July 2008 archives

Months ago, MISSION product sent me a box of their wares to try out.

As luck would have it, I injured myself to the point of barely walking so using their stuff was out of the question. Poor PR person who sent it to me. (As an aside, I never mind PR folks contacting me about stuff. I really don't. Mostly I hate when they don't read me and just know I've been mentioned a few places so they indiscriminately ask me to hawk things that you guys could care less about. I've been in the media industry for more than a decade and I know how the game is played. Know your audience, kids.)

Anyway, so I've been using the line regularly and I have to give it a big thumbs up. My favorite of the whole line is the anti-friction cream. I've been using it since I've been back at running and, as a double use, when I'm wearing dresses and skirts this summer, which is almost every day, and it's fantastic. Better than Body Glide, even, and less messy, despite being a cream. My only beef is the packaging and amount and cost. I don't care what anyone says, tubes are a bitch and you end up wasting a ton. No matter how little you use.

Also? $20 for a tube of it? Sadly, I'm going back to Body Glide because there is no way in heck I can afford to use this stuff on a regular basis.

All in all, this is really fantastic stuff. If you can afford it, and you're serious about training, by all means get your hands around this stuff. The rest of us are going to have to keep slumming it until MISSION Product puts out a more wallet-friendly line.

Posted by Erin at 09:49 AM | | filed under: Random

I just got back from a nice run on the lakefront with one of my best friends. Probably one of the things I cherish most about my friendship with my girlfriends is that we're all runners, every last one of us.

Running with friends is always a great treat. We're going to run a six-miler Friday morning together, too.

So I'm in Week Two of my new job and it's made such a magnificent change in my life already I'm not sure where to start. In addition to the work itself being rewarding, I've come back to this whole new head space. It's a luxury, to be sure, to be in a situation where you can spend your lunch hour in your back yard, in the sun, with a book and an ice tea. I know this. But it's my reality now and it's made a pretty instant change on my disposition.

Plus? I've worked out every single day, I now ride my bike everywhere and I'm able to cook for myself for every meal. My hip is still tender, but I'm taking care of it pretty well - lots of ice and advil and stretching. I'm in the gym lifting and doing the cardio death march. Hell, I'm even taking all of my vitamins and getting plenty of sleep.

Truth be told I'm still working hard - I start working as soon as my feet hit the floor. I'm online and working by 6:30 a.m. each day. But I'm taking full advantage of being close to the things that make me healthy and well, and I'm proud of myself for that. It would be very easy to get slack and unorganized and just hang around the house all day. But I'm not. I've got a gift. I'm using it wisely.

I've splurged on new running shorts, new running bras and shirts. I even bought a new fuel belt for my longer runs. It feels so good to be back to this sport I can't even tell you.

I still need to get to yoga, though.

Posted by Erin at 09:24 PM | | filed under: Inspiration

So I quit my day job a couple of weeks ago and now I'm working full-time from home, doing the part-time job I'd mentioned earlier.

I've always considered myself a lucky gal and now? Well now this sort of seals the deal. I get paid handsomely to work on something I genuinely consider to be a blast, from home, with my dog. I'm over with Day Two and I cannot understand why I didn't find a way to make this happen before.

In these two days, I've worked, ran errands, prepared and eaten healthy meals (save the bratwurst I had at the White Sox game last night), ran and worked out at the gym. And in about an hour I'm considering heading around the corner to the new yoga studio for an hour's worth of yoga. THIS is what working from home affords you, kids. It's the best, and I already feel tons healthier and happier as a result of it.

Since about the end of May, I've just felt like an all-over mess. It's been rough, to be honest. I said before, the injuries and the sinus infection and the working 15 hours a day just about did me in. Really and truly. There was a lot of crying here at Lose The Buddha Headquarters. And don't think I don't know that the fact that I was only working out once, twice a week was compounding the crying. If I don't work out, I get emotional. I need that outlet or I go crazy. Which, like I said, I did.

One of the promises I made to myself a long, long time ago was that no matter what happened, I wouldn't beat myself up for perceived missteps. In the past, what always kept me from staying healthy and taking care of myself was that if I got out of line even the slightest, I viewed it as a setback and it would be months, sometimes years, before I tried again. I was usually sicker, heavier and in worse shape than before. Now, things are different. Despite being seriously injured and working like a madman, I never lost focus on how crucial nutrition and exercise are to my life. I knew things would loosen up again, that I'd find the time.

And, so, here I am.

Saturday morning I went out and ran in the pouring rain. I had to. There were no more reasons for me not to get out there and run. Rain isn't good enough of a reason. Besides, it turned out to be pretty glorious, not to mention peaceful. Not surprisingly, the streets are pretty deserted on a Saturday morning that's greeted by tons and tons of rain. But it felt so good, so uplifting, to be back out there.

Two months is a long time to be out, and so I've been taking it slow. I'm running and lifting regularly again, albeit at abbreviated distances and weights, respectively. But give it time and I'll be back in full gear.

For now, it's just nice not to be in pain.

Posted by Erin at 05:36 PM | | filed under: Random

It's been a rough couple of months, I won't lie.

Between what turned out to be a major injury - I pulled two muscles, the name of which I cannot remember, but they connected to my groin, around my hip, and, I'm not kidding, I also pulled my butt muscle - and a big new job in addition to my big current job, working out has been all but impossible. At least consistently. I'd start, get sore, or busy, and stop. And start again. I did as much as I could, but it's been hard.

Lots of icing, stretching, Advil, etc., has helped.

Finally, though, the hip pain has subsided. It's still present in the immediate moments after I work out - I did my first three-mile run since I injured myself and it was tender enough right after that I worried I'd done more damage to myself. Alas, I'm fine. I'm seconds away from some stretching and icing so I can run again in the morning. And hopefully the morning after that, too.

The biggest change, and there are more on the way, has been the job. I work about 12-14 hours a day and the last place I want to be is a computer. And not being able to work out has contributed to about five extra pounds and a lot of bloat, stress and lethargy. I've been careful about my diet, but there is only so much a gal can do when she can't exercise, and I wasn't about to exist on 1000 calories a day just so I could keep from gaining.

Hopefully very soon I'll be back to regular blogging here, and combined with being able to get back in the gym and on the road running, I imagine my mood will improve, too.

Posted by Erin at 09:38 PM | | filed under: Random

How many of you Yelp?

How many of you think it's a good thing?

How many of you would think it's a good thing if you knew out in San Francisco they were doing this?

Hearing this sort of breaks my heart, mainly because I believe in the spirit of an organic community, and hate the idea that ad reps would effectively be, as the post says, "holding a gun to a restaurant owners' head" just to get a posted review in a top spot. What's a business owner to do?

I open this up to you guys - with full disclosure that the site where the discussion is taking place is a site I do contract work for as Director of Community Development - because you use the Internet as a resource more than most. And because I wonder if I'm the only like-minded user who is surprised and disappointed in these tactics. I was really pretty shocked when I saw the blog post at FohBoh, and I know that Yelp has come under fire recently, but still.

Would you support this?

Posted by Erin at 09:02 AM | Comments (0) | filed under: Random