New Year, New Run!

Just got back from the first run of 2010: 15* F, sunny, blue skies and snowy surroundings in Chicago. What a great way to start the decade!

But I'm not following a new year's resolution. In fact, as a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, I'm happy to be several years into my change of lifestyle and health so that the following comment describes where I'm at. As was posted on the WW website,

"I think the best resolution, in terms of weight loss, would be to take control of eating and self-destructive behaviors, eat healthy, exercise and generally take care of ourselves to the point where we don't have any New Years' resolutions to make."

Exactly. No resolution. Just keep on running.
Happy New Year!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

This is a great breakfast, post-workout meal or treat in the cool autumnal weather.

1 cup organic oatmeal
(appx. 1/2 cup dry)
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 T. dried cranberries
1/2 T. organic flax seed
Cinnamon & Nutmeg to taste

Prepare the oatmeal in water as directed. When cooked, add the pumpkin until heated through. Then add flax seed, spices and cranberries.

Enjoy the vitamins, fiber and fall flavor! Add pecans or walnuts to give even more health benefits.

Only 4.5 WW Points (TM).

Graphics by Ann Hetzel Gunkel / Digital Supplies by Scrap Girls

Eating to Run: Chlodnik (Polish Cold Beet Soup)

This recipe is posted on my local & organic food blog, which may be of interest to those of you pursuing health & fitness. Our locavore food blog is Our Year of Eating Locally. Enjoy!

Chlodnik (hwod-neek) is the ultimate Polish summer soup. It is beautiful, healthful and splendid. David demonstrated this recipe several years back in his appearance on WTTW-TV's Your Chicago Kitchen. It is a cold soup that tastes MUCH better if left in the fridge overnight for the flavors to meld and intensify. It is incredibly simply to make and the only heat needed in the kitchen is baking the beets.

Ingredients:
4 cups buttermilk
1 medium cucumber, quartered and diced
1 bunch radishes, sliced
4 - 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1 bunch of fresh dill, chopped
3 -4 red beets, roasted, peeled & diced
salt for roasting beets
sour cream or plain yogurt for garnish

Roast beets in foil (Wrap each individually drizzled with olive oil and salt) at 450 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cool, peel and dice beets. Mix all ingredients in a crock or large bowl. Refrigerate over night. As a meal, its great with a side of boiled, dilled potatoes and an added hard-boiled egg for protein. For serving, add a last-minute dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.

Graphics Notes:
Photo & Design (c) 2008 Ann Hetzel Gunkel.
Digital Supplies by Thao Cosgrove courtesy of Scrap Girls.

Local food Notes:
BEETS from Genesis Growers, St. Anne, Illinois
CUCUMBER from Angelic Organics Farm, Caledonia, Illinois
Local RADISHES from Happy Foods
DILL from the Gunkel garden, Chicago

Eating to Run: Tropical Chicken Sandwich

Lots of folks I meet ask for recipes and tips to my WW success. Since I continue to maintain my goal weight a year and a half later, mixing it up with healthy new recipes helps a lot. My newest super healthy, go-to sandwich was adapted from a recipe in Prevention magazine. It has all the good stuff: whole grain, fruit, veggies, protein and MUFAs (Monounsaturated Fats AKA ""good fats.")
Enjoy!

Ann's Tropical Chicken Sandwich
Ingredients:

1 lg slice of whole grain bread, cut in half (or whole grain roll)
2 oz. chicken white meat (leftovers from the grill, canned in water or lunch meat)
1 small-medium, ripe avocado, mashed
1/2 lime (for juice)
1 mango, sliced
Tabasco sauce

Mash the avocado, fresh lime juice and Tabasco into a mixture. Spread about 1/3 a cup of the mixture on both slices of the sandwich. Add chicken on one side. Add about 1/2 cup mango slices on the other. Stack up for a filling, delicious, healthy sandwich!

Note: Using 1 slice of whole grain bread, 2 oz of chicken, 1/3 cup avocado mixture and 1/2 cup mango, this sandwich clocks in at 6.5 WW points (TM). For me, that's a tad high, but it is extremely nutritious and very filling.

Old But Gets Good Mileage

The challenge I gave myself was to run 1000 miles from my 44th birthday to my 45th. Well, 45 is now here and the results are in. Did I meet my goal? Not quite. But in retrospect, I'm glad to have set a goal even if it slipped away. It was a tough year, with the worst winter in 20 years (I do run outside in Chicago, after all) and numerous family deaths & illnesses, but I persisted.

With my 875 miles in the past year, I've exceeded anything I ever thought possible. And now that I'm solidly middle-aged? Well...the attempt for 1000 miles begins again today (with my brand new birthday present Garmin 405 GPS running watch.)

