About two months ago, I decided I wanted to train for and run the Chicago Marathon. I am running with the American Brain Tumor Association's Team Breakthrough, and I am so excited! (Shameless plugs for my fundraising/story page and progress blog.) One thing I have loved about getting fit and fly from training besides the little line I am getting on my arm from baby weight training and the shrinkage in my waist is hydrating. I LOVE drinking water now. I want to drink water all the time. Sometimes, I crave Crystal Light; when I am most vulnerable, I have a Cheerwine over ice. (SO GOOD.)
But it hasn't always been this way for me.
Back in college, I had great intentions to drink water that always ended with half-consumed glasses of water on my desk and half-consumed bottles of water in every sorority tote bag I owned. (The total was somewhere around 514.) One day, I decided I'd had enough and gave myself a new strategy: I would put candy at the bottom of my water bottles to make me drink the whole thing. Not just any candy, though: Haribo gummy bears. Since my goal was to drink water, not to lose weight or eat less candy, my trick was acceptable and, more importantly, worked! When I started carrying my colorful beverages to my classes, people quickly asked questions. The responses were varied, but my friend Jill and I eventually split the cost of a 5 pound bag of Haribo gummy bears to help us survive and stay hydrated through the stresses of second semester of senior year.
While cleaning/reorganizing last night, I found some of my favorite Haribo gummy bears and decided to throw them in a water bottle for old time's sake. Tonight, I am eating water-soaked gummy bears while working the desk. A few girls have asked what I am eating and gone on with their lives, but one of my particularly vocal seniors (the "KFC is for fat white people!" girl) asked what they were, so I offered her a taste. She fished one out of the bottle, took a bite, and exclaimed, "This really IS soaked in water!"
I gave her a look, and she said "I thought they were soaked with vodka." I responded with a sarcastic, "Yeah, because I'd bring that to the desk."
Her reply? "Yeah, but you know people soak them in vodka in real life, right?"
