Sensations

I know some people seem to better equipped with what you need to become a good runner than other people. Some of us are just what you would call a nature talent. But I in fact don't believe in that. Of course some people can run faster than other people. But I think most of us can run. That is not the same thing as the ability to start slowly and listen to your body. If you start out too fast and find yourself eating painkillers after a few days, then you might just as well find another sport where it isn't as easy to abuse your body. Runners with injuries are most likely runners that do not listen to the signs their bodies are trying to get through to them. Maybe because they are on some pills, I don't know. But if you are careful and take time to let the joints get used to the running you minimize the chances of anything going wrong. It might be easy to say this. Well, you can't get this free. The good shape of a marathon runner. And you can't buy this for money. It is your own time and effort that counts. I didn't start at the zero point. I was in good shape when I decided to run the marathon. And I am even not superstitious enough, not to say that I in fact have never had a running injury. Because I am not too ambitious. I don't have to be the best. I don't have to do this in a month or two. 

This is my lifestyle and has always been. A part of my lifestyle is also to avoid pain killers. I use relaxation and yoga instead. And somehow I manage to get along fine without painkillers. I just think it is extremely important to be able to listen to your body. That is the reason for me going through three childbirths without any medication at all. I knew that the pain wasn't dangerous and that it would go away again. I will never say a childbirth is comfortable. It hurts like hell. But the pain doesn't last for ever. Even if it feels like it can't get any worse at a given time. But then, inevitably it is all over. And there is this wonderful new human being that takes all the focus. If all goes well and a woman is not medicated, the few hours after a childbirth are something one never has a chance to experience under other circumstances. You are wide awake and all senses open. The new baby is so amazing. Every sound, every movement, every smell is like the most important thing on earth. Countless thoughts fly through the new parent's mind. Feelings you have never felt before. Concerns about the welfare of your baby. Thoughts about the future. You look at every small detail like the nail on the little finger. I wouldn't want to miss that.  And I didn't want painkillers to interfere with this sensation.  


Well I am not saying the same counts for running as for childbirth.  Or maybe.  In the end it is your own effort that counts and you don't get anything for free.

All kinds of gadgets

There are so many things you can buy to prevent or rather get rid of all kinds of problems. If you don't want your back to hurt, you have to buy an expensive chair to sit in at your desk. A chair that has all kinds of possibilities for adjusting so you can find the one position you are going to be in for the next years. Then you don't have to move. The chair makes sure there will be no reason for that. Or rather, no opportunitiy if you once have adjusted it. Because then you don't want to mess with changing that. 

Do I need to say that I don't believe in expensive chairs that you can adjust to your body. What is wrong with moving your body around and let it adjust to whatever you are sitting or laying on? If you haven't lost all feeling for your body you will feel when you have been sitting or laying in the same position too long. Then you move around. Or change the way you sit. There is no "right" way to sit in my mind. Sometimes it is quite OK to hang down. If you don't do it always. Sometimes it is OK to cross your legs. If you don't sit like that all day long. 

It is not only chairs you can buy who are supposed to provide support. Shoes, beds, all kinds of things to put around your keyboard and I could go on for a long time. There are all kinds of "support" like bandages, some modern corsets, socks, panties, underwear that are supposed to make your body look better. Yeah. I don't give much for that idea. If you need a corset to look good, how do you think you look when you move around? Stiff? What about having a stick stuck up a unmentionable place. Oh. wow. I am trying not to imagine my reaction if I met a man and decided to go to bed with him and found out that he was wearing a corset. I would run. Fast. Away. On the other hand, I suppose I would never feel any desire to go to bed with a man that would even think of using a corset. 


Pain killers are another kind of "help" to people who want to get rid of all kinds of uncomfort. But by using pain killers you loose the ability to feel when things are beginning to be a little uncomfortable. If you are taking some pills to get rid of that pain in your shoulder, then you don't feel that you have been sitting too long in the same position or that you are using a wrong technique to lift a heavy item from the floor. If you dont pay attention to those warning signs of uncomfort you will most likely end up with some pain somewhere that results in swallowing more pills. Which again means that you don't pay attention to your body. And you believe those salesmen that tell you an expensive bed with all kinds of possibilities to raise different parts of the bed and the person that is laying in the bed, is absolutely necessary. Need I say that I don't believe in that kind of comfort. Because I don't think it works in the long run. 

Weight loss continued

Bread and beer contain many calories so getting rid of those and having something healthier instead of course helped a lot in loosing weight. I happens that I drink maybe one beer, and then I prefer something exotic. And I can eat a slice of pizza now and then or a slice of bread. But those things are very social and I keep the amount down. I just don't like the idea of acting different from the people I am with. Which I guess is understandable since my profile is that of a social eater. I eat with other people. Come to think of it, that is one of the changes I made, I almost never eat anything alone. And I never use the excuse of being on a diet when someone offers me something to eat. I usually accept it but try to keep the portions small. As I see it there is a huge difference between eating a whole box of chocolates or just taking one piece.

