Wonder Why Wednesday: Crashing Down Edition

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 6 comments

Picture it: The gym. 2010. A young-ish woman is in Pilates class.

(If you caught the Golden Girls reference, then you watch too much TV. Also, we could be good friends.)

So. Monday night I was in my Pilates class when one of those summer storms popped up, quite literally out of the blue sky. I walked into the gym at 5:50 p.m., under blue skies dotted here and there with clouds that looked like they could make rain only if they got very organized. As it was, the clouds all looked like high school seniors during the last week of school. They were doodling on their notebooks, daydreaming about being bigger, cooler, college clouds.

Approximately 30 minutes later, as I was prostrate with my feet inside spring loaded loops, focused on zipping up the bottom ribs (huh?), we heard a noise like something being ripped off the roof above us. Less than a minute later, we heard rain. But not the pitter-patter of drops on the roof. More like the sound of running water somewhere very near our heads. My two classmates and I leapt off of our reformers mere seconds before the acoustic ceiling tiles came crashing down, just inches from where our heads were once located.

That noise like something being ripped off the roof? It was the roof being ripped off the building. Apparently the wind caught part of the roof and just rolled it back, like the gym was a can of sardines. There was significant water damage to one corner of the building. In fact, the entire facility was closed today; the Pilates and yoga studios are closed indefinitely.

Of course I said a prayer of thanks that my head was not still on the reformer when the ceiling gave out. And I marveled at the power of nature. But my first thought was, Oh, man. This is just going to add fuel to my mother’s anti-exercise fire.

See, my mom is in nice shape. She looks great and she takes good care of herself. She walks for exercise, but she will not go to the gym. My mother jokes (but she’s not kidding) that exercise is dangerous. And it so happens that my life has been one long proof to her theorem. I continually have some kind of sore joint, strained muscle, over-or-under-active tendon. My fitness history is a series of athletic pursuits, broken up by injuries and rehab. It’s what I do.

And now the gym nearly lands on my head. My mom is so vindicated.

Since it’s Wonder Why Wednesday, after all, I have some questions for you.

My light question for today:
Why can’t I be that fitness buff who rarely experiences setbacks and injuries? Why does the ceiling come crashing down every time I start to hit my stride?

My only slightly deeper question:
Why am I writing so many health/fitness posts lately? We’ll move on to other topics, I promise.

If you feel the need for some depth:
This story has the potential to take us down numerous paths. We could talk fitness (check), nature, spirituality… So I wonder, why can two people can look at the same event or circumstances and walk away with two vastly different views? Obviously our life experiences inform how we see things, as do our religious and political beliefs. I guess what I wonder – what I’d like to discuss – is do we ever choose a different view of something simply because a particular perspective suits us? Do we see things how we want to in order to further our own agenda? I know what I think about this. And I know what I want to believe. What do you think?

6 comments

Tri My Way Thursdays

Posted by Missy in Fitness | 11 comments

So I have discovered the drawback to promising a post “tomorrow.”

Someone could stay out too late catching up with a friend, and then someone could be too tired to write a post, and someone A) might be sorry she didn’t write the post earlier and B) wish she hadn’t promised a post.

Someone is me, by the way.

Someone will try to keep this short and sweet then. (And will stop referring to herself as someone. That is so annoying.)

I want to improve my physical health and fitness level. The stuff I’ve tried so far has not worked for me. Okay, by try, I mean the stuff I’ve thought about trying. I cannot get motivated. One. Excuse. After. Another.

I’ve always enjoyed athletic pursuits, even though I’m not particularly athletic. Let’s discuss.

I was a swimmer. I was not an Olympian or anything, but I rocked the summer league. I’ve dabbled in Masters Swimming as an adult, but I never stick with it. I love to swim. I am never more at peace than I am swimming laps, so I’m recommitting to some time in the water.

I also used to run kind of a lot. I ran a marathon. Honolulu 1998 with Team in Training. Ran is a loose term. I limped across the finish line, but I finished and that’s all that matters.

Honestly, I’ve never been much of a bike rider. When I was about 10, maybe 12 – okay, I have no idea how old I was – the front tire of my 10-speed (a silvery blue Schwinn – she was so pretty) got tangled with the back tire of my friend’s 10-speed and we had an ugly crash on the suburban asphalt. That was the beginning of the end of my biking experience. But just a few weeks ago I discovered that I love spin class. Except for the fact that my bottom parts hurt in ways I didn’t think possible, it was really a great time.

As I mulled over my illustrious athletic history, I discovered my motivation: a triathlon.

I’m doing one and you get to follow along.

