Another fabulous day OMB!

We walked 5 miles out into Goodwin Wildlife Management Area this weekend. If you chose not to GOYB, here's what you missed (click to make pictures bigger):

I think this was a first for me at Goodwin -- Heather spotted this beautiful Meadowlark serenading us.

 This was another Goodwin first for me, a Red-bellied Woodpecker. If you enlarge the picture, you can actually see the red on his belly.

 For those of you who thought I've been making up the deer, check this one out! She not only posed for me, she actually smiled!

 This was a Green Anole. Apparently it was trying to turn itself sand colored but couldn't quite get there. I kinda felt bad for the little guy.

 A little alligator. He was kind of cute.

 A group of lesser and greater Yellowlegs.

 I love the way the light plays with things as the sun starts going down here. This is a Red-shouldered Hawk.

 This is a Kestral, just starting to take off.

And last but not least, my faithful walking companions, David and Heather!











Be sure to GOYB next weekend when I will be up in Brevard County doing a walk at Malabar Scrub! You never know what you might see, but I can guarantee that you won't see any of it if you don't get off your butt!

Getting past the fear

A few weeks ago, I wrote a somewhat pithy blog about excuses for not exercising. Today, I would like to delve more seriously into the excuse that is hardest to face, but I know from personal experience is the one that keeps fat people from getting out and doing stuff: fear.

I know when I first started going to a gym, I had more fears than most people have leg hairs (fear of having hairy legs was even on the list.) So, for those of you who are afraid to do anything physical (I'm not talking about running a marathon, I'm talking about walking into a gym for the first time or even taking your puppy to the dog park) here is a list of my real fears and the way I got around them:

• Fear: Someone will call me fat or say something else mean to me.
• The Reality: There are two points here. First of all, I *am* fat; it's not something that is exactly a secret. Despite societal pressure to associate being fat with being a bad person, the fact of the matter is that it just means I am fat. Not good, not bad, just fat. It's not a dirty or bad word. Having someone call me fat really isn't any different than someone saying, "Hey, you have blondish hair." They might intend it as an insult, but that is their damage, it's not mine, and I won't let it be mine.
  And second, and most important, I have been going to gyms off and on for nearly 20 years now. And never, not ONCE has anyone EVER been mean to me at a gym. Not even close. People understand that I am there for the same reason they are, for exercise. Period.
  (And just for the record, in the last 20 years, the only people who have given me crap about my weight were people who were very close to me. It's been my experience that strangers generally are not mean to me.)
  
• Fear: People might look at me/talk to me.
• The Reality: That's a possibility. People might also talk to me or look at me in a grocery store or a movie theatre. People are (in most cases) human and social interaction is part of being human. If you are out walking or in a gym and really don't want to be talked to, wear your iPod. I can almost guarantee though, once you are comfortable in your own skin you won't need that security blanket any more.
  One note though: I'm not saying no one will ever look at you or maybe even leer and give you the willies while you are walking or at the gym. It is a danger (especially for women) pretty much anywhere you go. This is a huge benefit of either walking in groups/with a partner or working out in a gym -- there is safety in numbers. No professional gym will put up with bad behviour from members, but again, I have never, ever had to deal with it. Another note here -- I have always gone to small local gyms -- I have heard that bigger places like Golds or World Gym tend to be meat markets and can be uncomfortable if that is not your scene.
  
• Fear: I might get hurt.
• The Reality: Yes,  you might get hurt out walking or in a gym. You also might get hurt driving to work, taking a bath or having dinner. You might also have a massive coronary sitting on your couch watching TV. The big advantage to starting exercise at a gym is they have trainers who can show you how to properly use the equipment to prevent injuries. But either way, we all take calculated risks every day. Not exercising at all is putting yourself at a far greater risk. And, (I promise I am not making this up) even if you do get hurt, after a while you will notice that if you are in shape, you recover much faster.
  
