LOSING WEIGHT…SUCKS (PART 2)

March 4, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I shared with you the first half of my text message with my friend who I’m helping to lose weight. He has diabetes… and I HATE IT. So much so I’ve given him and his wife 8 months of my life to try and help them. We work out once a week, I got them a session with a nutritionist and I hold them accountable. If you missed my original text to my friend, check it out here. And now, here’s the rest of our conversation:

Friend: Ya know, everybody needs a big toe. Thanks for being my big toe.

Me: That actually made me laugh out loud! Ok, here is your first journal entry that you are going to write down TODAY!

“Dear Self, I feel like shit and I’ve done this to myself. I’ve gained back 10 pounds during the holidays and it’s causing me to slip into depression. Once again, my weight is yo-yoing and in June of 2012 I promised myself I wouldn’t do that again. I can’t keep gaining weight during special occassions. My life depends on it this time. I’m sick. I have a disease that is going to kill me if I don’t get it under control. I am going to get my eating back under control and keep it there until I weigh 275. On that day only can I celebrate with a small treat. Holidays, birthdays, fishing trips, hunting trips are no longer excuses to eat and drink whever I want. As of right now I am in control of what I eat. I have to be . MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT.”

There you go! You are going to write that down and read it every day if you have to! Read it instead of putting more shit in your mouth. Read it when you are unmotivated to workout. Read it before you go to the next function where you know you are going to cheat. Now go have a nice day!

Friend: I luv ya toooooooo. See ya next Wednesday. xxxxxoooooo

So there you have it. A small look into the many conversations my friend and I have had for several months now. I think a lot of you can relate to the holiday weight gain, the January depression and the February rut. It’s a life cycle for many of you. I know because since I’ve started blogging and Facebooking about me helping my friends lose weight, I’ve heard from a lot of you. So many of you that I’ve decided to do what I can to help you all out. I’ll let you know what that is tomorrow.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: how to lose weight, losing weight, weight challenge

WHEN SHOULD YOU STOP RUNNING?

February 27, 2013 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

To answer the question about when to stop running, I had to seek out a Sikh. And look…I found one! Amazingly, Fauja Singh and I have something in common. We run to save ourselves. We run because it’s our therapy. We run because that’s how we deal with pain. I lost my parents back to back. He lost his wife and son back to back. Both of us turned to training to continue living life. At one point, we both faced a fork in the road. The path to the left led to depression, saddness, hopelessness. The path on the right lead to peace, therapy, hope. Fauja and I CHOSE the right path. We CHOOSE to stay on that path. Every day, we all make decisions. Fauja and I make a conscious decision to live a life where endorfins flow freely through our bodies lifting our spirits, our hearts, our minds and our sights. I do believe the path of depression would be easier. But it’s not the right path. The right path is hard and takes determination and grit. But if an 89 year old man can choose to stay on that path for more than 10 years, I have a lifetime ahead of me on the right path. And in the end, running saved Fauja’s life… just like it’s saving mine. So I guess the answer to the question of when you should stop running is simple. When you’re 101.

101-year-old vegetarian runner completes his final marathon

Rick Chandler, NBC Sports

Feb 25, 2013, 11:00 AM EST

Getty Images

Fauja Singh, the oldest runner ever to complete a full marathon, finished his final race on Sunday, and now will hang up his competitive running shoes for good. From now on, Singh, who will soon be 102 years old, will run just for fun, “to inspire the masses.”

Singh ran in the 10k division of the Hong Kong Marathon, and completed the 6.25-mile race in 1 hour, 32 minutes, 28 seconds.

The Indian-born runner, nicknamed the Turbaned Torpedo, took up running at the age of 89 to help with his grief when both his wife and son died. A great-grandfather, he unofficially became the oldest man to run a full marathon when he ran in Toronto in 2011, at the age of 100. But he is not recognized by the Guinness Book of the World Records because he doesn’t have a birth certificate. Danged birthers. “I will remember this day. I will miss it,” Singh said minutes after crossing the finish line.

