Gym-spiration

I rarely write blogs and think about the fact that people I see in everyday life may read them. I write and send it out to cyberspace, and then, a friend of mine mentions something about the blog, and I think, "oh shoot, people I actually have to talk to face to face read some of my inner-most thoughts and idiotic statements." This is one of those blogs I actually thought about before-hand, and thought, shoot, if these people read it, they may be creeped out...but I think it's an important one, so I'll write it anyways. If you read this Heather and Therace, I'm sorry. I'm a creeper. A major, major creeper.

It's hard for even the most driven and motivated people to stay driven and motivated in the gym all the time. Especially in mommy-world! You're up in the night with kiddos. Your "alarm clocks" don't have a snooze button. Your little buddy(ies) rarely let you pee alone, let alone rest on the couch if you're feeling sleepy. Non-parents have it just as bad. Work is crazy. Relationships are crazy. Social lives are crazy. Shoot, for most of us, if not all of us, we would like another few hours in our days. Exhaustion creeps in...and if you're anything like me, it really creeps into my workouts.

I usually can pull myself into the gym knowing that I will have more energy after the workout. But many days I am not motivated (nor do I have the energy) to push myself quite as hard as I should to get the most out of my hour at the gym.

Enter: My gym-spiration.

There are a couple women in my life that are beasts...and I mean this in the best of ways. They are the kind of women who walk down the street and you think to yourself, "Are they a professional athlete? At the very least a fitness model?!" They aren't just thin. They are the women who look like they just left a hard workout and are headed home to juice something and eat a piece of raw steak with a side of kale. You know the type...ripped, but not too ripped. Skinny, but not too skinny. They look like they work hard. And like they could probably kick the butt of any man at the gym, on their worst day...asleep.

The first of which was Mckenna's swim teacher. The other is a trainer at our gym. Both of which I have befriended and adore because they are even more beautiful on the inside than their well-toned gams. They are both (even though they don't know it...until they read this incredibly creepy post about them in the internet) my inspiration. They are fit, healthy, and work really, really hard to be that way. When I workout with them, I push myself harder because a) I don't want to look like a punk and b) I want to be more like them.

These are the people I like to surround myself with on a lazy day at the gym.

I can't tell you the difference having a motivational workout buddy can make. Of course, Ronnie is motivating in his own right, and we have a blast in the gym. But I can look like Lazy McLazyson around him and not be embarrassed. It literally has transformed my workouts to do workouts with, or take a class from, women who are truly inspiring!!

If you have been feeling a bit lax in your workouts or unmotivated, this would be my one piece of advice. Well, ok, I have a second key piece to go along with it...if you find that person, just befriend them, but don't exactly mention why initially...I think it may sound super creepy...especially for a dude. Although, on second thought, who doesn't like a little stroke to the old ego from time to time? Precede with caution there ;-) But seriously, find someone. You'll be glad you did.

Here's Why I'm Open About CF

**Reposted from May 2012**

I recently posted a question about CFers and being secretive about their disease. I also asked why some consider their numbers (PFT's) to be a private matter. After reading through all of the responses, I figured I would post my thoughts on here concerning this subject. -Awareness is key. I don't shout from the mountain tops that I have CF, but I also don't hide it. The more people who know about CF and it's affects, the better. Imagine if everybody knew what CF was and that you can't catch it? Would children need to be so ashamed or get teased with comments like, "staying away so you can't get it"? Knowledge is power in every circle of life. The more people know, the less ignorant they become. For ME, and I stress ME, I dedicate my life to spreading awareness so that hopefully future generations won't ask the question, "What is CF?". It would make ALL of our lives easier.  

-If people "look down on you" for having CF, why in the world would you want them as friends anyway? It's not something that I state with my name when I meet somebody, but I certainly bring it up quickly if I see any type of relationship forming. Often, CFers with larger support systems seem to be healthier. An easy way to bring it up with friends (without actually bringing it up) is to set your digestive enzymes on the table before you and your friends dive into a meal. That will ALWAYS get the conversation going.  

-Generally speaking, we only hide "skeletons in our closet" if they are BAD things. CF may be a horrible disease, but it's not a character flaw. People will often react to CF by the way we present it. If I'm very secretive about it, then people will assume that it's some terrible thing that I don't want exposed about myself. CF plays a small role in who I am, but it certainly plays a role. For me, I think it has had a positive effect on who I am and many of my friends and family members have said the same thing. If you spin CF into a positive aspect of your life, friends tend to gain respect for your tenacity and perseverance in facing this disease. You don't become the "sick one" of the group, you become "the warrior".

