spicy

My schedule (work and otherwise) has been out of whack this week with Christmas parties and celebrations. As a result, my running schedule has also been out of whack. I couldn't run on Monday because I worked a double. I ran 4 miles on Tuesday. I was too busy to run on Wednesday. Knowing that I would be working a double today (Friday) and traveling to New Jersey/Pennsylvania tomorrow (Saturday) and with Christmas celebrations on Sunday, I knew that I needed to get a run in last night (Thursday). After Christmas shopping and getting some things done around the house, I looked at the clock...it was 10:15 p.m. I never run that late! But, I knew what needed to be done...I needed to run. I went down to the basement, jumped on the treadmill and set it to a modest 7.5 mph. I was not feeling all that great. I knew that running so late certainly played a role in this feeling, but I also knew the bigger reason: what I had eaten for dinner.

As I said, I had been out Christmas shopping earlier in the evening. I was hanging out with a good friend in the process. We decided to drop into the food court at the mall to grab some grub. Per usual protocol, I opted for an Asian fast food spot. Since the particular spot was Thai, I opted for some "Bang Bang Chicken" on top of my rice to go with my standard barbecue chicken. Let's face it...I love spicy food. It was delicious.

Unfortunately for me, as much as spicy food agrees with my taste buds, it doesn't always agree with my stomach. This was seemingly the case last night. And sadly, that wasn't the worst of it. I was sweating a little more than usual and my sweat had a little bit of a burn to it. It wasn't miserable, but it was uncomfortable. I learned a valuable lesson...I shouldn't eat spicy food before I run.

Actually, what I was reminded of was actually bigger than that. As I recently blogged, food is really fuel. I did a terrible job fueling my body yesterday by eating what I ate for dinner. I was thinking about this last night when I was reminded of a recent excerpt I read in the "Ask Miles" section of the September 2011 edition of Runner's World magazine (p 20). The question submitted by Joshua H. was "Which one is better? Run a lot but eat unhealthy or eat healthy and don't exercise?" Miles quoted Bill Roberts, M.D. in his response. Dr. Roberts quote: "That's like asking, 'Is it better to shoot myself in the right foot or the left?'" I agree with Dr. Roberts' reaction to that question. Exercise and eating healthy work hand-in-hand. You cannot choose one over the other. You need to find a way to balance them harmoniously in your life. And yesterday, I failed to reach that balance.

As I thought a little bit more about it, it also occurred to me that as in most other things, this is true of many aspects of our lives. I have changed Joshua's question to ones with regards to other aspects of our lives:

Which one is better? Pray but not read the Bible or read the Bible but not pray?
Which one is better? Love my spouse but despise my children or love my children but despise my spouse?
Which one is better? Breathe in but don't breathe out or breathe out but don't breathe in?
Which one is better? Treat others with respect but not myself or treat myself with respect but not others?

I think you get the idea I am trying to make. When you look at the same logic in different situations, it seems a bit laughable. Yet we have all likely been guilty of making this mistake in some area of our life. We need to be careful not to choose between things that are both important. Sometimes it can be hard to find that harmonious balance between them, but we will be much better off if we put in a little hard work to find it.

fuel

Since my last post, I have been continuing in my quest for increased fitness through healthier eating and quality, intentional exercise. The truth is...I will never fully satisfy my quest. Like every other aspect of life, it's about continually growing. Today marked another growth spurt in my quest.

After my morning run on the hotel treadmill, I went back to my room. I was hungry, so I decided to order room service. I opted for the multi-grain french toast with berries. In less than 20 minutes, the knock came at the door. The gentleman set my tray down at my desk. I finished my crunches and planks, then sat down to dig in. I looked at the plate before me and the following thought came to mind: "Carbs and proteins...and a good ratio." That's right...not "delicious french toast" or "nice mix of savory and sweet"..."carbs and proteins." Food had regained its true purpose for me again: fuel.

We would never fill our gas tanks with junk, so why would we fill our bodies with it? The truth is that we would be less likely to if we thought of food in terms of fuel...but we usually don't. We get confused about food's true purpose.

I think the purpose of food is one of the easiest things for us to confuse. We so often think of food as a delicious treat or soothing comfort, forgetting that its true purpose is as fuel. Those deceptively false purposes are the things that get us into trouble with our health, fitness and even self-esteem. But when we think of food in terms of its true purpose, we are much better off in those three areas. One purpose is true, the others are lies. And sadly many people don't even realize they have made that trade-off.