Singh completed nine full marathons after the age of 89.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: Grief, Grieving, inspirational, life, LIVING LIFE, sports, working out

WHEN CAN YOU START RUNNING WITH YOUR KIDS?

February 26, 2013 By Wendy D 4 Comments

When can you start running with your kids? I don’t know, but I recommend BEFORE THE AGE OF 7!!! And I highly recommend this if you have ANY athletic pride at all. Let me explain! Last week, my kids were off from school for “winter break.” It’s not a “break” at all!! It’s a week when all us working moms juggle and struggle to figure out what to do with our kids while they get a “break.” I NEED THE BREAK! So along about Thursday, I was climbing the walls and so were they. I said, “kids, get your shoes on. We are going for a run.” I had to get them out of the house! So we started off at a slow trot. I gradually increased my speed… and so did Domi. I put the pedal to the metal… and so did he!!!!!! Finally he stopped and said, “Hey Mom, wanna race?” I didn’t dare tell him I already had been. So we identified a 20 yard dash race course. From this tree to that tree. And off we went. The race started neck in neck, stride in stride… and it stayed that way the entire 20 yards. I could not believe I couldn’t drop my 7 YEAR OLD!!! So we did it again. And again. And one last time where I was really serious. This time I got him! By a nose. Dammit! Am I getting old or is he just that fast? Or should I have started racing him when he was 4? Surely I could best him at that age… right? Or maybe it’s just that he was more afraid of the Easter Bunny that was clearly chasing us. So next question. When should you stop running? How old is too old? I’ll answer that question tomorrow!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: family, KIDS, life, play, wendy's family

IT Band Issues

February 14, 2013 By Wendy 2 Comments

Do you know what this is?

It’s a roller. Or as its referred to in my house, a fucking roller. If you’ve never used one you might think I’m being crass. If you’ve used one, you totally understand. I even put Donner in the picture to try and make me like it more. It didn’t work.

If you’re a runner you know about your I-T band. The iliotibial band runs along the outside of your legs from your hips to your knees. They basically hold our upper body and lower body together. I think of them as guitar strings. Each time I run my body is plucking away at them. Now if my legs would just make music as I jogged along. That would be cool!

I-T bands tend to get inflamed. That’s where the fucking roller comes in. You have to roll them out like a baker does a ball of dough. AND IT SUCKS! It hurts more than walking over hot coals. Trust me I know!

You begin by laying on your right side with your right elbow supporting your upper body and your right leg on the roller. Your left leg can either be bent forward to give you some support or if you’re a masochist you can lay your left leg on top of your right. And then you begin to roll up and down. Eventually you’ll find a hot spot. You are supposed to stop on that spot and hold for 90 seconds. I’ve never gotten past 23. It feels like your leg is going to snap in two.

But what really sucks about the fucking roller? It really works. I recently went to my chiropractor complaining of right hip and left hip flexor pain. She checked my I-T band. The right one was super tight. She said go home and roll it and it will take care of both of your complaints. Sure enough, after rolling it just one night much of the pain is gone. Damn! I hate it when the prescription to get better is the fucking roller!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: play, racing, sports, working out

COLLEGE SPORTS

January 7, 2013 By Wendy Leave a Comment

Why is it every time I watch the BCS championship football game, I cry? Why is it that even the pre game show makes me fight back tears? Well, it’s because college athletics IS THE GREATEST THING ON EARTH! There is no greater high for a college kid than getting to compete for your school. The be a part of a family that’s roots run generations deep. To be on a team where everyone has the same goal: to win, hopefully with integrity, grace and grit. We get to watch these kids every Saturday during their game. But I know from personal experience what happens when the cameras aren’t there. I swam for the University of Nevada. My teammates and I woke up three mornings a week at 4:30 to be in the pool by 5. We swam every afternoon before heading to night classes. We said “No thank you. We can’t” to weekend social events because our meets often took us on the road. Yes. There were huge sacrifices. But they were all so worth it because we were a part of a team. We were sisters who may not have shared a bloodline but we shared a dedication to that black line at the bottom of the pool. That line was our goal line on the football field. We crossed the T into the wall before our competition enough times to go 31-0 my sophomore year. And I have that championship ring forever. I no longer have the stamina (nor desire!) to swim 7,000 yards a day. But I do miss being a part of a team. And that’s why I cry when I see these 19 and 20 year olds talk about their team. Because there’s nothing that compares to being on a sports team. And that’s why we encourage our kids to compete in sports. To be on a team. To get that feeling that only sports provides. It’s the greatest high we can only hope our kids embrace.