Layout & Design (c) 2008 Ann Hetzel Gunkel. Digital supplies at Scrap Girls.

The Sprint Triathalon

I didn't know there was a name for it at first. But my competitive persona wanted some form of challenge beyond the daily run, something like a"mini-triathalon" until I discovered the official nomenclature of "sprint triathalon." On vacation at our in-laws' place in Wisconsin, we decided it was time to mix it up and push beyond the usual. Thus, the UNO (Up North Olympics) were born. The rules were simple: a run, a bike route on the country roads and then some sort of water travel via swim or self-propelled craft on the lake.

David took the challenge first with a 7 mile run, a 24 mile bike route and sailboarding the Lake's diameter and back. My triathalon day was a bit more conservative (I guess I was a tad concerned I didn't have it in me) consisting of an 8 mile run, followed by a 12 mile bike ride and concluding with a 2 mile kayak round the perimeter of Lake Irogami. It wasn't terribly difficult but was tremendously satisfying.

Why take a perfectly good vacation and create such a task? Well for one, the need to at least make a showing is pretty strong when the patriarch of the family, Dziadzia, can do all this and much more on any given day. Secondly, there is something inherently energizing about a challenge. The buried machismo surfaces and one's killer competitive instinct emerges. Against whom was I competing? The toughest opponent of all: myself! And there's the payoff. I also get to be the victor. And plan for the next battle (as my inner Klingon rejoices.)

"Now bid me run..."

	"Now bid me run, And I will strive with things impossible, Yea, get the better of them." - William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

The past six months have been a train wreck for our family (note the lack of posts to this blog, for example.) But through it all, I've kept running, and therefore I'm running right on out of the mess. As a runner, I've kept on keeping on, tried my best to strive with things impossible and now, I hope, have got the better of them. I share this with the blogosphere not to circulate misery but as a case study in the power of running.

Here's the soap-opera style back story. In the past six months (warning: just reading this list is exhausting):

My father died; we buried his ashes the day before Thanksgiving; three weeks later, my aunt died; four weeks later another aunt died; my mother became ill with what was feared to be cancer--insurance refused to pay for the necessary tests (BTW, she's fine, thank goodness); I developed severe GI problems, undergoing abdominal CT scans (I'm fine, thank goodness); my childhood best friend & best man at our wedding was diagnosed with cancer and began a very difficult treatment regimen; the campus where my husband in a Professor (NIU) experienced a massacre; yet another aunt became seriously ill; I underwent biopsy surgery after an abnormal mammogram (it was benign, thank goodness).

All this unfolded while I managed to maintain a full-time job, several part-time volunteer positions, full-time parenting, home and family. And I'll add (somewhat crankily) that during it all, my friends and associates were all so consumed with their own considerable responsibilities that I received not so much as a phone call asking me out for a cup of coffee in that six months time. (In all fairness to them, when you appear to be superwoman, folks start believing that you are invincible.)

Not surprisingly, I started to have some GI problems and feel kinda depressed. It became harder and harder to keep up my running mileage (add to this the worst Chicago winter in twenty years). I got a tad careless with watching my diet. (Go figure...in the midst of all this, coffee and cake started to sound pretty good.) I've discovered that I can look at this past winter of discontent (sorry, different Shakespeare play!) in two ways.

--The "bad side" of the equation (for which I've heartily and thoroughly berated myself):

* My mileage dropped from 5 miles a day/6 days a week to something like 3 miles a day/4 days a week.
* My weight went from fighting weight (my personal preferred and top performance size) back up to my goal weight (about a 9-10 # gain).

--The "good side" of the equation (In which, in all honesty, I take little satisfaction, being a
perfectionist in all things):

* In the midst of (severe) Chicago winter and all this family chaos, I still ran 3 miles a day (outdoors) 4 or 5 days a week.
* I've maintained my Weight Watchers goal weight for a year, even through all this family turmoil (no mean feat).

In other words, after six months of pretty tough times, its time to give myself a break. Its time to cut my Type A persona some slack and decide that the past six months are a victory rather than a failure. Statistically, I know that--unlike me--most (U.S.) folks don't exercise at all, hit the drive-thru daily, imbibe copious amounts of corn syrup & alcohol, and mainline processed junk food.

Through a really demanding professional and personal life and many family crises, my health and fitness habits were strong enough that I maintained regular exercise, continued eating a healthy diet (if a bit higher in calories than I'd like), ate tons of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and never did anything as idiotic as the drive-thru window. Oh, and I maintained my goal weight through it all.

