Run, Megan! Run! (a marathon...?)

I am a dreadful runner. My lungs burn, my muscles tire, blah blah blah, I'm just bad at it. I feel like this:

But I have a goal! I want to run a marathon. So to be able to accomplish this and possibly turn into this...

...I have devised myself a plan.

1. I have 2 years to accomplish this goal.

I figured that I probably should, you know, be able to run before running the ultimate race. After doing a little research, it is recommended to be running for at least a year before running a marathon. I must have been inspired.

2. I have a training schedule.

Thanks to Hal Higdon, he's kind of done this for me. If there were five levels below "novice," that would be me. Therefore, I am starting with what is called his "Spring Training" program. Once I can tackle this effectively, I'll move onto the actual marathon training. Along the way I will also participate in other runs like 5Ks and half-marathons. Don't worry. I'll keep you posted and provide proof.

3. I have a nutrition plan.

I figure it will be easier to run if I don't have to haul around as much weight. Also, good food is good fuel and good fuel will help me be a better runner. Plus, who wouldn't mind losing a few extra pounds? (That would be me - I wouldn't mind.)

4. I am being held accountable.

I have a fitness journal I am keeping, but I am also telling people with the hope that every so often someone will say, "Hey, how's that marathon training coming?" or maybe a more accurate query of, "Have you learned to run yet?"

So there it is. Megan is going to run.

Yes, I'm Totally Venting

Ahhhhhh! Sometimes I love my job but at this moment I am a-hatin'. :( Grrrr...

I have the express pleasure of being a property manager and live on-site. But when my office is closed, MY OFFICE IS CLOSED, PEOPLE!! The doorbell is ridiculously loud and incredibly annoying, and anytime it rings I secretly hope it's a friend popping by to visit. But alas. It is not. Instead, I get people who can't use common sense. DING! DING! Inside my head: I don't care that you accepted a package from UPS and it wasn't for you. That's your fault, and it's after hours. My actual response: "Mr. So-and-so, it's after hours. This needs to wait to till tomorrow [because I work on Saturdays] during business hours. [insert him not understanding because he says he's Russian] Okay. [I take the package] Thank you. Good-bye." DING! DING! DINNNNNNG! DINGDINGDINGDINGDING! (Yeah, this one was super classy.) Inside my head: If somebody's been parking in your covered parking space for the last few nights, you should have left me a message or - I don't know - talked to me DURING BUSINESS HOURS. Not wake me up when I have a crazy-early morning tomorrow to complain about it. Leave a note on the car. Shoot, let out the air in their tires. Okay, maybe not the tire bit. My actual response: "You can't wake me up because your parking stall is taken. You could have talked to me during business hours or left me a message because it's been happening recently. [insert him giving me about 6 different and rather lame excuses - I pick up the phone...] Hello, tow company?" And proceed to get somebody towed. 5 minutes later... DINNNNNG! It's the tow company so I can kind of forgive that because I called them. Back to bed. DING! DINNNNG! Oh, bed was a joke. I see. Ugh. Get myself out of bed. DINNNNNG! Inside my head: Ahhhhh! Are you kidding me? A little patience. You're disrupting my sleep/life. You're locked out? Well then you shouldn't have left your key in your trucker boyfriend's car (they're in their 50's mind you). He doesn't even live with you! AND it clearly says in your contract that outside of business hours I don't have to let you in. So ha! My actual response: "If I go down to your building to let you in, I will have to post a $50 charge which you'll be responsible for. Do you want me to do that? Or you could call a locksmith. Would you like to use my phone? [I'm using a nice reasonable voice by the way, not the nasty you-dirty-rat voice that is going on simultaneously in my head] You can call your boyfriend. [she informs me he's on the road and can't call him but for no apparent reason - no, I didn't ask how she got home without her key if he dropped her off... - and she can't afford the $50 or a locksmith because she's on a fixed income, so she'll just sit outside of her apartment because she has a chair (whaaa?) for the next few days until her boyfriend comes back] Okay. Sorry. Have a good night, undisclosed name." Then I felt bad so I went down to her apartment to let her in - tow truck heaving up the naughty car in the background. Good times.

It's Prescreening Time Again

I received a random text from the long lost days of when I would hit up movie prescreenings. I was invited to see Seven Days in Utopia. So Monday, August 29th, I ventured up to Seattle and who should accompany me but my handy-dandy brotherfromanothermother Damon! (Insert picture of us looking very important and yet waiting in a line...)

We drove up Seattle to see the film. It was rather exhilarating waiting in line, forced to talk to a woman who brought a chair to wait in line (Damon and I used our legs) about her daughter who is apparently very pretty and recently graduated from somewhere... Anyhow, I enjoyed the part where I showed them a text message which was my admittance into a free movie. So fun. My review on the movie: Maybe it was the directing, maybe it was the acting, maybe it was the fact that the movie didn't let you know how the culminating moment turned out aka the final putt to win the Texas Open!! Don't worry. They leave you this gem to "continue the journey":

www.didhemaketheputt.com

Except that we went to the blasted site and it tells us, "For the answer and to continue the journey, please return here after the opening of Seven Days in Utopia, Sept. 2nd." Gee. Thanks. I have nothing against Christian/religious films unless they are less than par (like the golf term? huh? huh?) and released nationwide. My vote? Miss it. But if it's ever on TV, use your DVR and watch it when you're catching up on your ironing.

