my body. It's held me back a lot in life in many different situations, and I would have given anything to change my lifestyle back when I started gaining weight. But nothing (and I mean nothing) has made me care enough to change it. It took a crazy ass goal and telling everyone I know (and then some) about it to scare me into actually caring. And the payoff from just this past almost month has been worth it thus far. My family is proud of me actually doing something to fix my health, I feel better, my new dress from graduation is too big (damn, and after I finally found a plus size dress that was cute and didn't look like a sack of potatoes) and I feel much more energized. The plus is finally outweighing the minus.
Well enough rambling. Time for a bit of shut eye before the big scary spandex clad doctor test. Wish me luck!
See, I loathe running. I don't see the point of it, unless you are running from something really bad or scary, or you're running to something totally awesome. I hope a naked Brad Pitt holding a giant banana split with 50 can can dancers and fireworks are at the end of my 26.2 miles. Somehow I fear that at the end of my 26.2 miles, (which maybe anywhere from 6 hours to 10 days at this point) everyone will have gone home at that point. I won't even get to congratulate Kenyan Steve on his 5th Chicago Marathon win. Damnit.
I go in a few hours for my EKG and stress test. After I cross train aka bike downstairs at 6am. WTF? When do I EVER get up at 6am, especially to warm up with a workout for another workout. The cool thing is I get to put sticky heart monitors on me and feel like a lab rat. I'm still holding hope that one of these doctors will go WHAT THE HELL and slap me and bring me back to reality. This is just the fear talking. I will just ignore it.
My knee has a small bump under it, and it hurts a tiny bit. I think I'm imagining things. Did I mention I get to pant and almost pass out in my baggy t-shirt and spandex-ish pants in a few hours in a room full of people? Who the hell thought it was a good idea to make spandex anything in my size?! What is wrong with these people? I look like an oddly shaped grey pear. It is not a pretty sight. Thankfully I'm still walking during training at this point. See, years of a fat southern style cooking from my country family has taken it's toll, and I'm a prettty big girl. So I would assume if people see me running at them, they will run away, assuming that if this fat chick is running, she must be running from something pretty scary. Oh, if they only knew. I'm just waiting to scare small dogs and children next.
But the bright side is I am burning more calories than I consume, which means weight loss! And better health! My clothes are already looser. Fascinating I tell ya. That's really the main reason behind this crazy idea of a marathon. Nothing has made me care about my health. I don't want to die at 25, and the road I've taken thus far is leading to that. Mental picture, I weight close to 300 lbs. I carry it better than some fat people, but no doubt about it, no point in lying, I'm fat. I am not happy with this, never have been. I am not one of those content jolly fat folks that are like "oh give me some more cake, look at my button pop off my shirt, too funny, haha." I've always been pretty unhappy with my body. It's held me back a lot in life in many different situations, and I would have given anything to change my lifestyle back when I started gaining weight. But nothing (and I mean nothing) has made me care enough to change it. It took a crazy ass goal and telling everyone I know (and then some) about it to scare me into actually caring. And the payoff from just this past almost month has been worth it thus far. My family is proud of me actually doing something to fix my health, I feel better, my new dress from graduation is too big (damn, and after I finally found a plus size dress that was cute and didn't look like a sack of potatoes) and I feel much more energized. The plus is finally outweighing the minus.
Well enough rambling. Time for a bit of shut eye before the big scary spandex clad doctor test. Wish me luck!
Week 1 training-Am I really doing this? Oh I SO AM...
Man, two post in one day! Aren't you lucky? Eh, I just never shut up. Get use to it. It actually can be one of my very cute habits, you'll learn to love it, trust me.