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: sports

MY “FIRST” WORKOUT

December 7, 2012 By Wendy D 4 Comments

And she’s back in the pool! “She” being me speaking in the third person. Because whoever that was in the water today sure as hell wasn’t me! That was until some woman walked over to me, panting on the wall, and said, “Oh hi Wendy! Nice to see you here.” Dammit. it was me. Ok, I should explain. I’m a swimmer! I have been since I was 7 years old. My closet growing up was decorated with blue ribbons, gold medals and pictures of my many many swim teams. I SWIM. I’M A BADASS IN THE POOL….and now I’m 40. Apparently, that changes things up a bit. My last true swim workouts ended back in June when I completed my half ironman triathlon up in Oregon. And as many of you know, I’m now on the hunt for my next big race. And while I figure out what am training for, I thought I would shake off the cobb webs and get in a quick pool workout. My first lap was good. And I should have quit right there. BUT I’M A SWIMMER! I can do more than 25 yards. Well, by lap 16 (just 400 yards) I had to stop and stretch! The backs of my arms were so tight I could barely pull my elbow up above my head. And my heart was pounding. Did I think there was a shark in the pool? That’s how fast my heart was beating! So after I caught my breath, I pushed off the wall to see how bad things really were. Normally, I’m a 19 stroke gal. That means it takes me 19 strokes to do one lap. Today? 23!!!! Let me put this into golf perspective for you. That’s like hitting a 5 on every hole of a par 3 executive course. So at the end of 18, you’ve swung 36 more times than you needed to! I was stroking hundreds of times more than I needed to! That’s called not being efficient… or totally out of shape, whichever. And if that wasn’t bad enough… I just had to do it. I just had to attempt butterfly! That’s my stroke. That’s where all those blue ribbons in my closet came from. I CAN DO BUTTERFLY! Except today. Instead of gliding through the water like a dolphin, I was like an elephant pulling a piano. I honestly wasn’t sure my arms would actually come out of the water during my final stroke to the wall. My heart was beating so fast NOW it was as if that shark was actually biting my leg. It was at this point I started to fantasize about stretching! I’m as limber as a tree trunk, but I just thought, “If I could just swim back to my towel, I can get out and go stretch. Stretching sounds fantastic right now. Anything sounds better right now than SWIMMING!!!!” But I didn’t. I stayed in the pool. Why? Because I didn’t want another “first” workout. The “first” workout always sucks. Unused, lazy muscles, the ones that have become happy to slightly sag… are being whipped back into shape… screaming and fighting the whole time. I bet that’s why so many new year’s resolutions to get back into shape don’t last past Valentines Day. The first workout SUCKS! You say to yourself, “Hell no I’m not going to do that again. It sucked!” That’s why I’m glad I started swimming again before the start of the new year. Because come January 1, when everyone else is gasping for air, swearing they’re going to stick to their workout resolution THIS TIME, I’ll be gliding through the water as a 19 stroke gal once again!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: fitness, swimming, working out

CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL MARATHON

December 3, 2012 By Wendy D 5 Comments

Birthdays are a big deal to me. I LOVE BIRTHDAYS! For example, a group of us all spent our 40th birthdays in Peru hiking to Machu Picchu. For another one of my friends, we all swam out to the middle of a lake and surprised her while she was on a swim. But this past weekend’s birthday “party” takes the CRAZY cake.

