Friday, January 26, 2007 by Michelle
My dad was visiting last weekend and brought a nasty cold with him. Of course my sister and I caught it. Drat! I’ve been cold-free for a long time and was not happy about the impending snot-fest. Fearing the worst, I got lots of sleep and didn’t go running in the rain and cold this week. I also canceled my usual Friday workout in the gym; the last thing I want is to be responsible for making a gym full of people really unhappy! Anyway, the cold ended up being a bit of a no show; just some sniffles, stuffy head and minor aches. Nothing worth writing home about. My dad got hit like a truck, but in retrospect I shouldn’t be surprised because he is after all a heavy smoker. So today, feeling a bit like a wimp for canceling my workout, I went for a fabulous run in the sunshine (watched for the black ice though – sheesh!). Then I did a short workout and some stretching at home, and am feeling like a million bucks. So perhaps I’m not such a wimp after all. And I had better get used to doing a good workout on Fridays, as I’m going to be working out with Warren on alternating Fridays now as I wean myself off of the training-wheels.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007 by Michelle
Do you ever wonder where I get motivation to run in all kinds of weather, run uphill even when I don't particularly want to and workout even when it could hurt like hell afterwards? Well wonder no more. My trainer Warren wrote the following article for Testosterone Nation (an online magazine) that I think shows a bit about who I'm learning about fitness from. Warren gets out there and does what it takes to stay fit; it's not like he's asking me to do anything he wouldn't do or hasn't done himself, so I can't very well wimp out and feel justified in doing so. How's that for motivating?
Part 1: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1393948
Part 2: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1395292
In the comments section, he responded to one writer as follows:
Ok, so what's worse for the obese? A minor ankle sprain or heart attack? I've trained a lot of obese people over the years and, while I don't have them doing sprints on the first day, I don't baby them either. The body can handle a lot.
Let me tell you, he's not kidding when he says he doesn't baby his clients. In fact, I would have left a long time ago if I ever thought he was babying me or letting me off the hook. My dear mother-in-law has been known to cry more than once, "couldn't you drop dead from running?" I respond, "I'm more likely to drop dead from not running"
.
I walked the 4km home today despite the snow because I know if I start giving myself silly excuses like the weather, the excuse file will just continue to grow. As my friend's mom says, "There's no such a thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices." After a lifetime of fat, I have no intention of ever letting myself "go there" again.
Great job on the article Warren! And I get more than a small amount of satisfaction seeing you in the photos working your ass off!
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Sunday, January 7, 2007 by Michelle
I went on my first organized run on January 1st – the Running Room’s annual Resolution Run. It was a 5 km easy run around Stanley Park. The rain wasn’t the most wonderful way to enjoy the first day of the new year, but the run went well and I learned quite a bit about myself and other runners. Things like:
- Running alone in a big group kind of sucks.
- Being rather competitive, it really spurred me on when a woman passed me and was talking about her current pregnancy; that really stuck in my not-pregnant craw let me tell you. In fact, I now know I push myself quite a bit faster when running in a group; something about not wanting so many people passing me dammit! Now, I have to figure out how to push myself more when I'm running alone.
- The definition of the word “hill” is different for everyone – the two women behind me were worried about The Big Hill and I was wondering where this mystery hill could possibly be. Turns out, I was on it. It was a gradual rise and a slow descent; a bump really. My trainer would have scowled at me if I had dared to call that a hill!
- Few people stretch after a run. Having learned my lesson after my first 10 km run about the necessity of stretching (my back went kaplooey the next day after not stretching), I always stretch. Some days, I enjoy the feeling of stretching after my run more than the run itself usually.
So these are a few of the things I learned about myself and others as I ran January 1st. I think that group runs may very well be seeing more of me in the future.
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Friday, December 1, 2006 by Michelle
Today I wanted to buy a dress for the holiday season; I'm going to a couple of celebrations and a concert this month and I want to wear something that doesn't make me look like I'm wearing a potato sack. Problem is, none of my very few dresses fit me any longer.
Now that I'm able to go to "regular" stores instead of just plus-size ones, I decided to take a stroll down Commercial Drive and see what there was. Retro or vintage? Nope, not for me. Hippy-ish? Uh-uh. Cutesy, nope again. I ended up at Riot Clothing & Accessories down by Cafe du Soliel (not Deux) and saw they had a small selection of rather nice looking black dresses. So I started to look through them and the saleswoman came by to make a few helpful suggestions. We settled on one that was form fitting and had a black lace overlay and a rather shockingingly low neckline; she took a size 8 off the rack and I suggested we also take a 10 because I doubted I'd fit into an 8. My size 12 clothes are too loose, but surely there was no way I would fit into an 8. What would she know anyway? I had a winter jacket and baggy jeans on for crying out loud!
So I tried on the 10 and it was too loose in the bodice, which isn't a big surprise considering my rather minimally endowed chest. So I decided, "What the hell?" and tried on the size 8. And it fit. Really well. I have never fit into a size 8 in my life. Ever. I went from a chunky pre-teen to a very overweight teen in a short period of time (I weighed 175 lbs at age 13). And although I lost some of that in high-school and university, I was barely able to stuff myself into a size 10 at my smallest (which is 15 lbs lighter than I am now, but I didn't have any muscle back then). So here I am at the store feeling completely speechless that a size 8 dress not only fit me perfectly, but that it looked good on me. For the first time in my life, I have a "little black dress" and a half-decent body to go with it. Nothing in this world compares to the feeling that all this hard work has been worth it.
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