oh yes, there was another reason this was a big day. i'd been tossing around the idea of a primarily plant based (yes, i guess vegan) diet for a while. no reason really other than i just wanted a healthier... existence, i guess. i'd taken my blood pressure at work a few times in the last month and was not impressed with the 130s/90s results i was getting. then a friend pointed me in the direction of the documentary forks over knives. conveniently enough, it was on netflix! it's like it was meant to be! and it was a totally life changing movie. i have the image of the long string of fatty substance being pulled out of a heart vessel lodged in my BRAIN, among other things. that being said, i don't believe (for myself) in cutting foods out completely, hence the "primarily" usage earlier. once in a great while i'd like to have a cheeseburger or a piece of pepperoni pizza or ice cream or bacon or use eggs in a recipe. i just know that i need to (and want to) make a life change in the way i eat on regular day to day basis. oh, also, there's no way i could ever give up sushi. ever.
as for my current state of fitness/exercising, pretty much non-existent. about a year or so ago i developed plantar fasciitis in one of my feet. then eventually both of them. it's hard to get psyched to work out when you feel like you're walking on knives. it would get better at times and i would keep up a good workout schedule for a month or so, lose some weight, but the pain always came back. i don't even want to know how much money i'd spent on new shoes and inserts trying to find a magical cure. as time went on i became much less active, gained more weight therefore putting more pressure on my sad feet and on and on went the vicious cycle.
today, wanting and needing to start taking better care of my feet if i want to seriously train for a triathlon, i sought out specialty shoe store. you know, the kind with folks who look at your feet and watch you walk and know what they're talking about when it comes to sneakers. i don't know why i didn't do this a YEAR ago. i went to on the run in the inner sunset and worked with patrick on what my feet issues were and what i was looking for. i couldn't have asked for a better experience. he walked me through what to look for in sneakers should i not return to their store (i will be returning), tried different orthotics, and gave me some awesome tips. i did drop $290 but feel it was worth every penny for a new pair of brooks sneakers, orthotics, and a pair of slip on "house shoes" (i'm not allowed to walk barefoot anymore which makes sense as it hurts like hell most of the time). also, learned that nikes are about the worst sneakers i could put on my feet. what had i been buying for the past nine months? you got it.
sooo. here we go. apologies for the long winded and not-easily-flowing intro post! i'm new to the whole blogging thing. i hope to use this space to document my training, post recipes (and pictures!) of food, and i hope y'all will join me for the ride. thanks for reading!
