The cost of 2 inches?

Motivation:

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties:
you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them."
~Phyllis Bottome

Diary:
Imagine: Before you sit down at church, you find yourself thirsty, so you pour yourself a glass of iced tea at the coffee station. It is refreshing and good, and you feel satisfied briefly. As you make your way to your seat and start to listen to the hymns being played you think to yourself "That was really good tea. That tea had a flavor too it - what is it? Oh yeah, raspberry - mmmm raspberry .... Wait, that tea is pretty tart and sweet. Is that a little too sweet? What did I just drink? "

You dash to the kitchen to look for the tea mix or some sort of evidence in a cupboard or on a shelf. You look like a crazy monkey digging through the trash to find any used iced tea mix residue. You finally find a container of "Lipton's Wild Raspberry Iced Tea Mix" and are shocked to see the following on the back of the container.

Ingredients
Sugar, Malic Acid (Provides Tartness), Instant Tea, Red 40 and Yellow 6, Silicone Dioxide (Prevents Caking), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).

What did you just do?!??!, You think to yourself "how much of this did I drink. Two small cups - 8 oz container. You are in a panic. You sit back down for church, but your mind can't concentrate. You start to shake, have the sugar high jitters, and start to get a huge migraine headache. What did you do? How could this happen? You are in a sweaty panic, shaking and looking as if you are going to throw up. "Why would Lipton make such a horrible, horrible product!", you think to yourself, in dire pain.

You survive the next hour of church service to quickly speak to your friend, who looks at you as if you are from some alien planet. He doesn't realize that you simply can't/don't/won't drink sugar filled tea. It is not in the plan!!! He says: "Why don't you talk to Jean? She made the coffee and tea."

So, you go speak with Jean, and ask "Show me how you made the tea!", in a condescending, self-centered way. She is nice, and obliges. She walks you into the kitchen and reaches in the same cabinet where you found the Lipton Wild Raspberry Iced Tea. She grabs the tea and says "I used this! "

You look up, and see her holding LIPTON Iced Tea To Go with Natural Raspberry Flavor. After further inspection, the product looks basically the exact same as the product that you found, except these words: "Bursting with juicy, bright berry flavors, it's sugar free with 0 calories per 8 oz serving."

Ingredients:
Instant tea, citric acid (provides tartness), instant green tea, sucralose (splenda brand), natural flavors (soy lecithin), acesulfame potassium (sweetener), silicon dioxide (prevents caking), red 40.

You thank Jean, apologize profoundly, and skulk out of the kitchen. Your headache and shakes have magically disappeared, however you are left with a sense of pure insanity. You are left with guilt and wonder when the insanity will end.

Moral of the story? Pay attention to the ingredients - even two products that look and are labeled the same, they can be very different on the inside.

Maybe the 2nd moral is that I have officially completely lost my mind regarding what is and is not permitted to eat.


5K Training for Week 4 out of 9
This week do the following.

For those planning on running the 5K:
(yes, I reallize that this is sort of complicated - just do what makes sense)

• Sunday = Rest
• Monday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  Five-minute walking cooldown
  
• Tuesday = Five-minute walking warmup
  Elliptical workout - 25 min
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Wednesday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Thursday = Five-minute walking warmup
  Elliptical workout - 25 min
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Friday = Five-minute walking warmup
  Elliptical workout - 25 min
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Saturday = Brisk five-minute warmup walk
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  • Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
  • Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
  • Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
  • Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
  Five-minute walking cooldown
• Sunday = Rest - go to church or spend time with your family and friends. Have fun.

Hey, don't worry - next week it gets harder! Enjoy it while you can.


For those planning on walking the 5K:

• Monday = Rest or walk easy
• Tuesday = 20 minute brisk walk
• Wednesday = Rest or walk easy
• Thursday = 20 minute brisk walk
• Friday = Rest or walk easy
• Saturday = Easy walk for 2 miles
• Sunday = Alternate 5 minutes of brisk walk & 5 minutes of easy walk for a total of 60 minutes.

Notes:

#Money#

I think I made comments before that fat people are discriminated against financially. The cost of goods and services for a large person are extraordinarily out of balance. While I understand that the non-obese population (of which is becoming a smaller and smaller minority) wants to charge fat people extra for plane tickets, junk-food tax, and other things, I would contend that I have already paid extra for ordinary things.

I can speak just about my personal experience here, this doesn't mean that all overweight people have this problem, but I have several money-wasting categories.

First is the food. Second is clothes. Third is for "stuff that broke" due to overuse, which can include a sofa that lost it's frame, bed that lost it's spring, car that lost it's shocks. Things break easier when you are overweight, and clothes rip, and food is consumed.

