Day 2

A good day folks. Back only gave me real problems in the morning, by noon I had loosened up and was feeling decent. I am taking it easy and keeping close to the house, but will be able to go to work tomorrow and hopefully get back into an exercise routine this week.

I refuse to let work get me as out of sync as it has the past few months. It was partially just a uniquely busy time for us (I manage foreign aid contracts for the U.S. government) but I also just went through a phase of saying 'yes' too often. In the end, I burned out physically and mentally and then seeing my work suffer exacerbated both. A few months ago, I accepted a spot in an MBA program in Colorado, so that is both the light in the end of the tunnel and part of the end goal.

I want to be athletic enough to take advantage of everything Colorado has to offer, and feel comfortable enough in my body to maximize my self confidence as I meet a whole new group of peers.

The trail in the photo above (a trail I ran a year ago) is pretty flat, but I want to be a real trail runner, I want to reach a new level in my yoga practice, I want to try triathlons. But right now I am pretty close to the least in-shape I have ever been. I am 2 lbs from my all-time-highest weight (which was only about a month ago) so this is going to need to be quite an overhaul. An ideal for me would be about 30lbs down from my current weight and ability to run a 10k in an hour or so. From there we can discuss the longer runs or trail running... 

I feel like I eat pretty well, I can definitely throw back drinks like a good 27 year old, but I rarely drink on my own and I mostly pick good choices when eating. I eat out too often, which throws off my portion control and my ability to tell exactly what I am putting in my face. So, for the next month I will be making all of own food, keeping an eye on portion control and empty calories. 

The next month and a half will be based here in D.C. and then the following months will include a road trip and settling in to my new home in Colorado. Luckily my road trip partner is a healthy eating kindred spirit, who just finished her first half-marathon, so we will keep each other accountable and she will keep me to my exercising plans for this trip. 

Inaugural

Hi, My name is Anna and welcome to my pity party.

I am going on two days solid of mainly lying in my bed reading running blogs and triathlon blogs and all sorts of tortuous blogs because I, Anna, am cooped up with a back injury.

Last week I was enjoying a much needed break from my crazy job in D.C. to fly to New Mexico to serve as flower girl in my Aunts' wedding (full disclosure, I am 27...) and during a particularly gorgeous hike (see photo) I twisted my back a bit.

Everything felt a bit stiff at the time, but add in 12 hours of cramped airplane flights and layovers (I'm 5'10") and I was one unhappy camper when I got back to D.C. I then made the mistake of scheduling a massage that made everything exponentially worse.

I am usually one to avoid doctors if I can, but when I couldn't sneeze without crying I quickly scheduled one. After some examination and chat, the woman essentially described me to a T:

I think of myself as physically fit, even though I go through phases where I am a complete couch potato; I recently put on additional pounds, and my body is just about at capacity for its stress level at work. I was in my comfort zone (the high desert of New Mexico) but didn't realize how easy it was for me to overdo it.

I have always been the girl who WANTS to be physically active. I like the idea of trail running and backpacking and rock climbing but my body is not naturally athletic and my mental motivation never seems to make up for that. Having my body yell at me like this was a wakeup call, it is time to become the more athletic person I have always wanted to be.

So, as I finish up resting my back and easing back into normal life, I will throw a couple posts up here introducing myself and what I meant by calling this blog "She's Getting There" (note the optimistic URL "She Got There... that is one part optimism and one part that it was the only available URL :) )

Ciao,
A