#I usually do my first gel at like mile 7-8 and then try to do every 3-4 mi after that. So today I ran 21mi and did 4 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

songofsaraneth · 4 years ago

Text

Ok now that I have time/space to breathe again, I wanted to do a writeup on the unusual reaction I had to the second Covid vaccine dose. I debated posting this, because I don't want to go against the "I was vaccinated and it's fine!" encouragement train. And I 1000% encourage EVERYONE to get vaccinated if possible. But I have not seen much documentation of the averse symptom I got, except in some case studies I specifically looked up so details below. Big TMI/gross warning however.

Mostly I'm posting this because I had to do SO much self-advocating/arguing with the Dr at my urgent care clinic, and if you're not as read up on weird medical issues as I am, you might not be comfortable doing that. But IANAD, just describing my experience and what I read, which ended up being very long because it was awful and I have a lot to complain about I guess, sorry.

Basically: for me the vaccine triggered an inflammation response, which in itself is normal. The usual muscle aches/joint pain/slight fever. It also triggered an outbreak of ulcers in my soft tissues. Basically, a bunch of canker sores in my mouth/throat. I am already prone to getting these when I get sick or stressed out, so no biggie, annoying and painful but I could handle them. Canker sores are distinct from cold sores in that they form inside the mouth as crater spots, usually around the size of a pencil eraser (though can be bigger or smaller), and will develop a white film across the crater as they develop and start to heal.

An unfortunate fact I have learned: the mouth is not the only exposed “soft tissue” of the body. this group also includes genitals.

So 2 days after the vaccine I noticed a "burning sensation"/rawness downstairs, which turned into a sharp pain, especially when going to the bathroom. I obviously knew this was abnormal and because of what was happening in my mouth, had a pretty firm idea of what was happening, but was ready to brace myself through the healing process. However by day 5 I had 8 red, crater-like sores on the tissue of my vulva. Essentially they are open wounds, and urine is an acid, so you can imagine the hell that using the bathroom had become. Even just sitting hurt.

As someone healthcare-averse, even I knew this was untenable, and went to Urgent Care for the first time in my adult life. I told the NP what was going on, how they matched the canker sores (NOT cold sores) in my mouth in onset/form--and she immediately, without even looking, diagnosed me with herpes.

Lots of people have herpes or other STIs, and that's fine. I know I do not have any, and wanted to pursue treatment for what I was sure they were--Non-sexually acquired genital ulceration (NSGU). I had even found three case studies of COVID patients who had developed them. I had spent several harrowing hours on google images making sure that the sores I had did not match any STI I may have magically acquired during a year of social distancing. I even brought up multiple case studies, including a woman who had them as a Covid reaction in a neighboring state. Didn’t matter. She looked at them and went “Yikes! Herpes!” and prescribed me:

1) an antiviral, which I said I did not think would do anything because the trigger for this was a vaccine not an illness. She said it was probably a herpes flare up already in my system. I reiterated that I have had similar sores in my mouth since childhood and that all my past doctors and dentists agreed it was not viral but something related to an immune response. She said the antivirals should clear them up in a few days.

2) a topical 5% lidocaine ointment, aka an oral grade numbing gel, which was essentially what I was after anyway.

I would have preferred a steroid course to the antiviral, but agreed to start taking them until she got the results of the bloodwork I needed to come in the next day for. I asked how many days after taking them I would expect to see a difference/if she would reevaluate treatment if they didn’t have an effect in a certain amount of time, and she said if they hadn’t cleared up by Monday then she’d look into other causes (spoiler, they did nothing in that 4 day span). to her credit, when she saw me pick up my bike helmet (because my car had been at the mechanic for a month by then), she was properly horrified that i was having to bike everywhere with this situation and printed off some coupons/called all the prescriptions into the grocery store pharmacy next door instead of the CVS my insurance likes a mile away.

So eventually I got home and took my pill & went to put on the ointment so I could use the bathroom for the first time in 8 hours. I’ll spare you the details but suffice to say I had an extremely, overwhelmingly painful 10 minutes of application. Like absolutely awful burning feeling. However once that faded, I was indeed actually numb, and so I figured it was worth it. Got my bloodwork done on Friday (biking there & home again). On Saturday, I thought that you know, maybe a prescription anesthetic shouldn’t be doing that or at least have some sort of warning? And read the details on the jar.

Good things about lidocaine: it is a powerful numbing agent and lasts pretty well for an hour or two.

Bad things about lidocaine: you cannot get oral grade lidocaine without added mint flavoring.

I happen to be EXTREMELY sensitive to mint. Like I still can’t handle breath mints or mouthwash, and used bubblegum flavored toothpaste until I was 14 and found a brand with half as much mint flavoring as is typical. Even if you’re not, mint has no business being anywhere near genital tissue. Even on an average person that could cause awful burning. to make a long saga shorter I had a very frustrating back-and-forth with urgent care involving many rerouted phone trees, visit in person, unhelpful receptionists, and attempts to find over-the-counter alternatives. All were fruitless so I just suffered all weekend until the urgent care Nurse Practitioner called me back on Monday and was suitably apologetic/outraged about the mint thing, and looked up every OTC product that might work as a substitute, since she couldn’t find any prescription level without mint. On Tuesday she called back again having found this:

It’s 4%, so just below prescription strength, while not oral grade, it’s actually fine for soft tissues as long as not fully ingested/internally applied. And most importantly, ABSOLUTELY NO ADDED FLAVORINGS. there is also a spray version that comes in a bottle, which under no circumstances should you try because it uses alcohol as a propellant and I had a very bad 5 minutes after testing that one. But the cream one is fine and brings blessed numbness in around 5 minutes with only minimal contact pain--they are still open wounds after all.

I use this for the next 7 days. By this point the sores have gotten worse and larger, and then started to heal and shrink again. Mouth canker sores go through a similar ~2 week process, so this is about what I expected.

Finally the results of my bloodwork came back, and I was negative for all STIs. The NP was dumbfounded and apologized, and agreed to look up more information/treatment options for cases like this in the future. I’m not surprised her reaction was to assume herpes as it IS very common, but I’m sure other women experience NSGU’s and receive improper treatment. If you look them up, they’re even mentioned as being predominantly a problem for “young or prepubescent women” which, reading between the lines--it’s not that these become less likely if you’re older or sexually active. Doctors just make assumptions and don’t always look past the easy answers.

So if you or someone you know ends up with these--from the Covid vaccine or as a complication of upper respiratory infections in general (as they ARE an immune response and can just Happen to you)--here is what works as treatment. If you can see a doctor you trust, still do that. But if they don’t listen or if for some reason you can’t seek treatment, here is the course of action I recommend:

Pick up that over-the-counter Pain Relief+Lidocaine NON MINTY numbing cream ASAP. Sores go from “annoying” to “excruciating” in only 3 days, so it’s best to get in person or with rush shipping. Sit in front of a mirror and gently apply with a q-tip, and wait 5 minutes for the medicine to take effect.

Pat gently dry with toilet paper, don’t make wiping motions. If you don’t feel clean enough, pat more with a wet washcloth and rinse it out, or hope in the shoer for 5 min just to rinse.

There may be pus or reside from the ointment that doesn’t go away with just rinsing. Every 2 days I made a half-strength bath of epsom salts, NUMBED FULLY, and then took a 10 minute bath to fully cleanse the area. the salt will sting terribly if you wait any longer, so I recommend standing and rinsing after this time.

The vulva is more exposed to air than the mouth. this may cause the sores to crack/bleed as they dry out. to avoid this, after using the restroom and cleaning yourself, you can apply a thick coating of Aquaphor on top of the sores. It will need to be rinsed off before you apply more numbing cream however, so if that is too many steps I recommend just using the Aquaphor overnight.

You may think its ok to get up in the middle of the night to pee without the numbing cream bc you have to go really bad and just once will be fine but it is NOT you will REGRET IT.

Unfortunately if you have sores on both sides you may develop what is known as “kissing sores”, aka sores directly opposite each other that touch when the area is not spread open. this means that after an extended period of time (overnight), the sores will try to heal into each other and opening the area back up painfully rips the tissue apart. INStEAD of ripping them apart, take a washclosh, run it under warm water, and do a hot/warm compress on the area. this will loosen the sores back up and separate them painlessly.

This is not exclusive to people with a vulva, they can also happen on scrotal/anal tissue. However it does seem to much more frequently affect people with typical XX sex organs.

If you develop these, PLEASE fill out an averse reaction form or your country’s equivalent. Also, I’m so sorry and if you need emotional support or have questions please feel free to get in touch.

Most likely, these will not happen to you--the vast majority of vaccinated people have not had this as a side effect. But it IS popping up more and more, and it is good to know about it in advance so you can be prepared to deal with and treat it without as much anxiety and all the hoops I had to jump through to get good care. Overall I’m still glad to be vaccinated, but if I had known this was a side effect, as someone already prone to canker sores I would have waited to vaccinate until my car was fixed a week later a the very least :|

#covid #covid vaccine #averse vaccine reaction #nsgu #ive got my finger on the block button for whatever pornbots this post activates do not try me #anyway #gross warning sorry :( if u dont want to know about my tmi personal health dont read this one #ramblings #wharglbargle #i dont wish these on anyone i cant describe what an awful experience this all was #tried to be more humerous bout it in the post but i cried p much nonstop at urgent care and many of the days after #long post #plagueblogging #still better than getting covid and dying tho so

17 notes · View notes

lindsayisfindingflow · 5 years ago

Text

Indy Monumental half marathon 2019

Indy Monumental went pretty well on Saturday. I didn’t quite make it in under 1:40 like I was hoping, but I still took 7 minutes off my half marathon time from last month, and I was able to run the whole thing at a hard effort level. I think I executed the race pretty well too, which is always a good consolation prize.

My left hamstring was definitely more sore than my right one the next day, but it seems to be recovering at a normal rate, so that is also a win.

Quick recap:

This was definitely the coldest Indy Monumental I’ve done, and this was my 8th time doing the race. The temps were similar in 2014 when I did my first marathon, but the wind didn’t seem as bad then (or maybe I was just running slower then.)

Anyway, in the first 3ish miles there was a decent amount of slowing and speeding up in order to get around other runners. Even though I’d warmed up for almost 2 miles beforehand, my legs felt cold and didn’t feel as peppy as I was hoping they might. Once we went around Monument Circle the crowds opened up a bit and I was able to get into a good rhythm. I was holding 7:30s - 7:40s, so right around 1:40 pace. I decided I’d hang around there until we hit Meridian Street, which is where you run the last 2.5ish miles of the race. In the past I’ve been able to speed up here, so I figured I would try for that strategy again.

Between mile 8 and 9 I grabbed a gel, and tried to take most of it at once. I don’t usually take gels, and when I do I try to spread it out more, so that slowed me down and made my stomach feel weird for a bit. It was definitely too much at once, but I am starting to like gels more than I used to... mostly I appreciate not needing to chew like I do with shot blocks.

As soon as I turned south onto Meridian around mile 10, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to cut down like I wanted to once I felt the headwind and the effect it was having on my pace. But I decided my new A goal would be under 1:40:30, and my B goal would be under 1:41. I knew the times were all arbitrary, but having little goals like that keeps me motivated to keep doing my best.

During the last couple of miles I would find people to run behind and try to let them break up the headwind for me a bit, especially during bigger gusts. Then when I was feeling somewhat “recovered” I would push ahead to the next pack of people. Some folks would stay with me when I pushed ahead, and some stayed back. So I like to think I was doing my fair share of breaking the headwind for people, or as much as I can do when I’m fairly short.

When we made the second to last turn with about .2 to go, I could tell I’d be pretty close to 1:40:30. I mustered up the best kick I could, although I’ve definitely had better ones. When I finished I saw 1:40:33 on my watch, and I later found out that my official time was 1:40:29, so right in line with my in-race A goal.

For most people this race is a season-ender, but I’m looking at it as more of a season opener. My plan is to continue base building and gradually adding in speed work so that I’ll be ready for a spring marathon.

Oh, and I got an extra medal for doing both this race and that other half back in October. I also got my 4-year finisher star. Technically I should have gotten both of these in 2017, but the line was long and I was tired that year, so I skipped it 😂

19 notes · View notes

fatathlon · 5 years ago

Text

Race Report: Greater Nashua Sprint Triathlon

My first triathlon of 2019 was a sprint distance race held in southern New Hampshire, called the Greater Nashua Sprint Triathlon. I settled on this race in particular after several months of research, trying to find a race that was both within driving distance and lined up with my training schedule for my 70.3 race. I didn’t know anything about it other than what I found on the website and Facebook page, but it was the 10th annual running of the event, so it seemed likely to be a well-organized race.

Pre-Race

An added bonus to this race was that my wife’s parents and brother live just an hour away from the race location, so we were all able to stay with them and combine it into a family visit. It’s a huge benefit to race day preparations to be in a comfortable location with family before an event, so I’m grateful we were able to have that opportunity. I went to bed at the same time as my kids, and actually managed to sleep through most of the night. I only woke up once, at about 3 AM, and then drifted in and out until about 5, when I got up.

Breakfast was my customary bowl of oatmeal flavored with maple syrup with a coffee. While I had the syrup out, I took the opportunity to fill my gel bottle. I still wasn’t sure if I would even use fuel during the race, because it was so short, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to have it along.

Breakfast

Race Fuel

Nice morning view

I had everything pretty much ready to go the night before, so all I had to do in the morning was load my bike, put my transition bag in the car, and head out. The drive was uneventful. As I got close to Nashua, I started to see more and more cars carrying bikes. It wasn’t long before I saw a fully decked out Quintana Roo on the back of a pickup. Welcome to New Hampshire.

Parking was an absolute nightmare. There was a lot designated for racers, which was the entire area around a local school, but it was already packed to the gills by the time I arrived. I ended up having to park underneath a swing set. I checked the air in my tires at my car, put my transition bag on my bag and rode to the transition area.

Transition was pretty well organized, with everyone having a marked spot on the racks. Once again my bike was too tall to fit very well on the rack. The saddle was too high to easily get it under the bar, and then there wasn’t enough of a hang to keep it on there securely. Not much I could do about it, so I set up my transition stuff and went to get body-marked, check out the transition routes, and wander down to the water.

My transition setup. My rear wheel is basically on the ground.

There were about 15 minutes of announcements before the race, which felt like they took forever. I tried to keep my arms moving, doing some arm circles and such, but mostly just stood around feeling my springs coil. Finally, they started calling waves. Everyone had an assigned wave number, and when your wave was called, you went down to a dock area to check-in and queue up for the start.

Swim

This was my first race wearing a wetsuit. It was also my first race with a wave start. It cheated everyone out of some time, because the timing mat was on the dock and the waves treaded water for a minute or two before actually starting. But at least everyone lost the same amount of time, so it didn’t really matter.

I put some water on the back of my neck just before jumping in, but it felt like a warm bath. I was prepared for a cold shock when stepped off the dock, but it was just balmy. I grabbed the start line rope and floated until the starter gave us the go signal, then I was off.

One of the first waves heading out

Almost immediately, I felt like something was wrong. I wasn’t more than 30 seconds into it and I felt absolutely awful. I thought I might be getting sick. Was I even moving? I couldn’t really tell. My line was way off, too, and I kept veering to the right. I tried to focus on my technique and things got a little better. I decided that whatever I was feeling, it wasn’t getting any worse, so I would just push through it. I had done enough swim training to know that I wouldn’t suddenly drown or anything, especially while wearing a buoyant wetsuit. The worst case was that my arm strength would just give out, and it hadn’t yet. So there was no reason to stop. On I went.

About halfway through the loop, I started catching some people. I have no idea if they were in my wave or the wave before mine, or possibly the wave after mine, having gotten ahead of me at the start. I didn’t try to swim over anyone but I didn’t really seem them coming, either, so some contact was inevitable.

I hadn’t set a goal time for the swim, but from experience I expected something between 10-15 minutes in the back of my mind. When I finally stood up to exit, it felt like it had been twice that, but I figured realistically it was maybe 12 minutes.

I looked at my watch and saw an 8. Suddenly things made a little more sense. I had been going faster — much faster — than I thought. No wonder I felt like my chest was going to explode.

Official Swim Time: 8:49 (.3 mi) – 1:41/100 yd 7/32 in age group; 34/414 overall

T1 sent us up a sandy path through the woods to the grassy area where the bikes were. There were wetsuit strippers waiting for us, which was awesome. I pulled my wetsuit down below my waist, slid into home on the tarp, and my suit was popped off before I even knew what was happening. I thanked the volunteers and headed to my bike.

About to get stripped

I had toyed a bit with leaving my shoes on my bike with rubber bands, but ultimately couldn’t really figure out how to do it so it worked properly, and I was worried about the rubber bands getting caught in my gears, so I decided to just put my shoes on in transition, run the bike out, and clip in. I certainly wasn’t going to try a flying mount, so this was a reasonable option for me. At the last second I grabbed my maple syrup bottle and slid it into my tri suit pocket.

Official T1 time: 3:13 – 91/414 overall

Bike

The bike route was very short, and very flat. I’d only done three previous races before this one, but this was the shortest and flattest by far. I had been doing a lot of mental gymnastics about the bike leg in the days leading up to the race, debating my approach. Overall, I wanted this race to be something of a practice session for my 70.3 — transition logistics, using a wetsuit, etc. I thought about also extending that to pacing, to practice the mental and emotional control required to slow myself down at the start of the bike leg so that I would be able to hold the right pace throughout, and then have enough left over for the run. But as soon as I was clipped in, that decision was made. It was go time.

