This is the final Commit to Fit giveaway sponsored by Subway, and the one I kept putting off because it meant I’d have to make an actual commitment to fitness. Here’s the official blurb-age:

Have you decided what fitness commitment you’re going to make? Think about what your Commit to Fit Challenge is. It can be anything from running your first 5K to trying out a new class like tai chi or zumba. Let us know what it is and we’ll provide you with the funds (up to $100) to help you meet your challenge!

After reading all your suggestions on this post, I decided to just go with the obvious and try zumba. I enjoyed the TurboKick class I took a few years ago, so hopefully zumba will have the same fun atmosphere. I searched for a class on the official zumba page and found one locally. So, I’ll commit to doing that for 8 weeks and see how it goes. At the least, it’s an opportunity for me to get out of my apartment and be around other human beings, and not hibernate in front of my computer doing freelance work. Particularly now that it’s getting cooler, signing up for an indoor exercise class will hopefully keep me exercising through the winter.

If you’d like to enter for a chance to win up to $100 to put toward your own fitness goal, leave a comment on this entry with your favorite word that contains the letter “z.” (I already made you state your fitness challenges on this post, so I didn’t want to repeat.) You must be a US resident to enter. The contest ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, November 28, 2010. Winner will be drawn randomly.

BTW, the winner of the Laila Ali giveaway was Madeline from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. Congrats, Madeline! Please don’t punch me with your prize.

Disclosure: All prizes listed in this post were provided for free.

The Commit to Fit program is based in part on the goal of Jared Fogle aka Jared the Subway Guy to run the New York City Marathon this year. I met Jared in Indianapolis a few months ago, see!

Not only is he tall, he’s maintained a massive weight loss for over 10 years, which is deserving of a round of applause. No, really, please clap for the man. If you’re reading at work, golf claps will do. I also applaud Jared for training for a marathon. I ran a half-marathon a few years ago, and Subway would have to give me much more than a free gym bag to convince me to run a full one. Actually, they’d have to give me lots of money and promise that I could land in a bed of cupcakes at the end.

The idea behind Commit to Fit is for you to set your own fitness goal. You don’t have to run a marathon (thank God). I have been in a bit of a fitness slump the past year, so when I was considering whether to participate in this program or not, I was swayed by the hope that it will be a good motivator to get my own butt in gear. (It has also forced me to learn how to spell “commit.” Two Ms, one T. Take note!) I still haven’t decided on my fitness goal, but it will probably be something like a 5K race or signing up for a class I’ve never taken before, like Zumba. (Suggestions are welcome.)

You have to dress for success, so even though I haven’t decided on my goal, I can start looking cute for it. As part of the “Getting Pumped Up in Style” giveaway, Subway has provided for me a Gaiam gym bag, yoga mat and $50 gift card to Lulu Lemon, a retailer of yoga-inspired athletic apparel. You can win this prize in this giveaway.

To enter, leave a comment on this post either 1) stating your own Commit to Fit challenge or 2) if you have a problem with commitment, you can suggest a challenge for me. Only residents of the US may enter. (Sorry, my foreign friends.) The contest ends at 11:59pm on Sunday, October 10th 2010.

Subway also has a Commit to Fit page on Facebook that explains it in more detail and gives you the opportunity to win more prizes. There will be a few more Commit to Fit posts in the coming weeks, and a few more giveaways, so even if you don’t win the gym bag you’ll have a chance to not win something else later.

Disclosure: The prizes listed in this post were provided for free.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book to review.

You remember Dara Torres, right? She’s the forty-something, mom who has six-pack abs. You know, the one who swam her way to three Olympic medals two years ago, beating kids who hadn’t been born yet when she attended her high school prom. Depending on your outlook, she might inspire you to be fit despite your age or just make you feel depressed that you’re not in as good of shape as her. If it’s the latter, you now have a better chance at trying to keep up. Dara’s revealed some of the secrets of her training regimen in a book titled Gold Medal Fitness: A Revolutionary 5-Week Program written in collaboration with writer Billie Fitzpatrick.

