PRs and My First Powerlifting Meet

Followers of the blog know I've been working on getting stronger for a long time. I started strength training back in 2013 after a long stretch of running-related injuries. Long story short, I was evaluated by a corrective exercise specialist and was told that I had weak hips and my glutes weren't firing. Hey now! After working on getting stronger, I learned the valuable lesson that runners cannot live on miles alone. That coach, Becky, trained me for my PR Chicago marathon.

She had me at deadlifts.

When Becky moved to Las Vegas in 2017, I found a new coach, Sammy Jo, at the same CrossFit box. We have been working together for almost 3 years but it really wasn't until last fall that I really found my strong. Sammy Jo and I decided that for this strength cycle, I was going to go for some really heavy lifting. My prolonged RA flare from earlier in the year had finally resolved and I was ready to kick RA to the curb.

Over the past 4-5 months, Sammy Jo has pushed me harder than I've ever been pushed, outside of running. It was a new kind of uncomfortable and there were times when I felt overwhelmed and maybe even a little scared. She was right by my side and promised me I'd not get hurt lifting the heavy weights. I didn't.

When the CrossFit box announced a powerlifting meet, Sammy Jo wanted me to enter. My strength cycle was wrapping up and she thought it was the perfect time for me to push for some PRs. I was reluctant. Me, in a powerlifting meet? The new owners of the box also encouraged me to sign up. So I did.

You Can't Go Wrong with Strong

This week...I did a thing.

I stepped out of my comfort zone. Way out of my comfort zone.

I participated in a powerlifting meet at my CrossFit box. While I knew I was doing this for a while, I kept it under wraps because I needed to get my head around the idea. Seriously, I'm a runner! What the heck was I doing at a weight lifting competition? Well, when your coach is an Olympic-style weight lifter, you drink a little of the kool ade she gives you. The stuff she makes me do, the weight she makes me lift--it all makes me a stronger, better runner.

Trust the process, indeed.

No matter what you do, you can't go wrong with strong. I'll share more specifics about the meet on Tuesday's post. We spent our time together this week getting ready for the competition.

60 Blog Prompts for Runners

We've all been there. Sitting down to compose a post, staring at a blank screen, and just not feeling creative. Maybe you've drawn a complete blank.

It's also that time of year where we don't have a lot going on. It's winter and for most of us, race season hasn't started yet. It just feels so...empty.

You could just skip posting...but if you're like most runners, you're a bit compulsive and you like to stick to a posting schedule. What to do?

Don't despair! I'm here for you! I've got a handy dandy list of 60 topics that you can flush out fully into the blog post of your choice. I hope you find something here that you can write about!

How To Be a Good Social Media Steward: 14 Tips to Keep Your Interactions Positive

Disclaimer: This is an updated post from 2017.

As a run blogger, I am very active on social media. I participate in 2 sharing pods on Instagram and look at a lot of Instagram posts. While I love to hate on Facebook, I have an active presence there with a page and participation in several sharing groups. I use Twitter but still don't really get it. Pinterest is one of my number one referral sources and so I work really hard to develop pins that are attractive and likely to be repinned.

So you might call me fairly well acquainted with social media. I wouldn't call myself an expert. I play by the rules. I come by my likes and shares fairly.

Sometimes social media makes me cranky. Not only because people don't follow the "rules" but because they're posting things that maybe they shouldn't. Based on my observations, I've got some tips for playing nice on social media.

I Do Have a Few Goals for 2020

I really dislike sharing my goals. Putting it out there in the universe makes it seem so real, doesn't it? While I agree that telling people about my goals for myself helps me stay accountable, it also makes failure to achieve those goals that much more painful.

I learned that lesson with my first marathon in 2011. I signed up to run for charity, I posted it on Facebook, and I told everyone my plans. I even broke the cardinal rule of running a first marathon, which is to not set a goal finish time. The goal I should have set for myself, to cross that finish line, did happen, but not at all how I planned. In reality, I fell apart at mile 18 and ended up walking much of the rest of the race. It took me a long time to accept what happened at that race. 

I know a lot of you share your goals--some even give themselves grades on their progress towards achieving them. That's not me and for now, I'm going to keep this year's goals close to the vest. I'll keep you posted as I go.

The 10 Year Challenge

Did you participate in the 10 year challenge? If you are on Facebook or Instagram, you couldn't have missed it. People posted 2 pictures of themselves, a current photo and one from 10 years ago, side-by-side, to show how much they've changed. Some people called it the "How Hard Did Aging Hit You Challenge", which was enough to make me shy away.

There were also the conspiracy theorists who claimed that Facebook made up the whole challenge for their facial identification software. Considering how many photos people already post on Facebook and that a lot of users have been on the platform for over 10 years, I highly doubt 2 more photos are going to make a dent in what Facebook already has on us.

I didn't participate in the Facebook challenge, but I'm sitting here in front of a blank blog post and searching for things to write about. I didn't do a throwback post at the turn of the decade, so I thought it might be fun to look back on running over the past 10 years. Fridays are usually reserved for more personal posts on the blog, so thanks for indulging me.