Because I didn’t have any pacing or power targets, I ended up watching my heart rate most of all while out on the course, followed by my speed. My heart rate was shockingly high compared to the levels I was used to seeing during my training, which is predominantly spent in zone 2. But I knew that wasn’t necessarily a problem. The race was short enough that I could work at or above threshold for the whole thing. They call it a sprint for a reason, after all.

The other fun thing about a sprint is that passing someone on the bike leg is usually permanent. In a longer race, it can often be just the first of two meetings, the second of which being when they come back and smoke you on the run. But in a sprint, they are more likely to run out of road if you go full throttle on the bike. Since it was a wave start, I knew that passing people was not an entirely accurate representation of my place in the field. But it was motivating anyway. So I reeled in as many people as I could, and made sure that nobody passed me. The best part was passing those $6,000 tri bikes on my gravel bike with regular old drop bars.

As it turned out, I was glad to have my maple syrup on board. I took a couple hits, one partway through and one just before T2. It felt helpful, and made me realize that I would probably need more fuel than I had been thinking during my longer race in July.

The bike course covered, I had a clean dismount just at the line, and ran my bike in to the transition area again.

Official Bike Time: 25:45 (9.6 mi) – 22.4/mph 4/32 in age group; 18/414 overall

T2 was my slowest performance on the day, relative to the field. I didn’t deliberately go slow, but I wasn’t rushing, either. I’m pretty particular about how my shoe lace-up feels, and that combined with the socks I use (which are not super easy to get on) probably accounted for my slow time. But I made it out on the run with everything I needed and feeling pretty good, so I wasn’t too worried about blitzing through T2.

Official time: 1:51 – 313/414 overall

Run

I expected to be running fast out of transition, having experienced that phenomenon before. Adrenaline is high and you are excited to just get going, and before you know it you’re running way faster than you expected. I checked my watch after a couple hundred yards and saw I was running close to 7:30 min/mi, which is very fast for me. For reference, I ran all of my sprints last year at around 9:00 min/mi. My first reaction was to feel like I needed to back off, slow down and find a more conservative pace, but then I remembered it was only 3.1 miles. I was able to hold a strong pace through the swim and bike, why not the run? Might as well go for it, and see how long I could hold it before I slowed down. The worst case was that my pace would slow for the back half of the race, but I knew I would finish no matter what. Go time continued.

I focused on my cadence through most of the run, trying to keep the rhythm even and high. That seems to be my key to running fast (such that “fast” is, for me), when I need to. If I think about ‘running fast,’ it’s harder to do, but if I just focus on my cadence, it’s easier for some reason.

The run was also a very flat course, with only a couple slight inclines, when my pace dipped closer to 8:00 min/mi. I was able to hold my cadence pretty well throughout. Two or three people passed me, including a 60+ year old woman and a kid, wearing the race t-shirt. Sigh. But overall I held my pace and I felt strong throughout.

By the time the last half-mile came around, I was starting to feel it, particularly in my hips and my abdominals. I was definitely on the edge, pushing to maintain the pace. There wasn’t much of anything left for a late surge, all I could do was hold what I had through the chute and over the finish line.

Official Run Time: 24:19 (3.1 mi) – 7:50/mi 11/32 in age group; 65/414 overall

Overall Results: Time: 1:03:55 5/32 in age group; 34/219 by gender; 36/414 overall

Post Race & Summary

The race venue had a lot of activities for kids, which was great for when my family arrived. There were at least three bouncy houses, plus a clown making balloon animals, and kid-friendly food. The food was great, and there was tons of it, all of it free as far as I could tell, at least for racers. It wasn’t just bananas and bagels, there was an entire sandwich buffet, flatbread pizza, Italian ice, all kinds of things. The only real negatives for me about the race organization and venue were parking and the lack of a professional race photographer (there were only official volunteers, who took substandard photos and whose coverage was incomplete). Otherwise, it was a well-organized and fun race on a decent course.

As far as my performance goes, I came away a little surprised and with a lot to think about. I had definitely underestimated my potential in the water and on the run. I really didn’t have any idea that I could swim or run that fast over any distance. Almost immediately, I started thinking ahead to July, and trying to sort out what that means for my 70.3. Obviously I won’t be racing at these speeds at that distance. But my personal bar has been raised, there’s no getting around that. Now I have the task of handling that knowledge without it infiltrating my head in a negative way. Expectations for a race are not usually helpful.

I tried to examine whether I could have gone any faster, any harder, improved in any area in order to jump to the 1st-3rd place podium from my 5th place spot. I would have had to be about 6 mins faster to do that. Certainly I was maxed on the swim. I don’t think I was at maximum capacity on the bike, but I was fairly close. The run didn’t have a whole lot of room to give, either. When I look at the actual times between 5th (me) and 3rd, here’s what I find:

PlaceSwimT1BikeT2RunTotal3rd8:202:2525:390:3521:0958:065th (me)8:493:1325:561:5124:191:03:55Difference:0:290:480:171:163:105:49

Clearly the majority of time lost was on the run. That isn’t surprising to me, since I’ve never been a fast runner. But I’m encouraged, because I’m way faster than I used to be. The next biggest deficit was T2, followed relatively closely by T1. The differences on the swim and the bike combined could be easily surmounted by improving just my transitions alone. Or I could have pushed a bit harder on the climbs (such as they were) on the bike and probably wiped out a lot of that time. But most of the improvement work to be done is clearly in my run.

Is this a microcosm of what I can expect at longer distance? It will be interesting to see how the ratios play out there. I’d also be interested in comparing these relative results to my results from last year’s sprints. That is, how much slower — relative to the field — was I in transition vs. the bike leg, or run leg. Maybe that will be a good subject for a future post. You can’t compare races 1:1, but I think you can get a sense of how the relative balance of everything plays out, and what that means for your skill set and fitness level. If nothing else, it’s an interesting diversion.

from WordPress http://bit.ly/2Y6Qyha via IFTTT

3 notes · View notes

flamepoint-runner · 6 years ago

Text

One week later...I’m finally getting around to writing it...so here it is, my:

SLC Half Marathon Race Recap!

(warning - long post ahead)

So it’s my fourth year doing this particular race - it was my very first half marathon ever! That first year was great, but every time since then has been a huge disappointment...my goal this year was to not let that happen again!

Firstly - I had been watching the weather all week. A late winter storm was coming through all week = rain and snow EVERY DAY until Saturday, when it was supposed to finally stop. Cold, but manageable, was the prediction for Saturday.

Woke up around 3am Saturday morning and couldn’t really fall back asleep, but I stayed in bed for another 45 minutes or so. Got up and got everything ready - I didn’t do anything Friday night to prepare except write a list of what I needed to remember in the morning....very different from my first time doing this half.

L picked me up around 5am and we headed into SLC to a Trax (train) station further away from the finish line. The plan was this way so it would be easier to leave and we wouldn’t have to walk a long way/remember where the car was parked. Super smooth traveling, and we got a chance to chat with other runners on the train!

We unloaded near the start line but had to walk a little ways to the staging area...and we notice - “Hey, is that snow on the ground?” Yep. There has NEVER still been snow up here in any of the previous races...oh well! So we have about an hour to wait - use the porta potties a few times, etc. Around 6:40-ish...it starts to actually SNOW. Not a big heavy snow, but enough flakes that it’s noticeable. The clouds are so low we can’t really see the mountains around us and I’m just thinking what a different race this is going to be. We drop off our bags - I say goodbye to my sweatpants that have been keeping my legs warm til now - and we head to the back of the pack near the starting line.

Now, I”m not expecting any miracles today. I’m hoping to have a good race and maybe hopefully not have a terribly slow time. Main goal = don’t give up! Keep pushing and trying - don’t just settle! Though I kept referring to it as a “long training run” cause really...the marathon (in a few weeks) is on my mind...

And we’re off! They were blasting “Thunderstruck” at the start line as the corrals were getting released and YEAH that’s some good pumped up music!

Within the first mile and a half, there are 3 short but steep uphills. YUCK. Every year I’ve struggled with these. Plus the over-crowding of people at the start makes it hard to keep any sort of pace. I usually (and this year was no different) get stuck behind some walkers/really, really slow runners. It’s like they know...and they make a wall....and it’s fucking impossible to get past. Annoying. Somehow I pushed through eventually - kept running - first two hills, check! It took me way too long to “recover” from the second hill though - I felt so out of breath for just forever. Third hill coming up - I started running it but had to walk the last bit of it - started running again as soon as I got to the top.

However, here’s where I lost L. Always happens early in the race - she keeps going on, while I “struggle” in the back. It’s frustrating and it’s why I’m going to just do my own races from here on out. Did I mention this is the last time I’m doing SLC?

Anyways.

Next few miles have some downhill which is great! I got a side cramp around mile 3, but it worked itself out quickly, thank goodness. There was a polka band playing “when the saints go marching in” between mile 3 and 4, just before this nice run though a wooded section of a park on a nice pathway. Not too long, and I’m at mile 5! But I know what’s coming next...the “uphill” mile...

So you turn on this street and head east, directly into the morning sun....slightly uphill for the WHOLE mile. Except today - it was so cloudy that there was no blinding sun!!! Rejoice!! Wow, it was so much more enjoyable this way! I was wearing my sunglasses anyways, but clouds definitely do a better job overall of blocking the sun. I ran this whole mile (slowly) until just before the water stop so I could take my first gel of the race. I have always walked portions of this mile in past races, so I was really glad I was able to power through! The gels I’ve been using now are the Huma Chia Energy gels and they are working really well! Gu and sometimes Clif Shots mess with my stomach more than they help, so...I was glad to find a replacement.

Miles 7- 8 are mostly downhill - somewhere along mile 7 is always the “Temptation Station” where some people set up a table with shots of different alcohol for the runners, HA. I was pretty close to just grabbing something...but unsure if that would totally kill me later in the race. I was still wanting a good time and so decided not to purposely do anything to mess that up.

There’s another short jaunt along an east road, more steeply uphill at this point and I 100% walked it. My legs were starting to feel like cement blocks and my usual blisters on my feet were making themselves known. Oh well - keep moving forward.

Turning into a downhill again through about mile 9. Then a short up and the split where the marathoners turn off to some side street and have a lot longer ways to go ;) At this point I’m always thinking, “Man I am GLAD I’m only doing the half!”

Mile 10-ish water station comes up and I take my second gel. I’m needing it at this point and really grateful for the water. The sun has actually come out now and it’s not too bad - the air is still pretty cool. Keep trudging forward. Counting down the miles, “Okay just 3 left - well, less than 3 now!” “Okay, only 2 more”

Mile 12 takes you through a BIG park - at the end of it, those polka band players were back! Something different this time - I didn’t recognize the song. One more mile to go! We head west down some big street like usual...the turn up a TINY side street and make our way back north and east one block, then the last bit of uphill nastiness til the end. My watch had already gotten to 13.1 by this point...but whatever! You can see the big arch as you’re going uphill and there’s lots of people waiting and cheering....and I’m just wanting to be done!! I ran through to the end - despite my legs and back really hurting at this point :( Got my medal and a water bottle, then set off to find L and get my bag.

My watch stats: 13.29 miles in 2:43:05

Not anywhere near what I was hoping I could do, but I didn’t let myself feel defeated by this. It’s the first race of the season...I’ve got way bigger and better things planned for this spring/summer. I want to improve and I know my next half will be a lot faster!

It took a good 2+ days for my legs to finally feel better again - my runs on Sunday and Monday this week were more of hobbling along...Tuesday night I could finally pick up my feet and actually MOVE - and that felt so nice!

If you read this far - WOW. Have a gold star! :)

#my running #my races #race recap #half marathon #long post #personal

1 note · View note

jaybeartodd · 7 years ago

Text

Colleagues Pt. 3/17 — Jason Todd x fem. reader

Y/N is struggling with this newly found information but decides to push it aside while things are going well. And maybe this Jason character isn’t as awful as he initially seemed...

Sorry this is so long! I was planning on making this two parts but I forgot to stop typing. Whoops. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy and thank you for the amazing feedback! You guys have been fantastic!

Warnings: swearing and mentions of alcohol

Word Count: 1974

Tagging: @sarcasmismyfirstlove

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

It is sheer will and your hand supporting your chin that is at least keeping up the appearance of vitality as your professor lectures at the head of the classroom. After a quick digestion of the information discovered last night, you managed to hammer out a killer essay and get a whole 3 hours of sleep before having to wake up for your morning class.

You are trying to focus on what the professor is saying by watching their mouth but all you can hear is the conversation between you and Nick.

It was after a long shift at your old job that you came home to Nick using the kitchen for actual cooking purposes. Throwing your bag down you eyed him wearily as he gave you happy smile from behind a steaming stove.

"Hey sis! I got us a real meal; steak and mashed potatoes.”

You can't help but laugh at the absurdity of his appearance. He has his long purple hair tied up in a bun and your Batman apron tied around his body.

“What did I tell you about buying that disgusting meat at the butcher down the road?” you ask leaning over the sizzling pan cautiously expecting the worst.

“No sis. This is real steak from a real store,” his dimples flash seemingly innocent and the steak does look halfway decent. If you even liked steak.

“Nick,” you sigh grabbing at a headache forming from the thought of him getting into your cash again.

“No, Y/N, look I swear it was all my own money. I didn't take a cent from your jar in the dresser. Cross my heart,” he gestures to his heart. Mental note; move jar.

You let out a breath and look into his brown eyes full of pride. You see the little brother who would do this silly promise ritual years ago when hiding in your self-made fortresses. Before he lost his way.

Finally giving in, you cross your heart in sync with him and he laughs kissing you on the cheek. After finishing up the cooking, you manage to have a decent dinner with him even if you push around the steak so he won't notice you not eating it.

It is one of the best moments you have had with Nick since you had to move in with him after several of his stints in jail. But you can't help the question burning in the back of your head.

“Where'd you get the money, Nickie?” you ask somberly. Instead of the guilt you are expecting you see his face beam.

“I got a job,” your eyes widen at this. The boy who hasn't held a job in years can suddenly afford steak with work he has never even mentioned applying for.

“No really! I got a delivery job! It is with a Mr. Sionis and it makes enough money that you can stop worrying about me and start focusing on paying your school and I can finally start supporting Trey.”

You can't help but absorb the pure joy emanating from him. You hug him and enjoy the moment even though you know he could make all the money in the world but the mother of his child would never let him have anymore than the every other weekends he is getting. Not that you can blame her. She has a big house, nice husband and great career. Trey is a cute kid and deserves the best life possible, Even though you miss him dearly and you know it crushes Nick.

This memory still rings fresh in your head as one of the better ones even though Nick went straight back to his binging within one week of work leaving you to pick up the essentials. At least he has somehow held the job and pays for his own alcohol now. You aren't blind to the effect the job has had on your brother and now your curiosity grows knowing who his boss is and even more now that Mr. Wayne seems interested in the guy despite him supposedly being in Arkham.

You show up to your desk that night to find an invitation laying on it. Looking around you don't see anything out of the ordinary. Although, did you expect to see someone gazing above their respective cubicle laughing at a rather lame prank?

The Wayne logo is painted across the front of it and you open it to see an elegant flourish of details of a ball. It seems you are cordially invited to the annual Wayne Enterprise Ball. You can't help but feel a grin spread across your face. How very posh. You chuckle to yourself but you know you are excited at the chance of attending the most prized Gotham event.

You probably will not be the most lavish of the attendees considering your limited store options that pair nicely with your limited cash flow but hell you will feel damn beautiful. You clutch the invitation close to you before putting it into your bag unaware of the amused pair of eyes watching your reaction.

“Jason, your attention would be appreciated.”

Jason sighs and pushes himself off the window he was observing you from.

“Yeah yeah Bruce. You've got the fullest of my attention.”

The next two weeks go by fairly quickly, You managed to make it to break from school with only a couple of sleepless nights preparing for midterms. Nick hasn't had another binge since the night you found out the interesting tidbit about his new job. Troy had a great visit where we attempted to bake ending in a floury mess. All of this, plus your growing excitement for the ball tonight, has caused you to push the Sionis incident from your head for now. You really didn’t want to rock the boat while it was wading steadily for once.

Your rose red dress from a nearby thrift store illuminates your carefully illustrated makeup and your y/h/c piled on top of your head once you are ready to head to the ball. You lock the door behind you and can’t help but feel giddy.

Not only are you being handed the perfect opportunity to make fun of ridiculous people in one setting but you are being handed the perfect opportunity of meeting local newspaper hotshots who could be your road into journalism.

Your heels from a lifetime ago that you dug from deep depths of your closet may look great but are not the ideal footwear for a hike to Wayne Manor so you made sure to save up for a taxi. Not your atypical classy but better than appearing with bloody feet and being mugged 67 times on the way there.

The Wayne Manor is hard to miss even as you are a mile away. You find yourself dazzled by the vastness only seen previously by you on TV. Your taxi driver drops you off at an appropriate amount of distance so that you can walk.

You pass what you assume to be millions of dollars of jewelry and satins as you make your way towards the mansion. An older gentleman with a gentle face is checking invitations at the door.

You hand him yours hoping not to seem too eager. He gives you a warm smile as you thank him.

“Have a fantastic night Ms. Y/L/N.” his accented voice reads your name off the invitation.

The inside continues to astonish you as you take in the riches you thought only existed in movies. You can't help but gawk at the amount of stairs. Why do rich people need so many stairs?

