Year: 2016

Hey friends! I hope that Monday treated you kindly.

We woke up to a very chilly morning, the coldest morning we’ve had yet this winter in fact. The actual temperature was 30, but the feels like temperature was 27 when we woke up. I had 4 – 6 recovery miles to get in and so Daniel and I bundled up and headed out early this morning. It really wasn’t as cold as I was expecting, but I was definitely dressed to handle whatever we encountered. I always think of the Friends episode where Joey wears all of Chandler’s clothes when I get bundled up. Could I *be* wearing any more clothes?

I wore tights with a tennis skirt over them. That’s my trademark, it’s really cold out, technique. I figure that since tennis skirts have shorts built in under the skirt, you’re really adding two layers to your bottom half. I wore a long-sleeved shirt and the warmest jacket that I own. It’s a Nike jacket that I’ve had since college. That’s also my trademark, it’s really cold out, jacket. I only wear it a few times each year. Add some gloves and a toboggan into the mix and I was set. We did 5 easy miles and I was even getting toasty by the end.

Random rant for the day … I’m on a mission to make my Fitbit read more accurately. Apparently you have to manually adjust your stride length in the settings in order to make the distance accurate. If you don’t adjust the settings, it calculates based on your gender and height. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show you what the default stride length is. It just shows as 0 ft. 0 in. if you don’t manually calculate it.

Mine has pretty consistently been reading 4.4 miles for our regular 5 mile route. I have a tendency to get geeked out over equations and formulas, so I am determined to get this figured out. Here is what I have come up with:

63,360 * number of miles run / number of steps counted per Fitbit = average stride in inches.

I’ve been taking notes of the average steps per mile on several of my easy runs recently (I’ve calculated it on a 10 mile run and on two 5 mile runs). I am basically taking 1,600 steps per mile, which is calculating to a stride length of 39.6 inches (or 3 ft. 3.6 in.). Once you figure this out, you just go to your dashboard in Fitbit and edit your settings. You need to do it for both walking and running to make it the most accurate. I haven’t calculated my walking steps yet. Running is more important (obviously). I just now, as we speak type, adjusted my settings and so I haven’t actually tested this theory yet. I will report back with the results soon!

I have a few other things to share with you today. First, this picture.

Stop it. Savannah (the artist formerly known as Squishy) has grown up so much! This one year ago today picture popped up on timehop today and the “now” picture was after our relay yesterday. She is the cutest little thing!

Second is a wonderful post by Jen Hatmaker. Here is what she writes …

“I have a counseling appointment this afternoon. Three members of my family are currently in counseling with more to come.

May I send a bit of love and encouragement to everyone who steps into counseling or therapeutic space for your own soul, marriage, family, or healing? Ditto to those of you sending your hurt kids? Whether you go for preventative maintenance or because you are hanging on by a thread, I’ve always said that when Scripture describes “gifts of healing,” I believe counselors are a part of that group. They help us heal. They give us tools. They walk us through recovery. They remind us of our hope.

There is NOTHING weak about being in the care of a counselor. That is STRONG. That tells me that you are not passively waiting for your strength, your healing. You are DOING THE WORK, poking the bear. You are actively working with God and making good use of the gifts He has given someone else to develop us into stronger, healthier people.

Bravo, I say! May we grab onto any tool possible as we pursue healthy marriages, healthy kids, and healthy souls. To abuse and suffering and loss and grief and pain and a horrible enemy: I say, COME AT US, BRO. We’re not going to take this stuff lying down.”

I highly encourage anyone out there who is contemplating therapy to do it. It will change you. It will make you see yourself and other people differently (in a good way). I have seen therapists and counselors along this journey called life at various points and am currently still seeing one. I haven’t shared much about that, probably because in my mind I saw it as a weakness. I didn’t want to be viewed as *that girl* who isn’t fixed yet and still needs therapy. But um hello, isn’t that the message I am trying to convey with this blog? I don’t have it all figured out and I am not perfect, nor will I ever be. But, I am taking steps (dare we say strides) to strengthen myself spiritually, physically and emotionally.

Let’s just all agree to do something worthwhile (for ourselves and/or for someone else) every day. That seems like a good goal right?!