• Fear: I will be the only person in the gym (or park where ever you choose to exercise) who isn't in shape.
• The Reality: Unless you are going to a very very very small gym or park, there will be people across the entire spectrum of fitness, from marathon runners to slugs who have to take a nap after tying their shoes (aka, me when I first started:-))
  The thing is, you can't compare yourself to the people who are in perfect shape. I was not born weighing 240 pounds, and the people who I aspire to be like were not born with muscles and awesome bodies. It is actually a great thing that there are so many body types at the gym. One thing I have found is that I can learn from the people who are where I want to be (Alison, Dave, Derick, I'm looking at you:-)), but I can also teach the people who are where I used to be. Even if it's just showing someone how to turn on the TV on the treadmill, I can help someone on their way, and I feel good about that, it shows me how far I have come.
  
• Fear: I'm never gonna succeed so why bother?
• The Reality: Succeed at what? Seriously, this was the hardest fear to get past until I asked myself, "What is my definition of success?" Be in a size 4 dress? Weigh 90 pounds? Be 23 years old again? Those are the kinds of goals I used to torture myself with. I realize now that success to me just means getting off my butt and doing something every day. There are days I work out like a fiend, lift weights, put 3-4 miles on the treadmill and walk out feeling like wonder woman. There are days that I drag my carcass to the gym, struggle to walk 1/2 mile on the treadmill, and drag myself home. But the only days that I do not succeed are the ones on which I do nothing. To quote Paul Simon:
  
  "A good day ain't got no rain
  A bad day's when I lie in bed
  and think about the things that might have been."

This Saturday, March 5, is a walk out at TM Goodwin. Be there, unafraid!

Another great day at Goodwin

Well, this weekend I didn't do some of the stuff I had planned. I skipped the 10k. Mostly because my foot is really really hurting from the plantar faciaitis again. It's at the point where it's throbbing up to my knee. Got to get it looked at again.  Also, because the race is done on roads, they don't allow headphones. As I've mentioned before, I could run without legs better than I could without my iPod.

But I did manage to get in a shorter walk tonight. We had another wonderful walk out at Goodwin this evening. 4 miles, and lots of critters and cool stuff. If you didn't GOYB today, here's what you missed (click to enlarge the pictures):

 This was our first critter of the evening, a very pretty ribbon snake.

 This is a BA alligator.

 This is the wing of a coot. David thinks that an eagle probably got it and dropped the wing carrying it back to his roost. I am reminded of the Gary Larson joke "Carrion Carryout".

 This was a huge banded water snake.

 This was a much smaller banded water snake.

 We aren't sure what this used to be. It was clearly a mammal of some kind, but all that was left was this completely stripped pelt.

 This was odd... it appeared to be a snail walking around leaving this crazy trail behind him.

 I got a better picture of the deer tonight, you can actually tell that they are deer.

 This is becoming my favorite time of the day, and it's always been David's. I love how the light just bathes everything in an orange glow. Here is a black-crowned night heron.

 This was the remnants of a dead fish. It had a really interesting texture. At first, I thought it was part of a palm tree till David pointed out the eye socket.

Here is David, smiling proudly at his work. And by "work" I mean he cut the cheese right before the picture was taken.

Other than that, it was a great evening, and despite that, great company.

Hope you can join our next outing. I will make David behave if you join us:-)

Event Update -- Snakes and birds and...

If you chose not to GOYB today, you missed an amazing walk out at Goodwin Wildlife Management Area. Among the many cool things you missed:

A poser of a hawk! He was very pale and happy to moon for the camera. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would swear he was putting effort into mooning me!

Two cara cara nomming on something.











A pretty snake. We saw one these before, but I can't remember what we decided he is. It has  really pretty color, kind of a 2-tone cinnamon color.

This was a little tiny solid black snake. At first I thought it was a ring neck snake, but there was no ring. Maybe his wife is really good at laundry.

 As I was leaving, it was getting pretty dark, but I did get to see 3 deer running off the road. You can see their white tails if you look closely. I wonder if the critters at Goodwin are sick of me -- I started and ended my journey today getting mooned by critters!





Sorry you missed all this cool stuff by staying in, hope you join me next week for more adventures!

Event Update: Goodwin WMA

If you chose not to GOYB on Sunday, you missed an awesome bike ride out at Goodwin WMA:

 I was joined on the bike ride by Heather and her friend Ibrahim. We decided that a true test of love is trying to ride a bicycle built for 2 on an 8 mile ride through a wilderness area... will they still like each other at the end of the trip? Stay tuned...

