Leading a Life Worth Living

Yesterday at this time, I absolutely expected to be posting a different blog post.  I had it all written out - I was going to tell you all about my bad day and pretty much complain about how stressed  I was and how mopey I felt at that moment.  I know you all really wanted to read a post like that.  You know, one where I go on and on about my bad day, those blog posts are fun, aren't they?

I even complained to my good friend Sam telling her that I was having a Pity Party.   Her response:

I don't want to come to that party!

And you know what?  I did not want to be hosting that party.  So instead, I turned off the computer and instead of going home and cuddling under the covers like I desperately wanted to do, I went to my Sisterhood Temple Event.  And it helped!  Instead of wallowing over the little things, that really do not matter, that really are not that big of deal, I just took a breather.  I enjoyed the company, the activity, and the moment I was in.  Instead of trying to blog, tweet, do work, run, and clean, all at the same time, I took each moment as it came and just let myself be.

This morning when I woke up, I felt a renewed sense of life. I know this sounds kind of lame, but really, that is how I felt. Even though I could have slept until 6 and still have gotten in my workout, I got up at 5 and jumped on the treadmill with all of my new gear to try out - my achilles sleeve and my iFitness Water Belt.    Usually, when I run at home, I turn on Felicity (so good).  But today, I just wanted to clear my head for 4 miles, so I blasted the music and started running!  It took a while to find my groove with the iFitness belt but by Mile 2 I was cruising.  It was TOUGH!  But I NEEDED this run and I was not going to let it get to me, so I kept going - all 4 miles in all 30 minutes. 

When I finished, I wanted to throw up, I wanted to faint, I wanted to have a dance party and smile wicked big (yes, that is how happy I was, I just chose to use the word wicked) because it was just one of those runs where everything goes right. 

Best picture ever! hah

So, what did I do, I blasted "I Want to Dance with Somebody" and danced around the room until Aaron came upstairs and told me to knock it off.  In response, I just danced around him as he semi-laughed, semi-shook his head at me. 

Fast forward an hour, riding the Runner's High, I managed to lose my cell phone.  We could hear it ring, but could not find it.  The phone sounded as if it was in the bedroom, possibly stuck between the mattress pad.  We searched and searched.  Literally, I had 19 miss calls when we finally found it.  After all that? It was not in the bedroom but on the kitchen counter.  

End result, usually I would be mad, especially since I lost my chance to go buy some Fruit Loops, which I was apparently craving this morning.  But instead, I just laughed, I just lived in the moment.  During the day today, I did the same thing.  Sure, I had to do too many things at once, but I tried to just breathe, relax, enjoy, and be thankful. To remember why I do all these activities, to remember why I blog, why I tweet.  It is not about doing everything in every moment.  It is not about being the best. It is about enjoying each moment (or as many of them as you can), making friends, having fun, being healthy, and leading a life worth living!

So nope, no pity party post for this lady! Instead, I will take a big breath, smile, and be thankful.  Thankful for everything I have gained in the past few months - for the friends, family, health, and fun!  

Marathoners don't have pity parties!

Do you ever feel like having pity parties? How do you get out of them? What are you thankful for today?

You are never too old for a sleepover!!

First off, winners of our Everstride Sweepstakes are SamSam26 and Melissa H.  I don't have your contact information so please email me within a week to collect your Everstride!

Second, thank you so much to everyone who has tweeted and gotten the word out about Christmas in the City!  As of noon today, we had received over $7500 in donations and received requests for Wishlists, if you want to learn more about Christmas in the City and about volunteering or donating please check out my post here or Christmas in the City's website here.

OK, back to the topic of today's post.  It started about a month ago.  One of my closest friends was telling me that her and her 4 yr old daughter would be all alone for a Saturday night in December as her husband was going on a skiing trip.  In response, I half jokingly said:

you and your daughter, Talia, can just come over and stay at our house for the night.

Before we could say anything else, Talia seemed to light up at the idea.  Ok, maybe I am remembering it a little differently because she is a little shy sometimes, but she definetly exerted some type of enthusaim, at least a smile ;)  Regardless, it took off from there and before we knew it at the age of 26, I had my very own sleepover date plan - Talia, her mom/my friend, Mali and I.  Aaron would not mind, right?

