Why running is a lifestyle and let’s be honest.

Rest day so that my body is ready, recovered (and EXCITED) for another week of running √

Church day √

Refill all of my glycogen stores with my favorite carbohydrates… I’m not going to be bonking anytime soon √

Successful Sunday in my eyes.

I never want you to think these two are perfect (let’s be honest because social media can do that and I don’t want that to happen) but I sure do love capturing their sweet moments together and sharing them with you.

Our key tube for surviving church with two 4 year olds and actually getting to hear most everything going on now… Plus Plus.  I found these at the store where Brooke got her hair cut.  These keep both kids so entertained for a long time.  They are quiet, they keep their imagination rolling and it is something I love to do with them too (I can’t say that about all toys ha).

Quick rewind to the morning and we started off with pancakes for breakfast.  We use Kodiak Cakes 99% of the time that we make pancakes/waffles.

My mom and my brother came over for a while after church to visit for awhile.

So we hung out and ate lunch together.  It may look like they are all hugging but the kid’s were attempting to tickle Andrew.

Another part of a successful Sunday is an afternoon nap in my opinion.  Naps are like a bucket of caffeine for me… all I need is like 20 minutes (or I’ll gladly take more) and I wake up feeling like a different human being again.

I’m telling ya, we take our rest day pretty serious over here.  We had a picnic while watching The Sandlot and Andrew fell asleep at 7 which made going to bed last night 400 times harder than it already is for him.

For dessert we brought out the cookies n’ creme ice cream.

I used my new favorite spoon that Andrew found.  I think General Mills sent it to me for National Cereal Day.  I’ll use it daily now!

***We got back the kid’s folders from pre-school.  Knox is still wanting to be a police officer (he dropped the banker part lately) and Brooke wants to be a teacher:)  I would love to see her be a teacher and carry on the tradition (we have generations of teachers on my mom’s side of the family).  I still see old students of mine around town.  It makes me so incredibly happy to see what they are up to in life now whether that be college, the job they said they wanted to do while they were in my class or the complete opposite of the job they thought they wanted.  Some are married and some even have kids.  They always get excited to see Brooke because I was pregnant over the last year I taught there:)  I’ll be a health teacher again someday (and oh how I can’t wait to coach cross country again).

PS the different last name thing for Brooke hasn’t been a problem at all.  I think it is way more common than ever so teachers/kids/everyone just kind of gets it a lot easier.

***Megan D sent me this picture yesterday.  I might have to drive to LA soon to get one.  If you live by one of these then just go ahead and get one and dedicate it to me please.  PS if you missed Megan D’s two blog posts they are amazing—>  The 5 stages of RUNNING grief and Virtual Reality! What is real? Our physical flaws?

***Who’s going to be watching tonight?

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While I was doing my long run on Saturday I was thinking about how running really is a way of life.  It’s not just an hour or two in the morning. It’s a lifestyle even if we may not realize it.  For me personally, running is a part of my every day life in a few ways:

*I wear more supportive footwear outside of running.  I RARELY wear heels and usually choose the shoes for my entire day that I know will help my running feet to feel good.  Even the most perfect looking shoes are nowhere near worth it to me if my feet aren’t going to feel great on my run the next day.

*Being with a bunch of my closest running friends is a part of my running life.  We talk about running, we share running experiences, we get each other and a lot of times we don’t even mention running but it was running that brought us together in the first place.

*Each night when I’m eating dinner and in the morning when I’m eating my breakfast before my run, I definitely eat according to my running in a way.  I know what foods upset my stomach during the run and I steer clear of them.  Long runs mean I eat more carbs in preparation and races mean that I avoid fiber for a day or two leading up to the race.  I make sure that I get in drink/meal that is full of carbs/proteins and that I eat it within 30 minutes of walking in the door.  Food is a big part of everyone’s day to day lifestyle and our running definitely influences the food choices we make.

*I spend too much money on activewear.  My closet has a 3:1 ratio of activewear to normal clothing.

*I think we all just make it work into our days.  When I was teaching and had other jobs after school ended, I made it a priority to run at 5 in the morning because that was my only time.  I am amazed by so many of you that make running a part of your day even though you have a bajillion things going on.  Running just happens during a certain time of day most days of the week for a lot of us.

*I pay a lot more attention to my sleep being a runner than if I wasn’t I think.  I go to bed earlier the night before a hard run, I take the time to really recover because injuries are the worst and recovery is just as important as the training.

*I pretty much follow two groups of people on social media—>  1.  My family/friends.  2.  Random people on IG that I most likely have never met in my life that run, inspire and educate me to train hard and smart.

*We plan out schedules and races, we organize our gear and ways to make all of the training happen.  We read about it, we think about ways to improve and how to get through the hard parts.  We dream, hope and visualize where we want to go with our running and we remember all of the hard/great/easy/frustrating/emotional runs along the way.  We travel to races or we search our areas for new routes to take.  It’s a wonderful ride that running takes us on.  I love that you and me can connect over the internet over so many of these different parts of our running lifestyles.

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Have any smaller running goals that you want to hit this week?  

-My biggest one is to get in an interval workout with 2 minute intervals (probably 8 of them)!  Last week I started off my speed again with 14 x 1 minute fast intervals with 1 minute recoveries!  Excited for a happy hip and a half marathon in a MONTH!

Who will be watching The Bachelorette this season?

How is your running a part of your lifestyle?

How many times did you change your mind about what you wanted to be when you grew up?  What did it change from?