I have a new friend to friend post up HERE in case you want to check it out!
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I went from finishing a 9 mile run @ 8:38 average pace to getting the girls up and ready to then playing Uno (I think we are going to win a world record for how often we play this game) within 20 minutes. I showered at some point yesterday too but let’s not talk about when that happened;).
PS Brooke is still sleeping about 11-12 hours a night at 6 years old (almost 7). Skye does the same and I’m that adult that needs 8-9 hours to feel good… do you think our need for sleep is in our DNA or is it a learned behavior? Knox and Andrew are the complete opposite of us and they are happy on much less sleep.
Maybe my sleeping gene that I passed on to Skye is the dominant gene in our situation.
The reason I have been sneezing 400 times a day.
Costco blackberries are so so so good right now.
Basically we are eating delicious fruit over here all day long.
Brooke asked me yesterday if she and Skye can start sharing a room together now. I recorded her saying this so that I can play it to her when she is older if her feelings change when they do have to share a room:)
My nieces came over to hang out and we made our favorite cookies.
We also had a crazy round of card games.
My neighbor told me she made honey mustard salmon and her husband won’t eat it so she brought it to me. It made my night. It was so so good.
And then Andrew got home from work… between his shifts and trainings, he has been gone a lot lately. He is really loving it and really thankful for caffeine right now;)\
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I talked about this on Instagram yesterday but I wanted to share it here too!
I got my race pictures back from Saturday and went through them and downloaded them ALL and I’m proud of them ALL even if I look half asleep in some of them;) This was at mile 12 and I was hurting so so bad that I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open;)
I’ll include here what I said on Instagram: Just a friendly reminder for when you get race pictures back this next season that cottage cheese on your legs is NORMAL if you have it. In this picture I am running a 6:07 pace at mile 12 of a half-marathon and feeling stronger than I ever have (even if my face may communicate I am dying). Our bodies are tools to get us to our dreams/goals. As soon as we realize wee are the paintbrush creating amazing things rather than the painting to be viewed, things we see on ourselves that we don’t initially like will not bother us anymore. Those legs took me to the podium and that’s what I see.
I am positive that years ago these pictures would have put me in a bad mood and I would have never downloaded them. Years ago they probably would have made me think I needed to eat less… instead after I looked at them I ate a hamburger for lunch because they have no affect on being a human and needing to fuel myself properly. How sad would it be if I let my cellulite take an ounce of joy away from my dream running life that I am having right now—> with awesome friends, injury-free, racing a lot and getting faster. That cellutite does not have any power over me (ps I still had it when I was 30 lbs lighter/disordered… it’s NORMAL) and like Megan D says:
‘What your body LOOKS like is the least interesting thing about you.’ There is just so much more to us than the flaws you might find in your race photos so be kind to yourself. Download those pictures of you going after your goals and using your greatest tool to get them.
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Just another reminder of a new friend to friend post here!
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Do you ever buy race photos?
-I don’t know if I have ever bought one but a lot of races around here give them to you for FREE. Do any of your races give them to you for free?
Have a favorite card game?
Did you share a room growing up?
-Yep… I did with my sister until she was a junior in high school.
Give me three words to describe your day so far?!
48 comments
Kendra
I see Strong, Fierce and Determined!
The Hungry Runner Girl
Thanks Kendra! I hope your day has been really great so far:)
Lynn
I have two observations from this post. First, I think your calves look amazing in that picture. Very strong! Second, all the females in your family have beautiful, long eyelashes and thick pretty hair! Have a great day!
Carrie
Race day pics are always interesting, my Mom gave me a framed pic of myself sweaty and just looking not awesome with my oldest. Trying to love it, working on it!!
3 words to describe my day so far? Energetic, Patience and restraint ( let’s just say I need my morning workout to deal with my preteen, we have hit the nasty stage and what makes it worse is that everyone knows her as so super sweet and they can not imagine her giving us a hard time!!)
