Instead of the usual mimosas and biscuits, I went for the mixed greens and fake chicken (Gardein) for todays’s brunch. What’s your Sunday brunch tradition?
With a creative spirit also comes this irritating trait.
I’m horribly forgetful. Horribly, horribly forgetful. The only way I remember to keep my class schedule and show up to places is that I write every single thing, every single appointment down I have in an appointment book, and once it’s written, it’s real.
Last week after a Zumba party…
…I decided in order to keep up with my streak (more on that later), I needed to run, even though it was after 10pm. But I didn’t want to miss my mile, my honey was gone for the weekend, and I was feeling antsy. So still wearing my Santa hat from the party, I drove to my old condo, which is in a super populated, well-lit area, don’t worry. I parked my car, hid my keys somewhere in the car, and closed the door. When I went to test the door to make sure it was still unlocked, I found, much to my immediate horror, that I had locked the door with my keys inside.
Damnit.
I called AAA from my phone, which I’d thankfully not locked in the car, and since in my experience, AAA takes years to get to you to unlock your car, I decided to go for my run, since it was also about 40 degrees out, and I wasn’t necessarily interested in freezing as I waited. So down the road I went in my purple Moving Comfort jacket and Santa hat. I’m sure I got a lot of strange looks.
Murphy’s Law must have been at work, because not a half-mile down the road, I got a call, which I answered mid-run from the tow-truck driver.
“Yeah I’ll be there in 10 minutes…”
And in the fastest lockout time in history, I arrived back to my car to the tow truck driver waiting on me. So I jogged up, and explained to her why I was jogging around downtown at night with a Santa hat on.
Now, in completely different news, I discovered this bruise the other night on my thigh, and I cannot, for the life of me, remember how or when I could have whacked myself so hard that me, being the dark-skinned girl that I am, could bruise like this. My forgetfulness at its finest…
10 things I wish I’d known at 20.
I feel really reflective this time of year. Not in a bad, I’ve screwed up my entire life kind of way, but in a, look at what I’ve done this year kind of way.
I was on Twitter yesterday, and noticed a friend of mine, still a student at my wonderful alma mater, lamenting that he couldn’t wait til he graduated to get out of there.
I was there. I think we all were there, especially toward the end of undergrad, when you’re 25-pounds plus more than when you entered the door, and your liver is revolting for all the awful things you’ve done to it, especially that second semester of senior year. Yikes. But here are 20 things I wish I’d known at 20 (or technically 21, which was when I graduated, but 20 kinda rolls off the tongue better.)
- Take care of your body. A lot of the weight I gained during undergrad didn’t just have to do with my horrid diet, but it had to do with the fact that I never worked out. I would work out once in a while, get super sore, and not embark on another workout adventure for weeks at at a time. Had I figured out that working out would transform my body and my palate, I would have saved my self hours of lifting up my shirt in front of the bathroom mirror, sucking my belly in, and telling myself I could never get my stomach to look like that.
- While you’re taking care of your body, quit hating on it so much. Putting crap in and never working out also served to create a thick, greasy, layer of hatred and self-loathing for my body. Now that I work out, you can’t tell me nothing. Cause I am extremely fly. Extremely fly.
- Networking is so important. I ran into this kid at homecoming who was starting the job search and I gave him my dad’s email address, since my dad is pretty high up at a financial institution. I don’t know why he never contacted my dad, but when someone gives you an email address or a phone number and tells you to call it for a job, do it. I learned this the hard way. But use everyone around you as a resource for your job purposes.
- Do your thang. There was a time in my life when someone making fun of me would have sent me over the edge. But if I had allowed it to tear me up so badly that I never taught a Zumba class, for example, I would not be sitting on my sexy behind writing to you all. So make fun of me for my running, my love of coffee, hummus, and three-quarter tights, I will not be giving any effs any time soon.
- Don’t take that breakup so hard because…
- You’re not in love. I have not been in love until I met my husband-to-be. And I wish I hadn’t taken it so hard when I broke up with my two serious boyfriends in college. With both, I suffered incredibly crushing heartache, and I literally thought that the pain of the situation was going to kill me. It didn’t, and I grew back stronger, kinda like a weed.
