How I Know I'm Awesome... Or Changes I've Noticed

Not to brag or anything, but lately I've been feeling pretty awesome about myself. 

"But this doesn't seem to really be a new development for her," you might be saying to yourself. Believe me. It kinda is. I've always had, what is clinically called, shitty self-image. I can be the most positive person on the planet, unless I'm talking about myself and/or my abilities. Then I become an evil green-faced, fanged monster.

Source

 

 It's not pretty, to say the least.

Anyway, lately, even though I was in a sort of rut with my training, I've been feeling pretty darn swell about myself. And I decided to list the reasons why I feel so amazing. (In no particular order) I present:

Reasons You May Be Awesome-ness Personified

• People leave flattering comments on your blog/facebook/dailymile/via email and text telling you how you have inspired them to become more physically active.
• You're mom and dad/other relatives or friends are constantly bragging about all the exercising you are doing.
• People compliment that you look like you have lost "half a person or so".
• You had to buy another container to hold all of your workout clothes.
• You have to hold up your old workout pants and underwear while doing a short run on the treadmill because they are falling off from all the weight you have lost (that was me this morning.... not fun).
• Even though you possess only a fair amount of rhythm, you are still made dance captain in a show (ok, so maybe this one is just directed at me, whatev).
• The new shorts you JUST bought at Old Navy are now too big and fall down when you attempt to put anything in your pockets.
• You have the sweat glands of a 13 year old boy (and a soaked white t-shirt to prove it) and they kick in about 5 minutes into any form of physical activity.
• You no longer feel tired or sore after a 3 mile run (though you realize you are going to have to push yourself more).
• You put on a pair of leggings for dance rehearsal and they're now too big so you have to strategically roll them (true story!).
• You are no longer scared or self-conscious when perusing the fitness section of a bookstore.
• You willingly decide to do a 30 day ab challenge.
• You feel pretty ALL the time... even with no makeup while in your pjs and with your hair in some sort of crazy bun.

Ok, so maybe most of these solely apply to me, but still, aren't those exciting factors?! Those are some of the changes I've been noticing lately and they make me feel so happy. I may not be the fastest runner in the world, I may not have the best endurance, but damn if I'm not making some progress with myself anyway. Guess I will keep doing this running thing a bit longer ;)

In other news, this morning I got up at 5:15 AM and met my friend T at the gym. (Can you believe it?! I was up before the sun!!) We each did about 40 minutes of cardio- I did a 2.5 mile run in 38:54 on the treadmill. Then, we did the 12 minute ab circuit room and some arm machines. It was a great workout and I'm pretty sure I will be feeling it throughout the rest of the day. I'm now getting ready to go to work and then tonight we celebrate my mommy's birthday! YAY!!

The Reason Being....

Firstly, I would like to start off with a little song.....

Happy Day After My Birthday To ME
Happy Day After My Birthday To ME
Happy Day After My Birthday To MEEEEEEEEEEE....
I Somehow Managed to Still Eat Healthy!!!!

Hooray! What an accomplishment considering that my family took me to Red Robin (yumm) to celebrate. But I got a soup and a wrap, and I took half of the wrap home with me. Then, later that night my friends Madalyn and Chelsea cooked rice pilaf with broccoli, roasted chicken and asparagus. Even more YUMM! (They also made delicious cupcakes, but I contained myself and only had one.)

In other birthday news, I got some awesome gifts! I FINALLY got my Non-Runners Marathon Guide book I had been waiting and waiting for. Its utterly fantastic. Dawn Dais writes exactly how I think- dry sense of humor, witty, sarcastic and real. I'm already half way through the book. I also received a new set of headphones, an armband carrier for my iPod, some body bands to do my toning and strength exercises with and some gift cards. I'm actually very excited to continue my training. I know it's going to be really rough going, and I'm going to want to give up a lot, but I'm going to carry it through to the finish line in the fall.

In her book, Dawn talks about having "reasons to run"- actual, solid, justifiable reasons that you can back up for when you are laying face down in the park after running 6 miles and are trying to talk yourself out of continuing with your training. She even has a small section in the book where she encourages you to write down your reasons and what your "exhausted-on-a-bench" counter-arguments would be. I figured I would post mine here, and not just in the book.

Reasons for Running

Reason: I want to cross "finish a road race" off of my bucket list.
Counter-Argument: You have already run a 5k, so why do you need to run another race to complete this bucket list item?

Reason: I want to be healthy and lose weight.
Counter-Argument: And I want to walk on the moon. Doesn't mean I'm going to strap myself to a rocket and let her rip!

Reason: It is something I enjoy talking about and doing with my friends.
Counter-Argument: So is going out to dinner... and that doesn't make you sore afterward.

Reason: I want to be able to raise money for a worthy cause (which I plan on doing, if possible, for the half-marathon)
Counter-Argument: You could always just send in a check.


Isn't that fun? I could go on all night. Anyway, all of my reasons are valid and justifiable, if only to myself (and really, that's what matters in the end), so I feel good about this.

I've also come up with my own training schedule (based off of the one in the book and others that friends have followed, etc.) It provides me with two rest days for the first 3 months and then after that I will have 5 months where I only rest one day a week (my second rest day will morph into a second cross-training/circuit-training day). I will be running based on minutes, as opposed to miles, for the bulk of this training, and as I get closer to race day I will focus more on mileage.

Race Day : October 15th, 2011.
T-Minus 239 days.... and counting!