A big thanks to those of you who added suggestions for my holiday playlist. I rounded up a few along with some of my favorites for a yearly compilation of my favorite jolly tunes. I make a much bigger deal out of it than it actually is, but I’m OK with that. If these festive jams still don’t get you into the holiday spirit, I’m not sure what to tell you. Take a drive around your neighborhood and look at some Christmas lights for goodness sake. Snap out of the Grinch funk because all of this Christmas-spirity-goodness is going to be over in the blink of an eye. In the meantime, a Christmas present from me to your ears:
P.S. Congrats to Bruce Floyd! I picked your random comment to win an iTunes copy of Home Alone. In the words of Uncle Frank, “Look what you did, you little jerk!”
I’ve been putting off this post for quite some time. After seeing others tell their fitness stories on their own blogs, I’ve finally taken the time to write my own.
I’m not the only one who has noticed a growing fitness trend among my friends on social networks. Mike LaMonica said it best with his post on the activities he’s noticed everyone getting into. There are CrossFitcultists, cyclists, runners and boot-campers flooding my Twitter feed on any given day. I can see how workout-related tweets can come off as pretentious, but for a lot of us, they are the motivation we need in order to make that pit-stop at the gym before heading home from work. It’s certainly made a difference for me as I’ve tried over the past few years to make fitness a bigger part of my life.
April 2006
Fall 2006
Staying in shape during high school was a piece of cake. Between marching band and water polo, sports and extracurriculars did the work for me. In college, the opposite happened and I fell victim to dreaded freshman weight gain, except mine was more than 15 pounds. It wasn’t until my senior year that I got fed up with buying higher sized clothing and thought I’d give running a try.
Even though my “run” was (and still is) more of a jog, I’d make my way around the path outside my apartment building in college when the mood struck, but struggled to make it a part of my daily routine when I moved back home in 2008. After some convincing from my sister, I signed up at the YMCA in June of 2009. Having a gym buddy helped get me there when I didn’t want to go and soon I saw miles accumulate on the treadmill. I was ready to try out a race.
When I finished my first 5K in August of 2009 I instantly fell in love with it. The warm, encouraging atmosphere made my intimidation melt away and I felt like this was something I could do on a regular basis. That day I made it my mission to run at least one 5K race per month for a year — 12 races total. This past July marked my grand finale at the Hemingway Days Sunset 5K in Key West.
Little did I know that in the middle of that year, one of my best friends would challenge me to complete the Disney Princess Half Marathon with her. Thinking it was an impossible feat, I signed up not knowing what to expect from myself. Thanks to miles and miles of practice, Gu energy gels, the Black Eyed Peas, race-day adrenaline and being able to dance while I ran with my friend Christi, we pulled off 13.1 miles in just under 3 hours back in March. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to run for that long or that far without passing out or puking all over the place. To my surprise, we both felt pretty good at the finish line.
Christi and I running the 2010 Disney Princess Half Marathon
After a handful of races, it wasn’t long before I started to get sick of answering the “What was your time?” question. Hearing people ask me that became such a drag. It was a loaded question that somehow negated the fact that I had just run 3.1 miles. It was a bubble-burster.
Jesse and I after my 12th race in 12 months - Hemingway Days Sunset 5K - July 25, 2010
From day one, all I wanted was to finish, and not in last place. That’s it. Removing the pressure of faster times and longer distances meant that I could still set long term goals for myself without suffering the mental setbacks of having an off-day. Tracking your time day-to-day is like weighing yourself every day when you are trying a new diet. The moment you see a number you don’t want, it’s easy to quit or lose motivation. If you don’t know what you weigh every single day but can feel your clothes getting looser (or your runs getting easier) you must be doing something right. Thanks to my small running victories, I was experiencing both and it felt good.
I still have a few goals I’d like to accomplish. I’d like to run at least one race in under 30 minutes (the closest I’ve come is 32 minutes) and I’m looking forward to completing the Disney Princess Half Marathon again in February. The satisfaction of knowing I’ve made a healthy change in my life is gratification enough for me to keep at it, regardless of what the scale or time clock says. I’m a healthier, happier version of myself and I know I can attribute some of that to the time I that I gift to myself when I run.
To those who know me, it will come as no surprise that after a long blogging drought, all it takes is a little holiday cheer to get me in the writing mood again. It’s also no secret that I’ve mixed a few holiday carols into my daily musical repertoire since mid-summer, just to get me through the stagnant Florida heat and humidity (which, by the way, definitely helps). It may seem a little wacky and preemptive, but I’m not the only one.
Now that Halloween has come and gone, I’m heading full-force into Christmas. Thanksgiving is nice and all, but it’s really just a day of food insanity. No carols, no trees, no presents and no Santa. Forgive me if Thanksgiving is nothing more than a blip on the radar en route to Christmas.
