Super duper smoothie

I've always really dug natural medicine. I'm not really sure why...partly as a preventative health measure, partly because i find vegies super gross, partly just because it's quite interesting and I find it fascinating!
Most of my experiments over the years have involved vitamins, minerals, herbs or protein powders, of varying brands and such. I think my all time favourite is probably herbalife, though it is insanely overpriced! It pretty much priced itself wayyyy out of the realm of what I'm prepared to pay.
My latest fascination is 'superfoods', and general health tonics. To be more specific, I'm testing olive leaf extract, and Barley Grass powder.
Barley grass is relatively inexpensive, which is a plus. As a superfood, it's supposed to have insane amounts of chlorophyll, amino acids, vitamins....all kinds of amazing stuff your body needs. I find it particulary interesting because i don't really like green vegies, so it can provide some of those nutrients for me. Claims for barley grass's effects range from providing extra nutrition, helping to clear skin, all the way through to curing cancer.
I've been blending it into my smoothies (i loove love love breakfast smoothies, typically with milk, a banana, and some berries) and it doesn't taste overly offensive. It does turn the whole drink bright green though, which is a little scary.
This morning's concotion was milk, raspberries, a little protein powder, some fibre powder, and a big teaspoon of barley grass (chased with a shot of olive leaf extract).
The berries and protein powder combined with the barley grass to create a shade of green so deeply bile colored that it looked like poison! It looked EXACTLY like the health shake the Marge makes on the Simpsons during that episode where she becomes a body builder. In my head I thought, "And some oestrogen blockers for that minty taste!", buah hahaha!
Surprisingly, it tasted pretty ok. I do burp grass after one of my super smoothies, but only a little.
I am not really sure that taking these things really makes me feel much different....maybe it's some kind of peace of mind that they help to fill a nutritional gap, or just curiosity, I'm not really sure. I do get really good results from some things, though. I take valerian to help me sleep, use flower remedies for stress, and sometimes guarana for energy, and I think that those things genuinely work, and work well.
I wonder if people think maybe it's a bit cracked to believe in natural medicines? I sometimes wonder if it's nothing more than some kind of placebo effect, and I'm one of the people using the darn things.

Word doc faillllll

Argggggggggggggggg! I have to write a self evaluation for my performance review at work....which I totally started, really I did.....but then I went and watched some tv. Then I forgot about it for a week, and now I need to finish it. BUT, in between the starting it and remembering to finish it, the internet at home went down, so I couldn't transport the doc to work. *pulls out hair**
Enter fiance, and the bright idea that he could import the doc to his phone, then email it to my phone, then I could open the email at work and voila, one word doc.
Which worked in theory....except that the doc is encoded in a way that means I cannot read it, and I don't know how to format it into a way that I can read it. Sooooo motherchucking pisssssssssed off....although what I'd written wasn't great anyway, from memory. Computers are crap.

38min;39sec

Not too shabby! An insane, crazy race, with storm troopers, a gingerbread man, the Cat in the Hat, and little old me, plodding away, and walking a lot more than I would have liked to.

Packin' it, just a bit

Only two days to go! It's Friday, and Sunday morning is zero hour. I'm a little concerned about the whole thing...between the patchy prep, Tuesday's insane gallop through the rain, and the self doubt that I'm pretty sure goes with anyone's first race, I guess anyone would be worried.
On the other hand....it's not like I was ever going to win! My goals need to be things like maintaining a positive attitude, looking towards future goals, and above all, completing the course injury free. Still, I can't help being nervous. And going in circles around myself. Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I haven't run since Tuesday....that run is the only time I've ever really really hated running, so I didn't want to overdo it in the lead up to Sunday. Also sometimes if i skip a few days I'm much more comfortable, and feel like I run better...call it tapering for the five, lol.

Save me Jeebus!