My friend, Amy, decided she wanted to run a marathon for her 40th. And yes, I was in! In fact, a cool group of women all jumped on her bday bandwagon and we all headed to Sacramento for the California International Marathon. The only problem? A GINORMOUS STORM INVITED HERSELF TO THE CELEBRATION TOO!!

So here’s how it went. The alarm went off at 4am. I felt pretty good for waking up 2 and a half hours earlier than normal. The three of us sharing a room headed downstairs to the continental breakfast the hotel provided all us marathoners. And then we went back to the room, got dressed and headed out. We caught our bus that was taking us to the race start 26.2 miles away. It was a school bus. Reminded me of my school days with Bus Driver Jean. By the time we got to the start line (5:15am) it was pouring rain. Now, I know you’ve all been in a rainstorm before… but I bet not like this one. We got off the bus, of course to go to the bathroom, and we were immediately drenched. I now know what “sheets of rain” looks like. And the wind was howling, making it hard to even talk to one another. So we headed to the sani huts and I honestly retreated into one of them! I was so glad to be out of the rain, I lingered in there longer than necessary. Trust me, it was the lesser of two evils! Plus, I was still plucking toilet paper from my fingers. Note to self… dripping wet fingers and toilet paper don’t mix!!

So we all finally made it to the start line, sang the National Anthem, and off we went! I LOVE the start of a race. Any race. When the horn goes off, it’s like millions of tiny fireworks explode inside my core and then shoot out to the tops of my arms and legs. I’m sure some exercise physiologist would say that’s adrenaline. I call it fireworks! So we all started trudging forward in the rain, trying to avoid puddles for the first 100 yards. But then we realized our shoes and socks were wringing wet so avoiding puddles was useless.

We couldn’t get more wet. I was only doing the relay. I’ve been plagued with a shin splint (or stress fracture) for months. I couldn’t do the entire thing so I wanted to make the most of my leg. I saw the peloton making a sharp right hand turn onto Oak Avenue so I cut to the inside. Just as I was rounding the corner, my foot about 4 inches from the ground, someone yelled “racoooooooon!!!” I had just a split second to realize my foot was basically coming down ON TOP of the dead rodent. Somehow, I barely missed his stone cold nose and was able to get passed him. But let me tell you, I took off speeding up the hill because I was pretty sure that raccoon just might be playing possum and was going to jump up and grab onto my leg!!

I was quickly able to forget the raccoon however, when I suddenly realized I just might be getting swimmers ear running this damn race. The rain was coming down sideways, from the left, pounding into my ear. Drops of rain kept bouncing off my ear drum, at one point I actually tried to run with my finger in my ear! So after all that, when I passed mile marker 5, I got suddenly sad. I only had .9 miles to go and I was done… handing off this crazy adventure to Anna, the next leg of my relay. I didn’t want to do that. I felt like the high school freshman who had to leave the party early. My curfew was up and there were still hours of fun left to live. But as I rounded the next corner onto Fair Oaks Boulevard, I thought how grateful I was to even be out there. 2 months ago I couldn’t even run a mile without severe pain.

So sometimes I have to remind myself that simply getting to go to the party at all is good enough. I’ll be back out there, finding my own race, soon enough. This time, showing up for Amy, being a part of her birthday wish, was what this race was all about. Plus, I got to meet two really cool girls in the process. Anna and Katie were my teammates who I was introduced to the night before the race by our mutual friend Neda. So all in all, I have to say this was an amazing race. Not necessarily
the run itself, but the adventure that was created because of it. So happy birthday, Amy! But it was you who gave all of us the gift of one hell of a memory!!