And now, at long last, summer is upon us in Chicago. And while I'm not in what I consider to be "top fighting form," I'm still standing. With the return of summer in the city, I've kicked it back into gear. My running mileage is climbing once again....and hopefully, those last few pounds between goal weight and personal best are on the chopping block.

And that's the beauty of the running life.
You keep on keeping on.
Its what you do.
And sooner or later, you "get the better" of things impossible.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Its supposed to be spring in Chicago but we had a snowstorm for Easter. This week, the rain and gloom are enough to discourage anyone. To the rescue: David's healthy version of Spaghetti Carbonara. Healthy, hearty, and comforting. Enjoy!

Ingredients
* 1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
* 1/4 lb. pancetta or bacon
* 4 egg whites
* 1/4 cup fat free half & half
* 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese, grated
* 1 onion, diced
* cracked pepper

Cook pasta according to package instructions. Meanwhile, cook bacon. Remove from heat & drain. In teaspoon of olive oil or cooking spray, saute the onion. When translucent (about 6 - 7 min.), add bacon back to the pan. Continue to saute for 2 min. more. Deglaze with pan with 1-2 T. of pasta cooking water. Add the half & half, cook for 1 min. Drain the pasta and add to the pan. Remove from heat and slowly add egg whites while mixing, until creamy. Add pepper & cheese. Toss. Must be served immediately. Will not keep.

At 5.5 WW PTS (TM) per cup, this is a creamy and tasty meal!

Layout Design (c) 2008 Ann Hetzel Gunkel
Digital Supplies: Adobe Photoshop; Papers & Embellishments at Scrap Girls

The Substitute (Secrets for Staying on Track)

One of the key techniques of Weight Watchers is SUBSTITUTION, that is, finding an alternate food option for a bad-habit food or craving--or for a food which tends to wind up in overindulgence. Today's post is a soda-fountain creation that my son and I whipped up for fun. In all honesty, it has no real nutritional advantages, but it is a fat free, low calorie (90), low WW points (only 2) (TM) option when cravings for an ice cream sundae or some other extreme goody come calling....

Enjoy our Old Fashioned Soda Fountain CHERRY CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM FLOATS:

Ingredients: (For each float)

* One can Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper Soda

* 1/2 cup (One scoop) Breyer's Fat Free Double Churn Chocolate Ice Cream (or other FF ice cream)

Scoop chocolate ice cream into tall soda glass. Pour cold Diet Cherry Chocolate De. Pepper over the ice cream for a frosty float. Serve with a straw and tall spoon. Enjoy! (Only 2 WW points / 90 calories / 0 g fat!)

Digital Scrapbook Layout: Photo & Design (c) 2008 Ann Hetzel Gunkel

Digital Supplies: Hearts Desire Collection by Erica Hite at Scrap Girls

Just Eat Food (and other avant-garde advice)

Its time for many of you to be in the "resolution" zone...either making one, breaking one, or faking one. I'm here to remind you that sensible committed healthy practice really works. There is no magic and there are no secrets. We all keep looking for them but it really is this simple:

Food theorist and high priestess /scholar of nutrition, Marion Nestle has a simple message, "Eat less, move more, eat fruits and vegetables, don't eat too much junk food, and enjoy every bite you eat." (Nestle, What to Eat) The key here is ENJOY every bite. Don't eat crap. Eat great stuff and love it. I think PASSION (rather than compulsion) is the key to health & fitness. (On that note...Thanks, Juliet, for sending those sublime torrone from Modern Pastry in Boston's North End!)

Food journalist and author Michael Pollan sums it up simply, too. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." [In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, Penguin 2008] His newest tome is another fabulous discussion of the cultural backdrop of eating in contemporary U.S. life. The title alone makes the book worthwhile to me but this gives you a sense of the Manifesto's message:

• "The first time I heard the advice to "just eat food" it...completely baffled me. Of course you should eat food--what else is there to eat?...Taking food's place on the shelves has been an unending stream of foodlike substances, some seventeen thousand new ones every year--'products constructed largely around commerce and hope, supported by frighteningly little actual knowledge.' " (Pollan, 147)
• "EAT MEALS. This recommendation sounds almost as ridiculous as "eat food," but in America at least, it no longer goes without saying." (Pollan, 188)

Michael Pollan is the Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley and award-winning author of In Defense of Food, The Omnivore's Dilemma and The Botany of Desire. Marion Nestle, Ph.D. is Professor of Nutrition and Public Health at NYU. What to Eat and Food Politics are among her many publications.

Read these books. They're food for thought. Oh... and keep running, moving, walking, etc. While not terribly exciting or sound-bite suited, these really are the secrets to my "After." So don't give up on those resolutions just yet.

