The Color Run Austin recap

It was your typical Saturday morning in Austin that started like this…

And quickly turned into this…

3 of my friends and I decided a couple months ago to participate in the Austin Color Run. It basically takes the concept from the Hindu holiday, Holi (March 8th this year), and combines it with a 5k and fundraising for Habitat for Humanity. The concept of Holi, in the least amount of words possible, is to cover everyone in pigment so we all look the same and no one can see our differences.

So we came up with a great team name, The Violent Lovers (thanks to a Wu Tang Clan name generator…) and bought awesome tube socks from Target for $1.50. I ran with my friends Marcy, Mary, and Cliff and while it was a harrowing experience, I couldn’t have chosen better teammates.

Because of the random drought-busting storms we’ve been having lately, Austin is muddy. But we were prepared and everyone had a towel and some extra shoes and we figured we’d be fine. We were happy and hopeful. We’d gotten emails from The Color Run, who does a great job of communicating pre-race, about a change in location because of the overwhelming interest. Well, despite changing the location, it still caused a 5 mile back up on the road leading to the park. We were on track to get to the park by 8:15am for the 9am start when we hit the traffic. It was horrible. I went 1 mile in 40 minutes. We ended up pulling into a nearby neighborhood around 9am and walking over a mile to the race.

We finally got to the venue and even though we were a little chilly and bitter about the traffic situation, we found out that nothing was on time because of the traffic and other planning failures. I admit I am a little upset about the lack of organization at this point. If the logistics of the race caused them to move venues, perhaps they should have been more prepared for the huge amount of people they were expecting… But we got in line, about 3/4 of the way back, and waited for the staggered start of our “wave”.

We did not cross the start line until 10am (an hour after projected) but we tried to smile and jog to warm ourselves up. But the congestion was awful. People were stopping at every person who had a bucket of the color (an eco-friendly pigment powder) and we walked the first 5 minutes. There were spectators with color, but at every kilometer (of the 5-kilometer race) there was a “color zone” so we figured we’d get color there and dodged our way through the crowd, color-less. The course started to get muddy, but nothing a little washing wouldn’t fix later, so we stayed together and trekked on.

Unfortunately we got to the first color zone to find out they had run out of color. We were all cold, muddy, and not covered in yellow powder yet so the 4 of us started to get a little grouchy. At this point the mud had gotten so bad we could not even attempt to run. Our shoes got stuck and Cliff and Marcy had to physically pull my leg out several times. We started slipping and sliding (see above picture) and people left and right were cursing, losing shoes, and complaining about how there was no color left.

We found a quick cut-through and decided to knock off about .5 miles of the course. At this point I looked at my Garmin watch to find out we had only gone .75 miles total, in over 20 minutes. There was no way I was going 3.1 in those conditions. We start hearing from the chit-chat happening around us that none of the zones have any color left at this point, that it was all used up in the first few waves. People were getting angry. I was getting upset. At some point, Mary and Cliff got separated from us and Marcy and I grumbled and climbed our way through mud. We ended up taking another huge short cut and rounded the bend, seeing the finish line ahead of us. In 38 minutes, we traveled 1.48 miles and I think I used the phrase “They should have rescheduled” about 38 times.

We ended the race with no color on our bodies and found a tent where they were giving 1 bag of color to every participant in exchange for a wrist bracelet. This was the first color we’d seen all morning! We grabbed our bags, miraculously found Cliff and Mary, and we all covered each other in powder.

At the end of it, our shoes were ruined. We ended up throwing them in a box that subsequently went into the dumpster at my apartment (coincidentally, the same dumpster that had to be stepped into when we realized, hours later, that Cliff’s camera — where all these pictures are from — was also in that box.)

