My Psychic Powers and Why They Can't be Used for Good

Well, it's been a solid 4 years, but my right leg finally decided to call it quits on Sunday moment of silence.

I can't even be mad because my right leg has been a freaking trooper. It's been picking up the slack for my bum left leg for basically 3 of those 4 years, and I guess it deserves a break.

Last week running did not feel great. I had been burning the candle at both ends and it was showing. My gait was off, I felt awkward, I was super tired and sluggish, my heart was not in it.  I was not super concerned because it was my last high mileage week, I had a lot going on personally, and frankly I had a lot of reasons to feel tired and wompy. I was flexible with my training schedule rearranging workouts so I would not drive myself into the ground on super hectic days and I never felt like I was pushing myself through pain, I was just on the struggle bus express. I  made it through the week relatively unscathed with one 14 miler left for Sunday. I was exhausted, stressed, and reallllly not looking forward to my last long run. Somehow I managed to scrape myself off the floor and started out for two 7 mile loops, so that I could stop at home for water and fuel if I needed to. Once I got started I knew that mentally I could make it through, the weather was epically gorgeous, and physically I felt the same if not a little better than I had the day before. But around mile 3 I knew something was off, my right ankle just wasn't right. My stride was super forced and awkward. I stopped multiple times to stretch and pump out my calf, but when I started to noticeably limp, that was it. I wasn't in any pain  - but I had to admit defeat. I plopped my ass on the curb, called Mom, and stared off into the downward spiraling abyss until she came to pick me up.

I am just so over this injury bull shit that I could barely muster up the energy to throw a fit in the car on the way home obviously I cried and whined but it wasn't one of my best efforts and went straight to our deck so I could pass out in the sun and at least soak up some of  the Vitamin D I was supposed to get that day. Even my pity party was fairly tame: Sushi, homemade chocolate chip cookies, a pep talk from Mom, and a long bath to keep me from trying to implement every injury remedy in my bag of tricks all at once.

I've always thought I was semi-psychic but really a legit psychic (guy I met on the street in New Orleans) said I was and I totally used to be able to use my powers for good.

Bid Day 2008
A day that will live in infamy

Exhibit A - My senior year of college I was convinced that my parents were going to take us to Disney World in all honesty not a huge leap there after January Rush Week. I had this picture in my mind of Me and Megs in matching Bid Day tee shirts at Magic Kingdom. Well, I got back from my Study Abroad in Australia, my mom told me to repack cause we were going to Disney World, and then we drove back down to school so that I could could spend Bid Day with my double sister who had just pledged my sorority.

True Happiness

Now that I'm old and jaded my psychic powers have dwindled down to more of an "oooo I've got a bad feeling about this" situation, which usually turns out to be the case.

Exhibit A - How My Psychic Powers Knew I Had An Injury Coming

• Got all sentimental about how much I love running, how awesome it feels, and how excited I am to run all the races  just asking for it
• I slept on my parents couch this weekend since we had family visiting -  as I was getting all snuggled in I was like hey the last time I slept on the couch was when I twisted my ankle twice in January foreshadowing blows
• Made a list of possible challenges/things to try during my "off training month" I really do wonder how many hours I would last on Whole30
• Tried on my costume for the Tinkerbell Half Marathon, wings and all I just can't

This is just begging for a deep dive into manifesting and all that junk, but good Lord that is a post for a different time cause aint nobody me got time for that right now. I am less than 2 weeks out from our trip to Disneyland/LA for the RunDisney Tinkerbell Half, my goal right now is to be healthy enough to run it, but that is not really under my control.

Where are you now that
i need you

Time to try some of that manifesting-ness again!

