I flew to Houston this weekend to celebrate my ex-roommate’s wedding. It was the final wedding of the year and I was so excited to go. I’ll be writing about it more in the next post.
On my flight from Tucson to Houston, I sat next to this wonderful and nice lady named Maria (I asked her permission to use her face and name).
It turned out that she and I went to the same college together, which was crazy because that was the last thing I would’ve expected from a random conversation with a stranger.
And you know what the funniest part is? She’s from Ohio.
I’m not the one to start conversations with strangers on airplanes because I usually like to knock out for the whole plane ride, but I noticed she was wearing really fancy running shoes, like the ones you would see on like T.V. of professional marathon runners.
I thought she might have some thoughts on fitness tracking watches. I’m currently looking to buy one for fitness and sleep.
She shared that she was a runner herself. She’s ran in all sorts of races (including the big marathons like the New York Marathon). Since I started beach volleyball training and strength conditioning, I asked her for advice on what it takes to train consistently.
What does it take to exercise consistently?
She didn’t give me an exact answer, but she answered that she started running when she was 11 and kept up running ever since.
That got me thinking – starting early in life is super helpful to exercising consistently.
When you’re younger…like middle school younger…maybe even younger than that – you have your health and time. You have time to train before and after school. You can also recover from injuries and training faster. I think it’s easier to develop and maintain how often your exercise.
It just gets harder to exercise consistently when you get older.
You’ll have responsibilities that will take away time and consistency from your schedule. Random things will pop up like staying at work late and taking care of family.
It may take longer for you to recover from injuries or training. And when you rest for more than 2 or 3 days straight, you lose that training consistency.
So start exercising as early as you can.
Pain sucks but pain teaches
After sharing her running experience, she said that she stopped running earlier this year due to an ankle injury. It was partially why she was wearing her super expensive running shoes because it was the most comfortable shoe to help her manage the pain.
She was both incredibly mad and sad that she had to stop running for several reasons. First, she couldn’t run with her daughter in one of the Washington D.C. marathons. She signed up for the marathon race a year prior so she could run with her daughter.
Second, running was a big part of her life. It was her way of maintaining her physical and mental health.
Getting injured sucks and the pain it causes can suck physically, mentally, and emotionally.
I sympathized with her because I recently fractured my left index toe. I can’t play volleyball or rock climb for at least 6 weeks.
After commiserating in our miseries about our injuries, she went on to say that it will be a good time for her to take a break. She will be still going to the Washington D.C. marathon race she signed up for, but instead of running, she’ll be cheering her daughter on.
Hearing her say that made me think – pain sucks but pain also teaches. It teaches us things like learning how to slow down. What it means to take a break and not feel like we have to ‘go go go’ all the time. There are definitely times where it’s appropriate to be in that hustle mentality but being on that ‘go go go’ status all the time can lead to burn out.
Oral Hygiene helpful tips
Maria is also a retired dentist. Out of curiosity, I asked her 2 questions regarding oral hygiene at the end of our flight.
Aside from brushing and flossing your teeth, is there anything else you would suggest to keep your teeth healthy?
She said no. Stick to the basics and you’ll be good. So brush and floss your teeth daily!
How would you treat or decrease teeth sensitivity?
She said it depends on the person, but from a general standpoint, don’t brush your teeth super hard and don’t use whitening toothpaste. She recommended using Sensosdyne sensitivity toothpaste and an electric toothbrush. A good solid option is the Philips Sonicare toothbrushes.
I knew my vacation was off to a good start after having a conversation with Maria. Again…this isn’t typical of me to strike up conversations with strangers. It just turned out to be a fun and interesting conversation that I had to write about.
Thanks for listening!