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: racing

29-ER

November 17, 2012 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

No, I didn’t mean to write 49-er in the title! This post isn’t about football… but another sport. Mountain biking! In the world of mountain biking, most of us have been on 26 inch wheels forever. They are great. They get you up the mountain and down the mountain. They are fine. But now there’s something called a 29-er. Ok, the 29-er has been out for a few years. I’m a tad behind the times when it comes to equipment. Shaped skies are new to me. Anyway the 29 has to do with the wheel size. It’s 3 inches bigger than the 26 inch wheels I’ve been riding on since 8th grade. So last week, my Little Friend Lynn and I went on a ride, only I was demoing a 29-er. I was hoping it would give me an advantage and I would at least be able to keep up with her. I borrowed the bike from Mike at High Sierra Cycling in south Reno. AKA The Bike Shop. Isn’t it funny how all neighborhood bike shops are called The Bike Shop??!! So I shoved the Giant (that’s the brand but also is a good adjective for this guy) into the back of my Tahoe and headed up to Galena to ride! One of the main benefits of the 29-ER is the impact angle. 26 inch wheels have a greater one meaning when you hit a rock your bike bucks more than a 29 inch wheel. Mike had me roll over a 6 inch curb on the 29-ER and she rolled right up it. On a normal bike think of how jarring that typically is. The 29inch wheels also have more surface area on the ground so you have more traction, especially on sand, snow and mud. Finally, and here’s my favorite part, a 29-ER goes farther with one pedal stroke than a 26 inch bike. If I’m walking next to LeBron James and we take 15 steps in unison, he’s going to be farther down the road than me. I’m the 26 inch bike in this example, he’s the 29-ER. On the mountain, this means the bike actually does roll up some hills all by itself. On my normal bike, I might have to pedal 2 or 3 times to get up a small hill… the 29-ER makes it to the top without a single pedal stroke. IT RULES! I also had more balance on tight switchbacks. And on the downhill, I felt more stable. All in all the 29-ER is a great new addition to the biking world and one you, too, should demo. Especially with Christmas coming up, this bike just might make it to the top of your wish list. You can check them out at www.highsierracycling.com

Filed Under: Play, Wendy Tagged With: mountain biking

CALL ME A MULE

October 16, 2012 By Wendy D Leave a Comment

So my friend who I’m helping to lose weight because he’s diabetic surprised me at the start of our 90 minute hike the other day!! He handed me a 35 pound pack. He said he wanted to slow me down… I think he just wanted me to schlep his water… Touché my friend! Good idea. It was interesting for me to see what its like to hike as a 170 pound person instead of my normal 135. But just wait for the surprise I have for him next week!! Stay tuned cause game on!!

Hiking near Galena with my 35 Pound Pack

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WHY CAN’T I KEEP MY BIG MOUTH SHUT????

October 9, 2012 By Wendy D 2 Comments

“YOU KNOW YOU ARE KILLING YOURSELF, RIGHT?” I screamed. And with those words, my next 6 months were sealed. Which is weird because I had just finished training for my first half Ironman triathlon during the LAST six months. But that’s just one of my many downfalls. I jump from one project to the next like a bunny in heat. Which brings me back to those fateful words I yelled 3 inches away from my friend’s huge head back in June. Let me explain. He weighs 327 pounds. And during this conversation over home stomp red wine, he admitted he was recently diagnosed with diabetes. “You know you are killing yourself, right? You know you gave yourself this disease, right?” And with that, I told him I would give him 6 months of my life to help get his blood sugar under control. Was that me talking or the red wine?? Damn it, either way I was committed. But I told him he had to be serious and READY to lose the weight. I didn’t want to waste my time. Three days later I got a call from him asking for my help. He’s ready for a new start in life and I’m his new coach. I’m not a registered dietician. I’ve just interviewed those people and read their studies for the past 12 years of my life as a health reporter. I’m educated without being certified. And I feel like someone HAS to do something. Sometimes we just need a friend to take control for a little while and reset some buttons. We all get in ruts and getting out alone is difficult, impossible sometimes. So for the next 6 months, I won’t be the athlete. I’ll be the cheerleader, helping someone else achieve his goals. And this time, the prize is a healthy life.

Filed Under: Play