- Stay moderately caffeinated friends trying to cut back a bit this week

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today

...to get through this thing called life

In my constant and more recently frantic search to figure out wtf to do my with my life, I’ve been coming across the word Legacy pretty frequently.  As a 29 year old it’s not a word I’ve felt the need to use just yet, it’s a biggie, it’s heavy and it seems a little final. But as I said, it keeps popping up, so I’ve been trying to look at it a little differently, letting it inform my day a little more than before. I approach decisions of all kinds with the same level of panic, what I’m having for dinner is equally as stressful as what my next career move should be. It’s exhausting and just completely rediculous. So I’m trying to take a step back from it all and consider Legacy. What is it that you’re going to want to remember at the end of all this, what would you want others to remember about you – whatever that answer is, do more of that, and maybe don’t worry so much about the other stuff omg easier said than done.

Now I appreciate Prince as much as the next person but would never  consider myself a super-fan, so when he passed away yesterday I was shocked and bummed but WAS NOT ready for the epic response to his death. I was completely unaware of his reach and the extent of his career. Someone said yesterday that what Bruce is to New Jersey, Prince is to Minnesota and I was like OH ok got it! I’m normally not one of those people who is big enough to be all “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” if someone is giving me a legit chance to lose my shit and wallow, damnit I take it. But watching the entire world share what Prince, his music, and his legacy, meant to them yesterday… made me happy? Everytime a new person, celebrity, whatever, paid tribute to him I thought holy crap, how awesome is this? This one person touched ALL of these people, from so many walks of life, he made their lives better in some way. I felt proud of him? I think sometimes we forget how much the world really does value uniqueness, creativity and somone who is willing to just be themselves unabashedly. It's so weird to call someone's passing refreshing, but it was for me, I was really moved by the outpouring and the celebration of his life and legacy there it is again. 

Unfortunately I feel like I did own a similar shirt

Obviously we can’t all be Prince no one wants to see me dressed like this but we can all be a little more aware of what we are leaving behind, be a little truer to ourselves than we were yesterday, kick a little bit of the bullshit to the curb and celebrate a little more of the good shit. And party like it's 1999 because the 90s were the best ever, Prince and I totally agree on that! 

Add waxing philosophical on Prince to the list of things I never thought I'd do...

                                                                                                                                                

FRIDAY FAVORITES TIME

1.  Prince Tributes, goes without saying
Holy balls get ya tissues ready / this teacher is everything / James Cordon seriously stop making me cry everything is better with an accent

and for good measure: the best cover EVER, and Julia, because Julia…

2. It's Marathon Season! #MarathonMonday is easily every runner's favorite Holiday and this year was no exception.

Photo courtesy of @wotowineglass Photo credit my mom :)

The Boston Marathon is the reason I signed up for my first Marathon, and it is such a source of inspiration for me, and this interview with Dave McGillivray is awesome.
I had guaranteed acceptance into this year's Chicago Marathon (I deferred last year to run Marine Corps) but the lottery was pulled this week for the rest of the racers and there are SO many Oiselle girls running! All the talk of meetups, group runs, and being surrounded by teammates has me so excited for my 4th ?! go at 26.2

3.  Finally getting to experience the beauty of grabbing some Picky Bars in Trader Joes, and they were a special kind of magical let me tell you!

good for the tummy, bad for the wallet

4.  CLEAR YOUR DVR the movie marathon to end all movie marathons is upon us!

5. Summer Kicks! The weather has been pretty bad ass this week and it's got me in the mood for some summer clothes and shoes that are not running sneakers shocking I know currently have my eyes on these booties, finally getting a pair of these sandals and trying to decide which Adidas to get between this classic and this new pair?

What a random post but welcome to my life!
 - Stay Caffeinated my friends

WCW [#1]

It is no secret that I have just about the most bad-ass family out there.  This week in particular, I’m crushing so hard on my cousin Christine Marks (otherwise known as MarksyPants). I’m a whopping 22 days older and a couple feet taller than Chris but girlfriend has always been my idol. Here is one reason why. SHE IS THE WORLD’S MOST AMAZING ARTIST and way too humble about it.  Lucky for everyone she recently opened up her own Etsy shop and now I have to be unselfish and share her with the world.

I mean just look at the Christmas present she made me this year!

And then she totally saved my butt this past week too!