NSV: Personal Best

Today's Edison Park (Chicago) Turkey Trot was a reason for me to be thankful for how far I've come in two short years. I ran in the snow and enjoyed a great race, making PERSONAL BESTS in every category:

- my fastest mile (ever!)
- my fastest race time (ever!)

My first mile out was just under an 8 min. mile (I usually train at a slow, steady middle-aged marathon pace of 11 - 12 minute miles). Within half a mile I was at the front of the pack with all the high school and college track kids and the marathon runners. It was great fun to see how incredibly strong and fast I have become in 2 years. I ran almost 35 % faster than my first race 2 years ago. And I cut just short of 10 minutes from last year's race time, shrinking last year's speed by another 35%. The real blessing of beginning health & fitness later in life: it's easy to log amazing progress stats!

In the end, my main personal goal was to finish in any time under 30 minutes for the first time ever. I met that goal and discovered how delightful it is to run faster than ever before at the "old age" of 44.

For that, I am grateful. Happy Thanksgiving!

Eating to Run: Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Want a healthier alternative as we fall into pie season? Here's an easy, no-bake, low-fat holiday treat that's only 4 POINTS (TM) on Weight Watchers--less than half the points of a traditional pumpkin pie. Stas' and I made it together and it was a yummy fall treat.

Pumpkin Mousse Pie

Ingredients:
1 reduced fat graham cracker pie crust
1 1/4 cup cold fat-free milk
1 package (4 serving size) sugar-free fat-free instant vanilla pudding and pie filling
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 tub (8 oz) light or fat free cool whip, thawed
1 T. pumpkin pie spice OR 1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon, 3/4 t. ground ginger, and 1/4 t. ground cloves
1 beaten egg white (optional)

1. For tastier crust, brush with egg white and bake 5 minutes at 375. Allow to cool before filling pie.
2. In large bowl, beat milk, pudding mix and spice with whisk for 1 1/2 minutes. Whisk in pumpkin. Fold in HALF of whipped topping. Spread in pie crust.
3. Top with remaining whipped topping. (Or pipe on in decorative manner.)
4. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Garnish as desired. Store in fridge.

YIELD: 8 servings
4 WW POINTS each

Recipe adapted from Keebler Co. & Weight Watchers Magazine

Graphic & Photo (c) 2007 Ann Hetzel Gunkel
Digital Supplies: Bump in the Night Collection by Erica Hite at Scrap Girls; Software: Adobe Photoshop

BOO! Here Come the Holidays

Boo, Scary!! For runners and health enthusiasts, Halloween can be a marker of impending doom. It's not just the fun-size Snickers that mark this scary season. In my nutty holiday-maniac universe (Just call me Jingle Dell...did anyone else see Wild at Heart?), 12:01 a.m. on November 1st marks the beginning of the entire holiday season. Just three weeks until Thanksgiving and it all goes wild!

Many people who are watching their weight and health find the prospect of coming holidays to be the scariest part of Halloween. But it doesn't have to be that way. Just remember what Stephen Gullo noted,

"No one ever gets heavy from one meal. It happens when you start a 30-day free-fall buffet on Thanksgiving Day."

One meal won't make you fat. But one meal that leads into a 6-week season of unconscious eating sure will! Start planning and strategizing now, so you can enjoy and indulge in a mindful way. There's no reason not to enjoy life (.....she says after her fun-size Reese's!)

On a personal note, I had the best Trick or Treat ever. At my Weight Watchers meeting, I hit my personal best goal weight. My BMI is now 23 (down 40 percent from my highest BMI of 38!).

I am now a total of 90 pounds less than my highest weight 5 years ago. And I've lost 62+ pounds with Weight Watchers. Spooky! I weigh 30+ pounds less than my wedding day 17 years ago! And much less than I weighed in high school! Having been plus-size my whole life, I have not weighed this since GRAMMAR SCHOOL! (Now, that's scary!)

HABITual Offender

Before embarking on my fitness and health journey, I was convinced that diet and exercise were a matter of gargantuan will-to-power, a triumph of the will beyond my abilities.

Not to diss my old friend Freddy Nietzsche, but there is no such thing as willpower. Drop this notion from your lexicon fast! (Existential Aside: Wille zur macht is a useful concept in critiquing the metaphysical drive to truth. I heart Nietzsche. But it's useless in thinking about the physical drive to sit on the couch.)

Here's what I learned about the myth of willpower:
We spend lots of time, hours, days--maybe even years?--gearing up for that moment when we will finally possess the strength to bypass brownies and run a marathon. The waiting never amounts to much. It drains the life out of you, though. You wait and scheme...and hope and wait... and convince yourself that tomorrow is the day. An hour from now is the time. A week from now, I'll turn it around.