After grabbing a drink, you go in search of familiar faces. You greet a few of your coworkers but then your eye catches an editor for a major newspaper in Gotham. You wander over to the assorted foods and pretend to be interested in them when in actuality you are plotting the best way to introduce yourself.

“You're staring,” a voice makes you jump and drop your plate you had began filling up.

Oh there's only one person that could be.

You turn around to find a smirking Jason Todd. He cleans up nice, you mentally note. He has a crisp, obviously expensive black suit on and his hair is semi tamed back with some gel.

“Is this some weird hobby you have? Scaring the crap out of people so that they drop absolutely everything in their hands,” you bend down to grab the food but he holds out a hand and swiftly crouches and sweeps the crackers back onto the plate. He grins and offers the plate back but your only answer in return is a look of annoyance.

He shrugs and puts the plate back on the table.

“So why are you staring at Mr. Prie?” he asks and you cross your arms.

“I'm not.” he hitches an eyebrow at this obvious lie,

“Yeah ok well since you aren't you probably don't want me to introduce you to him,” he challenges you with an amused look and his hands casually shoved into his pockets,

You contemplate your options. Ignoring Jason and hopefully keeping the clumsy at a normal rate. Or meeting the man that could possibly give you the job of your dreams.

“Fine, yes I would love to meet him. Could you please introduce me?” you grumble and this seems to feed the smirk.

“On one condition,” he says.

“Listen pal I am not being blackmailed into a date-”

“One dance. That's all I ask. One dance,”

You stare at him calculatingly.

“Is this how you usually get girls?”

“I usually don't work so hard,” you blush at this which amuses him.

“Fine, you weirdo. I will dance with you but first introduce me,” you give in.

He offers his arm with a boyish grin. You roll your eyes and stroll past him towards Mr. Prie.

Jason does an impressive job of introducing you as a highly-valued employee and even compliments your character. Damn, this man can charm the pants off of anyone. Mr. Prie ends up offering you a personal tour of the paper, making you even more successful than you thought you'd be.

You manage to keep your calm professional look as you shake his hand but when you are out of earshot you punch Jason in the arm in excitement.

“A personal tour!” you rub your hand after punching a surprisingly thick mass of muscle.

Jason’s grin matches yours as you look up at him absolutely beaming.

“Thank you so much for your help,” you say genuinely.

“Hey don't use your words to thank me,” you look at him questioningly as he does an obnoxious spin and offers his hand out to you, “Use dance.”

You chuckle at his dramatic voice.

“Yeah about that, I can't dance,” all of a sudden you are pulled into the dancefloor and you collide into Jason's firm chest.

“Nonsense,” he says and you shake your head.

He looks at you sympathetically, “Here just follow my lead.” His hand wraps around your waist drawing the breath from you while his other hand clasps yours.

Placing your free hand on his shoulder, your feet follow his and after a few toe-steppings, you find yourselves falling into a natural movement.

“I am really sorry I was so rude to you the first time we met. I'm not usually like that I promise,” you say breaking the silence.

His eyes twinkle bemused.

“I think I am the one who should be apologizing. I was being a jackals.” he admits.

You nod your head. “Yeah, you're right. Forget what I said.”

He laughs a hearty sound and you can't help but enjoy the vibrations it sends through his chest.

The night is turning out way better than you expected. But it can only last but so long.

#jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd x you #red hood #red hood x reader #red hood x you #fanfic #batman #batman imagine

266 notes · View notes

i-write-things-sometimes-x · 4 years ago

Text

Lone Wolf (Stiles Stilinski x OC) Chapter 8- Study Buddies

Masterlist | Next Chapter | Previous chapter

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x fem OC (Riley Lowe)

Summary: Riley Lowe was torn from her quiet life in Jacksonville, Oregon to move to Beacon hills with a friend when a terrible tragedy tore through her family. Once a happy, loving girl, Riley had now became detached and cold, letting no body past the walls she had now built so high, until him.

(kind of AU where the pack can be normal teenagers/ Werewolves can get drunk)

Warnings: Strong language, Explicit Content

Word count: 2,967

I do not own the Teen Wolf Characters or story.

I do not own any of the Gifs used in my stories, I usually find them on Google and Pinterest and all credit goes to the creators

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I decided to tidy my room a little after Derek left. When I finally finished, I glanced at my alarm clock, 7:30PM glowing in pink. I decided I had plenty of time to shower and get changed before Stiles showed up, so I grabbed my towel and headed into the bathroom, stripping out of my clothes, turning on and stepping under the warm shower water. I placed my hand against the cold shower tiles, leaning against it and letting the water flow through my hair and down my back. I sighed at the feeling, all of my worries and stress flowing down the drain with it.

Suddenly the door bell tore me from my daze. shit. I turned the shower off, and stepped out, wrapping the towel around my still soaking wet figure, my hair dripping down my back and rushed to the door. I opened it and was met with Stiles, who's warm smile quickly turned into shock, his eyes widening and his mouth fell agape, his eyes drifting down my body then back up, his eyes once again meeting mine.

"I-uh, I'm sorry, I'm early, I can come back-" He said turning slightly to avoid the sight of me, flustered. I let out an amused laugh, a smirk playing at my lips. "Stilinksi, can you hurry and come in so my neighbours don't see me dripping wet in a towel?" I laughed, opening the door wider and motioning for him to come in. He then let out a shy laugh. "Oh yeah- sorry." He said, awkwardly ushering past me, doing everything he can to not look at me. This boy will be the death of me. I smiled. "Hey, so I'm gonna finish my shower, but you can come make a start on the first textbook, I won't be long." I said, breaking him from the interest he seemed to have with the carpeted floor. "Oh yeah sure-" He said shyly, smiling. "Come on then" I said motioning for him to follow me, and led him to my room, letting him enter before me, then closing the door behind me. His eyes surveyed my room, as if though he was analysing it. "Woah" He said, his eyes doing one full scan of the room before settling on me again. "What?" I laughed in confusion, his bewildered expression was so fucking cute. "It's just so... you." He said smiling. "Well, thanks, I think?" I said laughing again to break the tension. "Here, sit." I said motioning to the bed. "Make a start, and i'll be back in 5 okay?" I said smiling. "Oh- okay, sure." He said smiling, getting himself comfortable on my bed, his back against the head-board, one leg slightly bent and the other stretched out as he reached for the bag he placed next to him, taking out his textbooks , notepad and pen. Offering him a small smile, I walked over to my laptop on my desk, putting on my usual Lo-fi music that I study to and moving toward my drawers, grabbing some black lace underwear, a black camisole top and comfortable black sweatpants. Once again smiling at the boy on my bed as he looked up at me from his textbook. I then entered the door to the bathroom that was connected to my room and gently pushed it closed. Unbeknown to me, the door was still ajar when I placed my clothes on the counter and slid the towel off, letting it crumple at my feet. I then turned the water on, stepping back into it's warm embrace.

youtube

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

3rd person POV:

Stiles turned to see the door that Riley had just left through, bounce open gently as Riley had attempted to close it and was still slightly agape as she began to remove her towel. His heart leapt into his throat at the sight and as much as he knew it was wrong and that he should look away, he couldn't tear his eyes from the sight of her beautiful figure, and from the tattoo that he had never noticed before, adorning her back. His eyes taking in each moon phase, which lead his eyes further and further down her body.

He swallowed thickly as she stepped into the shower, the glass quickly becoming fogged up with condensation, only being able to make out the outline of her figure, hands roaming all over her body, spreading the suds of the shower gel, and then proceeded to bring her hands up to massage shampoo into her beautiful, long and thick brown hair.

"Fuck" Stiles muttered quietly to himself as he tore his gaze away, making an attempt to calm his breathing and heartbeat. Remembering the fact that Riley could probably hear it from a mile away. He then looked back down at the textbook in his hands, suddenly too distracted to be able to read even a sentence.

The sound of the shower shutting off and the door creaking open slowly broke Stiles's attention from desperately analysing the text book and to the girl standing in the doorway. The black camisole clinging perfectly on her figure and the black sweatpants hung on her hips, a small portion of her stomach on show. Stiles once again let his eyes wander. His mouth hung open, admiring her body while his thoughts wandered into dark, dirty places, biting his lip. He quickly snapped himself out of it as she spoke up, his eyes snapping up to meet hers.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Riley's POV:

"Earth to Stiles?" I said amused, watching the usual dorky, awkward boy, with his eyes raking my figure. My whole body felt as though it was on fire and tingling beneath his dark, hungry gaze. Watching him bite his lip caused my heart to pound against my chest as I tried to pull myself together. Desperately trying to ignore the craving that I had for the boy in that moment.

"Oh-uh yeah?" He said, scrambling to tear his gaze from mine, burying his head in the book in his lap. I smirked. "I'm gonna order food, does pizza sound good?." I smiled as I watched his head snap up and eyes light up at the mention. "Yeah, that'd be great thanks." He said then reaching to get money out of his bag, reaching his hand out to offer it to me. My heart swelled. I then softly batted his hand away in refusal. "Seriously Stilinski, don't worry about it, it's on me." He just smiled softly in defeat, knowing I wouldn't cave, and nodded in appreciation.

I left the room to order the food and then went to the kitchen to raid Derek's alcohol stash, knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to get through the conversation i'd promised him that we'd have If I was completely sober. I grabbed a bottle of half drank Jack Daniels, and two glasses before returning to my room.

When I entered I was met with the sight of stiles laying down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey Stilinski, it's only been like 10 minutes, you can't stop studying yet, get up" I said letting out a giggle at his exasperated and dramatised sigh, as he dragged his body back up the bed. He then looked at me, then to the bottle and glasses in my hands. I shrugged at his questioning glare. "I thought we could use something to get us through the torture that is math" He then let out an adorable laugh, my heart swelling as he did so.

I moved to sit on the end of the bed facing him, placing the cups on the bedside table, and pouring us both a drink before handing him his, and taking a much needed sip of mine. A giggle escaped my lips as I watched Stiles's face contort into a face of disgust as he took a sip from his drink. "It gets better the more you drink I promise." I said laughing. "Are you trying to get me drunk Lowe?." Stiles said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow as he took another drink. The comment almost making me blush. "Wouldn't dream of it Stilinski" I say returning the smirk. He just laughed and placed his drink beside him on the table.

We then studied together in silence for a while, enjoying the mellow beat of the Lo-fi music as we took notes from our textbooks and only talking when he asked me to help him with something he didn't understand, my heart pounding in response to the stare he sent my way as he listened intently to my explanations.

"So.." He breaks the silence, closing his textbook and notepad and placing his things to his side. "You were going to tell me your theory about your eyes." He said softly, crossing his legs and leaning his elbows on his thighs and his head in his hands, his eyes interlocked with mine. Yet again, his gaze making me feel naked and vulnerable. "Right" I say sighing softly, moving my things next to his and reaching for drink, lifting the glass to my mouth and finishing what was left in my cup before also placing it on the table.

"Well.." I started, Stiles's soft gaze coercing me into continuing. "When I was younger, maybe around 16 or so, I had been out on a fishing trip with my uncle and my older cousins, James and Mason that summer, when I had heard someone approach us stealthily from the woods while we were counting the fish that we had caught in a clearing by the lake." I said quietly, the tone of the conversation making me uncomfortable however, the intrigued look on Stiles's features pressing me to continue as he continued to listen closely to the story. "My uncle and cousins didn't notice him at first, but in a second, there was a young hunter, around the age we are now, pointing his rifle at back of Masons skull." I said my head tilting down to avoid Stiles's gaze in shame. "I don't know what came over me but I just... snapped. In a second I had the hunter on the floor, pinned and my claws tore at his throat." I didn't dare to move my gaze from my lap as I was scared of the disgust that was probably etched on Stiles's face. "That must have been the hunters first initiation mission, because as soon as the life drained from his body, my eyes glowed the royal blue of a killer, he had never taken a life, he was innocent." I say feeling the tears threaten to build in my eyes. I then felt a hand on my thigh. I looked up to not see the fear that I had anticipated on the boys face, but sadness, and anger. He then spoke up softly as I looked down at the hand that was still placed on my thigh, his finger gently moving back and forth against the fabric of my sweatpants comfortingly. "He may have never taken a life, but that hunter was by no means, innocent. You did what you had to do to protect your family. You, Riley are a hero." The tears in my eyes once again began to build up and I felt that all too familiar lump in my throat. I looked up into his honey coloured eyes, which displayed nothing but sincerity. I sighed, pushing back the tears once again as I reached to pour myself another drink, Stiles hand moving from my thigh as I did so, which much to my surprise, I was disappointed at.

"yeah, well If I am a hero, I'm a pretty shitty one" I said, taking another long sip of my drink, enjoying the burning it brought in the back of my throat. "What do you mean?" Stiles asked, his tone soft. "Well, as you may know that Derek took me in at the start at the summer?." Stiles nodded, his gaze never leaving me. "Well, there's a reason for that." I then took another deep breath in preparation and began, speaking softly as I told him what I had only told Derek.

"In the summer, my pack, my family, had this tradition where we would go to the forest on the first full moon of the summer and camp there. We've done this ever since as I was young, as I was born with the wolf in me." I said, smiling sadly at the memories of those trips we had together. "Well, this time I had left to go and gather some wood for the fire in place of my uncle and that's when I heard them." I said, my head tilting back down to my lap. "I reached them as fast as my legs could take me, but..." I paused to gather myself. "I was too late." Despite my efforts, a tear slipped down my face, landing on the soft material of my sweatpants, "They had all been slaughtered, my whole family, gone by the hands of hunters." I then felt a gentle hand slowly lifting my chin, tilting my head up so that my eyes met his, and was surprised when I saw his own eyes glistening with tears.

"I am so fucking sorry Riley" He said, his words laced with sadness as he used his thumb to wipe my tears before slowly pulling away. I cleared my throat, finishing yet another drink before placing my cup on the table. I then continued. "I uh- I heard someone calling to me, and saw that it was my mom, but I was too late. They had shot her with yellow wolfsbane and there was nothing that I could do to help." I looked down again, yet again ashamed. "I had always promised her that if anything bad happened to her, and she was dying, that I wouldn't let our packs, our family's legacy die there so I.." Another tear escaping down my cheek. "She made me finish it and end her suffering..." tears were flowing freely down my face now, the images of my mothers body cradled in my arms causing my heart to hurt. "I held her and watched as the eyes of our true alpha, my mom, faded, and passed on to me." I stopped before slowly looking up, tears flowing from my eyes and down my neck. "I think that my eyes are purple because, although I am technically the alpha of a once great and powerful pack that no longer exists, I will always be that girl that killed an innocent boy, and my eyes will never let me forget it. The blue eyes of the killer I am, will always taint the red eyes of the alpha I was supposed to become."

I then brought my eyes up to meet his and watched as a tear slid down his freckled cheek. I then gasped softly as he suddenly moved closer and dove forward, pulling me into a tight embrace. One of his hands was holding me around my back and another was placed in my damp hair, pulling me close to his chest." I could hear his heart pounding, and I relaxed into the embrace, letting my tears flow freely. I was completely overwhelmed as familiar feelings rose up within me. Safety, love, home. I felt so safe wrapped in his arms. The only other person I had felt this with was Derek, but this was different entirely. "I'm so sorry Riley, i'm so sorry" He whispered, rocking me in his arms ever so slightly and gently. His soft voice, and smell of cologne helping to soothe me, my tears slowed and I sighed, relaxing into the embrace, and turned my head, nuzzling into the crook of his neck and placing my hand on his chest, his heartbeat thudding against it.

#stiles stilinski x oc #stiles stilinski #teen wolf #fem!oc #fanfic #lydia martin #scott mcall #allison argent #derek hale #teen wolf x oc #teen wolf stiles

0 notes

mubal4 · 5 years ago

Photo

Wrapping It Up – The 4 x 4 x 48 Challenge

We are living in unique times. Interesting way to describe this I guess, but it is unique. Globally, we have pivoted, adapted, and by this time, created some new normals or at least different ways of doing things. Likely, some good habits have been formed and some may have gone back to some old tricks 😊!! I know I have consumed more beer and types of foods over the last two months than “normal.” 😊 It is all good though; based on what I’ve been fortunate enough to see, via social media, Facetiming/Video conferencing with family/friends, or just talking with folks, we’ve been overcoming these “unique” times well. Although changes have been made, one thing that has remained consistent for me is running. Overall, in the last 2+ months I don’t believe I am running farther or more. Like most of our lives, I’ve just changed some things up a bit. Part of that has been due to timing and circumstances with the quarantine and social distancing; some because the type of race I have coming up in July; and part because some shit has just gotten boring to be honest. So, when I saw this David Goggins Challenge video come across my Twitter feed, it grabbed my attention.

