Stress Buster

One morning, several weeks ago, I was getting ready for work. I glanced up at the mirror for a split second and saw an unusually light colored hair on top of my head. Keep in mind, I'm a natural brunette and beings I spend about zero time in the sun, there was no reason for my hair to be "sunkissed" with blonde straglers. All of the sudden, it was like the mirror had some sort of magnetic pull on me. I practically had my face smashed up against it to get a closer look at this "blonde" hair. Sadly, it wasn't blonde. It was gray. I was in denial for several weeks until the inevitable happened again this past Sunday. I found ANOTHER one. What the heck is going on? I'm only 28, neither one of my parents started graying until their mid 30's, so why in the world are these less than brunette (I can't even bring myself to say the G word again) hairs showing up? I think I can sum it up in one word: Stress. I haven't exactly handled the last several months very well and to say my stress levels have increased would be an understatement. Something has to be done unless I want to be fully "less than brunette" by the time my husband is actually living with me!!!

So, needless to say, it's time for a serious plan of action! Several weeks ago, Jason and I were discussing the benefits of running. He loves it and is quite good at it. Me on the other hand, I HATE running with a passion. When I played high school sports, running was used as a form of punishment. Well, I'm sure you can see why after several years of playing sports I started to associate running as being a bad thing, which is sad because it can be such a stress reliever. Which is exactly what I need!

I mentioned to Jason that it would be nice to learn how to "like" running. I know it's something he enjoys and it would be nice to have atleast one hobby in common. Because let's face it, I'm never going to become the bow hunting goddess that he would like me to be and he's never going to be able to sit through three hours of non-stop infomercials like I can. I decided that entering a 5k (let's start out SUPER easy) would be a good challenge. It's something to work towards that I could see the end results. So, I quickly googled races in the Denver area for next spring. I figured I would give myself plenty of time. Well, it didn't work out so well. Jason said that I should shoot for running in a race next fall. Darn him.

So, the plan of action is to start incorporating Couch to 5K into my weekly workouts. It's a program that helps you to build up your running tolerance with the idea of having you ready to run a 5K in 9 weeks. Not too shabby is it? The best part about it is you only have to run 3 days a week. WAHOO!!!!!!!! That doesn't mean you can take the rest of the time off. It's probably a good idea to stay active, but just have a less intense workout for the other days.

Out Of My Cave

Several weeks ago, my dad took me out for dinner while he was up in Denver. During the course of the conversation, he basically told me I lived a hermit's life. Now, I know I tend to hang out at my apartment with my cat more than I do with actual human beings, but a hermit? Me? I'm not a social butterfly, but I definitely didn't think I was a hermit. Well, enter in a few sleepless nights, a couple of stressful weeks, and I did what I usually do when I'm really stressed: crawl into my little cave and hide from the world. Hence the reason I have not been blogging lately. But, I can only be anti-social and anti-blogging for so long...especially beings I've officially received a challenge from my dear husband...drum roll.......

So, if you are from the Denver area, you have most likely heard of the Incline in Manitou Springs. Several years ago (and quite a few pounds lighter) my youngest sister and I climbed the Incline. In one word, it was brutal. As I was dramatically telling Jason about how hard and brutal the climb is, I let it slip that it's only a mile. Yes, only a mile. Even Jason said, "It's only a mile?" Ok, so maybe it really is "only a mile," but it's the suckiest mile you'll ever experience in your life!

As you can see from the diagram, the mile is straight up the side of a mountain. And trust me, you definitely hit that 68% grade. And see the lovely photograph? Yeah, that's only at halfway. Well, back to my little incline rant. So, Jason decided that this will be "excellent training" to do once or twice a week. Yeah, right on honey. Knock yourself out. If you want to drive 110 miles round trip every week to submit yourself to elevation torture, you just go ahead and do that! Me, on the other hand, I'll settle for continuing to get myself into shape just I can survive Jason's suicidal pace that he'll attempt to climb this beast in! Even though Jason and I have known eachother for 5 years, he has only seen my competitive streak once (I believe this involved a nerf bullet to the head and getting his butt royally kicked at air hockey, but I'll save that story for another time). However, he hasn't seen my competitive streak out in full force. I am not a graceful loser. I'm even ultra competitive when I play monopoly, just ask a former roommate and my sisters & mother who now refuse to play with me. The point is, after hearing Jason say, "It's only a mile" I am determined to make him suffer during every step of that mile! hahaha I don't care if I have to body check him, sprint up the last incline and nose dive across the last railroad tie, I will beat him to the top...boy do I have my work cut out for me!