-A common response I got was that people wanted to be seen for who they were and as an individual yet they didn't want to be seen as "different". To me, this seems like competing answers. Bottom line: I AM different. I have a different hair color than some of my friends, I weigh a different amount than most of my friends, I'm uglier than ALL of my friends, we all don't like the same movies, some of us are smarter than others in the group, and oh yeah, I have CF and they don't. CF does make me different AND it makes me an individual. Many of my friends come to me in hard times cause they've seen me navigate though these different challenges I've had in my life. I wear that as a badge of honor. I'm thankful that CF has molded me into a person that my friends would seek advice from. Would I be that way without CF? I can't say for sure, but I doubt it.

-When it comes to PFT's I think it's VERY important that we share those numbers with each other. If your PFT's are higher than mine, I want to know what you do differently than me. Maybe it's pure luck and you have a superior genetic code when compared to me, but what if it's not? Aren't we all willing to do ANYTHING to improve our quality of life? When I see someone my age that has higher PFT's, I admit, I get a little jealous. First I think, good for them, that's awesome (and I sincerely mean that), but then I think, "I wonder what their CF story is and what they do on a daily basis that is different from me?" I get it that some of us can do EVERYTHING right and still be very sick. Is there anybody out there though that would argue that TRYING to do everything right will MAKE you sick? Of course not. Each of us needs all the help/tips/tricks that we can get our hands on. Personally, I want every CFer to be healthier and happier than me and if I can provide them information on how to get the done, then that's exactly what I will do. We're all part of an exclusive club here that only has 70,000 members world wide. We all play for the same team. Doesn't it make sense that we all share our playbooks?

Landscaping for Dummies

As many of you know, Ronnie and I moved into our first home when we got married. We've posted a few photos, and I know we've raved about the yard. Our backyard is like a little oasis in the middle of the desert; grass, green, plants...the works. It is so wonderful....until you have to try to keep it alive in July, in the desert, when you're a landscaping moron.

Ronnie has been doing a great job. Using well over what environmentalists would consider our share of water, Ronnie's successfully kept the yard alive with gallons upon, gallons of it. The plan so far has been: water it, mow it, and hope that everything lives. The plan has worked well for the most part. The grass is green. And (most) of the plants are still living.

Last night, we decided to move from just mowing and watering and tried to tackle hedge trimming. I'm sure our neighbors watched in disbelief as tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum haphazardly cut back the bushes in our front yard. At one point, I realized I was cutting a bush without even really watching where/how I was cutting....it was at that point I realized we probably should have waited til it was even darker, so no one could witness this embarrassing attempt at landscaping. Most of the time Ronnie was using the hedge trimmers, he was laughing. "How's this?" he'd ask. "I have no idea," I'd respond. Talk about the blind leading the blind. I'm sure neighbors cringed as I'd bend down to pick up the debris, with my face just inches from where Ronnie was throwing around the hedge trimmer - talk about trust....or stupidity!

Anyways, after a few hours of cutting, raking, pulling and picking up, the yard does look better...in our opinion (I'm sure landscapers across the country would laugh at the shape of some of our bushes).

So here's to learning curves and giving it a good old college try. Anyone have any landscaping tips or horror stories for us?? Help us out or at least make us feel better by telling us how badly you stunk before you got the hang of it!

Everyone Can Use a Cheerleader

As some of you may remember from my previous posts, I am training for a half marathon that is at the end of this month. I ran yesterday, as Sundays are my days to get a long run in, but I really really really didn't feel like running. I could think of a million and one reasons why I didn't want to go and a few why I shouldn't go! It was hot, I had to do it alone, I was tired, I could just do it tomorrow, I hadn't been drinking enough water so I'd be dehydrated, and many, MANY more. Never-the-less, I laced up my Asics and hit the pavement. It was not a very enjoyable run from the start. Just one of those days when everything feels off, and as my mouth dried out and my legs went numb, I constantly had to keep my mind from flashing back to all my reasons as to why I shouldn't be running. I had to keep the little voice in my head from saying, "told you so." With a mile and a half left in the run, I saw Ronnie on a bike riding towards me, yelling, "Good job honey." Boom, I instantly felt less tired, had more energy and suddenly the last 1.5 miles didn't seems so far (although my mouth was still just as dry). Ronnie rode the last leg of the run with me; cheering the whole way.

It reminded me how far a little encouragement goes in motivating me. Somehow, a few cheers from the sidelines really does a lot for me. When we got home, I told Ronnie how awesome it felt to have him cheer me on when I felt so tired. We both agreed that it's a good thing to remember to do more often. Not only when we're running, but with anything. This really goes for all things related to CF: treatments, exercise, hospital stays, taking meds, PFTs, and the list goes on. Stuff that is not so fun, and often times tiring, becomes a lot easier with a little help from people on the sidelines.

This week, I've made it my goal to be super uplifting to the people around me. Join me and do the same!! Hopefully, someone in your life will return the favor!!