In the lead up to my first five k event I've been attending the free training sessions offered by the awesome people at Suunto and Run Melbourne. They ran for twelve weeks, and I ran in the beginners group, which mostly has been a really uplifting and positive experience. I run much faster and further in a group than I possibly could on my own, and the advice from more experienced runners has been invaluable.
I did, however, miss the last two session...one due to nagging shin splints that refused to heal, then I caught a nasty cold that left me coughing up goobers for a fortnight and missed another.
This is very very bad, as the beginner group increased their distance slightly each week, and so by missing two sessions (and bitching out slightly at a previous session due to the aforementioned shin splints) I was quite behind, distance-wise.
Last night was the last session, and I knew it was going to be hard for me, but Oh Jeeeeeeeeeeesuuuuuus I had no idea! We did just over five.....in the rain....and I was coughing.....dear Lord, we ran up a hill just so we could run down it again, which is insane! The rain washed all my sweat into my eyes, my lungs were just burning and I had to stop several times because I thought my heart would escape my chest. I threw a small tantrum in the last two hundred metres or so and ran screaming up the hill. So I didn't make the whole distance, but still, it was the longest, hardest run I've ever been on. Afterwards I stood with my hands on my knees, heaving from the pit of my belly, and would have blown some serious chunks if there had been any food left in me. Harsh.
So after a lot of trying not to die, a stretch, debrief, and a serious pigout on chips from Lord of the Fries, it was off home. I thought I felt a little better until I realised that I'd driven home with only my parking lights on :/
Soooooooooooooooooooo, what went wrong? Well, for one thing, probably not enough food pre-run. I didn't like my lunch (even though I made it myself, haha) and I hate to eat just for the sake of eating, or because it's time to eat. Also maybe a little stressed out, though I am not sure how that factors in. And at the source of it all, I just wasn't quite good for the distance.
So, half a tube of Deep Heat later, I'm a little stiff but otherwise ok. Fortunately, the nature of exercise that's so intense is that we forget how bad it was...right?

The turtle...and the other turtle.

My fiance is obese. He's always been a big guy, when we met he was maybe 20kgs overweight for his height, but I didn't mind. My ideal physical type is Seth Rogan, or Drew Carey....I like the chubby guy with glasses. But now, three years later, he's not just cute and chubby anymore. He's the real deal, properly fat. I am not sure how much he weighs now, to guess I'd say he's maybe 40, even 50 kgs overweight now. He snores so loudly we can't share a room, and god only knows the last time he saw his own penis. His t-shirts are size 7-XL and hanging them out to dry makes me die a little. His chin is obscured by a neck roll that makes him look a bit like a toad blowing.

I hate it. I love him so much it hurts, and he's doing this to himself. Sometimes I think he's doing it on purpose. Killing himself 'cos it hurts so good. Death by fried chicken.

In May I talked him into coming on a 4k charity walk. I really hoped it would be too hard for him, and wake him up. For christ's sake, he sweats if he does the dishes, so I figured 4k might wreck him just enough to admit that maybe he has a problem.

I didn't figure on pride, which he has in spades. While he bitched a fair bit, especially during the infamous Anderson St hill, he made it. He could barely walk for three days because his quads are so weak they were all torn up from the hill. When he whined I said it was his fault he hurt, for not having even a basic level of fitness. You could say I was a bit pissed off that my plan failed.

In my heart, I understand how someone can get this heavy. I've been this heavy, and I remember that I was overweight, then really overweight, then all of a sudden I couldn't walk around the block. I remember being pretty grossed out by myself. I walked and starved off 50kgs is nine months, and I have stretch marks and loose skin that I'll have for the rest of my life.

Maybe I feel so badly because I'm frightened of fat. It seems to me like a disease, like a virus or parasite that comes along and eats people. Leaves them depressed, debilitated, and unable to get their ass off the couch. It kills families and eats physical potential.

On the other hand...it's not like he's ever done much to ward off this monster. He adores all fried food, loathes exercise in all forms, and likes to lay down instead of sitting. His demon is Coke. Enslaved by seven-X, he drinks over a litre of this sugary concoction daily. Without it he suffers headaches, feels ill and is grumpy. He won't drink the sugar free stuff. He also won't eat most vegies, or rice, or any of the healthier things I know how to make. Although he does like my mashed potato.

I'm probably not the best or most patient person. My methods of motivatio involve pointed asides, invitations to come for walks, dissappointed looks when he refuses to come for walks, refusing to eat the saturated-fat laden food he prefers, begging, crying, and asking him why he cares so little for our future that he'd rather live this way. Or why he cares too little for me to make an effort.
The upshot I guess is that things didn't get this way overnight, so they probably won't change overnight either. Inconclusive.....but the vent blew off some pressure, at least.

Anyone can.

Put one foot in front of the other. Repeat. Then do it faster.

How can something so simple be the biggest thrill I've ever known?

Running is my goal, my dream, my fondest desire. When I run I feel like a cross between a clapped-out carthorse and an elite athlete, though some days more one than the other. I am proud of every drop of sweat, every kilometre, every injury, every session. I think about running a lot more than I actually run. I read and plan and learn. I love to run. I also hate it, sometimes. But even that makes me love it.

I am new. I've been running since April. I can't even really do five kilometres yet. But I can try to.

I'm running my first event just five short days from now. I'm pretty nervous, but trying hard to trust in the training I've done, and to focus on goals beyond it, in case I fail. I am not sure if I can make the five, so am distracting myself by dreaming of ten. Insanity. But it seems to work pretty well for me so far.