The Power of Friends

On Memorial Day I went into New York City with my friends. I'm staying about an hour away by train, which goes pretty quickly. We spent the day visiting with celebrities at the wax museum, and explored Central Park and Times Square, where we were lucky to catch a glimpse of Glee's Jane Lynch coming out of rehearsals for Broadway's Annie. In the wax museum I saw my first 4D movie! That was really fun. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my healthy journey, and as I walked around with my friends, laughing and talking, I realized that mental health is just as important as physical. It's so important to relax every once in a while and have fun!

 I can't think of any better way to be motivated than to be with friends who are helping me in my journey. On days that I don't want to work out, it's nice to know that I have friends who are encouraging me each step of the way. We had a four day weekend, and it was super nice to be able to rest and think of things other than work. .Our time is going very quickly; we only have seven days of work left! After that it is another five day trip back to Denver.

Yesterday I ran 1.3 miles in 15.56. I was super excited because it's definitely an improvement from my running time back in Denver a few months ago. Of course, we were dealing with a much higher altitude there, and I wasn't fully adjusted, but I'm determined to bring my time down when we do the official run in a few weeks.  To end what turned out to be a pretty good day, my roommates and I made black bean quesadillas, yum!  The link to the website can be found here. http://www.thefitcook.net/1/post/2011/2/black-bean-quesadillas.html The dinner was wonderful and I can't wait to make more of her food.

Pictures-Jaime and I with 007, Jaime, Liz, and myself at the museum's tribute to 9/11, and me with Spider man before the movie.

My name is Hayden. I'm a twenty something college grad with a degree in Sociology and a minor in elementary education. I'm currently working for FEMA Corps, an AmeriCorps organization that has 18-24 year old men and women working directly with FEMA to assist in disasters. I've been in New Jersey for the last month and a half, and am really enjoying myself. If you want to learn more about FEMA Corps click here. http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/fema-corps It will give you information on this program and their traditional track which I completed in 2012. For the next several months I will be working to assist people affected by disasters. Now I'm sure you are wondering what this blog is about. Essentially, it's about my quest to get healthy. For several years I have struggled with my weight. There were times that I acted like I didn't care. I tried track and cross country during my freshman and sophomore years of college respectively, but even though I was exercising I wasn't eating right. After graduating in 2011, I joined AmeriCorps NCCC in February of 2012. It was definitely difficult to eat good foods when we were constantly on the road to and from our project locations. We ate Chipotle just about every trip! Here is a picture of me helping to put up electric fencing at a horses rescue place in Illinois. When I began FEMA Corps in February we were required to sign up for the Presidential Fitness Challenge. The profiles are easy to set up and easy to use. You simply enter in your fitness from a list of provided activities, and the time spent on it (you have to exercise for at least five minutes). You can get points for everything from running to doing household chores! Click here to check out the site and create your own profile! https://www.presidentschallenge.org/login/index.shtml When you exercise, the points that you earn go for various awards. I'm currently working for the bronze award. You can create groups or join existing ones to help motivate you. Three weeks ago my quest to get healthy officially began. One of the girls in my groups is conditioning for the Air Force, and she invited me to work out with her. The workout is designed to get people used to running. When I get the information on the website that she found, I will post it here. The workout is progressive. The first week you walk for five minutes, run for one minute, and repeat so you run one more time before a cool down. Each week you increase the time spent running. This coming week we start running for four minutes, and the week after we will be up to five minutes! It's a sixteen week program. We have also added pull ups to the workout as well. In addition we do a minute each of sit ups and push ups. The first few days were difficult. My body was at war with me for most of the time, but as I kept going, it started to get easier. The friend who I am working out with says that it takes six weeks for your body to adjust to a new habit. I've learned that it's important to start small and build up. For instance, I recently switched from eating chocolate covered granola bars to eating Nature Valley bars, and I'm trying my best not to snack in between meals. (Now if only I would eat veggies like I should...) I know that people have their own ways of getting into shape, so I'm hoping that this can be used as a motivation tool. I've discovered that working out with other people is so much better than working out alone. It motivates me to work harder. I'm also more willing to exercise if I enjoy what I'm doing. In FEMA Corps, and in the traditional program, we are required to work out as a team three times a week. Our team enjoys ab workouts and playing ultimate Frisbee and kick ball. (After completing one of my runs). Through these posts, I'm going to keep you updated on my progress. I'm not expecting overnight changes, but I'm hoping that in the process of getting healthy and getting into shape, that I can learn to love myself more, and not feel about about my appearance. This is about new starts and new opportunities to get to know myself better. I'm open to tips and suggesting, so just let me know if you have found something that works!