So anyways, WELCOME PEOPLE THAT FOLLOWED THE LINK FROM FACEBOOK HERE! TA DA! I'M RUNNING A MARATHON! Shocked? I am too. First off, thanks for stopping by! Leave some love, let me know how you are doing, tell me "way to go!" or tell me "man Lisa, you are going to kill yourself." Either words of wisdom inspire me at this point. Secondly, if you are inspired by my will (or insanity) and would like to donate money to the charity I will soon be running with, PLEASE E-MAIL ME! Here is the e-mail, get ready for it: lisa.management@gmail.com Did you get that? Good. If not, (well if not, you need help folks, it's right there) just send me a facebook message and I'll get in touch. Now give me money. Well, give a good cause money, just it goes through me so I can do this crazy marathon thing. When you e-mail me, I will get in touch with you, and will let you know what charity I am running with as soon as I know (hopefully cancer related, it's a cause close to home, but we'll see), and at that point I will also e-mail you and let you know how you can send in pledges, donations, money, puppies, firstborn, whatever you want to send that will help out. If you know any businesses or individuals that maybe interested in donating to this crazy cause of mine, please forward them my site and/or e-mail address, and I will get right back to them. Family, friends, whoever. I'm looking at getting t-shirts made with sponsor names on it, so that maybe incentive (not written in stone that I'll have those, so don't quote me kids!). Ok, now that all that business is out of the way, on to my original second post for the day (blame the endorphins [or however you spell that] for my perky and overzealous blogging).
So this is the first week of full on marathon training. I'm following a 20 week training program for walkers and run/walking people. It's from an awesome book called The Non-runner's Marathon Guide For Women by Dawn Dais. My doctor told me to check it out, and boy am I glad I did. This women has become in the past two days one of my personal demigods. Nothing but mad respect for her. She was a lazy person that hated moving of any kind that decided to run a marathon, and the book follows her training schedule, her advice, and her journals from her training. I just got the book, and I'm almost finished. It just so happened that her marathon training schedule was for 20 weeks, which is just how long I have! And also the first week was no different than what I was doing now, actually a bit nicer, so I now have a schedule set in stone. I'm also reading French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, another amazing book, to help me get better with my eating habits and to keep my diet in check. Both books are very down to earth and are easy to read, with no massive amount of doctor and science talk, but just plain practical and wonderful advice from regular people that have changed their lives for the better in very wonderful ways.
So I'm writing down everything I eat and how much I work out, I'm working out almost every day on a set schedule, I'm reading health and wellness books, I'm buying shoes with "shocks" and the Nike swoosh and heel support on them, and charting the pace and calories burned with my iPod. In less than a month I've become a person I don't even know. And I'm actually really loving that fact. Usually at this point in a diet (and I've been on way too many, trust me) I'm miserable and end up having a bad day for one reason or another, will go and eat a ton of crappy food, and stop working out. But oddly enough I'm not feeling this at all. I'm eating well, even out in social situations, and I'm actually getting out of bed at 7 am without having to be dragged to go work out. People lately have said I look so happy and that I'm just radiant and glowing. I would usually dismiss this as them being polite, but I think it's actually the truth this time. I do feel like I'm glowing and radiant, I feel healthier already, and feel like I have this amazing confidence and determination that I haven't had before with things that include sports and/or body image. I went out last night, and for the first time in a long time thought to myself, "man Lisa, you look cute today, go get em girl!" I've found this new sense of willpower and self respect. It feels pretty damn good. Granted I may loose this new found bit of willpower when I start walking the big miles, but it will still be in the back of my mind, pushing me every bit of the way. I've made this amazing choice to do something really awesome for myself while helping others too, and it's just totally got me pumped. I haven't felt this excited about something in a long time. Boy does it feel pretty inspiring and good.
So I hope everyone returns and keeps tabs on my progress as I start this long road (we're talking 300 plus miles I will walk before the marathon during training, woah) that lies ahead of me. Keep it real folks, and keep giving it your best. You know I will be doing the same.
So anyways, WELCOME PEOPLE THAT FOLLOWED THE LINK FROM FACEBOOK HERE! TA DA! I'M RUNNING A MARATHON! Shocked? I am too. First off, thanks for stopping by! Leave some love, let me know how you are doing, tell me "way to go!" or tell me "man Lisa, you are going to kill yourself." Either words of wisdom inspire me at this point. Secondly, if you are inspired by my will (or insanity) and would like to donate money to the charity I will soon be running with, PLEASE E-MAIL ME! Here is the e-mail, get ready for it: lisa.management@gmail.com Did you get that? Good. If not, (well if not, you need help folks, it's right there) just send me a facebook message and I'll get in touch. Now give me money. Well, give a good cause money, just it goes through me so I can do this crazy marathon thing. When you e-mail me, I will get in touch with you, and will let you know what charity I am running with as soon as I know (hopefully cancer related, it's a cause close to home, but we'll see), and at that point I will also e-mail you and let you know how you can send in pledges, donations, money, puppies, firstborn, whatever you want to send that will help out. If you know any businesses or individuals that maybe interested in donating to this crazy cause of mine, please forward them my site and/or e-mail address, and I will get right back to them. Family, friends, whoever. I'm looking at getting t-shirts made with sponsor names on it, so that maybe incentive (not written in stone that I'll have those, so don't quote me kids!). Ok, now that all that business is out of the way, on to my original second post for the day (blame the endorphins [or however you spell that] for my perky and overzealous blogging).