I’ll leave you with this pretty sunset picture from this evening. That is definitely one benefit of the colder air … the sunsets are even more beautiful than normal.

Alabama is playing in the National Championship Game here in a minute, so it’s time for me to sign off and watch at least a little bit of football (before I fall asleep at my normal mee-maw time). Roll tide!

Happy Weekend! How is everyone doing? We have lots to catch up on! How is that possible, you ask … I have no clue, but it’s true.

Rebecca and I have been slowly plowing away at our #runlovechallenge mileage. We’ve gotten in 3 runs together this week and will be running the First Light Marathon relay tomorrow. We ran 6 miles Tuesday at the Running Wild group run. We were planning to run Thursday evening, but had to change that to Friday evening because we got rained out.

We tried to step up our picture taking game Friday. We stopped for a few minutes to play around with the phone timer photos. Everyone else is majorly showing us up with their Instagram photos, so we tried to take it up a notch. We did better, but still not great. It doesn’t help that the majority of our runs are in the dark, which is not really the ideal lighting for pretty picture taking.

The good news is that I survived the first week of tax season. Ha. It wasn’t a bad week at all, but I was definitely worn out Friday evening. This happened …

I have gotten into a really bad habit of falling asleep on the couch (under a big pile of pillows and a large dog no less). It happens pretty much every night. It’s just so cozy and I get so sleepy. I woke up just after midnight last night. The struggle is real.

Speaking of cozy … These pants (by good hYOUman) are absolutely amazing. They are made out of what has to be the softest fabric ever. I got these when we went to Watercolor a few weeks ago and I have pretty much lived in them since. They kind of remind me of a really unfortunate (bright red) Aladdin dance costume that I had when I was about 7. Thankfully, I am able to put away those tragic memories and enjoy my cozy pants.

I have been meaning to share this wonderful snippet from Anne Lamott for a little while and the cozy pants reminded me …

“Can you put the scale away for a week? Okay, then how about 4 days? I have been addicted to the scale, too, which is like needing Dick Cheney to weigh in every morning on my value as a human being. Can you put away your tight pants? Wear forgiving pants. The world is too hard as it is, without letting your pants have an opinion on how you are doing. I struggle with enough esteem issues without letting my jeans get in on the act, with random thoughts about my butt.”

Love it! Now that I have completely gotten side tracked, let’s get back in line here. I was telling you about our #runlovechallenge miles. This morning we ran 8 miles with Daniel and some of his buddies. We are 52 miles into our goal of 214 miles by 2/14. It’s been fun running together more, but it’s definitely a challenge to schedule it (especially because we are trying to match at least some of our clothing at each run). Last night we pretty much went through Rebecca’s entire running wardrobe, so now I am up to speed on what our options are for matching! We might be in over our heads here.

We got home from our run this morning and I was planning to walk with my mom. We have a pretty set Saturday walk date set if she is in town. But of course, it was raining again … so. much. rain. One of my friends at work told me that she heard a saying, “What if whip nae nae is a rain dance and we brought this all upon ourselves?” How funny is that?! 

Since it was raining my mom and I decided to go the gym (where we could walk together on the treadmills instead). Speaking of treadmills, I forgot to tell y’all, but our treadmill is sick. Daniel was able to revive her for a little bit, but I think she might be on her last leg. I’ll keep you posted. So mom and I headed to the gym, a place that I must admit, I haven’t seen in quite some time.

It was such a weird experience for me. I used to pretty much live at the gym. I was there probably 6 days per week, but after Daniel and I met, I “quit the gym” (remember that Friends episode …). We just ran, so I didn’t really use the gym membership anymore. Of course it is the first week of January and so we walk in and the place is packed out. There weren’t even two treadmills together at first, which forced me onto this contraption.

The ellipticals of the olden days are no more and this machine was a little bit intimidating at first. It didn’t help that as I get up there and try to figure out what program I want to try to do, I tried to set my phone in the cup holder (which didn’t have a solid bottom) and it went crashing down, causing a really loud noise and lots of stares in my direction. I felt like such a newbie!