The purpose of food is not the only thing about which we confuse the truth though. We can do this with many other things in our lives as well.

Let me use our spiritual lives as an example to help make my point. How many people view the Bible as a book of stories rather than the infallible Word of God? How many people think of God as non-existent or uninvolved instead of a living, compassionate, relational God? How many people view Christianity as a set of rules instead of reconciling our relationship with God? These are all examples of trading the truth for lies. And much like people confusing the purpose of food, people often don't even realize that that have made such a trade-off.

So remembe...whether in food, your spiritual life or any other aspect of life, be careful not to trade the truth for any number of lies. My challenge to you is this: Next time you eat a piece of chicken, think of it as protein. And next time you read a passage from the Bible, think of it as God's word.

six simple words and an investigation

I let myself go in college. I didn't do much better for myself in the few years that followed. I peaked right around 220 lbs in the Fall of 2007.

It was the spring of 2009 when I finally decided that enough was enough and that I needed to get healthy. I began running again and started watching what I ate. By that Fall, I had dropped about 45 lbs and run my first marathon. Following the marathon, I went into "hibernation" until the next spring.

In the spring of 2010, I came out of "hibernation" and began running again. I had still maintained a much healthier eating style than before my weight loss but I wasn't my same obsessive self during the winter. By the Fall of 2010, I had dropped an additional 10-15 lbs and run my second marathon. Following my second marathon, I once again went into "hibernation" until the following Spring.

January of 2011 was a life-altering time for me. It was during that month that Polly and I welcomed our beautiful daughter Genevieve into the world. Knowing that I would not have the proper time to train, I opted not to schedule a marathon for the Fall of 2011. I ran a 5k by myself and a 10k with my daughter, but had no other races besides those. I went through a stretch of being active and then lost motivation and then became active again and then lost motivation again. I was like a yo-yo through the Summer months. My eating habits weren't the best, but still weren't nearly as bad as they had been for 220 lb Mike Brown. Traveling to off-sites and eating crazy amounts of food did not help. I wasn't at my healthiest.

All of this lack of motivation to stay as fit as I had been in previous years culminated in my stepping on the scale for the first time in four weeks three days after Thanksgiving. Yikes! I had gained 6.2 lbs. That added to the fact that I never lost my winter weight from "hibernation" last year meant that I was back up over 170 lbs for the first time since the Spring of 2010. I tried to jump-start myself numerous times but to no avail. How could I have let this happen?

Seeing that number on the scale gave me a much needed push. Especially considering the fact that I have decided to run a Spring marathon in 2012 (because I miss them) and need to be in good shape to start my official training in January. I knew that I needed to make the change.

Coming off my Sunday epiphany on the scale, I ran when I got home from work on Monday. I ran again yesterday (Tuesday) before The Biggest Loser. I also plan to run when I get home tomorrow. That's a good start, but let's be honest...it's not the first time I've run this year. So, how can I be sure that I really mean it this time? How can I be sure that this is not simply another upswing in the yo-yo which will inevitably come back down soon?

I will tell you how I know that I'm serious this time. I will tell you how I know that this is not another upswing in my yearlong yo-yo extravaganza. It was made clear to me by my own use of six simple words and an investigation. Here's what happened and how it went down:

Prior to running last night, Polly informed me that she made a vanilla pudding pie to eat while watching The Biggest Loser. We almost always eat goodies while watching that show. I always enjoy them. But this time, instead of just saying, "Sweeeet" or something along those lines, I replied with six simple words: How many calories does it have? Polly responded that she didn't know. We had played this game before. That's when it happened. I dug into the recycling bag for the pudding box and the trash for the pie crust package. I read the nutritional value for each and established the portion of pie I could have. Yep, that's how I knew. In that moment, I realized that I cared about what I ate again. And then my obsessive nature kicked in. I NEEDED to know the calories. I only get this way when I'm serious. During my yo-yo year, I may have looked at calories, but I definitely didn't dig through the trash for them. No, this is the clear work of a serious Mike Brown.

I'm back! And I'm happy I am. This probably means I'll be back to writing more regularly too!

trains, planes and automobiles

It has been over a month since I last posted on this blog. Thankfully, it has not been as long since I last ran. So why the crazy delay between blog posts? Simply put, I've been busy.