17 Things Bloggers Can Do to Combat Content Scraping

Last week, I received an email from a fellow blogger. She found some of her posts reproduced without attribution on a sketchy blog site. She wanted to let me know that on that site, she also found some of my blog posts. While trying to figure out what to do, I discovered a similar website that had also posted some of my blog posts. The text of the posts was altered slightly, albeit awkwardly, but the content and photos remained all mine. Even the title of the posts listed my blog name.

It was jarring, to say the least.

Imagine seeing your content, including your photos, on another website. I was in good company along with Another Mother Runner, Marathon Investigation, and Women's Running. It made me wonder what these bigger blogs were doing, if anything, to stop their content from being stolen. I also wondered why anyone would want to steal content from my little blog!

Talk about feeling helpless. It's the freaking internet! As much as I wanted to reach through the screen and strangle the thief, it was just a fantasy. I needed to figure out what to do to protect my content and myself.

New Year, Same Old Me!

It's a new year and I haven't made any resolutions or goals for 2020. I haven't chosen a word for the year. Instead, I'm just keeping on, rolling with the progress that I made as 2019 drew to a close.

If I were to make a resolution, it would be to actually train, not to just go out and run. I won't lie, I've been enjoying 'just running'. Junk miles, all of them. Kinda fun, though.

I do have some races in mind for the spring and if I want to feel good about how I run them, I'm going to have to do some training, including speed work. I'm mulling that over as we speak.

You know I'll do it. Ever the competitor, I'm driven by results. I've got a couple of weeks before I have to get back to work. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the ride!

NYD run in the woods

Coffee Talk

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. And lots of cool photos. The holidays were awesome.

Good morning! What's new with you? Are you recovered from the holidays? Let's catch up over a cup of coffee. I'm pouring some Colectivo Wonderland, a holiday coffee which was a gift from my son's girlfriend. She also gave me this awesome mug, my new favorite. Besides the Colectivo, I received quite a bit of coffee for Christmas, so I'll be working my way through it during these cold, dark days of winter. With a splash of half and half, it's the best way to start the day.

Not Every Race Has Bling: 8 Lessons Learned from Running 2019

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog and my experiences should not be used for your medical decision making. I would refer you back to your medical provider. 

Coming off 2018, one my highest mileage years ever, the bar was set high. There was no reason to think I couldn't ride the wave through 2019, right? 2019 started off really well for me, with a half marathon in January, followed by an indoor marathon relay. The polar vortex didn't slow me down!

No, but rheumatoid arthritis had other ideas. In February, I received the shingles vaccine after which I had a reaction. For most people, the vaccine reaction is short--about 24-48 hours, but for this RA warrior, the vaccine triggered a prolonged flare of my disease. For the next 4-6 months, I battled severe fatigue, joint pain, and loss of endurance. While the flare slowly resolved, it was frustrating and I received very little support from my rheumatologist, save for multiple rounds of steroids.

Taking charge of my health, I changed my diet, reducing the amount of 'inflammatory' foods and eating mostly plant-based. I also learned about and started a medication that could help with some of the pain I had been experiencing. I sought out a second opinion from a different rheumatologist and switched my care to her. Time will tell if she's 'the one' for me.

As the year winds down, I am back on track and feeling really good. While I continue to have mild symptoms that remind me that yes, I do have RA, this is the best I have felt in a long time. Instead of doing a traditional recap of all my races--you can find all my recaps on my races page--I wanted to share a few highlights along with some of the lessons I learned over the course of the year. Because running is always teaching us old dogs new tricks.

Staying on Track

As busy as it gets this time of year, I stuck to my workout schedule. I completely understand those folks who opt-out during the holidays. I mean, something's got to give, right? Since my workouts are what keeps me sane, I choose to let go of having the 'perfect' holiday. Yes, the tree is up and the gifts were wrapped. I even baked cookies. But while I picked up the clutter, I didn't do any major cleaning before the guests came over. That might bother some people, but we all have our priorities and having a perfect house is not one of mine. The only person who noticed anything was my dad, who pointed out how dusty my dining room chandelier is.

There's always that one person. I did offer to him that he could come over and clean it. He hasn't taken me up on that.

It was nice, letting go of a few things and I found that I really enjoyed the holidays this year! Plus, with the spectacular weather we've been having, who wants to stay inside and clean?

Saturday's run

My Top 7 Runfessions of the Decade

The month is drawing to an end and the year is drawing to an end...heck, the decade is drawing to an end. That can only mean one thing...a super-duper retrospective of the best runfessions of the decade. Marcia graciously hosts Runfessions and I am always so grateful for this monthly opportunity to cleanse my soles and my soul.

Ok, a quick runfession before we get started...I runfess that I've only been runfessing for 6 years! In fact, I've only been blogging for 6 years. But hey, it's the end of the decade and I've accumulated enough runfessions to fill an entire decade! In reviewing these old posts, I runfess that I enjoyed looking back and catching up on those runfessions. I also learned that I have some house blog cleaning to do. Old link-ups? Whatever happened to those blog hops? Remember those?