I really don't want to play the role of the person on diet. I don't want the attention, I don't like the comments. It's OK that people say I have lost weight if I have. And of course people see it when someone that has been 20 kilos overweight becomes reasonably thin. I guess what I dread now is the thought of me getting comments about being anorectic when I keep on. Because there are a few more kilos I want to loose. I don't like attention. I don't like comments about my appearance. I just want to fit in.

Freeze Your Thorns Off 5k

I decided to take part in the Boring Runner's Freeze Your Thorns Off 5k
Well.. It is January and I promised myself last winter that I wouldn't freeze my butt off again running like crazy outside during wintertime.  I would only run slowly and only if I wanted to.  And I wanted to participate in this fun game :)

This morning I was awake when the papers arrived and I thought I would be a good mom and let my son enjoy his teenage dreams a bit longer this Saturday morning and I decided that my 5k today would be his paper route.  At least the distance would not be far from 5k.

I must admit I had some second thoughts when I saw how thick the papers were, 250 grams, which makes 110 of them 27,5 kilos.  Quite heavy.  And you have to go all the way up steps and down to dark cellars to get to peoples front doors and make sure the paper is all the way in.  No throwing around with the papers, and on this route no one has a postbox by the street.

The weather today isn't as cold as yesterday, in fact it is 10°C warmer today than yesterday, which means the snow is melting and there is wet ice on the streets.  There is no way getting around reasonably safely without spikes.

I didn't see a living soul out there.

I decided I would be content with any speed faster than walking speed and I think my time 54:24 is pretty good all things taken into consideration.

The kid is still sleeping. And probably will be until noon.

Loosing weight

I have never bought the idea of stepping on the scale just once a week. Because the daily swings would be there anyway, especially when you aren't loosing weight very fast. Our memory span is so short. At least mine is, that I have to weigh myself every day to keep my motivation going. Seriously, I can't see anything wrong with seeing the results immediately if I eat too much one night. Then the weight is bound to show that next morning. Maybe I would be careful the day before a weighing day, but isn't it better to be careful every day? This is a lifestyle, a marathon, not a sprint or a short diet. Life isn't about running a short distance to a goal. We are going to be here for a long time. And if stepping on the scale every morning is a part of what I need to stay thin, I will do that for the rest of my life. 

I was asked yesterday if it didn't take a lot of self control to count calories as I do. Yes, it does. But so does getting out of bed every morning and go to work. I have to keep a calendar at work, I have to write down everything I do. And If I don't do it immediately I forget things and the quality of my work isn't the same. The same thing counts for eating. Because I have to eat. I can't just stop that as I would do if I was trying to get out of some bad habit like smoking or drinking. Then I could think it was sufficient just to stop doing what I don't want to do and that's it. Although I am afraid things aren't that simple if you are an alcoholic and want to get out of the addiction. You would still crave the substance every day and have to change a life style to stay free. But as I see it, the main difference between loosing weight and stopping drinking is that when you want to loose weight you can't just stop eating. 

Because you have to eat every day. There are no simple solutions. People sometimes ask me what I did to loose weight. Especially when they find out that it isn't just the running because I was also running when I was fat. There are so many things I do. I keep log, I count calories, I step on the scale every day, I eat a lot of vegetables. I try to avoid empty calories. I avoid yeast by not eating to much bread and I rarely drink beer. 

This last thing is something I do because I heard that in Iceland, this country where my ancestors didn't eat bread or drink beer for a thousand years, it is possible that our digestive system isn't geared to digest all that yeast. I can't recite the theories behind this conclusion, but I decided  years ago to give it a try. Not to eat bread or drink beer. And I could feel difference. Before that I had symptoms from my colon that were pretty annoying. It hurt sometimes and I was bloated. Those symptoms disappeared almost entirely when I changed my diet. 

Health

I decided few years ago that the time had come I had to develop my own style. There is one thing I want to emphasize. I run because it is healthy. It feels good to be in good shape. I am not in this because I want to win some race somewhere. And I am even not in this because of the company. I get to meet lots of people at work and sometimes I just need to get out there on my own. That is my meditation and relaxation from the busy life i am leading. On the other side I enjoy being a part of a huge street run where thousands of people are moving the same way. And just disappear in the crowd. I can easily see myself joining the big races in the big cities around the world. Yes, that is a good idea. 

Need I say I have never taken any psychofarmaca. The running is enough to keep me in good spirits. This topic could easily get me into the gear of talking about health for days. I think I will start right now. First I would like to say that I think it is plain stupid not to care about ones health. I have never understood why people do not care if the put themselves at risk by eating unhealthy food, smoke, drink too much, not exercise and so on. I mean, you choose to start smoking. And what do you get out of it? Years of couching, burn huge amounts of money and high risk for all kinds of diseases. Or if you take the elevator and not the stairs. Or the car and not the bicycle. Plain stupid I'd say. And about exercise. It is tremendously important. Not because one stays good looking, but because it prevents all kinds of diseases. OK, the good looks are a bonus. I for sure can't imagine life without running. Or if I couldn't run I would probably bicycle, swim, walk... I don't know. I have always liked being outside. Grew up in the countryside in a big family. Was a girl scout. Climbed mountains, hiked, bicycled, walked. Yes, and went swimming outdoors. A little skiing also. 


What about you?  Why do you run?

The view out of my window right now