My sister is notoriously hard to shop for, she is one of those super non-greedy people whose all “but I don’t need anything” you can tell who got the gimme genes in this family for sure. But I totally had an ace in the hole this year: in March she was going on and on about this Limited Edition St. Patrick’s Day Jameson bottle not just because she loves whiskey because the label was so beautiful! I was totally ready to start scouring the internet to find a bottle for her birthday, but the girl has a whiskey bottle collection to rival Jameson himself, and having it sit on a shelf somewhere just didn’t seem special enough. Enter MarksyPants. I sent Chris a picture of the label to see if there anything she could do with it, and this is what happened…

Seriously the pictures don’t do it justice; this thing is a flipping masterpiece even the original artist thinks so!

Christine has always had a knack for design and making things beautiful and I am constantly blown away totally jealous of her work ethic and attention to detail.  I am just so so happy and proud as hell that she is getting the recognition she deserves.  So basically you need to have MarskyPants make you ALL THE THINGS and then follow her on Instagram to get sneak peeks at her custom work because it’s just the cutest ever.

That Feeling When... [#1]

You turn around and all of a sudden it's the middle of April, your baby sister turns 27 on Sunday AND you still haven't filed your taxes? Yea that's where I'm at right now!

Normally I turn into a TOTAL basket case annnd total bitch when things get hectic and I feel like I am not "in control" of every second of every day. I've felt that fight or flight mode pop a couple of times during the past week, noticed myself jumping on the defensive a little more, and my all time go to being anal AF about what food I'm eating lately. BUT you know what, the fact that I can see that all these "faults" as for what they are (a reaction to stress and an attempt to assert some control over my day) makes me feel as though I have grown up a bit. Doesn't mean I wouldn't love for those things to not be kneejerk reaction to stressful situations, I can just accept the fact that I'm a little on edge at the moment. Doesn't make me a bad person, doesn't make me a failure, just makes me ME right? Well, I'll tell myself that for now anyway.

In addition to my new found self-awareness and acceptance taking bets on how long that will last... a huge help in the stress area has been running. TYBJ. Since the first big injury in September, running had turned into the source of my stress and it. was. awful. I am in so in love with running right now and it makes me so. freaking. happy. I think we all have that thing in our lives where no matter what other shit is going down, whatever else gets fucked up, as long as  you have that thing to turn to - you know everything is going to be ok. For me right now that thing is running. I've even been doing my training runs after work and mid-day on the weekends, which is a huge departure from my usual schedule. A couple of hours in the sun with a good podcast on looking at you Running On Om and I'm usually as good as new. 

Anyways, that's pretty much where I'm at right now. Wading through the crap, jonesing for my next run, and next meal obvi.

                                                  
Now it's time for Friday Faves! 

As part of the #fullhalfchallenge I finally subscribed to Oiselle fav Jasyoga. My original goal was to do 13 minutes a week, but I've been averaging at least 13 minutes a day. I am digging it! Peak mileage weeks are usually when my injuries flare up, so I'm trying to be extra good to my body this time around. So far, so good everyone go knock on all the wood. I LOVE that I can search the videos by length, category (pre-workout, cross-training, post-workout, recovery, even some meditation) and body part. If my back is bothering me my back is always bothering me, I literally just search "back" and get a list of all of the videos incorporating back exercises. It's really the little things in life that excite me. So yea, 2 thumbs up for Jasyoga, and if you're a person who finds it hard to make time for yoga and recovery I HIGHLY recommend it. Hips don't lie. 

When my #girlcrush Hungry Runner Girl said she used an Instyler to get her beautiful head of waves, I was instantly intrigued and skeptical that a rotating iron would ever work on my rats nest. But hey it was on Groupon so I got one anyway. I actually showered this week so I was able to try it out and I was pleasantly surprised! I got the wet to dry option, but still had to dry my hair 99.9% of the way. The Instyler was definitely faster than using a straightener and left my hair with a little more volum and polish. Not at HRG status yet, but a vast improvement! 

