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The grow out line is definitely pronounced at this point, but for anyone more than 2-3 feet away, you can’t tell that there’s any grow out. It’s weird to have my nails so long though. I normally cut them every week, but it’s been three weeks since they’ve been cut now (and they can’t break because of the polish!). I haven’t gotten sick of this color at all in the last 3 weeks, and still think it’s absolutely beautiful!
Here are a few random facts from the week:
1. Last Sunday Melissa and I went to Barnes and Noble, and spent about 30 minutes walking around the store adding titles to our Goodreads accounts. I added almost 30 books to me “want to read” shelf, and I can’t wait to tackle them all this summer! If you have a goodreads account, leave your link in the comments and I’ll follow you!
2. Everything about this weekend was fantastic! On Friday I worked at the nuun table at the Indy Mini expo, on Saturday I had an awesome half marathon race, sat outside in the sun for a few hours reading, and had a cookout/fire with friends, and Sunday Melissa and I ate breakfast outside, went to Barnes and Noble, I finished a book (“All The Light We Cannot See”) and enjoyed the beautiful flowering trees. My windows were wide open, the sun was pouring in, and it was a very pleasant 75 degrees. I loved everything about it.
3. This past weekend I made shredded chicken for the first time. I cooked chicken breasts with salsa verde on top, and while they were still warm, I shredded the chicken using two forks. SO easy and it will be delicious on quesadillas this week (YES, I know… I’m still stuck on Mexican food and I’m not sorry about it).
4. I’m STILL peeling from Mexico, along with most members of our team. That Mexican sun did a big number on us, clearly… At least mine seems to be slowing down now, and I think all the aloe lotion I’m dumping on my arms and legs is helping.
5. The grocery store had blackberries on sale so I scooped up a few containers. Look how huge they are! They are so juicy and delicious, and I could eat them for dessert every day.
Now it’s your turn to share! Tell me one random fact from your week!
Happy Thursday! For today’s thankful Thursday I’m doing a half marathon/race edition, so let’s get to it. In this week after my half marathon, here’s what I’m thankful for right now:
I’m thankful for good shoes. I love my Brooks. I’ve run every single half marathon in the same shoe model, and they’ve served me well. The fact that this version is hot pink is just extra icing on the cake!
I’m thankful for the cheering crowds. Over the 13 miles, I never once even thought about turning on music or a podcast. I love somewhat zoning out, enjoying the race, the feelings inside of me, and the cheering and signs from the spectators.
I’m thankful that I didn’t pass out. The sun was INTENSE and I got really hot by about half way through the race. There were some tough moments, along with lots of prayers, but I was able to cool myself enough with extra water from the course, which I’m so thankful for looking back on the race!
I’m thankful that I can run. Back in 2004, running was one of the furthest things from my mind. My body was a wreck, and I had no idea what was happening to me (I was finally diagnosed with POTS in August of that year). I didn’t think running would be an option, but here I am, in 2015, running and loving it. I’m thankful that there are plenty of days where I am able to run.
I’m thankful for a solid race. I had incredibly low/no expectations going into this race, so I’m pretty shocked about what happened in those 13.1 miles. I’m thankful for a solid race, and I’m thankful for a time I can be happy about 🙂
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for right now?
The ability to be present with someone, while it can be difficult, is one of the most powerful and meaningful gifts that we can give to someone else. When we choose to slow down in our own lives and connect deeply to their story or their pain (“climb into the hole with them”), we can make a big impact in others’ lives.
That’s one of the things I love about being a counselor. For 50 minutes there are two people sitting in a room, face to face, without the distraction of other things to do or technology buzzing away at us. For 50 minutes, I get to the give the gift of someone being present in their lives, their fears, and their pain, and people respond deeply to that. We desire to be known and heard, but that involves someone being present. And being present is hard.
It’s so much easier to distractedly pick up your phone as you’re in conversation with someone and start scrolling through instagram. It’s easy to half pay attention as your children talk about the day. It’s easy to be going through mental check-lists as your significant other talks about a problem at work. It’s hard to be present, but the gift of presence it’s a powerful tool if we choose to use it.
As you go about the next few days, check in with yourself from time to time to see if you’re being present in the conversations going on around you. Notice what is distracting you, and bring yourself back to the present. Choose to give someone else the gift of presence.
