Friday, July 25, 2008

My Hair Doesn't Work, and T-shirts

Upswing underway, I’m fairly sure. I am looking forward to things here and there—for example, I am really pleased that I get to meet up with a fellow blogger tomorrow. (Caution: if you let your location slip and it’s anywhere near me, I may hunt you down. I have made several of my best friends this way. I’d link to them, but then my own location would be obvious.)

Mignon noted the diversity evident at HB’s preschool. That this does make a difference was illustrated yesterday evening: I was sitting on the front stoop with him and he started trying to put cornrows in my hair. “This won’t hurt, but it will pull a little bit,” he said. “You twist it and twist it, and then—Mama, your hair doesn’t work!”

I am addicted to your running success stories. I really have to make up some shirts to send to folks with the best stories. If I do, what should they say? “At least I’m running”? “Another Maggot”?

And if you’re looking for something funnier and spicier than what I’m up to (not a very high bar, I admit), check out Feral. (Warning: if you’re at work and your internet access blocks “inappropriate” content, her page may not open.)

21 comments:

BethanyWD said...

I only WISH you lived around here (greater Seattle area), but then again I bet you'd make me RUN.

Feral Mom said...

I vote for "Another Maggot." And maybe a cartoon maggot wearing running shoes? Or is that overkill?

Many thanks for the link! And I'll be posting my own running success story very soon. All thanks to you.

Romance said...

I am not shilling for a t-shirt, but I thought I would share my story...

Started running about 2.5-3 years ago (started reading your blog around the same time) - well, really I didn't actually run- I started walking a minute and very, very, very slowly jogging a minute. I was borderline hypertensive, pushing 230 lbs (offical high weight 220 only after I lost enough to brave the scale), borderline high lipids, BMI of 37 and about 53% body fat....

Fast forward - ran first half marathon in February, great cardiac profile, healthy BMI, 24% body fat, 148lbs and now run between 30-45 miles a week.

Oh, and during that time adopted two medically fragile sibs out of foster care... Oh, and launched a business (thank god its successful) while hubs was laid off..

As corny as it sounds- I often think of your advice to just get out there on days I want to laze about. Your blog and call to all maggots would resound in my mine when I felt like lagging--- I would tell myself just run as slow as it takes...

Anyway, thats my story...

Feral Mom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"Geriatric sloth!" Please?

Paige said...

I, however, am looking for a t shirt! Anyways, I used to comment under the name Hoping and did a few years back.....I was high blood pressure with my pregnancy and my husband deployed and when he got home I started to run (because he could stay with the now 1 year old) I started running eight tenths of a mile and then worked my up. I started the 1st of May and ran my first 5k over the 4th of July in 35:25. I now run 2 miles every other day and am 60 pounds down since the birth of our son.

So the question is.....how do you push past the three mile slump? I would love to do a 10k coming up in October.....

Anonymous said...

On the front-
Another Maggot

On the back-

DoctorMama made me run.

or

Just another maggot in The DoctorMama Running Army

Anon/Sharon

Anonymous said...

Another maggot here, prepping for a 10-mile race on Sunday. I have gotten my running partners through the training with your "run as slow as you can" philosophy.

Anonymous said...

just another maggot

Anonymous said...

oh, I do like doctor mama made me do it

sell me one for when I start again!

E. said...

OK, I told you I was thinking about taking up running (again), but now I'll have to just so I can get a shirt. (I vote for "another maggot" on the front and "DoctorMama made me run" on the back.)

And this time I'll go slow.

Clover said...

I like "Another Maggot" on front with "Doctor Mama made me do it" on the back.
Hmm, very curious about who this rendez vous is with tomorrow. Hope you have fun.

SO said...

DoctorMama made me do it.

Seriously.

I glutted out on your blog after linking to you from Snickollet a couple of months ago and you totally inspired (or shamed...whichever, it worked) me back into a regular running routine.

Its been really beneficial. Yeah, duh. I haven't lost weight or changed my entire life or anything, but I can feel that I have gotten stronger and healthier and calmer. I am more focused and prouder of myself. I am braver. I run alone a lot of the time now and its the coolest thing. I was always too parinod (and, well, I totally used to cheat on solo runs) before.

My daughter is totally into it. She gets in the stroller and plays "Coach". Her two main mantras (when she is out with Boyfriend and I) are "I think you can, I think you can" for the up hill parts and "Move it, Maggots!" for the times when she is bored.

Thank you, so much.

Best,
SO

Anonymous said...

I would buy one with "Dr. Mama made me do it" on the front or back. I'm glad to hear things are looking up. -victoria

Anonymous said...

