#onesizedoesnotfitall #sizematters

Earlier this week, my friend Morgan over at CAUTION: Redhead Running put a call out to see our best fitting and worst fitting tech race shirts.  You see, not all of us girls are tall or shaped like beefy dudes, so when we go to pick up our *hopefully* awesome tech race shirts (that many of us pay extra for because cotton is just nasty), we hope and pray that they are going to fit.  Morgan is particularly tiny - so she has a heck of a time getting shirts that fit.  I'm short and curvy, so I tend to have a different problem.  

Let's take a peek at some of my best and worst fitting shirts! (Please excuse the crappy self-portraits as no one was home to help me take pics.  I at least had the common sense to photoshop/flip them so the writing is readable!)

We'll start with some of the worst:

2010 Grand Rapids Marathon

This was my first half and I love that they had long sleeve shirts.  The problem? Only men-sizes and the small is huge on me.  The funny thing is, I wear the shirt ALL THE TIME. I'm even wearing it to work today :)

2010 River Bank Run 10k

This race offers an upgrade to a tech shirt but only had men's sizes.  I think this is a medium and it fits ok except it is my biggest race-shirt pet peeve.  It's WHITE.  I NEVER wear it because I don't want the pits to turn yellow.  Gross but true.

2012 Tinker Bell Half Marathon

I really expected better for a Disney race shirt.  They offered women's fit (this is a medium), but the sleeves are REALLY long, it's WHITE, and it's freaking SEE THROUGH!!!! I love the v-neck though. Props for that.

2011 Grand Rapids Bridge Run 10 Mile

I LOVE the color of this shirt, but it's really big in the arms/shoulders - because it's a men's size small.  I do wear this shirt a lot and it's my fastest race-pace race, so I love it for that, too.

And now on to some of my awesome, well-fitting race shirts!  You might notice a theme.

2011 Grand Rapids Marathon

YEAH! They offered a women's fit shirt this year for my first full marathon!!! The material is awesome and I love the graphics and color.  The fit is perfect.  My only complaint?  They switched to short-sleeves :(  This is a fall race in Michigan and I really wish they would have kept with a long-sleeve shirt.

2011 River Bank Run 25k

They went with a women's cut for 2011 - SWEET!  I love the color of this shirt and the fit is perfect - look, I have a waist!  Also, a v-neck is super flattering on me.  I can't wait to see what our shirts look like this year for the 35th anniversary of the River Bank Run.

2011 Soldier Field 10 Mile

This is probably my favorite race shirt EVER.  It's a super flattering, women's cut shirt and the piping on the shoulders and arms just rocks.  Also, this is the race where I beat my husband to the 50 yard line at Soldier Field, so it will always have a special place in my heart.

There you go - proof that size really does matter!  Hopefully if enough women start tweeting and blogging and facebooking about this issue, we'll start seeing more women's fit tech shirts at our races.  Also, I wear a small or a medium, but there are a lot of female runners much smaller than me and much larger, so it would be nice to start seeing a wider variety of sizes than just small to extra-large.  

Do you have some favorite or horrific race shirts you'd like to share?  Link up with me here or with Morgan over at Redhead Running.  We'd love to see them!

Thankful Thursday: Healing

I'm giving thanks today for the power to heal.

1. I have a great team of people supporting me, both physically and emotionally, and without them I don't know where I'd be.  I've had some very down days lately and so many of you lift me up in ways I can't even describe.  So thank you.
2. I'm thankful that foam rollers are portable.  I've used mine already at work today and I'll use it again at lunch time.  I WILL fix this.
3. I'm thankful for a doctor who knows how important running is to me and who has the knowledge and skills to make sure I can run for many years to come.

I had a very positive (albeit PAINFUL) visit to my sports chiro yesterday.  I blogged about it HERE if you want to know what he said.  Bottom line, I'm going to be fine and I will finish my half in Knoxville.

Broken?

I've spent pretty much the entire morning crying my eyes out behind the closed door to my office, pulling myself together for a few minutes at a time to work with some kids.  Thank God for cute 5 year old diversions and a light caseload on Wednesdays.

I'm VERY concerned about the pain I've been having in my calves/shins.  It's been mostly the right leg, but I'd be lying if I didn't say the left leg had issues too. I felt better and ran 8 miles on Saturday.  The pain came back and I could barely finish 4 miles yesterday.  I have an appointment this evening with my sports chiro and I have no idea what he's going to say.  I'm pretty sure all my training is going to come to a halt but HOPEFULLY, I'll still be able to finish the Knoxville Half on April 1st.  What a cruel April Fool's joke would it be if I take my family 12+ hrs away to stand outside waiting for me to finish a race and I don't finish.