Good thing Aaron was a good sport because soon Talia was counting down the days to our sleepover and telling everyone at daycare how we were going to have a great time and how we were going to make cupcakes (not sure where that idea came from, but I am never one to pass up a good baking experience, especially when it involves cupcakes!).  Talia may have been excited, but I may have been a bit more elated.  I wanted to make Talia's sleepover a success - thinking up all great ideas to spoil her with - bath toys, a "bubble" bath in our jacquizzi tub, cupcakes, painting our nails, watching movies. You know, all the essentials.  Nevermind the fact that these activities could equal a day's worth of fun and she is 4 so her bedtime is at 8 at night.  No problem, my bed time is at 9, so we would just have to start early.

With much anticipation, last Saturday at 4 p.m., Talia and Mali rang our doorbell and our sleepover began.  Talia immediately went upstairs to her room - customarily referred to as an office.  This office happens to have an air matress in it and Talia had claimed this room her room months before.  Waiting for her in "her room," was a mini-backpack shaped like a Yellow M&M that I had picked up from the M&M store in Las Vegas, inside the backpack a Cars Puzzle from the movie Cars.  What could be better...

Talia's response, " There is candy in my bed." 

Despite the backpack and the Cars Puzzle (which Talia amazingly, but not suprisingly did in only a few minutes), Talia just wanted to play with Mr. Balloon (can't blame her I love balloons too).  Remember this balloon....

Well, that was in June.  Fast forward a couple of months and that balloon is kind of, well, deflated. This has not stopped Talia.  It is possibly her favorite thing to play with it in our home.  So, we of course, played with the balloon.

After we got tired of the balloon, we did some spinning...

Did I mention that Talia has decided Aaron is her favorite person this week lol.

Finally, after spinning, we decided to sit down and watch a movie, a classic, Oliver and Company. Followed by all of Talia's favorite foods for dinner - corn, brocolli, grapes, and salmon.  I happen to like to use corn holders for my corn on the cob.  Talia had never seen these before and loved them remarking that if she held the corn straight up it was like her corn was a lollipop - very insightful Talia, and very true.

Notice the lack of cupcake pictures here.  After all the hype on baking cupcakes and two types of icing (it was a big debate in the grocery store earlier that week)  I baked the cookies on my own, Mali watched, Talia and Aaron continued with Oliver because Talia did not want to bake.  But this 4 year old is a smarty, as soon as the cupcakes were out of the oven she was rushed to help ice and sprinkle them.  I use the word "them" lightly.  She actually wanted to ice and sprinkle only one cupcake, her cupcake - girl after my own heart.

Following bath time - where we did not have a bubble bath because Talia may have been a little afraid of the jacquizzi bubbles, it was time for bed.  Remember how I told you Talia loves Aaron?  Well, she asked for Aaron to read her a bedtime story and to cuddle with her before bedtime.  Too cute!!  Aaron got hugs and kisses. I asked for some too, but no such luck.  Why have hugs and kisses from me when you can have them from Aaron!  Clearly, I could not agree more.

Overall, a very successful sleepover! I was very sad when they had to leave.  I love sleepovers!  Dear Mali, please let Talia sleepover again, you can come too!  Because what is there to not love about sleepovers. 

When I was young (and by young I mean a senior in high school), my friends and I would have sleepovers all the time.  Nothing better than chick flick, baking chocolate chip cookies, girl talk, and late nights (well late nights for everyone else, I always seemed to stick to that 9 p.m. bed time, maybe making it to 12 a.m. on special occassions).

Did you love sleepovers when you were younger?  What were your favorite parts? Have you had any sleepovers since?

Christmas in the City - We Need Your Help

I am not one to solicit or try and take up the blog world annoying people.  We all have our own charities during the holidays and our own lists of presents right now.  But if you have a moment, I could really use your help.

I am reaching out to you all because I volunteer with an organization that works miracles.  This organization, called Christmas in the City, is a nonprofit that provides thousands of children who fight poverty and domestic violence with the Christmas experience.  For one day, these kids shine and understand the miracles of Christmas.  They make memories. At the end of the day, each child receives a personalized gift from their very own wish list right off of Santa’s sleigh. 

This year, due to a technical glitch, we are SHORT on presents, VERY SHORT, which means we have less than a week to collect thousands of presents for 8,000 children.  Without your help, we will not have enough gifts come the big day!