So this is the first week of full on marathon training. I'm following a 20 week training program for walkers and run/walking people. It's from an awesome book called The Non-runner's Marathon Guide For Women by Dawn Dais. My doctor told me to check it out, and boy am I glad I did. This women has become in the past two days one of my personal demigods. Nothing but mad respect for her. She was a lazy person that hated moving of any kind that decided to run a marathon, and the book follows her training schedule, her advice, and her journals from her training. I just got the book, and I'm almost finished. It just so happened that her marathon training schedule was for 20 weeks, which is just how long I have! And also the first week was no different than what I was doing now, actually a bit nicer, so I now have a schedule set in stone. I'm also reading French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano, another amazing book, to help me get better with my eating habits and to keep my diet in check. Both books are very down to earth and are easy to read, with no massive amount of doctor and science talk, but just plain practical and wonderful advice from regular people that have changed their lives for the better in very wonderful ways.
So I'm writing down everything I eat and how much I work out, I'm working out almost every day on a set schedule, I'm reading health and wellness books, I'm buying shoes with "shocks" and the Nike swoosh and heel support on them, and charting the pace and calories burned with my iPod. In less than a month I've become a person I don't even know. And I'm actually really loving that fact. Usually at this point in a diet (and I've been on way too many, trust me) I'm miserable and end up having a bad day for one reason or another, will go and eat a ton of crappy food, and stop working out. But oddly enough I'm not feeling this at all. I'm eating well, even out in social situations, and I'm actually getting out of bed at 7 am without having to be dragged to go work out. People lately have said I look so happy and that I'm just radiant and glowing. I would usually dismiss this as them being polite, but I think it's actually the truth this time. I do feel like I'm glowing and radiant, I feel healthier already, and feel like I have this amazing confidence and determination that I haven't had before with things that include sports and/or body image. I went out last night, and for the first time in a long time thought to myself, "man Lisa, you look cute today, go get em girl!" I've found this new sense of willpower and self respect. It feels pretty damn good. Granted I may loose this new found bit of willpower when I start walking the big miles, but it will still be in the back of my mind, pushing me every bit of the way. I've made this amazing choice to do something really awesome for myself while helping others too, and it's just totally got me pumped. I haven't felt this excited about something in a long time. Boy does it feel pretty inspiring and good.
So I hope everyone returns and keeps tabs on my progress as I start this long road (we're talking 300 plus miles I will walk before the marathon during training, woah) that lies ahead of me. Keep it real folks, and keep giving it your best. You know I will be doing the same.
Here we go again...
So it's been close to a month since I posted, but have no fear! I'm still in this thing! I've just been crazy busy. First off, I graduated college! Hurrah! Go me! I did it in three years! I'm really proud of myself, not going to lie. Post graduation has been crazy. I had to come home for good and bad reasons. I was asked to present a scholarship at my old high school to a student going to Columbia College, as a recent Columbia alumni. I was honored, and it was amazing. I also had to come home for a funeral, a very unexpected one. A classmate from high school was in a car crash and passed away. I went to a very different high school, very accelerated and very small, I graduated with 42 people I believe, and so it was very shocking to loose someone from my class. He was insanely smart, and would have done amazing things in his career and life. His passing reminded me that life is short, and no one should take it for granted. A pretty great lesson to be reminded of, and one that has thrown me headfirst into training and getting ready for this epic marathon I've crazily decided to do...
