“Your life’s course will not be determined by doing the things you are certain you can do. Those are the easy things. It will be determined by whether you try the things that are hard.” -Sheryl Sandberg

06.19.2021

We. did. it.

The week leading up to race day was filled with a rollercoaster of emotions, very similar to the course of training over the last 6 months, actually. Waves of excitement, anxiety, fear, doubt, confidence, motivation, and determination all ebbed and flowed from Monday morning until we crossed the start line.

We set out for Duluth on Friday afternoon, hoping we could get settled and relax a bit before attempting a night of sleep. I think it might’ve been the most silent car ride Bobby and I have ever had together, haha. I wasn’t in much of a talking mood…I was in a bit of a panic knowing that within the next 12 hours I would be doing something CRAZY.

Once we arrived in Duluth, we headed straight to the DECC (Duluth Entertainment Convention Center) where we became small fish in a large sea of runners. We were shuffled through our packet pick up lines where race packets were being handed out like flyers at a parade, literally! After the hustle and bustle of packet pick up, we wandered through the many vendors set up throughout the space offering the “best running sunglasses”, “the best running gel”, and really all the “bests” you could imagine lol. I’m not really into those type of things, so it was a quick lap around for us. The spaghetti dinner was calling my name anyways.

Think back to your pre-playoff sporting event spaghetti dinner and then amplify it by at least 50…that’s what the Michelina’s All-You-Can-Eat Spaghetti Dinner was like. Walking through balloon arches and staring at the pounds of spaghetti in front of me was definitely an awe moment, lol. Apparently some 5,000 pounds of sauce and 2,500 pounds of dry spaghetti noodles are used. TALK ABOUT A CARB LOAD! It was a great space for people watching (one of my favorite hobbies) and a quite delicious meal indeed.

After dinner it was a quick turn around to get prepped for the early morning awaiting us and try to calm down enough to sleep at least a wink.

*I think I slept a total of 3 winks*

The 300 alarms I had set for 4:00am didn’t even have to sound because *surprise, surprise* Josie was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every hour on the hour from 9:00pm-4:00am when restful sleep was supposed to be taking place. HA!

Anyways, we sprung out of bed, yes sprung lol, and started gathering our belongings for the journey ahead. The camelback backpack was filled with electrolyte gels, water, and all the things you can imagine. We took off towards UMD where the shuttle buses were lined up and ready to roll. I think we crawled onto our bus around 5:15am and sat anxiously on the 20 minute ride to the starting line.

While we unloaded at the Scenic Route rolling start line, I was amazed with the amount of people there! I could not believe that ALL OF THESE PEOPLE paid over $100 to get up at 4:00am and run for 2-3 hours!! What the heck!! Myself included lol. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ports potty’s in one stretch of pavement in my entire life. So many!!

We truly couldn’t have asked for a better day of weather. At the start line at 6:00am it was in the sixties and an absolutely beautiful morning.

As we rolled into the start chute and crossed the start line, I tried really hard to be present and just soak it in. I feel proud of myself thinking back, because I believe that’s exactly what I did. I got my feet moving, and just enjoyed the morning, the wildflowers, the people (remember people watching is a hobby of mine haha), all the different types of people, all of the different outfits, and just being surrounded by such a unique community of runners, who were all here for the same thing. I would say the first 3 miles were a bit of a euphoria for me. The perfect temperature paired with all new scenery and a whole new experience was a great way to get started.

After mile 3 the “awestruck” feeling started wearing off and I began to think strategically about conversations we should have or music I should play when I really start to hit the wall. For the next mile we talked about which member(s) of our support systems we would want at each mile marker along the way to help us keep pushing on. We were lucky to have Bobby’s mom, dad, and grandma there for us along the way, but we definitely would’ve loved to clone them or have someone at every marker along the way. So, since we didn’t have anyone to watch for, we talked about who we would’ve picked to place at each mile and why. It was actually a fun little conversation!

Once we got to mile 6, I started to feel gross. Mentally I could feel myself weakening, and physically I knew that the tired feeling was only going to escalate considering we weren’t even halfway. Pushing through mile 6 was a result of knowing Bobby’s grandma was somewhere near mile 7, and were stopping for a photo and hug, so pushing through was important!

Mile 7, 8, and 9 were the most difficult. They are all just yucky miles for me haha. They’re too far from the beginning to feel fresh and they’re too far from the end to feel conquerable. This is also when we came off of the Scenic route and started weaving through the city. I guess I’m a nature freak, because it seemed like once I had to look at buildings I started to lose my cool.

Once we conquered Lemon Drop Hill, the “big” hill along the route and entered more of the business sector, I really felt myself slipping. We still had over 3 miles to go and I could feel every ache in my body.

From mile 10 to mile 12 I struggled. It took every ounce of my mental toughness to keep my legs moving, I was more than tempted to just take a seat on the curb for a hot minute lol.

Then, we FINALLY hit the 12 mile mark, so only one more mile to go!!! I really thought that at this point, after running 12 freaking miles, I would have been able to just unhook the plow and punch out the last mile with no problem. LOL. LOL. Wrongo. The last mile was arguably one of the hardest miles. We were SO CLOSE but yet SO FAR. Until we were within sight of the finish line (probably with .25 of a mile to go) it was a struggle. Like, I mean all the wheels have fallen off and you’re sliding down a hill backwards type of struggle. OOFTA.

Somehow we inched, literally inched like a snail I swear lol, closer and closer to the finish line. As we rounded the final corner of the course, I felt a surge of emotion. Fighting back tears, embracing the goosebumps that now covered my body, and awkwardly doing a smile and a crying face all at the same time, we kicked it into “high gear” for the final stretch. “High gear” meaning instead of going as fast as turtles walking through peanut butter, we were now going as fast as turtles walking through sand lol, so really not much faster. We got to see the smiling faces of Bobby’s mom and dad, which sent another chill down the spine, and we were greeted by the many supporters of the running community in combination with loud music and cheering.

It was pretty neat.

Pretty darn neat.

Pretty darn neat, but not neat enough that I ever need to do it again lol.

It’s fun to reflect on what the 6 months of training was like for me, and how back in February I had meltdowns about running 3 miles. There’s a switch that flips after running so far as 13.1 miles that makes 3 miles seem like going to the grocery store. Okay, not that simple, but just more doable. This whole process gave me just a little bit more confidence in anything I set out to do next….except for running a marathon lol, definitely not that.

I was planning to write out more of the details and a more detailed reflection of the experience from start to finish, but if you’ve been following along the last 6 months, I’m guessing you have a pretty good idea of how I feel about this feat. And, if not, this post is lengthy enough, so I’ll spare you and leave you with this quote by Arthur Ashe: “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

Thanks for following along!

xoxo

Jos

P.S. here’s a highlight video of Grandma’s Marathon weekend 2021: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oOpxFigAo2M&feature=youtu.be

“Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles” – Alex Karras

The long desired and trained for week has arrived!!!!