- Cherish good friendships. I have a ton of friends. But the quality friendships, I like to nurture, water, and feed. Good people who will support you when, for example, your mom has a stroke, are hard to find. Keep them close.
- Dump bad friends. Nobody’s forcing you to stay friends with the butt who lived on your hall your second semester of freshman year. Dump them on Facebook, dump them and real life, and laugh in their faces when they try to get themselves invited to your wedding 6 years later.
- Work hard. Play harder. That’s not just the rule in college – it’s the rule in real life. If you don’t play enough, you will turn out to be super stressed and super broken.
- When in doubt, run. Don’t run fast if you can’t. But just run. You will be absolutely shocked at the things running can fix.
What 10 things do you wish you’d known at 20?
Road Rage – have you ever just lost it?
Requisite run selfie. The air in my office was hot, dry, and stagnant yesterday, so I felt like I was escaping prison to be able to get out and run a few miles on the greenway. I also was running with a belly full of holiday cookies – we’d thrown a holiday party for our clients and me, usually cool as a cucumber around office treats, totally lost it on a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Getting my feet to move after that was so difficult.
But I digress. Yesterday, I went to go have cocktails with a girlfriend who got married a year ago. I tell you what, there is no greater resource than a bride who’s been recently married. On my way there, I was feeling good, the endorphins were flowing, and I was in a great mood. I hit some rush hour/holiday traffic around a local shopping center. Still no big deal.
Let me interrupt this story to tell you a pertinent tale. Years ago, I was in Manhattan with my dad. The traffic there is obviously horrible and my dad pulled into an intersection without checking to make sure that the traffic on the other side would move, and by the time the light turned red, my dad was stuck in the intersection. A cop was riding by at that moment, pulled us over, and gave my dad a ticket for like obstructing the flow of traffic or something. From that, I always understood that you waited to make sure that traffic would clear the intersection before you pulled through.
So back to yesterday. Traffic was beginning to back up into the intersection, so I patiently waited for it to clear before I pulled through. The woman behind me honked. One thing about North Carolina, you don’t honk. I gave her a look in my rearview, and assured myself that she had to see that the intersection wasn’t clear, and that we’d be blocking up traffic. She honked again, and then started pulling around me to pull into the intersection. And that’s when I lost it. The left hand came up. My voice rose an octave. The New York in me came out.
“No. NO. NO. THAT IS NOT HOW WE DO THINGS HERE!”
And she looked frightened.
“Absolutely not. You get back where you belong!”
And she did.
I’m not sure what exactly came over me, but as I age (I’m 26) my tolerance for people’s rudeness gets smaller and smaller, and I’m a little more willing to stand up for what’s right – in this case, my right to avoid a ticket!
When was the last time you lost it in traffic?
Run Hack! #runhack #lifehack
I am so excited to share my latest run hack with you guys – something to make your life a little easier. So, especially in the winter, standing around and waiting for my Garmin to hook up to the satellites is one of THE most annoying things ever. So to save time, I’ve been punching the watch, and setting it on the window sill to hook up with that satellites while I get dressed. By the time I’m ready to run, I go, and sometimes I’m literally able to run out the door, especially on days when I’m on a time crunch and I’m running with only minutes to go before work.
Hope this little hack saves you some time. What are some of your running time savers?
Why do women do this?
I live for reality television, and I thank goodness that someone invented DVR, because without DVR, I would have to make some extremely difficult decisions on Sundays especially. Real Housewives or Keeping Up with Khloe Kardashian (cause she’s the main one I’m concerned with, BYE Lamar). But as I was watching on Sunday, I had a real, visceral reaction to something that kept coming up during Sunday’s episode.
During the episode, Kenya Moore, a former Miss USA, repeatedly made snide comments about the weight of other cast members, and the comments that she made, specifically about Kandi being able to miss a few meals and Phaedra being 200 lbs plus, were uncalled for. She was upset with the women for being late to a function, so their weight should have never even been an issue.