I spent a lot of time burning psychic energy waiting for the magic of will power to arrive. Yeah, you already guessed it: the parcel of willpower is never delivered.

Did it take gargantuan willpower to will myself to sit on the couch? Nope. Don't think so.
Did it take an epic burst of commitment to will myself to be sedentary? Nope. Don't think so.

What it took was the HABIT of sitting around. The HABIT of being sedentary. The HABIT of mindless eating. Not an effort, a struggle or strength of character. Why should the reverse be any more true? Don't let the lie stop you from making the changes you want to make. It doesn't take strength of character or epic effort to be active and fit. It takes the HABIT of being active and fit. Sorry to disappoint those fellow philosophers among me, but there is no will-to-power in the health & fitness universe. There is simply habit. Good habit, repeated without undue psychic energy.

If you hear this message, "I'll just get myself psyched up and then I'll go run." Stop! This is a dead end. Just go and do it. No willpower is necessary. Just do it. And then do it again. And do it again. And soon the neural pathway of habit has you doing what you need to do. No struggle, no willpower, no torture needed. It really is that simple.

So if you don't have any willpower. No problem. It is absolutely unnecessary. No kidding.


Layout & photo (c) 2007 by Ann Hetzel Gunkel. Software: Adobe Photoshop; Digital Supplies: 727 Collection by design butcher at Scrap Girls.

NSV: Becoming a Lifer

This week marked a major milestone in the health & fitness journey: I received my Lifetime Membership Key at Weight Watchers and I crossed my one year anniversary on the health & wellness road. The hardest part of the whole thing, I think, was overcoming my own skepticism regarding my ability to change. From the vantage point of a year ago, I couldn't have possibly imagined a whole new me. But voila! It actually works. Perhaps this is a good time to reiterate the saga behind On Beyond Running for those of you looking for some inspiration.

Exactly one year ago this week, I was a middle-aged, 40-something, couch-potato mom with a family, full-time job and a part-time career on the side. I'd been a plus size for most of my childhood and adult life. I was sure given the weight of four score decades of "proof," that I was doomed to be fat.

Presto! Chango! In one year, I've lost over 10 clothing sizes, 33% of my body mass, and gone from frump to fab. My former 2x self now wears size Small. My double digit jeans--hell, I didn't even bother with jeans; just too brutal!--are now a size 4. My frazzled and frantic --but completely unfit--lifestyle has transformed completely. I've run two 5k races, am training for my first half marathon and run between 30 and 50 miles a week.

On behalf of my awesome physician, who helped me on this path, I should also report all the good stuff vis a vis my health: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, BMI, resting pulse. Perfect. Every last one of them.

Unexpected and amazing side effects of these transformations: these lifestyle changes "pay it forward." My spouse is now 40 pounds ligher and hotter than ever! and my six year old kid sees the importance of regular activity (we just biked 20 miles together last week on a family outing!) and scorns trans fats and fast food!

Here's the deal, if you think it's too good to be true: None of this was done with fads or fanaticism. It took serious commitment, serious planning and serious work. None of it happened fast or easy. That being said, there is no secret that you've been missing. It was painfully simple: eat less, eat better, exercise more. Be mindful of what you are actually doing. Have a plan. Stick with it for the long haul. Between two poles: Weight Watchers and running, it was absolutely workable.

One year later--god willing--was going to show up anyhow. It could have shown up with the old me or a new & improved me. I'm really glad I chose to risk the new & improved version. One year later, as Labor Day approaches, I've never been happier about the work I've done.

Hi-Tech Training for the Type A Runner

You know its bad when it comes to this: a birthday arrives and there aren't flowers or perfume or other niceties. Instead, you unwrap a runner's GPS and think, "What a great gift!" (Thank you spouse & son!)

For all runners (like me) who are also documentation-oriented, this is a fun training toy. Till now, I've timed my runs every day with a plastic watch that doesn't always work. Now, the GPS kicks in, the timer rolls, and I can get mileage or time alerts on the road, glance down to see my pace or distance, and upload the whole thing for training logs to analyze.

And this is a gift that really keeps on giving for the Type A personality. Once the GPS is rolling and the run is coming to a close, I think, "Well....but only .3 of a mile more and that would be a nice round number." Or "Gee, that pace is faster than I thought, I suppose I could try a little bit harder." You get the idea. This device is not so much hi-tech as it is automated gadfly. Another incentive to push the limits (just a little.) The GPS induced goal for my next birthday year: log a minimum of 1000 miles in those 364 remaining days. (I probably already do that modest amount anyhow--but the GPS makes it seem official.)

