H2Own It!!

Ok, so I've been on a lot of kicks lately, kicks that I want to turn into good habits, like riding my bike, growing vegetables, being friendly, and now...drinking water. recently i've been getting these weird headaches. some of them deny me of peripheral vision for 15 minutes or so. some of them pound that area right above my eyes. others send shooting pains into my ears. and still others make me feel a little bit shaky and sick. but have no fear, i've been to the doctor. he wasn't concerned. he blamed stress which, considering everything that i've got going on right now, COULD be a possibility.

but, i was recently talking to a classmate friend of mine telling her about my headaches. i told her that the doctor thought it was stress. and we laughed together knowingly. but then she got all excited and said, "sara, you just need to drink more water!" apparently she has been experiencing similar headaches, only she's been having them since high school. she said that she read a book about water and discovered that water has been known to CURE people who suffer excruciating migraines. just water. no pills. no gimicks. so, i have self-diagnosed myself as being constantly dehydrated.

i never drink water. it's not that i don't like water, it's just that i like flavor drinks so much more. juice, coffee, coke, lemonade, tea...but i know that these things could never compare to the good affects that water has on my body. so, i've decided to regiment my daily water drinking.

right now i'm just working on the standard 64 oz a day. this is actually pretty difficult. it's really A LOT of water! my stomach feels kind of full and sloshy, kind of like how you feel coming out of lake michigan after a day of swimming in rough waves. but my goal is to drink even more water than this. so what better way to get myself to drink more water than a friendly competition?

that's right. next week is officially "H2Own It" week. i've somehow convinced four people from my office that they need to drink more water too, even though some of them already drink lots of water. so, we are all competing in a water drinking challenge for one week (this is not like "one car week" that week is for helping the environment. this week is for helping my BODY.) we have already drawn charts on the white board in our basement and will start filling them in next week. one nalgene bottle's worth fills one space on the chart. when you finish a bottle you must stand up and declare, "I H2Own It!"

all of us are strategizing about how we will win the offical top prize--a bottle of water. here are some of the strategies thus far:

Me: i come in two hours before everyone else. i plan to get one nalgene's worth before anyone even arrives. to their surprise i will already have filled in part of my chart before they even get here! i also work 10 hour days, three days a week. a lot of water can be drunk (drank?) in 10 hours. some may call this "unfair" i call it me having to get up a lot earlier than the rest so "suck it up."

Josh: he is going to bring in salty chips so that he is more thirsty (this may detract from the "healthy factor" but a strategy IS a strategy...). he also plans on bringing in his camel back. this will give him access to alot of water at all times. this is a good strategy.

Liz: she plans to drink out of a straw. she believes that this makes drinking more fun. perhaps she's right...

Mike: he's new. he probably has some strategies brewing but is still to shy to speak up. either that or he thinks this office is crazy.

Christy: she has a smaller nalgene bottle so can psych us out by saying that she's finished one...when really she has to drink two to be equal. but she may have the psychological advantage.

Courtney: she is new too. she's on vacation this week so doesn't even know about this little challenge. courtney is going to lose.

Already this competition has brought about some great conversation like who pees more, boys or girls? and, who has the smallest bladder? next week is shaping up to be a good one...

-SN