I started occasionally traveling for business back in June. I don't travel all the time. In fact, I get to accept or deny an opportunity to travel. But, since traveling typically comes with overtime, I typically take the opportunity. When I travel to Philadelphia this week, it will be my 6th trip since June and 4th in the last month. Add to all this traveling the fact that I have a 9 1/2 month baby girl that I want to spend time with as well as regular work and church responsibilities, I have not been left with much time to blog.

The worst part is that I actually LOVE blogging. I wish I had time to blog every day. It just hasn't worked out that way for me. And even though I have run on a few occasions since I last blogged, it has not been with much consistency. I mean, sometimes I get to run when I have free time on a business trip, but there's not a whole lot of free time. I did run one early morning in Scottsdale and most recently on the hotel's treadmill in Chicago. But once a week is not satisfying my desire/need to run. And as much as I LOVE blogging, I  LOVE running. If only there were infinite time in the day...

So what does all this mean? Well, considering the fact that I am looking to run a marathon next Memorial Day weekend (Vermont City - Burlington, VT), I'd say that it means that I need to learn balance quickly. I need to start training for the marathon in January, but want to start pre-training (get myself into running shape) by Thanksgiving. This doesn't give me long to figure this all out. If only I could train the same amount of time that I spend traveling by trains, planes and automobiles, I would be all set...but that's clearly not happening. What I need to do is come up with a plan. I need to schedule running at least 5 days a week.

So, to summarize, I need to come up with a plan/schedule by Thanksgiving. Oh, and you all have a role in this too. I'm tasking you all to keep me accountable and offer suggestions.

Maybe I can get started while waiting at Logan for my flight to Philly on Wednesday...

i run not because i read not

Some people *cough* @300_therunner (twitter) *cough* have brought up the fact that I haven't blogged in a while. This is true. So, here I am blogging to rectify this problem. And what more appropriate topic to blog about than why I haven't been blogging.

The reason for my lack of blogging is actually quite simple...because I haven't been running all that consistently. Now, don't misunderstand the situation here. I have, in fact, been running a couple of times a week. But they have all been short, easy runs. I've sort of hit a funk. Since I haven't been gung ho about running, I haven't been gung ho about writing on my blog about running. It's one of those pride things I guess. But, whatever the internal reason for not wanting to write when I'm not seriously running, it's the case. And I haven't been seriously running.

I guess the real question is...why haven't I been serious about my running. The answer to that is probably pretty simple too...at least on the surface. I haven't been running because I have lacked motivation. At the end of the day we all need something to motivate us. I am not currently training for a race so what can I use to motivate me? The truth is that health and overall well-being should be enough. My clothes are beginning to get snug again. That does offer pretty good motivation because I'm too cheap and proud to buy bigger clothes.

So why is it that sometimes I stay motivated when I'm not training and when I'm in good shape and sometimes I don't? Believe it or not, I believe I discovered the answer to that recently. It hit me when the mail came a couple of weeks ago. In sorting through my mail, I saw the latest issue of Runner's World. It quickly occurred to me that I hadn't received an issue of Runner's World in quite a few months. That's when it hit me...I also get super psyched/motivated to run when I read about other people running. It's almost like I get jealous that they are enjoying running so much so I want to do it too.

I then thought about how I hadn't picked up Running with Joy by Ryan Hall to read since vacation. In fact, I hadn't been reading anything about running. No wonder I haven't been motivated.

So, my solution. I will start reading that Runner's World that came this week and I will also get back into Running with Joy. I'm sure I'll be back to my old running self in no time.

never forget: 9/11...a look back

I still remember where I was on September 11, 2001 when I first heard the disturbing news. I was still a fairly new freshman at Central Bible College in Springfield, MO. I was in my 8:25 (central time zone) Intro to Missions class. During prayer requests, a student mentioned that she heard there was a plane accident in NYC, but that was all she knew. We prayed and went about class completely oblivious to the tragedy that had just occurred. In fact, we didn't begin to grasp the reality until we left that classroom and heard the murmur in the hallway. My 9:25 class professor broke  into tears as he spoke to our class before it (as all the others) was canceled. We were released to go back to our right's to watch the news unfold. Our whole Horton 2nd floor seemed to be huddled around the small TV in the lobby. News was still coming in, but the truth surrounding the rumors was becoming clear: the USA was under attack by terrorists.