Now it’s your turn to share! How do you try to be present in others’ lives?
1. On Friday I left work early so I could get to the expo at a reasonable time, while still giving myself time to hang out at the nuun table. Things were really busy when I got to the table, so I ended up jumping behind to talk to runners coming through the expo all about nuun. I loved watching them taste the 10ish flavors we had set out and figure out their favorites, and I loved talking about my favorite hydration for a few hours. While there, I also stalked up on some great products!
2. Like I mentioned, I had a pretty bad attitude leading up to the race, and I knew that I needed to turn it around quickly. I rented Amy Purdy’s book On My Own Two Feet. She’s a double amputee whom I first heard about as she competed on Dancing with the Stars. She’s also a paralympian in snowboarding. I knew that listening to her story would help with my attitude, and it sure did! I listened to it as I drove back and forth to the expo, and listened to it as I drove downtown on race morning.
3. I’ve mentioned in other race recaps that I race in grey or silver nail polish. Since I hadn’t had an time goals, I thought I would break the tradition of grey polish and stick with my coral color (Live.Love.Carnaval by OPI). It really wigged me out all week leading up to the race, but I guess it worked out just fine. I have so many ridiculous race traditions. (I’m just a little stitious…- anyone know who said that?)
4. I pre-hydrated and re-hydrated with watermelon nuun (I think I mentioned that in my race recap). Again, I want to say this- if you like the taste of watermelon at all, make sure to give it a try. It’s absolutely delicious, and is light and refreshing. I have 5 tubes of it right now… 🙂
5. Tattoo pictures are a thing that apparently I’ve decided to do. Here are some of my tattoo pictures from race day (I need to get better at focusing on the tattoo and not just one whatever is behind it).
Tattoo at the Speedway
Finish line tattoo shot
Flat Caroline ready to race.
I woke up at 5:30 and drank about 12 ounces of orange juice, a banana, and a protein bar before getting ready and driving the 30 minutes into downtown Indianapolis. It was already getting warm by the time I parked (almost 50 degrees and sunny), so I was already comfortable in my skirt and tank top. I dropped my stuff at gear check (I was running by myself and had no one cheering for me at the race to hold my things), stood in line for the port-a-potties, and jumped in my corral right before my wave was off. This was the first year that I’ve run that they had the wave start, and I really liked it. There was much less standing around and slowly shuffling to the start.
I forgot just how badly congested this race is (and also forgot how much I dislike the congestion). People seem to not know much about race rules, and walkers walk down the middle of the street, stop in the middle of the street to tie their shoes, etc… which can make it extra difficult to swerve around and keep the pace that I wanted.
Miles 1-3: I settled into the race pretty quickly and felt pretty good. I didn’t get a side cramp during the first mile, which I’ve gotten in the last two Minis that I’ve done, so that was nice. I mostly spent these miles swerving around and staying focused as people cut in front of me, clipped my heels, etc… By mile 3 I was feeling the heat, and was wishing I had worn my sunglasses. I was squinting as the sun was already strong, and there wasn’t much shade.
Miles 3-5: I took my first salt stick and first two shot bloks (margarita) between miles 3 and 4, and took drinks every opportunity that I could. By mile 4 I really felt that I had hit a good stride, and was hitting paces that were faster than a lot of my training runs. I felt pretty good. By mile 5 I was starting to get a little worried about the Speedway coming up… I really hate running on it, and with the heat I knew it wouldn’t be fun. I took two more shot bloks (cran razz) right at mile 5, hoping that would give me a bit of extra umph to get through the speedway.
Miles 5-8.5: I made sure to grab an extra thing of water right after mile 5 before heading into the speedway. When you enter the speedway, you run down a very steep hill and then run right back up it, and at the top you hit the speedway. I stopped to get a tattoo pick with the IMS!
About 5 steps into the Speedway and I remembered just how hard that pavement actually is. YIKES! By about mile 6.5 I was overhwelmingly hot and felt like someone was blasting a space heater on me. The speedway is a large bowl, so the heat just builds up in there and the sun bounces off the dark cement. I started to get dizzy (remember- with POTS I can’t control my temperature really well), and began praying for some wind. Right around mile 7 the wind picked up just a little, and it helped. I ran across the brick yard, and thought about how much stronger I was running the Speedway than the last two times.