The book has a conversational tone that intermixes Dara’s personal experiences with the technical information of her routine, making it an easy read. The program is based on what Dara’s learned about training smarter as she ages, and thus is targeted at women. As a swimmer, Dara’s program is focused on creating a lean yet strong body that is capable of explosive bursts of strength. The first section, “You Can Do It!” serves as a mini-pep talk and covers the mental attitude you’ll need as well as reviewing some basic nutrition. The second section, “Your Body as a Power Source,” covers the meat of her plan divided into sections on strength, stretching, cardio, and recovery. If there is a “secret” to Dara’s plan, it seems to be the section about Ki-Hara stretching. This is a technique that stretches and strengthens your muscles at the same time. This is also the section that features lots of pictures of Dara demonstrating stretches, like this one, which made me wonder if the Torres table would be coming soon to IKEA:

And this one, where you could sprinkle salt on her and call her a pretzel:

Now, no one is promising that you’ll make the 2012 Olympic team by following this program, but it is filled with good advice. I really liked the positive tone that emphasized fitness over skinniness. Dara overcame an eating disorder in her twenties and as she says now, “I’m not a dieter. I don’t even like the word.” Dara also encourages you to find the part of yourself that enjoyed running around as a kid, when exercise wasn’t called exercise, it was just fun. Be aware that some of the exercises require gym equipment and a stability ball.

Dara was also kind enough to answer a few of my questions, which I emailed to her. You can also follow her on Twitter at @daratorresswims. That’s where Dara tweeted that she will sign your book if you mail it to her with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The address is 12441 Royal Palm Blvd; Coral Springs, FL 33065.

Q: For people who aren’t naturally athletic, it can be hard to imagine themselves achieving a fitness goal like running a 5K. You’re naturally athletic, but is there something else that you started out naturally unskilled at which you’ve gotten better at by applying the same training philosophies you mention in the book?

Yes, I was naturally unskilled at volleyball when I first tried it but I have definitely gotten better at it.

I like that you stress the importance of taking recovery time in training. I’ve noticed that when some of my readers start a fitness plan, they are so excited that they’ll burn themselves out in the first few weeks and then abandon the plan. How do you occupy yourself on the days you aren’t working out? Can you recommend any ways to turn off feelings of guilt that some of my readers might feel on rest days?

I used to go for a run on my off days but eventually I realized that rest days are needed. You should not have feelings of guilt because rest and recovery enables your body to get stronger and leaner so you won’t break down.

I know you travel frequently to compete and to give motivational talks, like you tweeted about at HP this week. When I’m traveling for work or on vacation, I sometimes use it as an excuse to vacation from healthy choices. Do you have any advice on how to bring your inner athlete with you on the road so you continue to eat well and maintain a fitness routine?

It’s all about discipline. When you have been eating well and have maintained your fitness routine up to a point, it’s important to allow yourself to cave into your cravings, not over-indulge, but to give your body what it wants and needs. When you’re on vacation you should enjoy yourself, rest and recover. Just don’t allow yourself to fall out of a routine completely so you can remain motivated after vacation.

Many of my readers have said they developed body image problems when they were young which still stick with them today. As a mother of a young girl, do you worry about her forming a negative body image like so many women do? And if so, how to you hope to guide her towards a positive view of her body?

I think every parent probably worries about their children falling prey to low self esteem or forming a negative body image. You have to reiterate to them that what they see on TV and in magazines isn’t real life. I try to remind my daughter that it’s not what is on the outside but what is on the inside that counts. It important to help her create confidence in her inner beauty.

You’re an inspirational figure who has motivated many people to exercise and take care of their bodies no matter what their age. Who motivates and inspires you?

My daughter motivates and inspires me the most, but I also draw a lot of my motivation from within myself.

My Paranoid Traveler’s Syndrome made me worry that the glass was going to break and I’d be sucked into the turbines like a bird with bad luck. Thankfully, the plane remained in tact, but this also meant that I spent the flight being taunted by ads in the seat pocket advertising free wifi that was not working on my flight.

When questioned, the stewardess just shrugged her shoulders, which is the universal gesture for, “I’m just a stewardess, not a cable repair man.” While I rather hate to use this cliched phrase, major FAIL, Airtran!

When I arrived in Baltimore, I couldn’t stop singing a very old, obscure, Tori Amos song as I wondered around the concourse.

