Here we go again...

Well, last night on a whim I joined a gym.

That's right, I am now a card caring member of the club of healthy people that go to amped up gyms.

It all started when my friend Amy suggested we go get dinner (actually she stated, "I'd like some french fries," just saying). We went to this film festival last night (having friends in the different entertainment industries=perks like free movie festivals and free concert tickets), and it was a nice affair. Saw Alan Cummings new movie, and sat through a Q&A with him, very nice. And as we are leaving, we walk by this gym and I shout "POOL!" Amy use to be a competitive swimmer in high school, and earlier we were talking about swimming, and how I have a new found love for it. We looked up gyms with pools, but they were all really expensive. So what is the luck we pass a place with a pool?!?!

So we go in, just going to inquire about a price, and they take us on a tour (this is ALWAYS where they get ya) and me and Amy are super impressed. This place has all the scary machines, a million treadmills and stair machines, a pool and current pool, a basketball court, a whirlpool, free classes with membership, a full service spa, tanning beds (ha, like I need that), a shop with supplements, etc. Basically one of those "ya, I go to the gym bro," beefy guy type of gyms. We were both terrified, but also impressed. So we cut them a deal that we could afford (month to month! No contract!) and signed our workout souls away. Amy is trying to convince me to do kickboxing. I am trying to convince her to do this most ridiculous sounding class on the schedule (btw, that is a dance class called Zumba) and the whole time the guy signing us up is laughing at us, the gym odd couple. I also told him I'm doing a marathon in October. He is doing the half marathon. He looks like a total beefcake. He is the type of person to do a marathon, not I, and thus, the whole interaction was very very funny.

So yes, I am now way vested in this whole marathon shenanigan. I bought expensive shoes and sports bras, I actually signed up for the marathon, and now I joined a steroid infused gym.

Oh boy.

Wish me luck. Amy and I meet with a trainer today to show us all the machines and to analyze our health (hahaha). Maybe I should just take in my EKG and lab results to him and be like "look, I have the health of a 50 year old, but my heart is ok! SEE!?!" Afterwards is a swim. It shall be funny. And did I mention I have a 100 minute walk today? Ok? OK!

Haven't fallen off the face of the earth yet...

Sorry it's been a bit since an update! I've been Ms. Social butterfly lately, especially this past weekend, plus I just started a new pt job, so life has been busy.

I've also been slaking a bit too, because I've felt yucky this past week. But it's good! Because my body is getting better, but it's bringing me down. I'll spare the details, but it's not the best week ever, haha.

I've also been forgetting my iPod a lot when I walk in the city, but I've still been damn active. Like walking around from and to work, and walking around this weekend at the Pride parade. Lots of walking.

See, I never ever liked walking. But since this whole training for a marathon thing, I don't mind so much. This is making my active friends much happier (Adam actually said "I like this new Lisa,") and also is saving my cash that I usually would use for the bus or train. Pretty sweet deal . So I walked all over the Northside this weekend. And I have the hella bad sunburn to prove it. But Pride Parade was a blast (my 1st one!) and I had a lot of fun hanging with friends, and I got some mileage in too!

I worked out doing cardio today in my friend David's pool. It's been so long since I've swimmed, I forgot how nice it is! But man am I sore. I forgot how hard doing laps is. Still, I'm going to start using swimming for my cardio workout during the week.

Work in the morning tomorrow. May stash my stuff and go for my workout after I work, then go back and use the spa. I recently started working at a womens spa, and I like it a lot. Plus I get to use the spa (big plus!) so tomorrow maybe work, workout, spa. Should be a lot of fun!

Lisa

That soon? Really?

So I was just thinking of signing up for this virtual half marathon on Nike. You basically run the 13.1 miles, upload it from your ipod/Nike system, and if you complete it, they donate money, you get a sweet t-shirt and an even sweeter Tiffany (what every girl wants and loves!) designed keychain. All for only 45 bucks! So I thought, not a bad idea, I bet by the time I'd have to do this, I could totally do 13.1 miles.

Oh wait. This half marathon is 13 days AFTER I am suppose to run the full Chicago marathon.

The time table of this whole marathon is starting to sink in :/

Eh, if I don't die (or go broke) from running the Chicago marathon, I'll go ahead and do this virtual one. At that point, 13.1 miles will be a breeze. And I can finally own something Tiffany, haha.

75 minute training tomorrow. Get. Pumped.

Lisa

no pain, no gain.

So starts the pain. I haven't really had that much pain during training thus far, just been really tired after I train. Today was a different story. The top of my ankle was KILLING me. I had to stop twice during my workout to stretch it. I had the most up an down random paced run ever, haha. Oh well, applying ice now, and I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow. No pain no gain, right?

Actually (hoping) of working out early tomorrow and doing laundry. I start training at a part time job tomorrow. oooh. It's a womens spa, it's very nice. Wish me luck!

