Make It Make Sense

You know how yesterday I said I was on the brink of trying another recipe and sharing it?

Wait, let me start over ...

You know how you go to the kitchen to make a new recipe only to find out you don't have one of the critical, base ingredients?

Yeah ...

Okay, so that's coming on Sunday! In the meantime, today's topic has been on my mind big-time for the past few weeks when Summer weather finally smacked all of us upside the head. That topic, from this Diet Coke lovin' girl, is ...

WATER!! Yup, that's 44 ounces of water living right there in my usual Diet Coke cup. That's right; totally cheating on the DC with the H2O.

I know I'm not alone in how much I hear about how water is not just good for you but that it's necessary, but, unfortunately, it's also a topic that tends to rattle around in my brain to the tune of, "Yeah, I know ... I know ..." only for me to, basically, ignore it figuring I get "enough" without really trying.

I also know I should be paying more attention to my water intake as a runner. But, again, it's like any other topic we learn about or should know. I know and do nothing. It's an ugly truth. But, I finally came upon that one little nugget of information that finally made it all resonate, making me pay attention and make it personally meaningful. Believe it or not, it was something like this:

I recently found similar information in a magazine, but I don't remember which one. Or even when. It's probably in the same place as that ingredient I needed tonight ... floating in nowhere-doing-me-no-good-right-now-ville. Anyway, this is from the Fitness Recipes Facebook page.

Okay, what caught my eye both times coming across this kind of breakdown was that water intake/absorption cushions your joints. How cool is that?! I was actually totally fascinated by that fact because it wasn't readily obvious (at least, not to me!). Then, I went from fascinated to making it personally applicable -- if drinking water can give my lower body any extra protection from the pounding of running, then that's something I must do. Ahh ... a new mission!!

In the past few weeks, I've shifted my thinking and drinking patterns almost immediately and turned my Diet Coke to water ratio on its head. (It's not you, Diet Coke, it's me.) And, while I honestly have no tangible idea of what that's done in the past few weeks, I have piece of mind that I'm doing what I should to. I don't always want the water when I choose it, but I know it's the right thing to do if I want to consistently, safely keep doing what I'm doing. No one wants a shriveled on the road runner!

It was actually really quite easy to bring more water in to my world because I made it make sense to do so. The only drawback? Yeah, that should be pretty obvious ...

Those ladies at the Run Like a Girl Facebook page totally get it.

I have to admit, though, even this issue -- which I totally knew would happen given personal, past drink-more-water-campaigns -- doesn't bug too much when I get the bigger picture.

Following this theme, it's about time I map out tomorrow's runs, and I have already mentally mapped them passing multiple opportunities to refill water bottles!

Be safe out there whatever you are doing!! I'll check in after the morning's very long run!