This week, I went to sign up for one of my upcoming 5K events. Registration for the race indicates that a T-shirt is included with the race packet. The normal registration is $20, however the registration form indicates that if you want an XXL shirt, the race registration fee is $22. I think it is somewhat sad and discouraging that the people who REALLY NEED to do a 5K fun run/walk are marked to pay $2 more. They should have indicated that you don't have to have a shirt, if you don't want one. Just come and walk and have fun in the community and that you are loved as a person. Is the extra X really worth $2? I am having some problems with this policy, as it discriminates against fat people. What is the purpose of a 5K, if not to get people to move more?

Also, this weekend I found myself using a coupon at JCPenney. I needed to buy some birthday gifts, and I would like to get a new wallet and belt. Looking at belts, I saw a belt that I liked, and observed the price. It was a belt size 44 and was $30. Walking out with my belt, I saw the same belt (brand, color, style, etc) size 42 was $20.

Is 2 inches really worth $10? that extra 2 inches increased the cost by 50% of the original. That seems extreme. It would appear to me that at the belt factory, they have a rope of leather that is being cut into belt-shaped sizes. Is that extra 2 inches really a burden on them? Is all of the leather in specific 42-inch shapes, and they have to go out of their way to find a 44-inch piece?

So, I exchanged for the 42-inch belt, and I wondered "how much money am I going to save simply because I don't have to pay for the extra 2-inches."


#Diet#
I am on a break from the regular diet, but am still watching what I eat. I am mostly eating a lot of eggs, grapefruit, and green mixed salads and vegetables. The difference this week is that I am having no starch or carbs.

This weekend I get as much protein and veggies that I want - no restrictions.
Next week, I go back to the regular routine and add back my whole wheat starches and good carbs. Today is only Wednesday, and I already miss my whole wheat bread and tortillas and crackers.


#Exercise#

Recently, I have been thinking about what to do while running. I am a novice breather, and find myself getting frustrated/annoyed with my heavy breathing during my runs. To make up for this, I like to play my mp3 player really loud to mask any sounds that may through my training session into a negative spiral. There are other things that the music masks too, and having a heavy beat seems to keep me moving and avoiding any mental roadblocks to finishing my daily training.

I have been thinking about other positive things about 5K training, and how to use this time more productively. On Wednesday, I noticed how beautiful the Mississippi River was close up, and running down by the river was so interesting. It was something I never would have given a second thought too before. I am interested in finding other hidden areas.

When running, you might want to do some of the following to help you along the way. I am going to try them:

• Think while you are running. Take deep consideration and thought about specific parts of your body while you are moving. Imagine that you are (virtually) massaging these parts of your body for stress reduction, or just to imagine them being very productive, being very powerful or high in energy. Take time to consider the well being:
• about your whole body
• about your eyes
• about your ears
• about your nose
• about your arms
• about your legs
• about your abdomen
• about your feet
• about your lungs
• about your back
• about your neck
• about your surroundings. Look around and see what you can see. Contemplate on the environment you are in ("Stand in the place where you are.....")
• the nature, if you are outside
• the people you see on your path
• the sky and clouds
• the ground at your feet
• flowers/trees/water around your path
• animals, pets you encounter
• about your blessings. What are you proud of?
• your family
• your friends,
  
• your gifts/talents
• your mind, thoughts that make you happy
• where did you feel most powerful - imagine you are there.
• where do you feel comfortable - what does that feel like
• what gifts are you feeling from God right now? What had God touched in your life today?

Looking through my journal, I see some of the disciplines that I have been thinking about recently. Two disciplines are "Contemplation" and "Examination"
When running, this may be a good time to take an intentional look at your life and be in contemplation about your day, your goals, your attitude. I know this is hard, as the "running" activity itself can be stressful at first. Right now it may be a distraction, but you may find it will turn into a relaxing time for personal examination.

(Deep, huh...)


As I mentioned in a previous post, there are a handful of Blogs that I read regularly, when I feel I have time to do so. One of these is ZenHabits, and it has a great post about running and meditation. I would recommend reading, if you are interested in more practical ways of running and meditating.



#Personal#

I have started decluttering my garage and 2nd bedroom - and I am finding something calm and peaceful about driving into a garage that looks organized and has space to work. I may write more about this in a later week.


Thanks to DJ Ed House for mixing a new running cd. It is high-energy dance and I have been using this during my 5K training days. It has a great beat that keeps going. I hope he has time to make some more mixes. I would sure enjoy it.


next week, it is time to take measurements and weigh in. Also, additional thoughts on running.

more later,

Chazz

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