Why I Am Taking on the Marathon

Everyone has a different reason for why they do things; run, bike, yoga, knit, fish, whatever the hell you do just for you. But, everyone has a vastly different inner reason for this as well. Sometimes it is not until well into your journey that you discover your purpose for what you do.

***Side note: Let's also set something straight, I don't like to use the concept of "journey", and am going to try to refrain myself from using that term. To me, journey means a path to a destination. Ultimately, we all only have one destination from life, and that is death. So rather than me constantly trying to find a destination in life, I will remain present and describe my process as just being.***

Struggles in life are something everyone of all races, cultures, and incomes faces, and I have faced my fare share of struggle. From early adolescence I struggled with body issues and eating disorders, wanting to shrink my strong and muscular thighs I thank figure skating for. I allowed the media to dictate how I thought I should look, and with my thighs as thick and strong as a tree I did not fit in their category of "beautiful and thin." Through over exercising and controlling what I put in my mouth I shrunk to a very dangerous weight, while still continuing to strive to improve my skating abilities which I finally learned could not happen after depleting my muscle. So through my desire to become a better skater, and to live my life in a healthier way for myself and my family I healed myself and gained weight and muscle to grow stronger than ever. Through conditioning and healthy eating I excelled more than ever at my sport. 

In my young adult years as stated in an earlier blog post, A Little About Me, I found running to both feel good physically and mentally. Now, as a college graduate and feeling lost as most 23 year olds do in what their "purpose" and career path is, I have decided to take on the marathon. To me, a marathon is a pretty huge feat to face physically. I have never run more than about 14 miles and want to prove to myself that I am both dedicated and strong enough to do it. 

Mentally, running a marathon makes you strong. I call it free therapy. Sometimes you can be on runs for 2-3 hours, with nothing but yourself and your thoughts, much more time than most people spend not distracted by technology, other people, work, etc. I thank running for making good decisions, when you can argue and debate with yourself about something for unobstructed hours at a time you tend to make the right decision. I find myself thinking more about my direction in life and making choices based on what my heart wants rather than what society wants. Relationship wise on runs I can recollect the good times and also the bad times which helps me to heal the wounds I carry in my heart from friendships not working out (I am an empathic person and tend to always remember the good times.)

The marathon is a goal I can work towards and singly rely on myself to accomplish. As a type A personality, I like to work alone and control what I am working towards. Whether or not I complete this feat is something only I can place reliance on myself for; and at this state of my life it is important for me to spend some time alone and with my thoughts. 

I hope you will follow me on my physical and mental journey through this process. Weekly, I will post my runs, distances, the woes and the triumphs I learn from my body and my mind. Be prepared for some deep and emotionally driven posts, as I tend to get deep into my core on my runs.

Some life updates:

Everyone go see this documentary! "He Named Me Malala." SO inspirational in every way of life. Shakes you up and makes you feel very thankful for our education in America and our rights as humans. Sometimes the things we fight for here seem miniscule in retrospect to what others want as basic rights.

Just got in my new Garmin Forerunner 220! Love it, a big step up from my old watch which will now allow me to clock intervals for speed training and tell me my pace while I am currently running.

Have a peaceful and meaningful day, friends!

Just Keep Running!

Hi friends! So as you have noticed I haven't blogged in awhile, due to some personal reasons, absent mindness, and also adjusting to my job that I recently went back to. However, I wanted to say that I am alive and well!

Some fun things I have been doing:

Trip to South Florida to see parents/ and some not so fun and sad events:

Amazing vegan restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale: Green Bar! I had the sweet potato burger

My best friend in the world, Allison came to visit me:

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom, I was the evil queen from Snow White:

Lots of running! I am in week 3 of my marathon program for my race January 31! More to come in my following post about my training schedule I am following. I have gotten bored of my go to running courses near my home, so I found some trails and Disney resorts to run around...

And best of all.... my new Garmin Forerunner 220!!! My old watch died so I upgraded. I love it, you can set interval timers, it actually shows current pace per mile (my old watch didn't), elapsed time, distance, and allows you to make a training plan that the watch can help you to follow. Two thumbs up!

Thank you friends for being patient with me, here is a little mantra I have been following in tough times:

Keep running friends :)

How to Live a More Conscientious Life

We live in a world over run with information, technology, pulling us in a million different directions of this "go go go" world. So how to make peace with it all?

I have been actively engaging in living a simpler and more conscientious life. Living more presently and being aware of my actions and how I am spending my time has brought me to feeling much happier, more complete with the things I have, and more directed with my life and my time. How does one do this?

1. Put DOWN the technology.

I cannot stress this enough. Sure, technology is great. It connects us with those we love, brings us information faster, and makes daily tasks simpler. However, it is disconnecting us from living presently and takes us out of our present minds. Social media to many portrays a "perfect" version of peoples lives. Its easy to stage a picture, pick a filter, and post it with a catchy phrase to make it seem like everything is going well. Many people feel depressed about what they have and are doing with their lives seeing these "picture perfect" things going on in each others lives and it is far too easy to compare yourselves with them and thus feel like you don't have or are not doing enough. The easy way to solve this is to be real and vulnerable about what you do post. Do not edit your life.

