Challenge Yourself

     It's easier to go to the gym and hang out on the elliptical while reading the latest fashion magazine than really make yourself sweat. I'm often the kind of person to screw around for 30 minutes or so doing exercises that are technically "working out" then head on home. Hey, it burns calories, right?
    But if you're looking to get in shape or reach some fitness goal, that's not always the best method. In the past week, I think my workouts have challenged me more than the last month's workouts combined.  My week of work started with a half marathon in the moutains. Before I started, I promised myself that I wouldn't walk. By mile 11, my legs were throbbing. Running up the hills felt like the fitness equivalent of running into a cement wall. But I couldn't walk. I had promised myself. Before you start an endeavor, set a goal. Hold yourself accountable.
     However, making promises to yourself can give you a little bit of leeway. After all, if you made a promise to yourself, you just might find it in your heart to let yourself out of that promise. Try making yourself accountable to others instead. I had to do just that when I ran the last 5 miles of my dad's 100 mile race. Yes, 100 miles.
     Assuming that he'd be exhausted, I hadn't trained much. Big mistake. Getting it into his mind that he would beat his time from last year, he took off ahead of me. Running race pace at 10,000 feet was not something I had bargained for. On my own, I would have stopped, laughed it off and walked home. But my dad, exhausted from running for 28 hours, wanted to race, and I sure as hell wasn't going to hold him back. Instead, I put my head down, held onto his water and his food, and ran. Was it horrible? Yes. Did I throw up as I crossed the finish line? Yes. But my dad was counting on me and somehow, I finished that 5 miles. When someone else is counting on you to get there, you'll have an easier time finding the strength to go on.
     Whether you make a deal with yourself or with someone else, set goals. Be accountable. Don't go into a workout or a race without a plan for the end result. When you've got a finish line to cross, you'll find the power to make it there.

The Best Olympic Moment: Appreciation

     Like any sane American, I am obsessed with the 2012 Olympics. I keep tabs on my favorite athletes online, watch the NBC nightly re-caps, and cheer along with the fans louder than most people actually in the stadium. And while I love watching Missy Franklin get a gold or Gabby Douglas finish a breath-taking bar routine, the part of the games that gets me every time is when these athletes give their shining moment to someone else.
     When you see a gold-medalist run for the stadium to find their mom or when teammates fall into each other's arms rather than raise their arms in individual victory, those are the moments worth celebrating. And yes, the moments where I cry like a baby. But in that moment, these athletes aren't saying, "I did it," or "I beat you." They are saying, "Thank you," or "I did this because of you." Those are the moments worth celebrating. Here are just a few of my favorite Olympic moments. And yes, each and every one of them is a hug.

     The Olympics aren't all about the athletes. They are about a team; a team of mothers, fathers, friends, and countries that are behind the few out there to compete. That's something worth celebrating.

Clear It Out

     

     For those who have ever single-handedly organized and executed a garage sale, you understand me when I say it’s a monumental feat. First, you have to sort through all of your junk, decide what you don’t want to keep, organize it, price it, carry it where it needs to be, and then sell it. I was more tired after that week of garage sale preparation than I was the week of finals.

     Why would one voluntarily put themselves through such agony? To clear out and make space. When you let your life get cluttered, it can overwhelm you. And yes, there are some metaphorical undertones in what I’m saying here. Don’t let things, material or mental, pile up. Take care of them. Figure out what you want to hold on to and if you don’t need it, let it go. Creating space for new shoes, new thoughts, or new friends will put you in an excellent mood. After you take a good, solid nap and count your money, that is.

Chillax

     When you're running from job to job, workout to lunch with the girls, sometimes we forget to grab a little me time. But unfortunately, when we're stocked up on IOU's of me time, it can catch up to you. It caught up to me in the form of what I was sure was the plague (though more believably, strep throat). On top of that, because we were getting our floors re-done, I wasn't allowed in the house. Instead, I was holed up in a hotel with nothing but water, dry bread, and enough medication to cure an entire country of the common cold.
     What I learned between episodes of Desperate Housewives and restless sleeps was not to wait until you literally can't get out of bed to spend some time there. Allow yourself a day to sleep in. Tell your friends you can't go out because you want to curl up with your favorite book for a few hours. It's okay to be alone for a little while. I also highly recommend doing it when it's not in a drug-enduced stupor.

Where's My Healthy?

   
      I was nannying the other day when I had a little girl asked me why I was fat.
     "I'm not fat," I answered. "I'm just bigger than your mommy and daddy."(Her mom and dad are triathletes and ultra-marathon runners. Hard to compete...)
     "Yeah, but bigger is fatter," she answered.
     Right then is when I saw it: the truth of our generation and those that are coming after us. Bigger is fatter. At least, that's what we're told. I'm at a perfectly healthy weight for my height, though certainly not on the model-skinny side. And yet, to this 5-year-old, I looked fat.
     Her question didn't hurt my feelings, didn't upset me or make me angry. Rather, it made me worried. How do we correct this distorted image? In a society where millions are dangerously overweight, we have been taught to praise the skinnier, smaller people. But in that praise, we're forgetting about the normal people. We forget about the people who are healthy, who eat right and exercise, but are never going to grace the covers of Vogue or Marie Claire. We ignore these people who fall somewhere in between skinny and fat, despite the fact that they make up most of our population. They are real-sized. I am real-sized.
     Skinny doesn't mean healthy. Though many people think of them as one in the same, they are not. I am not skinny because I enjoy a piece of birthday cake at a party and I relish in sleeping in a few times a week instead of hitting the gym before work. In this routine, I have found happiness. Yet, magazines and television urge the public with diet pills and magic workout programs that you can't be happy until you're skinny. But you know what? I feel pretty damn happy, big butt and all.

Motivation

     Motivation is one of the hardest things to fake. If you aren't truly motivated to get out the door and go for a run or hit up the gym, you're going to have a difficult time getting there. That's why if you can't find it deep within yourself to work out for the sole reason that it's good for you (don't worry, I can't do that either), then create motivation.

     This summer, I signed up for the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon. Maybe being signed up won't motivate me to go fast or to train every day for hours on end, but while I'm laying in bed, debating whether or not to actually get up and run, now, there's a little voice inside my head asking me, "Do you really want to crawl the 6 miles?" The answer, obviously being no, reminds me to get up, get out, and, as Nike says, just do it.
     If running isn't your thing, find some other way to hold yourself accountable. Sign up for a workout class at your gym. If you've already paid for the classes, you won't want to miss them. Buy a swim suit that you want to look great in on your next vacation and hang it on your bedroom door. When you see that, you'll remember to put on those gym shorts and get active. Maybe you can't fake motivation, but you can certainly find a way to make a little of your own.

Getting Out of Bed

     I've never been one to hop out of bed with the rising sun and be ready to go. Sure, I'm a morning person, but it takes a few cups of coffee and a few hours of lounging to be ready for the day. Usually, I'm up and about for a while before I'm ready to go for a run. In the brisk fall weather or the warm spring afternoons, that's never been a problem. But when I hit my favorite running trail at 95 degrees with 0% humidity, afternoon running didn't feel so hot.
     I love running, but I had to change my habits as the summer heats up. If you're like me and you'd rather beat your head against a wall then run more than five minutes on a treadmill, choose two or three days out of the week to get up early and hit the running trail. Choose the days when you need to be up early for work and set the alarm 30 minutes earlier or coordinate morning runs with friends so you aren't tempted to roll back under the covers. The air conditioned gym may feel like the best choice when the temperature sky-rockets, but if you need your dose of outdoor activity, plan ahead.