That really took me back … I used to dread the first week of January with all the resolutioners there, taking up all the machines and crowding the gym. How dare they? Well, my perspective on that has definitely changed now. It takes a lot of courage to decide that you want to start a workout program and get healthy. Good for you! Keep it up.

At some point in the last week, I got my January StitchFix box and I forgot to tell y’all about it. I kept one top and one pair of pants. The rest of the stuff was cute, but just so, so. I decided I could do without it.

Apparently January 9th is a big day. I really love the timehop app! It reminded me today that 6 years ago today, Daniel and I got engaged!

It also reminded me that 5 years ago today, I ran my first marathon!

Today was a little bit less exciting than those days, but it was still a good day. We ended the day by grilling out and sitting by the fire. I was pretty proud of our dinner. We followed the MyPlate guidelines (see previous post) pretty well.

Daniel is all about the s’mores. Ooey gooey s’mores. He saved some for later!

That’s all I’ve got for now. I’m planning to get a good night’s rest, so that I will be ready for our relay in the morning. The weather is supposed to be great and I am running the really flat, (hopefully) fast 10K leg. I’m really excited!

Hey guys!

I’m linking up with the DC area bloggers Mar at Mar on the Run, Cynthia at You Signed Up For What?! and Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC for the Friday Five linkup. This week’s topic is “food and drink.”

The USDA released the new nutritional guidelines this week (they are updated every 5 years), so I figured that I use the new recommendations as a way to categorize the Friday Five post. MyPlate illustrates five food groups (how convenient, right?!) that are the building blocks for a healthy diet.

I’m going to include my 5 favorites of each of the 5 categories. P.S. I really love the number 5 anyway, so I’m really digging all of these fives. Nerd alert!

1. Protein
   1. Chicken
   2. Tuna
   3. Salmon
   4. Almond butter
   5. Nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, etc.
2. Grains
   1. Quinoa
   2. Oatmeal
   3. Whole wheat bread
   4. Granola
   5. Wheat berries
3. Fruits
   1. Raspberries
   2. Grapes
   3. Bananas
   4. Honeydew
   5. Strawberries
4. Vegetables
   1. SWEET POTATOES
   2. Bell peppers
   3. Mushrooms
   4. Cauliflower
   5. Squash
5. Dairy
   1. Greek yogurt
   2. Australian yogurt
   3. Frozen yogurt
   4. Cottage cheese
   5. Soy milk (non-dairy calcium alternative)

I have always been pretty interested in nutrition and I actually think that the new guidelines are very reasonable and easy to understand. It’s so important to keep each meal balanced!

Hello and Happy Thursday! You know what Thursday means, right? It’s time to link up with Amanda for some thinking out loud!

I alluded to it in my previous post, but now that we are thinking out loud, I want to expound a little bit about something that I did this week. It was a big step! I gave up my “control” over my training schedule. You might even say that I “let it go.” Cue Elsa and Anna and feel free to sing at the top of your lungs if you so desire. Anyone else get that urge every time you hear the phrase “let it go?” No? Just me. Perfect.

I haven’t ever really followed a set training plan until recently, because I just flat couldn’t do it. I would print training plans online and I even had a coach write me a plan at one point several years ago, but it didn’t matter what the dang schedule told me to do, I wasn’t going to do it. How dare that piece of paper tell me how far or how fast I should run? I wanted to decide that on my own!

This confuses me a little bit because usually I am typically a very by the book, play by the rules type of person, so you would think that I would follow the schedule to a T. But, no. Apparently my rebellious side manifests itself in strange ways. The need to control things obviously applies to a lot of other areas in my life as well, but the running schedule issue is just a good illustration and after all, this is a running blog.

I am fairly certain that my need to control things is likely rooted in fear, which is interestingly enough what our sermon series at church is currently discussing. Faith lies in the absence of control and the absense of (worldly) fear. When we trust that we’re okay no matter what circumstances come our way, we don’t need to micro-manage things. We can simply let. it. go. In order to let go, you have to have the self-awareness to realize that 1) you are entering “control mode” and 2) making a conscious and deliberate choice to make a change. I like to think that I am pretty self-aware at this point. Although maybe it’s just really easy because I find myself needing to control things a lot.

