My love affair with all things Rich Roll has been long and enduring – I’ve got not one, not two but THREE copies of his book (one autographed!) and I listen to all his podcasts religiously.

Most of the Project Improve Laura books that I’ve gotten are by authors he interviewed, like Todd Henderson’s Alter Ego Effect, David Goggins’ Can’t Hurt Me, and James Clear’s Atomic Habits (and btw, is there a podcast that dude HASN’T been on? He is EVERYWHERE, but then again, his book is excellent). It was his interview with Joseph Naus (The Straight Pepper Diet) that got me started thinking about the things I could write about growing up female in the South, or about a very formative but extremely dark time in my life, and of course, his interviews got me to go completely vegan, as well as to stick with my running.

It was an interview of Rich’s that convinced me I could and should sign up for a race that seemed a bit further than I thought possible for myself: the Tarheel Ten Miler (Freudian Typing Slip – I initially typed that as the “Tarhell Ten Miler” and something tells me that’s going to be prescient).
I found myself going to the website and spending more money than I thought I would signing up for that race, thanks to Rich. I sat down and planned out a training plan (keeping in mind that I was 26 weeks out) and I thought about my diet.

I’m wondering if I’m trying to treat an untreatable deficit of vegan chocolate chip cookies

And I immediately fell off the training plan, the dietary band wagon, and have spent most of the time between then and now going back and forth between eating execrably and missing training sessions and eating really well, sleeping really well, and sticking to my plan.

I am constantly disappointed in myself, even as I know that I’m not helping matters by being so.

Uplifting Giraffe is the best.

Then I went to the Y yesterday in between classes and it was on fire. I’m totally not kidding. I’m not sure what message the universe is sending me, but I’m going to take it as my training is about to be on fire.

See you at the gym. I’m going to do this.