You can watch the 1-minute video, but it is basically running 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles. It was pretty cool how he positioned it too; “if you can’t run, walk; if you can walk; do pushups…….” It seemed like his intent was to just to get people moving, out of their comfort zone, and adapting to the nonsense. Since I am training for a 100-miler I thought this would be a great training exercise for a number of reasons. Obviously, the mile over two days, sleep deprivation, nutrition planning, and one big differentiator, life commitments!!! In the race, I won’t be thinking about family responsibilities, work, or puppy stuff 😊; it is just left foot, right foot. Since I started this on Thursday afternoon, I still had some conference calls to attend, work commitments, and family stuff so it added a layer. That said, as it relates to the family commits, Robin, as per usual, and the girls, sacrificed a ton, not only with dinners and puppy stuff, but, at least for Robin, sleep too. Thursday and Friday nights, I headed out at 1030pm and 230am. The first session each night, Robin was just about headed to bed but at 230am she was sleeping, and I tried to be as quiet as possible, for her, as well as for the puppy too 😊. It was nice to hear on Saturday morning once she woke up that that nights 230am session, she didn’t even hear me leave or come back. Guess all these years doing these crazy things it is good her mind is at ease while I run around Phoenix at 230 in the morning 😊😊😊!! That all said, none of this really came to mind when Robin and I discussed doing it. All I thought was 4 miles, every 4 hours, for 48 miles? I can do that!! So, at 230pm on Thursday, we got things started, easy peasy and session 2 at 630pm was awesome with a sunset, late afternoon run; I was in my happy place. All good. Got back and had a quick dinner (I will get into the nutrition in a moment) and we all were just chilling on the couch. Now, typically, Robin and I are toes up in bed by 10pm so, as my body clock was telling me, right around 945pm I started dozing a bit on the couch; fortunately, I had an alarm set just in case. But the thing was, I was setting an alarm for 1010pm to go out and run 4 miles at 1030pm. Needless to say, as I was tying my shoes, my comment to Robin, “why the hell did I commit to this; this is f#$%ing stupid.” She wished me a “have a good run, I will be sleeping when you get back.” 😊 The thoughts of feeling sorry for myself were quickly gone as soon as I started session number 3 and the night air, cooler temps, and darkness provided a different perspective to my run. I wanted to run around our area of town just to see what was happening, if there was anything happening. Out here in AZ, the stay at home orders are being lifted and there are a couple of restaurants/bars I would be running by so I was intrigued to say the least. There were still a few folks out walking at that time and traffic was light; however, this one bar, about 1 mile from our house, was packed. I guess the regulars were just waiting for things to be lifted. I went by again on Friday nights 1030pm run too and same deal. I giggled a bit but it also gave me a sense of relief that maybe things are working toward “normal.” Also, won’t lie, a beer sounded good at that time.

This is where adapting needed to happen because my body and internal clock was not going to be used to these next 30 or so hours. Running the initial 12 miles from 230pm through 1030pm wasn’t much out of the realm of my comfort zone. Now, I was getting home at 11pm, trying not to wake up Robin and the dog (the girls were still up doing what teenage girls do at that time 😊), getting fluids in, getting cleaned up, and getting things ready for 230am…….& hopefully trying to get sleep. Well, I was a bit amped up from the run so I thought that sleep was going to be tough. I got cleaned up, got plenty of water in me, and then figured I would watch some TV to put me to bed. Well, that worked, and I fell right asleep and woke up about 90 minutes later. Interestingly getting up at this moment and getting out was much easier than at 1030pm. Not sure why but it was. The run, however, was a bit weird and at both 230am sessions. I kept these 2 runs close to the house around this 1.35-mile loop. I didn’t want to stray to for, well, since it is 230am. On the first loop, Thursday, I guess this would be Friday morning, I first heard a rooster crowing!! Yep, a rooster – we don’t live near any farmland. On the second loop, I heard what I thought was a leaf blower…..@ 230am? What the hell? Then, the most interesting thing happened on the last loop. I was on this one road, drive it daily, and I white SUV pulls out of a side street. Okay, at that time of night, could be going to work, coming back, whatever. They pull out but just turnaround and head back where they came. My first thought was that maybe they were scouting out homes/cars to break into or something or, maybe they were just drunk. No big deal. I finished up the run and went home; didn’t think about it. However, 24 hours later, on that same loop at that same time, same car, same spot, pulls out, now we are going towards one another, it stops…………I kept running, faster now and find a dark spot on the road, click off my headlamp and stop. The car was already moving but then did the same thing, u-turn in the middle of the road. This was a bit freeky man and it was on my first loop too. I was running by there two more times. Holy shit right!! Well, nothing happened but it was just some weird stuff. I told Robin yesterday afternoon that I was going to go up there all next week at 230am, dressed in all black and see what happens 😊.

That was pretty much the only excitement of the event. Back to Friday morning, since the nature of this event, getting time on the trails was difficult but did go out at 630am Friday. Got on the trail, got some climbing in and it was a beautiful day. Stopped to take a shot of the trails from the top that I shared above. Also was able to get out on the trails Friday night and Saturday morning. Friday night I was able to meet a nice rattlesnake too!!! By “meet” I mean he was on the side of the trail and scared the poop out of me. I never did see him, just heard him. Not sure if I would rather face the white SUV or the rattler? The remaining sessions were all, pretty much, uneventful; just getting them done and keep moving forward. Overall, it was a great challenge and believe awesome training on many fronts. Although there wasn’t much climbing, it did offer a number of different layers that will definitely help come July. Want to again thank Robin and the girls for all the support, sacrifice, and help they provide me during these nutty things I do. All the folks that reached out via text, calls, or the FB live sessions, thank you very much. Very inspirational and you guys helped keep me going.

Haven’t been much into statistics and stuff when it comes to these kinds of things. Hell, up until January I was still using my 20+ year old Ironman stopwatch but Robin got me this Garmin one for Christmas and it has been fun to sort of geek out with it. So, for those that may be interested, I am providing some “noticings” from the 4x4x48 event. Thanks again for keeping me going and following along 😊!!

· Started at 230pm 5/14 and ended at 1059am 5/16 – total hours = 44.5-ish!

· Total miles = 48.7

· Total running time = 433 minutes (7 hrs 13 mins) – thought this was interesting that it was an exact number. Zero seconds after added up 😊

· Average pace = 8:53 (36:05 average for each 4ish mile session

· Total Vert = 1186

· Sleep = approximately 5 hours total

· 9 shirts & 7 pairs of shorts (yep – reused shorts – easy to do when you jump in the pool after a run), 12 pairs of socks, 3 different pairs of running shoes

· Food intake – 2 strawberry/banana milkshakes, 2 peanut butter/banana Clif bars, 2 apples, 1 grilled cheese, 2 hummus tortilla wraps, approximately a half a box of regular Cheeze-itz (original flavor), couple handfuls of peanut butter pretzels, 1 double expresso Clif bar gel

#4x4x48 - outsidethecomfortzone callousthemind preparethesoul beadaptable

0 notes

captainlenfan · 5 years ago

Photo

New Post has been published on http://websiteshop.network/episode-436-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-29/

Episode 436 – Q&A with Robb and Nicki #29

http://robbwolf.com/2019/07/19/episode-436-qa-with-robb-and-nicki-29/

We’re here with Episode 436, Q&A #29!

Submit your own questions for the podcast at: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

If you want to see the video for this podcast, be sure to check out our YouTube channel.

Show Notes:

1. Endurance Fueling For A Keto Athlete [2:00]

Cassandra says:

Dear Robb + Nicki,

First off…thanks for the great job you two do in making complicated nutrition and fitness information easy to access and understand (even for uneducated gym rats like myself). I’ve been listening to the podcast for years, reading the blog and the books (just got Wired to Eat) and I still find myself learning something new almost weekly.

Bottom line up front – how do you guys recommend tackling post-workout nutrition for endurance / high-intensity sports while on the keto train?

I’m 35, 5’8”, 155 lbs with a fairly muscular build. I’ve been doing the Crossfit + weightlifting thing for 5-6 years now (4-6 times a week). I’ve got 10 strict pull ups, a 250 lb 1 RM back squat, a 285 1RM DL and can hold an L-sit for a minute….so I think I’m pretty strong(?) – in some aspects anyway … Strict bedtimes at 8:30 every night with 8 hours of sleep, no injuries, no severe reactions to any type of food (except tequila) – BUT I perform and look a lot better when I’m strict about paleo. I’ve been eating that way and it has been keeping me fueled really well in the aforementioned training situations.

Due to the nature of my job – active duty Marine, I am required to run a 5k every year for time…so I do incorporate running into my weekly routine – usually no more than 15-20 miles a week…long-ish runs mixed with hill sprints or pushing sleds so I don’t die of cardio boredom.

Within the past year – – due to losing a bet or being shamed into them (I can’t quite remember), I’ve also been running a few half marathons and one marathon. I plan do to one more full later this year, the Rock n Roll in Las Vegas – mostly because its an excuse to travel to Vegas with some girlfriends of mine. The low-carb/paleo diet has been awesome for my health on the weightlifting/crossfit/sprinting side of things… but I’m struggling with the endurace side of my fitness.

For my runs more than 90 minutes, I’ve been fueling with some organic stinger chewies/gels near the end of my run and then other, whole-food-type carbs at the end….bananas, berries, coconut water…sometimes gatorade, (an occasional beer :)), etc. My recovery has been OK…not awesome though (and when I take out the mid-run or end carbs, my energy tanks and my joints hurt for days)….. it takes me about me 1-2 days to get through my soreness for half marathons and almost 5 days for a run more than 22 miles WITH the intra and post-carbs.

I’ve recently jumped on the keto train in January…did your masterclass, read Mark Sisson’s book, started listening to a lot of low-carb / keto based podcasts (Shawn Baker, Fat Burning Man, etc) and just started Wired to Eat. I’ve been trying to do my own homework and listen to my body…so far this keto thing has been great! I’ve dropped about 10 lbs since the beginning of the year, have been sleeping a lot better and have seen gains in my strength. But the race season starts up in May (the LV Marathon is in November but I have smaller races and training runs scheduled throughout the summer) and I want to be prepared.

I *think* I’m generally fat-adapted…but I panic after 8 or 9 miles sometimes (the old advice of “carb loading” always creeps back in) and will suck down a terrible gel or gatorade because I’ve made the mistake of running these distances underfueled before and it was a painful, painful lesson. I have heeded your electrolyte advice. I constantly track my sodium, magnesium and potassium levels and take the recommended supplements almost every day (normally on days with a taxing WOD or a workout lasting more than 90 mins).

So what can I eat/drink to keep on the keto train that will help me recover and keep me going on some of these endurance events? Nut butters? Whey protein and water? I want to be armed when I take on Vegas this year and not completely derail my eating habits. And I’d like to start experimenting with these foods now, while I still have time to adjust.

Sorry for writing the novel! If I can find this info in a podcast or in one of the chapters of your books, please feel free to point me in that direction! I appreciate any insight you guys have. Thanks in advance,

Cassandra

2. Should I Add Fat To My Whey Protein Shake? [10:40]

Ben says:

Hi!

Love the podcast (I am one of the six listeners)! Here is my question:

I am wondering if the insulin-spike from a post-workout whey shake can stall my weight loss. Should I add fat like heavy cream or coconut milk to the shake to blunt the insulin response (if yes how much) or am I unable to burn that fat because of the spiked insulin storing it as body fat instead.

Thank you so much and best wishes from Munich, Germany

Ben

3. Portal Circulation and Leaky Gut [14:36]

James says:

Hi Robb,

Thanks for your detailed answer to my question about sun exposure in Q&A #7. You provided a clear and concise answer which is hard to come by these days!

Following your book recommendations in Q&A #6 I hungrily delved into the Lecture notes on Human Metabolism (Thanks Nikki!) and within the first chapter encountered some information that gave me reason to pause.

The portal circulation, I’m certain that you can provide a more accurate and concise explanation of this system to your listeners than I can in this question, so I’ll leave that to you if that’s okay!

My question is: given that all blood (and therefore solutes) from the intestines are drained through the portal vein and through the liver – filtering out excess substrates and removing toxins such as ammonia from the blood before it enters ‘general circulation’, how can leaky gut have such a damaging effect on the body? It seems to me that the liver is a vital backstop in this process which is never mentioned when functional medicine practitioners talk about leaky gut – they give the impression that blood drains from the intestines straight into cardiovascular circulation and these fuel substrates are clanking around in our arteries causing inflammation which seems not to be the case!

Also how does this impact the gut hypothesis of heart disease (highly simplified here) where endotoxin is said to pass through the mucosal membrane into circulation, binding with LDL cholesterol, being attacked and immobilized by immune cells and ultimately ending up being sequestered into an arterial plaque because the immune system cannot destroy cholesterol or unbind the endotoxin from it.

Would the portal circulation not remove this endotoxin from the blood before it enters cardiovascular circulation and meets LDL particles? Is this disease process driven not only by a compromised intestinal lining but also by inefficient liver function?

Thank you for your time again guys, really appreciate your input

Kind Regards

James

4. Do I Have To Sprout My Nuts & Seeds? [20:10]

Joseph says:

Is phytic acid harmful or of benefit? Is it really necessary to jump thru the hoops of soaking & sprouting before consuming nuts & seeds? thank you

5. Caloric Estimate for Young Children? [25:10]

Rory says:

Is there an estimate for calories/pound when it comes to feeding my almost 3 year old (or any child for that matter, say 2-12? The teen years of course marking the onset of self-consciousness and peer pressure, thus thwarting any biological hard-wiring toward survival.)

Or is she still young enough to be biologically incapable of starving herself, at which point I should just trust that she has normally functioning satiety signals?

I ask specifically about my daughter because, as is par for the course in ‘Murica, she received antibiotics immediately after being born, so it’s not a stretch for me to imagine that she could have some kind of gut imbalance that could cause hormone dysregulation with her leptin/ghrelin.

Where you can find us:

Submit questions for the podcast: https://robbwolf.com/contact/submit-a-question-for-the-podcast/

Transcript:

Download a copy of the transcript here (PDF)

Nicki: Don’t. Stop. Stop. We’re rolling.

Robb: We are rolling. What’s up wife?

Nicki: You know, just kind of riding the wave of chaos.

Robb: Indeed. Indeed. So, we’re in the throws of packing, getting ready to move.

Nicki: We had a nice visit from your friend, Steve yesterday.

Robb: Good friend of mine, Steve who… A 20 year military veteran flying a B1 Bomber and I got to hang out with him and we related many stories that we-

Nicki: I only met him once before, him and his wife once before, when Robb and I first met and let’s just say in the few hours that we spent together yesterday, I learned a lot about what you did as a teenager.

Robb: Yeah and most of it was probably incarceration worthy.

Nicki: There were lots of laughs.

Robb: We turned out okay.

Nicki: You guys survived.

Robb: Yep.

Nicki: Somehow.

Robb: Yep. We did. We did.

Nicki: What are you drinking?

Robb: I’m drinking a Salty Palmer, which is a black tea, Lipton ice tea specifically, with a-

Nicki: LMNT Citrus Salt.

Robb: … LMNT Citrus Salt in it and it’s pretty darn good.

Nicki: Really good. Okay.

Robb: Do you want to jump in on this thing?

Nicki: Sure. Let’s jump in. Our first question this week is from Cassandra and Cassandra wrote a very, very lengthy question and I’m just going to read-

Robb: Great detail, but it’s-

Nicki: Really wonderful detail, but I’m just going to read some sections of it. But the main gist of her question is, how do you recommend tackling post workout nutrition for endurance and high intensity sports while on keto? So let’s see here.

Nicki: Okay, so she says, “I think I’m generally fat adapted, but I panic after eight or nine miles sometimes because the old advice of carb bloating always creeps back in and I will suck down a terrible gel or Gatorade because I’ve made the mistake of running these distances under fuel before and it was a painful, painful lesson. I’ve heated your electrolyte advice and I constantly track my sodium, magnesium and potassium levels and take the recommended supplements almost every day. Normally on days with a taxing wad or a workout lasting more than 90 minutes. So what can I eat or drink to keep on the keto train that will help me recover and keep me going on some of these endurance events? Nut butters, whey protein and water. I want to be armed when I take on Vegas this year and not completely derail my eating habits and I’d like to start experimenting with these foods now while I still have time to adjust. Sorry for writing a novel.”

Nicki: So just to fill in some of the details, she has done several half marathons and a marathon and she’s wanting to do another full marathon later this year. The Rock and Roll in Las Vegas

Robb: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Mm-hmm (affirmative) and lots of great detail, so if you guys check out the show notes-

Nicki: We’ll post the full question, yeah.

Robb: … you can kind of dig into that stuff. So what one thing up front, I’m definitely not an endurance coach. We’ve dabbled in that area when we ran the gym, it wasn’t really my area of interests nor expertise. So I’m going to give some general guidelines, but I’m not an endurance coach. That said, one thing that I would recommend is following all the work from Zach Bitter. He has set multiple, I think national and world champion distances, 100 mile races, largely keto fueled, keto carnivore fueled. He drops in some carbs though. He has kind of a strategy around what he does with that. Part of what she related is she feels soreness and difficulty recovering after her hard sessions, in particular when she’s using carbs, interestingly.

Robb: This is one of the interesting things that folks that are in that keto, carnivore space seem to report they just seem to bounce back from workouts better. They don’t seem to get the delayed onset muscle soreness and all that stuff. It’s kind of funny, before we were recording this I was kind of noodling in the shower about how low carb in the context of a higher protein, like keto gain style, ketogenic diet or carnivore diet or even some of the old, original Loren Cordain protein recommendations. Even though it’s low carb technically, because you’re not eating carbohydrate as part of the diet, it’s not necessarily low glycogen.

Robb: The keto scene has gotten all freaked out about gluconeogenesis and being kicked out of ketosis, but this is all still super context driven stuff. For an individual that needs really, legit levels of ketones for say, like neurological condition or for cancer, co-treatment or something like that, then there’s a compelling reason to kind of limit protein.

Robb: But what’s interesting is that, and again I’m going to bounce around like there’s a zillion things I’m thinking about, but Charles Poliquin recommended for people who were not particularly carb sensitive, but doing high intensity training, a pretty high protein, low carb diet and then, supplemental glutamine post-workout because the glutamine was kind of a slow release way of topping off glycogen levels, both in the liver and the muscles. But that didn’t have some of the other side effects potentially of carbs and I know people are going to freak out. It’s like, “Oh, carbs aren’t the devil.” Yeah, they’re not, except when they are.

