QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic." -- Dave Barry

My dad sent me this quote, and I really loved it. I think we are often afraid to try something new because we see other people doing it and they are so good at it, we just can't imagine ourselves doing it well when we haven't even tried it and we might look ridiculous. This is why I put off trying Karate for so long, even though I had wanted to try it for years. But now I have been doing it for almost a year and there are some things that I have gotten pretty good at, and there are other things that I still might look ridiculous doing, but I love it anyway, and realize that everyone that is better than I am was in the same place as me at one point.

Anyway, I hope this quote inspires you to try something new. I bet you'll be glad you did.

TIP OF THE DAY
When you feel like you can't go any faster or further, or you just can’t do one more rep, reach from within yourself, tell yourself that you are strong and powerful and that you can you do it.

Yesterday was not a great day for me in terms of my fitness and nutrition goals. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I usually get up early and run four miles. But when my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. and I saw the wet cloudy sky outside, I rolled back over and closed my eyes, not opening them again until 8:00!

At breakfast, I decided to have one slice of light, whole-wheat toast with 1 tablespoon of almond butter, ½ of a banana, and some light, fat-free yogurt with ¼ cup of raisin bran, just to add a little crunch. Well, you’d think all of that would be enough, especially since I hadn’t even exercised, but I was still hungry. I thought maybe drinking my morning decaf coffee with skim milk would help, but it didn’t and I mistakenly opened a bag of orange flavored craisins, which happens to be an addiction of mine. By the time I popped a few handful of those in my mouth, I had eaten 9 and ½ Weight Watchers points for the day (keep in mind, I am only allotted a maximum of 23.)

Well, instead of making up for my slip-ups in the morning, I continued down the path of destruction for the rest of the day, munching here, there and everywhere. And the only exercise I got was 50 minutes of Karate last night.

So, this morning, I wasn’t really feeling up to par when my alarm went off. But since I knew I can’t go to the gym today, and I was really off track yesterday, I managed to get out of bed to go running.

The run didn’t start off well. I felt tired and jittery, a feeling I had had since the night before. But my pace started off good and I just tried focusing on finishing the run. After 2 miles, I felt a little better, but I still couldn’t shake the jittery feeling. Nonetheless, I was making good time. Towards the end of my run, I really picked up the pace, as I usually do, and started taking longer strides. I really felt weak and was having a hard time finishing, but I just pushed and pushed. Well, when I reached the 4 mile mark and looked at my time, it said 36:34 seconds!!! That’s an all time record for me, especially since I got caught at a traffic light (though I jogged in place) for about 20 seconds. So essentially, I kept up nearly a 9-minute mile pace.

Towards the end, when I really felt like I didn’t have anything left in me, I just kept pushing the thoughts of being tired out of my head and replacing them with, “I am strong and powerful.” If you repeat these words enough, you start to believe them!