An ultramarathon has been on my radar for a while now. The thing that was holding me back is that I'm not a trail runner (and not likely to become one any time soon). When I started researching "the next step", ie 50K, most of what I found was more technical than I wanted. And I admit, I have a somewhat irrational fear of getting lost. Ok, totally irrational, over the top, fear. I mean, I get that sometimes you need to leave your comfort zone, but honestly, I'd like to stay in the same galaxy as my comfort zone. Credit: NASA Then I was introduced to the world of timed races. I started looking around and there are lots and lots of options. You can run for 6 hours or 9 hours or 12 hours. But who wants to start with something sane. (Or … [Read more...]
#WhatsBeautiful Wrap Up
For the last 8ish weeks, I've been participating in the sponsored Under Armour campaign as a part of FitFluential. As you might recall, my goal was "I will step outside my comfort zone: run harder, try new things, say yes when I want to say no. " I'm not sure I did something every single day that scared me, but I did a lot of things that made me step outside of my normal comfort zone. I ran my first trail race. And in a "go big or go home" style, I not only ran a half marathon trail race, but it ended up being 14.6 miles! I drove in DC. For an added bonus, I even parallel parked my Honda Pilot. (In a very small spot. That's a bit like parallel parking a tank.) I raced a 5k. Something I hadn't done in quite a while … [Read more...]
#WhatsBeautiful Update
My goal with the Under Armour What's Beautiful campaign is to step outside my comfort zone: run harder, try new things, say yes when I want to say no. Last week, I stepped outside my comfort zone. Arlington County has a really neat opportunity for students called the "Outdoor Lab". It's a property about an hour away that's nestled in the hills and offers our city kids the chance to play in a creek, see animals both in cages and in the wild, boat, fish, and generally spend time in the woods in a way that they can't near our schools. There are a few opportunities to visit the lab, but in 5th grade, many Arlington classes spend the night. Last week was Jones' turn. I volunteered to be one of the parents to go. As you might imagine, I … [Read more...]
What’s Beautiful: Embracing discomfort
I've always loved this quote. I am not a thrill seeker (you won't find me jumping out of planes...), but I believe that stepping outside of one's comfort zone can lead to amazing experiences. If we always play it safe, we can't know what life changing thing might be just around the corner. (I totally reminded myself of this when an attempt to get into crow in yoga nearly led to a face plant on a tile floor.) Right after I wrote my post about looking for a goal, I was invited to be part of the Under Armour's "What's Beautiful" campaign as a sponsored member of Fitfluential. I'd been tempted before, but guess what? I was too afraid to put myself out there. Being part of the sponsored campaign pushed me to join, but my previous fear … [Read more...]
Learning to say yes
I've spent much of my time as a parent learning when to say no. I am horrible about thinking I can accomplish everything and tend to say yes to whatever work/volunteer/kid thing that is thrown my way. Need someone to help you with a book drive? Sure. Need someone to be the Secretary of the PTA? Sign me up. Need a parent to help out with something for Cub Scouts? I'm your girl. Or at least that's how it used to be. But, over the last year, I've learned to set limits. I've learned to evaluate what I have going on and what is being asked of me and decide what I'm capable of. I've also gotten better about assigning values to things. If it's something dear to my heart or important to my kids, I'll figure out a way, but if it's not, I'm going to … [Read more...]