The Hungry Runner Girl
Yes, Carrie you can love it or at least get to the place where we are neutral with pictures like that. In reality I have also just focused on thinking about it all less because loving our bodies 100% of the time can feel kind of unrealistic but I think just thinking less about ourselves and feeling neutral is just as healthy!
And now I am nervous about those preteen years ahhhh… good luck! Oh I have a friend with a daughter like that too. Complete angel to all teachers, friends and neighbors but then so so hard at home!
Keep me updated with how it is all going!
The Hungry Runner Girl
Thanks Lynn! I do have to say my eyelashes are very fake though:) . I hope you are having a wonderful day!
Victoria
Heh I once saw somebody say “local runner shocked to see in race photos that her skin moves while running” Kind of the idea here – of course your skin is moving while you run. You’re, like, running. Sometimes the still frame of it looks really weird because that’s how pictures are.
The Hungry Runner Girl
Bahaah it’s so so true… but I think we are so surprised to see our skin move like that because we are so used to seeing elite photos/perfect photos! Totally! I hope you are having a great day girl and your goggles story made me laugh today, thanks for that!
AmandaM
Congratulations on your race! I didn’t comment on your recap :) Amazing that your strong body is making you happy and keeping you strong and healthy.
So. Much. Better. (than ANY day last week) describes my day so far :)
Yes to ALL the fruit! It is all I’ve been wanting to eat with some sort of creamy topping.
The Hungry Runner Girl
Thank you so much Amanda and SO happy that this week is so much better than last week! I hope you have some delicious fruit asap!
Sara
That picture is fierce (like in a good way!). I agree with you we shouldn’t over analyze and judge our race pics but I often just wish they weren’t a thing at all lol. I have some pretty bad ones but I usually text them to my friends and we have a laugh
The Hungry Runner Girl
Thank you so much Sara! Haha I’ve done that with my running friends too… but the painful looking ones perfectly describe how I felt at those times ha. Have a great day!
Corey
LOL on the room sharing! My girls were so excited for their bunk beds several years ago…at first :)
I love your photo and your message on how we view our bodies. Truthfully, the determination on your face and strength evident in that photo is the overwhelming image to me.
I bought race photos from my first marathon and my PR marathon, but since then most have made their photos free.
I really like playing Pyramid with my kids!
I had my own room growing up.
My day so far: early, sunny, and juggling :)
The Hungry Runner Girl
At first… hahah I am worried that is how things will go over here;) . Thank you so much Corey! We need to get Pyramid! I hope the rest of your day is great!
Boston Jen
Congrats Janae!! You earned it! Your racing this year is quite inspiring and so is thia insight into your race photo. You are SO right! Thanks for being authentic and so honest! And thanks for the reminder! :)
Mrs B
So are they sharing a room now?! How exciting.I am an only child so this whole sharing room thing is new. I seriously HOPE my boys ( 8 months and a little over 2) ask me this!!! I am sure it pretty much makes your heart explode.
Responsible blogging (in my opinion) is talking about the “not perfect” pictures too. I have started to unfollow some bloggers because it is fake. fake. fake. I can’t stand it anymore! LOL
The Hungry Runner Girl
Not yet but if we get the chance to have another baby then they will be! It really did make me so happy to hear her say that. YOU ARE BUSY with an 8 month old and 2 year old. I hope you are getting some sleep! I totally know what you are talking about! Such a hard thing in some ways (ie when things were very sour with my first marriage I couldn’t really blog about any problems because I didn’t want to make things worse or it’s hard to talk about a lot of problems in our life because it would be sharing information about other people that wouldn’t be fair to share) but yes, I hope I can always make the things I personally struggle with known online to help others feel less alone! Thank you so much and keep me updated with how you are doing with your boys!
