This is the fourth post in a series to focus on

Fitness Fridays! (More here…)

I’ve found some new fitness inspiration this week. I’m giving myself permission to take BABY STEPS. You see, I can’t run right now. I have some sort of injury which has caused me to lay off the running for awhile.

Instead I am focusing on three things:

• relaxation
• water consumption
• high concentration of vegetables & fruits

I’m shooting for 9 glasses of water per day, 60% of my diet from veggies & fruits and heavy doses of sleeping in and walking/meditating. I’m even taking an afternoon break from the office to go outside and walk around the block. It definitely clears my head. And I’ve been working on spending more time with God.

You know, it is amazing the progress that you can make when you give yourself permission to take it slow. My body is responding well, too. The bags are gone from under my eyes, I have a spring in my step and I even feel lighter.  As a matter of fact, I’ve lost 2.8 pounds!  Yippie!

Next week I will add weight training back into the mix along with more walking/cardio, water and veggies. I am hoping to report some good weight loss next week as well!

Tags: Fitness, Fitness Fridays, Inspiration, relaxation, weight loss

During the countless hours Jen and I spent training for this marathon, we grabbled with question “why?” Why are we doing this? We kicked around the standard clichés and theories, but never really got to the answer.

I think we just forgot.

After finishing the marathon on Sunday, I remembered. Actually, it was around mile 25.75, it hit me so hard I almost forgot to breathe. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Everyone knows to complete 26.2 miles you need to train. Long runs, tempo runs, speed work. Blah, blah, blah.

To enjoy running 26.2 miles, you need friends. And, boy, did we have friends. They were everywhere – around every corner, following us in cars, screaming encouragement on those Spring Ridge hills – all while braving the rain. For us. Talk about humbling. The runners around us thought we were celebrities. To tell you the truth, I actually felt like one.

And then, at mile 25.75, just as we were entering the gate at the fairgrounds, we saw Kim and Doug Hart. It was almost as if some greater force picked them up and put them right where we needed them. That last bit of encouragement to push us in the final minutes.

And then I remembered.

There is a feeling so unbelievable powerful and indescribable it can not be put into words. It is the enormous satisfaction a person gets from setting what seems to be an unattainable goal and then not just meeting it, but smashing it into little pieces.

There are no adjectives that can articulate this emotion properly. If you’ve felt it, you understand. If you haven’t, I suggest you look deep into your soul and figure out what in your life will get you there. It is so worth it.

And that’s why.

So, thank you friends; thank you family; and thank you volunteers for making Sunday a truly memorable day for me.

And thank you Jen for mapping routes, being the cheerleader, listening to me whine, laughing at my immaturity, for not leaving me on 144 that miserable day (even after I begged you to) and for taking down that wall. We did it. We are awesome.

Tags: family, Frederick marathon, friends, Katie, Katie Barkdoll, marathon, race, Running

Well, in case you are wondering, I survived the 2009 Frederick Marathon. Actually, not only did I SURVIVE it but I did pretty darn good for little ‘ole me.  Considering the fact that this is only my second marathon, I was extremely happy to have successfully PRd it.  (Is that even a word? Did I use that term correctly?  Obviously I have never done it before or I would have some experience with it.  Um, meaning, I had a personal record.) Finished the marathon in 4 hours and 41 seconds on the dot.  That translates into an average of 10:43 minute per mile.  Clearly I run for the enjoyment and I am not an aspiring Boston qualifier.  Whatever.  I can brag that I ran longer than the winner did.  Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

I should have known that I was in for an interesting day when the first thing my pal Katie asked me was, “Seriously. WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?”  and we spent the first couple of miles trying to think up new lyrics to the Backyardigans “Racing Day” song. Know it?  “It’s racing day, it’s racing day… it’s not doily lacing day.”

So the most challenging thing about the marathon was the fact that it pretty much poured the ENTIRE TIME.  I think we got maybe 60 minutes into it when the heavens opened up.  At first it was nice and even refreshing.  Then it got slippery.  As in, when you rubbed against someone you were all slippery like Vaseline.  Ewww…. Then the puddles came. We spent mile 15 on dodging puddles and um, worms.  I am actually kinda good at worm dodging, err… hopping.  I learned that out on the course.  I mean, who knew?

This marathon is pretty much flat until it takes a directional turn through a nice little neighborhood called Spring Ridge.  Lovely place.  Hellish hills.  Mile 16 to 25 pretty much consisted of torturous hills.

In the rain.

With the worms.

Are you feeling me here?

So about mile 23 my knees decide to explode.  Gotta give them credit.  They were synchronized. (Maybe because of all the worm hopping?) So I alternated chanting the Hail Mary and Our Father and singing the song Put One Foot In Front Of The Other (Yeah, that one.  The one from Santa Clause is Coming To Town).  Hey, think what you want.  Worked for me.

I can’t even explain my excitement when I saw that finish line.  Truly amazing.  I was overwhelmed.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I got through that race on a couple of prayers and some childish songs.  Oh, no.  We had TONS of supporters out there.  And because this is my blog – I am so totally gonna name them: Katie’s husband Brian and her adorable boys, My husband and my adorable boys, Rani, Kim, Doug, Amy, Tom, Patrick, Priscilla and their adorable girls, Rani (who was a maniac and ran in the rain in her flip flops along with us), Stuart and Thomas, Yvonne, Katie’s parents, my parents, Sheri, Betsy, Lane, Angie, Kim & her kids, Lori & Katie (who were wearing Team Jen and Team Miss Jen G shirts… check out my Flickr photos for proof), John, Sam and Joan, Belinda, Gracie, Leah, Jeanine, Ella and Ethan.  (I hope I am not missing anyone.  I was delirious at some points.) HOW COULD WE NOT BE INSPIRED?