What really scares me more than maybe not finishing a race?  Feeling like a failure and failing in front of my family and friends. What kind of example does that set? Also? Running is my ONE thing.  The ONE thing I have that helps keep me sane.  I love having a plan and training for something.  I need all those crazy colors on my calendar to balance out the colors from every other member of the family.  I know I'm never going to "win" anything, or even come close to placing, but knowing I'm improving and getting stronger makes me happy.  I've learned to love running.  I've also really loved starting the NROLFW strength training program. I'm working out in the weight room next to buff dudes and lifting more weight than I ever thought I would. What if I have to stop that, too?

I'm not happy right now.  I don't just feel physically broken.  I'm emotionally broken as well.  I'm terrified of taking time off and continuing to gain weight (I'm up 3 pounds this week, too, which further pisses me off since I literally busted my ass working out this week and ate well except for 2 days).  I've seen what injury can do to people - physically and emotionally.

I don't want that to be me.

Hate

Hate is such an ugly word.  It's dark and mean and unforgiving, like some scary abyss you can't claw your way out of.  The word "hate" has crossed my mind a lot lately.  My inner mean girl has been rearing her ugly head and I can't get rid of her.  I hate her.

I hate that she makes me hate myself.

I hate that I can't see past the "wrong" is see in myself and find what's "right".

I feel betrayed by my body and I hate it.

I should feel proud that I did 4 strength training workouts (increasing the weight each time) and ran 11 miles this week, but instead I hate that the scale is up 4 pounds after a weekend of bad eating (to my highest weight in probably 2 years) and my clothes are not getting any closer to fitting.

I hate that I could barely button my favorite pair of jeans on Sunday.

I hate even more that I'm walking around in clothes that don't fit and I know people are noticing.

Maybe I hate even more that I care what other people think.

I hate what I see in the mirror.

I hate that I feel powerless to change anything.  I'm trying to eat right. I'm exercising.  My sore muscles are proof that I'm doing something right.  But I just see failure.  I'm still gaining weight.  I'm not running as far or as fast as I was before (maybe because I'm so much heavier) and I hate that all my hard work has been flushed down the toilet.

I hate feeling this way.  I hate that I can't seem to pull myself out of this abyss.

source

I need to start listening to Maya. I need to find the solution because the hate I feel is only making matters worse.

Menu Plan Your Butt Off

So here's the deal...I'm sick of the fighting every night about what to have for dinner.  I'm also sick of eating the same 4-5 meals every frigging week.  Hubs has also decided that there should be no eating out for the rest of the month (yes, I know it's only March 5th) because we're going away for vacation the first week of April.

Therefore, this weekend I decided to use my time on Pinterest and ZipList wisely and come up with a meal plan for the week.  I did not meal plan breakfasts or lunch because the kids are on their own for breakfast & I pretty much always eat oatmeal.  Lunch is at school for them (or they make pb&j) and I typically have a lean cuisine and salad for lunch or sneak off to Subway.

So here's my basic plan for the week:

Monday: Tortilla Pizza, salad (D has a jazz band performance tonight so I let him choose dinner)

Tuesday: Mini Turkey Meatloaves, Lipton noodles, green beans

Wednesday:  Skinny Chicken Enchiladas, refried beans, salad

Thursday: Slow Cooker Pork and Zucchini, sauteed asparagus

Friday: Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad (I had to include one standby so the family wouldn't mutiny)

Saturday: Shoyu Chicken Thighs, steamed broccoli, brown rice

Sunday: Crock-Pot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti, green salad

In reviewing the plan with the family I got whining and complaining and eye-rolling, but this is it.

LLRB 365: 2012 Week 9

Sunday

2-26-12

Had an amazing day in Chicago with Melissa, Christy & Nancy

Monday

2-27-12

Made it through my first New Rules of Lifting for Women workout

Tuesday

2-28-12

It was a margarita night

Wednesday

2-29-12

Happy Leap Day

Thursday

3-1-12

My newest obsession - Draw Some (I'm barif0815)

Friday

3-2-12

I hate kiwi but they weren't bad in my protein shake

Saturday

3-3-12

Managed an 8 mile run during a strong wind advisory & snow in the morning, then this hit by dinner time.  I'm so over winter and we haven't even really had one yet.

There was a little glimpse into my week.  What did you do during the last week of February?

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Credit: Pinterest

Credit: Pinterest

       

Credit: Pinterest

Credit: Pinterest

 

Dr. Seuss was pretty wise, wasn't he?