Rocky Balboa: One More Round (Going the Distance)

As strange as it may seem I am a HUGE Rocky fan!! I have watched the Rocky movies many many times over and each time I come across it on the t.v. I watch it yet again.  The reason why is that it is sooo full of inspiration and motivation.  Putting aside the cheesiness of the acting and the improbability of the beatings one man can take :), these movies have inspired me to never give up and to keep going.  Whenever I am running and feel like stopping or begin to feel my lungs are about to burst, I get re-energized just from listening to the Rocky soundtrack.  Tonight after my 5km+ run, I came home and did a little Youtubing and came across yet another Rocky montage that I wanted to share (maybe to coax yet another Rocky fan into admittance..haha).  The message in these movies is simple: we are all fighting that inner battle with  something, whether it is weight, personal or health issues etc. The key is to never give up the fight no matter how broken down you become.  The person who chooses to fight on, can only become STRONGER in the end.  

"When things got hard, you started looking for something to blame. Like a Big Shadow. Let me tell you something you already know. The worlds aren’t all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it...

You've gotta hit as hard as life. It isn’t about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much can you take and keep moving forward? That's how winning is done.

If you know what you're worth, Go out and Get What Your Worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers saying you aren’t where you wanna be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that aren’t you. You're better than that."

----Rocky Balboa

:) Cheers

Nike has made a fortune off of this slogan..or something like it, but it does have a point!  How many of us have put off for years in doing something that we know is (a) good for us and (b) will benefit us in the end?? I know that I have and continue to do so.  Last week I was having a conversation, with the voice of reason (Mr. MD) and this phrase kept coming up...Just Do It.  Not only was it pertaining to getting fit and healthier, but it was also in reference to life in general.  Stop putting off what ever it is that will keep you from feeling successful in life and just go for it.  Win or lose, Pass or Fail, it does not matter, what matters is trying and feeling better for knowing that you are not scared anymore!  Now having said this, I am making a committment to do my first race of the season in March.  Next up will be one in May and looking for one or two to do over the summer.  Am I scared....for sure!! Will I do it...you bet!! ;).   I have decided to stop thinking and Just Do It.

The things that make you go "blech" ....

So Marco and I have decided to embrace the Naturopathic way of eating!  This is week 2 of eating protein and lots of vegetables. Now, this is nothing new for us, as we were always a good boy and girl eating all of our vegetables, but we always ate it with ww rice or some such carb.  It is true that when something becomes "forbidden" you suddenly start craving it big time!! I miss carbs :(.  The number one concern I had for starting this course of eating was making sure that we do not get bored with our food ( and by bored I mean, quitting and having a gorge fest on CARBS...;).  Therefore I have been searching the Web for some inspiring vegetable creations.  First up was a totally delicious spaghetti squash recipe.  I got a workout just by cutting the darn thing in two!!...for added protein I added some homemade pasta sauce (thanks to Marco's Mom).  That night for dinner, I presented the plate of spaghetti squash and sauce to Marco and then waited for his reaction.  I just caught his grimace and look of disgust before he turned his head.  I innocently ask, "so how is it?" and Marco's reply is thus, " well it is better than starving!"  I was too busy laughing to be insulted...besides it was the squash he disliked, not the cook :)...Anyhow, he has now grown to like it, or at least pretend to.  He is such a trooper! As for me, I quite enjoy it.  It is a good substitute for pasta. 
The cartoon above reminded me of tonight's dinner.  Once again I found a new recipe this time  for brussel sprouts.  I usually steam them, but tonight's recipe asked that you roast them.  So Marco arrives home from work, I had a delicious dinner of orange ginger chicken, carrots and roasted brussel sprouts ready to be served.  Marco reminds me, just as we are about to eat, that as a child he tried brussel sprouts "once" and didn't really like them.  I assured him that these would be great, far better than the ones from his childhood.  Every parent girlfriend has to cajole their child boyfriend once in awhile..hehe. Soooo...he did eat them, but the look on his face was of pure agony and torture!  Again, what a trooper!!  So the moral of this post is this....."What doesn't kill us (spaghetti squash, brussel sprouts, etc) will only make us STRONGER! :) Take care

To start....

Lately I have been reading lots of blogs written by people of all shapes and sizes and ages who are on a journey.  A journey to lose weight, get fit, healthy and make the inside match the outside.  I am too on a journey .... have I reached my destination? Umm..NO...will I ever reach my destination? Ummm...NO!! As cheesy as it sounds, life is a journey, one where you are constantly searching for the next job, diet healthy lifestyle , goal, experience.  So I hope I never reach the end! :) We need the journey to continuing living in the moment! Now having said that... I need to make sure that my journey is worthwhile and has meaning.  I need to establish goals and figure out ways to accomplish my goals.  By writing this blog, I am making myself accountable to myself, if no one else.  It is only a dream until it is written down, then it becomes a goal :) or so they say! The following are my goals {so far} for 2012:

{1} Run a 5K (again and with a better  improved time)
{2} Run a 10K
{3} Bruce Trail End to End
{4} Remove excess baggage (weight, negative thoughts etc..)
{5} Be back in the classroom (slowly working on this one)