Friday, August 31, 2018

Runfessions Over Coffee

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It's so hard to believe that Labor Day weekend is upon us. Summer just flew by for me and what a fun summer it has been! The end of the month always means one thing to us running bloggers--the runfessional is open. Let's runfess over coffee while we're at it.

I've got a fresh pot brewing and some GLG Collagen Hydrolysate to mix in. Cocoa thinks she likes coffee too. I've got some runfessions--and since we're 'fessing over coffee, I've got some other 'fessions too!



Sunday, August 26, 2018

Accept No Limits

This week, I continued to push out of the comfort zone and challenging any limits--physical or mental-- that have been holding me back from reaching some goals. I'm not sure what's behind all of this, but I have been having fun!

It's been a busy week and I apologize for my lack of posting. We've got my youngest leaving for college this week and lots of other things going on. Summer's like that. I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule after Labor Day.



Sunday, August 19, 2018

...Because Sitting on the Sidelines is No Fun

First of all, an apology. Holly and I were set to go live at 4:30 today. I texted her at 2:30 to tell her I wouldn't be ready. I had a post prepared and ready to go. Then, on a whim, both my boys and I joined my husband and his father for a fun weekend on Lake Wisconsin. It's been a full 3 years since we've been able to do this. The boys are busy with their friends and work, we don't want to leave them home alone, and fast forward to a Friday night when we all realized that we could make this happen.

I don't have to tell you how special this was for me or how much fun it was. We didn't want to leave. Sadly, the boat told us that it was time to go when it finally stopped being able to pull my boys out of the water. We gave the boat quite a workout. We skied, we wakeboarded, we kneeboarded. While my husband manned the boat, we each took our turns behind the boat. No one wanted to stop. My oldest son not only wakeboarded but got up for the first time on one ski and did some slaloming. I have no doubt that if the boat hadn't been such a jerk, my youngest would have gotten up on one ski as well. It was one of those weekends that warms a mom's heart.

Now you know why my tagline for this blog is 'sitting on the sidelines is no fun'. I never wanted to be that mom sitting on the bench, watching my boys have fun. I want to be right there, having fun with them. My heart is full.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks for your understanding! Now, on with the Weekly Wrap!



Friday, August 17, 2018

Book Review: Living with a Seal: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

This post contains affiliate links. 

A while back, Allie, who blogs at VITA Train for Life, reviewed Jesse Itzler's book Living with a Seal. She loved it and after reading her review, I was intrigued. Who on earth would invite a Navy Seal to live with them as a means to get in shape?

Jesse Itzer, entrepreneur and successful businessman wanted to get whipped into shape and he was looking for some mental toughness, so he chose Navy SEAL David Goggins, aka The Toughest Man Alive to train him. Goggins agreed to train Itzler but only on one condition: that Itzler does everything he said.

And he meant EVERYTHING.

This guy is hardcore. The training makes for a good story, but the way Itzler tells it, it's hilarious. There's no whining. There's no quitting. To emphasize Goggins' no-nonsense approach, Itzer only refers to him as SEAL throughout the book.


Sunday, August 12, 2018

I Need Another Vacation!

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"I've got that summertime, summertime sadness.." ~Lana Del Rey

I love going away but coming back to reality is so hard! After 3 really busy weeks of travel, activities, and fun, I spent this week getting back on track. My house was a mess, my husband did the shopping with very questionable selections, and my stomach was a mess from eating poorly.

Wouldn't it be great to come home to a few more days off? At least I have really great memories...

Thankfully, we still have a lot of summer left. I don't have any more vacations planned but I do plan on making the most of the time we have left before winter returns.



Friday, August 10, 2018

5 Ways To Stay Safe While Running Alone: A Reminder

This post contains affiliate links.

Last weekend, I ran with my Weekly Wrap co-host Holly while visiting her in Alabama. When I asked her to take me for a run on one of the local trails, she told me she rarely runs on those desolate trails, citing safety concerns. It wasn't the possibilities of encountering alligators that concerned her, it was possible encounters of the creeper kind.

While I know that we runners can never let our guard down, I've become a little lax when running on my local paths. I run alone almost exclusively on my local bike paths and forest preserve paths. I had an incident earlier this week reminded me that complacency on the run is never a good idea.



Monday, August 6, 2018

More Than a Runner

"🎶 More than a runner...more than a runner to me...🎶 ~Apologies to the Bee Gees

This post was originally scheduled to go live Sunday from Montgomery, Alabama after a fun-filled active weekend with my co-host, Holly. As much as we tried, we just couldn't finish our posts and do them justice in time to open the Weekly Wrap on Sunday as we usually do. We debated about this all Sunday morning but on the drive to the airport, we finally made the decision to defer the Wrap to Monday morning. We hope y'all understand!

For me, it's been a busy couple of weeks. Yes, I was just in Wisconsin last week. And yes, I ran a race with Holly and a bunch of other blogger friends 2 weeks ago. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I even squeezed in a couple days of work between all this activity. Full disclosure: I also had more than a few "what was I thinking?" thoughts cross through my head. More than once.

It was all worth it.

If runners are good at anything, it's learning to roll with life. That's what I did and I've had a really fun couple of weeks--although I am pooped! I need a vacation...

Ok, let's wrap it up!



Sunday, August 5, 2018

Weekly Wrap Announcement

Hey y’all!

Holly and I have been having too much fun to wrap up our week here on the blog. The link up will open tomorrow, Monday, August 6 at 7 am central time. We know you understand and are sorry for the inconvenience. See y’all tomorrow!






Friday, August 3, 2018

Coffee Talk

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Even though the past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for me, I always have time to sit down and chat over a cup of coffee! Today I'm having coffee with Holly. How fun is that? What will you be having in yours? It's been cooler so I'm back to hot coffee with half and half. Always with a spoonful of GLG Collagen.

Let's all catch up and talk about what's happening off the road!