The First Week - Zakiya

I was on vacation for the first week of the challenge so its been kind of a slow start. But considering that I stayed in 4 different beds in 3 states during the first seven days of this thing, I didn't do too poorly. I think everything will be easier once I'm on a regular routine.

The water intake is pretty easy as long as I'm conscious of the fact that I have to do it. A few times I've found myself drinking that last half-liter right before bedtime. Since I substitute teach and can't just go to the bathroom whenever I feel like it, (there were some uncomfortable moments over the past week) I've decided to keep it to one bottle of water during the school day and drink the rest after work. I also think I'm going to have to buy a Brita pitcher cause I'm not liking tap water as much and I hate not reusing all these bottles.

I jacked up my knee on the (old decrepit) treadmill at my mom's house which sucks but I've taken long walks since then and hopefully the knee will heal before the parcourse this week. This is the area I think will make the difference for me. I'm beginning to think that 3 times/wk may not be enough exercise to get myself in the kind of shape I want to be in. I may have to sacrifice in some other areas to make the time.

I had only tried meditation twice before this week. I'm kind of skeptical and cynical in general and my mind refuses to focus on one thing (East Coast, remember?) but I guess it takes practice. I'm trying to look for meditation podcasts but so far the ones I've found are lame.

I bombed out on the alcohol consumption. I had five drinks on St. Patty's Day in Baltimore (does it count if the drinks are green?), and no drinks the entire time I was in PA, but on my last night of vacation I totally binge drank with my old buddies. I figure we drank for a solid 7 hours or so. Good times. 4 drinks per week won't even give me a buzz, so I'm wondering if I'd be able to just cut out alcohol all together. Now that would be a challenge.

So I didn't exactly have a stellar start to the Springtime Showdown. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself since the real test will be in the coming weeks when life is more stable. The bright side is that I still managed to get in 3 work-outs, I've consistently ate all my veggies, I'm getting used to the meditation thing, and have made all around better choices when deciding what to eat on vacation than I would have with out the challenge. I'm sincerely looking forward to the coming weeks.