Ok, so hopefully you are still with me and I can tell you a little bit more about Christmas in the City. 

In 2010, more than 3,000 people attended CITC.  The children entered the event on red carpets into a large room decorated for Christmas.  Snow filled the air as volunteers,  cartoon characters, and a choir singing Christmas carols  welcomed the children.  The day was a dream come true.  It included a 7-course meal, kid friendly exhibits (e.g., a petting zoo and the Children’s Museum)and a Winter Wonderland – an area full of carnival rides, games, food and performances by dance troops and performers.  The day concluded with Santa bringing each child a personalized present off their very own Wish List as well as a gift bag with age appropriate presents such as stuffed animals, hats, gloves, and t-shirts.  The mothers also received a gift bag with gift cards, books and more! For those children who could not attend, CITC still provided them with a personalized gift, giving out an additional 3,000 presents in the last year alone! 

I can describe it but you really need to see it – check out this ABC video to really see the magic - http://christmasinthecity.org/story/#!prettyPhoto/0/  (I am serious this video makes me cry every time).


So where are we?  We are days away from Christmas in the City and we are at a real push time.  Every year it is a struggle to get present but this year we have more children than ever!!! We are looking to provide presents to 8,000 children and their mothers.  Usually at this point in the year we are well on our way to making that happy.

Unfortunately, there was a computer glitch and the presents that usually appear have not come!!  Here is where you come in!  It does not matter where you are you can help!! And we really, really need your help. 

You can donate to Christmas in the City by going to http://christmasinthecity.org/donate/. 

You can also Tweet, Facebook, and blog about it to get others involved.  Feel free to shamelessly link or take this post.  Also you can use the following:

http://www.Christmasinthecity.tumblr.com

https://twitter.com/#!/CITCBoston

http://www.facebook.com/#!/citcboston

@CITCBoston is in trouble! We are days away from the party without enough presents for our 8,000 kids! Please help us! christmasinthecity.org

Email me: 26.2runforfun@gmail.cm

Call:  Call CITC for your own wish list and sponsor a child - 617-542-6611

Last year, CITC was saved through the power of social networking.  I know bloggers and readers can do it again and show them what we are made of. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LISTENING. I APPRECIATE IT MORE THAN YOU ALL KNOW J

Yes this is a Christmas tree on a treadmill, but hey that’s what happens when an amazing Physical Therapist thinks up a great organization.

Five Tips to Turning Holidays Fears into Holiday Happiness

Thank you for all your well wishes on my race yesterday.  So I lost a toenail who cares right? Totally worth it!


This post could also be titled A Runner's Guide to Surviving the Holidays & Vacation or a Fitness Freak's Fantastic Five Steps to Fighting Holiday Fears.  

Once upon a time, holidays & vacation were a scary thing for me.   Come on, what is not scary about braving 8 hours of traffic on the night before Thanksgiving or having to figure out whose family gets Thanksgiving and whose family gets...well...the day after.

Oh and then there is that whole aspect of being away from your comfort zone.

-Away from YOUR treadmill - you know your favorite one at the gym that goes the "right" speed as opposed to the one at your parents' home that says it is the same speed but you know it is absolutely not.

-Away from your favorite running path - the one that you will not get lost on and know is the correct distance for that day's training session

-Away from your refrigerator and cabinets stocked with your kinds of food

Mainly, away from all the comforts of your life that make you feel happy and safe into the:

UNKNOWN & UNCONTROLLABLE 

Sometimes that kind of situation makes me want to go like this...

I love not being in control.... :(

Now,  I love getting a break from it all just as much as the next person, but at one point in my life all of these unknown variables led to a high stress situation for me (can you tell I am a control freak) and sometimes, if I am being honest, they still do.   But while in Vegas as well as over Thanksgiving I noticed something, I was no longer nervous, anxious, or scared about the holidays.  Instead, I was just happy and excited.  I had finally come to a place in my life where I was able to mindfully enjoy such reprieves without worrying about all that stuff that people get so upset about (e.g., "gaining weight," "not getting in a workout").  So how did I do it?  It is definitely not as easy as this five easy step list I will present but these things are a good start.  