What I am unsure of is the actual root of the issue that makes me feel the need to control things in the first place. I know that part of it is likely rooted in the trauma. When things happen in our lives that we can’t control, it feeds the desire to control all the things that we possibly can. I can’t say that I didn’t have the need to control and contain my world prior to the trauma though, because I most definitely did. The trauma just magnified those feelings.

Back to the training schedule example … up until this week, my training plan was pretty open ended. My coach gave me the workouts that I was to do for the week, but it was up to me to decide what days I did what. He also gives me a range for most days. For example, 3 days a week I am supposed to run between 8 and 10 miles, which gives me a decent amount of flexibility. I pretty much asked to have it this way, because I didn’t think I would do what he told me to do otherwise. The fact that I am even doing the workouts are scheduled is showing progress. I still needed to make the decisions about what days and exactly how far I went … or so I thought.

For whatever reason, I had this epiphany that I really didn’t want to have the pressure of deciding when to do my workouts and how to schedule them throughout the week. My coach is the expert. I trust that he knows what he is doing. Why was I not letting him do his job? Oh that’s right, because I wanted to be in control. Not anymore! I’ve officially turned over the reins and now my schedule is set. Obviously I will be smart and listen to my body, but I plan to do what he tells me to do when he tells me to do it.

It’ll be interesting to see if I am able to handle it, right?! Stay tuned.

Any other control freaks out there? What do you try to control?

Hey guys! So yeah, I made up a word (workoutless) that pretty much sums up the current state of my training. I haven’t talked a whole lot about my NOLA training recently, and it’s time to fix that. I wrote a long email to my coach this week and I’m going to share some excerpts from our email exchange that will pretty much get you up to speed.

Here is what I told him …

Hello! Let’s chat. I’ve got nothing but random ramblings for you today.

I am currently on Season 2 of Gilmore Girls and this morning I saw Episode 15: “Lost and Found.” In this episode Jess tells Luke, “Great! Then we can hold hands and skip afterwards.”

I have been saying that for years and I didn’t know where I had come up with it. Mystery solved.

Speaking of skipping … I can’t do it. It’s as if I never learned that skill when I was younger or something. I like to think of myself as a pretty coordinated person otherwise, but there is something about the rhythm of skipping that I just can’t do. Just ask Daniel. He can vouch.

Speaking of vouching … I registered for the Big Beach half marathon today using my first-ever Groupon deal. There is a Groupon for half off of registration, so the half ended up being less than $40. If you were on the fence about registering for the half or the full, you should definitely do it! Here’s the link. It’s a pretty sweet deal!

Speaking of sweet … I came to a wonderful smell. Daniel got a dehydrator for Christmas and he is testing it out tonight with some pineapple.

Speaking of dehydrated … don’t let it happen! Drink water. Lots of water.

Speaking of water … the first miracle that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry was changing water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. Interesting little fact.

Speaking of wine whine … I’m getting pretty hungry and sleepy. Time to eat some dinner and call it a night!

Any tangents that you’d like to share?

Hello! I survived my first day of tax season! Woo hoo.

We aren’t all that busy yet, but something about that first Monday in January that really just makes it feel official. This will be my 8th tax season. I don’t even know how that is possible. I’m getting old.

In a weird way, I am actually looking forward to tax season this year. I enjoy being busy and with my new schedule and new firm, I won’t be working near as many hours or under as much pressure, so I think it might just be the best season yet. Fingers crossed!

Colossians 3:23 is my tax season verse.

I started my day off with an easy 6 mile run on the treadmill, while watching some Gilmore Girls. I love starting my day off with a run! When I walked outside, the sunrise was really pretty. The sky looked like cotton candy.

We face West, so we have a beautiful view of the sunset (as evidenced by the many pictures that I have posted), but we don’t typically get a good view of the sunrise. This morning the entire sky was glowing though.

I have mentioned before (probably numerous times), but when it comes to food I am all about convenience. I don’t leave work for lunch, so I try to take all of my stuff with me in the morning. I am really loving the granola and these hummus and chicken on-the-go meals. So easy. So nutritious.

