Running

During the last few months something has come over my parents. . .well I guess it's been brewing. It might have started the summer of my wedding (2007) when my mom insisted on getting a treadmill even though my dad said she'd never use it (about 800 miles on the odometer later, she's still using it! It is right by the laundry room, so it also gets used for the classic "clothes hanger" purpose sometimes. . .) It could have started when my dad started exercising after work and started dropping pounds. I didn't know about this until after the fact, but a few weeks ago those two crazy old folks called me one Saturday morning and said "We ran this morning!" I said "So? What about it?" Well, they did some "Frozen Feet" charity run in Grand Forks. Cindy did a 5K and Tim did a 10K!

Now, I have never been a big runner myself. I was always one of the slowest runners in my class during that elementary school torture tactic, the Presidential Physical Fitness Test (shudder). I was in track in middle school, and enjoyed it, but mostly I enjoyed being around my friends and all of the fooling around we did at track meets and at track practice. During college, I dutifully pounded out a mile or so on the treadmill a few times a week at the Wellness Center on campus and spent the whole time staring at the timer, waiting for it to end! Music and TV helps a little, but not much.

Well, now those two announced that they are going to participate in the Fargo Marathon. No, not the full 26 miles. BUT. . .Tim has signed up for the half and Cindy has signed up for the 10K! Now other family members are considering this event. There is NO WAY I would do 13 miles, not only because of the pain but also because of the boredom. But I have been considering the 10K for the reasons at the root of most competition. . .if they can, why can't I? So for the past week I have been alternating my favorite workout, swimming laps, with a return to the treadmill. I guess its not SO bad. I was on there for 30 minutes today and it wasn't horrible. So we'll see about this.

So anyway, I am very impressed with Tim for doing this! I know it will be done because he didn't really have a hard time with the 10K and his knees are good (I'm told knee issues are a main distance running drawback). He has really got his health under control these last few years to the benefit of his history of back problems and snoring! It's for real, with bags of old XXL clothes going to the homeless shelter in the last few years and new XLs replacing them. Very impressive!

This reminds me of the TV show "the Biggest Loser" which is on tonight! One of my faves! Dad was a football lineman in college and they are a population known for size and strength and also eating. (I've heard Tim's tales about the players lining up glasses of milk and juice all across their trays at the dining center!) Now, before he gets annoyed, I am going to say that he was never even close to the ridiculous obesity of Biggest Loser contestants (those people are big fat messes, and I don't feel bad saying so because they admit it themselves), but he is similar to some of them because EVERY season there are a few BIG guys who have a similar story: "I played college football as a lineman and I was told to eat all the time and encouraged to gain weight. When I graduated I kept eating but stopped working out." On seasons where people come with a partner, there have been former teammates on the show toghether. (They were the brown team, and they were among the biggest losers.) They are always huge, many in the 300s and even low 400s in poundage. It never fails. As soon as they quit eating their former diet (which is always horrifying! I sometimes joke that I like to eat junk food but this goes beyond going to the Pizza Hut lunch buffet once a wee. Seriously, they admit to eating several fast food double cheeseburgers a day, drinking about 40 oz. of pop regularly, and are generally pigs) and start exercising again, the former athletes that they were emerge again and they drop ALOT of weight. Like 10-20 pounds a week. One guy last season, Rudy, lost 1oo pounds in 6 weeks. It is like there bodies are saying "Oh thank you! Finally!" If I ever (god forbid) found myself on that show I would want one of them as my partner because no one can compete with them once they get going!

This is the guy who lost 100 lbs. in 6 weeks. I can't imagine how good he feels. People criticize the show as being "unhealthy" because we've always been told you should only lose 2 lbs. a week. Well, I think that is the talk of people who can't lose weight themselves. Of course its healthy. . . they weigh like 400 pounds and need to lose 200! Its not the same as someone who needs to lose 30 pounds. . .and they eat all the time on the show. It's not about starvation, its about fueling the burn! And most of the contestants start the show on multiple medications for diabetes, blood pressure, and many other ailments. By the time the season is half over they are able to stop taking them! That seems healthy to me! But whatever. . .these people really impress me (actually, the women do even more than the men because they usually have different reasons for the gain, not just remnants of excessive college football eating habits). They even finish with flat stomachs and muscular arms and legs, not the flab that is left when people have gastric bypass.

This is Dane and below is Mo, two other lineman from different seasons. They also succeeded and lost over 100 pounds. Mo got sent home right away and lost most of his weight at home.

Where is this going, you ask? Well, at the end of the season, the remaining contestants always run a marathon. (the full, not the half!) It takes them a long time, and they are trailed by medical and camera crews, but they do it!

So anyay, way to go Tim (and mother, of course)! Maybe I'll join you, maybe I'll be lining University Dr. drinking a diet coke. Who knows. The website has blogs of people who keep track of their training adventures. I'd like to follow theirs!