It can be very frustrating to go to the gym as a fat person. For one thing, you never know if the equipment is going to fit your body, plus some people feel self-conscious exercising in front of others. The worst part about being fat at the gym in my opinion though, is the way some people can treat you. Either they are annoyed by your presence because to them you're clearly not a serious athlete and therefore you're getting in their way, or they treat you like a special olympian and make comments like "good for you!" or assume you're interested in dieting tips. Anyway, for the most part I don't have these problems at my gym, likely because I have a trainer and she only has me use the equipment that works for me, plus we're usually talking to each other so people don't interrupt much.Still, every so often there is the odd person (almost ALWAYS a woman) who feels the need to comment on weight loss or say something about what a "good job" I'm doing. I get that it comes from them wanting to be nice, but it's a little patronizing and it distracts me from my workout. So what's a girl to do? How do I get across the idea that yes, I know I'm fat and isn't it wonderful that I'm working out, but I'm also an athlete and not just working out to make myself thin? I pondered and pondered this, then I designed this t-shirt:
Hee! I put it up on Zazzle and posted it to the fathletes group on livejournal so other folks could get one if they wanted. I ordered mine this morning...we'll see if it has any effect :)
Oof! This weekend was a little tough. Friday afternoon the folks in charge of the online payment system decided they needed someone to take live calls from home over the weekend, so I agreed to do it. The work itself wasn't all that taxing, but the website was down for most of Saturday and then the parent side was up but the customer support side was down all of Sunday, so I wasn't able to actually help anybody who called. So frustrating. The upside is that I get overtime pay for all of those hours (22 for the whole weekend), so it'll be a pretty incredible payoff for one weekend of extra work. Not a bad time to have a little extra, what with the economy the way it is. And don't worry Mom and Dad, every last penny of it is going into savings. Those layoffs a few weeks ago hit a little too close to home. I finally went for a walk/run this weekend with my new Nike+. In case you're not familiar, Nike+ is a sensor you attach to your shoe and a receiver you plug into your iPod Nano. Then when you run or walk it records the specifics of your workout, which you can then upload to the Nike+ website and track your progress. Anyway, it was pretty awesome. You can choose whether you want to go for a certain time or a certain distance or..I think something else. I had been inside all day on Saturday, working, so when I was finally able to get outside I just set the Nike+ for two miles and took off. It tells you when you've reached certain milestones, like half a mile, etc, and then it counts down the last 500 meters and congratulates you when you're done. What I liked about it was that I didn't have to plan out a route. I just left the house, told it how far I wanted to go, and when I had reached the halfway point I headed home. That's a really good thing for me...the more I can get my head out of the decision making, the more I can focus on form and recovery and enjoy the sights, etc. It was rad. I have heard there are also programs you can download to do interval training, so it beeps when you should change intervals from walking to running, etc. I'll probably do that next time. Right now I'm just running when I feel like it and walking until I feel like running again, but I think intervals will help me push myself a little further.The coolest thing about the whole experience was that this was the second time in as many weeks that I have actually felt the desire to run, not just "oh I should get outside and go run", but "oh man, I can't wait to get my shoes on and go!" That is incredible for me. I never thought I would feel that way. Like most humans, I find it so much easier to do something I'm looking forward to than something I'm dreading but feel like I have to do. So yay!I hope your weekend was equally lucrative and relevatory :)xo,C
I had to buy new pants the other day. My workout pants and my jeans are both super-elastified but lately (especially when I'm running on the treadmill), I can feel my waistband creeping downward, putting me in serious danger of showing my underwear to an entire gym full of iron-pumping dudes. Thanks, but no. So I bought some more. FYI, this is another instance in which movies and TV lie. I assumed that buying clothes in a smaller size would be some fantastic moment, where I could stare off into the distance, cry a single tear, and murmur under my breath, "I really did it, didn't I?" but frankly, the only thing I felt was annoyed to have to shell out more bucks for pants when the ones I have are still perfectly good, just a little too big. It aint right, I tell you.I've been reading the novel lately (I haven't ever read it straight through) and I am having a super-fun time cringing at every other paragraph or cliche or awkward turn of phrase. Clearly I wrote it with beer goggles on because I was pretty sure there was brilliance in there somewhere. Maybe closer to the end. One thing I did notice is that my protagonist is a little scarily obsessive with the men in her life (that's me), also she seems to have this snotty idea that she is cleverer than 99% of the population (also me). But of course it's fiction, so she has no trouble finding a dude...three dudes, even. Aah fiction...you make life appear to be so easy.I'm joining another book club this weekend, but this one's not about classics. It's all about chick lit, baby! That's right, I'm going to read books on par with The Nanny Diaries and In Her Shoes and The Devil Wears Prada and then I am going to sit in a room with a bunch of 20-30 something women and discuss them! And this isn't sarcasm...I am genuinely excited to be able to do this. I love me some good chick lit. Don't judge.I'm going back to the Bagdad for another episode of Battlestar Galactica tonight. I'm a little in love with it. Even if I wasn't into BSG at all, the experience of watching it with a theater-ful of fans of the show is unmatched. I highly recommend it. I'm feeling pretty random today. Have a good weekend!xo,C