Daniel and I made it home around the same time and went for a run. I really cherish this time that we have to spend together. It is only recently (since Daniel graduated and started his new job) that we have had any semblance of similar work schedules. Running gives us a chance to get some fresh air and clear our heads after work, while catching up on our days.

Before you ask, yes … I run twice some days. My coach has 2 to 3 double-run days built into my schedule each week. In order to meet the goals that I have for the marathon, we feel like this is a good strategy. It is definitely not necessary for everyone though. In fact, this strategy doesn’t work well for some people. Everyone’s body is different and reacts different to different mileage and training plans. Fortunately, right now I am at a healthy, happy place with my running and I am able to tolerate the higher mileage training.

I know that there is a fine line though and I think this would be a good post for another time … how my view of working out changed from a place of disorder (in the past) to a place of enjoyment. I truly love it! Bottom line is that it is a change in the underlying intent. I’m not running with a purpose of burning calories. Obviously running burns calories, but in order to keep running at the level and intensity that I want to, I have to replace those calories. I know that would be a good topic of further discussion, but for another day for sure.

As we headed out to run, I told Daniel that there was no guarantee as to the amount of remaining brain capacity that I will have after a day of tax season. I quickly realized that was going to make it really interesting for you guys and for my blogging. I will go ahead and apologize for anything crazy that I say online from now until mid-April. Let’s go ahead and make that the end of April …

After April, I will come up with another excuse!

Hey friends! I hope you have had a wonderful Sunday. It’s been a good one here. I’m going to continue linking up with HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin for the Weekly Wrap. I’ve enjoyed discovering new blogs and becoming more involved in the running blogger community!

Rebecca and I got our second run of the #runlovechallenge in this morning. Follow along on Instagram if you are interested! Tomorrow morning we will get our first official “challenge” from Oiselle, so that’ll be interesting to see. We ran 12 miles with our regular Sunday crew this morning, so now we are 32 miles into our 214 mile goal (to meet by 02/14).

It was nice to run the regular route and see everyone after the holidays and of course, hang out at Coffee Loft for a little bit afterwards.

We started a new series at church this morning called Know Fear.

The Bible speaks of fear in a twofold way, as something we should do (fear God) and something we should not do (fear man). In this series we are studying how to distinguish the two and learning about out what it means to fear God.

Matthew 10:28 says, “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

A reverent fear of God leads us to respect and trust His plan for us.

I am really looking forward to this series. Fear is a huge struggle for me. I have suffered from PTSD and I know what it is like to have your life literally crippled by fear. There is no doubt that fear is one of the enemy’s most powerful weapons that he uses against us. Worry, anxiety and fear can overwhelm us in a shadow of darkness, controlling our every move and decision, but …

God is greater. He gives us the power to live courageously, boldly, fearlessly in this life, when many things that surround us would tell us to be afraid.

Lots of good stuff! I’m excited for the rest of this series.

After church, Daniel and I went to the mall to do a little bit of post-Christmas shopping. I had some gift cards that I wanted to use and he needed some new jeans. We went in Coastal Outfitters and saw this amusing little display …

TigerWear is 25% off, but TuskWear is still full price. We thought this was hilarious. Roll Tide.

While we were at the mall, we discovered something truly amazing! We have a NEWK’S! Apparently it just opened two weeks ago. When I was in grad school, I’m pretty sure I ate at Newk’s at least 3 or 4 days a week. It is still one of my faves! A lunch date was in order.

Don’t even get me started on those cups. I love their cups, especially the red ones! I had a pretty impressive collection of those cups going at one point. They are the perfect size and they are so sturdy. I told Daniel all about my cup collection over lunch and now for whatever reason, I am telling you about it now as well. I was also a fan of the teal straw today, such an interesting contrast with the red cup. Don’t you think? It’s the little things in life. Moving on …

Today I got the new to me Ahi Tuna Salad and let me tell you what, it was so. good. It has seared, sushi-grade Ahi tun, carrots, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, radishes and wonton stips with a house-made ginger-wasabi dressing. Because one picture just wasn’t enough …

Daniel got the Pesto Chicken Sandwich and it was so. good. too. It had red and yellow peppers, goat cheese, and a basil, garlic pesto sauce. He also had a side Caesar, but I cannot officially speak to the goodness of it, as I didn’t taste it. He seemed pleased with it though, so I am going to assume it was  so. good. as well. Unfortunately, he didn’t take a picture of his lunch (such a weirdo) so I can’t show you. Bummer.