If you would’ve asked me back in February how I thought my training was going to go for the next 20 weeks, I don’t even know what I would’ve told you. Now though? Now, I can confidently tell you that my training has panned out to be a lot similar to life: filled with many highs, many lows, and everything in between. It’s comical to look back at the early months of training and reminisce on my two-year-old style tantrums filled with tears after not completing 2 or 3 miles. It’s quite amazing what our body can do if we give it the fuel to do so.

That being said, I’m a little terrified heading into the big race weekend. Looking back at the last 4 weeks, I know I have not completed the mileage that I should’ve. After the 11 mile day a while back, my running has taken a hit. Not only because of the heat (which really is no excuse), but just because I’m ready to be done!!

While my fear is certainly the top emotion because I know I have not prepared as well as I intended to, I am also filled with a bit of excitement and feeling anxious. Excited to experience the community of runners that I have heard so much about. Excited to be amongst a sea of support along the sidelines. Excited to take on a challenge like never before. But, also anxious. Anxious that I won’t perform to my expectations. Anxious that I will be deterred by the “true runner folk”. Anxious that my body will not hold out for the 13.1 miles. I’m hoping for a mental toughness miracle that will carry me through the 13.1 miles So many thoughts and feelings!!!

With that, I feel like it isn’t even worth talking about much else in life and training, because the big day is so close!!

All running talk aside, we FINALLY finished up our highlight video from our California weekend. Here is the link to check it out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=glzYzb3fBMg&feature=youtu.be

Looking forward to my race day recap following the big day!! If you’re someone filled with motivational quotes or podcasts, send them my way 🙂

xoxo

Jos

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose”- Lyndon B. Johnson

Last time I wrote, I had just accomplished a personal best of 9 miles. Looking back, I am still proud of that day, and to be completely honest, I haven’t had an accomplishment quite like that one since.

Week 13 brought some mini mile days of 2 at time and scattered throughout the week. It was also the week of my little sister’s prom, so that changed my plans a bit, too. My intention was to get up and run 7 miles on Saturday morning before getting started on her makeup for the day, but my mind had other plans. Instead, I did an interval run of 3 miles total and decided that’s all I was going to accomplish. I let it just settle as being okay and decided to soak up the moments with her instead of dwell on my run. The next day I would try again.

The next day (Sunday) came, and I got to thinking. According to my training, week 13’s long run was listed as a 7 miler; but, with our trip to California spanning the next weekend’s 10 mile run, I decided to flip flop. So, on Sunday, Bobby and I set out to conquer the first 10 mile run ever! When you’re in the middle of Minneapolis it becomes a challenge to map out 10 decent miles. Luckily, we live close to the chain of lakes, so that often becomes our location of choice. We started out heading a direction we have not yet tried in hopes of switching things up a bit. Sometimes that makes things better for me because it’s different scenery, etc., but sometimes it makes things more stressful because you have to decide on the fly where you are turning, etc AND what if there are crazy hills you didn’t know about or something?? Remember the Medicine Lake day? Yeah…me too…

Anyways, we ran around the first lake and headed to the second when we hit the halfway point of mile 5. Apparently, you’re supposed to fuel after 45 minutes of running if you plan to keep going for another 45 minutes. I just listen to the people who know more than I do, lol. So, we paused for a “re-fuel” moment and shoved a few gummies down the hatch…the very dry hatch lol. Now, if you’ve kept up with my training so far, you know that I don’t usually do well after I take the first “break” in a run…seems like that is still the case. I dreamt that the short break would be followed by a non-stop 5 miles to get us to our final count of 10 miles. I dreamt wrong. After the halfway break, I lost my mental toughness and got sassy. Not to mention how dry my mouth was after those gummies and the fact that all I could think about was drinking water!!! Our last 5 miles turned into interval running around the lakes…and let me tell you that did NOT sit well with me. BUT 10 miles is still 10 miles.🤷🏻‍♀️

Week #14 was a trip to California-so by nature, the running took a back seat. While we didn’t follow my training plan, we did manage to squeeze in one beautiful morning run along a golf course in Napa Valley at the Air b and b location. I tried to convince myself that a little time off would refuel me for the last month of training. P.S. a video is coming soon! We spent 2 days in Napa Valley and 2 in San Fransisco!

Week #15 was the return to MN and the week back to reality. A week that I never enjoy when returning from a great escape. Not to mention, this week in particular was quite busy! Trying to fit in belated celebrations for many life happenings took up our evenings, which made it even harder to make running a priority. Especially considering the fact that even when I have nothing on the calendar I struggle to make it a priority hahaha…Anyways, week #15 might as well be called the Flop Fifteen. Because what a FLOP it was. SIGH. What should have been a 5 mile, 5 mile, and 8 mile week ended up being a 3 mile, 3 mile week. OOF. So now that is technically 2 weeks off in a row. Uh oh. This was also a week of weakness for me. I could feel myself making more excuses than ever before while also really slacking on the nutrition side of things, too. I seem to get stuck in a bad cycle once I let it slip. The cycle goes failure-> disappointment->lack of motivation->failure->repeat. You would think that the athlete in me would be motivated by the failure, right? With running though, it’s different. I get so discouraged after not running the way I think I should be and it just pushes me into the cycle. I could also feel my physical strength and endurance already decreasing, after just two lower mileage weeks. A scary feeling at this point in the game, and not a good week at all.

Then came the big week #16. I told myself that I had to be better this week. If I really want to accomplish the 13.1 miles in June, I knew week #16 had to be some sort of “getting back on track” week. But, I also knew that just jumping back in and running 5 miles a day was not a realistic option for me mentally or physically. So, I started Monday morning with a 5:30am wake-up call to get in a quick 2 miles. It didn’t feel like enough, so I eased back in that night with a lower intensity leg lift cycle. A good first day for getting back at it.

Tuesday I did a 3 mile interval alone after work which actually felt good. The first “good” feeling in a while. I knew it wasn’t where it should’ve been, but I knew it was better than nothing. Wednesday we did a 1 mile blast on the treadmill at 9pm followed by a kick-ass HIIT workout. I haven’t sweat that much in a LONG TIME. It felt so good. Like better than any workout has in a very long time. Thursday I deemed my “off day” considering my busy work schedule that day. Friday was a recovery walk day, so booking 4 walking miles felt sufficient. All in preparation for my biggest feat yet- 11 miles. We packed up and headed North on Friday after work hoping that a cabin sleep and a fresh path through the northern pines would help us get through the long 11 miles ahead of us on Saturday. It must’ve helped at least a little bit!