Sara Regenauer
Thank you for being real about your race photos and being relatable. I very much appreciate your outlook on what someone’s appearance DOESN’T mean in this world, as many of us do focus too too much on that. Any advice as to how you overcame some of those negative thoughts and are in the place that you are now where the picture doesn’t bother you? Would love to hear more about that. I struggle with my body and it does affect my mood from time to time. Would love to break free from this way of thinking! It’s not bad, this message makes it sound dramatic – but just I admire the fact that you aren’t phased at all and would love to be more in that head space. By the way – you are gorgeous inside and out from what I “know” about you via this blog! Been following for a long time – since pre-divorce (when I took an interest in running and found your blog). Have a happy day!
The Hungry Runner Girl
Hey Sara! Thank you so much for your comment and for being my friend online for so long. I really recommend people to work with a professional to get through negative thoughts about ourselves and we all DESERVE to live a life where we do not think poorly about ourselves. It really takes a lot of hard work. These thoughts pop into our heads and we can choose to dwell on them or think about something different instead. It has taken years of practice to stop those thoughts and another thing I really try to do is to look out a window rather than a mirror … meaning every time I start focusing so much on myself (like looking in a mirror and picking myself apart) I try to focus on looking out a window (finding people to help and things I can do to serve my family). It’s amazing how much better my head space is when I am focusing on finding ways to help the people around me! Over the years I’ve known people that are very obsessed with their looks/having a perfect body and have realized that is just not the life I want for me so to see myself as a tool rather than something to be looked at helps me a lot! I hope this helps and you are doing great! PS right before I start my period and my hormones are all over the place… I struggle more with this but overall I can look at myself and know my worth has nothing to do with what I look like. God loves me completely no matter what. Sorry for the novel haha.
Leslie
Amazing!! Thank you so much for sharing!! I love the thought that our bodies are the paintbrush not the painting.
The Hungry Runner Girl
YES… I hope it helps! Have a wonderful day Leslie!
Melissa
Yep – you are officially my FAVORITE person that I’ve never met.
The Hungry Runner Girl
Oh Melissa! Thank you so much! My goal is for us all to meet someday… wouldn’t that be the best? I hope your day is a great one!
Kelly T
Agree!
Kate
I never buy the race photos. I have not done a race yet, where they have been free and I am too cheap to spend money on that. But I have looked at my photos and they sure don’t look like “magazine” photos. HaHa. I take pictures of the race crowds, Turkey Trot and Rudolph Dasher, where people dressed in costume, which was hilarious. And my recent Marine Corp 1/2, I took pictures of the pictures of fallen solders and the HUGE American flag that you run under at the end. Those are the memorable parts of racing; and meeting all the fun people.
I shared a bedroom with my two older sisters, until I was 9. I loved it, but I am pretty sure, they hated it. LOL. We are great friends now and we laugh about the mean things they used to do to me, when my parents were not around.
Eva
My sister and I shared our room until I went to highschool. It wasn’t always fun, but usually it was allright. Our twins shared until they were about 8 years old. My day in three words: Run, shop, sew. I went for a run this morning, yesterday was just too hot. Our supermarket has reopened this afternoon after two weeks of renovations, I’m going to check it out. I cut out a new summer dress yesterday, my rule is finish what you’re working on before starting something new. I’m going to break my own rule because it’s so hot, when my jeans are done I won’t wear it yet. But I did work on my jeans, so I’m happy with that. I’ve never bought really expensive race pictures, but sometimes people take pictures you can buy for charity, if they’re nice, I’ll buy them. And by nice I mean does it reflect my feeling of how the race went, not if I can’t see any flaw in my body or how my running looks. Yeah for posting this picture of your awsome race! I played UNO with my oldest son (21) and his girlfriend on Sunday.
Wendy
You look so focused and strong!! But YES to everything you said!! So, so true ❤️
I don’t ever buy the race photos (they’re usually pretty expensive), but I do love to go through and look at all of them. I love to see myself working hard, enjoying pushing my limits, and seeing that big smile as I cross the finish line!
I am heading to the beach with my family today! Then sushi at our favorite place in Huntington Beach…. Pretty much a perfect day for me ?
Have a great day Janae!