But wait. There's more!

Basking in our disappointment, we decided to use the facilities the movie theatre so generously provided. We then decided to pop into an open theatre to catch some previews seeing as none are provided at a prescreening. We were also debating whether or not to go see Planet of the Apes (which I had already seen and thoroughly enjoyed, thus willing to see it again) when the movie we were seated in began...

FANTASTIC!! The Help was nothing short of amazing. Truly remarkable. We both were extremely pleased and I really did enjoy it to the fullest. It made me feel and it was witty and clever and made me want to read the book it was based on which happens to be sitting on my nightstand right now. I give it two very enthusiastic thumbs up. It is not a typical "chick flick." In fact, I don't think I'd categorize it as a chick flick at all. Real men will love this movie and love the women who love this movie.

To top off the night, I couldn't find my parking garage ticket. When I went to the cashier to see if he could work with me on it. Yeah, no. He in his lovely Indian way told me it would be $26. I tried talking to him a couple of times but each time... "Twenty-six dollar." We tried going back up to the theatre but given the hour it was locked and there was no one in sight. So then we ventured into the garage with the hopes of procuring a new ticket that we could then pay for through the auto-pay machine thus avoiding our Indian friend but still paying for our parking. Unfortunately, Damon and I were not able to fool the sensors into believing we were a vehicle. But then Damon found an abandoned ticket. At this point we were exhausted so we decided to just try using it driving the car through the gate to see if it would let us out. What happens next?

Go to www.didtheyhavetopaytwentysixdollar.com.

Totally playing. There were two cars ahead of us and both were having issues with the machine at the gate. When we approached, we put the ticket in fearing it would say, "Yeah right, sucker. Go back upstairs and pay $26 even though you should only have to pay $6." But it just said, "Unreadable. Try again." So we tried and tried until the attendant came over, radioed up to our Indian friend, and let us on our merry way.

Prescreening of a kind of lame movie:

$0

Seeing a really awesome movie:

$0

Getting out of the parking garage at no cost:

PRICELESS

Shameless Self-Promotion

Hello everyone! Incase you didn't know or couldn't tell by my last entry, I am a singer-songwriter and guess what? I have a music blog!

http://ieatcloves.blogspot.com/

My recent entry promotes my album that is now on iTunes. It's called ALMOST.

Tuh-duh! So not to add yet another blog to your list, but check it out and tell your friends about it. Shoot. I'm on iTunes! I attribute this entry to my parents who are currently serving a mission in Africa. To quote their most recent email, "Would love your CD to go platinum so you could afford to come to visit!! How's that going, anyway???" Any pointers anyone? I'm all ears. Or eyes... Whatever!

Nothin' but love for ya,

Megan

Long Time No Blog

Well hello people.

It's been a while and all I can say is I'm sorry. But I remember what Miss Stacey from Anne of Green Gables said: "Tomorrow is fresh with no mistakes in it yet." So here we go again: The City of Megan and my attempt at chronicling my thoughts and experiences. Well I’ve been having quite a few – let’s call them “interesting” things happen in my life recently which then caused me to reflect on similarly “interesting” things that seem to happen throughout my life no matter what my age or where I’m at. Let’s just say if there is such a thing as unluck, it has decided to befriend me. But what is it they say? Something about acting versus reacting, playing the hand you’re dealt, choosing to be happy… (Maybe it was just Pam who said it instead of the ambiguous “they.”) So to close, I’ll share with you the words to my newest song…

***

THIS IS ME
Music and Lyrics by Megan Worthen

Sit me down – give me a pen
It’s time to write again
‘Cause I’m done being scared
Being afraid of what I’d say

I’m giving up keeping it in
I want to sing again
And my heart may be broke
But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe

Without a doubt there is only one me
This is me baby
I don’t care what you say
I’m loving my way
And living each day
Don’t try to stop me

With every test I learn a new way
To try and live each day
And learn to love what I got
I can’t waste anymore time being what I’m not

Without a doubt there is only one me
This is me baby
I don’t care what you say
I’m loving my way
And living each day
Don’t try to stop me

When the clouds fill with rain
When my heart is in pain
When I’m left all alone
When I’m feeling so old
When I feel like a fool
When I’m aching and bruised
When I pick myself up
When enough is enough
It’s all part of the plan
I won’t forget who I am
Stop trying to knock me down
I don’t belong on the ground
Just try and stop me

I’ll never stop running this race
But I don’t want second place
They say love is blind
But one of these days you can bet it’ll find

Without a doubt there is only one me
This is me baby
I don’t care what you say
I’m loving my way
And living each day
Don’t try to stop me!