I have a big problem with, when women want to tear one another down, them automatically defaulting to calling each other fat.
Example: You’re standing in line at a bar. A girl skips you in line. Your first reaction is to call her a “fat bitch”. Why? Why is weight the first thing we want to call out? Why do we, as women especially, feel the need to equate the word “fat” or calling someone a “fat bitch” with being a bad person? Especially when you’re not upset with her for being big. You’re upset with her for skipping you in line!
I feel like I try to be a champion, especially on this blog, for folks to make change for themselves that will lead to a happier, healthier lifestyle. However, if I can help it, I will never base my opinions on anyone on the way that they look. If someone makes me upset, I think it’s wrong to attack anything other than what made you upset in the first place.
I’m upset with the comments Kenya made. They only thing I should be commenting on is her comments, and her evidently very nasty streak. Not her appearance, because to attack anything about her appearance is just counterproductive, and to me, shows me that I’m insecure if I feel the need to do so.
So here’s my challenge. In the next week, when someone upsets you, try to think of something to say that directly applies to what they’ve done. Someone cuts you off in traffic? They’re just a poor driver, not a “fugly slut” (thanks’Mean Girls’). Make sense? Try it out, and see how much better you feel.
My year of running. #runchat #run
I cannot believe that we’re approaching the end of the year. I don’t know where the year went, but I feel so hashtag blessed that I’m still here. It has been an absolutely beautiful year. I’ve experienced a ton – good and bad, but I’m excited to see what 2014 in store for me and my family.
I stole this fun idea to sum up my year of running from Miss Zippy, and I encourage you guys to go ahead and steal it from me now! I’m nosy as hell, so I’d really like to know about your year – and I’ll post this to my Facebook status so some of you guys can play, and I’ll pull some of your comments into my blog.
What was your:
- Best race experience? Hands down, my best race experience this year was the Nike Women’s Half Marathon, which I blogged about back in April. The race itself was awesome. The weather was beautiful, the terrain was flat, and it was just incredibly well-organized, and I feel super lucky, because for the second year in a row, I won my lottery entrance into the race. Eep! Additionally, I am so enamored of Washington, D.C., and spending the weekend there with good friends made the weekend super duper enjoyable. Now I hope this year my ENTIRE name makes it onto the wall of race participant names they plaster the street with in Georgetown. ‘Member this?
- Best run? I need to choose a few. One of my best runs was in Asheville, the weekend of Alexa’s bacherlorette party up in Asheville….
And this view of the river we stayed along…
And I’d have to say my second favorite best run was a run I did with my brother the day after Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. It was just fun to work out with a member of my family who kicked my butt. It’s also so nice to talk to that kid, who’s really impressed me with how he’s matured in the past year. Kid gets up at 3:45 to go to swim practice, and still manages to make it to school each day. Like – bye. Amazing.
- Best new piece of gear? Geez, that’s hard. I have a lot of good stuff. But I think my favorite piece that I’ve acquired this year would either be my Glycerin 11s, cause that shoe update was so sweet, or this purple Moving Comfort full-zip that work gave us at the company holiday party. I have a problem staying warm, so the fact this jacket can stand up to some of the ungodly temps we’ve had lately around here in the mornings says a lot to me.
- Best piece of running advice you received? Put one foot in front of the other. A co-worker told me this as I was training for Shamrock in March, and that’s really all you can do, in racing, and in life. When a race becomes challenging or miserable, you have to tell yourself to place one foot in front of the other. There’s simply not another option.
- Most inspirational runner? I cannot pick just one, because working with runners, I am so inspired by my coworkers. Jenny, who I ran Shamrock with, was a mother, a wife, and still found time to run that full with me. Kerri teachers a full yoga course load, works, and trained hard and well enough to qualify for Boston. Kerry runs a big race a month. Fast. Shelly is pregnant and still running. I could go on and on and on, but you get it. My coworkers rock, and when I don’t feel like working at my running, I think of them, and I usually can muster up enough to get moving.
- If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be? Be present. Don’t let worry or anxiety steal your happiness.