We were cold, in terrible moods about the lack of organization from the Color Run and full of complaints. With our shoes quite wet and heavy, we trekked back to my car, tried our best to rinse our hands and feet with water from water bottles, and sat on towels. Bloody Marys and mimosas followed and our moods lightened up a bit. We ended up having brunch at Austin Java and cleaning ourselves up a bit in their bathroom.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about the race. It was an adventure in many ways and it was great to spend my morning with friends, but because of the horrible mud situation and the poor organization at the race itself, I felt like I wasted a morning and $40. If the Color Run is coming to a city near you, I would recommend signing up because I think it could be a really great experience. I think they’re learning from their mistakes and hopefully there won’t be a giant rainstorm for the 10 days prior to your race. I honestly think I want to do the September event in DC, since I’ll be living there by then, so I can give it another chance. It has great potential, but Saturday stunk.

blogging & truthiness

If you are involved in the blogging world, you probably saw it blow up yesterday when a Marie Claire article surfaced calling out some of the popular crowd in the blogging world. The article ripped some blog authors to shreds and pointed out something that I’ve thought for a long time: these women showcase an impossible standard for a healthy lifestyle.

The article discusses exercise bulimia (“binge exercising”) and journaling of food that doesn’t seem sufficiently nutritious or realistic to support the lifestyles these women are writing about.

Well, I am just here to say I think the article was mean and that it was a bit of a harsh attack on “The Big Six” (seriously, must we inflate their egos even more?). But I am also here to say that I agree with a lot of the things in the article.

I hope that, on my blog, I have never displayed a lifestyle that was an impossible standard for others to lead. Nor do I even dream that other people even consider “modeling” their lifestyle after mine. I started the blog as an outlet to journal my weight loss journey, and it then turned into a healthy-living blog, and now I don’t know what the fuck I write about. I just write about the things, people, and places that make me happy. That happens to include food and being active, but not always. I mean, you’ve seen me eat Texas barbecue and the next day float down a river drinking beer before noon. And cocoa puffs. I like to think that what my blog is, is real. I bitch about things, I wax poetic about my love for food, I tell the stories about my life that have made me who I am, and I tell it like it is.

In light of that Marie Claire article and the spotlight it shines on unrealistic “healthy” lifestyles, I would like to remind everyone of the concept of truthiness. Yes, Steven Colbert’s truthiness. Truthiness is “truth that comes from the gut, not books.” Let’s all take a step back and look at the situation. Do the words of Marie Claire resonate with your gut? Do you feel that, inherently, it has value and worth? In your gut, do you think that the article is pointing out something that needs to be said? I do. I think these are issues that need to be discussed openly in the blog world. Just because the bloggers in question are part of the popular clique does not mean they are perfect. I think it is a major flaw in the blog world that people lead completely unrealistic lifestyles and people feel let down when they themselves can’t live up to them. Why do you think I got so obsessive about running? I got an injury, stepped back, and took a look at the fact that I was comparing myself too harshly to the big bloggers who run marathons like they’re going shopping. I’m certainly not claiming to be perfect or a model that one should follow. But the article, while unnecessarily mean, makes a good point.

(source)

I know in my gut that I live a real life. I know in my gut that some of these women don’t.

It is time we start being real, filling our blogs with truthiness. I don’t want anyone to ever think that I am an unrealistic model for normal life, but some other bloggers are. I hit the snooze button and skip workouts. I enjoy cheeseburgers. I think beer is delicious any day of the week, not just on a weekend as a reward for a 15 mile run and starving myself all week. This is real life, people, and you have to be real about how you live it.

If you’d like some more reading on the issue, I urge you to stop by Hollaback Health, the blog group I write for, and check out the latest post reacting to the Marie Claire article.

an epic fall

So yesterday I experienced an epic fall down the wooden stairs at my mom’s house. Like I was halfway down when my slippery flip flop slipped out from under me and I slid down the rest of the stairs on my back. When I got to the bottom I let out a string of expletives and then felt like I was going to pass out from the pain. Which I did. When I came to on the floor of the foyer, I surveyed the damage and cried for a few minutes.

Source

I spent most of the day on the couch with an ice pack on my back. The damage is minimal, except for my dignity. Thankfully no one saw, but still my pride is hurt. I have a giant bruise in the small of my back as well as random small ones on other parts of my back. My right elbow hit pretty hard and surprisingly has only 1 small bruise and some cuts. But man, does it hurt!

Seeing as yesterday was boring and today will be equally as uneventful (just seeing a movie with Mom and my grandma!), I’ll leave you with my latest guest post about body image on Bridget’s blog, Pounding Pavement and Plants!

wanted: real food

Oh cafeteria food… why must you be packed with preservatives and other bad stuff?