We left the cabin and set out for town around 8am. With 11 miles to go, running between an 11-12 minute mile we knew it would be a grueling 2-2.5 hours on our feet. That’s a long time in running shoes! We tried a new podcast- one that talked about resilience and working hard. It definitely helped my mental toughness in our first 5 miles. I managed to work through the minutes of frustration and discomfort only to find short bursts of a runner’s high at the other side. It was a weird cycle, but also a little comforting. We had pre-determined a stop at mile 5 to quick squeeze a gel into our system and have some water to get us to our goal of 11 miles. My goal was to only have 2 or 3 stops throughout the entire 11 miles. Our podcast finished up around mile 6, so naturally I felt an instant weight when the silence commenced. I realized that I still had 5 miles to run and that is a lot. So, we ended up taking a handful of walks throughout the remainder of the 5 miles, and definitely more than I wanted to, but I WAS GASSED. By mile 9, I was so dang pooped out. It was hard to find the energy to even walk to be honest. But, eventually we hit 11 miles. Not the 11 miles that I imagined it being, but still 11 miles. It always feels better when I reflect on it than it did when I was in the moment. It was truly a challenge, but also something that I needed to do in order to have the confidence in hitting 13.1.

On top of the running lull, I’ve been struggling the last month a lot with my eating habits. I’ve never ran this much in my life, so I have no idea how I am supposed to be fueling my body. Last year at this time, I was feeling very content with my overall body health, the way I felt, and the way I looked. I also just felt good because I was maintaining a rather healthy diet. The last month or two has been a struggle. The days when I run I feel like I can eat whatever I want because I accomplished a run-but that isn’t healthy! I also don’t want to under fuel myself for the big runs, so I think I end up over doing it and indulging TOO much. It’s been a frustrating time. I’ve also gained weight that I didn’t want to gain…especially after working so hard to be in a good place at this time last year. To make light of it, I’ve been feeling like a big ole buttery muffin lately lolol. The combination of those things has weakened my overall confidence and well-being. And when you look good you feel good, so I’ve been feeling pretty shitty lately. It’s not that I don’t eat healthy, it’s that I eat healthy, AND then over indulge in snacking. I’m a sucker for sweets, gummies, and all things salty. So, instead of having 3 strawberry licorice bites from Trader Joe’s like the package suggests, I eat the whole bag in two sittings. Sometimes, too, I get stuck in the mentality of “well, I already ate a bag of chips, so I might as well finish the ice cream and the sour gummies, too”…. excuse my inner pirate lol, but ARGH.

That being said, I think this time of year can also be especially challenging for women. There seems to be such a “standard” of what we should look and feel like in a swimsuit bikini. I know I find myself thinking about it all too often as the weather starts to warm up. The other day I tried on some summer outfits and was devastated when my favorite pair of loose shorts from last summer are now a pair of not so loose shorts…it was an awful feeling. I then tried on some swimsuits and had the same feeling take over. While it’s easy to sit here and say things like “every body is a bikini body” or “who cares what other people think” or ” you’re beautiful just the way you are”, that would be ignorant to the fact that there is a mentality molded by our society about being healthy and fit and “skinny”. As I sit here feeling sorry for myself and wishing I looked “better”, I know I can’t be the only one. I don’t have any one-liner to cure the feeling or make it go away, but I do know that I will give myself grace and be patient with the progress I work towards. Sorry, didn’t mean to rant there…I guess sometimes my fingers feel the need to keep typing. Maybe this is my version of therapy after all. Ha!

Anyways, I’m hoping that I can get things back on track and where I need to be, and where I want to be. It’s an interesting journey trying to figure out what my body needs and what I need from my body as I figure out what activities bring me joy and those that don’t (aka running) lol. Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you give yourself grace and patience and all the self-love you can manage.

AND Happy Summer!! It’s the best time to be a Minnesotan!

I’ll be back soon.

xoxo

Jos

P.s. I wrote this two weeks ago and never posted it. So here’s an update on weeks 17 and 18: one of them was spent in Mexico and one was spent unpacking lol. A total of 8 running miles between the 14 days. Only two more weeks to go until the big race day!!!

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow begins week thirteen of training-over half way to race day! It’s just as hard to believe that it’s been four weeks since I last wrote. A lot has happened while simultaneously not much has happened. Instead of boring you with the details of the two handfuls of runs that have passed in the last four weeks, I’ll spare you and just highlight the notables. 😇

Week 9 was a busy week. Monday started bright and early at 5:15am with a nice 3.5 miles outside before a busy day at the office and women’s league volleyball afterwards! My highlight was definitely playing volleyball again. 🤩Boy did it feel great to get back out on the court-and with a pretty good team, too! But, wow was I sore!!! I could hardly sit up out of bed the next morning lol. Talk about starting to feel yourself getting older…my 17 year old self would be embarrassed hahaha. 🥴

From Tuesday to Saturday the days blurred together with lots of lunchtime walks and after work walks, not a whole lot of running miles. I also drove back home for a long Easter weekend, so I guess I’ll blame that for my lack of commitment to the training for the rest of the week. BUT, on Saturday (yes, the day before Easter), Bobby so graciously joined me as we ran out of my driveway and across our small town to the lake. We not only ran the lake trail, but proceeded to zig zag our way back across town towards my house to hit our 7 mile mark! 😜A personal best in distance for me, wohoo!! We timed it out pretty perfectly too, my mom went for a walk and our paths crossed just as we hit mile 7. Honestly, besides the sunburn that unexpectedly happened while spending over an hour running outside, my body didn’t feel all that bad afterwards.

Week 10 was another “ramp up” week as far as long runs go. Tuesday was a chill 3.2 miles before working from home. I took another trip to Sleepy Eye to get my 1st dose of the vaccine!! So, I found joy in being able to participate in a late night run through my hometown streets. Something I didn’t realized I missed I guess😌. In uptown, you wouldn’t be very smart to head out for a late night run in the dark. In Sleepy Eye though, no problem at all. It was misting a little that night too, but it was just little enough to feel pleasant and not be an annoyance. Although I didn’t feel like zig zagging around to track a few miles, I felt that a “speed” workout would benefit me in the long run anyways. So, I did .10 intervals for a mile or so running anywhere from an eight minute mile to a nine-thirty interval. Saturday morning we drove to Medicine Lake to run their 8.1 mile trail since we needed to run 8, this seemed like the perfect spot!