Five Tips to Turning Holidays Fears into Holiday Happiness

5)  Plan Ahead.  Before going on vacation or going "home for the holidays."  Plan ahead.  This is a broad one because it could be many things.  It may mean knowing what is going to be served at the holiday supper you are going to and that way you can plan to bring a more healthy option for everyone to share or plan to have a special treat at the party - thus getting the best of both worlds.  Or it may mean Tweeting with some bloggers.  Let them know you are in the area and want to meet up for a run, bloggers will always find a bike path or trail near their home that is just as good, if not better than yours.

Two Thumbs Up for Running with Bloggers!

4) Make Adjustments.  The best laid plans of "runners and bloggers" often go awry.  Ok so even if you plan, things are not always perfect.  That's life.  No use crying over spilled milk.  There is always a second option.  It may not be perfect but it is not forever.  So if you can't get your run in it, don't scream crazily at your husband and complain that this is clearly all his fault.  Realize that one or even two or three missed runs will not kill your marathon finishing time.  Instead, take the much needed break that you probably need, you will be back at it in a few days and probably benefit from the break.

Wait what is this, this is not my Precor Elliptical in the Vegas Gym that had been there before?!?

3)  Balance.  The holidays & vacation are a time of eating out, big parties, potato latkes, Christmas cookies, and martinis.  And how useful is it that the race calendar that was flooded with races in the fall now seems to have hit an all time low.  It can be hard to balance the need to eat the "right" foods and get the "right" amount of exercise during this time.  Realizing that there are no "good" and "bad" foods is a great way to start you off on the right foot.  Also, remembering that there is nothing wrong with having a  glass of wine and an extra cookie at a family get-together is important.  I am not telling you to go crazy but I am saying that life is all about balance and balance means allowing yourself apples and cookies, orange juice and vodka (not necessarily at the same time, but not a bad idea).  

So many options to balance with, where to start?

2) Getting Back in the Groove.  I did not put this as number one even though in a logical sequence of events it is for after the holidays.  Once vacation and the holidays are over, allow yourself to get back in the groove of things. This does mean that during vacation you went on this crazy landslide into nowheresville, whatever that means (although it is ok if you do).  But rather allowing yourself to re-regulate.  After vacation, my body was just craving some Go Lean Crunch Cereal, some yogurt, some fro-yo pops, some grapes...I loved all the yummy foods I had on vacation, but it was a lot.  I could not wait to just cook at home again as opposed to going out every night.  Listen to your body, it knows what it needs and wants...

Although I have to admit pizza every night is not a bad thing but

if you still need to re-regulate come to the Wellness Event and win some of this (shameless plug sorry!)

1) Be Gentle on Yourself.  The holidays are hard.  They are stressful.  It is great seeing family and friends but ultimately you are also trying to fit a million things into a short amount of time.  On top of that, you are likely traveling, spending more money, and out of your regular schedule.  Things may not go perfectly - you may miss a day of training, eat the "forbidden foods"  or just feel like your body is out of whack from all these holiday celebration.  This is OK.  Everyone takes days off,  it is normal to overeat, and your body is just trying to adjust to the frenzy that is Holiday Season.  Be Gentle with yourself.  Try to relax, enjoy this time with friends & family and not stress about the other stuff that you are always "perfect" about the other 11 months of the year.  You will be back to that soon enough, for now, enjoy yourself a bit.   

Christmas is Great. Christmas in the City is better.  Yes this tree is on a treadmill, have you gotten involved yet?!  Wherever you are in the world you can help.  Send me a message!

This may not be the list that many of you associate with for surviving the holidays or vacation, but it has really helped me and I am hoping it helps you all too!

Any additions to my holiday tips? What works for you?

Lost a Toenail, Gained a PR

Last day for My Everstride Sweepstakes don't forget - http://tinyurl.com/7zj3gls (T&C here http://tinyurl.com/6upn444)

This morning I ran a 5K.  Where did that come from?!  You know ran a marathon, thought I would try Vegas and then oh yea one week later let's go for another 5k, why not?  I may be officially obsessed with races having done more in the past 4 months than probably my whole race career combined, and I don't think that is going to change anytime soon - I already know of 2 races I am doing in the first week of January hehe.