In the Speedway…
By the time we were off the speedway around mile 8.5, I was HOT, my legs were feeling a little tired, and was itching for some shade.
Miles 8.5-11: I knew that some shade was coming up right around mile 9, and I was desperate for it. I was dumping water down my back and on my wrists trying to help cool myself, and while it helped, I could still feel myself getting more and more hot. It was rough. By mile 10 we were out in full sunshine without much more shade the rest of the race. There were some wonderful humans who had hoses pulled from their houses and sprayed runners as they went by. It was wonderful. I took more margarita shot bloks and another salt stick around mile 10.
Miles 11-13.1: I had a weird tightness going up the back of my thigh, which I don’t think I’ve ever had before. The muscles running along the sides of my shin were also doing their pre-cramping thing, and I didn’t want to push so hard that it went into full blown cramps like that time. I cut down my run walk ratio so I ran more like 2:1 instead of 3:1, which also helped with the heat. By the time I neared the finish it was almost 70 degrees with very few clouds, so it was HOT. I kept drinking as much as I could, and kept dumping water down my back. I zoned out and just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Right around mile 12 I said to myself “Now I remember why I run half marathons- for this feeling right here”. It’s this amazing feeling to realize that I could carry myself so far. That last mile I again focused on the fact that what my body was doing was amazing. I thought about those months I spent in bed after I first got POTS. I thought about the times I had to crawl around the house because I was too weak and dizzy to stand. I thought about my first run where I almost passed out at 0.75 of a mile. And I thought about how much stronger than I was before.
I crossed the finish line in 2:35, which is just a few minutes off my PR, BUT, it IS a 6 minute course PR! The Indy Mini is a tough course for me with the speedway, so the fact that I cut so much time, along with some of the worst training that I’ve done (and the heat), is pretty impressive to me. It’s showing me that my base is getting stronger, which is why I was able to run a course PR even though my training was far worse than when I ran the race in 2013.
I enjoyed a slow and relaxing rest of the day. I re-hydrated by drinking a LOT of watermelon nuun (if you haven’t tried the flavor yet I encourage you to RUN to your nearest store and pick some up, it’s delicious!).
And of course I celebrated with some Starbucks 🙂
And then I sat down at the pool for a few hours to read.
And then I got a very painful but helpful massage.
Sounds like a good Saturday to me!
I am stronger than I was before, mentally and physically. POTS impacts me greatly, and it’s easy to get down on myself for the slowness in my improvements, but then I remember that the fact that I can even run at all is a gift. It’s a beautiful gift to be able to lace up and carry myself 13 miles, and I’m so thankful that I’ve been able to run. Running is a beautiful thing.
If you’re interested in reading other race recaps, click on my race recaps page.
As always, make sure to review races at the Bibrave website!
Thanks for the encouraging tweets and instragram/blog comments over the past few days!
So pretty, right? It especially went well with my blue and white striped dress I wore to work this week.
Here are a few random facts from my week:
1. This past weekend I didn’t open a computer from the time I left work on Friday until late Saturday night (like 11:30). I only opened my computer to watch an episode of “repeat after me”… and then didn’t open it until noon on Sunday. I did get online a few times on my phone, but I enjoyed a relatively screen free weekend, which I loved. I still haven’t completely adjusted to my previous way of interacting with screens since I’ve been back from Mexico.
2. My half marathon is tomorrow, and I’m feeling very much not ready. The timeline of my trip to Mexico came really at the worst point in training. We’ll see!
3. If your local grocery store has a “world foods” sort of aisle like mine does, go check and see if they have apple soda (mine carries a brand called “sidral”). I drank it daily in Mexico (I drink pop rarely here), and was SO excited to find it in my grocery store. I bought a few for special occasions!
4. I’m reading “All The Light We Cannot See” right now, which I was really looking forward to since I’ve had it on my requests list from the library since the beginning of January. I thought I would absolutely love it, but I’m feeling a little torn about it right now… We’ll see if that changes once I get into it a bit further…
5. When trailers for scary movies come on TV, I either mute and look away or I change the channel. I just can’t…
Now it’s your turn to share! Tell me one random fact from your week? Do you have a food from traveling that you’ve found somewhere at home or that you love to recreate?