****Insert Meltdown***

For starters, I was not in a great headspace that morning. My whole morning routine felt off for some reason, and I just was dreading the run MORE than usual, which I didn’t even think was possible for me lol. Anyways, we started running clockwise around the lake from where we parked and got just about a mile in when we started to embark on a series of hills…or bumps, or whatever you call a decent incline along a trail. Well, we did the first one…then the second one…then the third one, and all I could see ahead was a continuation of this hill pattern. NO THANK YOU🤨. Me, being my sassy running self, put the running to a hault right then and there. We decided to walk until we found a spot where it flattened out. Well guess what? after 2 miles of walking that never happened. Now, by that point in time I was absolutely enraged. I was so frustrated and anxious and upset. For stupid reasons? Of course. But, at the time it was a really big defeat for me. When I have a long run on the schedule, that means I have a long run on the schedule. That day, at Medicine Lake, it felt like I was completely derailed and would never recover. Thankfully we saw some good friends that night to help lift my spirits lol. What a drama queen, right?? ——🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Sunday morning I was filled with lots of warm fuzzies at a bridal shower for a dear relative and friend. 💐I’m not sure if it was the combination of seeing family members or just my mom’s pep talk, but driving home from the bridal shower (after consuming nothing but sweets and pastries), somehow I walked into our apartment and decided that at 4pm on Sunday, April 11th we were going to run 8 miles. Just like that. And….that’s exactly what we did. We hopped on a new path right by our place called the Cedar Lake Trail and ran a mighty 8 miles. Another personal record for me!! Was it painful? ABSOLUTELY. Was it hard? ABSOLUTLEY. But somehow on that Sunday night, unlike the previous morning, I had the mental grit to stick to it and we got it done! I will admit, afterwards I felt like a complete trainwreck. It’s amazing how quickly your body stiffens up after such an exertion.😳

Week 11 was nothing special. If anything, it was a week of low mileage. A few short runs (1-2 miles) scattered throughout the week and a Saturday long run of 6 miles. Since it wasn’t something new I wasn’t super worried about it. Although even though I’ve ran that far a few times, it is still very difficult! It was a beautiful morning for it and we ran right off of one of our great friends’ farm in Hastings straight onto a path that was very pleasant for our mileage that day. A rather simple week, and a week that didn’t trigger any emotional responses from the inner drama queen lol.🙈

Week 12 was wild-this week!! Honestly, I’m skipping over the short runs because they were not what they were supposed to be anyways; however, I did work in some more cross training which I need to keep up for sure. My quads need all the help they can get lol. But, getting to the good stuff: yesterday we did 9 miles!!! Yes, 9 miles!!! Fricken awesome right?!?! 🎉I still can’t believe we (I) did it! Our original plan was to run around the Minneapolis chain of lakes, but once we went around Bde Maka Ska once, I felt like we were in too much of a rythym to move to a different lake, so we proceeded to run the lake twice more lol. It was quite a run. A slower long run than we’ve had up to this point, but I’m not super surprised by that because it isn’t my goal to run fast, my goal is just to run. It’s weird how your mind goes through such phases while on a long run, well atleast mine does. Like for the first few miles every bit of energy is just foccussed on not stopping and getting through the uncomfortableness of the first mile or so. Then it shifts during the first half of the middle miles (2-4) to more of a peaceful mindest of “you have a long way to go so you might as well settle in and try to find a rythym”. Then for me, at about mile 5 and 6, I start to crumble and get inside my own head. “You’re only over halfway just a little” “you still have 4 miles to run” “just stop now and run them later”….oh how the brain works in mysterious ways. Normally, we don’t run with headphones, but once we hit mile 6 I needed a little help from some music therapy. Then, once we FINALLY hit mile 7, I felt more in control of myself because we only had 2 miles left. I know I can run 2 miles, right? Right. But wow those last two miles were tough. Like ouch tough. When we finally hit mile 9 I felt like my knees were about to fall off of my body. 😟So much pain. But it felt so good to accomplish another personal best! It’s a feeling that has now become an expectation I place on myself. At the beginning of training I would let myself just stop if I “didn’t feel like going”. Now, now that I know I am capable of 6, 7, 8, 9 miles without stopping, I have the expectation of myself to do the next and the next and the next.

To celebrate we found an absolute GEM of a restaurant a little over 5 minutes from our apartment: Hola Arepa. AMAZING Latin food. 😍We were and still are obsessed. It is the equivalent of our love for Darbar-the Indian grill but for Latin food. The cutest vibe, the best staff, and absolute amazing food. You need to go!!

This week backs off to a long run of 7 but then lunges ahead to 10 the following week-we’re almost in double digit territory!!!

It’s become something I crave now, and I don’t feel like myself when I skip a day or don’t run for a few days. It’s a wild journey and it only keeps surprising me.

Heading into week 13 feeling hopeful about getting to mile 13 (see what I did there😉?)

Have a great week!

Xoxo

Jos

“You can’t hate the Beast and expect to beat it; the only way to truly conquer something, as every great philosopher and geneticist will tell you, is to love it.”- Christopher McDougall, BORN TO RUN

Week 8 was the first week in a while with no new mileage amounts. 🥳🤩🤪🎉🎉💪💪For me, it was somewhat of a relief knowing that I wouldn’t have to push myself to a place I’ve never been. As a result, I was able to find contempt in my longer runs this week, and just really FEEL the run with some joy along with it. 🤍 It was almost like a week off, but not haha. I also finished my third book of the year, and it was FASCINATING. Recommended to me by Bobby, he read it a few years ago, and wow-it gave me a few things to think about for every run I’m on from here on out! It’s called BORN TO RUN by Christopher McDougall and it tells the story of human nature and why we truly are born to run…mind blown!!🤯 For anyone who has even the slightest interest or curiosity about running, you MUST read this book. I will definitely be reading it again, and probably will read it once a year to be honest. It also brought to life one my new favorite hydration beverage: Iskiate.

It’s extremely refreshing and unique, but something that I now crave a few times a week. It has many health benefits and in a way serves as natures energy drink. Here’s what you need:

-2 cups of water 💦

-2 Tablespoons of chia seeds

-The juice from 1/2 of a large lime 🍋

-1 Tablespoon of honey 🍯

Just mix it all together, stick it in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours and then enjoy! The chia seeds become gelatinous, so don’t be surprised if it feels like you’re drinking tadpoles or something hahaha, and you can add more honey if you like it on the sweeter side! 🙂 I’ve also found that if I have my chia drink within an hour or so before a run it has a positive impact…weather or not it actually does or if it’s all in my head I guess we’ll never know! 🤷🏻‍♀️

This week was a nice lil’ week. I was worried about Monday’s run considering I had just ran 6 miles for the first time ever a short two days prior. My body was definitely still recovering to say the least. I also came home from work and fell asleep on the couch so that really through me for a loop. At around 5:45pm, I asked Bobby if we should run or not and he said “let’s go !!”….soooo, at first I was a bit of a curmudgeon 🙄 about it, but it ended up to be a very pleasant 3.5 miles that evening. We ran a piece of the Cedar Lake Trail that is a total of like 13 miles or something, but it goes right behind our apartment so we thought we’d explore a bit! It was very nice, and after I loosened up at mile one things just felt nice. 😌

We spontaneously drove up north to the cabin on Tuesday after work since Bobby starts coaching track next week every day for the next few months-thought we’d have a little remote work escape while we still could!