Now it’s your turn – fill me in in the comments, on your blog, on my Facebook, or Tweet me little tidbits!
New reads! #runchat
I swore, after my last marathon, during which I sobbed and vomited miles 18-26.2, that I would not run another marathon until after we got married. One, because of the sheer volume of time I had to dedicate to training (most Sundays were dedicated to running), and two, because of the misery that vomiting during a race could potentially bring. I really wanted to focus on wedding stuff and wedding planning (which is a total blast, ps, and I’ll fill you guys in as I do more stuff).
So anyways, fast forward to December, where everyone is talking about their spring races. And I literally have this disease called FOMO (fear of missing out), and I almost can’t stand not running a race during spring race season when everyone else is running around having their fun.
Also, I think I’m addicted to the feeling when you finally cross the finish line. I’ve only crossed a marathon finish line twice, and I’m not sure I’m ready to hang the shoes up until after I become a Mrs.
Basically, I’m seriously toying with the idea of doing Rock n’ Roll in Raleigh.
If I do this, and that’s a big friggin’ IF, I need to do this right. Like I absolutely refuse to get sick and cry though another race. Not gonna happen.
Insert new reads here. A friend PR’d at Chicago using this method. I’m not sure that I’m going with this method – there are a TON of miles a week as opposed to regular marathon training, and it is definitely something I need to fully commit to. But I’m very interested in the book in general, and super excited to tell you guys what I learn.
What do you guys think? I’m getting married in August, should leave plenty of time to profusely apologize to my spouse for neglecting him between January and April. What do you think – can this marathon be done?
New shoes are important! #runchat
Runner’s world published this staggering number last week that runners who rotate shoes (and I am the queen of the rotation because of my job),. reduce their chance of injury by 39% That’s incredible!
For someone who doesn’t work in running retail, there may be a few factors keeping you from buying new shoes, or buying more to rotate (the best way to get some bang for your buck).
- “My shoes aren’t even worn out!” I hear this all the time. And then you ask the customer when they last replaced the shoe. They’ll swear it was three months ago. But when you look back in the records, it’s over a year ago. The official number is this. Shoes get about 350 miles on them. Minimalist shoes get even less, about 250. Shoes naturally start to break down after about a year, so even if the shoe was just sitting in your closet, the shoe has lost some juice.
- “I only wear my shoes to go to the store”. This logic blows my mind. If you wear your shoes every day for a year and a half to do your errands, your shopping, your trips to the post office, and your trips to the Y, what do you think is happening to them? You don’t have to be running marathons to wear your shoes out.
- “Shoes cost too much.” A good shoe is gonna start at about $110. And depending on the amount of cushioning, they can climb to $175. Yes, it’s an investment, but you’re protecting your body from the earth. Why would you want to pay $60?
- “I don’t have time to get shoes.” Take the time to get fitted one good pair. If you like it, stick with that shoe for a while, at least until the update. That should give you 9 months to a year of not having to try on shoes and wait on a fitting.
And even though I’m the person who knows this stuff, it occurred to me at some point a few weeks ago that Austin’s shoes might have been worn out. He’d been complaining that his IT band was hurting when we ran, so I told him to jump on my foam roller. And thenI looked down at his feet and realized he was wearing the same Brooks Glycerins I’d gotten him at some point last summer. We’d been either running or in the gym an average of 5-6 days a week since then, and if that wasn’t enough evidence, the, *ahem* fragrance from the shoes should have given it away. The shoes had aged out right under my nose (hee hee).
So for about three weekends I badgered him to come down to the store. He was too busy. He was eating a sandwich. He was asleep on the couch. He couldn’t make it because someone on his fantasy football team was benched. All sorts of excuses to not take off his shoes. Finally, finally, on a rainy day last weekend, I cornered him in my kitchen.
“Let’s go right now. What are you doing right now.”
He agreed, only after he ate a sandwich. And off to the store we went. After trying a few things on (the Glycerin had updated and felt a little funny to him), he settled on the Saucony Ride 6, and on a test run later, he reported zero IT band pain. Win.
Overactive Blogger 