Double Take

I'm reclaiming my personal blog now. Professional blog updates to come later - got the server space today and think I can have the site launched next week. But now - back to meee.

Do you ever see someone somewhere unexpected - somewhere you do not usually see them - and at first you don't recognize them even though you know that you know who they are? Does that make sense? Like you see a coworker at the grocery store and it takes you a second to figure out why you know them?

Well, that just happened to me at work today. A man walked into the library, and my first thought was, "Hot damn that is a good looking man!"

And then I realized.... it was Derek

:)

It's okay, you can roll your eyes. I know.

To go off on a completely different tangent now - I have succeeded in completing six 4-mile runs and one 3.5-mile run in the past nine days (including today), all with a 9 minute-mile pace or faster.

SO tomorrow I'm going to step it up and try a longer run. I wanted to do 8-miles, but my knee has been bugging me still (remember the getting-hit-by-car incident from last year.... yeah...) so, I think I'll just try for 6-miles. And then - Yoga!!!

Names

So, this health blog really needs a name. Here are the ideas so far:

• The Hog: A Health Blog (sent as a joke, but hey -why not?)
• An Apple A Day (kinda over used, but it's catchy)
• Health & Wellness Blog (cause that's what it'll be)
  
• ???

Seriously.

Any who, I have gotten some awesome feedback so far. Based on that I will be adding articles on nutrition supplements, specific diseases & conditions, and 'reader questions' answered. Keep the feedback coming, and dear lord if anyone knows of a good name help me out here.

Up-Coming Professional Blog!!!

Okay, y'all get the inside scoop - I just got approval to launch a "healthy" blog through my work at the Health Sciences Library! I am super excited about this opportunity to write for my job, and I really want this blog to be a success. So I want to tell y'all about it, and get some feedback from you.

The target audience of the blog includes:

1. The College of Community Health Sciences community (my work)
2. University of Alabama affiliates (pretty much all of Tuscaloosa)
   
3. Any person who may be interested in reading about health related topics (this could be someone here in Tuscaloosa, or someone in Australia)
   

The content will include:

1. Fun healthy recipes with alternative food ideas
2. Exercise tips, routine ideas, motivation aids, pep talks
3. Local Highlights, community events that promote good health
4. Library Highlights, resources that our library provides
5. Fact or Fake - confirm or bust old wives tales with review of medical literature
6. Guest writers, reader feedback posts
7. Book Reviews
   

The things I have to watch out for:

1. I CANNOT provide medical advice
2. I'll have some legal statements liability purposes

So I really want this blog to have some interactive quality to it. I'll need to get a strong readership base built up and make opportunities for those readers to give feedback and participate in the blog. In order for that to happen, I need to be writing about stuff people are interested in.

This is where I'd like your feedback.

What would you guys want to read about? What health-info could I research for you and post? Would any of you be interested in a guest column? Is there a book you'd like me to review? Do you know of a community event that should get highlighted? What's a health related old wive's tale that you want to know the facts about?

AAAAND, what the heck should I call this blog??? LOL - I am blanking on a good name.

So please, give me your feedback, thoughts, and ideas. You can comment them here, or email me (smdebruinATcchs.ua.edu), or send me a Facebook message. I cannot wait to get started on this new project! :)

Moving with Momentum!

I feel like I'm finally getting some momentum behind my running. Check out the last five days of my week:

Thursday - ran 3.5 miles (didn't time it)
Friday - group yoga one hour
Saturday - ran 4 miles (didn't time it)
Sunday - ran 4 miles in 36 minutes
Monday - ran 4 miles in 34 minutes during my lunch break!

Isn't that freaking awesome?!?!

Yes, I am overly proud of myself. But I definitely want to keep this up so I can be fully prepared for the Ranger Run and just so that this type of routine becomes... well, routine for my whole life. It's hard to get into good habits, and I want this whole running thing to really stick.



What motivates you to stay in a healthy habit (pick whatever habit you might be trying to keep)? What gets in your way?

Head Games

Last Sunday I went climbing with Derek and Sam at Steele, determined to hone my mental skills on the rock face. I have been reading The Rock Warrior's Way by Arno Ilgner (that might not be how to spell his name. whatever.) to learn some mental skills and improve my climbing.

The weekend before I had gone to Sandrock with the hopes of sending my mental 'project' Thin in the Middle, a 5.10 sport route. Unfortunately, I was not on my mental A-game and after make excuses about the cold weather and excessive crowds and being hungry and being sore from working out, I didn't even attempt the route. I led another sport route, so at least I did something. But basically I punked out.

Fail.

So this Sunday was my opportunity to do-over. We hiked in with beautiful weather - blue skies, warm sun, cool breeze. After puttering around and checking out a few routes (it was my first time at Steele) we ended up in front of a 5.6 trad line. Sam was in need of a few moments to eat his breakfast, so Derek asked me if I wanted to take the lead. I decided to go for it - after all it was only a 5.6

I racked up and scoped out the route. The start of the climb was a scramble up onto a block at the base of a crack - I figured I could make the scramble without a problem, and place gear in the crack. The ledge I would be standing on was about 15 feet off the ground.

This was a perfect way to start my climb because it was easy enough I was confident I wouldn't get hurt, but high enough to make me uncomfortable. It would have been a lot nice though if there had been a place to get gear in the crack when I got there!

So there I was, standing on a block with no gear. I fiddled around, sat down on the block and got a cam in a horizontal by my feet. Fat lotta good that would do me. (translation for non-climbing friends: gear below you is gear you have to fall past to catch you... this close the the ground, gear at my feet is pretty not helpful.)

Derek offered that there was a horizontal up left I could use... I tried to reach for it, but I was too short. I was going to have climb up to protect the route.

At this point, I remember Derek telling me about a sketchy almost run-out 5.6 route that had epic like tales from previous ascents.

I called down to him, "Is this that route you wanted me to do that would freak me out??? Is this gonna be runnout???"

He called back, "The protection is all there. Look around."

I decided that surely he would have warned me if this was the "epic" route. This couldn't be that route. Besides. It's 5.6 and I can climb 5.6 and even if I fall I will be okay. That became my mantra - I can climb 5.6 I can climb 5.6

So up I went. Sam and Derek did a great job of calling out encouragement. They reminded me to breath, reminded me that I had huge holds (so it didn't matter that the route WAS a bit run out and the gear that was there was in kinda crappy rock that would probably break if I fell on it). When I got to a spider web nest and came close to loosing it (I'm not a fan of spiders) Sam reminded me that spiders are scared of me.

And so it went. It took probably an hour for a 100ft route (waaaaay slow), but my ropes were in a beautiful straight line (led doubles so Derek and Sam could follow quickly), I never weighted my gear, and I never lost control of myself. I even placed a nut that I would have been confident falling on. I made it to the top and it was a beautiful day.

I did find out later that it was definitely the "epic" route.