Lisa

Happy Father's Day

So my dad texted me and asked me to post the Nike+ run I just did. He said he'd like that for a father's day gift. So besides logging at Nike (which you can see to the right) I'll also just shout my longest workout thus far from the blogger rooftops:

I LISA WHITE, JUST COMPLETED 3.53 MILES IN 1 HOUR WITH AN AVERAGE PACE OF 17 MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS PER MILE AND BURNED 770 CALORIES!!!!!

Not bad for a girl that wouldn't want to walk 4 blocks to class a month or two ago. Not bad at all :)

And you know what helped today? What made me keep going instead of stopping and/or puking, passing out, or hailing a cab home? I passed an older man, he was running towards me, and he sort of looked like my Dad when my Dad was younger. Dark hair, big nose (go White family noses!), really did look like the Dad I remembered from my childhood. Except this guy was in great shape, something my Dad didn't have when I was little. Only in the past 5 or so years has my Dad become the health nut and much better and healthier person that he is today. And as the man passed me, he smiled and gave me the thumbs up sign, what I take as the good job sign or runner equivalence of a pat on the back. I couldn't stop smiling. It was like my Dad was there, telling me great job, and to keep going. I stepped my pace up, and I didn't stop pushing it until I got home. So thanks Dad, even when you aren't here in Chicago, I know that you are with me when I run, pushing me and helping me reach a goal of a healthier life, every step of the way. Your inspiration of health never ceases to make me keep trying, every mile and every minute.

Happy Father's Day Dad, I love you.

Lisa

PS If you have the Nike+ iPod system, please create a profile, go to events, and sign up to run the RUN LIKE NYC challenge. It doesn't cost anything, but whatever charity (there are three) that you choose, for each mile that you complete, money is donated to that charity. Doesn't cost you a thing, and it is for a good cause. Since a friend of the family is going through a horrible experience right now (her granddaughter, who is ONLY 4, is battling a really bad form of leukemia, and isn't doing very well, which is so very sad), I've decided to do my miles for the charity Team In Training, a company that trains athletes to help raise money for leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma. Remember, it's a very worthy cause, and you don't have to raise or donate any money. You just have to walk or run. Follow the link below for more information.

http://www.nike.com/nikeplus/?locale=en_us&l=events,neighborhood

Just get off your ass and do it.

This is me not wanting to go out and run again. This is the point where my mind starts to go, "Dude, what the hell have you done?!?! Are you fucking crazy?!?!" This is the point where I start to try to binge on healthy food, and try to sneak in unhealthy food back into my life. I ate the rest of David's fried potato wedges yesterday. I haven't ate something fried in 4 weeks until then. Then I ate some onion rings also. Might as well, what the hell...

This is the point where I usually give up. It's funny, my breaking point and attention span is so low compared to what it use to be. Yet the small victories mean so much more now. I walked to the grocery store Friday for my workout. Forget to take the iPod. Round trip was 3.44 miles, the longest I've gone in one stretch. I felt so tired. Granted I was pushing about 50 lbs of groceries (hey, 5 bottles of Gatorade and a whole watermelon weights a lot, CMON!) and it was the heat of the day, but I just felt so proud when I made it back. It's the small things that count, things that you couldn't (and wouldn't) have done a month ago.

One thing that keeps convincing me to keep going are the dreams I keep having. I keep having dreams about finding love. See, this has never been an important thing to me. I've always put my education and career first. I've dated a few people, fell hard for one person and got hurt, but nothing really that odd or different. But now as I'm loosing weight, I don't know, the idea of love and relationships are starting to sound so appealing to me. I blame all the friends I have that are getting married, or the love in the air in the summer, but regardless, I'm starting to want to have someone there. I've never had that, I've been too trapped by my fears and hate of my body, but as I'm melting it away, those feelings are going away too. I had a dream where I didn't loose the weight last night, and I had these guys that were crazy about me, and were totally fat. No offense fat guys, I'm sure your all lovely on the inside, but I won't lie. This is why I don't date, and I don't expect people to date me. I don't find overweight people attractive, so I don't date them, and I understand why someone wouldn't want to date me because they aren't attractive to my size. We like people for whats on the inside a lot, but we make the decision to know them better based on what we see. The other dreams I've had I'm cute and fit, and finding love with men I've always desired and dreamed of dating.

These dating dreams, this glimpses at what I could have if I continue (vs what I will have if I continue down a not so healthy road, assuming I even live that long at all) maybe a driving force that keeps me doing this. It's scary to think of dying young and unhealthy and huge and alone. I know I'm being dramatic, but it very well could happen to me if I don't change. And that enough is fear to make me go out in the 81 degree weather, and walk for 60 minutes. Praying that it's enough to make me change my life.

Sorry so Debbie Downer folks. Have a great father's day, and keep the faith.