Wednesday’s 4 mile moderate run turned into practice for Bobby starting his track coach career hahaha. JK. But, kind of. We did a few hill runs at the cabin and WOWZA does that make you feel like a big ole couch potato. I thought I was starting to get in shape with all this running, but running up a big hill a few times definitely didn’t validate my feeling of being in shape. OOFTA.

We decided to run our “long run” on Friday instead of Saturday because of the weather forecast-great call, too! Friday was a beautiful day and a nice 40ish degrees, which I think is my favorite running temp. It’s enough to not have a ton of layers, but not quite enough to ditch the long sleeve and I enjoy that layer. We tried a new trail that follows the main highway into town from the cabin for a change of scenery and it was so pretty! Even though it was “only” four miles on Friday, it still felt good to accomplish. It seems like as soon as I get halfway, no matter what the mileage is, I start to really fight my thoughts of wanting to just stop and walk. Thankfully, being in a new area always seems to help, and we were both in a good mood so our chit chatting helped pass the time as we plugged along.

We had a few nice woods walks scattered throughout the week and weekend, too! There’s nothing quite like fresh air and peacefulness!

No new recipes this week, but we did try something new from Trader Joe’s that we absolutely LOVED!!! Their frozen chocolate croissants. Holy cow, YUM. The picture does NOT do them justice, but if you have any ounce of love for breakfast pastries or chocolate, I’m telling you, these are a MUST on your next grocery run.

From here on out until race day, the mileage keeps amping up! Having this week of not being on the gas was so, so nice, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous about the steady climb ahead. But, here we go!!🙌🏻😬💪

Have a great week! Spring is in the air!! 🌿💐

xoxo

Jos

“When you recognize that failing doesn’t make you a failure, you give yourself permission to try all sorts of things”- Lauren Freshmen

***disclaimer for those who subscribe to my blog: please disregard the first post sent to you! We had a laptop glitch which caused a premature publish of the week 7 post with no links and unfinished paragraphs!!*** 🙂

What a WILD and transformational week!

First of all, I’m so excited to share the highlight reel from our ski trip with friends in Montana!!! Here’s the link—–>>>>>https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LXB1QZdutEQ&feature=youtu.be

Week 7 is truly the week that I stopped training seriously last year because of the cancelled race. I knew I could do everything up through week 6 the second time around, but from here on out it’s alllll a new challenge!!

Monday was a terrible day…and when I say terrible I mean I had a breakdown equivalent to a two year old at 6:00pm on my kitchen floor with tears and all. Shall I say YIKES?! A combination of a rough day at work, the snowy weather and, my attempted run apparently were too much for my mental capacity on a Monday lol. We set out to do a 3.5 mile run on the treadmill because of the sloppy conditions outside. Now, remember, my Monday runs can be a very slow pace to be deemed “easy”, and normally my Monday runs turn out pretty decent simply because they are slow. Well, Monday was certainly slow. We started out at a whopping 12:30/mile pace-which I assumed would pick up as my legs loosened up-but, it didn’t. AND, I didn’t even make it to the two mile mark. I just wasn’t feelin’ it. What a crappy excuse right? But, it’s the truth. So we just stopped and that was it for Monday. A terribly slow 1.75 miles. To make myself feel better I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and self-soothed with a few fresh ones…oops.

This made looking forward to Wednesday’s “moderate” 3 miles quite full of anxiety and fear that it would be a repeat of Monday. For starters, Wednesday was a better weather day with no snowy conditions which meant no treadmill, YAY!! We picked Lake Bde Maka Ska since it’s right around 3 miles. I think we were just under a mile before I hit the brakes and let myself off the hook for the SECOND TIME this week. Just wasn’t feelin’ it again. Still a crappy excuse, I know. At least on Wednesday we ran the rest of the 3 miles in intervals so we technically hit the mileage, just not in the way I wanted to. Talk about a rough training week. UGH.

Thankfully, we didn’t have a rough week of meals though. A new favorite is a spin off of a recipe from Half Baked Harvests’ Homeade Cheesy Gordita Crunch Tacos….of course we didn’t have all of the ingredients so really ours were quite different but still similar. For anyone who struggles with choosing between a hard shell and a soft shell when having tacos, this is your perfect fix! ☺️☺️It’s also very filling, so would be great for filling up a big group of ppl! Here’s how you could make my version:

1. Choose your taco meat of choice (I used grilled strips of pre-cooked chicken for the sake of time) & prepare with taco seasonings of choice
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
3. Mix up the homeade dorito seasoning using between a teaspoon and Tablespoon for all ingredients depending on how many tacos you plan to have:
   1. Onion Powder
   2. Garlic Powder
   3. Paprika
   4. Cumi
   5. Salt
   6. Chili Powder (I use the Wahoo Chilli from Tastefully Simple)
   7. Sprinkle of parm cheese
4. Lay soft shell 6-8inch tortillas on baking sheet, sprinkle a layer of shredded Mexican blend cheese on the tortilla.
5. Sprinkle homemade Dorito seasoning on top of the cheese.
6. Bake in the oven for 2-3 minutes or until melted.
7. Take shells out of oven, press hard shells onto one side of the tortillas. Bake for another 2 minutes.
8. Take out of oven and press melted side into the remaining hard shell side.
9. Fill your shells with your taco meat and all the toppings you desire!
10. Enjoy!!!

So now after TWO failed runs in my eyes, I was even more fearful of the mighty 6 mile run we had for Saturday. The night before we decided that our route would be to run twice around Lake of the Isles to help break some of the wind and give us more movement in our path, which helps distract me. I had a nice lil’ bowl of oatmeal hoping it would sustain me for the next HOUR of RUNNING. Just in case you don’t realize this, at my slow pace, running 6 miles means atleast 60 minutes of running without stopping!!! That’s a long fricken time!!!

