Whatever Gets Me Through The Day

I read an article in Shape magazine a while ago, talking about how different people motivate themselves to push through hard workouts by using different tactics. Some meditate, some try to distract themselves, and others respond better to Zena Warrior Princess-esque battle cries.

As I've begun training for my next marathon (and particularly now that I am not yet back in shape and even my short runs are a struggle) I've been thinking about all the little mental games I play with myself just to make it through my workouts. I have quite a few up my sweat-wicking Under Armor sleeve, so I thought I'd share them with all the other reluctant runners out there, as well as anyone else who often finds themselves in...unpleasant situations.

First there is mentally declaring war on whatever poor soul happens to be using a machine nearby. I believe this is pretty common, but I am the champ! It doesn't matter if it's the peppy sorority girl on the elliptical, the 500-pound guy walking two miles an hour, the track-star-looking guy with legs longer than my whole body, or a sweet little old lady. It. Is. On. And I will not stop my machine before they do. This usually gets me past the first 20-30 minutes, since that's about when most normal people stop and move on to greener pastures. Oh, but not me.

Once I've exhausted my supply of unsuspecting opponents, but it's still early enough in my run that I have a little pep in my step, that's when I start performing "Shoop" by Salt-N-Pepa. Not outwardly of course; my legs are a little busy. But in my head, I am starring as both Salt AND Pepa in a kick ass music video a la the Fly Girls from In Living Color. Added bonus: I will be prepared with an awesome routine if The Hubs ever gets me drunk enough to do karaoke.

When I'm dripping sweat and my energy starts to drain, I imagine Jillian Michaels screaming in my face. KEEP GOING! KEEP GOING! DON'T YOU DARE SLOW DOWN! I DON'T CARE IF YOU VOMIT ALL OVER YOURSELF, YOU WILL FINISH THIS WORKOUT! RAWWRRRR!!!

Well, Jillian is a very busy gal. She can't stick around all day. So when I'm out from under her watchful eyes, I start bargaining with myself. I'll make deals like, "I'm going to slow down for two minutes, and then bump it back up again." Or, "I am not going to look at the treadmill screen again until I count to 100." Or, "I am going to keep this incline until that guy outside walks to his car, gets in it, and drives away." You get the idea.

But when my body really starts to panic, and I start questioning whether I can make it even a tenth of a mile further let alone three miles, this is the mantra I always come back to: "Of course I can." It's this simple little reality check that snaps me out of questioning myself and looking for excuses to give up. And it works, because it's true. Because I've done it before, and I'll do it again. Because my mind can show my body who's boss. Because whether I finish by sprinting, walking, or dragging myself by my fingernails, I will finish. Of course I can.

Here I am with my pops after the Marine Corps Marathon.
I'm currently training for this same race--only this time The Hubs is doing it too!

Que Sera, Sarah

It's no coincidence that my name fits in so nicely with this well-known phrase sung by the glorious Doris Day. It happens to be my personal motto. Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. Or as I like to say, "toast is toast." It's a relaxed but confident, optimistic yet objective, tolerant and open-to-possibilities mindset that I tend towards. This is not to say that I don't make plans, have goals, try my best to reach them, or occasionally get stressed out. I just don't feel the need to know all the answers or hold grudges, and I generally feel like everything will eventually shake out the way it's supposed to. Not everyone can understand or agree with such a laissez faire attitude, but it works for me--in my approach to friendships and day-to-day problems, to religion and my relationship with God, and even when someone cuts me off on the highway. My family likes to tell this story about how, as a child, if someone made me angry I would booby trap my room out of spite so they couldn't come in. I'm all for funny and embarrassing stories from youth, but every time this one is told it really bothers me because the point of telling it is to demonstrate that I hang on to ill feelings with vindictiveness, and this is so contrary to who I actually am.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, becoming reflective and self-assessing as my birthday came and went. And I can honestly say, with no egotism, that I really like who I am. When I think about how I treat people, how I treat myself, and how I spend my time, I realize that I am the person who I want to be. This was kind of a surprising realization, since that was definitely not always the case. I know that I needed to spend many years floundering and making mistakes in order to get here, and I know that I'm not done evolving. But for now, it's nice to have wonderful friends and family, a fabulous husband, adorable and goofy pets to pour love into, good health, and to know that I've finally found what I really want to do career wise. As I roll into my 27th year on this planet, I am filled an attitude of gratitude, and a sense of infinite possibilities.

Cheers,

Sarah

Following Directions

Well, I did it. Yesterday, I actually cooked dinner from a recipe, although I did add a little somethin'-somethin' extra to make it my own (and to make it a "real dinner" by The Hubs' standards). I try to eat healthy but haven't been doing very well lately, so for my foray into recipedom I went for a vegetarian cookbook. I chose a Greek bean one-pot dish which was very delish on its own, but for some people it doesn't count as a real meal unless it includes meat, so I threw some fish in the pot during the last 15 minutes.

I'll have to follow directions more often, because The Hubs polished off the other three portions and that's a good review if ever I've had one. Although, if the goal is for us to eat healthily, I'm not sure encouraging him to eat triple portions is the way to go.

On another high note, I found a great way to re-use all the name tag stickers we have in our junk drawer for some reason:

Kitchen Mishmash

I love cookbooks. I mean, I really love all books. But I find well-designed, well-photographed, easy-to-follow cookbooks totally irresistible. And that's why I have a large collection of them currently overflowing the cabinet space above our microwave. But do I actually use them? Not really.

There's more where this came from.

That I finally realize this is not going to make me stop buying lovely cookbooks. It's just a fresh observation and I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar passionate/passive relationship to theirs. Every now and then I will pull them all out, read through them, and dog-ear the pages of the really yummy looking recipes I'd like to try. But unless I'm having a dinner party (which unfortunately is not very often) those dog-eared pages will remain stuffed together in the cabinet, unused. My daily dinner routine is to thaw some kind of meat, and then...do something with it. And try to make it somewhat healthy and include several food groups. I pull things out of the fridge and pantry and then just kind of throw stuff together. Sometimes the results are a tolerable "meh" or a dubious "hmmmmm." But others, like tonight, are actually quite tasty. I like exercising my creativity and resourcefulness--I can throw together a mean Leftover Surprise! But surely my culinary skills would improve if I actually followed directions?

I seem to come up with more goals for self-improvement every day, but perhaps I'll add yet another one to the list: make at least one meal from an actual recipe per week. I'm sure The Hubs will be glad :)

Bon Appétit,

Sarah

p.s. Here is the kitchen mishmash we had tonight: Greek-Inspired Tilapia. It certainly sounds fancy-pants, doesn't it? I covered the fish filets with some olive oil, lemon juice, red onion and green olives (both finely diced). Salt and pepper, of course. Oh, and I also drizzled on some of the chili-pepper oil we make and always have on hand. Then I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (the last minute under the broiler to make sure the top looked nice and golden). Meanwhile, I made a potato hash on the stovetop: potatoes diced like home fries and sauteed with onion and garlic, and then cut-up asparagus tossed in during the last 5 minutes or so. Not bad for something conjured up out of thin air, if I do say so myself.

p.p.s. I do always use recipes when I'm baking. Because I am just not that good, and the margin of error is too high. But I don't bake very often (see above remark about trying to eat healthy).