So, ON WITH THE MARATHON! Ok, I'm not that excited, I'm scared to death, but I've doing a lot of marathon nerdy prep work here, so let me tell you about it some. Bullet point list time (something I'm very fond of, as you will find out...)
-I've told way too many people that I'm running the Chicago marathon, thus I cannot turn back or I will look like an ass. I'm going to tell even more people. I'm going to post it on facebook, and tag all my old high school friends. If seeing people and being afraid of telling them I failed at running a marathon isn't enough motivation, I don't know what is...
-I bought the shoes. Yes, THE shoes. My dad is starting to believe that I'm serious about this marathon thing, because I actually spent a pretty penny of my own money on a pair of running shoes and not trendy high heels. I got a pair of Nike shocks. They are lime green and silver and make me look like I actually know what I'm doing (if you just look at my feet). They also are Nike+iPod, so they have a computer chip that tracks to my ipod my pace, distance, time, and calories burned, and give me neat things like powersongs and a talking lady (I call her Becky) who tells me what I've done so far in my workout, and warns me of time countdowns. My friend Neil is referring to me as computer shoes. This is my new nickname. You may now call me this. I've accepted my fate.
-I've talked to people who do marathons! And survived! They didn't skin me alive or burn me at a stake for being a fat girl who wants to run a marathon in 20 weeks! Yes, I was amazed, but it made me feel a lot better. I spoke to a former teacher from high school who has done numerous marathons himself, and have trained people of all shapes and sizes and levels to run marathons, triathlons, and other giant scary sporting events. So basically he knows what the hell he is talking about. We spoke, he gave some advice, and told me to e-mail him. So I did, and included in the e-mail the tone of just how uneducated I am on marathons and just how crazy I am. I sure hope he can help, haha.
-I went to the doctor. Yay? Yeah, I wasn't so thrilled. I gained 10 lbs since my visit last October. I blame the stress of senior year, damn me and my bad eating habits. I told him I have decided to run a marathon. I figured he may slap me and go ARE YOU CRAZY!? but he was very nice about the whole thing. He said that he loves goal oriented plans to get healthy. He told me to eat fruit instead of carbs before I work out, since someone my size shouldn't really eat plates of pasta. He told me to start slow, and gradually increase my workout each week, about 10%, to prevent serious injury, since I'm putting A LOT of weight down on my feet and joints. He told me to maybe train for a half marathon and do the marathon next year, mainly because he was worried more about my Dad running it. This makes me worry, because I obviously don't want my Dad to keel over around mile 22, this would be very unfortunate. But, he said it is up to me, and be damned I am running the Chicago marathon this year! It's really the idea behind it for me that keeps me going. So I've met the doctor in the middle. Me and Dad are running the half marathon in August in Chicago, and if he does ok, he will continue to the full marathon in October. If I don't do ok, I'm still doing this damn marathon. It's now become something I just have to do. I'm watching my grandfather eat himself into a diabetic coma, his sugar sky high all the time. I'm watching a cousin loose a toe (and possibly a foot) because of poor circulation due to her diabetes. She's lost weight, and told me to take some diet pill, that I could eat anything I want and loose weight if I took this pill. This disturbed me beyond. Here is someone loosing their foot because of their poor health and eating habits, and she still believes that a little pill will change her life. It won't, you must make a lifestyle change, and that is just what I'm doing, and that is what keeps me going.
So there ya have it. I have a stress and EKG test tomorrow at a heart center, just to make sure that I won't kill myself doing this. I get to be hooked up to some machine with heart monitors, and do stuff on a treadmill. Ya know, like you see in movies! It shall be fun. Wow, you know things are changing when I start to think that doctors and treadmills are fun. So it goes...so it goes...
keep it real folks.
So, ON WITH THE MARATHON! Ok, I'm not that excited, I'm scared to death, but I've doing a lot of marathon nerdy prep work here, so let me tell you about it some. Bullet point list time (something I'm very fond of, as you will find out...)
-I've told way too many people that I'm running the Chicago marathon, thus I cannot turn back or I will look like an ass. I'm going to tell even more people. I'm going to post it on facebook, and tag all my old high school friends. If seeing people and being afraid of telling them I failed at running a marathon isn't enough motivation, I don't know what is...