We started out nice and slow around an 11:45/mile pace trying to get a sense of how our bodies were feeling and figuring out our direction around the lake to have the least wind resistance in our face. As we got moving, my body started to actual feel pretty good. No knee pain, ankle pain, you name it. The first 2.5-3 miles FLEW by. Did I actually just say that?!! lol. Yes, and I meant it. I was in a chatty mood so basically just talked Bobby’s ear off for the first three miles. Somehow I managed to keep my breath steady while yapping and running, something I never imagined I would be capable of. Once my watch dinged me that we were at the halfway point I had a miniture freakout of thoughts: “holy s*** we’re already halfway”, “oh no, we’re only halfway”, “we still have a whole nother lap around the lake and I’ve already looked at all the houses…crap”!! I quickly talked myself down and got my head back in the game, if you will. On the way to mile 4 was Bobby trying to take on some of the talking so I could focus on my breathing and keeping my body in good form to use limited energy. After hitting the fourth mile, I had a burst of good feelings and deemed that I would indeed conquer this six mile run…WHAT?!?!? It was a good mile. Once we hit mile 5, I had a few moments of fear and pain start sneaking in through the cracks. All of a sudden I was very aware of how heavy I was breathing, how much my knees were starting to be in pain, and how far one whole mile was going to be yet. I’ve never ran more than 5 miles at a time in my life. So we were treading in all new water for my body, mind, and spirit, oof. From 5-5.5 I felt myself leaning into the bad things more than I wanted to, it was a battle. Mental and physical. Once I knew I only had a half mile left, I felt invincible. We were DOING IT!! 6 FREAKING MILES!! At this point, nothing was going to stop me from finishing it out. I actually even bursted out into song, singing “I feel good!! I knew that I would!! So good!! So good!!”. I was so elevated after we hit the 6 mile mark, what an incredible feeling. So very happy, relieved, proud, excited!! The way Saturday’s run ended is the feeling that I need to carry me through the rest of training.

Overall week 7 was a wild fricken week!! Talk about ups and downs, wowza.

Have a great week peeps!!

xoxo

Jos

“If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit”- Banksy

Happy Sunday! What a beautiful day!

Week five was a fine little week. After pushing myself to hit four miles the week before, I coasted into week five feeling confident and light. We started the week on Monday, March 1st with a morning, indoor 3 miles. My body and mind were in sync and both felt good which made for a perfect way to start the week. We averaged an 11’15” pace per mile and discovered that my apple watch has trouble syncing with the tread on the treadmill. By the time my watch hit 3 miles, the treadmill only said 2.6 miles…talk about a way to throw a person off their game lol. So, according to my watch we ran 3.4 miles, but ultimately the tread knows the truth so we continued for a few more minutes until hitting the solid 3 on the treadmill.

Naturally, as I’ve done pretty much every week of winter, I tried a new soup recipe again! It was A DEFINITE FAVORITE: the Classic Minestrone recipe from Joanna Gaines. I would absolutely recommend!! It was a perfect blend of freshness paired with hints of parmesan flavors and just the right amount of classic minestrone. So. Delicious. If you don’t have her cookbooks, send me a message and I will gladly share the recipe!!

Wednesday was a weird day-had some funky work things and a busy evening, so my run took the wrath of it. Instead of running another 3 miles at my moderate speed, I did just under 2 miles of intervals. Not good or bad, just different than what I planned on. Physically, my body sure could’ve handled it, but mentally I was just off of my usual mind set and needed to run shorter, faster spurts instead.

Week 5’s long run was another 3 miler. Yay! Instead of happening on Saturday like usual, we ran it on Friday morning before work. It was a PERFECT 35 degrees outside which made for a lovely morning run around Lake of the Isles. Our pace was right around an 11’20” average, nothing fast by any means, but comfortable enough that I was able to enjoy the run. By default, we capped off the success of our run with a shared cinnamon roll from Isles Bun & Coffee with EXTRA cream cheese frosting of course and a delightful americano :). Talk about a perfect Friday morning, for me, that was it! *exhale sigh of satisfaction*

To make our Friday even better, we ended the workday and flew to Montana for our long overdue ski trip. *exhale another sigh of satisfaction* We were extremely blessed to have spent a long weekend in the mountains skiing with some of our wonderful friends. With COVID in mind, we took all of the recommended precautions prior to, during, and after the trip to ensure the health of all those around us. COVID aside, spending a few days on the slopes was the healing I didn’t even know I needed.

Breathing in fresh air gliding down the slopes with nothing but the sound of my skii’s and the view of tree tops is about as pure as it gets. *another sigh of satisfaction* Bobby and I are working on a video that we’ll hope to have up next week but I’ve put a few of my favorite pictures below, too 🙂

As a result of the 3 days of constant skiing, our legs were beat to say the least. Monday’s 3 mile supposed to be run for week 6 was replaced by miles of skiing. Wednesday’s supposed to be 3 mile run was replaced by a rest day after the many miles of skiing our legs endured over the weekend. At first, I felt dissapointed in myself for not just getting it done, but in hindsight, I know my body needed to just recover from the constant muscle engagement that skiing was.

I think I made the right call! Because…Saturday’s 5 mile run was phenomenal!! It took me by surprise, AND I took myself by surprise, but Saturday’s beautiful weather coupled with my few days off of running made for a very pleasant 5 miles. I didn’t think I would EVER, EVER say that…at this time last year I was SUCH a different runner it’s actually quite amazing. Not to say that the five miles was easy or necessarily enjoyable. But the first three miles flew by!! That is something that has literally never happened before! The final two were a definite test of my mental toughness I’m combination with starting to feel tired mentally I’m addition to my ankles and knees starting to ache, I have to credit bobby for my ability to finish it out. Without his “you’re doing great”, “we’re so close” etc., I’m not sure I would’ve gutted it out!! But we did it and we did it together! *final sigh of satisfaction*.

Weeks five and six flew by, and marked a significant time for my training this time around. Week six is where my wheels fell off of the track at this time last year because COVID had begun running IT’S course which in turn prevented us from running OUR course in 2020. Here’s to staying on track for 2021!!

Xoxo

Jos

“Fall in love with the process, and the results will come”- Eric Thomas

Looking back on week 4 seems like Monday was an eternity ago.

Monday and Wednesday’s runs were both deemed 2.5 milers. At this point in my training, I know dang well that I am capable of running 2.5 miles, so heading into the week I was feeling pretty confident about the mileage ahead of me.

Monday, similar to last week, was a 9:30pm evening run inside on the treadmill. At a nice and steady treadmill based pace, I had no problems keeping my attention tuned into David and Alexis’ disputes on the screen in front of me (I was watching Schitt’s Creek) which made the 2.5 miles slide under my feet without too much abnormal discomfort.

After the completion of Monday’s run, Wednesday should have mirrored the success of Monday-but, with a little elevated difficulty running at the “moderate” pace. Wednesday was also the first warm-enough day outside to dust off the outdoor running shoes and bundle up for an outdoor run! Should’ve been exciting enough to give me an extra boost to push through the 2.5 a little faster than Monday, or atleast that’s what I was expecting. Unfortunately, my mind had other plans. After hitting the one mile mark, my mental toughness took a dive and starting drowning me in the discouraging thoughts of “omg. how was that only one mile”, “I’m not even half way done yet”, “my legs are already tired”, “I don’t think I wore enough layers”, “I’m not going to be able to make it the whole way”. I could only fight them off for another .2 of a mile until putting a stop to the pitter patter of my rhythm. This was frustrating for me as it was the first run this round of training that I have let myself stop before the mileage is complete. A downer for sure. After feeling sulk-ish and dreading the 1.25 miles I still had remaining, Bobby and I decided that for the remainder of the distance, we would run faster intervals to try and make up for the loss of a non-stop moderate pace. We clipped along, might I add: my “clipping along” is a mere 9:30/mile pace so not nearly a “clipping” speed at all haha. But, we clipped along for about two minutes at a time with a two minute walk in between until we rounded the lake to head back towards home. Wednesday’s run was my first disappointing run so far this training period.