My diet is not 100% clean. Duh. I’m not perfect. But I think that, generally, I eat good, wholesome food with minimal preservatives and lots of natural ingredients. However, the dining hall does not serve this type of food. And my tummy is hurtin’ from it.

In college I went to a school with award-winning dining and it was never an issue, especially as I got older and switched my meal plan to buying a lot of “groceries” and making things in my room. We had a lot of natural soups, frozen food, etc. available to us that were actually really high quality. I forgot what the dining hall at Spanish camp does to a counselor’s stomach.

As I write this I am actually getting a reprieve from the food: bagels. On the weekends the dining hall isn’t open for breakfast so the kids (and us) get Panera bagels, granola bars, fruit, etc. So while I’m sure that has some unsavory ingredients, it is probably better than my other options!

Wheat bagel & caramel PB

The kids get to sleep in today so I’m eating in my room and savoring every bite. I brought a few things from home, like apples, Kashi crackers, some natural granola bars, and this lovely PB. But I decided the store was needed and I grabbed some fruit, Greek yogurt, etc. while making a late night food run. Hopefully me and my stomach shall make it through the next 3 weeks. Pray for improvement, it ain’t pretty over here!

Have you ever had a similar experience where you had to deal with an atypical food selection for a few weeks?

the knee diagnosis

The title sounds kind of menacing… like it should be followed by some ominous sound effect. DUM DUM DUUUUUUUUM.

But don’t worry, things aren’t as bad as they could be. But I’ll save those tantalizing details and dig into my food first.

Bagel thin with strawberry jelly

Clearly not the most filling breakfast, but I really wanted to try the Bagel Thins! They were pretty good! They might not kill a bagel craving, but they tasted good!

I then went grocery shopping! Don’t you love it when your mom hands you the credit card and says “go grocery shopping”?? Well even though my mom’s house is kind of in the country, there is a decent grocery store (Martin’s) here that has a great natural section! I was able to snag some great products I’ve been wanting to try and the produce looked great, too. While there, I picked up an Amy’s frozen burrito to heat up for lunch!

Amy's Black Bean burrito with a carrot

Grapefruit sections

Complaint: This “individual, convenient” cup of fruit? It has TWO servings! When something is packed like this, it makes one think it is a single serving. They are tricking consumers! Make the package smaller or change the nutrition info to reflect what is in the container.

Then I got some stuff done around the house and before leaving for my doctor’s appointment, I had some toast with the new nut butter I found!

Whole wheat bread with sea salted soynut butter

The sports medicine practice I went to is attached to the hospital that my mom works at, so I picked up a Subway sub to take to her for dinner (and one for myself, naturally).

Then I went to the practice and I had some X-rays done and it has been decided that I have a very (very) minor stress fracture. I’ve already taken a week off running so I’m to take another off while resting, icing, and stretching. Then I can start slowly on a treadmill and stop immediately if it hurts and take another week off. He thinks that after 2-3 weeks of rest I should be okay to slowly start building up mileage and to use a treadmill at first because it is a softer surface. Yay I’m not broken or torn seriously! I can still do the elliptical, cycling, and swimming as long as it doesn’t hurt! And for strength training I just have to avoid squats and using heavy weights on leg extension machines.

Off to relax a bit before eating dinner & going to a movie (by myself!)

run fail

Just to catch you up to speed, last night I was seriously craving some of my Dad’s spaghetti with meat sauce, so I whipped up some sauce with TVP (texturized vegetable protein) instead of meat and it was deeeeelish.

Organic whole wheat spaghetti with homemade sauce and TVP

And of course, dessert was the last of the Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean Frozen Dessert that I adore and 2 tbsp of naturally sweetened granola and a couple blackberries.

This morning, I was all excited to go on a 6 or 7 mile run. I felt really good and wanted to get out for a longer run. I even ate a Mini Luna Bar (PB cookie) in preparation for a longer run.