Robb: For some people like me, who still have some sort of GI problems or what have you, type one diabetics or people that are just tinkering with this stuff, there are other ways of getting reasonably good glycogen repletion, while also still staying in more of that kind of fat adapted world.

Robb: So one thing about this, we have to break this stuff into kind of training nutrition, event nutrition, post recovery nutrition. So during the event, this is definitely where she made the point that she needs to experiment with this stuff and see what’s what’s working. Again, I would kind of pun to what Zach Bitter does, as just kind of a beginning baseline.

Robb: I think that in general, if he’s doing something that’s more in that 100 mile pace, he stays pretty much fat and protein because he’s going to be going at such a gentle pace comparatively because he’s going to run for basically, like two days straight and so he just not going to get glycolytic. So, in that context then, there doesn’t necessarily need to be additional carbs or not much additional carbs to the degree that there might be a lot of elevation change or something like that. Therefore, going anaerobic, getting some glycolysis going on, then we might drop in some type of carb.

Robb: Again, you just have to play around with that stuff to see what sits well with gastric emptying and all that type of stuff. I feel like I’m just kind of bouncing around here, but it’s interesting. So, she also mentions that in the past, she was kind of worried at some point and this is where I think doing some training runs that are on the longer side and to establish like, how do you do? So she said that she panics after eight or nine miles sometimes. So there should probably be some like 12 or 15 mile runs consistently within the training block where you pressure test. It’s like, how do you feel at mile 10 through 15 with a particular type of training without necessarily doing a goo or something like that?

Robb: Even that said, there are a lot of people in the low carb space that, over the course of a day of activity like this, they may consume two or 300 grams of carbs on that day, which is still quite a bit less than what most other people are doing. But this is where there’s just a massive amount of individual variation. Again, I’m just not the most knowledgeable person on that side of things.

Robb: So, the takeaways, we don’t necessarily need to just cater towards ketosis. Don’t think about it being ketosis. Think about it being performance fueling. It may be on the lower carb side, it may be on the higher carb side. Even if it’s on the lower carb side, if our protein intake is higher, it doesn’t necessarily mean low glycogen for the body. So that can have all kinds of ramifications for recovery and nutrient intake.

Nicki: She definitely needs to make sure she’s not skimping on the protein.

Robb: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. The one caveat with that and this is where it gets really detailed, in event training, you may be, particularly if water may be a little bit limited or what have you, higher protein intake requires more water to deal with the ammonia load that’s coming out of that. But you don’t necessarily want to go super low protein because you will burn through all your branched-chain amino acids and then, tryptophan levels raise. The person will be running along and they get sleepy and they’ll literally, fall asleep and it happens a lot on a bicycle, mid run or at a minimum you lose some of that kind of motivation because you’re getting sleepy.

Robb: So this is some of the stuff again, that folks just have to play with. Like what protein level keeps you mentally alert? Because you don’t have enough branched-chain amino acids in the mix. Some people use of branched-chain amino acids as part of their training mix and stuff like that. But this is again where, it’s just super outside of my-

Nicki: Wheelhouse.

Robb: … Yeah, my wheelhouse. But those are some kind of big, broad brush strokes to consider when you’re doing this stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see here. Next question is from Ben. Should I add fat to my whey protein shake? Ben says, “Hi, I love the podcast. I’m one of the six listeners. Here is my question. I’m wondering if the insulin spike from a post workout whey shake can stall my weight loss? Should I add fat, like heavy cream or coconut milk to the shake to blunt the insulin response? And if yes, how much or am I unable to burn that fat because of the spike insulin storing it as body fat instead? Thank you so much and best wishes from Munich, Germany.”

Robb: Man. So, whenever I see someone who’s… So clearly, I would read between the lines here, that the goal is fat loss, right? If you’re in a fat loss mode, you don’t need a shake. You just don’t. You need to chew food. Three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, dinner, possibly a snack. I rarely have a snack. I eat two, sometimes three meals a day. It just kind of depends, but you don’t need a snack and you really don’t need the shake as a baseline.

Robb: That’s not really answering the question, but we noticed this within our gym based practice and I kind of felt like… And I would have all kinds of people, like Spencer Nadolsky, who are like, “Oh, shakes aren’t the devil and everything.” But I just saw people spin out and they would go from eating pretty well and then, do liquid food. Then they were hungry and then, they would end up overeating pretty consistently.

Robb: Then I started hanging out with Tyler and Luis and really watched the way that they handled things within the keto gains group and man, they could’ve made a mint linking wagons with some protein company and recommending that. Just their ethics are so sound that, what they noticed was that people who are really legitimately struggling with weight loss don’t do well with liquid food, don’t do well with shakes. They need to eat unprocessed food for the most part.

Robb: So Ben, I would one… It kind of becomes a nonissue. If we get people eating whole and processed food, it’s not really going to be a problem. That said, in the context of eating beef or whey protein and the subsequent insulin response from that, it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, whether or not that’s going to influence fat loss overall. That’s still going to be driven by total caloric load, ultimately.

Robb: Some of the things mixed into that, if we get… Like in some people, and this is where some people will tolerate more or fewer carbs. If we get a disproportionate insulin response to carbohydrates and we get a low blood sugar environment, then people are going to tend to want to eat more food. We tend to not see this when the insulin response is from protein.

Robb: And this is another piece that’s kind of interesting when people talk about bodybuilding or recovery. Proteins do release insulin and so, you’re not necessarily always in a completely low insulin environment, even though you’re eating low carb. This gets born out, when you see the flip side of the crazy keto scene, where people are limiting protein intake because they’re freaked out about the insulin response to this whole thing.

Robb: So I know that’s kind of all over the place. But Ben, I would definitely ditch the shake and once you get to a level of leanness that is fantastic and you’re training like absolute crazy, such that three meals a day don’t work then…

Nicki: Then have the shake.

Robb: … dump a shake in. I wish that shakes did as well as real food but they just don’t. It’s another one of these things where we’ve really never recommended shakes. Here and there-

Nicki: Specific situations.

Robb: Yes. Specific situations. Yeah, so I think I beat that one to death.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our next question is from James on portal circulation and leaky gut. “Hi Robb. Thanks for your detailed answer to my question about sun exposure in QA number seven. Following your book recommendations in QA number six, I hungrily delved into the lecture notes on human metabolism. Thanks Nicki. And within the first chapter, I encountered some information that gave me reason to pause. The portal circulation, I’m certain that you can provide a more accurate and concise explanation of the system to your listeners than I can in this question, so I’ll leave that to you if that’s okay.

Nicki: My question is, given that all blood and therefore, solutes from the intestines are drained through the portal vein and through the liver, filtering out excess substrates and removing toxins, such as ammonia from the blood before it enters general circulation, how can leaky gut have such a damaging effect on the body? It seems to me that the liver is a vital backstop in this process, which was never mentioned, when functional medicine practitioners talk about leaky gut. They give the impression that blood drains from the intestines straight into the cardiovascular circulation and these fuel substrates are clinking around in our arteries causing inflammation, which seems not to be the case.

Nicki: Also, how does this impact the gut hypothesis of heart disease? Highly simplified here, where endotoxins is said to pass through the mucosal membrane into circulation, binding with LDL cholesterol, being attacked and immobilized by immune cells and ultimately, ending up being sequestered into an arterial plaque because the immune system cannot destroy cholesterol or unbind the endotoxin from it. With the portal circulation not removed, this endotoxin from the blood before it enters cardiovascular circulation and meets LDL particles. Is this disease process driven not only by a compromised intestinal lining but also by inefficient liver function? Thank you for your time. Really appreciate your input.”

Robb: That’s a great question and this is kind of, definitely before, oh, one question. This is kind of-

Nicki: Super advanced.

Robb: … Chris Masterjohn area. Usually, he’s the one that delves into stuff like this, but it’s a fantastic question. So for people that aren’t familiar with this, the portal circulation is the kind of circulatory loop that drains the gut and goes, as what James said, largely to liver and we do get it… This is where chylomicrons, the packages of lipids are unstitched and reshuffled and put into triglycerides and into lipoproteins. Proteins are kind of sorted and shuffle. Carbohydrates are stored at least, in part, in the liver. Then also throughout the rest of the body and that’s actually, a great example of this LPS story that James is alluding to.

Robb: What he’s asking here is a great question. In this leaky gut story, there’s this discussion around lipopolysaccharide, which is kind of the cellular identification matrix around bacteria and this stuff is incredibly inflammatory in all vertebrates. It sends the vertebrate immune system into kind of an overdrive response. But James, if we just subbed out LPS for carbohydrate, this pretty much answers the story.

Robb: So although dietary carbohydrate fills some, potentially all of the liver glycogen, there’s virtually always more that goes to the rest of the body. So although it removes some, it does not remove all. In the case of this LPS story in general, the liver should be effective. The liver in conjunction with the lipoproteins, the lipoproteins like LDL lipoproteins, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, these things bond to LPS and it tends to help in the detoxification of this substance. But if we have more LPS than what we’re really able to deal with-

Nicki: The liver handles some and the rest-

Robb: The liver handles some and then, we get the the spillover and that’s one piece of the story. Another piece of the story is that a lot of the lipid containing substances don’t go directly into the portal system. It goes into the lymphatic system and the lymphatic system then dumps in right around the aorta.

Robb: So it does make it into general circulation without going through the liver first. So that one year of medical school anatomy actually pays off every once in a while. So, this is a great question though. There are kind of two directions that the LPS story gets around the liver.

Robb: The first one is that there may just be more occurring than what the liver can reasonably detoxifying. Then the other part is the lipid constituents that end up in the lymphatic system, also end up dumped into general circulation, do ultimately make it into the liver, but that’s another spot where this stuff ends up.

Robb: Yeah, but a really good question. Lecture Notes on Human Metabolism is just an outstanding book. Really, really good. It was oriented for individuals heading towards medical school. So it was kind of, an end of their senior year. Like how to pull all the biochemistry, cellular biology, vertebrate physiology all together and make some sense of it. The MD-PhD who put that book together, he oriented a bunch of pharmaceuticals into it. He talked about statins, he talked about blood pressure mentally. It’s really an outstanding book, yeah.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our next question is on phytic acid from Joseph. “Is phytic acid harmful or of benefit? Is it really necessary to jump through the hoops of soaking and sprouting before consuming nuts and seeds?”

Robb: What do you think on this wife? What’s your gut sense?

Nicki: A lot of people do find benefit when they soak and sprout.

Robb: For sure and I would throw this under the, it depends category. So phytates and even… Gosh, there’s this stuff out of rice, I want to say. Ip-6, which is kind of one of these bonding chemicals, kind of a culation type chemicals. They can be beneficial in some circumstances and they can be a bastard in other circumstances. Georgia Ede who is a psychiatrist and really incredibly knowledgeable on this stuff, has some great studies where individuals would eat something like oysters, which are very high in zinc, and you would quantify the amount of zinc in the oysters. Then the person would consume it and they would actually do some plasma zinc analysis. So they can show, “Okay, the before oyster, plasma zinc was here and post-oyster plasma…” So it’s showing that you’re absorbing it or it’s magically appearing in your bloodstream, one or the other.

Robb: Then she showed eating the same oyster meal, but with either say, fruit or corn tortillas. The fruit does not have phytates in it. The corn tortillas have quite a lot and the corn tortillas, plus the zinc source, basically made the zinc absorption zero. I mean, it just gutted it.

Robb: So this is one of these things that’s really interesting and in looking at a lot of the Weston A. Price stuff, traditional cultures bent over backwards to soak and sprout and ferment and process grains, legumes and even dairy, for the most part. So, I think that there was some really good wisdom to all that. It kind of dovetails around on another piece around this kind of emerging story around the carnivore concept and whatnot and I could make a case that… How do I want to say this?

Robb: The amount of plant material that we eat is allowable only up to the point that it displaces animal products. At some point the overconsumption of plant material could potentially cause nutrient depletion. I know this is going to be a super controversial topic, but when you look at, let’s say just things like spinach, they may contain different nutrients that may be valuable and they may look like they’re in a large amount, particularly from a nutrient density standpoint, like a percentage of folate per calorie. But the thing is, the plant based materials are not that absorbable and oftentimes have constituents in them, like phytates that are antagonistic towards their absorption.

Robb: These things can also interfere with… They’re basically protease inhibitors, so they inhibit the ability to break down protein, both plant and animal protein. So again, how important is it? I think it boils down a little bit to individual situations. But I think to the degree that people can get away with not doing this, is reflective of all the other right stuff they’re doing. Also, I think that you’re just kind of beating your system a little bit. Like there’s some pressure testing that’s occurring there.

Robb: So, if you’re going to do bread, I would do something like Ezekiel bread that’s been soaked and sprouted and all that type of stuff. A lot of people are finding these ancient grains, like the Einhorn wheat and then soaking, sprouting, doing the sourdough mix that that helps to break down the gluten and all that stuff. Although there’s some great literature indicating that not a lot of celiacs still react to the Einhorn wheat, even after it’s gone through all of that stuff.

Robb: I’ll be completely honest, even though the Weston A. Price stuff is pretty cool, I think that this is still why a lot of people are pretty fucked up in that scene. Because they’re just logistically dogmatic about having these foods and they don’t realize that even some pastured dairy may be problematic for some people. Yeah. Yeah.

Robb: So, it’s super context driven, and this is again, where if somebody has general problems or they’re just wanting to ask a question, if they may be grain, dairy or legume reactive, pull them out for 30 days, reintroduce and see how you do. But I would say that to the degree, that you process these things with these traditional methods. It’s definitely going to improve the nutrient value of those foods and it’s going to decrease the likelihood of damaging the nutrient value of other foods.

Nicki: Okay. Let’s see. Our final question this week is from Rory. He wants to know about a caloric estimate for young children. Rory says, “Is there an estimate for calories per pound when it comes to feeding my almost three year old or any child for that matter, say from two to 12? The teen years of course, make marking the onset of self-consciousness and peer pressure, thus thwarting any biological hard-wiring towards survival or is she still young enough to be biologically incapable of starving herself? At which point, I should just trust that she has a normally functioning, satiety signals? I ask specifically, about my daughter because as is par for the course in America, she received antibiotics immediately after being born. So it’s not a stretch for me to imagine that she could have some kind of gut imbalance that could cause hormone dysregulation with her leptin and ghrelin.”

Robb: Good question, but my gut sense is, Rory’s probably being a little too worried about this. Also, I don’t know how early… How old did she say?

Nicki: Three.

Robb: She said she’s three.

Nicki: Almost three.

Robb: Okay. I mean, I know there are some benchmarks out there. I think it’s something like 16 or 18 calories per pound or maybe it’s 20 calories per pound. I forget off the top of my head, but it’s a lot of calories generally. But even if you know this, then it’s like you’re going to weigh and measure their food and then, you need to weigh and measure what they didn’t eat and you need to separate out the protein, carbs, fat.

Nicki: That’s a lot of work.

Robb: It’s a lot of fucking work. The risk-reward deal, I just don’t see. Yeah.

Nicki: I think you feed them and they eat until they’re-

Robb: Full.

Nicki: … full. Especially if you’re feeding him unprocessed, real foods, they’re not going to overeat.

Robb: Right and they will generally not under eat and also, kids tend to cycle.

Nicki: They do cycle, yeah.

Robb: Zoe and Sagan, it’s funny. We don’t have a pool, but our friend has a pool and we’ve been taking them swimming. On the days when they swim, they don’t really eat that much and you’re like, “Man, they should be really hungry.” But then I tell you what, the next day, they eat everything that’s not nailed down. They just don’t want to get out of the water. So they might have an Epic bar or something like that and just kind of a little snack here and there. But they’re so excited to swim that they won’t get out and they might do a half decent dinner. But then oftentimes, they are so smoked by the end of the day of swimming. I mean, like six hours of swimming. There in the sun and all the rest of that. They don’t even really eat that much. They’re almost passing out at the table.

Robb: But then, the next day they get up and they eat everything. Which I think is a really… that’s a great… In general, kids tend to do a really good job with that. I think that this is something that, over the course of time because of my kind of power lifting background, for ages, I just kind of over ate because I felt like I needed to eat more. I finally, at almost 50, have gotten to a spot where it’s like, if I just kind of sit on my duff all day, I don’t need that much food. Then on the day where I’m real active, I may lift weights and do two hours of Jujitsu, I eat a lot of food that day and then, maybe even the following day I’m like, “Man, I’m pretty hungry.” So I end up eating more.

Robb: If we’re not eating odd foods, I think that the appetite control mechanisms are very well in place and I wouldn’t worry about a round of antibiotics displacing that stuff. It’s a great question to ask, but I wouldn’t be overly concerned about that. Anything else as a mom to cap that off?

Nicki: I don’t think so. I think it is cyclic. I mean, I think that’s fairly normal, where one day they might eat a ton and the next day it tapers off a bit. She’s not going to starve herself.

Robb: Nope. Nope. The thing that we do, we kind of make it a speed bump method. We really kind of hold the kid’s feet to the fire. It’s like, you got eat your protein and then, if you want some more of this other stuff, then we kind of open it up and that works. That works fine.

Robb: We have noticed, even within the two kids, if Sagan in particular, who seems to kind of take after me a little bit more, at least in some ways, if she doesn’t get enough protein, that kid gets cranky, real cranky. It’s just like a switch just flips and then, she’ll eat and she’s good. I think she ends up potentially, getting a little bit of these kind of blood sugar changes, if she’s not getting enough protein. So, you’ll notice a little bit of variability on that.