Goodwin is always amazing at dusk, and this evening was no exception. We saw 3 bobcats, and this one was kind enough to pose for us. We think it might have been a female protecting some young, as she just sat there and stared us down in a "don't come any closer" kind of way. Unfortunately, I didn't have my long lens with me, but she was a beauty, she had long white whiskers. My kitties would have loooooved her:-)

 We got back a little later than intended, but we were treated to a magnificent sunset on the way back.

Yup! True love prevails, even after a few close calls on a bicycle built for 2!







Looking forward to our next outing!

So, What is YOUR Excuse?

I hate sounding like an exercise evangelist. But the fact of the matter is, there really are so many benefits from exercising. In my personal experience, I've seen:

• Getting toned. I haven't lost any weight, but I can see my body changing shape, clothes fitting differently.
• More Stamina. If I am walking/hiking, I can go much longer without needing a break. (Unless I am properly hydrated and have to take potty breaks:-)
• Better mental health. I notice this in general, but on weekends if I decide to be a slug and not get at least some cardio in, I tend to start feeling like Charlie Brown with those little dark clouds following me around. 
• Better physical health. As mentioned in a previous post, I get sick much less, and when I do catch colds or have allergy attacks, I recover much faster. In fact, I recover from any kind of strain my quicker now. I walked the 1/2 marathon on Sunday and was back to the gym the next day. 

I try not to annoy people with proselytizing, but it's hard. It drives me nuts when people tell my why they can't exercise. Here are my favorite excuses that I've heard lately, and my responses:

• Excuse: I can't afford a gym membership.
• My Reply: Really? How much is your cable bill every month? I've never seen a cable bill that is smaller than a gym membership monthly fee.
• Excuse: I don't have time to exercise.
• My Reply: Really? How much time every day do you spend watching TV? If you cancel cable, you can knock out two excuses in one blow. And, you can watch cable/satellite TV at the gym -- all cardio machines have built in TVs.
• Excuse: It's too cold/hot/raining out.
• My Reply: Let me get this straight. You are paying $30/month to go to the INDOOR gym, but you can't go to the INDOOR gym because it is cold OUTDOORS? So tell me, how did you get to the grocery store/post office/anywhere else you went today? Did those things not involve going outside in order to get INSIDE?
• Excuse: I don't know anyone at the gym.
• My Reply:I didn't know anyone when I joined the gym either.  So I said "Hi" to the people I didn't know. You know what? I know them now.  But seriously, here is tip: Leave your iPod home now and then. I think I met more people the month I was without an iPod than I had in the previous 5 months of being a member at the gym. Wearing an iPod all the time can give people the impression that you don't want to be talked to, not wearing an iPod can do the opposite. 
• Excuse: I don't feel good enough to exercise. 
• My Reply: What doesn't feel good? If you have an actual ailment (the flu, anything contagious) then absolutely stay home and rest. If your doctor has told you that you cannot exercise,  then again, stay home till he tells you otherwise. However, if you are just tired, don't feel like getting up, don't feel like leaving the house, that is NOT a valid excuse. I have literally NEVER gone to the gym and felt worse after. The only times I have felt worse is when I give in to being lazy and blow it off. 
• Excuse: I am too stressed out to spend time exercising.
• My Reply: Whatever is bothering you, you will only feel worse if you sit and stew over it. You will always feel better if you take it out in the gym. Case in point: one of the best moments of my life was when some idiot broke my little heart, the trainer at the gym I was going to at the time taught me how to play racquetball.  I named the racquetball after the jerk and smashed the living crap out of it. I cannot tell you how much that did for my poor broken psyche.
• Excuse: I hate going to the gym.
• My Reply: So, walk outside. Get a Wii and play WiiFitness. Take a dance class. Take a self defense class. Your local rec center, church, or adult ed mostly likely offer free or low-cost activities. Heck, there might even be a web site that offers free activities that can get you out moving!
• Excuse: I'm too out of shape to start. 
• My Reply: No, you aren't too out of shape to start, you are too scared to start. Trust me on this one, the scariest thing I ever did as an adult was to walk into a gym for the first time (I remember this -- it was the Prospect Hill gym in Waltham -- I was terrified.)  But you know what? It wasn't that scary at all. The people were all really nice to me. But, even if you are too scared to go to a gym, you can start small -- remember my motto -- SOMETHING is better than NOTHING.  Here are some suggestions to get you started:
• When you go to work or shopping, don't take the first parking space you see. Park further from the door every day.
• When you go grocery shopping, only get 1/2 of what you need in each aisle, then go back and make a second lap.
• Use your imagination. For example, pretend you are expecting a diamond shipment via US mail. Walk to your mailbox once every hour to see if they have come  yet.