I'm the ever shrinking woman from the other side of the Atlantic, so pounsing in rain and shine the streets of London. My moment of revelation is that I have discovered I love running ! the gasping 200 yds of only a couple of months ago is now a solid 2 miles not at olympic pace but is definitely running !
My latest investment- Nike vest and running shorts (long ones!) I decided baggy t shirt scruffy leggings needed to be gone a sort of look the part I act the part....
Also the black cloud of depression seems a little more distant as a psychologist I know the theory now it seems more reality !

Anonymous said...

I don't have any good stories, but I also just started running.

I was thinking I needed a shirt that said "Actually, Doctor Mama says I'm running too fast" but that's really too many words for a good slogan, so I'd vote for "Doctor Mama made me do it" too.

luo lin
http://luolin88.wordpress.com/

Dragonfly said...

I so want one of those "DoctorMama made me run" Tshirts...
Spose I'd better get running then...

Anonymous said...

Email me and tell me where you live. Playdate!!!

MDT said...

I like "Just another maggot" slogan. Speaking of which, I finally got out yesterday for the first time with the intention of making it a habit (usually I just run whenever I need to burn off steam). I think I overdid it, despite the fact that I barely ran for 15 minutes of the half hour. I'm going to blame my shoes.

Oh, here's a slightly embarassing question. Whenever I run I start getting really itchy in areas it isn't polite to scratch publicly. I'm assuming this is because of sweat, but whatever the reason I end up with a red butt from my attempts to ease the itchiness. Any ideas? It definitely detracts from the enjoyableness of the activity.

Anonymous said...

Good Job! :)

Anonymous said...

Is it too late? Ah well, I love my running story - have at it. I hadn't read your post when I started, but it mirrored what I went through so closely that I send it to people say they should start.

I started running about 4 years ago with a 0.75 mile "loop" around my house. I was smoking a lot of cigarettes at the time and feeling like a total lard-ass. I'm not sure how I looked or even how much I weighed, but I felt horrible about myself.

A word about my weight: I'm 5'10" and bigger boned, and have fluctuated from between 145 (when I'm working out lots and eating like a saint) and 170 (when I'm not) since high school. When I write it like that, it does seem like a huge range, doesn't it? I'm at 155 right now, which is basically what I'm like when I eat ice cream but still run. I've been here, give or take 3 lbs, for about 2 years.

Anyway, running. It's 2004, I smoke lots of cigarettes, I feel like a wad of chewed bubble gum, and I want to do something about it.

The first thing I did was get a calendar, hang it on my wall, and literally write a smiley face on every day that I ran that .75 miles. I shot for three smiley faces a week. After about a month, I eeked up to a two mile run. I ran SLOW and I stuck with my smiley face program. I ended up quitting smoking in the same way, smiley faces for success.

I guess I'm just a person who thrives on structure, but those smiley faces really did it for me. For the first several months I ran, I even would take myself shopping or something on my monthly running anniversary as a reward.

The difference for me, running versus not, is not so much how I look. It's how I feel about how I look. At my height, I'll never be twee or elfin. With my build, I'll probably never be twiggy, either. But, after a run, I'm proud of my legs. They've worked hard, and they deserve my respect. Running makes me smile, makes me hum. It makes me happy that I live in my body.

I wish I could say that, rain or shine, I have kept at it perfectly for the past 4 years. But I have had good and bad months (this one has been a good one) and I tend to substitute a weight training class in for the running during the winter. Actually, I'd say that's my second lesson learned - weight training really helped my running. I hold myself up straighter, use my arms a little more, and can clip along a little less slowly.

I do have a running conundrum that you can perhaps help with, involving poop. (Sorry to the squeamish). I am a normally constipated person; I have to eat lots of fiber in order to stay even kind of regular in the crapping department.

But running does make me poop. Early in the spring (my running season starts with 2 miles or so), I can make it 1 mile before I have to desperately find a bathroom to defile. But then, when I start running more regularly, two things happen. I find that I can't poop unless I run, and I find that it takes longer and longer for running to work its magic. This is how I become literally addicted to running. And like a drug, it takes more and more to get the job done. I ran 4 miles last night (I don't go much more than that lately) and my intestines just laughed.

This is SO annoying! First, it's embarrassing as anything. Second, it's uncomfortable. And third, it's no good for my running. I'm unsure how to add much distance through potentially bathroom-free territory and there have been times that I've had to cut off a run to walk, clenched and desperate, to somewhere that I'll have trouble showing my face again.

Anyway, that's me and my running. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Muddy