-I bought the shoes. Yes, THE shoes. My dad is starting to believe that I'm serious about this marathon thing, because I actually spent a pretty penny of my own money on a pair of running shoes and not trendy high heels. I got a pair of Nike shocks. They are lime green and silver and make me look like I actually know what I'm doing (if you just look at my feet). They also are Nike+iPod, so they have a computer chip that tracks to my ipod my pace, distance, time, and calories burned, and give me neat things like powersongs and a talking lady (I call her Becky) who tells me what I've done so far in my workout, and warns me of time countdowns. My friend Neil is referring to me as computer shoes. This is my new nickname. You may now call me this. I've accepted my fate.
-I've talked to people who do marathons! And survived! They didn't skin me alive or burn me at a stake for being a fat girl who wants to run a marathon in 20 weeks! Yes, I was amazed, but it made me feel a lot better. I spoke to a former teacher from high school who has done numerous marathons himself, and have trained people of all shapes and sizes and levels to run marathons, triathlons, and other giant scary sporting events. So basically he knows what the hell he is talking about. We spoke, he gave some advice, and told me to e-mail him. So I did, and included in the e-mail the tone of just how uneducated I am on marathons and just how crazy I am. I sure hope he can help, haha.
-I went to the doctor. Yay? Yeah, I wasn't so thrilled. I gained 10 lbs since my visit last October. I blame the stress of senior year, damn me and my bad eating habits. I told him I have decided to run a marathon. I figured he may slap me and go ARE YOU CRAZY!? but he was very nice about the whole thing. He said that he loves goal oriented plans to get healthy. He told me to eat fruit instead of carbs before I work out, since someone my size shouldn't really eat plates of pasta. He told me to start slow, and gradually increase my workout each week, about 10%, to prevent serious injury, since I'm putting A LOT of weight down on my feet and joints. He told me to maybe train for a half marathon and do the marathon next year, mainly because he was worried more about my Dad running it. This makes me worry, because I obviously don't want my Dad to keel over around mile 22, this would be very unfortunate. But, he said it is up to me, and be damned I am running the Chicago marathon this year! It's really the idea behind it for me that keeps me going. So I've met the doctor in the middle. Me and Dad are running the half marathon in August in Chicago, and if he does ok, he will continue to the full marathon in October. If I don't do ok, I'm still doing this damn marathon. It's now become something I just have to do. I'm watching my grandfather eat himself into a diabetic coma, his sugar sky high all the time. I'm watching a cousin loose a toe (and possibly a foot) because of poor circulation due to her diabetes. She's lost weight, and told me to take some diet pill, that I could eat anything I want and loose weight if I took this pill. This disturbed me beyond. Here is someone loosing their foot because of their poor health and eating habits, and she still believes that a little pill will change her life. It won't, you must make a lifestyle change, and that is just what I'm doing, and that is what keeps me going.
So there ya have it. I have a stress and EKG test tomorrow at a heart center, just to make sure that I won't kill myself doing this. I get to be hooked up to some machine with heart monitors, and do stuff on a treadmill. Ya know, like you see in movies! It shall be fun. Wow, you know things are changing when I start to think that doctors and treadmills are fun. So it goes...so it goes...
keep it real folks.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
In the words of Van Halen...JUMP!
Hi. I'm Lisa. I'm a 21 year old, who is graduating from college in one week. So obviously I have a lot of things going through my head right now, right? And at the top of the list of numerous worries (how will I get a job, what will it be like in the adult world, how will I pay rent) is the worry of how do I get health insurance? See, the problem is I'm obese. Yup. According to insurance companies, I will die so soon, that I'm really not worth the coverage. Bit of a smack in the face, but I've taken it pretty well.