Robb: Whereas, I think Zoe is a little bit more like you and just a little more even keel, with regards to… She’ll eat a lot of protein, but even if she doesn’t, it doesn’t seem to affect her quite the same way. But Sagan’s also going through growth spurt, so I don’t know how much of that’s going on.

Nicki: She’s sleeping like 15 hours at night.

Robb: Yeah. Yeah and she’s just been sprouting. So that’s a whole other crazy thing to this and it’s been funny all the way along. Now that the girls are basically seven and five, the changes aren’t quite as dramatic. Maybe up to about three years old, maybe four years old, it feels like every time you kind of get dialed in on one sequence, then they change and you’ve got to rejigger things. But they still change over time and for sure right now, Sagan is growing a lot, sleeping a lot and we noticed that if she doesn’t eat well, she will get some cranky McCrankerkins going on. Yeah.

Nicki: Yeah. I think that’s a wrap for this week.

Robb: Yep. Yep. Thank you guys for the awesome questions. Enjoyed doing this, as always. Most of my activity, at least for a while, is still over at Instagram @dasrobbwolf. This episode brought to you by…

Nicki: Drink LMNT, LMNT Recharge and hope you guys are all having a great and safe summer.

Robb: We’ll talk to you guys soon. Take care.

Keto Masterclass

The keto diet is one of the most effective ways to shed fat and improve your health. Keto Masterclass helps you start keto right, step-by-step, so that you can be successful long-term.

Learn More

Don’t forget, Wired to Eat is now available!

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, iBooks

0 notes

runningblogofanunfit30somet-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Brighton Marathon - 14th April

Second marathon of twelve! YES 12!

Ah man, my head was all over the place after Manchester. The high of getting that PB and the crash of tiredness and aches just had me all over the shop. Unlike Manchester, I only had a week to prepare for Brighton, unpacking, getting the laundry done and repacking ahead of my trip down to East Worthing on Friday after work. Typically early at the station so treated myself to my favourite pre marathon food - sushi! If you’re running a marathon you are absolutely allowed to indulge right? Those are just the rules! The train was PACKED but managed to squeeze myself into a seat. I’d forgotten it was the start of the Easter holidays for some which is the only explaination for why it was so busy at 8pm on a Friday. Panic set in when it was announced that the train SPLIT at Heywards Heath. FFS the signs could’ve been a little more helpful especially as they said that the train went all the way to Hove which is where I needed to change. Mad dash to the front of the train, suitcase in tow was not exactly planned but managed to get to Hove and change for the final leg into East Worthing.

The room was beautiful and was grateful for a shower when I arrived. Cooked breakfast in the morning too - YUM!

Saturday comes and I head into Brighton to pick up my number, nerves starting to creep in as I suddenly realise that my body doesn’t seem to be aching from Manchester only 6 5 days before, but my heads just not in the game. Tiredness and a weird week at work I think BUT I had arrived, registered and I was doing it regardless.

I managed to time it just right both missing the queue and the rain to go and collect my number. I mostly hung around the CALM tent all day to meet the other runners and just chill out ahead of the run. It got to 6pm though and I had frozen my tits off in the rain and just needed to head back to the B&B, eat and sleep ahead of the big day.

As is typical, I couldn’t sleep or at least what sleep I did get was minimal. Taped up, showered, hair done, nails cut, the alarm goes off at 6:30am and I head down for an early breakfast where I meet Martin, another runner.

I decided on grabbing a cab to the start pens and offer Martin a lift as I’m heading down anyway and there’s no point in us both paying to get there.

Heading towards the event village and start pens I can feel the usual butterflies in my belly. The routine of getting your number on, dropping of your bag and waiting in the seemingly endless queues for pre race piss is all part of race day. I manage to find CALM and join in for the group photo. It’s always so emotional when you hear the stories and reasons why others are running. It’s such a personal cause and makes it all hit home a bit.

Betsy and Seedy are kind enough to offer to stick my suitcase in their boot as it’s too big for the baggage lorries - FUCK! A quick walk to the car and back served well as a warm up and they are honestly so lovely too. It was a nice way to calm the nerves and I decided that I would drop back a few pens to start the race with them. There was no pressure to hit my previous personal best of the previous week, just getting around it would be enough for me. 2 marathons in the space of 8 days? I must be mad!

The race starts and I feel the excitement surge into adrenaline as we pass cameras, commentators and supportive family and friends and then I was flying, or at least it felt like that - looking back, those early hills really hit hard if you weren’t ready. However, the first few miles seemed to effortlessly drop away, most likely because I made the most of the downhills and let gravity do the work for me. It was around the 5km mark I bumped into Lizzy who came down to support me! SO GOOD TO HAVE FACES IN THE CROWD. I cannot stress this enough! Supporters really do give you the boost you need.

This was perhaps also my downfall though, the surge of energy and excitement perhaps threw my pace off. I was aware I wasn’t being as fast as Manchester but that didn’t matter. What did matter though was that I wasn’t being consistent or keeping an eye on my hydration. This would come back to haunt me later.

At mile 5 I saw Lizzy again who, with endless encouragement tells me I’m doing really well and keeping a good pace and sends me on my way again.

Down another hill was mile 6 and the official CALM cheer point and THEY are just amazing. The wonderful Hannah Goodwin takes the best action photos! Another surge of energy sends me on my way out along the sea front, towards miles 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. I pass the CALM cheer point again at mile 12 which, after almost an hour of ENDLESS FUCKING HILLS, is the high point I needed to send me into the second half of the marathon.

This is where I started to fall apart.

As I pass the halfway mark, the lead woman passes me the other way. I still have another 14 (ish) miles to go and she’s fucking finishing!

The crowds were immense in and around the park and seeing the guerrilla CALM cheerers were the spark that really kept you going. Until mile 14.

There was a very unhappy rumble in my belly. Passing a church with a “toilets open” sign was indeed the sign from god that day as I went into full evacuation mode.

10 minutes were spent locked in silent terror in that toilet. I was asked by a kindly woman if I was okay and explained, I’d had a bit of an upset stomach and managed a smile and returned to the race.

At mile 15 I managed to spot Ally in the crowd! Another kindly face to spur me on when my body was defying me to continue. She gave me a hug, electrolyte water, energy gels and the much needed encouragement to will my now aching body into movement.

The toughest part of the race was ahead. The rolling streets and endless turn backs, seeing runners both ahead and behind you made it really difficult to judge where exactly you were and what time you were heading for.

The absolutely could crushing part of the race though was between miles 18 - 22, a dockyard industrial estate, with few spectators, no view, no music, just you, the road and thousands of other pained runners. Seeing Paul run the other way past me, had me in tears. He stopped and gave me a very much needed hug to will me on just the few more miles to the finish.

The sea finally came into view and I knew I was close to finish. Ally and her wonderful face was there again, this time trying to live stream as I run past for my uncle in America. A hug, some more water and more encouragement than I deserved and I was back on my way. Just round the corner, there was the lovely Lizzy again who jogged with me for a bit which was so nice. Having someone alongside you in your pain, telling you how well you’re doing is really the best. She was just soo good to me on that day. A little way further still and Shona was there shouting my name! She was across the road so I couldn’t stop for the much needed hug but with only half a mile from the finish I had the end in sight.

5:10:38

A respectable time and I’m not even remotely ashamed or embarrassed. I was not on form that day physically or mentally but I did it. A sixth of my challenge complete.

Feeling pleased with myself and loaded up with all the freebies the marathon sponsors were willing to throw at me, I made my way to the CALM tent where I happily tucked into snacks and cider and basked in the tired celebration of other runners and endless energy of the supporters. That day belongs to them. I wouldn’t have made it round if it were not for their support. Genuinely and sincerely.

The train back to Brighton was slow and full but I had Shona’s lovely company and hugs aplenty. She even treated me to cab ride home to save my legs.

That race, was beautiful but tough. It’s one thing to respect the distance, because 26.2 miles is a bloody long way, it’s another thing to misjudge it though. The hills, the heat and the wind combined with exploding guts and a head not quite in the game gave me a new definition in which to judge my ability.

I did it. Onwards to Newport.

#brightonmarathon 12marathonsin12months #running #CALM #yesIcan

0 notes

running-engineering-cats · 8 years ago

Text

Indy Mini Half Marathon Recap

TL;DR - the race didn’t quite go how I planned, but I still had a great time and ended up with a nice new PR :)

Friday

My mom met me at my house, and after triple checking my packing check list, we headed down to Indy! The drive down and getting into the hotel went super smooth, and we headed to the expo! I got my race packet, we walked through the expo but didn’t buy anything, and I watched the race course video. I wasn’t nervous at all in the expo, all I really felt was excitement! I was ready for this race and ready to see what I could do.

After the expo my mom and I got some pasta, of course! That took a bit longer than I wanted, but we got back to the hotel before 10 and after doing some rolling and stretching laid down for bed! And I slept surprisingly well! I was very happy with this hotel as I usually sleep crappy in hotels because they’re so loud.

Saturday - Race day!

I woke up at 5:30 and turned the hotel room coffee maker on. I had brought my breakfast with me because I’m paranoid, so I was able to stay relaxed and comfy and eat my breakfast in the room. I felt very calm and I was excited to run! I knew this was a good sign since I wasn’t nervous at all. After I ate my breakfast, I got dressed and ready and my mom and I headed down stairs. It was sprinkling a bit at this point, but just barely, so it was actually pretty refreshing.

Right around 7, I met up with Lindsay, @lindsayisfindingflow! Two Lindsay tumblrs together haha! We had decided we’d do a warm up mile together and I was so happy we did :) it definitely helped me stay calm and was the perfect distraction during the warm up mile. Hopefully my nervous ramble weren’t too much for her :) Lindsay is just as cute and sweet as you would imagine :)

I was in wave 1, and Lindsay was in 2, so after the warm up mile we parted ways and I found my mom again. I quickly did some drills and then we made our way to my start corral! I was starting to feel nervous, but I know that’s normal so I just accepted it. Once I got to my corral there was hardly any time left, so I just hopped in, my mom played paparazzi, I waited a few minutes and before I knew it we were starting!

I remember telling myself to just stay super calm the first mile. I did not want to get swept up in the crowd and end up running way too fast, so I just relaxed, checked my pace periodically, and didn’t worry about all of the people passing me. The first 3 miles went by SUPER fast for me. I was just focused on staying calm, and all of my miles were right at 9:00, so I knew I was doing a great job!

Between mile 3 and 4 Lindsay passed me! I knew she would since her goal was faster than mine, but it was so nice to see her for a second and get a little boost from her “go Lindsay!”. I had decided to take my first gel right after mile 4, since it lined up well with the water stations. I struggled a bit to get it out of my belt, but I finally did and started to eat it. This is when things took a bit of a turn for this race.

I have never really had any troubles with any gels I’ve taken. My stomach handles them well, and I can just keep running like I have been. However, this race was a different story. I think maybe I took too much in my mouth at once, but all of the sudden I was super nauseous and came very close to throwing up my gel! This had never happened to me before! Luckily I was able to keep everything down and finished me gel, I just took some deep breaths and the feeling passed. But my stomach was still not feeling the best. I told myself (again) to just relax and have fun, that’s the most important thing! I run to have fun, so if I’m not having fun, something needs to change.

At this point we were making our way to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so that was a nice distraction. My tummy was still off, but I did my best to concentrate on other things, like the crowd and their signs. And at this point the sun had started to peek out :)

Once we made our way onto the race track, there was a big banner for “Meb’s Motivational Mile”! This was the point in the course where Meb was going to be at the course to cheer all the runners on. I thought it was going to be a big booth or something, but once I got there I was surprised. It was just Meb standing on the side, bundled up since it had been a chilly morning. If runners weren’t really familiar with him, I doubt they would have realized who he was. But he was being super cheerful and was smiling and waving at everyone! And lucky me, he was on the side that I was running on, so I was able to get right to him, make eye contact, and get a high five!! I was pumped! He was super nice and posing for selfies with people, but I didn’t want to stop, so I was more than happy with my high five :)

After the thrill of Meb, there were a couple miles to run around the race track. My stomach was still feeling bad, and I was doing a lot of thinking to myself. Do I keep pushing, and risk feeling awful for the entire second half of this race, or do I pull back and bit and enjoy myself, even though that means I won’t get under 2 hours. I think we can all guess what I decided! I just didn’t want this race to be a struggle-fest the entire time. I wanted to have fun! And if that means slowing down and letting go of sub-2 hours, then so be it! I’d rather enjoy myself and have good memories than push myself, risk actually throwing up and missing my time anyway, and then all I’d have are bad memories.

This was basically right after I decided to just slow down and enjoy myself. Funny side note, I don’t even remember running over the famous stones! But clearly I did haha at this point my stomach was still upset, but I felt much more relaxed now that I had taken my foot off the gas some. My mom and I looked at my run charts later, and both got a good laugh at my heart rate. You can see exactly where I decided to relax hahaha

I had planned to take another gel at mile 8, but that was not happening at all. I was stopping at every water/Gatorade station though; to drink and take a quick walk break, but besides that my stomach was not going to handle anything else.

Once we were off the speedway, we essentially started making our way to the end. I did my best to just take in all the energy of the people around me! I listened to the bands as we ran past them, waved to the cute little kids, and just had fun with it! I was watching my time though, and even though I knew sub-2 was gone, I knew unless something bad happened, I’d have a great PR!

Once I got to mile 10, I knew just 3 miles left, and they ticked by pretty fast. When I got to mile 12, I tried to pick it up a bit, and was met with intense nausea, so I pulled back again. I did run was a few ladies who made me giggle because one of them said “I’m so bad at running, you’re all amazing!” which made me smile, and then one of them saw me smile and said “you’re still smiling at mile 12 you rockstar!” I always love the people in the crowd; they really make a big difference on race day :)

Once we got to the final bridge over the river with about a half mile left, I knew it was a straight shot to the finish line. At this point I did pick up the pace because I knew there was such a short distance left. As we were all making our way down, one girl next to me started to walk and looked very tired, but I quickly tapped her on the shoulder, gave her an encouraging wave, and said “no, no, come on keep going, the finish line is right in front of us!”. She said something along the lines of “okay you’re right! Thank you!” and I gave her a “great job!” and she took off in front of me! I was very happy to be there for her to give her that tiny bit of encouragement needed at the end :)

Right before the finish line I heard a “Lindsay!” behind me, got tapped on the shoulder, and I looked over to see the VP of my department running next to me! I know he’s a runner since he ran Chicago last year too, but neither of us knew we were running Indy this year. So random that we saw each other right before the finish line! But it was nice to see him and we high-fived after the finish line once we found each other again.

As I made my way to the finish line, I was searching for my mom because I knew she was waiting for me. At this point I was pushing harder and was ready to cross that finish line! I saw her, gave her my best smile and wave, and happily cross the finish line!

Official finish time: 2:03:05. Side note: I love how strong my legs look in this picture!

I looked down at my watch and was very happy with my time! The last half marathon I did I ran in 2:08, so this was quite an improvement! A nice new, shiny PR :)

At this point, the sun had officially come out and it was a beautiful day! My mom and I made our way to the post-race party, found a nice piece of grass (because they had no tables set up?!) and just relaxed and listened to the music. My legs were tired for sure, but I felt surprisingly okay! I was able to eat some of the food they handed out and didn’t feel nauseous anymore. It nice to just sit in the sunshine with my mom and recap the race to her.

After we sat for a bit, we made our way back to the hotel so I could shower and change. We decided to get some food too, and we both got the fluffiest omelets ever, and I got a celebratory Bloody Mary :)

Overall, the race didn’t quite go how I had hoped, but I’m still very happy with it! I’m proud of myself for being able to decide to pull back and enjoy myself, rather than keep pushing and make myself miserable. I was able to keep this race fun for me, and now it will always be a fun memory I have. And there will always be other races to try again at! And now I still have the sub-2 goal to work towards :)

I’m so happy my mom was able to be there with me all weekend, she’s always the best race crew! We got to spend the whole weekend together too, which was super fun since we don’t spend nearly enough time together.

And of course I have to say thanks to all of you! I know you’re all cheering for me from afar, on race day and all through training, and it really means a lot to me!! Knowing you’re all there to support me, and comfort me when needed, really means the world to me! Tumblr friends are real friends, and we all know that is true :)

I haven’t decided what’s next for me yet, but I hope you all stick around to find out!! That’s a wrap for Indy Mini 2017! :)

#indy mini #half marathon #done #PR #half marathon PR #tummy did not cooperate #but i didn't let it ruin the race

52 notes · View notes

samanthasroberts · 6 years ago

Text

People Share 35 Hilarious Habits Their Pets Have And They’re Too Good

We’ve seen dogs being weird and pets bringing home the weirdest of items, so it’s no surprise that our closest (usually) four-legged friends can be really, really bizarre. Some say that pets can be so close to their owners, that they eventually mimic some behavior and we know anything about humans, we know that our own species can have some pretty strange habits. That’s why it doesn’t surprise anyone that pets can be a little… “out there” with their actions. Well, as long as they’re not hurting anyone, we guess? People of Reddit decided to share some of the weirdest, yet harmless habits their pets have, and, let’s be honest, some are pretty darn weird. Scroll down to check them out and don’t forget to comment, as well as vote for your favorites. Oh, and if you have some weird stories of your own, share them with other pandas! (Facebook cover image: sipa)

I am not allowed to get mad, If I yell, raise my voice, or even sound angry my cat pumpkin will get up from wherever she is and run over. She will then mew gently and grab at my arm with her paws while mewing. She pulls my hands to her head and rubs her head on me trying to get me to calm down. It works though so theres that.

