Honoring Your Body

Once upon a time, I did not honor my body.  Sure, I took care of myself, sort of.  But I did not really think so much about it.  I could not tell you how many bottles of water I drank in a day or if I had the allotted number of carbs to optimize my workout for the next day, nor did I really care.  It was all about weight loss and maintaining weight.  Exercise was a basic means to an end, a way to stay "skinny."  Food was something to enjoy, but also something to not eat too much of (you know evil calories and all...)

Anyway, that was before.  Before something clicked.  Before I realized how much more running was.  How it no longer was about losing or maintaining weight but rather about something more, about a passion and a love for a sport.  It was about being an athlete, performing stronger, pushing harder, and smiling wider than ever before

Big Smiles!!! I love running!

So what has this change meant?  It has meant learning to honor my body.  My body allows me to run.  It is nice enough to work hard day in and out and agrees to let me push it just a little harder the next day and the next day and  I could not be more thankful.  I thank my body every day by instead of just drinking when I feel like it and being careful about what I eat, by actually drinking fluids and food to fuel my body and give it what it needs.  I am not saying that I watch every little thing I put in my body and never eat or drink those "bad" foods because we know that is not true!  But I do look at my body, running, and food differently these days.  I realize that everything I do impacts my training and that everything I do or don't put in my body effects it in a serious way.  Not drinking enough equals dehydrations on runs equals running fails.  Not eating my pasta means I won't have the energy  I need to run.  It is a good thing I have the hubby around then - tonight's meal pan seared bronzini over arugula and sautéed tomatoes and onions!  YUM.  And for dessert - Oreo Ice cream.  I honor my body, and my body is always thankful for ice cream!

Marathon ice-cream is the best kind of ice-cream!

How do you honor your body?