But, I’ve been having some random knee pain sporadically while running for the past 3 weeks, but I hadn’t run in 6 days hoping the rest would cure it. It reminds me of the foot issues I went through not too long ago… But not a mile into my run it started to bother me and by mile 2.5 I had to stop and walk for fear that I would cry. It is a weird stabbing pain below my knee cap, to the outside of the knee. I had surgery on this knee 5 years ago, so part of me thinks it might be related to that? But part of me doesn’t understand why it would be acting up now when I’ve been having shorter and less frequent runs (I wanted to take it easy after my 10k training ended). It started after a 5 mile run on concrete, when I usually run on a bike path or on a trail. Anyone with running knee pain care to chime in? It doesn’t hurt at the gym, just running. And it hurts worst when I am picking my foot off the ground in my stride.

So I threw in the towel at 3 miles and made myself some comfort oats in a jar, using the last of my favorite nut butter.

1/4 cup Bob's Red Mill 7 grain with 3/4 cup water, 1 mashed banana, served in the remains of my chocolate soy nut butter (~1 1/2 tbsp)

So I’ve iced my knee, taken Advil, and I’m resting it. Internet searches are leading me to think it is “Runner’s Knee” which requires rest, ice, and patience to get over, but I’m going to make an appointment with a sports medicine doctor just in case.

down a job, up a cool header

Did you notice the cool new header on my blog?? (Look up!) Well my amazing cousin Sarah designed it for me! She’s technically my dad’s cousin’s daughter (so my 2nd cousin?) but she’s family and that is what matters. Oh and did I mention that powerhouse of talent comes from a high school senior????? She is going places… like Tufts University in the Fall A huge thanks to her for doing this for me and making it look awesome!

In other news, I am suffering from a horrible headache, most likely from the devil children. But more on that later. First, let’s speed you up on my moves & eats.

I woke up feeling great and jumped into my suit to go for a swim at the gym! I had the whole pool to myself and enjoyed a relaxing 45 minute workout in the wet stuff. I did a total of 2500m in 45 minutes and then headed home to eat breakfast & get to the office!

Pear, Special K, Flax Bran, 1 tbsp almond butter, and 2 tbsp skim milk... aka world's best messy cereal bowl

Cheese & crackers; almonds; spinach salad (with 1/2 cup kidney beans, squash, 1/4 small avocado, broccoli, and 1 tbsp sesame ginger dressing)

(A handful of undocumented grapes were consumed while in the car line waiting to pick the kids up from school.)

94% fat free popcorn... and I ate it all!

Side note: the evil boy I babysat (note past tense) judged me for eating a whole bowl of popcorn when he ate a chocolate muffin, pudding, and 4 (yes 4) eggs for dinner. Yes, I tried to make him something else but he’s evil and let’s just say he cooked his own dinner by choice.

Comfort food a la French toast with amazing POM syrup!

I believe I stole the idea from Bess to use POM as a syrup. The folks at POM Wonderful sent us both samples and I love it but feel kind of clueless as to how to use it other than as a juice! I combined 1 tbsp agave syrup with 1 tbsp POM 100% pomegranate juice and microwaved it to help the two meld together. It was liquidy, like real maple syrup, but mmm mmm tasty!

So about me babysitting… I’ve complained a few times on here that the twins, specifically the boy twin, are horrible. AWFUL. Hands down, the worst kids I’ve ever sat. Well tonight was the final straw when a 9 year old threatened physical violence, threatened to hurt himself and blame it on me so I’d get arrested (creative little shithead), called me a “bitch”, and absolutely refused to listen to any kind of request or demand I made. I was also told that being the babysitter gives me no authority and he wanted me to die. So tomorrow is my last day and I should be able to cut out early!! Hooray! I was supposed to leave in 2 weeks, anyways, so there is a new babysitter lined up to replace me.

However I have a massive headache after dealing with them for 4 hours so I am currently in bed digesting my amazing French toast and POM syrup I hope you all love the new design as much as I do!!!!!

you say you want a resolution…

Yes, a poorly reworked Beatles song today inspired the title of my post. Don’t kill me, copyright people!

