Healthy checks

On Friday, I attended a memorial service for my friend, Carolyn, who passed away March 18th.  On June 7th, she would have celebrated her 41st birthday!  Yes, you are reading correctly.  While I don't know the full circumstance of her passing, another friend made mention that she had been experiencing back pain, but the true cause was of her pain was intestinal problems, which may or may not have caused her untimely death.  Additionally, he stated that a simple blood test could have revealed what was going on.  My friend made the comment, 'I need to get myself checked!  I've not been to the doctor in forever!'  That raised my eyebrows so, and I immediately went into 'mama-J' mode as my mom says.  I became so concerned for him and even lashed out at him because it doesn't make sense for him to not seek medical check ups-at minimal, annually!  He has two excellent jobs with fantastic medical benefits, so that is not an issue.

This friend I was speaking with isn't the first conversation I've had about not seeing a doctor in 'forever'!  It makes no sense to me.  I don't understand why we're not taking better care of ourselves and ultimately wait until it's too late. 

I'm sure many will know the last time the oil was checked in their car, but will not be able to remember the last medical check up they had.

I have another friend who is of age where he should be getting his prostrate checked.  His machismo attitude could lead him down a path of prostrate cancer because he doesn't want a doctor performing 'that type of check up'.  Another friend has neglected his teeth for years and has been spending many appointments getting his teeth cleaned, fillings filled, and all kinds of horrible painful things done.  Why?  Because he hasn't been to a dentist!  I have lady friend who mentioned she's not had a well-woman check up in years even when she had medical benefits.  Now she doesn't, but she could easily go to a women's clinic (planned parenthood) and pay on a sliding scale for a visit.

Living a healthy life isn't only about breathing and having fun with family and friends.  It's about loving your self enough to take care of it and get it checked out...at least once per year. 

I bet you took your car for an oil change.          

Make small changes

I remember when I  began my road to a healthier lifestyle.  I kept a journal for 30 days so I could see what I ate and than I made an appointment with a nutritionist.  Keeping a journal in November may not be the smartest thing because most people eat differently during the holiday season.  I thought, why not, now!  If I want to make changes, I still have to make them in a honest way.

My nutritionist reviewed my journal and to my surprise, my food choices weren't as bad as I thought.  She made suggestions to modify and select other food combinations.For example, I eat the packaged oatmeal with maple and brown sugar.  She suggested buying instant rolled oats oatmeal and rather than use sugar, sweeten it with appplesauce.  She also suggested I not eat the pre-sweetened yogurt.  Her suggestion: eat plain non-fat yogurt and add fresh fruit or vanilla extract.  I must say, eating plain yogurt was a huge leap because it is nasty!  I will eat Yoplait's Lemon Burst yogurt, but I am now able to enjoy plain yogurt with fresh fruit. YUM!

I gave up white rice and switched to brown rice. Another tough choice, but a suggestion from an old neighbor, add a tablespoon of olive oil and cook in chicken broth, not water.  WOW!  What a difference that makes!

Healthy eating doesn't have to be the end of the world, nor do you need to feel as if you're on a diet.   Besides, in the words of Garfield, 'Diet is Die-with a T'.

All one should do is make small changes to the foods you currently enjoy.  Over time, you will see what a difference it will make.

     

R&R required.....

My sister and I recently returned from a much needed long weekend getaway to Cabo San Lucas. Our goal for this trip? To do nothing! Well, the goal was to lay out by the pool and beach on a daily basis. Which is exactly what we did! It was so great to go away to a warm climate and chillax. I didn't work out and I pretty much ate and drank like there was no tomorrow! It was great. Besides, I knew upon my return, it would be back to zumba, bootcamp, and all the other exercise things I do.

Lake Chabot

It's 7:30am, Sunday morning, but I felt like it was 9 or 10am.  Shoot!  I can never sleep in...oh well, I lay in bed listening to gospel on KBLX like I do every Sunday morning before I go for a walk or to the gym.  This morning, I thought, 'why don't I walk my complex rather than drive to Lake Chabot?'  I laid in bed for 30 more minutes to get myself together for my walk.  Mid-dress, I decided it was too beautiful of a morning to waste the walk in my complex, so I'm off to my 2nd favorite walking trail, Lake Chabot.

I'm now listening to KBLX in my car en route to Lake Chabot.  It was beautiful, clear, and warm for 8:30am.  I decided to take the more challenging side of the trail as it offered more rolling hills and more open air, less trees.  Along the trail, I was really hearing the outside.  A bit different than I normally do.  I heard more rustling in the

trees, the ducks in the lake were louder, the birds were singing louder, too.  This is why I enjoy Lake Chabot.  Or maybe, I was truly focused on being there to really appreciate it's beauty.  

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/lake_chabot

Sometimes, you just need a break

Last week, I was a bit under the weather, so my workouts weren't the best.  In fact, I only worked out one day.  Even that workout was a awful because I felt awful.  Tuesday is my normal day off, but I decided to try to workout because I am also at a pivotal point of my weight loss from the number on the scale perspective, also known as a plateau.  BOOOO to plateau's!

The current number on the scale is a point I've not been able to cross, so I am pushing myself extremely hard.  Mostly because I want my body to know it can go below 'that number', but also, I need to show myself I can go below 'that number'.

My efforts would fail.  As each day of the week would pass, I felt worse.  I went to work and came immediately home only to shower and literally, nose-dive in my bed, most nights falling asleep with the tv on.

If I wanted to continue to be successful with getting healthy, I had to tell myself that my not feeling well is a sign telling me to chill out; to take a break!  Take it easy, and get some rest. 

Take a break and make time to get well.  As difficult as it was, I had to give in to my body and finally listen.  Well, and to my mom.  She always knows what to say to make me feel better and to point out my many 'non-scale' celebrations.  Thanks mom! 