Thank you every last one of you and every runner, emergency personnel, and volunteer that came out on that day.  You were amazing.

As an aside, I just really feel like I need to tell you a little bit about Katie.  First – she is wonderful.  Second – she is hilarious. Third – she is wonderfully hilarious.  She makes running easy, even when your knees are staging a coup d’ etat.  (Did I spell that right? I totally need an editor.) And fourth – don’t even try to steal her.  She is MY running partner.  Back off!

If you are ever thinking about attempting a marathon, or half-marathon or even a 5K, I wanna leave you with this one quote.  It is one of my favorites:

“The miracle isn’t that I finished, the miracle is that I had the courage to start.” – John “The Penguin” Bingham

Tags: 2009, Backyardigans, Frederick marathon, John "The Penguin" Bingham, Katie, marathon, race, rain, Running, Santa Clause is coming to town, worms

The times, they are a changin’ for us moms. Gone are the days when we could arrive on the scene sans makeup, clad on in a stained t-shirt, un-matching pants and a hat.  Oh yes, those days are long gone.  There is a new standard – perfection.

Truthfully, I blame the recent wave of celebumoms. I am talking about the likes of Victoria Beckham, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, and Heidi Klum…  They’re beautiful, they’re hip and they have taken motherhood by storm.  These lovely ladies pop kids out and show up on the scene four weeks later with a flat stomach, manicured nails and a fabulous new hairstyle.  In short, they look like they took a vacation instead of an intense experience with labor and delivery.

Was there an option I missed when I had my babies? A “platinum” package or something that was offered to expectant moms?  Because apparently, when filling out my hospital admission forms, I checked the wrong box.  No one ever asked me, “Mrs. Gerlock, would you like the luxury-spa-delivery-option or the you’ll-never-be-the-same-again delivery experience?”  I don’t know.  Maybe they did and I just misinterpreted the second option.  I recall being in a bit of pain at the time…  Perhaps I wasn’t paying close attention.

Given the public’s obsession with all things celebrity, we mothers now find ourselves having to endure countless images on television, in magazines and on the internet of sexy celebumoms with their perfect children clad in designer clothing attending spectacular events.  A very difficult standard for most of us in the real world to live up to.

I don’t know about you, but the last time I felt sexy was in 1994 and that was prior to having children. As for the designer clothing, in my family that would be Target.  Seriously.  I have boys.  Boys go through clothes like I go through chocolate bars.  And for the record, we don’t attend major functions all that much due to the fact that my offspring feel compelled to mortify me at any given opportunity.  No worries, I’ll get them back.  Wait until they are teenagers, I have a plan.

It is not a secret that celebrity moms don’t do it alone.  They have an army of employees at their beck and call – personal trainers, chefs, nannies, housekeepers, assistants, you name it.  What I want to know is how some “normal” moms seem to be doing it also. I see fabulous mommies everywhere now.  Everywhere.  It is a horrifying trend.

There are fab mommies at the park.  Hip mommies on the PTA, and let’s not even discuss the ones who are bikini clad at the pool. Who are these women, where did they come from and how do they look so pulled together?

In light of this new ultra cool mommy movement, I am going to have to rethink my own approach.  Seriously, I have no style.  How can I compete?  I basically pick up random clothing wherever I might be at the moment. Usually it is somewhere like WalMart, Costco or JC Penny.  Hey, if it is semi-cute, under $10, and within an arm’s length– it’s mine!

I just don’t have time to be picky anymore.  Have you tried wardrobe shopping with two small boys?  It can’t be done without loosing your sanity.  The upside of this strategy is that when the inevitable happens, meaning when one of my children pukes on me, I’m not all that upset about it.  Just toss the shirt out and go.

In short, I can offer no explanation for the fabulous mom phenomenon.  Personally, I think they are all just faking it. That is what I’ve decided to believe.  It makes me feel better, anyway.

Tags: beautiful, celebrity, cool, designer, fabulous, hip, Mommy Mania, motherhood, PTA, puke, Really Random

Spending time with your little ones can be devastating to your self-esteem sometimes. They can be pretty frank with their opinions and observations.

Case in point… I was spending time with one of my little men this morning.  We were having, what I thought, was a nice meaningful mom-and-son conversation filled with love and happiness and all of that terrific Hallmark card kind of sappiness.  I was enjoying myself.

Then out of the blue, and in mid-sentence, my youngster says to me, “You know what momma?”

“What, honey?

“You have wrinkles.  Didja know that?”

Terrific.  He then proceeded to point out (in case I hadn’t spotted them yet) all of the various places on my face where the wrinkles were now residing.

THRILLING conversation, people.  Thrilling.

It was not exactly a Hallmark moment anymore.  Especially when he pointed out that MY HUSBAND, who is a good five years older than me, does not have any.

I should have grounded him.  Instead I walked calmly away and did a Google search on Botox.

UPDATE (3 days later): The psychological torture continues. My oldest just told me I looked like I was going to have a baby.  My husband hushed him and explained why that wasn’t necessarily considered a nice thing to say to a woman who is actually NOT pregnant.  He seemed genuinely puzzled when he said, “But dad, she DOES.”

Tags: botox, google, Hallmark, Kid Mania, love, observations, old, opinions, self esteem, wrinkles