Happy last Thursday of April! I’m still wrapping my mind around where the month went. Traveling for 25% of the month definitely threw me off! Here’s what I’m thankful for today:
I’m thankful for air that doesn’t make my skin hurt. One of the toughest parts of winter for me is the bitter cold air. I don’t like when my skin hurts being outside, and I hate the way that my skin dries out and cracks with the winter as well. I’m absolutely loving being outside in air that feels just fine against my skin. It’s such a little thing, and easy enough to look over in the moment, but it’s something that I feel so thankful for.
I’m thankful for great books. I love getting to escape into a different world and a different story for a bit, and I love the challenges and life lessons that come with good books as well. I’m thankful that books exist.
I’m thankful for the beautiful flowers coming out on the trees. Even in the busyness of life, I try to pause as I walk outside to really take in the beauty and smells of the beautiful budding trees and flowers around me.
I’m thankful for a comfortable bed. I’m thankful I have space for a bed and money to have bought a bed. Again, it’s such an easy thing to take for granted, and I really want to make sure I’m not taking the little things for granted.
I’m thankful for the increasing length of the days. I’m so happy that I leave when it’s light and arrive home when it’s light now. I long for these days all winter, so I’m trying my best to fully enjoy each of them now.
Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today?
Meg’s birthday is today, but this weekend her boyfriend surprised her by setting up a surprise party for her! We gathered in downtown Indy at “Mimosa and a Masterpiece” to surprise Meg and then have a painting party. She was definitely surprised when we all popped up from behind the canvas and screamed “SURPRISE”, and then was immediately presented with the tough choice of choosing what our group would paint.
These things make me a little nervous, because I’m painting a set picture, so I can’t really fudge on things. But, with someone guiding the way a bit, I also learned some fun things along the way. Meg chose a tree in a grassy field to paint, which I was a fan of! I’ll let the pictures do the talking:
Lots of space to fill
The grass was my favorite thing to use, as we used sea sponge type of things to get a great texture.
Meg working hard on her painting
Melissa, Meg, and Me
And here’s my finished painting. We had the option to do whatever color of leaves or blossoms that we wanted, so I chose pink for cherry blossoms, since I love them oh so much 🙂 So, I’m clearly not an artist… AT ALL, but I had a great time painting with friends and celebrating Meg’s birthday!
With all the extra hours of work every week that I’ve had this semester, it was really nice to have a fun evening out.
Now it’s your turn to share! Have you ever gone to a painting party before? What’s one activity that you aren’t very good at but you find relaxing or therapeutic?
The week I got back from Mexico was so chaotic that I didn’t end up running until the weekend, when I busted out an 8.25 mile run (which unfortunately will serve as my longest run this training cycle). Those 8.25 miles felt a little bit rough, but not as tough as 8 milers normally feel to me (remember how I called 8 milers my kryptonite in the fall?). Obviously it took my body a few miles to get back into the groove of running, but the miles flew by really quickly, which was nice!
What can I say? I love bright colors 🙂
I also took my new handheld out for a try (I didn’t need it in the winter), and while it will still take a bit of time to get used to holding a differently shaped bottle, I really loved it. My last one leaked a lot, so this one was fantastic! I ended up eating 5 shot bloks through the run and maybe 8-10 ounces of nuun.
Two weekends ago took me into taper, so I ended up doing 4.25 miles instead. The weather was beautiful when I started, but by mile 2 I was sweating pretty bad (it definitely takes awhile for me to adjust to heat!). I ended up listening to a podcast and just zoned out a bit, looking at the budding trees and listening to all the birds chirping. It was more like a “nature run” than a “training run”. I tried to push my turn over just a bit, and ended up running my miles 30-40 seconds per mile faster than I did during my 8 miler the week before.
I also saw this while out on my run:
So strange, right? If you can’t tell, those are two guys out walking while carrying large weights in each hand. Can anyone enlighten me on this?
This past Saturday I went out for a quick 2.25 miler in the pouring 49 degree rain. It was nasty, and by mile 2 my IT bands were hurting a good bit. That didn’t help the pre-race nerves at all.
The run was fueled by rain and the color pink.
I have one more quick little shake out run to do before the half, but my body just isn’t feeling great. I’m not exactly sure why, but my legs aren’t feeling fresh, and I’m not feeling jittery from all the pent up energy from not exercising like I usually do during taper. That might not mean anything, but might mean something.
So, that’s where things are at. I’m going into this race with absolutely 0 goals beyond “finish”. That’s all I want.
