Transition: Motivations

January 17th, 2010 was going to be my first run that is longer than 13.1 miles. With each long run, I seem to compose a new blog post in my head. When someone comes up with the technology to translate my stream of thoughts directly to an eBlogger post, I will be forever grateful (and slightly worried) because I have fallen into this lovely habit of typing in my thoughts and notes directly into a draft post as soon as I am done running with every intention of writing a full post as soon as I stretch, shower and eat. Yeah, that clearly has worked out REALLY well since this particular post was drafted on January 17th and I'm now writing it on February 20th. I am still dating it Jan. 17th and I'm probably breaking some major law of the blogdom world by doing so. Oh well.


So I almost didn't do this run. My right leg was really sore in a particular spot for the first time during all of my training. And because this kind of training is new to me, I wasn't sure if my soreness was "normal" or an alarm. I am terrified of injury and very aware that most injuries could be prevented if the warning signs were listened too. So was this a warning sign?

Transition: Non-Runner > Runner (almost)

I used to love the phrase "I only run when chased". Well, I do still get a kick out of it. But it doesn't describe how I feel about running anymore. I am still wary of calling myself a "runner" (after all, I have not run a marathon (yet), my first 13.1 that wasn't attached to a triathlon was just this past weekend, and my speed is, well...not fast). But I no longer think of running as an escape in a bad situation. Its finally an escape to a good place.

Transition: Healthy > Having a cold > Getting healthy again

Years ago, I didn't mind getting sick. I would eventually be sent home from work, which meant everyone knew I wasn't "faking it".  I still got paid and I could then spend the day(s) in bed, curled up with a good book, movies, and tender, love and care from my husband (then boyfriend). It was forced break from work that I never took on my own, and boy, did I know how to take care of myself when I was sick. (I should also mention that I wasn't really a fan of my job, either).

Then I started cycling, swimming and running on a regular basis. And for some reason it seemed like I got sick even more, even though I was living a "healthier" lifestyle. Or perhaps it just felt like it because now when I got sick, I got PISSED. How dare my body turn on me and keep me from pounding the pavement or spinning my wheels? I feed it healthy foods (most of the time), give it plenty of rest (most of the time), exercise regularly (um, that I do...to a fault), and yet at least a few times a year I'm still treated to some sort of illness.

Transition: 149 to 130

This is the last topic I expected to write about as one of my first topics but since losing 19 pounds in one year without dieting sounds like a bad infomercial (well, not as bad as those new Taco-Bell Drive Through Diet Ads), it seemed like as good a topic as any to start off the year and the blog.

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a nutritionist. I am not a dietician. I am not a doctor. I am not an expert in weight loss, diets, or medicine. (chocolate, football, & twitter, however, are another story…)

I am, however, a 5’4”, 38-year-old woman who always felt like I could lose 5 pounds. Well, it was 5 pounds until about 5 years ago, when it became 10 pounds. Ok, then at my physical last January when I weighed in at 149, it became 15 pounds…at least. 

Sound familiar?

Transition: Non-blogger to blogger

I've always been a little behind the technology times. During my senior year of college, Apple introduced its first color computer and I still preferred to use the the original, tiny, black and white screen version. Something about those little machines was comforting. A few years later, when cell phones finally started to become mainstream, I held onto my pager. (I liked dialing numbers to it that spelled funny little words. Go figure that I'm a text-a-holic now).  Several years ago, my husband worked at DirecTv and brought home one of the first TiVo units. After a day, I made him take it back, citing that we didn't need to watch more TV. (Of course, now I am a devout TiVo follower.) I can proudly say I have avoided Facebook, though I'm sure that, too, will change. So, its really no surprise that years after the blogger-explosion, I am finally starting my own. Ok, that isn't entirely true...I did keep a blog during our 2008 California Coast Classic Ride. But writing a regular, daily basis, about the life-and-times-of-Nina type blog...well, this is new territory.