For the third year and starting today, I’m soliciting suggestions and requests for your all-time favorite holiday tunes and compiling them on my 3rd Annual Twitter Christmas Playlist.
Share in the comments the Christmas (or holiday) song that whisks you back to childhood or one that you think MUST be heard at any good holiday party. Take a peek at my playlists from previousyears over on Grooveshark or listen using the widgets below. I won’t use the same version of a song twice. On Dec. 1 I’ll publish my playlist and pick one random winner from the comments section who will win their very own DVD copy of one of my top-5 favorite Christmas movies of all-time.
Don’t be a Scrooge or a Grinch. It’s never too early to get in the holiday spirit!
It’s December 6. You’re in a rut. You stuffed yourself with turkey two weeks ago and have been counting down the days all year until Christmas. The spirit of the holidays is buzzing through the air, but you just can’t feel it in your bones. You’re feeling more like the Grinch than a jolly Christmas elf. Time is running out. Here are five simple sure-fire ways to get visions of sugarplums dancing in your head in no time.
1. Change your phone wallpaper.
You use your mobile phone all day, so a little holiday reminder every time you unlock it is like transmitting subliminal Christmas messages into your brain. Use a festive photo or a wallpaper you find online. Better yet, why don’t you Christmasfy yourself and use that. Bonus points for changing your ringtone to “Deck the Halls” or “Jingle Bells.” Super extra bonus points for changing your ringtone to the lesser-known classics, “Mele Kalikimaka” or Love, Actually’s “Christmas is All Around.”
2. Get a tree. Get a pine candle. Get some tree branches.
Generally speaking, you need *the* scent. Pine, cinnamon, gingerbread, mistletoe; It really doesn’t matter. If you’re being frugal (and who isn’t these days?), go down to the hardware store and pick up some of the scrap branches that tree-cutters leave on the floor and deck your halls with them. Grab some of the sawed-off stumps from the tree lot and throw them in a pot of simmering water on your stove. Glade has a relatively cheap holiday candle collection (forget the expensive Yankee variety) if the thought of bringing nature into your home freaks you out. Nothing says holiday spirit like aromas wafting through the air.
3. Crank up the Christmas music. All the time.
For the next 19 days, I command you to put all other playlists aside and commit fully to non-stop holiday tunes. It’s December, for goodness sake, and if you are reading this then you are already desperate. You better watch out. You better not cry. You better tickle your ears with a little “Holly Jolly Christmas” because Santa Claus is coming to town, ya know. Slacker Radio has 11, yes 11, holiday stations of varying genres to choose from (Is there anything more awesome than a ‘Dysfunctional Holiday’ station? I think not). My tweeps helped compile this playlist of their favorite holiday tunes on Grooveshark which is definitely worth a listen. Or twelve. One for every day of Christmas.
4. Go to the mall.
The perfect solution for those who are too lazy to decorate their own place, a visit to the mall is an instant dose of cheer. Even if you have to fight a 60-year-old lady for a parking spot, navigate through stroller after stroller and argue with the teenage cashier at the Gap to get the extra 20% off from the coupon you found on the floor of the food court, it will be worth it. The mall is where all of the elements come together. Gifts, lights, sounds, smells, music and, of course, Santa Claus himself. You’re in the Big Man’s territory now. He’s got his eye on you.
Aventura Mall (photo courtesy of @Ines)
5. Get out the Christmas DVDs.
This should go without saying. Instead of going out with friends to the bar in the cold and blowing cash you should be spending on gifts anyway, you need Holiday Movie Night. Every night. Everyone has their favorites. Whether you prefer the classics like White Christmas or the raunchy contemporaries like Bad Santa, the spirit-enabling capabilities are strong with movies. Here is my list of the lists of the best Christmas movies. Time to load up your Netflix queue!
For our non-Christmas-celebrating-friends, I hope you can offer suggestions on surviving the Christmas season and getting into the spirit of your own holidays!
Just a quick note to share this article from New Times Broward-Palm Beach about my stomach-testing experience on a pizza crawl with one of my favorite buddies, who also happens to be THE pizza celebrity of South Florida.
I took a mini pizza tour with John Linn, who wrote the article, and Craig Lapp (his alias) of WorstPizza.com.
I’d go into more detail but Linn summed it up better than I ever could:
Mallory’s Hawaiian was completely off-base, with huge chunks of pineapple and undercooked, cheap-tasting ham. (The later surprised me because I had previously enjoyed La Fontana’s salumi, including speck, a smoked, cured Italian ham.) …read the rest
Had a blast, stuffed myself silly, got to eat a pizza that isn’t on the restaurant’s menu and only made for Lapp and got a mention in the article. What can I say. It’s pays to be pizza expert!
