I Love "Me" Time

I am a HUGE advocate for self-care. Aside from annual physicals, well-woman exams (OK, in the interest of full disclosure the only reason I really get my annual well-woman exam is because they hold my birth control refills hostage without a pap smear) and tending to your mind/body wellness, I am a firm believer in the power of massage - especially now that I have been bumping up my running mileage while half marathon training.

While I do have an online shopping addiction (thanks Amazon Prime) and unhealthy crafting habit, I don't spend money on other self-indulgences like manicures, trips to the hair salon (seriously, I get my hair cut twice a year) or delicious gingerbread lattes from Starbucks. But, I have no issue in splurging for a monthly massage. In general I am not a fan of being touched, especially by strangers, so I am fortunate that my dear friend Stacy is a massage therapist. Last night I had my monthly appointment with her, I showed up tired and crabby, but when I left I felt like I was floating on a cloud.  

A quick Google search pulls up countless articles extolling the benefits of massage therapy for runners. Whether the evidence is scientific or anecdotal I don't really care. All I know is that since starting my massage therapy sessions I have found that my recovery time after long runs has decreased, and my ability to successfully self massage with a foam roller has improved because I have a better idea of my "problem areas" - thanks to the dialog I have with the therapist. For me, that has been the key to taking full advantage of my monthly massages... Talk to your massage therapist, she is your friend! 

So tell me, have you employed massage therapy as part of your running regimen? If so, do you find it to be beneficial? 

I Came in Like a Wrecking Ball... (sort of)

Seriously, this is how I felt last week with my running... I was on a streak, hitting the bricks every day from Wednesday through Sunday, completing two 5Ks and the longest run of my life at 9.4 miles on Sunday.  Feeling seemingly invincible (why wouldn't I, a 40 year old women who has been semi-consistently running outdoors since late August?), I decided to hop on my treadmill Monday evening to get in my 1 mile run for the Runner's World Run Streak. While I knew that I still had a couple of aches from the previous day's long run, I figured I just needed to get my legs loosened up and I'd be fine.

The truth was that my legs hurt, bad.  My right knee throbbed and some muscles (I have no idea which ones - human anatomy always grossed me out in college) at the top of both thighs were sore - and STILL are by the way. Knowing that mentally I may not come back from another sidelining injury (See my femoral neck stress fracture and Achilles tendinitis sob-stories to understand my fragile mental state) I reached out to Jeff Galloway for some advice.  Fortunately,

37 Days of Awesome - Days 1 to 5

A few weeks ago I was on a flight with time to kill, and instead of paying $7 for in-flight internet access, thanks United Airlines for nickle and diming me I opted to read my latest issue of Runner's World magazine. Normally I just skim through and read the articles that jump out at me as being interesting, but as I had 4 hours of spare time on my hands I ended up reading the issue cover to cover which is where I learned about the Runner's World Run Streak. 

According to Runner's World, the goal is simple: "Run at least one mile per day, every day, starting on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, November 26) and ending on New Year's Day (Friday, January 1). That's 37 consecutive days of running."

When you are sitting on a cramped airplane bored out of your mind eating fistfuls of gummy bears and delicious Combos pretzel snacks, the idea of a running streak seems like a brilliant idea in which one would be stupid not to participate, especially when I considered the upcoming holidays and my penchant to over-indulge in all things fatty-sugary-salty-alcoholy-delicious. 

So, somewhere over Iowa I made up my mind that I was committed to following though with it. Now, I am usually a 2-3 times a week runner, doing anywhere from 3-5 miles during my weekday run(s) and then 5+ miles on my weekend long runs... and trust me, peeling myself off of the couch to get

Top 10 People Who Annoy Me When Flying:

It is no secret that I hate to travel, especially for work. There are two main reasons for this: 1. I loathe flying (well, crashing is what I really hate) 2. I don’t like leaving behind my puppies – frankly I know my husband simply cannot provide the proper mommy-lovin’ to which they have grown accustomed.  However, on my most recent excursion to Vancouver I found a third reason to loathe travel…. The A-hole people who eschew the basic tenants of air travel courtesy and make flying miserable for the rest of us.  While I am no newcomer to those travelers who have no concept of self-awareness, somehow I experienced EVERY type of A-hole airline traveler during my flight to and from Vancouver this weekend.  During an especially crappy leg of my journey from Chicago to Baltimore, I decided to document the 10 people that consistently put me over the edge when flying.

