Day 24, Friday: Your top 3 worst traits
1. I’m really hard on myself sometimes
2. I’m hypervigilant
3. I don’t forgive and forget very easily, especially at work
Tag Archives: Run
Life lessons
Day 23, Thursday: Things you’ve learned that school won’t teach you
Oh the things I’ve learned the hard way!
- Know when to say no
- How to know when you need a break. Mentally, physically, emotionally, etc.
- Adults in groups are just as bad or worse as kids when it comes to being mean, spiteful, etc.
- You can never make a group of women get along all of the time. I actually DID learn this in school in a sorority. I really thought when we got older that would change. NOPE!
- Communication is tough.
- Rest whether, you think you need it or not
- Regularly evaluate what is important to you in life. Priorities change
- Don’t settle
- Sometimes you just have to keep your mouth shut
- Losing weight and keeping it off was one of the best life changes I ever made
- Saying thank you to someone never goes out of style
- Appreciate what you have, don’t whine about what you don’t
Posted in Life
Reality
Day 20, Monday: Get real. Share something you’re struggling with right now.
Where do I even start with this one?
I’ve been keeping my head above water but it seems like every aspect of my life has been a struggle lately.
Work has been eating me alive. It isn’t so much the working all of the time and being on call. Alot of it is personnel issues. Complicated and it doesn’t have any business here.
My health. I’ve been feeling somewhat better, but I have my days. I am closer to feeling normal again I hope.
Working out. It’s been hard to start over with everything. I never stopped some activities, but restarting things like running have been incredibly challenging.
My weight. I’ve not had issues maintaining my weight since I made goal in June 2007. Now all of a sudden it’s a struggle. When my activity decreased, I also decreased my food intake. I am still hopeful this was due to estrogen dominance and it will go away. It’s not a lot but it’s a lot for my little frame.
Well there is my open book. Everyone is a work in progress, right?
Posted in Life
Blog lover
Day 19! Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them.
It’s hard to chose only five! I actually only have about 10 in my reader, the rest (which is a ton) I follow on Facebook and read as I see a post that catches my eye.
Where’s the Beach? Heather is real, honest, and fun. She blogs about everything. Food, fitness, running, fashion, pets, etc!
Meals and Moves Janetha says what she thinks about everything under the sun and I love it. She reminds me alot of Heather.
Cotter Crunch Lindsay is an Austin girl. She’s active, fun, gluten free, and honest.
Mark’s Daily Apple I’m a dork and I like the science. I also like the recipes and the success stories.
Clothes make the Girl Melissa is another Austin girl. Gluten free, paleo, has thyroid issues. I can relate to her.
Things they all have in common are that I can relate to them and they are REAL. Real food, real life. Intriguing.
Posted in Life
Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why
This is the first photo that comes to mind. This is from October 2012 Cap 2 Coast relay. My teammate Jose snapped this from the car. It’s honestly one of the only good photos of me running. Ever.
I do know this was the first leg on the first day, it was my only leg of the race that was in daylight and it was at noon and SUPER hot. I am not sure what point this was on that leg, because I don’t really remember many chain link fences. For the most part it was barbed wire fences on a very windy and hilly Niederwald Farm to Market Road.
I like this photo because while I was having medical issues, I look strong. Oh and this was 6 days after I got hit by the car on my right side. I ran strong and maybe a little too hard here, but I felt fine doing it. This is the last photo I have before I lost much of my visible muscle tone.
I hope that soon I can look and run like this again. But this time, i’d like the rest of my body to play along 
Happiness
Day 14, Tuesday: Ten things that make you really happy
- Vacations
- Being active
- Food. This was the mother’s day grub. Roast turkey, spicy bbq beans, grilled brats, roasted chicken, grilled corn, cabbage, onions. Oh and salad. If you’ve never had grilled cabbage, try it! It’s seriously underrated!
- Love
- Friends
- Family
- Music
- Me time
- Reading
- Kitties. Chanel is obsessed with the yoga mat if I am no where near it.
Embarassment
Day 10, Friday: Most embarrassing momentI have many, but this one is tops.
The one and only year I have been able to run Texas Independence Relay, I was set to do 4 legs. My 3rd leg was in a really nice area on the edge of Houston. It was the shortest leg of the race, it was cold, and I was feeling GOOD. I took off and I started making “road kills” left and right. I was booking it. I was in perfect conditions and I was rocking.
