Workin' off that starch

Now, I don't want to jinx myself, because, after all, I am quite proud of this, but in desperation to escape the doldrums of feeling as though my life is going backwards, I have inspired myself enough to begin frequent exercise.

Well, I suppose one could also attribute my sudden motivation to my father having signed me up to run a 5k race this Sunday which will finish quite triumphantly on the 50 yard line of The Big House, aka the closest I will ever be to football greatness (which was surprisingly never one of my great dreams).

Dreams. Speaking of dreams, my brother woke up this morning, came downstairs, took the orange juice out of the refrigerator and while engulfed in his pouring technique said "Hey, I had a dream you died."

I responded with a confused "good morning".

I digress.

Not only did my brother find me alive this morning, but he found me alive, and in the best physical shape I've been in the past four years. Unfortunately, I think we all know what four years of college in Siberia (Grand Rapids, Michigan) can do to a girl.

And seriously, the only advice I received before beginning college about the holy freshman 15 was from my lovely aunt Susan when she said "Stay away from the potatoes. It's the starch that gets ya."

After living through four years of college life I believe I can safely say that it was not the starch that got me.

On the bright side, a year in France seriously overhauled my eating habits. I have learned to take meal times more seriously, and because of this I do not find myself snacking... ever. I had been one of those girls who takes the advice of "eat small meals throughout the day" as "eat whatever the hell you want all day long", and let me tell you. The small-meals-throughout-the-day thing may work in theory, but it did certainly not work in my manipulative hormone-fueled brain.

While in Paris, without any supplementary exercise to my usual strolls to, from, and all over the metro, I actually lost five pounds this summer. Yep, I'm the chick who lost five pounds without trying.

It's now been a whole month since I returned state-side, and since week two I have been exercising four to five days a week. I feel great!

Not that you care (though maybe you do if you have made it this far through my blabbing), but I think the reasons for my success are the following:

1. Imagining my glory moment running across the 50 yard line in the Big House.
2. Knowing that I've never run a 5k in over 30 minutes and I don't want to start down the dangerous path of accepting a slower time.
3. Varying my workout. Running is SO boring, so I run on the treadmill, outside, and also do some video cardio when running sounds like the last thing I'd want to do.

If anything what I've realized through this is that there really no time like the present. Or, as I really think of it, running will always suck, so I might as well start doing it now because it's only going to become suckier if I wait. Right?