We ended up going to chapel where the college's president addressed the faculty and student body. Class and sports were canceled for the remainder of the day. Something that would normally bring me joy suddenly offered none. We prayed. We all met in the chapel later to hear President Bush address the nation. I can't even tell you how many tears I shed that day. I didn't know anyone who died and once I discovered my Air Force uncle was not at the Pentagon that dat, I didn't suspect that I did. Yet, I grieved along with America, because though they weren't my family, they were my American brothers and sisters and they did have families they left behind. My patriotic pride kicked into full gear.

The patriotism that swept the nation in the days, weeks and months that ensued was precious. Americans came together to pick up the broken pieces. It seemed that there was an American flag everywhere you looked. United we stood, implored to never forget!

Unfortunately, people began forgetting. It wasn't long until a person driving a car with an American flag flying proudly and a "Never Forget" bumper sticker on the back could be seen flipping off another driver in traffic. It was sad to me. I was disappointed because I saw hope. I saw so much strength in this nation. It's sad that it took a tragedy to see the unity and strength of a nation. But isn't that true in life? We show our true colors when our backs are against the wall. And let me assure you, America's true colors are bright. That is who we really are. Nobody wishes another tragedy on this nation. That's why it is important that we never forget 9/11. It's the best way to honor every hero (and in my book, they all are) who died for our country that day!

May we always live as one united. God bless the American people...and God bless the USA!

deja vu...all over again

I swear this has happened before. In fact, I know it's happened. It happened just a couple months ago leading up to the Sharon Timlin Memorial 5k. I regretted it then. I told myself it wouldn't happen for the Run to the Rock 10k. Yet tomorrow is the Run to the Rock 10k and here we are...again.

As you have probably observed in my lack of posts over the last few weeks, I have lost some motivation in my training. As I mentioned in some of my previous posts, things have been really busy for me and free time is not something I have a great abundance of. That being said, I also know that it's not as though I haven't had any free time. In fact, I believe my situation could be described with the following set of inequalities:

Busy Time > Free Time
but: Free Time > 0
so, I must conclude that: Excuses > Sticktoitiveness to Persevere

This is unarguably the truth of what's going on here. I have been busy and have been limited in free time, but to say I've had no time would be a lie.

Now, to be fair, I have been training. In fact, I have been training more than I did leading up to the Sharon Timlin. However, I still haven't been training nearly enough. And I'm not sure my eating habits (while not bad) have been the best either.

Yet, here I am on the eve of Genevieve and my first race together. Everything within me is frustrated that I haven't run more than 4 miles with her (which I've done twice) and that I haven't trained harder. And the competitor in me doesn't want to run if I can't guarantee my best effort. I hate settling for less than what I am capable of. But, if you don't put in the hard work, this is the reality you're stuck with.

This is probably my biggest flaw. It's the same flaw that kept me from doing better in school because I didn't want to do homework. It's the same flaw that kept me from improving in track from my junior to senior year in high school. It's the same flaw that is typically responsible for keeping me from my best at everything. But hear this: As long as God gives me breath, I will NEVER surrender and cower to this flaw. I will never give in and accept it. I will ALWAYS fight back!

This is why, no matter how frustrated I might be, I will run the best that I can tomorrow. Sure, my time will suffer due to my lack of training drive over the last month or so (my best training week was my week of vacation). But my daughter will learn from my example, good or bad. And I would rather set a good example for her. I want her to see that even when we fail, it's no excuse to quit.

Aside from my frustration over my reduced expectations with regards to our time tomorrow, I am wicked excited at the opportunity to run a race with my daughter. I know that once I cross the finish line and get our medal and put it around her little neck, none of this other nonsense will matter to me.

Let me leave you with this thought to ponder: Flaws exist within each of us. We must make the decision of whether or not we fight them. If we don't fight our flaws, they will control us.

I know I can beat this. I've won some battles. I shaved over an hour off my marathon time last time out due to determination and effort in training (and a lot of prayer). Sometimes I win a battle and sometimes I lose a battle. In fact, I've probably lost a lot more than I've won. But I'm determined that when all is set and done and the proverbial book is closed on my life, it will say that I was a fighter and I overcame!