I’m home from the gym. My New Year’s Resolution to give up all diet sodas is going well. I haven’t had a diet Coke in three weeks, and the cravings are diminishing. Mind you, for years and years I drank gallons of the stuff. My students often gaped at my huge, 52-ounce, Xtreme Gulp mug from 7-11 that I refilled faithfully before each class with diet cola. When the next semester starts, I’ll be sucking down the water.
I’ve also cut way back on my desserts and other treats. After all, I’m 20 pounds heavier than I was when I was running my fastest races six years ago. That weight has been gained slowly, but in the past year and a half, it’s really become a liability. Now, I was a very skinny lad back in the late ’90s, and I never lifted weights. I may have looked scrawny, but I could move on down the road a good deal faster than I can now. If I ever want to run a sub-3:15 marathon again, I’ll have to face the fact that some of this poundage just has to come off.
This desire to lose weight is a kind of "functional vanity". It’s less about improving my looks than it is about regaining my speed. But isn’t all vanity just vanity? It seems easier to defend dieting for the sake of athletic prowess than for the sake of outer appearance. Now, I don’t think wanting a faster marathon time is any less superficial than wanting to look hot. So call me shallow…
Anyhow, I’m straying from my goal of not blogging on the weekends. (I have all sorts of things whirling in my head that I am not going to post.) I do need to spend some time now reading various articles in preparation for tomorrow’s radio show. I’ll let you all know what I’ve been reading after the show airs. (Once again, in the spirit of self-promotion, here’s the link for all the info.)
Oh, and I’ve updated both my "favorite posts" and "regular reads" sections on the right. I’ve added several new blogs I’ve found. In particular, let me draw your attention to the Feminarian, whose blog header asks the question:
What happens when a socially liberal theologically conservative
inclusive tolerant feminist Episcopalian goes to one of the world’s top
evangelical seminaries?
Let’s find out.
Heck if I know. But the anonymous Feminarian might just be my twin. She’s got an interesting proposal:
A friend and I came up with a potentially marvelous idea for a play: a
Christian version of the Vagina Monologues
(http://www.dazereader.com/vaginamonologues.htm). Christian women have
a very unique relationship with their sexuality, largely influenced by
what they’ve learned at church. She and I want to put together stories
of our Christian sisters’ struggles, funny moments, revelations of
truth, etc. It’s not exactly the process the great Eve Ensler used, but
I was thinking that perhaps you might want to contribute. Just post a
story anonymously (unless you’re proud of it!) to my comments
(implicitly giving permission to use it). I don’t know how exactly this
thing will come together, and I surely don’t know who the audience
would be, but it feels important.
Love it. If you have something to contribute, folks, send it her way.. And if you have nothing but trollish spite to share, send it my way and leave her site out of it.
Okay, research time. God, I’d love a diet Coke right now! But the water bottle it is…
Congrats on fighting the Diet Coke jones! You’ll notice your wallet gaining weight! ;)
But be careful about losing too much weight for races. My father was an ultramarathoner (arthritis keeps him down to around five-mile runs, now) who was fanatical about his weight, thinking that if he got down to a ridiculously low weight like his smaller competitors, he’d do better. He didn’t. He just looked sickly. He ran his best times at a weight he considered “too heavy”. His best marathon was around 2:45, at a weight he thought was twenty pounds heavier than he “should” have been. At lower weights, he was more prone to injury, that’s all. Now that he’s an old man, he got wiser. He’ll even skip running to let himself heal, something he never would do in the past.
‘Nother words, be objective.
Thanks, La Lubu. In my younger years, I would have given anything for a 2:45 marathon, including the risk of arthritis. As I get a bit older and wiser, I am less obsessed with time and performance (and more accepting of my genetic limitations).
Hugo,
My comments on men, vanity/working-out are based on personal experience with my spouse, a man who is most definitely obcessed with this. Anyway, what do I know, maybe people need the personal fulfillment that comes from accomplishing these type of goals.__I hope you did not take my comments as a personal insult to you. They were not intended to be in any way relative to you. I know that you are an athlete__if I offended you, please accept my apologies.
I was right, I’m not a good candidate for making comments on any blog sites…
Oh heavens, Malchus, no worries.
Good luck tomorrow!!
Thanks for the shout-out!
Here’s a couple of my posts on losing weight:
http://feminary.blogspot.com/2004/12/what-would-jesus-eat.html
http://feminary.blogspot.com/2004/12/more-on-shell.html
I also visit the “gay christian” question frequently.
Yes, we may be twins, separated at birth.
The Vagina Monologues glamourized the sexual abuse of a child. See Wendy McElroy, “The ‘Monologues’ Ride Again”, ifeminists.com, Aug. 3, 2000 (documenting the play’s presentation of the so-called “good rape” of a 13-year-old girl by a 24-year-old woman).
Yeah, Hugo, this is the kind of stuff that a good “Christian” pro-feminist associates himself with, right? The boys at the Stand Your Ground forum have got you figured out.
Glenn Sacks is gonna make toast outta you, dude!
Jeff JP
You have someone here who likes hearing himself talk, Hugo. I’m not sure whether to have pity on him or laugh.
Wow, Hugo. You’ve really become a central figure in Jeff JP’s mental life! I think you’re getting to be as important as his mom ;)
I fully empathize with your diet soda struggle, as I’m quitting smoking. So I thought I’d share a tip you may find useful (or not.) I actually don’t like soda but find water terribly boring, so my compromise is to have fruit juice with seltzer water. If you’re looking to cut down sugar, you can stay away from the sweetened commercial juices and use natural juice.
Just a tip to cheer up your water consumption :) Good luck!
I packed on a number of unwanted pounds while finishing my Honors thesis, and I have to say, when I quit all the diet stuff (basically everything with artificial sweetener), my life got a lot better. Maybe it’s just because I associate that taste with being hungry, but it always made me crave food when I had a Diet Coke. I just quit everything faddish and easy, ate right, started exercising more consistently, and I got back to where I needed to be a lot more easily.
If it makes it any easier, just think about how Monsanto makes aspartame and how Coca-Cola treats its Columbian employees…if you really want to know, and you don’t already.
My consumption of Diet Coke, something that I enjoy greatly, is considerably lessened when my 14 year old son sees me with one and calls me a hypocrite. I told him about the politics behind it, and now I get called out on it. Way to go, kiddo! :-)
Yay for water! And to think, just a couple of months ago, you were teasing me about how much I consumed water, and now here you are–replacing your beloved diet coke for water. It makes me laugh. Will you still be drinking in your mug? Speaking of mugs, I got a new Starbucks container-’Twas a Christmas gift from Ash. Thought you would like to know that…
ps- sorry it’s taking me awhile for that email. school has been hectic.
Excuse me, but Jeff is absolutely right: THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES contains a much-discussed section in which a character fondly recalls a sexual encounter between two females: one 24-year-old and one 13-year-old. That is statutory rape, but it seems to be celebrated in TVM. Surely they wouldn’t celebrate a sexual encounter between a 24-year-old male and a 13-year-old female…
Another word on TVM: from my understanding, there is a monologue about a girl who is punched in the vagina by a boy. It’s disturbing as hell, I am sure, and I can just envision the anguished looks on the faces of the audience members during this scene. But how many times do we see a representation of a female character hurting a male character “there” — thereby committing aggravated sexual assault against him — and how many times is it celebrated as a cute, funny or empowering act? (Again, not in legitimate self-defense, mind you, but rather to express anger.) In fact, how many of the female actors who take part in TVM (to raise awareness of violence against women) have been in such a scene themselves in a film or television show?
Just a tangential point…