I know it sounds like a bit much--and it is--but its fun. For me, the effort is real when there's data that follows. I can train against an imaginary partner, time splits, or not. More likely not. But I like the idea of it. And that's what gifts are for.

LO Details: Design (c) 2007 Ann Hetzel Gunkel; Software: Adobe Photoshop; Digital Supplies: Daydream Collection by Erica Hite at ScrapGirls

NSV: Bon Voyage - On the [European ] Road with a Runner

Three weeks in Polish food heaven.

Doughy Obwarzianki from Krakowian street vendors. Smalec (old-style lard) on fresh rye bread. Late afternoon cafe breaks on the medieval Krakow rynek with some spectacular sweet pastries. Hot Paczki in the streets of Warszawa. Pierogi z truskawkami. [Pierogi with fresh strawberries.] Lody z makiem [Poppy-seed gelato.] Pure bitter drinking chocolate at Wedel. Toasting our relatives with chilled vodka and salty caviar. Enjoying every bite and every moment of our favorite restaurants and elegant old-school kawiarnie.

Victory: Arriving home jet lagged and burned out, exactly # -.2 less on the scale than the day our journey began. How to live it up and find this result? Stay tuned for my secrets!

First of all, I am not advocating the all-lard diet (although I do believe that the icy shot of vodka with my smalec & rye appetizer has magical power.) I was able to live it up without the scale going up. I am able to eat dessert without Weight Watcher's desertion. This is a first in my life. It marks an amazing non-scale victory.

1. Runner's bodies rule. After a year of lifestyle change, fitness and healthy habits, my body simply works better. It is efficient, muscular and burns more calories. It can handle a few weeks of fun. Wow! What a revelation.

2. Live it up! I had no intention of engaging in my annual and much anticipated hang-out in Poland by playing idiotic ascetic games with myself. I'm here to live and enjoy, not prove how spartan I can be with self-denial. This has never been a diet. I was not going to miss out on what I love in deference to some macho dietary will-to-power.

3. Activity. Activity. Activity. As always, we walk everywhere in Poland. With the exception of a few tramwaj [streetcar] journeys for the edification of my street-car obsessed son, we walk all day long. We walk anywhere from 2 to 5 hours a day. That's a lot of activity. At one point, I was earning about 50 AP (activity points on the Weight Watcher's plan) a week. For those of you not conversant with WW lingo, that's a lot.

4. Woda. Woda. Woda. Water. Water. Water. Like many Euro peoples, the Poles are drinking Woda Mineralna (bottled mineral water) around the clock. We do, too. On the road, it really helps with everything health and fitness related. Whether you choose gazowana or niegazowana, it's a good thing.

5. A fitness plan. Although I had mapped out runs in my favorite Polish cities, I had a backup plan for fitness. A really simple one. I threw a jump rope in the back of my suitcase. And I skipped rope (for the first time in my life!) every morning after Sniadanie for 30 - 60 minutes. Sucky? Kind of. Challenging? Yup. My legs hurt for the first 6 days and then I got over it. But I discovered that a runner can do such things. It's not a big deal when you are used to fitness.

6. A food plan. I took a little notebook, logged my fave Polish foods for reference, and kept track of my points for my entire trip. By the way, for the first time ever in my Weight Watcher's career, my weekly points exceeded their allowance. There was NO way I was going to stress about it. The deal was simply about keeping track and being mindful. Some days I had spectacular Lody Kompozycja (Polish ice cream creations). I logged the points and loved every second. It wasn't about denial but about mindfulness. I knew what I was doing and I owned it. After every meal, treat or indulgence, I asked myself, "Was it worth it?" The answer was usually yes, and I loved every morsel. No guilt. No mind games. No monkey business. "Was it worth it?" When the answer was no, there was no encore.


Upon returing home, I found it was the question on everyone's lips, "Well...did she gain it back? Did she collapse in a sea of szarlotka or start chain-drinking pure chocolate?" The answer is no.

These very ordinary concepts are my not-so-spectacular secrets for the victory of maintaining weight loss on a major European road trip. The revelation for me was that I can be en route and not unravel my fitness. A runner's healthy lifestyle gives me just enough wiggle room to live it up. So don't stress about bon voyage. It really can be a great journey.


About the Image: Layout design, photograph & digital papers (c) 2007 by Ann Hetzel Gunkel. Ribbon from Thao Cosgrove's Friendship Collection at Scrap Girls.

Notes about the Obwarzanek. This distinctly Krakowian street food is the heavenly, chewy cross between a pretzel and a bagel. The obwarzianki z sol [salt obwarzianki] are to die for. To preserve their unique flavor and regional presence, these doughy delights are currently under consideration for protected food status in the EU.