Daniel worked this morning and wasn’t able to run, so he was wanting to run when we got home. I biked with him. It felt really good out! I may or may not have been way overdressed, but I didn’t get very hot so I’m gonna count this one as wardrobe victory.

That’s pretty much it for today. I’m going to leave you with this beautiful picture of the sunset at the Fairhope pier. Photo cred on this one goes to my mom.

Good night friends! See you tomorrow!

Howdy!

Today was a long run day, and I must say, we did it up right! Rebecca’s birthday was yesterday and so we ran our “special occasion” route to celebrate.

I don’t remember exactly how this tradition got started, but we have done this route on her birthday a few times, on her wedding weekend and on my birthday, so now we basically just refer to it as the special occasion route. It takes a little bit of pre-planning to pull it off, and today we #nailedit.

Rebecca and Jessica met at the Grand Hotel this morning and left Rebecca’s car there. Then we all met at the Coffee Loft and piled in Daniel’s car. He had to drive to Mobile for work today anyway, so he dropped us off at the Battleship on his way in.

We then began the 20 mile journey back across the bay. The first few miles flew by and before we knew it we were almost across the Causeway and back to the Eastern Shore. We made a quick pit stop for water and a bathroom at the Meaher State Park. The scenery on this run is gorgeous! The first few miles are right along the water as you run across the bay.

The rest of the run flew by as well! There is not much that beats a good long run with friends. We ran through Daphne and Fairhope and ended up at the Grand Hotel. We talked the entire time and didn’t let the Montrose hills get the best of us.

We stopped our run with exactly 20.16 miles (thanks to Rebecca’s brilliant idea). 20.16 miles for our first long run of 2016! Pretty epic.

Rebecca and I are doing the Oiselle #runlovechallenge and today was our first official run of the challenge.

#RUNLOVECHALLENGE – JOIN IN!

1. Pick a partner, or shall we say a run lover.
2. Set a mutual goal to be achieved on/by February 14th. 
3. Check in on the Oiselle blog each Monday for our challenge of the week and complete it with your run lover near or far.

Since the challenge ends on 2/14, our goal is going to be to run 214 miles together by that day. It will end up being close to 5 miles a day (or 35 miles per week) together. School starts back next week for Rebecca and tax season will officially kick off next week for me (eek!), so it will definitely be a challenge for us. I think we are up for it though.

We are also going to try to coordinate our outfits (or at least one part of the outfit) for each run that we do together, hence all the pink today!

As per usual, we hit up Coffee Loft after our run. Cheers!

After a super active morning, I pretty much spent the entire afternoon being lazy. Brooks and I played a little bit and then I laid down to take a nap and ended up reading the whole time. Eventually I got up and watched last week’s sermon from church that we missed while we were out of town. Our small group leader really encouraged us to watch this one if we were gone and we were supposed to text another member of our group to make sure that they saw it as well.

It was based on words spoken by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:41 that says, “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.” I know this is a running blog, but that’s definitely not the miles we are talking about here. Pastor Chris basically explained that as Christians we are called to do more than the bare minimum in all areas of our lives: in our marriages, in our careers, in our involvment at the church and in our walk with the Lord. It was a great message. Our small group will be doing an in-depth study of the Sermon on the Mount this upcoming semester and we are all excited to delve deeper into the Word.

Currently, I am enjoying a wonderful sweet potato. I could eat one of these guys every day. Heck, I pretty much do. 6 hours in the crock pot (on low) and they turn out so good! Add a little bit of cinnamon and sugar and they are even better!

You can just disregard the whole paper bowl and plastic spoon thing. We are keeping it super fancy … actually, I like to think of it more as living simply. Has a nicer ring to it that way.

This has been a wonderful day of running and relaxing. I am so thankful for the friendships that running and our small group have brought into our lives. Philippians 1:3.

Enjoy your evening! See you guys tomorrow!