November 1, 2013, 3:03 pm, in a library. Yes I had to ask somebody to snap this picture for me. Awkward. But there you go, I say evidence:)
The…let me call it “touchstone”, for this journal is the idea that I would really like to one day qualify for the Boston Marathon. And so my mission is this:
IN ORDER FOR ME TO QUALIFY FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON I HAVE TO BECOME A VEGAN.
There’s a whole bunch of other more persuasive reasons to eat healthy (and I will write more about this later by and by) but I want something goal-like, you know, or task-and-purpose crystal clear kind of tangible target that can make me feel it’s worth going through the ordeal, something like that. Besides, I’ve tried being a vegetarian before, actually lasted for a while like that, actually lost around 45 pounds like that (2 years ago), actually felt better and healthier like that then, etc. but I could never sustain the discipline of NOT eating meat. Shouldn’t be any different today, I might still lack the discipline today although, and this is the one thing I recon to be the most important element, I’ve decided I’m going to document everything. This blog or journal or writing or narration, whatever this is, I think will be the difference-maker. I’ve seen many folks do this kind of thing, so I’m no different.
This Boston Marathon thing, okay, I did try to qualify way back in the past – about 12 years ago – and actually came close. Nah, I wasn’t even close. I was 3:37:40 in that last marathon, needed a 3:15 time hack, and 22 long minutes short. I immediately trained after that and in my preparations to cut down my PR time, I went into another form of running: ultra marathon. Had a blast there, I think for the most part I had fun doing it. The experience in hindsight was I think “spiritual”more than anything else considering my personal situation at the time. But somewhere in that process I lost sight of my goal. I actually got sick and moved away from running.
Okay, I got lazy. (My excuses list is mighty long, but I don’t want excuses anymore!).
Anyway, today, in this library, after really seriously evaluating and examining things I’ve decided to confront the challenge one last time. I know what I did right and most importantly I know what I did wrong. Nutrition. But I’m going to take it even further than just the conventional nutrition. I’m going to try to become a vegan.
I think in more technical terms they call being vegan as part of “wellness revolution” that has arrived in full swing. They’re a bunch of proud folks. I think they should be proud. This movement has taken the culinary world by storm. It has ignited almost everything from pop culture to internet to TV shows, etc. The recipes aren’t that bad, actually. I’ve tried some of them, they aren’t really as gnarly as most meat-eating folks would say they are. The dinero part of this journey some say is going to hurt my pocket but it should be interesting to incorporate that into the whole journey and see if I can disprove the stereotype.
In all honesty, as I sit here in the library and contemplate this change of lifestyle goal, I’m not at all 100% confident that I can pull through with this. There’s some left-over “chicken adobo” sitting in the refrigerator and of course whatever good, meaty, good-smelling, appetizing, meat dishes the folks put together at home for dinner tonight. Okay hold on, I have to be strong. Gotta remember Boston Marathon! So it’s whole foods market for me right after I post this. What to cook? I don’t know. But I’ll come up with something.
A Kind of Pain 