Sorry, no details for you. I haven’t decided when, where or really how. Currently I am rehabbing an insanely tight IT band and a few underachiever muscles. This is a theme with me, the injuries. I get really excited, go all out with the exercise and end up in traction.

Not this time. This training will be some seriously slow going. Fair warning: Tri My Way Thursdays will likely appear in this space for a long, long time.

My ultimate goal for this space is to keep you updated and thereby keep myself motivated. If I have to fess up every time I skip the gym or eat my weight in Annie’s Chocolate Chip Bunny Grahams, then I just might work a bit harder and eat a little less.

Yesterday I took my measurements. I am not telling you what they were.

Your inner voyeur is very disappointed, right? I get that. But I just have to draw the line somewhere. Releasing my measurements to the internet is that line. What I will do is tell you once a month whether any of the numbers shrunk and by how much. I will give you the details on number of pounds and inches lost.

Each week I will confess – or brag about? – my workout schedule. I will tell you about any dietary slip-ups. Confession is good for the soul, they say. We’ll test that theory.

What this won’t be: a lengthy, weekly post. From here on out you can expect a blurb on Thursdays, not a diatribe. As I have more specific details about the impending triathlon, I will share them with you. We’ll talk stats each week and then we’ll move on to more Wonder, Friend-specific stuff.

For now, I am so dang tired. So. Tired. If I have any hope of getting to the gym tomorrow, I must leave you now.

11 comments

Wonder Why Wednesday: I’m Hungry Edition

Posted by Missy in Fitness, Food | 4 comments

Remember how last week I had nothing for Wonder Why Wednesday? This week I’m full of ‘em. Questions, that is. It was hard to decide what to write about. So I wrote down all my ideas on little strips of paper and drew one out of a hat.

No I didn’t.

Don’t be ridiculous.

I picked one, right out of my head. I should, however, write down the others somewhere or I’ll forget them. You know I will.

So. This week, I want to talk about eating. One of my favorite subjects. A few days ago I mentioned that I’m working on some things in my life. Some of the things are what you might call deep and introspective. Some others are easier to think about and easier to talk about. We’re starting with easy. Don’t judge me.

Food. Eating. Nutrition. These are all passions of mine. I’m not so much into the cooking of food, though. I enjoy cooking, sometimes, but it’s not a passion. I’m more interested in the talking about and the eating of food. I happen to have a lot of knowledge about healthy eating (when I don’t know something, I have access to a great nutritionist, who will probably appear here soon; she’s been helping me with the makings of a post).

My issue, you see, is not what I know. It’s what I do. A classic, right? Do as I say, not as I do.

As a rule of thumb we buy organic. The following items do not land in my shopping cart: partially hydrogenated anything, food dyes, GMO’s. Where staples are concerned, we eat healthfully around here. I shop the perimeter of the store way more than the aisles. We eat lots of whole foods at our house. I try not to overcook things and deplete them of nutritional value (I’m no raw-diet-vegan-Gwyneth-Paltrow or anything, don’t get any crazy ideas).

I’m not saying we never have a processed snack or junk food. I’m all about moderation. I’m totally against deprivation. I try to focus on controlling what I can, but not freaking out about every little bite that goes in my kids’ mouths. Or mine.

So here’s my problem:

I make good choices for meals, and good choices about what I put in my shopping cart. Mostly, anyway.

Somehow, though, I manage to find ways to indulge way too often. When presented with an opportunity to eat badly, I will. Every time. Junk food, comfort food… I cannot quit you.

I have NO WILL POWER. Sorry for screaming at you there. It’s just that I find this so frustrating.

I know what I need to do. I know what I want to do. But I keep failing. That leads me to my Wonder Why Wednesday question:

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Once again, I leave you with some housekeeping. I won’t include this in every post for the rest of our lives, but I’ll probably include it a few more times:

1. You can now subscribe to Wonder, Friend by email! This makes me inexplicably excited. If you’re anything like me, you sometimes forget to check your reader. You may have favorite blogs (ahem) that you love reading, but you get busy and forget to check for new posts. So go ahead, subscribe. Over there, on the right, near the top. The Feedburner thingy. Thank you!

2. If you do read Wonder, Friend on a regular basis, you have my heart. Really. When I started this I said I would write even if nobody was reading, and I meant that. I mean that still. I write this for me, but lately it’s occurred to me that I also write this for you. Thank you for reading! If you leave a comment, you’re on my list of suitable mates should my husband ever meet an untimely demise. I sincerely appreciate your comments. Here’s the housekeeping part - I am now responding to comments within the comment thread, not via email. It just makes things more consistent. I’m working on setting up a comment platform that will send you an email when I respond to your comment. If you have recommendations for a good comment platform, send them my way.

4 comments