Amazing Accomplishments

Today I finished reading my book “50 Marathons, 50 Days’” and it was awesome! Dean Karnazes is truly amazing. He is the definition of fitness and health, what that man did is almost inconceivable… Not only did he travel across 50 states and complete 50 Marathons in 50 consecutive days, but he then proceeded to turn around (in New York City) the next day and run all the way back home to San Francisco, evidently running the equivalent of 50 marathons, bringing his total to 100, and THEN some (the miles he ran that he initially travelled by bus). It’s not everyday that such an impact and huge level of success is made by one single individual. I think we can all learn a thing or two from Dean- Push your limits, you’re capable of SO much more than you think you are. Get back in touch with nature, the natural state is for humans to be outside and active, staying inside staring at a computer screen for hours is the unnatural state (here is something I need to work on myself). And something that I try to tell a lot of people is that something is better than nothing. If you only have 10 minutes to exercise in your day, USE those ten minutes! An intense 10 minute workout is better than no workout, and all the baby steps add up.

 

 

I’ve moved straight on to my next book called “Marathon Woman”, an autobiography by a woman called Kathrine Switzer, somebody that every single female runner should know.

She revolutionized the Boston Marathon. She was the first ever woman to run it and when she did, a race official attacked her mid-way because it was male-only and she was female. He tried to physically pull her out of the race but she pulled away from him and with the help of runners around her she was able to get free of him and finish the marathon

She’s a HUGE inspiration and I’m already a few chapters in because I’m already hooked!

Finally tonight before I go to bed, I just want to talk about Angela from Oh She Glows.

I think you should all check out this post. I’ve always found Angela to be a real inspiration, but this post just confirmed that once again. She’s an amazing person! She was out on a long training run for her upcoming half marathon when she witnessed a motorcycle accident. She immediately rushed to help them and in her adrenalin rush, lifted a HARLEY DAVIDSON bike off the two people crushed underneath it.

It was a brave an honourable thing for her to do and I think she should be SO proud of herself.

That’s all for tonight, ciao!

xoxo

Exercise Addiction.

I am reading the most amazing book at the moment. I was already reading 2 books but when my eyes fell upon it’s shiny, bright cover with bold lettering, I forgot about everything, issued it out and started reading. I AM HOOKED!

This is the insane, inspiring and amazing story of a man called Dean Karnazes, who had a vision, then set about achieving it. He had a goal to run 50 marathons in 50 different States in 50 Consecutive days. Sounds totally crazy right? I know, I feel exhausted just READING about his crazy endeavour. I’m up to marathon number 9 in his book, and even THAT is an insane amount. Most people wouldn’t even imagine running 9 Marathons in their entire life let alone day after day!

This book contains many useful tips and suggestions for runners or even parents of budding youth. It’s also hugely motivational. Since beginning the book, I’ve just been ITCHING to run, but I know I have to be careful because of my knees

I’ve decided that tonight I’ll go to the gym for a cardio workout of a 30 minute run on the Dreadmill and a 30 minute cycle. I’m mindful of pain and I’ve PROMISED myself that I won’t be stubborn, if it hurts, I’ll stop. I can’t afford to aggravate any injuries at the moment. I’m going great guns with Jujitsu and I don’t want to sabotage that.

A lot of people struggle to exercise and maintain it, but I have to say, I think a lot of them probably don’t give it enough of a chance. When you get into it and start seeing results (e.g. increase in fitness, muscle tone etc.) you start to develop a sort of addiction to exercise. It becomes so that you are unhappy if you miss a day of it. It becomes a way to relax, de-stress and feel good for doing something great for your body.

Exercise is great for people suffering alcohol,drug or other addictions, because they say you can’t fix an addictive nature, so why not replace that harmful addiction with a good one?

I find that when I don’t exercise on a regular basis, I notice a severe lack in energy and I struggle to sleep. I’m miserable, I nap all the time and when I DO start to exercise again it’s really really difficult. I took a week off last week due to a cold (I don’t exercise while I’m sick because I don’t want to prolong or worsen the sickness), and when I started back up on Monday with an easy, low-key Zumba class, I found it extremely difficult to finish because I was exhausted. It pays to keep it up

Anyway, I’m off to the gym soon so I’m gonna go put my gym gear bag together. Have a great night!

xoxo

Unexpected turn of events.

This morning I got up, ate my pre-run fuel of a toasted bagel with peanut butter and Jam and half a banana, drank my cup of coffee and large glass of water and head out the door.

I ran for a slow 42 minutes and 34 seconds. I worked it out to be 6.2 kilometres. I felt great through the entire run and I felt as though I  could’ve run for another 3 hours! Thing was, my knees were HURTING BAD!
Not in the usual place though :/ This time they were hurting on the INSIDES (???) rather than the outside as usual. I have no idea what was up with that, but since the pain wasn’t debilitating I didn’t stop. I just carried on slowly on the grass until I reached home. Once I got home I stretched and iced my knees for ten minutes, they felt fine afterwards.

I showered and was just about to get my 2 breakfast of the day, by now it was about 10.20am, when I received a phone call…………………..
FROM MY BOSS! Saying that I was rostered on to work today from 10 until 4 and I should be in and could I come in as soon as possible.

I had a big freak out because I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever that I was meant to be working, I hadn’t seen that shift when I looked at the roster last week. Never the less, I wolfed down breakfast which was awful- 2 pieces of toast with extra-lite cream cheese and COLD baked beans. Bleh!

I styled my hair quicker than ever and threw together “lunch” and my “snack” which was 1 banana, 1 apple and a small serving of fejoa crumble. I hopped on my scooter and took off as quick as legally possible.
Tell you what, 50 k’s per hour seems RREEAALLL slow when you’re running an hour late to work.

Once I got there, it was HECTIC! We were flat out all day with our easter sale. Good thing was though that it meant the day absolutely flew by and before I knew it it was 4pm and time for me to head home.

Once I got home I ate a couple of cheds crackers with sliced pickle on top, then 2 squares of chocolate. What I was REALLY craving though was a 6-inch ham sub from Subway, which thankfully was today’s “sub of the day”.

I drove all the way into town just to get a sub lol. I’m impossible when I’m craving something in particular. I will not be satisfied unless I eat that particular food. I ordered a 6-inch sub on Wheat bread with Ham, all the salads (apart from Jalapenos) and sweet onion + honey mustard sauce. I skipped the cheese today, that’s something I can do without and it doesn’t really make a dramatic change to the taste of the sub so no losses there.

I slept terribly last night and was freaked out by a shallow earthquake we had around midnight so my heart was pumping for ages and I couldn’t relax. I’m exhausted and hope to sleep well tonight!!!!!

Off to Tauranga tomorrow in preparation to depart to Waiouru!! I’m going to finish packing my bags tonight

See you later!
xoxo