I'll get to that blog cleanup eventually! But today, in the true spirit of Auld Lang Syne, let's runfess!

A Runner's Night Before Christmas

This is a repost from 2015. Updated, of course, for 2019.

All I Want for Christmas is Sun!

I don't want a lot for Christmas

There is just one thing I need

I don't care about the presents

Underneath the Christmas tree

I just want the sun to shine

And to watch the temperature climb

My wish is only one...

All I want for Christmas is Sun!

Apologies to Mariah Carey and Justin Bieber but I just don't want to run in the cold and snow. 

The sunshine makes everything look better, doesn't it?

My 5 Top Running Reads of 2019

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

It's the end of the year and instead of doing a book review, I decided to look back on the running books I've read over the past year and pick my top 5! There were so many good running books released this year. I liked all the books I read, so my decision to pick 5 favorites was a tough one! I also considered doing a 'best of the decade' post, but that's not quite fair since I haven't been reviewing books for 10 years. 

Plus I've still got a few to read. My nightstand has a stack and I plan to make my way through the pile in 2020. I'm looking forward to it!

Race Recap: Cocoa Classic 5k

Disclaimer: As an ambassador for All Community Events, I received a free entry to the Cocoa Classic 5k. 

What better way to celebrate the holiday season than by running a holiday-themed race? Holiday races are becoming very popular. Here in the Chicago area, we have quite a few options, both in the city and the suburbs. Last year, I ran the Cocoa Classic 5k and I really enjoyed it. So when it came time to sign up for a holiday race, I decided to run it again.

The real Cocoa

A Week of Surprises

I guess it's best to expect the unexpected--that way you don't get thrown off when things don't go as planned. This week was one of those weeks...

How to Deal with Food Shamers

This post is an updated version of one that was previously published. I'm heading out tonight to a neighborhood holiday party and I needed a pep talk. You might too. And yes, I have a race in the morning.

'Tis the season for food shaming. The holidays are here, the parties are in abundance and so are the food choices. Be it at a social gathering or a work celebration, everyone is bringing their favorite fat-laden, calorically-dense offerings to share and we are all expected to indulge. Either that or face the music:

"You have to try my favorite bacon blue cheese dip!"

"Is that all you're having? No wonder you're so skinny!"

"You work out--you can eat as much as you want!"

"Oh, right, you're running in the morning."

Do you feel me? Why do people food shame others? And how do we respond without sounding defensive?

5 Reasons You Should Keep Running Through the Holidays

This is an updated post from 2017.

Who doesn't love the holidays? All the food, the parties, the gifting... all the calories, the stress, the rushing....

I don't know about you but if there's ever a time of year, I need to run, it's December! Every year I say I'm going to start preparing for the holidays much earlier but it never happens. Coupled with my job in healthcare where we work holidays plus it seems like everyone is sick right now, there's not a lot of downtime. Heck, here I am blogging when I should be putting up holiday decorations. I ran this morning when I should have been doing my last minute shopping. But I just know that if I don't move and get my heart rate up, something's going to suffer.

Here are 5 reasons you need to keep running through the holidays!!

A Serving of Humble Pie

After last week's half marathon, I was feeling so good about running again. But the funny thing about running is that it keeps you humble. Don't ever get too confident--because the proverbial rug will get pulled out from under you. It's happened to me so many times.

This week, it happened again. While I would have loved to bask in the glory of my accomplishment, my body served me with a big old piece of humble pie. A half marathon isn't half of anything. Respect the distance, my friends!

Coffee Talk

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

Good morning! Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee so we can catch up on life off the road? I know how busy things are this time of year, but it always feels good to take a break and sip on a hot cup of joe! I'm drinking a Holiday Blend from Whole Foods. Super tasty and with my GLG collagen and half and half, I could drink it all day!

What's happening in your world?

How to Wash the Funk Out of Your Running Clothes

Disclaimer: I received SportSuds detergent and SportsSuds washer cleaner in exchange for this blog post. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

I don't know about you, but the only kind of funk I like is in the form of music. Give me some James Brown, the heavy bass of the Commodores'  Brick House, that funky groove of War's Low Rider--that's what I'm talking about.

There's another kind of funk and it makes me want to run away. It's the funky smell that we athletes all know and loathe...the funk in our running clothes. Even after washing them, sometimes you just can't get up off of that funk. The combination of sweat, body oils and bacteria all add up to the perfect recipe for that stench. Body oils stick to the 'high tech' fabrics that most of us wear, trapping bacteria and skin debris. It's all so gross and really hard to eliminate, even if you wash your gear in hot water.

If all that doesn't make you sick, think about all the money you spend on your workout clothes. Doesn't it make you want to cry when your favorite leggings release a funky smell as you assume Warrior 2? Gaack! Namaste away! Fortunately, there are a few things you can do keep your gear fresh smelling and clean.