Eventually I did make it to my hotel, which was located in a prime spot near the happening inner harbor area. I cannot describe how beautiful the weather was. It was like gazing at the face of Helen of Troy, if her facial features consisted of sunshine, blue clouds, and a brisk breeze. There were lots of doggies and ducks (and some joggers too) traipsing around the harbor, all filled with the simple joy of a spring day.

On Saturday, FitBloggin’ began, and a good time was had by all. And here is the “all” I’m talking about:

I wondered off the grounds for two hours in the early afternoon on a secret mission unsanctioned by the FitBloggin’ community. I walked half a mile to the Blue Moon Cafe, where I waited 40 minutes in the street with other breakfast crack seekers, until I was finally rewarded with this:

Yes, Captain Crunch French Toast! How could I not? Do you think I could get this in Indianapolis? No! And I walked there, so I’m sure that totally burned off the 8500 bazillion calories I consumed. I would love to go back to the cafe some time and sample their cinnamon rolls and biscuits that were literally as large as a chihuahua’s head. (Probably bigger, actually, depending on the chihuahua.)

I arrived back in time to sit on the publishing panel, and forced myself to self-promote even though I felt like a total tool by name-dropping the magazines and TV shows I’ve been on. The members on the panel had a wide range of experience, and I thought it went rather well. A video of it should be online next month sometime. One correction though: I mentioned that I was in Self magazine, but I really meant to say Women’s Health. Sorry! I don’t want anyone thinking I’m a compulsive liar. Frankly, all those media promotions are a blur.

That night, I went out to dinner with my roommates, Amy and Rebecca. We tried going to a seafood place, but the wait was 90 minutes. So we ended up at a tapas restaurant and sat at the bar with some Flamenco dancers between sets.

Then it was back home to Indianapolis, where I napped and got bedlag to go with my jetlag. Big props to Roni for organizing this great event. People were already talking about FitBloggin’ 2011, but I’m going to need more nap time before I can commit to that.

If you haven’t already, be sure to enter the $100 gift card giveaway in association with BlogHer and Pepperidge Farm. The contest is open until November 2.

Finally, a big congrats to my friend Stephanie O’Dea, who appeared on Good Morning America today to promote her new book, Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking. Steph did great and I know her book will too. I’m gonna’ see if I can use part of my peck of apples in her apple crisp recipe.

Unlike my first running of the IrishFest 5K, I didn’t witness an unofficial “Escape The Cops 5K” on my way to the starting line. This year’s race also wasn’t at night like the one two years ago was, so they did not hand out any glow sticks :( But by God, there were bagpipes!

I sat on a folding chair waiting for the race to start, when a thirty-something man in a grey shirt and square-frame glasses came up and said, “Excuse me, but do you know what pace you plan on running?”

“I have no idea,” I told him honestly. I haven’t been tracking the distance I’ve been running while training, just the amount of time I spend running. “Maybe a 12-minute mile pace?” I said optimistically recalling my average pace a year and a half ago.

“Do you mind if I pace off of you? I haven’t run a 5K for almost two years and it would help a lot if I could pace myself with somebody.”

“Sure,” I told him.

“I just thought I’d ask you…because you still have a jacket on,” he said, though I wondered if he really meant, “because you’re heavier than most of the other freakishly lean and well-muscled people here.” It was about 60 degrees out, yet many of the hardcore athletes were only wearing their running shorts and t-shirts. Either way, it made for the second time someone has propositioned me to be their running buddy because I’m a slow runner; the other person was a woman on the nature trail about 2 or 3 years ago.

So that is how J1m H0gan and I ran the IrishFest 5K together, though I have obscured his name in case one day an employer Googles him and decides they simply cannot hire a slow runner for a job. For the first 25 minutes, we did intervals of 4 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking. Then for the rest of the race we did intervals of 2 minutes of walking and 3 minutes of running, finishing in 44:12, which is over three minutes faster than my last run, which goes to show I perform much better when it’s not hot and humid with no water stations in sight. I brought my own water bottle this time too, and the cool weather was much more pleasant for a three-mile run. I wasn’t sure if I’d like running with someone, but it made me accountable to stick to the intervals I’d set. Otherwise, I might have chipped 20 or 30 seconds off the running intervals because no one would have known one way or the other.