Janis
Great blog. I love all your pictures, inspires me to add some more to my new blog for women. Please check it out!
https://regwomanover50.blogspot.com/
Natalie
I love this post so much. Our bodies are amazing and we need to be kinder to them and ourselves. When we truly know and believe whose we are and where we came from we can be kinder to ourselves. That paint brush analogy is perfect. We are all divine! Thank you for reminding us of that. You are amazing!! ?
Jenny
Great, great post. I don’t have cellulite on my legs (although I do have other issues of course, nobody’s perfect!) and one of my first thoughts was “I would trade my legs for hers if I could run that fast!” Ha ha… I guess the whole point is to be happy with what you have. I also love the quote “the way your body looks is the least interesting thing about you.” I have a ten year old daughter and we will be discussing this post together later today- thank you!
Becky Przy
You look so strong in those photos!!! I needed this post, I just got back my half marathon photos too and I was picking myself apart. The entire time was mad at myself for having such negative thoughts.
We are loving Phase 10 with my oldest daughter and Steal the Pack with the younger two.
Three words to describe my day so far: stinky, stiff and thankful (I took the kids camping last night and a shower at home never felt so good!)
Jenny
I think I’ve purchased maybe 1 race photo? I feel very fortunate that most have been free or I just haven’t cared enough … probably because I didn’t like how I looked. Boo!
I didn’t grow up playing games, card or board, so I don’t have any favorites but my kids like playing Uno and Go Fish. I’m not sure how much playing we actually do though since rules change often, bickering flares up and each game usually ends in tears or frustration. I blame their dad for their highly competitive gene … I may or may not be responsible for the sensitivity gene! ha! Needless to say, we don’t play much.
I never shared a room since it was just me and my brother. My boys share a room now and they love it! I’m so curious to learn how long this will last though; we talk about moving into a larger house and they make sure to tell us they want separate rooms but they never complain about having to share.
3 words: AMAZING, endorphins, mountains!
Have a great day!
Alicia
I saw this post on IG and it’s funny because when I first looked at it I immediately thought “Wow, she’s kicking butt! So determined!” I then noticed the mountains in the background and the beautiful blue sky. Then I read your caption and was like “WHAT?!?” I had to look at the picture again because I didn’t even notice any cellulite during my first look. Society has really ingrained perfection in us and it’s so discouraging because none of us can ever achieve it. You did great at your race and our bodies do amazing things every day. I love that you shared this picture and that you are so open about disordered eating. Keep racing as hard as you did in that picture! <3
Torrie
My 3.5 year old sleeps 11-12 hours a night and still takes a 2 hour nap during the day! My son is 9 months and sleeps 12 hours at night plus 2 hours of naps during the day. I am the same as you and do best with 8-9 hours a night. I think some people just need sleep! My husband can live with so much less sleep. I wonder how my son will be later on in life. I can already tell my daughter loves sleep like I do :-)
I love LOVE your post about race pictures and body image. I recently started running again after a VERY long break and it has been tough building my mileage up and getting my body and lungs accustomed to what used to be so normal to them. Whenever I start to think bad thoughts about my body I remind myself of the amazing things it has done from marathons to delivering babies, it is a machine! It’s SO easy to get down on ourselves about how we look so I appreciate the reminder and I loved what Megan D said also!!
The Hungry Runner Girl
Hahaha maybe it is more of a girl thing? I hope that your son continues to join in on the love for sleep. I totally agree, it’s so easy to keep going with the negative thoughts but I LOVE that you choose to focus on the crazy miracles that your body does. Have a wonderful day Torrie!
Kim
So inspirational Janae! Just beautiful words.
The Hungry Runner Girl
Thanks Kim! I hope your Wednesday is a great one!
Cat
I study sleep, and yes, the “internal clock” in your brain is partially controlled by genes :) Some people naturally have sub-24 hour circadian rhythms and some people naturally run a little longer – but light keeps people mostly entrained to the 24-hour day period. The science of sleep is fascinating!!
The Hungry Runner Girl
This is very interesting to me! I guess I was right by thinking it is kind of in our genes:). I think our black-out shades must help a bit with us sleeping longer too ha. You’ll have to share more information with me someday because I find this so interesting too. You have an awesome job.
