Monday, January 17, 2011

Before and After

I took Ella in to be groomed today. I'm cheap and want my money's worth, so I let her hair grow out until I can't take it anymore and then have them shave off as much as they can. The result is shown below.


BEFORE


AFTER



(Yes, there really is hair left!)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

My Chameleon Dog

Look at this picture of my couch.




Specifically the upper righthand corner of it. There's Sam. This is his favorite spot in the house because he is hidden from the eyes of one who would put him in his kennel. That's right, I have a Chameleon dog. Don't be too jealous. When you catch him, he'll pee on you to protest.

Fat Girls Can Run Half-Marathons Too!

So, I've decided to run a half-marathon. Yup, go ahead. You can say I'm crazy and why would anyone want to do it. However, it doesn't change the fact that on April 16th I will be lacing up my shoes and joining the throng in the Salt Lake City Half-Marathon. When I was researching online about training for a half-marathon, I came across the tip that because running a long distance is part mental training, it's important to decide why you are doing this. I thought what better place to share that than here amongst my biggest fans!

Growing up, I've never been a skinny kid. Fat, husky, chubby, plus-sized, big, no matter what you call it, I was a fat kid. That, unfortunately, has often been the deciding factor of whether or not I could do an activity, or so it seemed. I know it seems ridiculous, but if I didn't see any fat girls out there doing the activity, I sure wasn't going to go out there. Somewhere in my mind I decided that if I didn't see any fat girls doing it, that meant that I couldn't do it or if I did do it, I would look foolish doing it. This mentality kept me from trying out for sports in high school, starting any dance lessons or even trying out for some performing arts. On the other hand, if I saw a fat girl out there dancing with a group, playing basketball or running a mile, and she looked confident and skilled, I knew I could do it. Guess it all goes to show the power of a physical example!

This brings me to my motivation behind running 13.1 miles. Running, in my mind, has always been the epitome of health. After all, you watch the Olympics or any kind of race and the runners are all skinny, healthy looking people. (twisted, I know) Even when I first started losing weight, it wasn't necessarily about the pounds, but I wanted to be able to run a mile with my students without dying. I saw those who completed marathons and half-marathons as healthy people who were physically fit. It was always a goal in my mind to finish a half-marathon. I wanted to be one of those "healthy" people who ran for fun. Mostly, I wanted to prove to myself that fat girls can run half-marathons too.

So, feel free to ask me how my training is going. And, on the morning of April 16th, think, "Wow, fat girls CAN run half-marathons" because that's what I'll be thinking as I go across the finish line!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Bundle of Energy

Having adopted dogs after they were a year old, I love to watch Ella and laugh at her puppy antics (it helps to counter the frustration I feel after she chews power cords...). This is the latest. I was watching a video on my computer and she was running around the room playing. Knowing that I didn't have any toys in here, I wondered what she was playing with. Oh, she was wrestling with a tag from a necklace. It entertained her for 15 minutes. No joke.