When I got to the intersection where the only turn was, I went left. I couldn’t really see the markings on the ground, so I kept running and I kept seeing runners. I thought I was doing well but I began to wonder where the heck the exchange was.
WRONG!
I turned left instead of right and ran over a mile in the wrong direction. I was so pissed. Turns out those runners I saw, were just random Sunday morning runners. I ran like hell back the other way and passed a few people, but in my wrong way turn, i’d been passed by 5 teams. By time I got to the exchange, I was so mad I was crying.
So I was mad, crying, and looking around for my van. That particular exchange was manned by an Austin running store (ok it’s a chain, but the people there were from Austin). One of the guys working it, had sold me shoes a few days before, so he remembered me. So he got to see me pissed off crying and ranting, as did the rest of my team, which I will mention, were newly introduced to me 2 days before. I HATE when people cry in public. I was that girl. I couldn’t handle a simple turn or dealing with my dumb mistake.
One day I will run TIR again and I want to run that leg and get my redemption.
Advice
Day 8, Wednesday: A piece of advice you have for others. Anything at all.
Everyone says, listen to your body. I think sometimes your body doesn’t tell you everything that is going on inside.
Get rest, solid good rest and i’m not just talking about sleep. Take Days Of Rest from working out, take them from stress, take them from work.
Do something different. If you are a runner or a cyclist, cross train, do yoga, lift weights, do some walking. (i’ve been a pretty loyal cross-trainer for almost 4 years). If you are just starting out or getting back into something, take it easy. Diving into something too hard and too fast is never a good idea.
I’ve learned many lessons the hard way. I don’t want others to have to make the same mistakes. I’m all about the stress relief and rest these days.
My trip to SF
It’s only a few weeks late 
Keeping it short and simple…
Lots of moving, learning, and FOOD!
My favorite salad and the only thing I can eat on Boudin Sourdough’s menu. It’s ok because I LOVE it. I got another one on the way out to take home from the airport. And I got Dan 2 lbs of bread, which is now portion controlled for him in bags in our freezer 
One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend is that they take GOOD care of all of the girls, especially when it comes to food. If you are gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, or all of the above, have no fear. I usually worry a bit when I travel, but at the hotel and at the Clif Co. dinner, I didn’t have to worry either year. It takes a HUGE load off of me. I will go hungry before I cave and eat gluten, ask Dan, he’s learned the hard way.
The food at Clif is excellent. This may be been the first plate of 2 (or 3)
That’s my team, putting Texas on the map at the Clif headquarters! LOVE my team and I am so proud of them.
The only thing I was really worried about was the run training. I had to quit running in January and had only started back about 1.5 weeks before I flew out to San Francisco. 3 months off of running is the longest i’d ever gone since starting. You also lose almost all of your fitness in anything over 6 weeks.
Our morning of run training was mostly a track workout, which was GREAT for me. The mile warmup at the time was the longest i’d run non-stop. I almost cried I was so happy. I was fine and didn’t really have anything to worry about. My team was really supportive and actually had to reign me in during the speedwork, because I was running my intervals at my old pace. I know too fast too soon is bad, but it felt AWESOME. I behaved and scaled back at the end. And there was yoga and lots of it, which I loved. Sadie, the Clif yogi taught the classes and I adored her!
We got a little silly on our final night of the conference. Had to get a pic on this round Hugh Hefner-esque couch!
The silly may have been the booze and the desserts. Ok for me, it was just desserts. My team devoured everything on the table. Yes, that’s a whole tray of gluten free! There were actually some tables who didn’t touch theirs. My team is obviously meant to be. We all love food.
We spent 2 extra nights, one on the front and one on the end for extra time.
The last day we had Mediterranean food at a cute little dive in a super fancy area. So random and so good! We were famished after we shopped at Athleta. The salmon kabobs really gave Zoe’s a run for their money. I will be back again!
The weekend ended way too soon. But once it was time to leave, boy were we ready to leave! It was a long day traveling home that Monday, lack of sleep, coffee, and own beds was wearing us down. It was an even longer day back at work on Tuesday!
Running Buddy
Read about my blog about my oldest running buddy HERE
Posted in Running
