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Get tissues before you watch this:
http://www.values.com/inspirational-stories-tv-spots/124-Finish-Line0 -
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I checked off 31 of those. 32 once I can find an ice bottle to put in my freezer.0
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Marc Parent Nails It
How to Change for Good
By
Marc Parent;
As a kid, I always wondered what would happen to the people I knew in 20 years' time—who would live and who would die; who would get married; who would become a dentist, a ballerina, an astronaut; who would grow bald; who would get a Great Dane. I wondered about this when I had the most time, which was usually in church. We were a big family that took up most of the pew, which meant we usually had to sit in the front to find one open. That put us first in line for communion and left us on our knees the longest while the rest of the congregation filed past. I'd close my eyes and fold my hands to pray, but after I exhausted every conceivable version of "I'm sorry," my elbows would slump over the front rail and I'd gaze up and wonder about Chrissy Fen as she passed. Would she always wear a single ring-curl at each ear? Would Stu Spencer's pockets always jingle with change? Would the Zimmerman twins always be pretty? Would Mr. Lucas ever buy another suit, and if not, would he ever wash the one he wore, and if not, would he ever start using dandruff shampoo? Mostly I wondered if people changed or stayed the same. And I figured 20 years' time was the test that would tell.
I started running because I wanted to change. I had read that if eating and activity stay the same, if there is no change in calories in/calories out, the average person will gain a little over a pound every year after age 30. By my 20-year test, that buttered the old bod with an extra 25 pounds minimum, no matter how many suits you have in a closet. I did the calculation on myself and discovered I was right on schedule. The scale was a crystal ball that remembered the past, revealed the present, and predicted the future. In my early 40s, I was more than 15 pounds heavier than I'd been in my early 30s. I wasn't eating more than I used to. I wasn't moving any less. And I was right on target to one day become an old fat guy.
But actual, lasting change is the most audacious thing a person can ever attempt. I've made dramatic changes my whole life, none of them lasting much over a month. I gave up chocolate, fast food, mayonnaise, red meat, white pasta, bread, cheese, bread with cheese, second helpings of bread with cheese. Then I stopped giving them up and tried sit-ups every day, push-ups every day, pull-ups every day, until I gave those up as well. It's not that people don't change, as much as they don't permanently deviate from their programming. I was not programmed as a person who exchanged bread and cheese for sit-ups every day. I was programed to eat, sit still, and fatten. Most of us are.
From the first step, I saw running as my greatest hope against fulfilling a bloated pile of destiny. I ran for a month—a significant change but nothing like the payoff I was after. Running was so grueling that long-term, fundamental change was the only reward worth the pain. Any amount of running makes a person healthier, but if you hope to live a long life, a few years of healthy won't get you there. I wanted to modify my future from old fat guy to old wind-blown, vaguely athletic, beat-up but not beat-down guy. I wanted admittance to a club I was not born into. I wanted to live longer and better than my grandparents. I wanted to defy my heritage. So I made a deal with running: I'll do this in exchange for miracles.
But who doesn't make a similar deal? No one begins a plan saying, I'd like to start this as a silly, desperate grab at temporary health that I'll one day look back on with embarrassment. No one says, what I'd like to do is lose 10 pounds in a month and gain it all back with interest by way of midnight pantry-binges in two weeks. I'd like to panic over the kettle of lard that was once my stomach and run as far as I can every day until something "pops" and I stop forever. I'd like to start with a carrot-juice fast while jogging long distances in a sweaty stupor until settling into a more sustainable routine with regular, compensatory feedings of "bacon surprise" (whatever the bacon is in—surprise!) that will cause me to balloon into a slobbering whale-man by the summer.
I've been running six years this month. The decision to start was not a New Year's resolution. Anything that happens on a holiday is something you do only once a year. Running yourself off the tracks of a predetermined future takes daily resolve. If January is the month of change, February is the month of lasting change. January is a month filled with the ghosts of failures past. January is for dreamers. February is for doers—a cold, dark month that makes you gaze seriously into the proverbial mirror and run from your reflection. That's right, run: every other day for five minutes, then seven, then 10, and then you're on your way.
