Birds of a Feather

I belong to 2 running clubs: The Melrose Running Club for 12 years and with Middleton area friends, the Goon Squad Runners. The running clubs are very supportive and we share a lot of information (sounds a lot like our Weight Watchers meetings!) They both have excellent web sites with lots of great information. The Goons request that members post race reports after completing each race. Never at a loss for words, I posted mine about the Boston Marathon. It will be at the end of this post.

The reason why I am sharing this with you is to let you know how important it is to be with people who share your goals and your lifestyle. They can give you advice and be a POSITIVE force to help better your life. My point of the race report was not to diminish the feat of running a marathon, especially one as challenging as Boston, but to show how being with runners who believe in the lifestyle, and believe in me, assures me that anything is possible. It's just what we do. That's how I feel about you. The fact that you have walked into my Weight Watchers meeting let's me know you can take the first steps to reaching a healthy weight and living a healthy lifestyle. I even have medals when you get there! Alright, they are key chains and charms.

To find out more about the MRC or the GSR to to www.melroserunningclub.com or www.goonsquadrunners.com. My Goon Name is Enforcer!

Just Another Day in the Life of a Runner!

I find it really difficult to explain our running family to the outside world. They look at us as if we are crazy, even obsessed exercisers. They also think we are super human, able to run distances most of them don’t even want to drive. But when I got the email that Boston was closing, and “was I in?”, I signed up as if I was ordering something from QVC. No big deal.

What most of you reading this race report know, training for Boston, completing the Grand Prix series, running a sub 3 hour marathon or winning the senior title at nationally ranked races is just what we do. Of course we are proud, excited, and sometimes disappointed, but to the people we run with, it’s just what we do. 20+ miles in the winter. Whatever. 10 miles with “stuff” before we go to work or take the kids to school – all in a days work.

So, getting the to START of the Boston Marathon, healthy and ready. Check. Sitting on the bus with some of the nicest people in the world: now that’s a treat. Mamacita and I settled into easy conversation and I caught up with some Shamrocks I hadn’t seen in a while. There is a mix of pride, yet, “what else would we be doing”, feeling on the bus to Hopkinton. I sometimes forgot I was running back to Boston. As luck would have it, when we got to Hopkinton we found many of the Goons, besides the ones I rode down with, 4 buses down (see other BM race reports for details). I also saw my Melrose Running Club friends and fellow Middleton parents. Everyone I talked to was pumped and all the volunteers were spectacular. All was well in my world. I walked to start where I saw Doc and we waited for our corral to start moving so we could get into line. Let the race begin.

When I look back at the race, I know I have on my rose colored glasses, only remembering how the miles went by quickly. The crowds yelling “GO BIG G” and whatever else they thought the G stood for. I remember glancing at my watch to keep my pace steady. Going up and over Heartbreak Hill thinking, “I feel pretty good”. Hearing my friends calling my name. Flying through the last miles. Catching up with Doc and hearing his words of encouragement. Seeing the dynamic duo, HCM and Judge side by side, as usual, knowing all was right in our bizzaro world. Then, the burst of emotion, taking the left onto Boylston followed by the shock of realizing I had to run more than a block to get to the finish line (haven’t I done this before?). Thinking back of the adrenaline rush of kicking it in, and actually having a kick! The fun of meeting people from all over the country while doing the Zombie walk to get my medal and my bag.

Then we share our stories. We want to talk to the people who actually can feel what we felt on that long run to Boston. We want to talk to those who can feel our pain, and maybe take some away.

Then back to reality. Everyone oohs and ahhs and, then ask for a ride to the mall or, at work, what’s a healthy meal at Chili’s (I’m a Weight Watchers leader and there isn’t one).

But I did put on my favorite bracelet. My charm bracelet. On it are the most important things in my life. No Goofy from Disney World or Statue of Liberty from NY. There is a heart with a dumbbell (I met my husband at the gym), 2 little girls for my daughters, a space for something musical (any Goons that are jewelers?) and …a sneaker. I guess this running thing is a big deal after all.

Is this the Hardest Thing We Do?

My Weight Watchers members are an amazing group of people. They inspire me everyday. In fact, I think they know it, too. Oh, I am not saying they think they are all that, but they know they have had some spectacular accomplishments. And they wonder, why is losing, and maintaining a weight loss, so hard if they've succeeded at so many other things?

I have a few thoughts. First, many of our accomplishments have a finish line. Getting through college, or putting a kid through college, building a house or training for a marathon have a beginning and end. Living a healthy lifestyle is, well, for life. You are going to have more ups and downs in a lifetime. And long term efforts can easily weight on your patience, even when you know it's good for you.

My other thought has to do with some studies on "willpower." or "no power". The study stated that we seem to have a limited amount of mental fortitude. So if we say no to the cookies, we may say yes to the beautiful necklace. If we have to work hard in too many instances, at some point we break down. So, in a week when we volunteer, help out our parents, give a scabilion rides and change over to our spring clothes, we may not have any mental energy to figure what to cook for a healthy dinner.

I know my members are great people. They are not going to say no to a difficult project at work. They are not going to leave their kids at school when they need a ride. They are not going to skip picking up medications for family members. So when they need to exercise or say no the the high point dessert, you have no "willpower" left. You are last on the list.

Please try as often as you can to put the oxygen mask on you first, then on others. And if one time you don't, there will be another chance if you don't give up!

Perfection Procrastination

This information is something I've finally recognized, but was reminded of when listening to the podcast of Leigh Peele. You can find more of her excellent insights at http://www.leighpeele.com/ I will tell you what I found so true...

If every person who ever came to one of my Weight Watchers meetings never left, I would need Fenway Park to hold them all. Why do they leave? Why do they take so long to come back, or worse, never come back? I know. The desire for PERFECTION.

For those who are new to weight loss, coming to the Weight Watchers meeting is so exciting! This will be the answer to all their healthy eating problems. They will get the magic books that will have all the secrets. In reality, the information IS powerful. However, the member actually has to implement it. She wants to follow it to the letter as if all the obstacles to a healthy lifestyle will disappear when she walks out the meeting. The world will be in Technicolor, like in the "Wizard of Oz." For a day or 2, or maybe even a few weeks, everything is going great. Then...the cheesecake calls. The pillow seems nicer than the sneakers on the other side of the bed. There is nothing healthy to eat in the house. No perfection this week...

She'll come back when she can be perfect, but that never happens. What does happen is perfection paralysis. She feels if she can't follow everything in the WW program, don't do any of it. Don't fall for that trap!!!

The best way to get out of perfection procrastination is to do SOMETHING, anything, positive for your health. Eat an apple. Walk around the block. Get out a WW cookbook and look at it. Log the next few meals in your tracker, no matter what it is. You will snap out if it.

The one big AHA moment in the podcast was this. Think about when you had your biggest binge, or longest time of not exercising, or worst self talk. It wasn't when you were comfortable coming to the meetings and doing the just best you can, like maybe during the holiday season. It's when you put the most pressure on yourself to be perfect. When you tell yourself, no this or that, and I MUST do this or that. It's like a dam. It just bursts. You are 2 steps forward, 5 steps back. The better way is 1 step forward. Another step forward. Work one step at a time. Build your confidence. Celebrate your success. If you've been on the program for 3 weeks, and then you go out with friends and order the left side of the menu, don't think what an awful day I had I'm a failure! Think 21 day on program VS one meal off. That is FANTASTIC!

Leigh's great words of wisdom were "Screwing up does not equal giving up." That would make a great t-shirt (not for the meeting, though) Come to the meeting. I love you, even if you are not perfect. Neither am I!