1.  People who do not understand the concept of ONE carry-on and ONE personal item. Whenever I see people trying to drag a backpack, suitcase, purse, coat and paper shopping bag from the Gap full of God-knows-what on a plane as their carry-on items I want to throat punch them and the flight attendant who doesn’t yank them out of the boarding line to pare down their expansive haul.  (These somehow also seem to be the people who have to use the bathroom every 30 minutes during the flight but never are in an aisle seat. See #3 below.)

2.     People who think FAA carry-on restriction rules don’t apply to them. Listen, with airlines

Am I Destined to be a Couch Potato?

Well, here I am once again on injured reserve.   It seems like as soon as I pay for an expensive race (e.g. 2014 Disney World Tower of Terror 10-miler & 2016 Disney Princess Half Marathon) I seem to sustain some sort of injury that sidelines me.

While the 2014 hip fracture was a true Tower of Terror game-ender for me, I refuse to let my Achilles tendon ruin the Princess Half Marathon that I have been dreaming about for 2 years.  I don’t even know how I hurt the tendon, I woke up after a 5K race and it just hurt.  Knowing that I am facing the Marine Corps 10K in October and 22.4 miles in February for the PHM weekend I don’t have the luxury of slacking on my training.  Therefore I immediately got an appointment with the local, large Walmart-esque orthopedic practice – only because they could get me right in, not because I particularly find them to be good at what they do, if you are interested (and why wouldn’t you be?) you can refer to my previous sob-story on this topic here.

The X-rays showed that the bone was fine and after about 20 seconds of squeezing and poking my foot the podiatrist decreed that it was an Achilles injury and that I should come back in 2 weeks if it still hurt. Um, and then?

All About that Bass… My public Service Announcement

When I first started running, I really didn’t know what I was doing. I just assumed you strapped on some good running shoes and hit the pavement.  I learned my lesson the hard way last year when I developed a femoral neck stress fracture in my hip after only a few months of running – treadmill running at that!  I had no idea of the importance of nurturing my booty muscles to help prevent some of the most common running injuries… I should have listened to Meghan Trainor all along!

During my 4 months of recovery, I read everything I could get my hands on about how to both expedite the healing process and more importantly, prevent a reoccurrence of the injury.  The bottom line is that your body needs more than properly fitted running shoes if you want to remain injury-free… information I wish I had when I got started. I was so focused on finding the best training plan and sourcing the best running shoes that I didn’t consider the physical limitations of my body, I mean it's just running, right? Rookie mistake!

It's Thirsty Thursday!

Repub Bar - Frostburg, MD

I started my college career at Frostburg State University, needless to say as a person who lacks any sense of self control my attempt at higher education was abysmal while attending FSU, thanks in no small part to Thirsty Thursday Dime Draft Nights at Repub bar – oh how that shiny, red wall paper brings back fond memories.  Seriously, you could get an 8 oz plastic cup of Milwaukee’s Best (who knew that Beast was available on tap?) for 10 cents from 8-10:00 PM; if you had $5 you were guaranteed to have a good night – beat that ivy-league grads (I kid, I kid). 

For those of you who attended college for the purpose of obtaining an education and are not familiar with Thirsty Thursday, the Urban Dictionary does a lovely job of explaining it for you over-achievers dedicated academics.  

Now, as a responsible grown-up I completely understand that technically alcohol is not a part of sound diet and nutrition plan. Still, I feel that life wouldn’t be worth living if I couldn’t enjoy a margarita, or wine, or beer… ok alcohol in general.  Therefore, I’m going to take one for the team as a commitment to your healthy lifestyle choices and source out spirits that are light on the calories but still great on taste.  See what I am willing to do for you people?

I don’t like green food...

This is one of my favorite scenes in The Hobbit movie (probably because I can totally relate)…

I don’t like green food…. There, I said it, and prior to my most recent visit to the doctor I have not felt the least bit disgraced about my eating habits.  You could tell me a McDonald’s cheeseburger contains 30% ground-up rat poop and I will still eat it, because they are DELICIOUS.  You will never catch me eating an apple, NEVER (unless it is on a stick and enveloped in caramel).  I consider frosting to be its own food group and that it is socially acceptable to eat it directly from the tub… I figure that since it has a similar consistency to yogurt it must be ok.