Not How It Is Supposed to Work

So.....as you may know....I'm training for a half marathon.  I've done 11.5 weeks of training so far.  Running more km a week than I ever have in my life...  Ran 24 km last weekend alone....  I must be SUPER FIT now, eh?

Can you believe I've GAINED weight?  Colleen keeps telling me about all the weight she's losing and I keep finding it!!  Seriously!  And this isn't "oh it's muscle" weight gain like people try to tell us to make us feel better... This is "hmmm...these pants feel kinda snug" weight gain... 

How is it possible to gain weight when doing so much more running, you ask?  Well, it's quite simple!  You use the extra mileage as an excuse to eat anything and everything you desire.  You eat like you've been living on a deserted island and have just seen food for the first time in months... Quite simply, you consume so many calories that even super long, 19k runs are not enough to counteract the volume of food you're taking in.

I keep telling myself that after Vegas I'll smarten up again...  Good thing Vegas is just a week and a half away.... Otherwise I'd be waddling across the finish line...  In the meantime; however, I think I'll go find a snack...

Some Yummy Inspiration

Well...Ok. This running thing started as a way to get into better shape. Once I lost a fair amount of weight, I began to look at people's body's and admiring nicely toned arms, flat bellies, muscular legs, etc...and use that as inspiration to continue working.

Today, however, I was handed (actually tweeted) some AMAZING inspiration. This image of a body that looks almost impossible to achieve...and it happens to be the body of my favourite Vancouver Canuck! Yup...It's Ryan Kesler's photo from his ESPN's The Body Issue.

Seriously...how does a human being look like that? There is not an ounce of fat anywhere. It's pure, sculpted, rock-solid perfection (and is also now the desktop wallpaper on my laptop!)

Now, don't get me wrong...as inspiring as this picture is - I don't have any delusions that my body fat will get into the negatives like Kesler's appears to be....but WOW! It's hard to not want to work a little harder at least. (Right after I'm done staring at my new desktop, that is!)