My best 5K time ever was 31:17, and I remember at the time thinking it was still rather slow because the fastest runners could finish in about 15 minutes. Comparing it to my current time of 44:12, it looks downright speedy, and I finally understood my aunt who once commented on how good that time was. I suppose it’s like how I used to look at old photos of myself from high school, a time when I felt HUGE, and realized I hadn’t been that fat at all.

I improved on my last time, which was my goal, and ultimately I’m only competing with myself. After the 5K I went online and signed up for another race scheduled in about a month called Run Like Hell. It’s held at night on the day before Halloween and the participants are encouraged to dress up for the occasion. Looking at last year’s photos of people dressed as everything from a school bus to the three little pigs, it appears to be a hell of a lark. Anyone got an idea for a costume that might win me a prize, but that I can also run comfortably in?

I used to exercise because I knew it was the only thing keeping the world from exploding. I would dash onto the trail immediately after work so I would have enough day light to complete my runs. I would lift weights as I watched Good Morning America. I did Pilates so much I found myself able to roll backwards and then leap up off the mat. I did this for months and months after I got my horrible, awful, no-good headache. I did it because I knew if I didn’t the universe would collapse and we would all die, because it was only the force of me exercising five times a week that was preventing total world annihilation.

But after about 8 months of the pain and the pathetic push-ups, I stopped. The running shoes stayed in the closet and my Pilates mat stayed in the corner and my weights just stayed put, period. And the world did not explode. The universe did not end. This was a very bad thing to discover. I needed to believe exercise was non-negotiable, but when it wasn’t, I started negotiating. I began to do what I wanted to do instead of what I needed to do. This usually involved ice cream and prime time television.

I’ve been feeling a lot better now and I’ve been walking regularly, but I am no where near as fit as I used to be. I have known I need to work on working out more, but I’ve lacked the spark I had during my running years to make it happen. Even my behavioral psychologist at the headache clinic has been on me about it, listing all the benefits of regular aerobic exercise, and making me giggle inside my head that someone is giving me weight-loss tips.

Then Kelly emailed me. You might remember Kelly from page 8 of my book, where she appears as Karen, my abs-crunching college roommate. I didn’t know how to contact her for permission, so I changed her name in the book to protect her identity (though I doubt anyone would be embarrassed to appear as the health conscious roommate in a weight-loss memoir). Kelly would work out in our dorm room and I would watch while I ate Twinkies. Like everybody and my father, Kelly is on Facebook, which is where we found each other again and decided that we’d enter the Midsummer Night’s Run, a 5K race held in Lexington, KY on August 15, 2009. Kelly’s wanted to run it for years and I need a clearly defined and measurable fitness goal to work towards, so we have submitted our money and are registered.

The race is 10 weeks away, which gives me enough time to complete the Couch to 5K running program. Developed by the Cool Running web site, Couch to 5K gets you from the couch to a 5K in nine weeks, though in my case it should be “Loveseat to 5K” because I don’t own a full couch. Many people have raved about this program, but I never got to try it because I’d already started running regularly before I’d heard about. Now I can test it for quality assurance!

I downloaded some podcasts linked from this Couch to 5K resource page, loaded up my MP3 player, and completed the first run on Saturday. To my surprise, I didn’t have to scrape my lung off the pavement like dog doody! It was actually…easy. I am not as out of shape as I thought I was! Woot! I was tempted to push harder and longer, but the program specifically tells you not to do that, so I was a good little girl and eased off. I’ve got 10 weeks to go and there’s no sense in burning out or injuring myself.

It felt surprisingly good to run again, making me feel more connected to the planet and to my body and myself. When I was at my most fit, I knew that I could get up and run a 5K whenever I wanted to. Just knowing that made me feel, well, kinda’ badass, oddly enough. Yet I know that at this moment I would not be able to run a 5K, though I could walk one. I’m looking forward to getting back to that level of fitness, and to keeping the world from exploding.

A couple years later I woke up in the middle of the night and wanted to scoop my gallbladder out with a spoon. The surgeon did it with a scalpel and a tiny camera instead, and I was only 24. Then my knees started to hurt when I climbed up the stairs. By this point I’d also lost track of how many cavities I’d had filled, caused by too much Mountain Dew and too little dental floss.