So today over my morning bowl of oats…

Mix: 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1 tbsp Bob's Red MIll 7 grain, 1 mashed banana, 1 tbsp dried fruit bits, 1/3 cup skim milk, 1/3 cup water; topped with 1 tbsp caramel PB

… I started thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Well, why are they only for New Year? When I woke up fighting off a cold this morning, I slept in, as that was the healthiest thing to do. But what about the other days when I have chosen to sleep in because I was tired or skipped a workout because I was sore? That is bullshit, Meredith. Wake up and smell the Diet Coke: It is time to get out my comfort zone and push myself again.

I’ve written on here before about exercise guilt, trying not to let my weight dictate me, and how no food is a “bad food”. Well of course I still feel this way, I am not about to get all crazy and start some crazy fad diet (like this one?). But I need to recognize that I have been slacking and, while I have made it so far, I still have a goal weight in mind and these last 10-15 lbs are not going to come off easily. This will not be a piece of cake (literally). This is going to be a fight to the finish. So here I am, in May, making a New Me Resolution (or, Re-Resolution).

I do hereby resolve to stop whining and being a pansy-ass girl who thinks she looks bad in all of her clothes. I will stop bitching every time I don’t want to exercise and realize that, in the time I spent complaining, I could have had a perfectly good workout. I resolve to get my butt out of bed, even when my eyelids are drooping, and get my half marathon training done. I resolve to sneak less food and continue to make healthy choices with what I eat. I resolve to respect my body and, through proper diet and exercise, honor my body’s need to be fit and healthy. I resolve to finish what I started and become the best version of myself that I can be.

bridal shower, emotions, & bedtime stories

Hello world! I am happily back in Va Beach, but only for a couple days! Details on that later because we have a fun bridal shower to attend for my best girl friend, Tiffany!!!

Mimosas (I had a couple more of these!)

Eats (plus about 3 more quiches I had later.... whoops!)

And I may have had a few extra of the mini turtle brownies...

I may have eaten too much, but it was a fun occasion and the food was really good. This weekend was indulgent, but I’m glad I didn’t miss out on anything, you know? Also I clearly needed the food as fuel for the games!

The bridal fashions of the groom’s grandmother (seated) won, but I think my group deserved an honorable mention. I’ve never looked so attractive in toilet paper before!

Also, MAY-JAH development: I wore my dress sans sweater and went totally sleeveless in public for the first time in 6 years (not counting the few times I’ve been in a bathing suit, in which case I kept them covered by water). I kind of stopped caring about my flabby upper arms after a while and I’m so glad. I felt way more confident!

I actually won a prize, too! We all had 10 minutes to write a poem about the bride and groom and I won the prize for Funniest (there was also “Most Creative” which was won by Tiffany’s aunt who brought the house to tears with her incredible poem). Want to read my masterpiece?

There once was a girl named Tiffany
Who wanted to get married in a jiff-any.
Then she found a cute boy named Johnny
Who she could call her honey.
They fell in love and he bought a ring
And now all that is left is this whole wedding thing.

I am told that the invention of “jiff-any” put it over the top. I should be published, don’t you think?

She'll probably kill me for posting this...

The bridal party (again)! Laura (sister & MOH), me (looking weird), Tiffany (bride), and Jennifer!

The theme of the shower was "Breakfast at Tiffany's"... Get it?

Sadly I had to leave and get back on the road to Va Beach On the way home, I made a few phone calls and found out that it is going to cost a ton to move to Texas. Oh my gosh, these moving companies are a scam! It cannot possibly cost that much to drive a moving truck to Texas. I’m not asking for Jupiter! I was a bit upset and anxious about that when I talked to my mom and got some more bad news.

I haven’t blogged about this much, I don’t think, but my brother is currently in Arizona completely his Intelligence training for the Army. We found out about a month and a half ago that at the end of May he would go to South Korea for a year, but we were told he would have time between finishing school (AZ) and moving in which he could go to my mom’s house and we could spend time with him. I was hoping he would make it home in time from his graduation (Thursday) for my graduation (Saturday & Sunday). Well we found out today he is actually leaving SATURDAY for a year. Thankfully my mom, stepfather, and I had already made plans to go out and see him in AZ on Thursday & Friday, but now we’re worried we’ll hardly get to see him while we’re out there and won’t see him again for a year! I already had to miss his boot camp graduation because I had college finals and he missed my high school graduation, too. I am really sad, you guys. I don’t talk about my brother a lot because he is very quiet and opposite of me, though we are very close. Like all siblings, we sometimes don’t get along at ALL. But since he’s the only one who truly knows what I’m going through with our dad’s death, we have a stronger bond now and I am really, really upset that he’s going with such short notice. Stupid Army (Hunter is older than me by 16 months, fyi… he joined the Army this summer after he got his degree in Creative Writing).