Life after House of Cards. Yes it exists. Spring Baking Championship is back on Food Network, and while I haven't been able to catch this season's episodes yet, I have been watching the last season online. Seriously the only way I can make myself do my Strength Training is while watching the Baking Championships... I don't get it either. My other fave EMPIRE is back on and right now it's the only show I am watching live. And I mean hello theme song!

Happy Weekend and Happy Caffeine-ating!

New Year - Same Me

Well we made it through the first day of 2016 - go us!

What is it about a New Year that is both so inspiring and completely panic inducing? I haven't been that great about setting "New Years Resolutions" the past couple of years. My goals are usually either too vague or too specific if you have not yet gathered this, there is not much grey-area in my life so I end up not knowing how to go about pursuing my vague goals or I miss one day of drinking warm water with lemon and cayenne in the morning and all is shot to hell.

Some people like to focus on shedding the baggage of the previous year, getting rid of what did not serve them, which I am all for. 2015 was a bitch. Not totally bad, not totally good, just bitchy. A lot of what went down is not my story to tell - there were career changes to varying degrees of success; movings out, movings in, movings back out; truly amazing people were lost; injuries came and went and came back again; harsh realties were faced. That's not to say 2015 didn't have it's great times, it most certainly did. But for me, it was what I like to call a "learning year."

So where exactly does that leave on 1/1/2016?

Well, I spent the last night of 2015 having a wonderful dinner with the two greatest parents a person could ever ask for. Then I went off to ring in the New Year with my sister, Guinness in one hand Champagne in the other. Yes I showered, put on makeup and real clothes, I also managed to get home at a reasonable hour AND take off said makeup before bed - if that's not adulting please tell me what is. 

What are you doing New Years Day?

A whole lot of nothing honestly. My ankle and ITB are still pretty angry at me, and while the last thing I wanted to do was to start a new year injured, I can now honestly say that missing one week of training is not worth doing any more permanent harm to my body. So it was Pure Barre ftw this morning, maybe 2016 will be the year I get abs and an ass? a girl can dream I cancelled my Weight Watchers account, which is big for me. I joined forever ago to lose the pounds I gained post-college and pre-running. It originally held me accountable for poor diet and exercise choices, but eventually turned into a restrictive obsession that was at odds with a heavy training load. See, major learning going on here I got my first day of free  coffee with my new Starbucks Tumbler  I love Chistmas presents. I made freaking Broiled Lamb Chops from my Runner's World Meals on the Run Cookbook Seriously, I love Christmas presents. And now I'm here taking to you fine people, getting ready for bed and focusing on all of the great things I already have to look forward to in 2016.

Tomorrow morning I am going to get up and try to have the best day I can, I think maybe that will be my 2016 Resolution.
Sorry Yoda. 

Tuesday Troubles

1.  Winter is here

and by Winter I mean it's 46 and sleeted for a hot sec
2.  Ankle, still bruised and sore 

8 miles on the schedule today that are probably not going to happen 

3.  TUESDAYS 

what I can say, we just do not get along

But I'm pretty tired of being a Debbie Downer SO 

Things could be A LOT worse, so here's a few things I should be/am thankful for this Tuesday

• Commuting from my parents house means I don't have to walk 3 miles to and from the PATH on a bum ankle
• If I can't run at least it's on a SUPER gross day 
• I have a STACK of Disney DVD's from Christmas to distract me and make me smile
• Instead of throwing a tantrum, WebMDing myself into a meltdown or just running anyway "because it doesn't hurt THAT bad" - I went to the doctor for some professional advice and found out Doc has some SERIOUS taping skills

  

  I feel like the Terminator just kicking back in my couch fort

• A little perspective from Andrea Duke
• Today is my Friday - no more work for 2015! 

Not gonna lie I'm still really upset about my ankle and it's pretty much constantly in the back of my mind. But it happened, it's happened before, and let's be honest it will happen again. If I'm going to be a runner at some point I will have to accept that this shit comes with the territory, why not start now?

Your Turn!
Are you a Debbie Downer or a Pollyanna?
If you're a Pollyanna will you teach me your skills?