***

Shake it easy folks. Till next time…

Hope

It's April. The daffodils are up, the Spring Fair is almost upon us, my birthday happens to be this month, Easter, too... . Well, I'm going to the Puyallup Spring Fair this year. I've never been and boy do I hope that at least one roller coaster will be running. In fact, to steal a line from my sister Anna's daffodil candidate speech, I love roller coasters. And I do. I love the ups and downs, the quick turns, the anticipation of a turn or drop that I see coming up, the lurch in my stomach when something happens I wasn't ready for (or even sometimes when I was ready for it), the speed causing my hair to fly in every which way, the slow climb that means something is about to happen, even the plateaus that seem to last a little bit too long but inevitably end. Why is it then that when I feel like my life is a roller coaster that I don't think of it with such fondness? Today I finally drew the comparison on my life and roller coasters in general, and I've made the decision to love the fact that my life is a roller coaster just as much as the real deal.

I am a happy person. I'm far from perfect, but I try not to be too critical and try to enjoy life and find the good in anything I can. But every once in a while (sometimes more often than that...) stuff happens that I have absolutely no control over and I feel lambasted. Usually I can rebound pretty quickly. I pick myself up, lean on the Lord a ton, try not to let anyone know that I'm struggling, do my best to keep the waterworks under control, and then attack the world with a genuine smile on my face. Recently, however, a compilation of struggles has left me at a loss as to how I, the Lord, or anyone else for that matter could help me get back to seeing the good, being the "me" everyone recognizes, and letting the fiery darts bounce off me. My eyes have been puffy and red, sleep evades me, and people tell me that I haven't seemed myself. Not good. I even broke my rule and talked to someone - shared my load, which was hard to do. But I did it. I talked with my mother. I love my family dearly, more than anything in fact, but confiding in any of them has never been a strong suit of mine because, quite honestly, they love to fix things, and I am hard-nosed and don't like hearing the advice and/or suggestions no matter how valid. Can you say pride? Anyhow, my mother has been telling me to have hope. Hope that this or that will turn out, hope that this or that will happen, just hope. I countered with my feelings that it is pointless to hope for anything I have no control over - job, friends, school, relationships, the plot of a favorite tv show or book. It just leads to disappointment or even devastation. So I began to move on and try and heal. Then after almost a week from our "hope" conversation, my mother said this to me today,

"I have to disagree with you on one point, Megan. Hope. To not have hope is going against the doctrine. It's okay to have hope. Remember faith, hope, and charity? Let yourself hope."

A friend of mine once said that he tries not to have any expectations so that he's not disappointed. It's a true concept: expectations not met equals disappointment. I started aligning myself to that way of thinking. But no more. Complacency is for the weak. It takes strength of character to hope. To anyone who shies away from letting yourself hope in fear of being hurt, disappointed, or whatever reason there may be, you're not alone. But I attest that there is more joy and happiness in having hope. Thank you, Mum, for saying the right thing at the right time. I am committing to anyone reading, but more importantly to myself... I will hope.

Hi. My name's Chubby...

Do you remember pretending to be "Chubby" and telling those stories? You know, maybe one like this... You squish your face together and say,

Hi! My name's Chubby! My mama's chubby, my daddy's chubby, even my baby sister's chubby. Anyway, the other day my cousin took me on a motorcycle ride. He asked how fast I wanted to go. I said, "Faster, cousin, faster!"

"This fast?" he asked.

"No. Faster, cousin, faster!"

He went faster and asked, "This fast?!"

"No! Faster, cousin, faster!!"

So he went even faster and asked, "This fast?!?!"

(Here's where you un-squish your face and pull it back instead...)

"TOO FAST, COUSIN! TOO FAST!!"

The end.

We're talking Pulitzer Prize winning, folks. Well, I hardly need to even squish my face together anymore. I'm there. I've grown into the stories I used to tell aka chubby. And now I need to grow back out and fast! Unfortunately, there are no long-lasting shortcuts so I'm going to do this the old fashioned way. But you know what? I've already started and am already a believer. I've challenged myself and a few friends to a "Healthy Lifestyle Challenge." (Original title, I know. But it gets the point across so I am completely kosher with it.) Here are the rules:

1) Weigh yourself on Monday and again on Saturday. Report weight loss.

2) Exercise (aka cardio) for at least 20 minutes at least 5 days during the week. Report successfully completed workouts.

3) Participate in a weekly challenge. Report "grade" earned. (Flawless execution receives an "A" and so on.)

4) Rest on Sunday and start over on Monday.

There is no penalty (other than being disappointed in one's self) and no reward (other than the natural side effects). The main goal is to enter into a healthy lifestyle. My friends and I are doing this for four weeks starting this week, but I went ahead and started last week and am very excited. It has been hard to workout almost everyday, but it's worth it. I can feel the difference. And I'm doing this for me. No one else. I'm pretty convinced of that fact considering that I've been fighting being sick, been extremely alone this week, and haven't once succumbed to old habits. So I may be lonely, but at least I'm healthy and happy and on my way to bidding adieu to Chubby.