Brownies and Zucchini

Recently I’ve said things – either out loud, to myself, or to my friends on Twitter –  that I never ever in a million years would have imagined myself saying.  Here are a few of those things:

“So asparagus isn’t that bad.”

So I’ve been doing this Daily Challenge (let me know if you want an invite!) thing recently.  Every day there is a new “challenge.”  In the track that I am on there have been things that relate to physical, nutritional, and emotional health.  This particular day, the challenge was to eat something with Vitamin K.  If you aren’t sure what has vitamin K, let me give you some ideas:  Broccoli, Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, and Asparagus.  None of these are things that I am even fond of seeing on my plate, much less eating.  So now I have to decide:  Do I try a new food, of just decide not to do the challenge.  Well, I happened to be in a 5 day pact with Stina at the time and I didn’t want to let her down, so I chose the least intimidating choice to me: asparagus.  I can’t even stand the smell of broccoli or brussels sprouts, and I don’t really get why kale is so cool, so for me, asparagus was the safest choice. After a quick call out on Twitter, I realized that roasting it was the way to go. My handy “How to Boil Water” cookbook gave me a few more details, and just like that my asparagus was in the oven roasting away.  I bribed myself to eat it.  I told myself that if I had one bite, I could have the delicious treat that I picked myself up from a bakery for dessert. Yes, I did indeed bribe myself.

Just one bite.  So I ate a bite.  And then another.  And then another.  Turns out asparagus isn’t so bad after all.  In fact, it kind of tastes like pea pods…..or maybe zucchini….dare I say, it was pretty good?

“I’m glad its warm outside today so I can run again.”

Last summer I started the Couch to 5K program.  I got a few weeks in and had bad shin splints so I stopped to rest myself for about a couple of weeks.  I started again and got to about week 7 when my ankle decided that it wasn’t happy with running and caused me to stop for another month or so.  Then the weather got colder, and eventually it snowed, and there was no way I was going back out.  I know, I could have run on a treadmill, but the thought of running on a stationary machine inside takes all of the joy out of it for me.   So, this Spring (Wait, or is it still technically Winter? This weather is confusing!)  we had some warm days, and so did the rest of the country.  As my friends started running outside again and training for races I got the urge to give it another go.

Honestly after my not-so-great attempt at running last fall I really wasn’t sure if I would do it again.  It was different though this year.  It had only been a few months since I had ran, not a few years.  I was definitely more confident.  I actually WANTED to run.  So, one Spring-like Winter day in February, I ran again.  And although it was clear that it had been months, it wasn’t all that bad.  I could still do it.  I’ve played many sports in the past and I’ve always hated the running aspect. Anyone who has played with me can vouch for me on that one. So, the whole fact that I actually found myself wanting to run, and mostly enjoying myself while doing it kind of mind boggling.

“I’m so glad I signed up for that race before it sold out!”

One of the things that I knew would motivate me while doing C25K, and something that really was the reason why I wanted to run, were the races.  But since I’ve never raced before, I had no idea where to start in picking a good race for my first race.  I knew it should be a 5k (duh, the whole premise of C25K) but there are so many in the southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois area in the next few months that I had no idea how to chose!  And besides that, what if I find myself injured again, wouldn’t that just be a waste of money to sign up?? One day, I saw a tweet from Krista about a race in Chicago called the Color Run.  I was immediately intrigued.   Could this really be a race involving art? So I looked more into it, and in fact, it is about as artistic as I’ve seen a race.  It isn’t about art per se, but it is about color. The premise behind the race is that you dress in white at at every kilometer marker you get blasted with a different color, essentially turning the racers into the canvas for one large art production.  (Check out the photo galleries on their website, it looks like a lot of fun!) When I found out that Krista was run/walking this, as well as others that she knew, I knew I wanted to do it.  The color aspect, and the fact that it seems like a laid back, run/walk at your own pace type of race seemed like the perfect first race for me.  Of course, I procrastinated a couple of days to register.  When I finally got around to going online and registered, I got a message saying the race was full. AH!  WHAT! Then I tried again, thinking maybe it was a weird glitch (Krista had just registered the day before) and luckily I was able to get in. 
Apparently I was one of the last to squeeze in though since it is now actually full!  I’m so thankful that I registered when I did.  Not only does this give me a reason to run, but it honestly looks like a fun time and gives me something to look forward to.  We’ll see what June 2 brings, but I have a good feeling about this!

 What have you said recently that has surprised you??

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Filed under: Words