After my unsuccessful 2.5 miler on Wednesday, I was quite fearful of how my mental stamina would show-up for my 4 mile assignment on Saturday. If I’m being honest with myself, I had a feeling that the 4 miles on Saturday would turn into another interval run…..and I really didn’t want it to.

Saturday morning brought beautiful sunshine and the first burst of warm, spring-like air of the year, truly a perfect day for an outdoor run. We set out after breakfast and decided that we would run the lake trail around Bde Maka Ska which is just about 4 miles around the outer path. Knowing that Wednesday was unsuccessful, we paced ourselves to start out quite slow at something around an 11:15/11:30 minute mile. I knew I wasn’t even giving myself a chance to run the four miles non-stop if I didn’t keep a slow pace. Mile one went by pretty quickly actually because I was just so in love with the warm air that I didn’t focus much on the task ahead. Mile two went by a little less quickly, but still rather easily because of all of the distractions on the trail- dogs frolicking like in the movies, people on the ice Nordic skiing, people around us on the trails walking, biking, and pushing little kiddos-it was a nice distraction! I remember looking down at my watch and seeing 3.2 miles as the distance we had ran. I vividly remember my mindset wanting to sink down into ” you’re tired, take a break, just stop and walk”, but I also remember thinking about how disappointed I felt after Wednesday and channeling that energy into keeping my feet moving underneath me. In fact, I actually made myself physically smile. You know how they say that when you physically smile it can actually make you feel happier? Well, the same is true when it comes to running for me. That smile was enough to help me turn my mental thoughts into “you can do this”, “just finish it out, you’re so close”, “you’ll feel so much better if you complete all four” for the remainder of the four miles. Although the last half mile was not easy by any means, rather it was quite a challenge to keep going. I had to work hard to keep myself going physically and to keep myself on a positive note mentally. It felt SO DANG GOOD!! As we walked to cool down and bring our heart rates down, I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself. With the warm air and the sunshine still beaming down, I think I had a bit of a transformation in the way I’ll think about training going forward. While there’s still many more miles to accomplish in order to get to 13.1, hitting mile 4 was a great accomplishment for me. While I could still be just thinking on the high of our successful run, I’m hopeful that going forward I will be able to love the process more than I have in the past. Being able to let myself feel the discomfort and enjoy it knowing that I will come out on the other side feeling much better—while this mindset might not last long, I’m hopeful that I can keep it in check for a little while at least!!

With all the running and walking I’ve put my lil’ footsies through lately, I’ve noticed the roughness forming around my heel and even on the bottom’s of some of my toes. So, for any fellow runner friends with the same problem, or anyone with rough and scratchy feet really, I want to share my FAVORITE foot cream with you!! I bought it back in November knowing that in the winter my feet dry out, but didn’t start using it until a few weeks ago. I put it on every night before bed, and WOW, my feet are as soft as a baby’s but now!! Like seriously, it has made a HUGE difference! And the best part? Unlike any of the other foot creams I’ve tried, this one doesn’t smell like “foot cream” haha. It is a very pleasant minty lavender. I’ve linked it here for you to check out or have it shipped right to your door 🙂 https://atozinnia.com/shop-all/p/sonoma-lavender-co-foot-balm?rq=lavender

The transformation of my reptile feet wasn’t the only transformation that took place this week! Our apartment received a makeover from winter décor to spring décor! It’s sure feeling light and fresh in our little 640 square feet 🙂 I’m a sucker for seasonal decorating, so the change of season’s always brings new excitement for me.

I also made a new recipe that was quite a hit!! From the Pioneer Woman Cookbook, Cheesy Cauliflower soup! It’s a completely homemade soup, a little time consuming, but seriously SO YUMMY. Especially if you have fresh parsley on hand! No pictures to prove it’s deliciousness, but an entire gallon kettle was gone within 24 hours between two people if that says anything about it. Annnnd I’ve put the recipe pics below, this is one of the VERY FEW times I’ve actually followed a recipe exactly the way it’s spelled out because we actually had all of the ingredients it called for :).

That’s all for now, have a happy week ahead!!

xoxo

Jos

“We can do hard things” -Glennon Doyle, Untamed

Week three was three of a kind. I was once told that in running, everything happens in three’s: the good, the bad, and the okay. Ironic or not, the three of a kind couldn’t have been more alive than it was this week: week three of my training.

Monday started off with an “easily” paced 2 miler. Finishing out with a pace of 11:28 a mile wasn’t so bad-other than the fact that it wrapped up at 9:40pm because Monday is Bachelor night so we couldn’t get started until after 9pm. After a full day in the office, a solid homemade Pad Thai meal for dinner, and two hours on the couch watching the Bachelor, the two miles certainly wasn’t my favorite run thus far. The first half mile of EVERY run usually stinks because I’m getting warmed up and shaking out my soreness. But on Monday, the half mile really seemed to linger, and quite frankly it lingered until the end of the two miles… The only perk to running so late in the evening is having the gym to ourselves which means we get to watch Schitt’s Creek on the gym tv’s and that is a HUGE help to distracting me from how far I’ve gone on the treadmill. After Monday’s run, which was really my first yucky run so far, I deemed it the bad run of the week.

Except, I was wrong. Wednesday’s moderate run creeped up pretty quickly and immediately proved that Monday was not in fact a bad run, Monday was an okay run. And by golly, Wednesday demanded that it would be named the terrible run. Despite it being faster, which in my book automatically makes it less enjoyable, it was a discomfort and annoyance filled 22 minutes. While it wasn’t much faster than Monday, it was still about 10 seconds/ miles faster…and in my books, that’s fast enough!

Saturday brought the good. Thank goodness for that!! After having a bad and an okay, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about my long- run on Saturday. 3 miles. And my first time running 3 miles since November. Being on the treadmill for the last two weeks has brought feelings of being a little caged inside lately, so with the 20 degree heatwave on Saturday, it was a wonderful feeling of free. It was a beautiful, sunshine-filled morning across the Stone arch bridge and on a trail along the river. It was my first enjoyable run in quite a while. Breathing in the cool and crisp but simultaneously comforting and warm air was therapy for the busy week at work. I had feelings of confidence, control, and pride as we wrapped up the three miles on Saturday. Afterall, this is run number 9 with no interval breaks taking place during any of the runs! A new record if you ask me!!

