I’m going to charge into this thing full steam, all thanks to the two cups of coffee and (maybe?) three hours of sleep I’m running on right now. You can thank Stuffed Crust for the sleep schedule. I changed her food schedule a few months ago and now I have one of the sharpest alarm clocks on the planet. Of note, it’s one of the most effective I’ve ever owned.
You’ve heard me talk about my fun and funky issues with food on this blog. It’s still a struggle to find things that won’t make me sick without a heavy dose of medication or enzymes on the side. Let’s make this matter slightly worse, because it’s 2023 and everything is apparently on the table.
My food intake has long been an issue. There have been times where I’ve relied solely on gas station snacks for sustenance. My first news anchoring job was fueled almost entirely by Red Bull and cashews. I’m amazed that I made it out of that one intact. I’ve also relied on food as a comfort vice. Carbs are my go-to. It took an embarrassing amount of time for me to even consider touching certain produce items- mostly due to texture issues. I found it much easier to stave off hunger with a bag of popcorn or a baked potato than to even think about the rotting salad in the fridge. Come to think of it, I believe I might have a clue as to where these aversions came from… but I digress.
I’ve spent the past few years putting my diet at top of my priority list, all thanks to therapy and peer support. It certainly hasn’t been perfect, but at least I can say I’ve been trying. Any effort to mitigate years of disordered eating and my relationship with food is a positive step forward.
And for what it’s worth, don’t even get me started on physical activity. I know I’m nowhere near contention for the Olympics or even the next local 5K. My superlative for youth rec soccer was “The Tree” because I just… stood there. That says about all you need to know. But I like a good walk or hike every now and again.
All things considered, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when one of my doctors recently told me I need to lose weight.
But yet, it stings.
So what do you do when the doctor diagnoses you with “fat?”
You run from zombies, because that’s fun as heck. Or should the correct term be “terrifying?”
I didn’t want to chance becoming this family’s dinner.
My doctors also prescribed me a new medication to try and help solve an asymptomatic issue I’ve been dealing with for a minute. The selling point? You ~could~ lose weight! Hooray!!
But… I wasn’t exactly gung-ho to hop on another med that could potentially help me shed a few pounds. With a side effects list longer than my average newscast, there was absolutely no appeal on my end to hop into the pharmacy drive-thru for this next batch.
I’m already trying to balance enough. The prospect of trying to fuel myself day in and day out is an exhausting venture, as I’ve already outlined. Now I have to exert more energy on days when I feel like I have none?
…anyone? Bueller?
Well then. Sounds like that’s the only path forward. Now, back to the zombies. You’re probably more interested in the zombies, anyway.
Oh dear. The undead got Mayor Greg.
Honestly, if there was a costume contest for this event, the Mayor would’ve definitely placed. He had the quintessential zombie shuffle down pat.
One of my friends convinced me to sign up and at least try my hand at walking the inaugural Ferndale Zombie 5K Fun Run. I’ve never done one of these fun runs/walks before. Guess I just needed a bit of convincing. I knew damn well I was going to walk the whole thing. No shame. Just taking a nice walk on a beautiful sunny day… surrounded by zombies.
On a side note- from a occult perspective, shouldn’t the zombies have combusted in broad daylight? Or is that vampire-specific? If you’re more into this lore, let me know what’s more accurate.
But something funny happened when the starting line was lifted. I tried my hand at a half-decent jog. Easy pace. Real light. I wanted to keep up with the friend who convinced me to sign up.
She blazed ahead, disappearing into the trees. I made it about 850 feet before I got worn out. Yikes.
I tried not to let that discourage me. I knew I’d be walking the rest of the way just fine. In fact, I decided that if I was going to trot my way through the rest of this fun run/5K extravaganza, I was going to have fun doing it. It’s a “fun run,” after all.
In my teen years, we didn’t have the neighborhood capacity for a proper trick-or-treating excursion. Instead, my friends and I used to head over to the local college’s interactive haunted house and see if the actors would break character (it never worked, despite our best efforts). I decided to employ a similar tactic as I continued on my quest to the finish line.
[Click on each picture if you want to see them full-sized.]
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It took another friend and myself 34 minutes to cross the finish line. Our trailblazing runner opted for the longer loop- in her words, “I’m no cheater!”- and came around the corner in about 45 minutes.
The adrenaline rush stuck around for a full 24 hours. It felt fantastic. And would you believe it- no brains were lost in the process!
Maybe I’ll do it again, or I can at least rely on a good old-fashioned walk around the block. I don’t know if random strangers would be as inviting to let me grab selfies with them in my daily quest of hitting my steps goal. I’ll keep that antic on the back burner- or at least until the next Zombie Fun Run.
The post Beyond The Morning News – Back From The Un-Dead! first appeared on My Bellingham Now.