what's in you wednesday (with an edit at the end)

There are so many ways I could start off this post.

I could start off by writing about the awesome article I read in the December edition of Runner's World magazine about the truck driver, Jeff Clark, who discovered the statistic that the life expectancy of an over-the-road trucker that sleeps in his truck is 61-years-old. Instead of becoming another statistic, Jeff traded his life of eating cheeseburgers and drinking Mountain Dew for raisins and running. Thus far, he has shed 30 pounds, finished six marathons, and is encouraging other truckers to do the same.

Or ... I could start off by writing about another awesome article I read in the December edition of Runner's World magazine about two teenage boys, Phil Carlitz and Andrew Hudis, who organized a marathon in a remote province in Thailand to raise money and awareness for a group of refugees. The article goes on to say, "This past July, they traveled back to oversee the Rustic Pathways Tribe-to-Tribe Marathon. They had hoped for a few dozen runners, but 500 people—including people from Australia, Japan, England, and the United States—raced in the marathon, half, and 5-K. About $10,000 was raised for the orphanage. "In a country where a shirt costs 60 cents and you can eat for a quarter, that money goes pretty far," Hudis says. "We are putting 25 teenage refugees through high school." Just as important, the race raised awareness about the plight of the Karen people."

Or ... I could start off by writing that yesterday morning, I discovered a bag of Halloween candy that we had purchased but had never handed out because it had been lost in the back of my closet. Since it was early and my crazy mid-afternoon craving hadn't kicked in, I threw the bag out. But last night, I seriously contemplated digging the bag of candy out of the trash and eating one or two (but not more than 15 pieces) because I was feeling desperate and those little bite-sized Snickers are SO cute.

Since I've returned to work full time, I haven't been exercising at all as much as I had been. Add to my lethargy a dose of gluttony and since I've almost completely weaned Henry, my little fat vacuum has all but vanished. Suddenly, I've got a layer of insulation that wasn't there two months ago and cute wittle Snickers bites with a chaser of chocolate milk very well might help my depression.

But that's when I read the articles about Jeff and Phil and Andrew.

And that's when I remembered that if I don't put myself FIRST and make time for my exercise routine EVERY DAY, it isn't going to happen. See, I know that life gets busy and I could (and have) come up with a million good excuses not to workout. But I know that the more I exercise, the more compelled I am to take good care of myself. In contrast, the less I exercise, the more compelled I am to sit around and try to rationalize why it is perfectly acceptable to dig candy out of the trash.

So tomorrow morning, and every day for the next week, I'm going to get up and TRY to run for 30 minutes, before we eat breakfast. And next Friday, I'm going to go on a 3-Day sixty mile walk. And I'm doing these things because I want to be healthy and strong and do something good for humanity and be a positive influence for our children. And also, because I don't want to feel a roll of flab flop over my pants and worry that they'll split up the back when I bend over to tie my shoe.

Please do share. What are you doing to take care of yourself?

*****

Edited Thursday morning: Do not make me call you out. Because I will. I know who you are. That's right, I'm looking at YOU...

Heidi

Erika

Carrie

Susie

Jo

Cynthia

Karen

Oh, look and look a MAN! Come on Jon, what are you doing to take care of yourself?

How's the running going?