Confession of a Former Veggie Hater

Maybe I should be more clear here. I still strongly dislike a good number of vegetables. I’ve always liked a lot of vegetables raw rather than cooked. Salads are great (within reason) but anything beyond that would be awful for me. When we’d go out to eat if “seasonal vegetables” were on the menu I would quickly ask for a substitution. Even swimming in butter and other yummy, if bad for you options, I just couldn’t choke them down.

That all changed a few years ago. I decided I needed to get my Mojo back and couldn’t seem to do it on my own. I started hypnosis with the thought that it might jump start my self-esteem and help with my weight loss. One of the things we worked on was for me to become more open to vegetables. At first I thought the hypnotist was nuts when she suggested working on it, but I thought “whatever, like it will really work”. She then gave me some recipes to try at home. My husband (the traitor) jumped right in and encouraged me to try them. Shockingly, they weren’t bad!

Has this turned me into a vegetarian? Well, no. Have I increased my veggie intake? Yes! I still can’t find a way to like cucumbers (other than as pickles), but have tried okra (which is OK, but may never be a favorite) and have found a LOVE for zucchini. Who knew it could be so awesome when cooked with a good mix of spices?

The lesson here; I suppose it would have to be that a lot of our dislikes are really in our head. Maybe someday I’ll be able to try olives without thinking I’m eating little tiny eyeballs-maybe.

First Confession

So I’ve been thinking about a blog for a while now. I write articles for online magazines for work, teach, and do presentations on a regular basis so I didn’t really want to blog about work too. Seriously, a girl needs a little something else in her life! This morning I was chatting with some people and decided that this quest could be a topic all by itself!

The title of this blog comes from my answer about running. I started running two years ago in an attempt to become more healthy and lose some weight. I didn’t lose a pound from running, but found something that makes me happy. I’m not fast or graceful. I win medals from simply finishing, not from being the first across the line. When I talk to other runners I tell them that I’m a reformed marching band geek. It makes more sense when you know that most of the people I run with have been running since high school. While they were forming their technique and gaining speed, I was learning new instruments (I learned to play a brass instrument just for marching band) and memorizing drills. The only time we ran was at band camp and when we did something wrong. Like runners say, my sport is your sport’s punishment. That was totally true for me.

I’ve found some of the excitement I used to find in music performance in pushing myself past where I think I can go or pushing faster than I went before. Hearing people cheer for you even when they don’t know who you are, having perfect strangers give you water, icy towels, or drape medals around your neck while telling you how awesome you are can truly make even the worst race more enjoyable. Feeling the energy at the start of a race, allowing it to bounce through the city streets as my feet pound the pavement, knowing that all of your hard work benefits not only you but the charity that will receive money from the race you just finished brings a sense of accomplishment that I’d been missing for a while.

This will not necessarily be a running blog, but will probably come from thoughts I have while running. It certainly seems to be when most ideas come to me. Join me on the journey of finding life away from work toward finding a better balance!