So, now tell me -- if you are reading this -- have you exercised today? If not, WHY? If I haven't covered your excuse here, please tell me what it is, I'm dying to hear something more creative!

1/2 Marathon Results

I did my 8th race today, my first ever 1/2 marathon. Here are the results of the last 8 races:

• February 6, 2011 (4:32:04 20:47/M)
• December 11, 2010 (51:43.9, 16:41/M)
• November 20, 2010 (1:02:36.7, 17:53/m)
• November 13, 2010 (53:45.2, 17:20/m)
• October 2, 2010 (51:57) (Note -- this race doesn't count. After the race all participants received a message stating that the race organizers messed up the course and it in fact was not a full 5k, which explains the really good time.)
• September 12, 2010 (57:44 18:37/m)
• July 3, 2010 (56:25:35 18:12/m)
• June 5, 2010 (1:03:20 20:26/m)

My time was a little higher than I had hoped, but given that George ran with me, causing me to stop for breaks than I wanted to take, I was pretty pleased with the results. The highlights of the race included:

• No blisters! I used moleskin, and that really seemed to do the trick. I will definitely use that for all long walks in the future.
• LOTS of encouragement:
• I got a text last night from Heather that said, "GOOD LUCK! Power to the new sports bra and all that is contained within!" Made me laugh, which is one of my favorite motivators.
• David and Beth were there to take pictures and cheer us on. Beth texted us encouragement throughout the race. David even went out in search of scissors and ice at 5:45 this morning for me, and had Starbucks at the finish line for me!
• Dave and Alison from the gym surprised me at mile 12 to cheer me on for the last part of the race. (This made me cry, I thought it was the sweetest thing EVER!)
• And most of all, cousin Amy kicked my butt to finish. I didn't want to quit, but I had cramping and bad back pain about mile 8. Amy didn't just cheer me on, she waited for me while I took breaks,  didn't even consider leaving me behind, and was WAY more patient with me than I ever could have expected anyone to be.

Thanks so much to everyone who supported me in this endeavor, I seriously love you all! 

I started this blog as a way to encourage other obese people to get out and do stuff. I really hope that someone reading this realizes the same thing that I have been lucky enough to have shown to me again and again: It is not being fat that keeps you from doing stuff, it's the voices in your head that keep you from doing stuff. I have been lucky enough to find people (all the way back to that day on Mount Monadnock with Wayne) to help me drown out the voices in my head. I hope some day that I can convince people reading this (Michael, I'm looking at you) that there is life beyond the couch. You just have to start, take one step at a time, and prove to that annoying voice inside that it is WRONG. I am living proof of it.

And, for those who need photographic proof, once again my adoring and adored husband photo-documented everything (click to enlarge pictures):

 

Me and Amy the night before the race in our official race t-shirts and hats. The hats were really neat. They were made out of this stretchy fabric that felt kind of like wearing underpants on my head. In a good way.

Me and Amy, before the race, warming up.

Cousin Beth, posting our pictures to Facebook.

David, doing our shin splint exercises with us.

Me and Amy, being goofy as we start the race. Notice my gatorade red tongue. I actually remembered to hydrate, I downed about 50 ounces before the race. Which was fine except there weren't enough porta potties for my taste.

Getting near the finish line. This is my favorite picture from today, I love Amy's "You GO GIRL" fist-pumping action.

Amy, crossing the finish line.

Me, crossing the finish line.

Having our official portrait taken.

Our official portrait by David.

When all was said and done, Amy looked like she could do another 13.1 miles. I looked like I wanted Amy to carry me to the car. But I was much better after the Starbucks my baby brought me.

So, I'm downloading the pictures and I come across this one. This store was across the street from the finish line. I asked David why he took the picture. He said, "Because it's Fudge! I like Fudge!" We didn't actually go here, but now that I've rested and drank more, my appetite is back and I kinda feel like I could eat the store!