Running to Eat: The Paczki Avant-Garde

Being a runner allows me to really enjoy things that I love, to wit: paczki (the filled puff of Polish pastry dough.) During this most recent trip to Poland my family uncovered the ultimate paczek.

Understand this loud and clear: we are paczki people. We love paczki. We've had hundreds of paczki. We savor the subtleties and make mental notes. Heck, even our last dog was named Paczek in honor of this heavenly bit of plush dough. So when we say we've found the ultimate paczek it comes from a place of profound paczki connoisseur-ship.

Here's how it happened. We wander into an alley in Warszawa off Nowy Swiat. This narrow strip of ulica Chmielna is like any other. Except suddenly, I find myself following a scent, feeling like I'm floating on the aroma of paczki in the air. It hits all of us at the same time. "Dave, why am I floating on the smell of paczki? It's like a dream." "I don't know--but I smell it too." We follow the magical scent like someone in a cartoon, nose floating after the trail.

Then we spot it. A line of people queued up from here to eternity at an unassuming window. Cukiernia Pawlowicz. Gorace Paczki. [Pawlowiocz Sweets Bakery. Hot Paczki.] Our pastry-based dreams have come true! Out of this window, ladies are selling hot paczki. Hot. Plush. Sweet and un-bee-lievable. Paczki with rose-petal marmalade and coated in sliced almonds. Paczki with budyn (a simple pudding.) Paczki with forest fruit marmalade. Paczki from heaven.

Our excitement builds, we order (only PLN 1,70 for something this spectacular?!) one for each of our crew. The lady wraps them in a whisper thin paper sack, suitable for immediate on-the-street consumption. My son steps back after one bite, suitably dramatic for the momentous event and proclaims, "This paczek is out of this world. This is the best paczek I've ever had in my life." And although he's not quite six years old, he's had a lot of paczki in his time. And he's right.

Dead on. These are the very best paczki on earth. After 40+ years of paczki passion, we've found the holy grail of paczki. That this qualifies as a major life event in our clan means we are either elevated foodies or total losers (maybe both).

But really, these are the very best paczki on earth. We return to this spot, to this magical window of bakery bliss, every day for the rest of our stay in Warszawa. We call our relatives on the komorka (cell phone) and order them to the spot where we stand. We call my cousin on his komorka and entreat him to meet us in the alley. All must share in the paczki passion.

In celebration of this miraculous metaphysical paczek, I invent a new fictional punk band name for myself (an old habit of mine, by the way. Creating fictional band names for myself, despite the fact that I'm decades past being in a punk band or any other kind of band for that matter.) I have it now--the ultimate name for my ultimate band.

T-PAG: The Paczki Avant Garde. T-PAG. Has a kind of Tupac hip-hoppy ring to it. T-PAG. Has my initials in it, The Paczek of Ann Gunkel. Yes, my dream band about this dreamy pastry is The Paczki Avant Garde. T-PAG. At the forefront of paczki research. I've suitably marked this random discovery of the best paczek in the universe with my pretend punk rock tribute.

And this, by the way, is why I don't diet. This, by the way, is something I have no intention of skipping. This, by the way, is what makes life so fun. And this, by the way, makes every last bite worth the daily workout. It's the very best reason I can think of for running to eat.


Note bene for you who are not wise in the way of paczki. Paczek (punch-eck). Singular. Paczki (punch-kee). Plural. The "un" sounds is nasal as this is a diacritically marked Polish "a."

Layout Design & Folkloric digital paper (c) 2007 Ann Hetzel Gunkel for Scrap Girls. Photo by David Gunkel.

NSV - Episode 5: A Trail Runner's War Stories

One of the best things about running is the new avenue of experience opened by health & fitness. This past Memorial Day weekend, I was able to enjoy a series of adventures that would never have happened prior to my running life. My family hiked and climbed in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina several hours a day during a holiday visit to Oma & Opa. Being fit and strong made this exciting, delightful and fun, rather than a punishment. Moreover, the idea of NOT being active is now so foreign to us that such outings are simply a given as soon as breakfast is over.

Our first climb in the Pisgah National Forest was a moderately difficulty hike with a 40 minute ascent up the mountain, a cross-over on the mountain's ridge, followed by a steep descent. Several hours later, nearing the end of the trail, we encountered a six-foot long black snake--a MAJOR event for city folks like us and my five year old son. Yikes!