A friend my age told me over dinner she is fighting acid reflux disease and takes medication for a slight thyroid imbalance. Another friend was just diagnosed with pernicious anemia and has to get shots of B12. We are not old. We are in out late 20′s and early 30′s.

No one told me my body was going to break down so fast. No one warned me that after 21 years I’d start needing repairs. I cannot trade myself in for a newer model. So if you are young and your body is working, enjoy it for me. It won’t be long until you’ll need a fix-up and wish you’d invested in more dental floss as a child.

On Saturday I climbed 37 stories of the One America building with a Flip Camera in my left hand to capture all the coughing and hyperventilating. You can view my video blog about the race above. If you have dial-up or can’t discreetly watch videos at work, I will spoil the ending for you: I got to the top without keeling over. We were also one of the top 4 fundraisers for the event, an honor for which I won a mug. Instead of dividing it into 50 little pieces and mailing it to all my sponsors, I will let you have a sip from it if we ever run into each other.

You can view pictures of the event taken by The Indianapolis Star here. I’m not sure what my official time was because, quite frankly, the official race site sucks giant donkey balls. (Yes, that is my professional opinion.) I think I got in at just under 14 minutes. The fastest people did it in just under 4 minutes, which make me wonder if we should let genetically engineered people like that compete against us flabbier mortals.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored me. You really “stepped up.”(Har, har, har.) Below is a list of some of my sponsors’ web pages. I hope you’ll take the time to check them out. I’ve done my best to compile this list without error, but there were A LOT of links. (It took me longer to put this post together than it took to climb to the 37th story.) If your link is missing, broken or miscategorized, email me and I’ll fix it ASAP.

$65.00

Wild Rumpusing

$50.00

My Weight Watchers Journey: 50 lbs to lose at 50!

$40.00

WhimsyWraps Candy Wrappers

$25.00

Basically Benita

Serial Lab

Get ‘er done!

$20.00

Lyme Light

$15.00

That Josh Groban Guy

$10.00

Less Lisa

Debby Weighs In

Pink Spandex

Healthy Discoveries

The Year of the Frog

Crowe’s Nest

The Princess Dieter

Coach Levi

Lacubrious Society

The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl

Knit, Run, Repeat

Distracted By Something Shiny

$5.37

Confessions of the Guy at Weight Watchers

$5.00

Losing to Find Myself

Finding Radiance

Morfit

Fat Bridesmaid

Searching for my Inner Thinner Self

Bitchin with B

Life of L

One Problem Child

Workout Mommy

Live to Slim

A Woman’s Right to Lose

Losing it with Style

A Merry Life

Fit Future

FatFighterTV

$3.00-$1.00

The Hungry Little Caterpillar

Wife and Mom of 3

Life in Cindyland

The Duchess of Dork

Achieving Kateness

Weight Loss Journey

She Overflows

Mumalicious

Taste Not Waist

When I look at the Indy 500 Mini-Marathon finisher’s medal that is hanging on my bulletin board, I fondly remember the race, particularly the part where I got to stop running. While I enjoyed the cinnamon crunch bagels and the thrill of accomplishment, I’ve decided not to run the race again this year. I wiffled and waffled for awhile, but I knew if I ran it again it would just be for show since my heart is not in it. Been there, done that, got the medal.

I greatly admire people who take up long distance running, but it is not necessary to run half-marathons to stay in shape, nor is it the best possible way to lose pounds. I actually gained weight when I was training last year. Right now I’d rather focus on maintaining my current weight and perhaps losing another 10-20 pounds, so half-marathon training is not consistent with those goals. I know some people do lose weight when training, but I’m not one of them.

Instead, my personal health goal for this year is to maintain a level of fitness so I could go out and run a 5K at any time. I just hate it when I’m at the office and they say, “Let’s run a 5K after lunch!” and I have to turn them down. At my running speed, that goal would mean being able to run for about 35 minutes constantly, which is doable.

In memory of my past running achievements, here’s a slideshow of me crossing the finish line at the Training Series 10K last year, captured by the official documentarian of my life, my mother. Thanks, Mom!