Lisa

But I don't wanna work out....wahhhhhhhhh

Welcome to week four, the defiant week. I've seriously been like a two year old, not wanting to work out at all or do anything, just sit around and yell "NO!" at the idea of doing stuff. Since I've been keeping healthy food around, I've been also trying to binge eat, which is really hard to do when there is only said stuff around. So I've binged on carbs some (being the defiant two year old that I am) which is bad for high blood sugar Lisa. I've also been insanely lazy. So today, I forced myself (like yelled out loud at myself to get up and go) and I just got back from my workout with a new record for pace! Granted it's still not a good pace (see the Nike chart to the right) but ya know, it's something better!

So the big news was this weekend my father and I got confirmation of the charity we are running with! READY TO FIND OUT WHO LISA IS RUNNING THE CHICAGO MARATHON WITH???!!!!

Drum roll please......The Alzheimer's Association/Team CARE! Hurrah! We are actually registered and running the Chicago Marathon! It is a done deal! And we are helping out a great cause! Alzheimer's is a horrible condition that affects not only the people with it, but the family and friends of those individuals. And people at a younger age are starting to show signs of the disease. There was actually a story about it in The Chicago Tribune yesterday. So please follow the link to the right, donate some money to a great cause, and watch as I (almost) kill myself to run a marathon! See how fun this is?

Back to getting my tantrum throwing butt back in gear for the rest of the week. I just yelled at myself on the elevator to never skip a few days working out again. Bad bad Lisa. Everyone take care, and happy early Father's Day!

sweat and more sweat!

Coming up on the end of week 3 of training. Amazed that I don't feel that tired or sore yet (knock on wood), but then again a few weeks ago I wouldn't have dreamed of being able to work out for an hour (I usually only do 30 mins whenever I did for some odd reason get my ass up and work out) so it's still pretty awesome that I am improving. And also improving my pace. I think it's because every time I do a longer workout, Lance Armstrong congratulates me on my longest workout thus far with my Nike iPod system, but hey, whatever keeps me going, right?

So I'm starting to get slightly worried about my skin. It's not liking this whole sweating thing, and is breaking out and also getting what I assume and hope is heat rashes. So hot let me tell ya. I actually just texted my Dad (who is currently at our doctors) and told him to check with the doc and let me know if its ok...Let's hope so.

Speaking of my doctor, I seriously have such an awesome one. He's back in Evansville, but he is awesome. He wanted to be a doctor because he watched his own father die of diabetes, so he wanted to help others lead a healthy life. He's been really supportive of my dad during his 70 + pound weight loss, and is being very supportive and encouraging of me and this training for a marathon craziness. Although he thinks we should do a bunch of half marathons and then do the full one next year, he's left it up to me for my own doing.

UPDATE: I just talked to my dad (like just now) and doc tried to convince my dad of not doing the marathon the whole appointment. Haha. We already knew this, the doctor told me I'd be able to bounce back, but is worried about my Dad. Well, it's up to Dad, I'm doing the damn thing. The doctor also told me to get anti-itch cream for like bug bites and stuff and try that on my skin. Awesome. I'm all gross and broken out and creamed now. Eww. I'm awesome.

So the marathon spots are filling up hella fast. We can no longer register with the Cancer foundation :( I am very sad about this. But we did apply with another group, and are waiting for our confirmation, so soon enough I'll announce the charity I'm running with! Then I NEED MONEY FOR SAID AWESOME CHARITY TO SUPPORT! :) Stay tuned!

Lisa

new apartment = new running course

Week three now. Still training. Been a bit relaxed though, moving and all. But getting back into the swing of things.

I'm trying to improve my pace now, since my dad is currently kicking my ass. Gee, that isn't embarrassing whatsoever. Yeah.

I bought Gatorade and Gu (the gel you eat when you run) and a powerbar at Target this week. Have yet to try any of these oh so lovely things...Look at me, trying to be all marathoner and shit. Man, is that even a word. I don't know anymore. My brain (and body) just hurts from walking everywhere.

to the anon. commenter, thanks for the sports bra advice. So far I'm ok with my "we don't need to work out, we're fat at Lane Bryant!" sports bra, but if needed I may have to pay the shipping and get one of those neato ones from the UK company, so thanks for the advice and your very lovely comment!

So I live by a beach now, which is nice, except the sand that gets in my shoes. But there are many hot guys with dogs. Nothing to make me feel like a lameass out there huffing and puffing along in my spandex. Ew. Oh well, all in due time...

I've also invested in ice packs. And some different creams for the lovely heat rashes and stuff that I'm getting. Oh man, no one told me how glamorous training for a marathon is. I bet I'm gonna look so awesome with my gu packets pinned to my t-shirt and my water bottle and fanny pack in my horrid spandex on raceday. So hot.

So the pessimist in me is starting to show, eh? Oh well, back to the grindstone...gotta make up for the lost time this week. Keep checking back and take care!