How you do deal with running injuries and setbacks?

Can anyone beat Doc in the kinesio tape department?

Why I can't have nice things

Alternate title: Pity Party table of 1 
Alternate alternate title: When your Mom asks you if you would consider wearing a head lamp

Seriously you would think going in to work for TWO FREAKING DAYS would not be so hard, like suck it up Sally...

Since I am only going to the city twice this week I figured it would be easier to take the train in from my parent's house instead of lugging all my shit back and forth to Hoboken, totally solid idea, until I remembered how much I hate commuting from my parents house. 
which hit home at around 10pm last night - or like 3/4 of the through Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 if you tell time by ABC Family Marathons which I absolutely do.  

via GIPHY

There was one bright spot to my Sunday Bumday mopeyness, while I was loathe to wake up at the ACOD that's Ass Crack of Dawn for all you nice adults who don't swear to get my run in, I would get to do sporting my beautiful new Garmin Forerunner 225 my parents put Santa Clause TO SHAME this year, just, I can't

Sure enough 5am rolls around, it is pitch-freaking black out and I am just looking for any reason to stay in bed. Whatevs. I suit up and gently put on my new 225 convinced I am going to somehow break it ? Me and the new watch are cruising along the dark. as. night. streets of my hometown and I make the idiotic decision to run through the park. Where there are literally no lights. And no sidewalk. I'm already pretty grumpy and trying to talk myself out of a bad mood when foot meets pothole and my ankle goes down hard. Hey at least we know the pause button on the Forerunner 225 works? 

Luckily I had just hit my turn around point and only had to head back home. The way back was not exactly painful, but somewhat uncomfortable, and mentally stressful as I started rewinding back to how hard it was dealing with my last injury and what how badly I would lose my shit if I had to stop running again. I would like to think that I will take all of the lessons I learned from this year's injury and use them to make calm, rational decisions regarding my ankle and future injuries, but very little about me is calm or rational - so we'll see how that goes. As for now I am slathered in Pain Relief Foot Cream, stuffed into Compression socks, sending my ankle healing thoughts and checking out my less than stellar stats from this morning's run. 

Now I can see when I fell in 3 different very pretty ways! 

2016 New Years Resolution = NO. MORE. INJURIES 

Now more about my awesome Christmas present:
I have only ever run with Garmin Forerunners and I have loved them all, to the point where I'm sad to say good bye to my old ones even when my new watch is prettier and all technical and crap.

My first watch was the Garmin Forerunner 10 in pink of course and I got Pops his own not pink when he started running. The 110 was great when I was a newbie runner, but I did run into issues getting a GPS signal. Some days it would take a while to sync, and if I tried to run in NYC fugghetaboutit, I never got anything. About two years ago I upgraded to the Forerunner 220 and it was my everything, I named it Bob, we were besties. It's been with me ever since, without one single problem well there were many problems but they all fall in the category of user error. 

I had my eye on the Forerunner 225 since it was announced in May, but never worked up the nerve to get it mostly because I was seriously that attached to my 220. I really try to keep myself away from the crazy bell and whistle running gadgets because all the hype drives me bonkers. Honestly as long as I can get my times, mileage, and plug in some interval training, I'm a happy camper. But, in an effort to be more aware of my health, and other such normal adult things, I was jonesing for a heart rate monitor and knew there was NCIH i would wear a heart rate strap hello, chafing, no thank you. Multiple doctors this year asked me if I monitored my heart rate, especially during my runs, and I started to think there may be some value to what they were saying. So the Forerunner 225 made it's way to the top of my Christmas List this year, and as previously mentioned my parents are completely insane, because it was waiting for me underneath our tree this year!

MOVE bitch

I am the opposite of technically savvy but I really do want to pay more attention to what I put my body through during training so stay tuned for more adventures as I try and figure out how to use my new toy! 

Now I know half of you are at home and the other half are at work doing nothing so let's #runchat!
What should we name the Forerunner 225?

What is your must have running accessory?

Is Monday being a bitch to you too?