Also, take social media off of your phone. We waste too much time checking in on other people every chance we have. Take a short amount of your day to go on and limit yourself. Instead, you can choose to think about your own blessings and interact with others rather than stare into your phone or ipad.

2. Run with a purpose.

I like to run early in the mornings to begin my days with positive vibrations as I have said before. Dedicating your runs to thought help me to make them more than just physical activity. Running without music can help you to think inwardly rather than distract yourself with your favorite tunes. If you do enjoy listening to something as I do, I now choose to listen to meaningful podcasts. My favorite is the Rich Roll Podcast hosted by ultra-marathon legend, Rich Roll. He has overcome addiction, changed his life with exercise and plant based food, and is ultra inspiring. He interviews guests from all different backgrounds ranging from runners, yogis, nutritionists, and speaks about things that are raw and real like addiction, depression, spirituality, etc. They cause me to think very deeply and inwardly about myself and my relationships and have greatly inpacked my life. I urge everyone to give them a listen.

www.richroll.com/category/podcast/


3. Engage your brain not your eyes.

Many of us are accustomed to coming home after a long day, and binge watching our favorite shows and movies on Netflix. Instead, engage your brain. Change it up and watch a documentary or a Ted Talk, read a book, paint, do an adult coloring sheet! (Thanks mom.) All of these leave me much more relaxed and in a thoughtful state of mind. I feel better when my brain is engaged and thinking rather than turning to mush.


4. Slow down

Take time. Wake up a little earlier so you can have a relaxing morning. I spend a good 30-40 minutes for coffee and breakfast while I can catch up with my thoughts for the day ahead. Don't plan your days out, leave time for that afternoon bike ride, a coffee with a friend, life is about the little things and being peaceful beings. So slow it downnnn.

And after all, take time for that run. And run slow if ya want to!

Keep running friends :)

My Wellness Journey: The Early Years

My wellness journey has been a long and interesting path, this post might as well be put into a book; a feat I one day hope to accomplish to help inspire people to open their mind and their hearts to nutrition. This post will serve more so as an introduction to my overall way of thinking when it comes to nutrition and exercise, and I hope to share not just my knowledge on the subject but also my FEELINGS and the literature and people that inspire me to live the way I do. I think and live loudly.

 Summers spent in the great outdoors of North Carolina are my fondest memory

Horseback riding: I always talked the parents into it

I thank my childhood and the way I was raised to the person I have become today. I grew up in a small community in South Florida, and I was raised not eating red meat and with a solid mantra that movement and exercise was very important. My younger sister and I were always very active, taking yearly family trips to North Carolina where we played and hiked, playing outside everyday and learning to swim at the age of two, and we both began playing soccer early in elementary school. Luckily, growing up in Florida allowed me to be able to go outside all year round and wear shorts and bare feet almost everyday of the year. My youngest memories are from the kitchen table at our nightly family dinners and taking trips to the park around the corner to play.

I was a competitive figure skater for much of my later childhood/teenage years and was what you can call obsessed. I lived at my local ice arena (an odd sport you can say for a Floridian to take up.) I had some natural talent and progressed quickly once I began taking group lessons and soon got a coach who pushed me to train harder and to begin competing. Coming from a team sport based lifestyle, I learned to really thrive and enjoy relying on myself rather than a team to win and to grow. I incorporated cross training into my skating; doing conditioning off ice with my coach, group stroking classes to gain power and speed, and then he asked me to start doing 30 minute runs to build my endurance. I enjoyed these runs immensely, but saw them more as a tool for skating than as a sport itself. Little did I know that I would grow up to be a runner! I competed throughout High School and had to retire my Freshman year of college after winning my final competition; and it was great to go out with a bang. I do wish I still lived as close and had the time to skate, skating gave me so much in my life. It gave me the courage to try something new and the confidence to get out on the ice and give my all solo, it gave me a passion and a level of commitment and determination that I would carry with me through everything I do, a bond with my mother who continually traveled to competitions with me and supported all of my decisions, and a creative edge to make my programs and costumes to interpret the music and stories of my skating programs. I love figure skating and all that it gave me, and I miss it dearly!

The nutrition side of things was always inspired by my parents who taught us to eat healthily and very much plant based. We were extremely limited on sodas, processed foods, and desserts which formed my mindset I have today to live a vegan and plant based life while also allowing myself indulgences but in a limited fashion. I grew up eating no red meat as mentioned above, eating dairy/eggs/fish/turkey/chicken. At the ripe ole’ age of 12 I gave up my turkey and chicken after be-friending a chicken named Betsey at a friend’s home in North Carolina where we vacationed each year. Being raised to appreciate nature and animals not just as food but as living beings instilled in me a very sensitive and loving nature towards them. I am vegan today not for the health benefits (which are immense) but because I believe that animals have every right to life as humans and are not to be eaten as food. I like to say that I am vegan because I do not believe in any violence, nor cruelty.

After yo-yoing and not treating my body very well through some of High School and the beginning of college, I began researching more into nutrition and read the book Skinny Bitch which I can thank for changing my old mindset on nutrition and exercise. I cleaned up my life, threw away my packaged and processed meals I was living on in college housing and ventured into Whole Foods and began a running routine. Immediately I fell in love with whole food nutrition and running; like skating I only could rely on myself to push myself and to hit the pavement. And that was just the beginning of my random running kind of life ;)

Keep running friends~