Ignore my mom's expression/eyes... she had been crying a lot I think!

I don’t actually have a decent picture of us since he joined and cut off his hair (seriously it was epically long and his beard was gross) so I will try to get one this week!

So yes, you read that right. I came home today from the 3 day weekend in Richmond and Wednesday morning I’m flying (out of Richmond, ugh) to AZ and coming back Friday night for my graduation weekend — even though I finished in December, the ceremony is now. Busy, busy, busy. Family overload? Yes.

On the way back into town I needed to rid myself of some anxiety (and brownie bites from the shower) so I stopped at the gym and did 45 minutes of HIIT on the elliptical. My stomach was protesting, but I’m glad I got it done. I was a little too distracted for much else so after stretching I called it a night and headed back to the house.

Mona & Jeff went out to dinner so when I got around to being hungry, I wanted something comforting. Bring on the French toast! I used 2 pieces of Ezekiel sprouted bread, 1 egg, and cinnamon for the toast and topped it with 1 heaping tbsp creamy almond butter and a fruit spread (microwaved a spoonful of strawberry preserves with strawberries and blackberries). Twas epic.

BFD (Breakfast for Dinner)... which is a BFD.

I am going to go listen to a Bedtime Story. My friend Kim turned me on to these while I slept in her room this week and it really helps calm me down before bed! Plus this lady has a great voice!

you know what really grinds my gears?

Watching “The Biggest Loser.”

Don’t get me wrong, I think the concept of the show is admirable and it clearly helps people get healthy. The 5k in Texas they did last night was really moving, especially seeing the community members trying to get in shape. I commend BL for programming like this.

What I don’t like about it? The whole obsession they have with exercising “enough” and their desire to lose “double digits” every week. This is giving America the WRONG impression of realistic weight loss and I fear it is is making some people give up their fitness goals because they simply cannot keep up with ridiculous weight loss standards. There are people on that show that have lost the same amount of weight as me in less than half the time. Sure if I was living on a ranch, having all my food controlled by the producers, and having Jillian & Bob yell at me all day, I might lose weight quickly. But is it healthy? We’ve all seen the previous BL contestants who put back on the weight and we act like we’re shocked. But we shouldn’t be! The habits they build on BL are NOT conducive to real life!!! Realistically, unless you don’t go to work or have other financial & family obligations, we can’t hire a personal trainer to train us in the gym for 6 hours a day. Yeah, you heard me. 6. The contestants spend obscene amounts of time in the gym! I’m happy to get 1 – 1 1/2 hours of a workout in a day and I take rest days. I’m sorry but to me, it seems unhealthy and it is sending the message to America to over-train, burn out, and quit your goals.

Slow & steady wins the race (also my running mantra, as I’m really, really slow).

What are your thoughts on “The Biggest Loser”? I always find myself torn between loving and hating it.

Enough ranting. How was your morning? I woke up at 5:20am (then 5:30am after the snooze button) and dragged myself out into the cold, dark morning to drive to spin class. The class wasn’t fantastic. In fact, it was downright weird. But I feel so much better for having gone and done it and I am feeling motivated again. I won’t go into the weirdness of the class, this post has seen enough complaining.

I used the leftover Kashi Pilaf from last night to make 2 batches of pilaf “oats”. I took 1 heaping cup of the pilaf (all the leftovers), 2 tbsp milk, and a mashed banana and reheated it all over the stovetop. I then stirred in cinnamon and divided the batch into breakfast today and the rest for tomorrow. It was a nice change from oatmeal and felt heartier than oats, actually.

1/2 cup pilaf with 1/2 mashed banana and cinnamon; topped with blackberries, 2 tbsp light coconut milk, and 1 tbsp creamy AB

Off to get out of my gym clothes, shower, and get ready for the day!