I had every intention to write a blog post before I left St. Louis, but a surprise tornado drastically changed my plans. Before I explain, let’s rewind back to Thursday of last week. I was so nervous about my Weight Watcher weigh-in. I loosely tracked my food points all week. I didn’t want to go and see the scale go up again as it did the previous week. I meant to tell you guys about the 1.5 lb gain but I “sort of” intentionally forgot and purposefully didn’t have time to blog about it. Anyway, I had to go to the meeting since my sister and I have a $10 wager on each weigh-in. A little healthy competition keeps us going. I stepped on the scale while holding my breath….to my surprise I stayed the same. “I’ll take it!” I told Ricarda the leader, and she jokingly replied “good, ‘cause that’s all we’ve got.” My sister and the baby sat down next to me. She told me that she gained a little, just like I had the previous week. Score for Team Carli! “Show me the MONEY,” I told her.
Show Me the Money!
The next day was Good Friday. They gave us the afternoon off from work and I got my nails and toes done in preparation for my vacation to Mexico. One of my best friends from college drove up and joined me for dinner before our Saturday morning flight. We laughed at the fact that all of friends and family were worried that we would be killed by the Mexican drug cartel. We share the mindset not to worry about stuff like that while on vacation; just relax and have fun. However, we didn’t know we had a real issue headed our way. During dinner my Dad called me about a tornado that hit St. Louis Lambert airport. It was totally inconceivable that a tornado hit the airport and tore off the roof hours before my scheduled flight. When we got back to my house, we stalked the various news stations for the latest updates. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. However, it wasn’t looking good for us. They announced that there would be no flights out until Monday. We made the bold executive decision to catch a flight from the nearest connecting airport in Bloomington, Illinois. While praying that the storm didn’t blow East, I did some last minute packing and we drove for 2 ½ hours to catch our 6AM flight. Finally, after a layover in Detroit, we safely made it to Mexico about Noon.
I’m on vacation in MEXICO!!! But I typed up a post before I left….
Do you read my blog and think, oh that’s so cool that Carli completed a half-marathon, but I could never do anything like that. You should try to change your thinking. Like I always say in my podcast, if I did it anybody can. I was so lazy that walking and running were on my list of things to avoid unless totally necessary. When I was fat and miserable, I complained about the distance from the parking garage to the weight management clinic. Getting out of the car was a chore and going to the gym with all of the skinny people was almost an embarrassment. I joined the hospital’s On the Move program. It was a fitness class specifically designed for overweight individuals through the Physical Therapy department. Each class participant had a physical therapy student by their side during class to help teach us about our body and ensure that we were doing the moves right. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t the heaviest person in an exercise class. I felt comfortable being around people who understood the “overweight/exercise” dilemma. That’s how I got started. Then once I became more mobile I started the Couch to 5 K, then 2 years later I completed the Half Marathon. My point is that you should try to find something that works for you and take baby steps. Walk around your neighborhood for 10 minutes 3 days a week. If you are more advanced try my Couch to 5K running program. Week 1 starts with short 60 second runs. We all start somewhere. Mark Twain said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” You can do it! Get Moving.
I got a call today from my Team In Training half marathon buddy. She said that I motivated her to sign up for the Rock ‘n Roll half marathon in October and that we could do it together. She really caught me off guard, because I haven’t even signed up yet. I guess I have to sign up now that I persuaded someone to do it with me. I guess that’s why it’s always good to have a workout buddy, someone to keep you on track. Today was my first workout since the half marathon. For a few days I wasn’t physically able to work out, and the next few days I just felt kind of lazy. It was sort of like the post race blues. After you’ve trained for something for month after month, you kind of wonder what to do with yourself now. I didn’t want to get too comfortable not working out, so I went to the gym today after work. All I knew was that I wanted to do something different. I did not want to get anywhere near the indoor track or the treadmill. I wanted to do anything other than walk. I thought about running a little but that was still too much like walking. Ultimately, I decided to get on the elliptical machine. I wasn’t even sure if I could do it anymore, as I did not really cross-train during my half marathon season I was supposed to. To my surprise it wasn’t too bad at all. I easily finished a full 30 minutes of gliding my arms and legs. I was sweating a little, but not even out of breath. I could’ve done more but my stomach was a little upset so I decided to head back home. Aside from my stomach I felt really good! It was like my body was thanking me for moving again.
TRUE STORY, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted to…..So, my phone rings…Hey It’s John* your tenant downstairs. I rolled my eyes assuming a pipe sprung a leak or something broke. I forced a fake smile and politely said “Yes?” John replied, “Do you know how high the ceiling is in the living room?” “No…I’m not sure, Why?” “I need to put up a pole.” Curiously, I asked “a stripper pole???” “Un huh, yeah,” he casually replied. “Ummm I have a tape measure, I can measure my ceiling, which I’m sure is the same height as yours.” He patiently waited as I fumbled with the tape measure. “Looks like it’s about 9 Feet High” I said. “Okay, Great! Thanks!” “Ummm okay, thank you.”
*Names have been changed to protect the freaky neighbor downstairs.