Though I'm well shy of the 20-year test of change, at this point I'm also well past a silly, desperate grab at health. The scale has already hinted at a brighter future: I'm 30 pounds lighter than the day I started. Thirty pounds is real change no matter how you cut it. Pick up a 30-pound backpack, walk around some, then drop it and experience the change firsthand if you don't believe me. But for those of us who thwart the future with small acts of defiance disguised as casual runs, the backpack will always be in the room with us. It threatens to return the moment we let our guard down. I could believe I've permanently crossed over to the other side were it not for the constant pull of the abyss I teeter on the rim of most days—an abyss of cold pale ale, Gruyere-smothered burgers, and long, undeserved naps.
The three big days in the life of a runner are these: First is the day you decide to run—not walk, not ride a bike, not swing small weights through the air while watching television, but actually run. Check. Second is the day you can finally call yourself a runner without feeling like a puffed-up faker. This can come after months or even years of racking up the miles. Check.
Finally, there is the day you say to yourself, I'm in. This is me. I'm always going to do this. I'm going to run until I can't anymore. You run, you call yourself a runner, you hope to run forever. Do it, claim it, never stop.
If I can check that last box 20 years from now, I'll have finally found the change I've been running for.
http://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/how-to-change-for-good0 -
I checked off 31 of those. 32 once I can find an ice bottle to put in my freezer.
1. True
2. True
3. True
4. True
5. True
6. False (I don't like beer)
7. True, plus whatever else is sent in my Stridebox lol
8. False
9. False
10. True
11. Very True
12. True...the only reason worth going if you don't have kids lol
13. False
14. True!
15. True
16. Ewww! False...but I will snort it as hard as I can and spit it out lol
17. Very true!
18. True
19. True
20. Never thought of it that way.
21. Yup! (Thunder, ACDC)
22. OMG that is an awesome idea!
23. I actually have a gym membership....and last year I spent a lot of money on races. But to me it is worth it.
24. False...a tennis ball
25. False...see above.
26. True...they are the devil in the flesh, totally horrible and bad but wonderfully awesome at the same time!
27. True.
28. False.
29. True!
30. True!
31. True!
32. Half true.
33. True.
34. Yup.
35. True.
36. True.
37. Very true!0 -
This calorie burn estimation was just posted in another thread. I'm still using the 100 kcals a mile because that works for me but it might be worth a look.
http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/how-many-calories-are-you-really-burning?page=single0 -
Here's another awesome article about treadmills:
http://www.runnersworld.com/treadmills/biomechanics-expert-debunks-treadmill-running-myths0 -
http://community.runnersworld.com/topic/ask-us-anything-adam-kara-goucher?page=1
Great "ask anything" open interview from Kara and Adam Goucher. Really helps provide perspective on what running looks like as a lifestyle choice - it sounds like they have many of the same challenges that we do...just with a Nike contract. I can imagine this elite pair doing "easy" 7-minute-miles while Adam pushes the jog stroller.0 -
Heel striking might be more economical for 1:10 half marathoners -
http://www.runnersworld.com/running-tips/heel-landing-beats-midfoot-in-half-marathon-study0 -
I nearly peed my pants with laughter:
http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/news/google-translate-for-runners0 -
I nearly peed my pants with laughter:
http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/news/google-translate-for-runners
So funny, some of them sound scarily familiar!!0 -
Actually “So, what pace are you hoping to run?” means "Should I start further back in the pack or could I creep a couple of rows closer to the start line?" to me.0
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This thread makes me happy!0
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I nearly peed my pants with laughter:
http://www.fleetfeetstlouis.com/news/google-translate-for-runners
Oh man, those are all too true!!0 -
The most clueless running interview EVER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruGpN5cE1ck&feature=youtu.be
I feel like the only preparation that went into this interview was that she knew that it involved running... *smh*0 -
The most clueless running interview EVERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruGpN5cE1ck&feature=youtu.be
I feel like the only preparation that went into this interview was that she knew that it involved running... *smh*
I'm pretty surprised that she didn't use the term "jogging"0 -
The most clueless running interview EVERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruGpN5cE1ck&feature=youtu.be
I feel like the only preparation that went into this interview was that she knew that it involved running... *smh*
I'm pretty surprised that she didn't use the term "jogging"
Mo/any other runner would have had the right at that point to walk away lol.0 -
Thought someone might find this informative. Forgot I had this page in my bookmarks. It gives really good tips about nutrition during training cycles and how to manually calculate calorie burn/BMR/TDEE etc...
http://www.muscleandfitnesshers.com/training/legs/food-runners0 -
Great resource, Becky. Thanks!!!0
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