The resilience and confidence that freed me through week three might be thanks to my most recent read: “Untamed” by Glennon Doyle. Recommended by a dear friend, the book was nothing short of expectations! A fun read to get lost in and find the feelings of freedom and imagination through the pages of a book. I think I’d give it a 7.5/10! And if paired with a brownie, then an 8/10 lol. At times, I felt weirdly connected to Glennon, and the meaning of Untamed. Specifically the quote I started today’s post with: “We can do hard things”. Two years ago, when I was in the back seat as my family drove to the MSP airport where I would be hopping on a plane for a semester abroad, and alone, in Australia, and squeezing them for the last time over the course of the next 6 months, my mom handed me a mail package. In the manila envelope was a bracelet that I immediately tied around my wrist and quite frankly became one of my most prized possessions. Over the next six months, I found myself often holding onto my wrist when I needed a boost of strength, courage, or needed to feel connected to all of the people back home that I was missing. A few moments that stick out the most were when I was heading to my first day of orientation at the University of Wollongong-lots of anxiety about being surrounded by a sea of new people in a new place…and the time I decided to sky dive- that was a pretty frightening, exhilarating, and wild time too….and it really held my heart in it’s tie the day and weeks after I lost my beloved grandma Joanie, it might be more accurate to say that in that day and the weeks to follow, that small bracelet held the pieces of my heart. In times where I felt alone, heartbroken, scared, or anxious, that little bracelet somehow gave me more than I would’ve ever imagined. If it hadn’t literally worn out and become so tattered, I would still have that baby tied around my wrist. Sometimes it’s weird to think about how something so small can become something so big for us. That bracelet was my rock. And that tattered band is in my keepsake box with my travel journal as a reminder of the guiding light that it was for me that semester. I’ve put a picture below…kind of a weird and neat coincidence after reading Untamed. I don’t think I ever told my mom how much that small bracelet meant to me, but I guess I’m telling her now. Thanks momma! As hard things continue to inevitably cross the path of life, and being in the anniversary week of the day I lost my dad, I believe Glennon’s book was my much needed reminder that we can do hard things.

This weekend I started book #3 of the year, which I won’t spoil yet! Bobby and I also continue to be deeply in love with the Indian restaurant across the street from our apartment, Darbar. I have grown to LOVE curry as a result, and quite frankly crave their authentic cooking every time I catch a whiff outside. It’s dangerous. If you’re in the area, I would absolutely recommend the shrimp curry and chicken tikka masala-AAAAMAZING!! We also snuck in a bit of family time, which is always good for the soul.

Heading in to the new week with feelings of contentment, reflection, and eagerness.

My Norwex party is also extended to Tuesday of this week, so let me know if you’re interested in adding recycled cleaning products to your home!

xoxo

Jos

Wow!! What a week!!

This week was rather busy to say the least. Between working my normal full time job, and working 35 additional hours at a flower shop-I’m proud of myself for still managing to run the miles that I needed to this week. 🙂 In part, I credit the accomplishment to the fact that it’s only week two and I still have hope, excitement, and confidence in the journey, but either way we got it done!

Monday was the start of the chaos, and the start began bright and early at 5:15am when the first alarm sounded. If you know me, you also likely know that I am someone who sets approximately 12 alarms-with the first one going off 15-20 minutes before I actually need to get out of bed lol. So after a few snoozes and roll overs, Bobby and I made our way down to the apartment gym and ran a nice 1.5er to start our week. It was better than I thought! Although I prefer to run outside because the scenery changes, I do enjoy that the treadmill is an automatic pace maker for me. It seems to help me push through the difficultly of the first half mile when the alternative to running is to fall on the tread hahaha. Then after a full day at the office, I got to experience my first flower shop shift in the metro, talk about busy!! Oofta!

Let me also just disclose that there were NO cross training days for me this week. Getting home at 9:30pm every night was rather tiresome, so I committed to completing my runs and nothing more haha.

Wednesday, the moderate day, wasn’t exactly much faster than my easy day on Monday, but to be fair, the soreness from standing at the flower shop was starting to win the battle. Nonetheless, Wednesday night after my shift, we hopped on the treadmill and managed to push through 2 miles. Not much faster than the 1.5 on Monday, but our average mile pace lessened by 15 seconds, so hey that’s still counts as faster, right??

Like I said, I made no time for cross-training this week, which also meant no recovery short run on Friday. I knew I could only do so much without over doing it with my work schedule. Saturday should’ve been my “long” 2.5 miles, but after over a 12 hour day on my feet at the shop, I was too pooped to pop. Knowing I had another full day on Sunday, Valentine’s Day, I put my feet up and was in bed earlier than I’d like to admit😂.

So, instead, Sunday was the day! After getting to leave my shift a few hours earlier than anticipated, I was more than ready to knock out my first 2.5er. Okay that’s a lie. Who am I kidding? I was still absolutely exhausted and wanted to do nothing more than just lay on the couch and watch Schitt’s Creek (if you haven’t watch the series on Netflix, I would 10/10 recommend!!!). But anyways, thankfully Bobby had a restful week and convinced me to just get it over with. So, at freaking 10:00 at night, we went down and pumped out the 2.5 miles! No stopping either! So far I’m 6/6 on runs with no stopping-this is a first people!!!! It’s amazing how much having someone with you makes a difference, well atleast for me. But we did it!! 🙂

Since it was Valentine’s this week, I made my favorite almond flower brownies-and had to add some red sprinkles of course! I shared the recipe way back in March, but in case you don’t want to go digging, I attached the pictures here, too! They’re so dang yummy.

I also made my own stir fry for the first time this week! We were running out of meals and conveniently had fresh peppers and snap peas in the fridge. I’ve never made story fry before without using a starter kit with a pre made sauce or veggie mix, so I just winged it and it was delightful!!! A little spicy, but who doesn’t need an internal warm up when it’s -20 outside haha. I used

– one red pepper

-one yellow pepper

-two small heads of broccoli

-one medium yellow onion

-a few handfuls of snap peas

-a 1/4 bag of Trader Joe’s sliced chicken

Once it was all steamin up together, I drizzled the mix in soy sauce, and by drizzle it was probably more of a soak? Don’t have the right word for it haha. Then actually drizzled some honey, and sprinkled quite a few red pepper flakes over the top! Ooo and garlic! I just let it all simmer for a few more minutes, and wallah! And no fire alarm attacks this week either :)))

I’m hoping this week brings more time outside, considering last week was absolutely FRIGID!! I’m also “hosting” a Norwex Facebook party this week, Norwex is a Norway based org that has a mission of developing safe, sustainable, and efficient cleaning products for your home. I love that they are environmentally friendly, and work well, too! If you’re interested in joining shoot me a text and I’ll send you the link! ☺️aaaand the goal is to finish book #2 this week. Have a great week!!! Here’s a picture of my stunning Valentine’s Day flowers to help you through your Monday 🤍

Xoxo

Jos