Better to Laugh

Have you heard about vanity sizing? It is when manufacturers put smaller sizes on clothing to make consumers feel better about themselves. My first experience with this was while watching The Biggest Loser. A contestant that weighed almost 10 pounds more than I do put on a pair of pants a size smaller than I wear. I thought, “How can this be?” Then, a few months later, I saw a report on t.v. about vanity sizing. They had different clothing brands and showed how a size 10 from one brand fit the same as a size 8 (or even 6!) in other brands. This doesn’t make me feel better about myself; it makes me feel confused. It also makes me have to try on clothing, instead of just picking up my size and heading to the checkout (not that every style fits my body type, but I had a much better shot at a good fit). Now I understand my dismay trying on jeans when I thought I was in a size 8 and I fit in a true size 10. Had I gained weight? Was I getting weird middle age bulges? To be honest, I don’t care what the size says, I just want to wear a consistent size.

Exercise and diet are about health. You can change the number on a tag, but that will not change how you feel physically, the number on the scale, or change your actual shape. I mean, my husband is not going to look at me one day and say, “Hey, weren’t you a size 6 earlier this week?”

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Last week was crazy busy. The school year is winding down, Friday was graduation day for our seniors, there was another half marathon on Saturday, we celebrated our daughter’s birthday Sunday, and more.

There were no records broken at the Geist Half Marathon, only my ankle. Well, not really broken, just tender. By the time we finished, the temperature was in the 70s and there was humidity in the air, just too hot for me. It was also very hilly. The heat, humidity, and hills took their toll. I finished about 10-15 minutes slower than I wanted, but at least I finished (2:23:05). Considering I ran a half marathon two weeks ago, I will take it.

My friend, Kara, finished in 2 hours 47 minutes. She planned on walking most of it because she hadn’t gotten much mileage in, and she had a baby in October. You just can’t keep a good woman down! The best part of the race was the surprise at seeing her 7 month old baby at mile 7 and getting a kiss. I almost ran passed him, but I saw a baby out of the corner of my eye and thought how cute, a baby who has no idea what is going on is watching all these people run by him. Then I recognized his chubby cheeks and big, dark eyes. “Is that Dominic?” I called out to the friend holding him. “Yes, are you Dawn?” Yep, I stopped long enough to say hi to Dominic and give him a smooch. What a great morale booster! Baby power!

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I re-read my post from last weekend’s half marathon; funny, it appears from my post that I was super focused and it was all about the running. I guess trying to reach personal running goals makes one take the event more seriously. Of course, I found many fun situations that day. Here are my top 10:

10.  At packet pickup, one of the vendors had two really funny t-shirts: one had “Does this make my butt look fast?” on the back of the shirt near the hem and the other had “Not tonight Honey, I’ve got a long run in the morning.”

9.  Since I started in Corral D, I got to see the elite runners warm up; they are a thing of beauty. Okay, actually they are stick people who run really fast, but to a runner that is beautiful.

8.  Two women about my age (middle 40s) had their hair in braids/ponytails, were wearing crazy striped socks, cheer panties, and poof skirts that just hit the bottom of their cheeks. All I could think was, “I hope they used lots of Glide.”

7.  I learned that if you pinch your cup you can run through the water/Gatorade stations and drink at the same time, without splashing water all over yourself.

6.  I learned that if you run through the drink station someone will eventually dead stop in front of you. Oops. At least she didn’t fall over when I ran into her.

5.  I met a super nice gal in the corral at the start. We talked about running stuff; that helped to kill the 20 minute wait until the race got underway. Last year, she said she ate two Big Macs before the Mini (she meant Egg McMuffins) and felt fine. I can’t believe that didn’t make her sick! I would have felt stuffed!

4.  When I crossed the start line, the clock showed 2 minutes and 15 seconds instead of 45 minutes. Awesome!!  I think I literally said “Wow” out loud as I crossed.

3.  Free, ice-cold, chocolate milk after the race. Yum!

2.  Free Subway sandwiches at the Indy Runners tent after the race! Double yum! I am so glad my husband and I are members, especially since it took us almost two hours to find each other.

1.  And the number one best thing: Beating my personal record with an exhilarating run on a beautiful spring morning.

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I finished the Mini-Marathon with a personal 13.1 mile best:  2:12:43! With a sore foot! My hubby finished in 1:36; he rocks! Here are some highlights:

• The body felt great, then I turned my bad foot on uneven cement.
• Kept running, my foot didn’t get really sore until about mile 7 or 8.
• Looked for inspiration from Erin and Sarah…two friends that are going through some rough physical illnesses. What would they say? FIGHT!!
• Ran entire first 10 miles, then foot started throbbing, so I ran/walked last 3 miles.

Afterward, I couldn’t wait to tell Terry about my time, but I couldn’t find him in the post race area. I looked for about 45 minutes, during which time it started raining on me. Thank goodness I tied my rain jacket around my waist at the start! The rain let up after about 20 minutes or so, and still no Honey. I thought maybe he went back to the car, so I went to the car and waited another 45 minutes. I tried to remember if we had promised to not leave until we had found each other. Then, I started to wonder if maybe something had happened to him. I decided to go back to the post race area. I left a note on our car, in case he came back. (The nice man at Mo’ Joe Coffee House gave me paper and a pen. He said he would only do it if I was writing a nice note. I told him it was a nice note, and I would even start it with ‘Honey.’ He said okay, that he didn’t want to be in the middle of a spat. LOL) I started back and asked at the results table if he had finished; he had and with a really good time. I thought what is the good of running so he doesn’t have to wait too long for me to finish if we can’t find each other for 2 hours. I found my honey after about 5 minutes and gave him a big hug! He said that he was waiting in the viewing stands until the 3 hour mark. He felt terrible that he had missed me; I was just glad that we were both okay. We already set a meeting spot for next year. I just hope I can remember where that is in a year!

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The event is almost here! I ran 10 miles last Saturday in Wisconsin; we stayed at the farm for Easter with the Mulders. Wow, I didn’t realize how much rolling hills can tighten up your calves! Not to mention how tiring the wind blowing across open fields is. It was a great training run! I kept praying that no dogs would run into the road growling and barking, since my husband warned me that he met some unhappy canines last time he ran the block. By the way, the perimeter of the neighborhood block is about 5 miles; rural neighborhoods are very spacious. I saw one dog a couple of farms down the road, but I know him; he pretty much keeps to himself. The only other dog was on a chain. Other than watching that I didn’t get run over by a milk truck, it was an enjoyable run in the dairy air.

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