John
Ha, the free vs paid race photos touches a nerve with me! I usually run the same 5K’s each year and a lot of them used to have free race pics – and they were numerous and high quality. Now, only 3 of the 5K’s I run has free photos. And 2 of those 3 only have a few photos of the top finishers, and none of me! The one 5K I knew had good free photos last year – I ran side by side with my son (I am usually ahead of him) and we ended up with one really cool photo of ourselves. I would pay for a really good, high quality photo of myself or son. But, the paid photos I have seen are cruddy and not worth buying.
Funny you posted that one pic – I used to take photos of my son’s high school cross country team (boys and girls) and post them to share with the team (password protected). I always made sure to weed out all the non-flattering photos, and there were a lot of them, lol.
I am so glad you have been sharing the pain you feel during a race – and I have been reading the book “How Bad Do You Want It”. I think it’s going to help me immensely in my races this year. Over the years I always look around myself and think “nobody else feels this way, is it just me?”. As my friend would say, “Get ready to hop on the pain train!”.
I have 3 brothers so did share a room, didn’t work out so well as we got older as others have said.
Christine
Great message Janae, and it can’t be repeated enough. Love the paintbrush analogy.
I’ve found your recent training and racing posts soooo inspirational. I’m a turtle runner but still have dreams. thanks for sharing and inspiring me.
Caroline
You know what is funny? You posted the pic (where you say your leg has cellulite) on IG and in this post and I swear to you until I read the content, I never even noticed!!! I was just like holy moly this woman is fast and an inspiration! And looks like she’s really working hard! I have had so many races where I am so embarrassed and mad about how I look in the pics, but I bet half the time I am the only one that notices the parts I don’t like..like the cellulite. Anyway, this was a good post, and you are awesome! But just wanted to say I never even noticed until it was pointed out! Also I wish my son and myself had your sleep genes!!
Sanne
Love this post. You look super strong in that picture! I like how Brooke wants to share a room with her sister. My son (almost 4) shared a room with his sister (16 months) when we were on a trip this weekend and he loved it so much. It made me wonder if they should share a room in our house as well. They’re so happy when they’re together!
Kimberly
I love this post so much!!! I have a hard time accepting my body. I dislike looking at myself in pictures. How sad!! I must work on that. Posts like this help me.
kendra auringer
I did not buy my Ironman Canada finish line photos because I though i looked too big. I look back now and wish I had bought them. I did a freakin Ironman. I trained for 6 months, 6 days a week with endless hours. I was strong and fierce. I battled record low tempatures on race day, driving rain and wind, countless people were removed from the course due to hypothermia. But I did it. I worked so hard for 16 hrs. That was one of the hardest things I have ever done. My labour with three children combined didnt take that long. But I couldnt see how bad ass I was I could only see a women who looked too big. I am so sad now, I wish I had those pictures and I honestly would pay any price to order one.
Haley
You are so awesome! I love your blog and you send such authentic, powerful, positive, empowering messages. Thanks for using your blog to brighten and better our lives!
Caroline
On sharing a room…I had to laugh. I have a twin sister and we grew up sharing a room (bunk beds!!!!). As soon as our older brother went off to college, we FINALLY had our own bedrooms. This was at age 14/15! Well….he came back home after graduating and he was out of luck getting his old room back because there was NO WAY we were going back to sharing! Ha!
We ended up moving into a larger house so we could all have our own separate bedrooms.
So it’s a gooooooooooood thing you got Brooke’s request recorded!
I commented on your IG post and love love love love your message. There is so much pressure to look a certain way…but what i always say is that we are all exactly the same on the inside…same organs, muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments….and these are just ‘shells’ that we are given to walk this earth. Makes absolutely no difference as to who we are. Beauty fades…pure hearts and kind souls last a lifetime.
Erin
You are an inspiration and I am SO grateful I stumbled upon you on the internet because you make MY life better!!!
Thank you!!