Anyway, my fellow amazing blogger friends and I had decided to run this race a while back, which is clearly the perfect excuse to run a race, you know when bloggers will be around.  So this morning, I woke up to the nice chilly air of 25 degrees and headed down to meet Robin, Meaghan, and Danielle.  This was a "holiday" race of sorts and supposed to be fun so I had not put much thought or pressure into it, yet like clockwork I became nervous before the start. The great thing about 5Ks though is there is not much time to be nervous because that gun goes off before you know it.  Literally once again we were all standing around and the horn sounded and we were running, how about that?!

But let's back up, before we started the race, we all calmed our nerves and got into the holiday spirit by taking some group shots..

Robin, Meaghann, Kelli & I 

Thumbs up for Mile 3 - I knew I could not wait to get back there already (p.s. I think I am kind of coming to grips with the fact that I am way short)

Before the race began, we did a quick warm up and ran into Danielle who had forgot her number at home and had to go back, not stressful, no.  But she made it with time to spare and then we headed to the start.  We discussed pacing plans to which I remarked I had none (nice Steph), Meaghan stated she just did not want to get injured, and Robin talked about low 7s high 6s.  Remember that I like to boss people around encourage my running friends so I immediately told Robin that I wanted to see 7:05, 6:45, 6:30...she laughed, whose laughing now Robin.  

Spoiler alert she killed it, with an average pace of about 6:38 and breaking 21, nice birthday present although the Stuffitts I gave her for her birthday are pretty cool too. Before I knew it, we were off. It was crowded, there were 1100 plus runners at this thing and some Santas and penguins too

Robin, you may be fast but Mr. Penguin is apparently faster. Don't worry I will tell you to go under 20 next time and you will get him...

As we started, I felt GOOD. Probably too good. I looked at my watch, because why not, and it clicked 7:15 (although my Garmin is apparently 5 to 10 seconds slow).  This felt, do I dare say, easy....and even better next to me appeared Meaghan and her friend that was also running.  Meaghan ran with this air of ease and confidence.  It was like she was just strolling along without a care in the world.  It amazed me.  And the fact that she can do it all without music makes her magical or just damn crazy.    We hit the first mile at 7:08 according to Meaghan (my Garmin 7:15 I have no clue what is going on with that thing) and things felt good!!  

At 1.50 it began to feel a bit hard....and I was ready to be done.  NOT a good sign.  But I blamed it on the "hill" at Mile 1.30 (only a hill though because the rest of the course was flat).   At that point I almost lost Meaghan and did not see her for a while but she was still there with me which was awesome! I love running with people, especially those who can push me and apparently so far there are only like two ladies who have accomplished this feat...I may or may not be stubborn sometimes. Hmmm...

We continued on at Mile 2 and I was feeling it and not in a good way.  Meaghan noted that her Garmin said we ran under 7 for Mile 2, mine said 7:21 (blasted Garmin!).  As we rounded Central Square, all I wanted was to see the McDonalds we had parked at because then we would only be moments away from the finish.  I realized though that we were ONLY at Central Square and that we were FAR from that MC'Ds, and so...I almost gave up. I felt like throwing up and my stomach sucked.  But Meaghan would not have it and told me I was not leaving her now.  I think I said Oh Gosh but apparently it was more of a grunt, go figure. Mile 3 7:23 (my Garmin so maybe it was faster?)...

And then we rounded the corner, remember this:

Well now it looked more like this....

Did I mention I wanted to throw up?

I will always smile for the camera! 

Thanks for the final push hubbies & Robin's cute girls - 0.20 - 6:57

Final results, we all rocked it!

 Ladies at the finish (Danielle, we lost you again!) 

See we are ready to run some more...hmm I may be a little lopsided here

And by rock it I mean, Robin PR'd the crap of it and I also happened upon a PR - power of the snowman shirt, sparkle skirt, and santa socks. 

With a time of 22:46, 27th in my age group and 270th overall.  I will take it :) :)

Meaghan she did ok, I guess, in the fact that she beat me! And the ever elusive Danielle coming in like a speed demon.  

Overall, a successful event! Maybe, I will have to run in these crazy socks some more.  Sure, in the end I lost a toenail, but hey, a PR for a toenail, I will take that any day. (I decided you would rather not see the picture of Mr. Toenail).