I took a break last week, got some good rest, and now I'm ready to go....to cross that plateau!       

Seeing my people.... one year later

Wow! What a difference a year makes!

While I was waiting to start last Sunday's half marathon, I ran into my College Counselor, Mr. Clark. It's not the first time I've seen Mr. Clark at a run/walk event. One of the conversations was the amount of black people (aka, my cousins) we're seeing out at these type of events. I shared that for a while, I would hardly see our cousins and that in recent months, the number seems to be growing...to me and from my point of view.

(I blogged about this March 28, 2010 if you want to check it out.)

Even at the Oakland Running Festival Expo, I saw my cousins, picking up their race bibs and representing their group as vendors. I am seeing more of my sistah cousins, too. It was a joy to see. I was even on Facebook and saw a group, Black Girls Run! And while searching for meetup groups, stumbled across Go WOW Team Bay Area, which is a Woman's Run/Walk Club. They were even at the Expo. Yes, the above mentioned groups represent the ladies, but the point is, I'm glad to see many of my sistahs out on the trails and run/walk events even more.

Historically, we tend to do more for others than we do for ourselves. If we aren't healthy enough to care for ourselves, how can we care for our loved ones.

Let's go Black people! Keep it movin and congratulations for taking charge of your fitness health!

See ya on the trail!


http://www.blackgirlsrun.com/
http://gowowteam.com/

Oakland Running Festival

March 27th was the 2nd annual Oakland Running Festival. This event was jammed packed with events the entire weekend for the endurance runner/walker and the not-so endurance runner/walker and this is truly a family event. It included a kids fun run, twilight run, and of course, the main event, full and half marathon.

My biggest concern for this day was the rain. It had poured days and weeks prior leading up to race day. I must say, I never paid more attention to the weatherman/woman than I had during the week. The previous Sunday, I was scheduled to participate in another walk, but didn't because of rain. I couldn't let another paid event go to waste. I mean...if I had a money tree, it would be one thing, but since I don't....

The morning of the race, the skies were very gray, but I remained hopeful as did my mom and best friend who were also participating in the event that it didn't rain. It was super cold, too!

And so, my 8th half marathon, begins.

Like most of my marathons, I take off alone as my mom and best friend are much faster walkers than me. I pick up on conversations along the way though thanks to the other walkers who walk at my pace. Typical conversations, 'where are you from', 'is this your first marathon', 'do you think you'll do another one', blah-blah-blah....

I'm cruising along parts of Oakland I've never been to or have only seen from the Bart train. I must say, Oakland is an interesting city and it's really a shame that most people will only hear about the 'bad' parts of Oakland. Like San Francisco, Oakland is an urban city! It has great neighborhoods with cool aesthetics and not so cool neighborhoods (i.e. cars parked on lawns or 'car garden's' as a former boss would say, project areas, and industrial parts of town with A LOT of potential). The city just needs to give some TLC to those parts of Oakland, too.

One cool moment was passing The Crucible. I've only known them to be an organization that creates awesome displays using fire. When in fact, they are a non-profit educational organization that fosters a collaboration of Arts, Industry, and Community. They created an arch out of iron/metal with fire coming out of it. Once runners/walkers went through the arch, we received stickers that read, ' I ran through fire today'. I thought it was pretty cool.

Some other moments for me along the way...

• The Oakland Raiders fans aka 66th St. mob were out with a DJ spinning hot tunes and some in full-on costume regalia, face paint, masks, etc. It was pretty comical and totally unexpected. I appreciated the cool beats spinning and the high five by the 'gorilla' as I walked on by.

• I now know where Brown Sugar Kitchen is located. I've read about this place and have yet to try it. I can't wait because I smelled biscuits and bacon as I walked by. I hope they have turkey bacon was my thought, but it smelled like pork.

• Using the men's restroom at the Amtrak station. A passenger used a credit cart to open the restroom and I asked a guy I had been walking with to wait for me. Why you may ask? Because there was someone in the other stall! I told the guy to use the urinal and I'll use the stall! I know..perhaps this is tmi, but it happened. I was grateful for that man! I felt safe in that stall. We kept on walking once we were done and never spoke of that moment!

I'm walking along at about mile 9 or 10 wishing this thing was over already and saw seagulls. Lots of seagulls flying low. To me, that's a sign the rain is coming. All I could think of was, 'Lord, please let me finish this before the rain begins'. My body is feeling broke down and I'm trying to pick up my pace. I couldn't pick up the pace. I was tired and over this marathon and couldn't wait to see the finish line!

Thank goodness for cheer squads/course supporters because by this point, I needed to hear them yelling words of encouragement. This car even yelled out, 'you're almost there'. I yelled back, too! 'Can I have a ride!' They kept going. I'm sure they didn't hear me.

By this point, I'm at mile 12 and the cheers are getting louder and louder and I'm feeling the energy as my pace picks up. Trust me...I seriously thought I was going to 'bonk'. I didn't think I could do it.

I made my way to 14th/Telegraph and I could see the Finish. I was feeling pretty good as crowds of people were cheering and applauding. They didn't know my name, so they yelled out, 'congratulations 5879'! All I could do was smile and nod.

I crossed the finish line with my mom and best friend waiting for me...as usual. I immediately let them know that I wanted a hamburger! That is what I craved along the way. And so, we went to Blvd. Burger and enjoyed our victory meals.

Special shout-outs to friends I saw along the way:
My college counselor, Mr. Robert Clark
My cardio-kickboxing instructor, Ofc. /Sifu Damon Gilbert
My mom's friend, Claudia Reyes
TNT coaches: Mama Lisa, and Al


www.oaklandmarathon.com
www.thecrucible.org
www.brownsugarkitchen.com