Growing up, we had a chocolate lab named Kody. Kody had a few oddities and idiosyncrasies about him. My parents are beer drinkers, and Kody would learn how to open each and every cooler we ever had so that he could eat all of the ice. That dog LOVED ice, he would eat it until he had what we called “brain freezers” or these mini little seizures (he was fine, but it was a weird habit). Another time, Kody was out pooping in the yard and we saw a bunch of cloth coming out of his butt. Turns out, it was an ace bandage that had to be surgically removed. Upon opening his stomach they found a silver dollar, a few bobby pins, the ace bandage and a billiards cue ball. Now, here’s the kicker- we didn’t own a pool table, and our closest neighbor was 5 miles away, who also did not own a pool table. We never did find out where he got that cue ball from. He lived to be 15 years old and passed away peacefully two years ago. Miss you, buddy.

My dog has ‘takeaway’ every time she eats. She won’t stand at her bowl. She stuffs her mouth full of dry food and then sits near me wherever I am, spits out all her food and eats it one bit at a time. When she is finished it she repeats it all.

My pet rat, Doctor, likes to poop when she is hanging from the bars of her cage and making eye contact with me or my fiancee.

She knows it makes us uncomfortable. She don’t care.

My cat likes to shower with me. He will sit and drink the water as it runs until i use shower gel, then he will sit on the edge silently judging me for contaminating our lord water.

I have a giant Maine-coon Siamese mix tomcat. His thing is to bring up laundry from the basement during the night. The weird thing is that he’s pretty good at taking clothes into the right rooms. I don’t know if he does it by smell or what – but it’s pretty normal for me to wake up to a pile of my socks, my daughters some of theirs, etc. He also chirps and meows the entire time he’s making his deliveries – which is pretty funny in and of itself.

My dog can’t go anywhere without his toy. My girlfriend calls it his “girlfriend”. If we go outside he will bring the little stuffed animal with him and drop it somewhere. If we tell him to “go find your girlfriend” he will search frantically for it until it’s found.

#10

My boyfriends cat loves to snuggle up on people’s chests and then slooowly and veeery gently place her paw (with claws out and toes spread) and just .. place it on their mouth.

Does anyone know what the heck she’s trying to get out of this?

#11

My dog can sense when I’m about to fart and will stick his nose near my ass crack to smell it and then run away in disgust after. I have no idea why he continues to do it when it clearly annoys him

#12

#13

My lardass cat has this weird cake infatuation. (Ha ha I know). Not to eat. She likes to lay on them. I can’t count how many cooling cakes I had to throw out because she decided to take a nap on them. I have to hide them somewhere to cool and frost. I also had to buy a solid cake saver because she would lay on my old one and crush the lid into the cake.

My favorite was when my son turned one, we had the unwrapped cake sitting on the counter waiting for cake time, and she tried to lay in it. When I came in to get it all the frosting is pulled off in the center and one pissed off frosting covered cat under my bed.

Yet she still does it.

#14

We have a Great Dane/greyhound mix named Keelah who, on occasion, absolutely must sniff my boyfriend’s belly button. I’ve never seen a dog get so derpy about it before. She’ll jump up and put her paws on his shoulder and stick her nose in his stomach until he gives in and pulls his shirt up so she can sniff. She’s really, really weird.

#15

Our cat pulls my dresser drawer open and sleeps in the socks after he arranges them into a cozy “cat bed” for himself.

#16

Our golden retriever has 3 comfort blankets that he folds and carries around with him.

#17

My SO’s dog, Lola, farts when we enter the car.

Everytime.

#18

My best friend’s kitten (to whom I am a kitten aunt by proxy) has a new habit of running down the stairs at top speed and launching himself onto the sofa.

She swears he’s either going to kill her with a heart attack or he’s going to f**king miss the sofa and go claws-first into her face, and she’s not sure which.

#19

My dog smiles whenever he wants something. He started showing his teeth when he got excited to see us after long periods of times (i.e. vacations) and we would say “What a pretty smile!” He made the connection to the word and now will do it on command and pretty much whenever he wants our food. Kind of like a “hey look I’m smiling, I’m pretty!” Some people probably think it’s bad that he does it because he’s technically showing his teeth, but you can tell it’s not aggressive or in a bad way. I think it’s hilarious.

#20

My cat loves to watch the toilet flush for some reason – he would even come running from other rooms in his house at the sound of a flush when he was younger. I guess it’s mostly harmless, but I have found toys in the toilet before the lid down rule was put in place (my assumption is so that he can watch them zoom around too).

#21

You know how cats, especially kittens will “nurse” on things? Like knead their paws and suck on something like a blanket?

Yeah, my 10 year old dog does that.

#22

My cat chews through bags to eat bread. Doesn’t matter the container or the type of bread. And because he drools he can dissolve any kind of paper bag in a minute. It’s bizarre but he was a stray so I figure he used to do that to survive.

#23

My cat licks walls. often for 10 minute intervals. i wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of his sandpaper tongue scritch-scratching at the wall.

#24

My cat used to sit on my couch, like a person would with her 2 back legs outstretched in front of her, and then proceed to bend down and suck on her own nipples while purring very loudly. It was weird.

#25

My parrot is obsessed with ears. He will happily spend 15-20 minutes delicately nibbling on the rim of my ear, carefully scraping his beak around the inside, and licking all over. Last time I saw my doctor for a physical and she got to the otoscope part of the exam, she exclaimed, “Wow, your ears are remarkably clean!” Gee, I wonder why…

#26

My chihuahua sneaks to her water dish. We have no idea why. She does this almost every day at varied times. If her water is dirty or if the dish is empty she will keep sneaking until the situation is fixed.

#27

#28

We don’t have pets in the main country the Netherlands where we reside but we got a ton of them in my fathers country Russia. We own a big piece of ground and a forest, with 23 white Russian wolves and 3 Caucasian owcharkas. The wolves have some weird habits and one of them is that they greet each other and their pups by friendly biting them in their neck, it still that scares the shit out of guests and relatives that we usually have over.

#29

After I take a shower, my collie mix insists on rolling in my towels.

When I have the towel on my head and I’m laying down.. He tries to roll in it.

If I’m sitting with the towel on my head, he tries to roll in it.

Then when I inevitability throw them on the floor he has a field day.

#30

My cat would be happy with his eyes closed purring and layed down my side and then suddenly look in the direction of the corner of the room with his eyes completely open. When I look there’s nothing there. It’s scary

#31

My German shepherd is a hoarder. He has a hiding spot behind a chair and underneath a table, and he’s been building a stash that we have to go in every week or so and clean out. Usually it’s just wrappers and random s**t he “sneaks” out of our trash cans. This last weeks clean out consisted of 3 of my oven mitts and a pudding cup. He doesn’t chew on anything, he just likes to have stuff.

#32

She stares at me while I sleep. From 3″ away. When I open my eyes all I see are these huge solid black eyes in a weirdly diagonal white face.

I wake up convinced that I have been abducted by aliens.

#33

One of our cats will climb up onto the back of our couch while we’re watching a movie or something and loudly clean his butthole.

#34

My dog does this little boner dance whenever he has a boner. He slides across the floor and humps the air rapidly until his doggy-boner goes down.

#35

My cat swats/punches his water dish a few times before drinking it. It splashes everywhere. No clue why.

Just thought of something else! He is long haired floofy cat (peach/blondie), and we have a fuzzy blanket similarly coloured. My cat often licks it to clean it, mistaking it for himself.

My cat talks to herself if she thinks no one is around. I’ll come home or go to a side of the house that I haven’t been in all day and hear her meowing and chirping and howling. Once she realizes I’m there, she’ll stop. I’ve been able to sneak up on her a couple of times and it’s pretty bizarre to watch. She’ll just be walking around the room making sounds. She doesn’t do it that often. I wish I could catch it on video

#37

Step 1: Drop the tennis ball into my hand so I can throw it across the room for him to fetch

Step 2: Retrieve the tennis ball and start gnawing on it with his head halfway under the couch

Step 3: Drop the ball and have it roll to an unreachable distance under the couch

Step 4: Stare at me and moan loudly until I am convinced to walk over to the couch the ball is under and lay on the floor, struggling to reach far enough. Eventually I just lift the couch so he can get far enough underneath it to grab the ball back

Repeat incessantly

#38

My cat “nurses” on a blanket we have. But only if the blanket is on me. It’s like the little f**ker actually thinks I am his mother. He’s strange. He also likes to play fetch and attack people who come over to visit. Weirdo.

#39

My cat will sit in the bathtub for hours and meow at passersby to turn the water on for him. Then when someone finally gives in, he will splash around for about a minute and then go drag his big wet furry feet over someone/my pillow.

Every morning he will excitedly hang over the edge of the bathtub, waiting for me to turn on the shower. Once I do, it takes him about two seconds to realise what’s going on, and then he panics and scrambles as fast as he can out of the tub.

Weirdo.

#40

My cat nurses on his own tail. He will creepily come up and lay really close to you, curl in a ball, and start sucking away at the end of his tail. Sometimes he’ll even look you in the eye while he does it.

I know it’s a comfort thing to him, I found him alone when he was just a baby, but it’s a pretty weird thing to do.

#41

My cat Miles will run to the other side of the house and meow to his brother Murphy. You can tell it’s a “Hey!! Come check this out!” and he’ll keep doing it until Murphy finally gets up and goes to look. Sometimes though, Murphy says eff that and stays where he is, leaving Miles to meow at nothing for like an hour. Finally he’ll show up and look at Murphy like, “Didn’t you hear me!!?” No but we did!

#42

My male cat likes to stand in the corner, face the wall, and sing the song of his people. My female kitten likes to meow at me and then hide when I walk over to pet her. She’s a jerk.

#43

My friend has a really bizarre cat, she loves to be spanked. She will lie down with her butt in the air for people to pat her right above the tail. The harder the better.

She also loves to be spun around on an office chair, she jumps up on the back of it and holds on with her claws to be spun around. Spinning + smacking her butt every time she passes = kitty bliss.

My rat loved snot and would grab all my used tissues to lick inside them.

#44

My pit asks for permission every night before getting in bed with us. We have never told him to stay off of furniture, but he always asks. He does that weird howl/growl/bark thing that “talking” dogs do.

#45

My cat, O’Malley, will always smell a new person’s shoes when I bring people over. When he is finished, he looks over at me and makes a stupid face.

#46

Not sure if this counts but my snake falls off of everything. Put him around your neck he falls off. He falls while trying to climb up or down my chair, desk, and always plops off my bed if I am not watching him. He will even get excited smelling something so he will point his head straight up and extend his body up until he falls backwards belly up. Will also do this while swallowing his food.

#47

One of my three cats is a monster. He is kinda fat but stocky/muscular too. He is 6 and weighs about 20 pounds.

Anyways, he will lick plastic bags. We are always afraid he will suffocate himself because he will stick his head down inside the bag and lick for as long as we’ll let him.

He also steals paper clips. My mom was working on her doctorate and she had mountains of papers and a lot of paperclips on them. The crazy cat would dig through all of the papers and pull off the paper clips with his teeth. And he hid them all under the rug that was under the couch so we couldn’t see them.

And he plays very rough. We found out the hard way that he enjoys being spanked. We caught him fighting another cat and gave him a tap on the behind to get him to stop, and he fell on the floor and started purring. And when I scratch his chin, he isn’t happy until I scratch as hard as I physically can, to the point where I think I’m gonna dig up all of his fur.

#48

She won’t eat unless both my husband and I are seated in the family room watching TV. It’s pretty inconvenient on busy days.

#49

My dog (a husky) will make a gap in his food with his snout, then will yowl at the nearest human like he’s hungry and there’s no food in the bowl, until you pick his bowl up, shake the gap out and put it back down again. He will eat it then!

#50

My cat licks people…all the time and all over. It’s odd when you wake up in the middle of the night being licked and realize it’s not the dog doing it.

#51

My Australian Shepherd likes to sneeze in the clean laundry as it comes out of the dryer. It has turned into a two person job to get laundry done without dog sneezes on it. One to distract the dog and the other to hustle the laundry into the basket and to safety.

#52

Anytime we Hoover a carpet my Jack Russell has to ‘swim’ all over it, because God forbid it not have his fur on it

Also, he regularly sneakily drinks our cups of tea.

#53

My male dog licks my female dogs cooch after she pees, then his lips and jaw quiver as he drools. Freakin weirdo.

#54

My cat is afraid of the dishwasher, I guess. Not the sound of the dishwasher running, the sound of me taking s**t out of it and putting it away. He is mostly silent, maybe a welcome meep when I get home. But the dishwasher…man. Mayhem. It’s been seven years and he still freaks the f**k out every single time.

#55

My English bulldog Shelby will sit with her back to me and try and look at me upside down by leaning back until she falls down. She does the same thing in the car. I thought it might be vertigo but she just really seems to enjoy it.

#56

When I’m away from my husky for more than about eight hours she will likely howl at me and make a big deal, like she’s cussing me out.

#57

Run run run, locks up front legs slide slide slide, roll roll roll. How does she not break her neck?

#58

My pancho gets super worked up and then immediately thinks he needs to drink water. This usually results in him coughing up any water he just drank and freaking out about coughing.

My sisters mastiff likes to sit down next to your leg and lean on your leg and stare at you but he’s so heavy he often pushes people over with his lean.

#59

One of my cats likes to get in the lower branches of bushes (and the Christmas tree, as it turns out) and just chill. Just sit there in the branches, eight inches off the ground.

#60

My cat likes hair ties. He swallowed one once and he proceeded to prance around the living room with the rubber piece hanging out of his asshole. I now have to hide them all so I’m not paying for surgery on his dumb ass.

My dogs also go around licking each other’s assholes and the cats assholes. They also won’t sleep unless they are buried under a blanket.

My female cat rubs her head on EVERYTHING and has a weird fascination with doing this on shoes.

#61

My cat Wookie has an intense love of the bathroom. He will lay on the edge of the bathtub while I take a bath, will sit on the bathmat and watch us shower, and loves the toilet. He loves to watch it flush, likes to watch my husband pee (has gotten pee on his head from trying to watch from the wrong angle) and likes to try to pull toilet paper up out of the toilet while it is flushing, which is pretty gross. Weird cat.

#62

Not mine but my SO’s dog, Bacon… Cannot poop unless he is backed up against something.

When we first started dating I used to get to his apartment before he got off work so I would take the dog for a walk. Like any male Bacon must pee on everything to ensure its his. Which meant sometimes I didn’t realize that he wasn’t sniffing the same place to pee but to find the prefect article in which to place his butt against and would tug him along and ruin the whole process… Which meant about five minutes of the behavior or him deciding to hold it.

#63

My dog likes to eat beaded jewelry. I shouldn’t say eat, he sucks on it until it comes apart, and then he abandons it and acts innocent.

#64

My dog take his blankey or his bed and will suck on it with his eyes closed. We assume he thinks he’s nursing. He also occasionally humps his bed before sucking on it. Harmless but weird as s**t.

#65

My GF’s cat poops in the litterbox, then immediately tries to cover it by making digging motions on the floor/wall next to the litterbox. Never inside. Not sure if dumb or just a c**t.

#66

My Doberman likes to climb up in bed with my SO and I, and just stare at us while standing over one of us.

#67

#68

Source: http://allofbeer.com/people-share-35-hilarious-habits-their-pets-have-and-theyre-too-good/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/04/05/people-share-35-hilarious-habits-their-pets-have-and-theyre-too-good/

0 notes

adambstingus · 6 years ago

Text

People Share 35 Hilarious Habits Their Pets Have And They’re Too Good

My pet rat, Doctor, likes to poop when she is hanging from the bars of her cage and making eye contact with me or my fiancee.

She knows it makes us uncomfortable. She don’t care.

My cat likes to shower with me. He will sit and drink the water as it runs until i use shower gel, then he will sit on the edge silently judging me for contaminating our lord water.

#10

My boyfriends cat loves to snuggle up on people’s chests and then slooowly and veeery gently place her paw (with claws out and toes spread) and just .. place it on their mouth.

Does anyone know what the heck she’s trying to get out of this?

#11

My dog can sense when I’m about to fart and will stick his nose near my ass crack to smell it and then run away in disgust after. I have no idea why he continues to do it when it clearly annoys him

#12

#13

Yet she still does it.

#14

#15

Our cat pulls my dresser drawer open and sleeps in the socks after he arranges them into a cozy “cat bed” for himself.

#16

Our golden retriever has 3 comfort blankets that he folds and carries around with him.

#17

My SO’s dog, Lola, farts when we enter the car.

Everytime.

#18

My best friend’s kitten (to whom I am a kitten aunt by proxy) has a new habit of running down the stairs at top speed and launching himself onto the sofa.

She swears he’s either going to kill her with a heart attack or he’s going to f**king miss the sofa and go claws-first into her face, and she’s not sure which.

#19

#20

#21

You know how cats, especially kittens will “nurse” on things? Like knead their paws and suck on something like a blanket?

Yeah, my 10 year old dog does that.

#22

#23

My cat licks walls. often for 10 minute intervals. i wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of his sandpaper tongue scritch-scratching at the wall.

#24

#25

#26

#27

#28

#29

After I take a shower, my collie mix insists on rolling in my towels.