Thanks to suggestions from Opa and Oma Hetzel, we next headed to Dupont Falls. Our hikes were to wonderful waterfalls in the Dupont State Forest. We hiked down to High Falls and then over and down to Triple Falls. During this outing, I experimented with trail running. I've never tried my run on a rugged and steep surface such as mountain trails. And I loved it! The challenge of the terrain and the grades made it a great workout, especially for an urban flatlander like me. This adventure was made exhilarating by the spectacular waterfalls we visited. The wonder on my son's face was well worthwhile. And the cold spray of the falls felt pretty amazing after some serious uphill running.

Our last adventure in Dupont Falls is the source of my "war story." When I became a Weight Watcher's Warrior (I was dubbed so by my WW leader Peter), I didn't realize I'd be collecting battle stories along the way. This one comes courtesy of a mountain trail to the more remote Wintergreen Falls in Dupont Forest.

Giddy with the new challenge of trail running, I once again ran the terrain ahead of my family. I'd run the paths to the trail forks and then run back to my guys with directions. This back-and-forth continued all the way to the fall's descent. But I was having so much fun that I got careless. As you approach the waterfalls at any of these destinations, you encounter a stern (and scary) sign: "Danger! Steep cliffs and slippery rocks. Injury and Death possible." Well, I was so busy reading this ominous warning that I stopped watching my footing. And Boom! Tripping over a boulder, I took a good spill in two sharp moves--one smashdown to the shoulders and knees, followed by a whiplash move that sent my face careering into a rock.

After the shock to my body (and my pride--although I was all alone in the forest), I surveyed the damage, afraid to move. Calling for help from my guys--who had caught up to me on the trail, I found that despite some abrasions, bruises and a split lip later, I was without serious injury. Shaken but OK, we eventually climbed down to the falls in solitude, enjoying the wonderful scene.

I have to admit with a touch of machismo that this war story makes me secretly proud. Not of my dufus-ness, of course. But of my ability to engage these adventures with my runner's body. Being strong is giving me new opportunities to explore with my family, create memories, and enjoy all manner of excitements that would never have occurred to me in years past. That is worth so much more than the number on a scale could ever measure.

Notes: Some Tips for Trail Running on Hiking/Mountain Trails

1. Don't be like me. If you can, get some trail running shoes. The sturdier soles and support will help with rocks, muck, mulch, tree stumps, limbs and the rugged terrain. They will also prevent your "good" running shoes from getting trashed like mine did.

2. Even in the forest, put on sunblock.

3. Always have a terrain/trail map with you.

4. Wear sunglasses or prescription glasses. I was really glad for the old Rx pair that I use for running. When I took my fall, they protected my eyes.

5. A cap or hat is useful for keeping bugs, mulch, sun and sweat off your face. (I have a washable, wicking SPF cap that is pretty handy.)

5. Have someone take water, a snack, and a first aid kit in the hiking pack. I did not have the latter and wished for it once the aches set in.

6. When you are running, YOU MUST IGNORE THE SCENERY. You must keep your eyes down on the trail and at your feet at all times. The terrain is too rugged to run safely while sight-seeing.

Layout Design (c) 2007 Ann Hetzel Gunkel ; Photo (c) 2007 David Gunkel; Digital Supplies: Papers & Embellishments: Erica Hite's Daydream Collection at Scrap Girls
Ribbons: Thao Cosgrove's Friendship Collection at Scrap Girls.

On Hating Running

As I've noted before, when I first started this running thing, I hated it. To sum up, it sucked. But two years into it (and at my goal weight), I've learned a few interesting things about that initial hatred.

After a lot of running, I've gotten a lot better at listening to my own voice. To what some call "self talk." I can recall being over 200 pounds and trying like hell to run that one, slow mile. God, that was misery. But after some months, I realized that the misery wasn't in the running at all. It was in how I treated myself. Here's how a typical script went all of three minutes into a run.

"God, this sucks... It's hot... I hate this. I'm lame...Why am I so slow? How come I can't do anything right?... How come I'm fat and my ______ [neighbor, co-worker, friend] can eat whatever she wants to? I'll never be a real athlete.... Boy, am I fat...I bet I look like such a loser to that passer-by...I'll be a plus-size forever..."

You get the idea. I didn't hate the running nearly as much as I hated myself. Running just gave me a space and a chance to feel it directly. And believe it or not, this information took me months to hear. After some time running and some time working Weight Watchers, I started not only to listen to this self-talk but to change it. I would catch myself in the monologue of misery and put a stop to it. Then, I started to replace it:

"At least I'm out here doing it...I'm taking care of myself...I'm setting a good example for my son... Each of these steps gets me closer to a goal...Every day I do this is one more victory... I'm making improvements...A real runner is someone who runs. Period."

A year or two later (yeah, it actually takes a while), that old script is long gone. And when or if it should sneak back in--I'm on the lookout and ready to pounce.

Oh, and I don't hate running anymore.