I've struggled with weight my entire life. I've tried numerous things, and nothing has jolted me, scared me, or really inspired me enough to really care about my health until now. See, a lot of things in the past 6 months have made me realize I should start taking care of myself. First of all, the fact that I'm going out into the real world, and I need to be healthy, so I can get insurance, get a better job (face it, looks sometimes do matter, it's a cruel world), and learn to love myself. Second, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer this past March. Thankfully she caught it early, but the whole scope of the situation is still unclear. The main thing was seeing my mother face the ideas of mortality and death, and seeing how much she wanted to see her daughter healthy and happy, so that she didn't have to worry about me and know that no matter what happens with her cancer I'll be ok. She's always worried about my health. She wants the best for me in all aspects of my life. I'm blessed to have parents that care so much about me. Another thing was having a close friend who is dealing with her own body issues and food issues. Talking to her, seeing the things I've felt before, have made me be more honest about my situation with not only her but myself. And finally, just being so tired of being unhealthy and unhappy, that I've decided (with some inspiration from another overweight runner) to do something ridiculous and crazy, but something that will change my life.
I, Lisa White, am going to run the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 7, 2007.
I got the idea to do this from a very inspiration man named Jacob. He has a site, http://blog.whatwouldjacobdo.com/ that details his decision to run the Boston Marathon after being fed up of weighting over 400 pounds. Granted he didn't finish in the time frame suggested, he finished the race, and that was the one thing that inspired so much. If someone who is bigger than myself (no offense, it just made me inspire and convince myself more)can do something this crazy and succeed, then I can do it. I know I can.
So, October 7, 2007 my father and I (he's decided to run with me, I'm so grateful and proud of him to back me) will be crossing the Chicago Marathon finish line, despite how long it takes us. Hopefully over the next 5 months we can train ourselves to finish in the allotted time, but regardless, we will finish. We will also be raising money, in hopes that we can raise enough to qualify to apply for registration through a charity, since the registration spots are closed, and you must now register for the race through a charity. IF we do not raise enough money to join and register, we will still run (sadly unofficial), and will donate the money we do raise to charity of choice.
Regardless, I'm putting this site out there, to tell people, so I cannot back out of this. In life, you have to just make a choice, stick with it, and JUMP (like how I tied in that Van Halen title, eh?). I'm doing just that. It's time for a change in my life, so here we go...
I've struggled with weight my entire life. I've tried numerous things, and nothing has jolted me, scared me, or really inspired me enough to really care about my health until now. See, a lot of things in the past 6 months have made me realize I should start taking care of myself. First of all, the fact that I'm going out into the real world, and I need to be healthy, so I can get insurance, get a better job (face it, looks sometimes do matter, it's a cruel world), and learn to love myself. Second, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer this past March. Thankfully she caught it early, but the whole scope of the situation is still unclear. The main thing was seeing my mother face the ideas of mortality and death, and seeing how much she wanted to see her daughter healthy and happy, so that she didn't have to worry about me and know that no matter what happens with her cancer I'll be ok. She's always worried about my health. She wants the best for me in all aspects of my life. I'm blessed to have parents that care so much about me. Another thing was having a close friend who is dealing with her own body issues and food issues. Talking to her, seeing the things I've felt before, have made me be more honest about my situation with not only her but myself. And finally, just being so tired of being unhealthy and unhappy, that I've decided (with some inspiration from another overweight runner) to do something ridiculous and crazy, but something that will change my life.
I, Lisa White, am going to run the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon on October 7, 2007.
I got the idea to do this from a very inspiration man named Jacob. He has a site, http://blog.whatwouldjacobdo.com/ that details his decision to run the Boston Marathon after being fed up of weighting over 400 pounds. Granted he didn't finish in the time frame suggested, he finished the race, and that was the one thing that inspired so much. If someone who is bigger than myself (no offense, it just made me inspire and convince myself more)can do something this crazy and succeed, then I can do it. I know I can.
So, October 7, 2007 my father and I (he's decided to run with me, I'm so grateful and proud of him to back me) will be crossing the Chicago Marathon finish line, despite how long it takes us. Hopefully over the next 5 months we can train ourselves to finish in the allotted time, but regardless, we will finish. We will also be raising money, in hopes that we can raise enough to qualify to apply for registration through a charity, since the registration spots are closed, and you must now register for the race through a charity. IF we do not raise enough money to join and register, we will still run (sadly unofficial), and will donate the money we do raise to charity of choice.
Regardless, I'm putting this site out there, to tell people, so I cannot back out of this. In life, you have to just make a choice, stick with it, and JUMP (like how I tied in that Van Halen title, eh?). I'm doing just that. It's time for a change in my life, so here we go...
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