Did anyone else race this weekend?  On a side note, any suggestions for my poor achilles, it keeps rubbing on the back of my shoe and becomes very painful :( 

I Eat to Run - 7 Tips to Doing it Right

When thinking about what or who inspires me to run, I clearly immediately thought of this...

And maybe possibly this too...

And not this is not just OJ..

Haha just kidding, but come on no one ever runs for just a little bit ice-cream later? Honestly, sometimes I might be guilty of this.  Seriously, though if you asked me a 1.5 years ago, truth be told I did, I ran to eat.  Today, 

I eat to run

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE to eat good foods like ice-cream (and did I mention ice-cream). And I do enjoy eating an extra scoopful on marathon day, hey, I earned it and more importantly my body needs it! 

Marathon Ice-cream the best kind!

BUT the difference between the me of today and the me of yesteryear is that the old Stephanie truly did run to eat.   Like many of us, I struggled with my weight and felt that running would be the answer and that as long as I ran I could eat whatever I wanted, simple and easy.  It was all about the weight.  Take it from someone who has been there, this is not the weigh (yes I actually wrote weigh by mistake) to live a happy life.  It actually sucked, big time! Now, don't get me wrong, exercise is important.  Maintaining a healthy weight is just as imperative and I am not bashing that but I want to tell you about the other side of things.  You know, the journey where when you start out on a fitness endeavor you do it for the right reasons - for fitness, friends and FUN!  That is where I am today. It took me a long time to get me here, but now that I am, I could not be happier.

So when the FitFluential Family discussed writing about our path to fitness and 7 Tips to Give Newbies, I could not think of a better way to impart this on you all but by sharing my view on how to approach fitness.  And my view is the same whether you need to gain or lose weight.  Whether you want to get faster or become stronger, my advice is to do it for the right reasons -

Fitness  Friends and Fun.  

See this is fun...right?

In my mind anyway, if you do this, you won't go wrong (and that is just my opinion). No matter what your goals are, keeping these three things in mind will allow you to reach your goals with a happy, healthy smile on your face.  With this as the base, my tips revolve will revolve around these initiatives...

If your focus is on (1) fitness for the right reasons and those reasons being (2) fitness, (3) friends and (4) fun, there are only three more tips I can impart...

5)  Set a goal.  Sure I gave you broad outline of what I thought were the right reasons but you may have different ones and those are ok.  Set a realistic goal and be true to it - is it to run for 5 minutes or 5 miles. Is it to do a plank a day?  Whatever it is, this will help you stay motivated

6)  Be true to yourself.  Set realistic goals.  Don't do something because everyone else is doing it so you thing you "should." Do it because you want to.  Because you LOVE it.  This is YOUR goal after all. 

7) Be gentle on yourself.  Fitness is HARD.  It is hard to bring fitness into your life schedule and it is hard to be motivated.  If you "slip," and steer from your goal, be gentle with yourself.  You are only human and tomorrow is a new day.   This is supposed to be fun, remember?!?

So that's it.  These are my tips...they may seem simple, but it has taken my a lifetime to figure them out.  I hope they are helpful to you :) 

20 mile run!!! It is fun and fitness :) Or as the husband says maybe I am just a...

Coming soon for sale men and women dri-fit matching  shirts...whose excited?

What would your tips be?  Do you eat to run or run to eat?

One Last Vegas Hurrah

Ok, this is it guys.  I promise one last simple post on Vegas, because, well, why not.  I guess I am in a bit of denial.  And then I saw this tweet....just confirming that last Friday at this time I was in Vegas.  Boo :(

So, in true reminiscing form and against all rules, I thought I would share a little bit of what actually happened in Vegas, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas except on my blog, clearly.   So, we all know that I ran this little race in Vegas, but some other things happened during Vegas...we were there almost a week you know!  Here comes the quick play-by-play

Aaron got hurt....I rushed him to the Emergency Room...

See I am rushing...

And we got a new pair of these.....and I tried to teach Aaron how it was done...

Crutching around was hard, so we made sure to fuel our bodies right!

There was lots to see in Vegas...

But the best part was spending time the hubby and meeting some new wonderful bloggers 

 Tamara, Jeff, and I

Meghann, Anne, Rosa, and I

Vegas I will miss you.  You were great but now you are over and it is time to move on....

                                 
What is next for you all? Happy Friday