Seagull Fountain » exercise

5 things I am sure of

Shannon — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:57:39 +0000

The Salt Lake City Track Club 30th Annual 30K Winter Series is over. And I did it! I ran the 15K on Saturday in 1 hour 42 minutes and a couple seconds. Which sounds like a very long time, but is really an 11 minute/mile pace over the 9.3 mile course. So not bad for someone with the opposite of a runner’s body.

Not bad? Who am I kidding? That is FREAKIN’ AWESOME!! (Hey, I’d rather look like a runner, but since I don’t, I gotta brag somewhere). The “medal” they gave out was pretty cool, though. It made Sally and Susan think I’d won. And really, that’s all that matters.

Here are 5 things I am sure of:

1. I have finally joined the ranks of the serious runners, or maybe that’s the seriously well-insulated? Either way, it felt great to run in a tank top in 40 degree weather.

2. People who are are ahead of me, walking, really do deserve to die. If you’re going to be ahead of me, have the decency to at least look like you are suffering.

3. Running with a womanly complaint is even worse than running on a normal day.

4. It is best not to eat beans the night before a race, even if they are Cafe Rio Beans.

5. Even though a marathon is not in my future (my knees still hurt), there are plenty of 10K and 10 mile races around. Next I’m going to run in the Rex Lee Run to raise money for cancer research at Brigham Young University. Rex Lee was president of BYU when Dick and I were first there. I didn’t know him, of course, but cancer is always a good thing to run against.

Even if you don’t want to run yourself, you can honor a cancer fighter and have a runner bear the name of your cancer fighter.

It’s pretty sad running alone. If anyone would like to join me, and will be in the Provo, Utah area on March 15, (and if you run a nice, leisurely 11 minute mile), give me a call!

WFMW: It’s not about the journey

Shannon — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:21:59 +0000

I’ve just realized that there is a chasm-like disconnect between what I like to do and what makes me happy. I know, shouldn’t have taken me thirty years to figure this out, but, they say knowing is half the battle. Or is that admitting? What’s Step One?

And why do I feel like the guy on the right instead of the girl?

I like to:

Stay up late

Drink soda fountain drinks

Eat French Fries

Read trashy novels all day

Ignore my kids while reading trashy novels all day

Lie on the couch

But I am happy when I:

Get enough sleep

Drink lots of water

Eat stuff I’ve made myself, including Shrek Shakes and Muffins

Read some scriptures and contemplate the state of my soul

Interact with happy, well-fed, well-rested children

Exercise for about 45 minutes

What’s my problem? If it’s all about the journey, or if the process is more important than the product/answer (hey, I remember AP Calculus), then what the heck am I doing wrong? How come what I like to do doesn’t make me happy? And let’s not even talk about the things I THINK would make me happy. What I’ve listed are things I already KNOW make me happy, and yet I still usually prefer to do the other things.

So that’s what’s not working for me today. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Tickle-Me Tuesday: Random bits of absurdity

Shannon — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:32:04 +0000

Thanks for reducing the pressure, Marie: ‘absurd’ seems more easily attainable than ‘humorous.’ And I love the new logo.

So, what strikes me as absurd today is the warning on the exercise bike at our apartment complex. It says to stop immediately if you feel pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, faint or ANY DISCOMFORT. Well, and I thought that was the whole point of exercise.

I’m training so hard lately because I want to hone my ping-pong game ’till I’m as good as these guys:

NOT because I want to get skinnier (well, you know, maybe a tiny bit). In case you had no idea that a size 2 is probably an unrealistic goal/ideal/image for most women, here’s a great picture I’m hanging on our fridge of the ‘ideal’ male body (from the New York Times):

Hubba-hubba, huh?