When I have the towel on my head and I’m laying down.. He tries to roll in it.

If I’m sitting with the towel on my head, he tries to roll in it.

Then when I inevitability throw them on the floor he has a field day.

#30

#31

#32

She stares at me while I sleep. From 3″ away. When I open my eyes all I see are these huge solid black eyes in a weirdly diagonal white face.

I wake up convinced that I have been abducted by aliens.

#33

One of our cats will climb up onto the back of our couch while we’re watching a movie or something and loudly clean his butthole.

#34

My dog does this little boner dance whenever he has a boner. He slides across the floor and humps the air rapidly until his doggy-boner goes down.

#35

My cat swats/punches his water dish a few times before drinking it. It splashes everywhere. No clue why.

Just thought of something else! He is long haired floofy cat (peach/blondie), and we have a fuzzy blanket similarly coloured. My cat often licks it to clean it, mistaking it for himself.

#37

Step 1: Drop the tennis ball into my hand so I can throw it across the room for him to fetch

Step 2: Retrieve the tennis ball and start gnawing on it with his head halfway under the couch

Step 3: Drop the ball and have it roll to an unreachable distance under the couch

Repeat incessantly

#38

#39

Weirdo.

#40

I know it’s a comfort thing to him, I found him alone when he was just a baby, but it’s a pretty weird thing to do.

#41

#42

My male cat likes to stand in the corner, face the wall, and sing the song of his people. My female kitten likes to meow at me and then hide when I walk over to pet her. She’s a jerk.

#43

My friend has a really bizarre cat, she loves to be spanked. She will lie down with her butt in the air for people to pat her right above the tail. The harder the better.

She also loves to be spun around on an office chair, she jumps up on the back of it and holds on with her claws to be spun around. Spinning + smacking her butt every time she passes = kitty bliss.

My rat loved snot and would grab all my used tissues to lick inside them.

#44

#45

My cat, O’Malley, will always smell a new person’s shoes when I bring people over. When he is finished, he looks over at me and makes a stupid face.

#46

#47

One of my three cats is a monster. He is kinda fat but stocky/muscular too. He is 6 and weighs about 20 pounds.

Anyways, he will lick plastic bags. We are always afraid he will suffocate himself because he will stick his head down inside the bag and lick for as long as we’ll let him.

#48

She won’t eat unless both my husband and I are seated in the family room watching TV. It’s pretty inconvenient on busy days.

#49

#50

My cat licks people…all the time and all over. It’s odd when you wake up in the middle of the night being licked and realize it’s not the dog doing it.

#51

#52

Anytime we Hoover a carpet my Jack Russell has to ‘swim’ all over it, because God forbid it not have his fur on it

Also, he regularly sneakily drinks our cups of tea.

#53

My male dog licks my female dogs cooch after she pees, then his lips and jaw quiver as he drools. Freakin weirdo.

#54

#55

#56

When I’m away from my husky for more than about eight hours she will likely howl at me and make a big deal, like she’s cussing me out.

#57

Run run run, locks up front legs slide slide slide, roll roll roll. How does she not break her neck?

#58

My pancho gets super worked up and then immediately thinks he needs to drink water. This usually results in him coughing up any water he just drank and freaking out about coughing.

My sisters mastiff likes to sit down next to your leg and lean on your leg and stare at you but he’s so heavy he often pushes people over with his lean.

#59

One of my cats likes to get in the lower branches of bushes (and the Christmas tree, as it turns out) and just chill. Just sit there in the branches, eight inches off the ground.

#60

My dogs also go around licking each other’s assholes and the cats assholes. They also won’t sleep unless they are buried under a blanket.

My female cat rubs her head on EVERYTHING and has a weird fascination with doing this on shoes.

#61

#62

Not mine but my SO’s dog, Bacon… Cannot poop unless he is backed up against something.

#63

My dog likes to eat beaded jewelry. I shouldn’t say eat, he sucks on it until it comes apart, and then he abandons it and acts innocent.

#64

My dog take his blankey or his bed and will suck on it with his eyes closed. We assume he thinks he’s nursing. He also occasionally humps his bed before sucking on it. Harmless but weird as s**t.

#65

My GF’s cat poops in the litterbox, then immediately tries to cover it by making digging motions on the floor/wall next to the litterbox. Never inside. Not sure if dumb or just a c**t.

#66

My Doberman likes to climb up in bed with my SO and I, and just stare at us while standing over one of us.

#67

#68

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/people-share-35-hilarious-habits-their-pets-have-and-theyre-too-good/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/183958094802

0 notes

allofbeercom · 6 years ago

Text

People Share 35 Hilarious Habits Their Pets Have And They’re Too Good

My pet rat, Doctor, likes to poop when she is hanging from the bars of her cage and making eye contact with me or my fiancee.

She knows it makes us uncomfortable. She don’t care.

My cat likes to shower with me. He will sit and drink the water as it runs until i use shower gel, then he will sit on the edge silently judging me for contaminating our lord water.

#10

My boyfriends cat loves to snuggle up on people’s chests and then slooowly and veeery gently place her paw (with claws out and toes spread) and just .. place it on their mouth.

Does anyone know what the heck she’s trying to get out of this?

#11

My dog can sense when I’m about to fart and will stick his nose near my ass crack to smell it and then run away in disgust after. I have no idea why he continues to do it when it clearly annoys him

#12

#13

Yet she still does it.

#14

#15

Our cat pulls my dresser drawer open and sleeps in the socks after he arranges them into a cozy “cat bed” for himself.

#16

Our golden retriever has 3 comfort blankets that he folds and carries around with him.

#17

My SO’s dog, Lola, farts when we enter the car.

Everytime.

#18

My best friend’s kitten (to whom I am a kitten aunt by proxy) has a new habit of running down the stairs at top speed and launching himself onto the sofa.

She swears he’s either going to kill her with a heart attack or he’s going to f**king miss the sofa and go claws-first into her face, and she’s not sure which.

#19

#20

#21

You know how cats, especially kittens will “nurse” on things? Like knead their paws and suck on something like a blanket?

Yeah, my 10 year old dog does that.

#22

#23

My cat licks walls. often for 10 minute intervals. i wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of his sandpaper tongue scritch-scratching at the wall.

#24

#25

#26

#27

#28

#29

After I take a shower, my collie mix insists on rolling in my towels.

When I have the towel on my head and I’m laying down.. He tries to roll in it.

If I’m sitting with the towel on my head, he tries to roll in it.

Then when I inevitability throw them on the floor he has a field day.

#30

#31

#32

She stares at me while I sleep. From 3″ away. When I open my eyes all I see are these huge solid black eyes in a weirdly diagonal white face.

I wake up convinced that I have been abducted by aliens.

#33

One of our cats will climb up onto the back of our couch while we’re watching a movie or something and loudly clean his butthole.

#34

My dog does this little boner dance whenever he has a boner. He slides across the floor and humps the air rapidly until his doggy-boner goes down.

#35

My cat swats/punches his water dish a few times before drinking it. It splashes everywhere. No clue why.

Just thought of something else! He is long haired floofy cat (peach/blondie), and we have a fuzzy blanket similarly coloured. My cat often licks it to clean it, mistaking it for himself.

#37

Step 1: Drop the tennis ball into my hand so I can throw it across the room for him to fetch

Step 2: Retrieve the tennis ball and start gnawing on it with his head halfway under the couch

Step 3: Drop the ball and have it roll to an unreachable distance under the couch

Repeat incessantly

#38

#39

Weirdo.

#40

I know it’s a comfort thing to him, I found him alone when he was just a baby, but it’s a pretty weird thing to do.

#41

#42

My male cat likes to stand in the corner, face the wall, and sing the song of his people. My female kitten likes to meow at me and then hide when I walk over to pet her. She’s a jerk.

#43

My friend has a really bizarre cat, she loves to be spanked. She will lie down with her butt in the air for people to pat her right above the tail. The harder the better.

She also loves to be spun around on an office chair, she jumps up on the back of it and holds on with her claws to be spun around. Spinning + smacking her butt every time she passes = kitty bliss.

My rat loved snot and would grab all my used tissues to lick inside them.

#44

#45

My cat, O’Malley, will always smell a new person’s shoes when I bring people over. When he is finished, he looks over at me and makes a stupid face.

#46

#47

One of my three cats is a monster. He is kinda fat but stocky/muscular too. He is 6 and weighs about 20 pounds.

Anyways, he will lick plastic bags. We are always afraid he will suffocate himself because he will stick his head down inside the bag and lick for as long as we’ll let him.

#48

She won’t eat unless both my husband and I are seated in the family room watching TV. It’s pretty inconvenient on busy days.

#49

#50

My cat licks people…all the time and all over. It’s odd when you wake up in the middle of the night being licked and realize it’s not the dog doing it.

#51

#52

Anytime we Hoover a carpet my Jack Russell has to ‘swim’ all over it, because God forbid it not have his fur on it

Also, he regularly sneakily drinks our cups of tea.

#53

My male dog licks my female dogs cooch after she pees, then his lips and jaw quiver as he drools. Freakin weirdo.

#54

#55

#56

When I’m away from my husky for more than about eight hours she will likely howl at me and make a big deal, like she’s cussing me out.

#57

Run run run, locks up front legs slide slide slide, roll roll roll. How does she not break her neck?

#58

My pancho gets super worked up and then immediately thinks he needs to drink water. This usually results in him coughing up any water he just drank and freaking out about coughing.

My sisters mastiff likes to sit down next to your leg and lean on your leg and stare at you but he’s so heavy he often pushes people over with his lean.

#59

One of my cats likes to get in the lower branches of bushes (and the Christmas tree, as it turns out) and just chill. Just sit there in the branches, eight inches off the ground.

#60

My dogs also go around licking each other’s assholes and the cats assholes. They also won’t sleep unless they are buried under a blanket.

My female cat rubs her head on EVERYTHING and has a weird fascination with doing this on shoes.

#61

#62

Not mine but my SO’s dog, Bacon… Cannot poop unless he is backed up against something.

#63

My dog likes to eat beaded jewelry. I shouldn’t say eat, he sucks on it until it comes apart, and then he abandons it and acts innocent.

#64

My dog take his blankey or his bed and will suck on it with his eyes closed. We assume he thinks he’s nursing. He also occasionally humps his bed before sucking on it. Harmless but weird as s**t.

#65

My GF’s cat poops in the litterbox, then immediately tries to cover it by making digging motions on the floor/wall next to the litterbox. Never inside. Not sure if dumb or just a c**t.

#66

My Doberman likes to climb up in bed with my SO and I, and just stare at us while standing over one of us.

#67

#68

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/people-share-35-hilarious-habits-their-pets-have-and-theyre-too-good/

0 notes

katastrophizing · 8 years ago

Photo

So, I posted this on Reddit, but I figured I would post here as well!

Bit of a long post, but I want to share some detail about my weight loss/fitness journey...

I'm a 25-year-old female that, through CICO (Calories In, Calories Out), has been able to drop from my highest weight of 200 lbs (January 2016) to a healthy, fit 125 lbs (though in the pic I've posted is when I was probably closer to ~187 lbs). Also, I'm about 5'7", for reference. I actually lost the first 65 lbs in about seven or eight months (I know that's very quick, but I was very determined!) with drastic lifestyle changes. I was very depressed at close to my highest weight. I've been diagnosed with manic depression and generalized anxiety for about nine years now, but it got especially bad around December 2015/January 2016 when I was the heaviest and most physically unhealthy I had ever been. I was barely motivated to get out of bed some days, I had no job, hardly any friends, and I was a serious emotional overeater with major self-esteem and confidence issues. But one morning, by the grace of God maybe, IDK I really can't even explain what happened (maybe it's because the first number on the scale was, for the first time, a 2 and not a 1), after a long crying/self-pity session, something just kinda stirred within me. Like an epiphany of some sort. At that moment, I decided I was going to stop making excuses and acting like a victim to my misery and obesity, that enough was enough. I was sick and tired of being unhealthy, overweight, and miserable. I wanted to gain control of my life. I had tried numerous attempts at weight loss before, but never could stick with any kind of routine or diet for longer than about two weeks. But this time it was gonna be different, I decided. So, I put on a pair of sweatpants and some old running shoes I had lying around and I left my house with my hardly-used Fitbit watch (that I had received as a Christmas gift from my mom about a month earlier), and I just. started. walking... I wasn't sure where I was gonna walk to or for how long, but I wanted to do ANYTHING other than just sit at home and be miserable. So, I put in my earbuds, turned on some upbeat music, and just kept walking. I walked for about two hours around my neighborhood and when I got back to my place, I realized that I had walked five miles! And it felt good... It was just one walk (granted, a really long one), but I decided I was gonna make it a habit. I started going on daily five-mile walks that I had mapped out around my neighborhood, and actually usually twice in a day (one walk in early morning and one in late afternoon), since I was unemployed/not in school and had extra time on my hands. My feet/legs were definitely hurting and sore at first, but gel inserts for my shoes really helped a lot. This long-distance walking was nearly every day for about four or five months, a time period in which I dropped about 40-45 lbs. The first 15 or 20 being in the first month alone. As the weight dropped and I was eating healthier/becoming a lot more active, my overall confidence was increasing, my sleep, "brain fog", and feelings of "meh" (as I call it) were all improving/diminishing, and my energy levels were higher than they had been in a very long time. I was even starting to get some compliments from family and people around me who noticed my weight loss and my overall change in mood/attitude, which felt pretty good honestly.

My CICO was monitored pretty thoroughly through consistent food logging on the app, "My Fitness Pal", and activity monitoring on my Fitbit HR watch. Diet, in summary, was mainly cutting out soda (for good! To this day, I still don't drink soda.) and fast food (though I admit I will now occasionally have fast food as a "cheat meal"), drinking lots of water, and I greatly decreased my intake of refined carbs/sugars. I replaced a lot of these foods that I was used to eating with more protein-rich foods/fruits &veggies/healthy fats & carbs. Less crap, basically. It was very difficult at first because I loved things like Kraft mac and cheese and Dr. Pepper. I also had a horrible habit of overeating in general and eating out of boredom, rather than when feeling truly hungry. However, I was determined to change. As I practiced more self-discipline and started noticing results in how I looked/felt, the cravings lessened and became easier to combat. I realized I could eat healthier, fewer calories and still feel satiated.

And though I know it's not usually advised to go higher than a 1,000 calorie deficit a day without consulting a medical professional first, my daily step count was averaging about 27,000 (which, for my weight then, was a LOT of burned calories) and my overall caloric deficit was usually anywhere between 700 and 1,500 (but I was careful to not ever eat below 1200 calories for the day and generally my consumption was between 1500 and 2000). I was losing a steady 2-3 lbs a week and feeling pretty awesome as I noticed results not only in the mirror, but with how I carried myself and my overall attitude.

I hit a relatively short three-week plateau in May (I think?) which was frustrating at first, but caused me to switch up my fitness routine a bit. I started mixing in some higher-intensity cardio such as jogging (could barely jog a half mile at first, but now I go anywhere between 2-6 miles) and hiking local trails. I also incorporated some at-home strength training using 5 or 8 lb dumbbells three times a week to help with overall body composition and fat loss. By early July, I had lost about 55 lbs , was at what's considered a healthy and no longer overweight BMI, and finally felt confident enough to go out and look for a job again. I landed a decent job after my first interview, something I would have not even thought possible 6 or 7 months earlier.

I hit my first major weight loss goal of 65 lbs, weighing 135 lbs, in late August, I believe? (As you can see, I can't quite remember the exact timeline right now lol). I maintained this weight for about six months, but still felt like I could maybe "cut" and get some more muscle definition. So, just these last six weeks, I've lost ten more pounds and have attained a more ~toned~ look through yoga, running, heavier weights at the gym, and hardly any going out/drinking [Though I know it's not exactly beneficial for weight loss, I still have drunk some alcohol throughout this journey. It used to be mainly very sugary drinks (i.e. whiskey/coke) when I was fat, but I switched to a not as bad vodka/club soda while I was losing weight.] I don't think I want/need to lose any more weight at this point, I might try to add some muscle/weight even, but I can't express enough how much this experience has changed my life in SO many aspects, not even just physical health and appearance [though that's definitely a huge (no pun intended) plus!]. Like I mentioned, I have more confidence overall, more emotional stability, my bipolar/depression and anxiety symptoms have been significantly alleviated, and I feel like a productive member of society again (I'm also attending college again and planning for a new career path). Of course I still have my ups, downs, issues, and insecurities (who doesn't?), but I've definitely come a long way and am pretty proud of that. I feel like a whole new person. And this newfound wellness obviously isn't JUST because the number on the scale has changed, but it's a result of the diet and lifestyle changes I incorporated to lose the weight in the first place.

Though I wouldn't call what I did disordered or dangerous, I realize that what worked for me may not be the healthiest or most realistic options for everyone. I lost a pretty significant amount of weight in a relatively short amount of time. I would definitely advise consulting a doctor or medical professional before trying anything that might be considered too extreme or drastic! The focus should not be on how fast you lose the weight though, but rather making permanent (yet sustainable), healthy lifestyle changes that take you in the right direction. Additional advice I would offer is to remember to not compare your progress to anyone else's or let a "setback" keep you feeling defeated and/or prevent you from moving forward. As long as you keep at it and don't give up, then you're on the right track and results will come! :) Any questions, feel free to ask!

#weight loss #fitness #fitspiration #mental health #fitspo #fitblr #before and after weight loss #weight loss advice #my fitness journey #me #selfie

176 notes · View notes