Runners Fly

walkers walk… but runners fly

Confessions and Runfessions

Well, it’s been quite a week!  I’m having a teensy snafu with this website- please bear with me!  You can still leave a comment, you just have to scroll waaaay down, past all my recent posts written out in their entirety (WHY DID IT DO THAT???) I’m working on it.

As always on the last Friday of the month, I’m linking up with Marcia for Runfessions!

First, a CONfession.  I’ve been a little down lately, and when I discovered the issue with my blog, I confess that my first thought was, “What is going to happen NEXT?  Is my house going to burn down?”  Then I thought about what it would be like if that actually happened.  Let’s imagine that everyone- humans and animals- got out safely, but our house burned to the ground.  Wow, that would really suck!!!

I pictured us living in a hotel, buying all new clothes, desperately trying to replace our phones, laptops, and other necessities  while trying to deal with the insurance company… maybe my current life isn’t so bad, after all.

Next up, a runfession.  I haven’t been running much lately, but my husband has!  Last weekend he ran the “Iguana Man 10K”. He had a great time, placed second in his age group, and made some new friends.

I’ll runfess that I had some FOMO… until I saw the race shirt.

Who chose that COLOR???  Is there such a thing as “neon chartreuse?” I think that’s what this is.  And why is the iguana wearing a sombrero???  My husband actually likes wearing race t-shirts, like he’ll wear them around casually or to run out to the store.  I’ve challenged him to wear this one in public, but so far he’s only worn it in the house.

It’s hard to have a lot of runfessions when you’re hardly running, so I’ll leave it at that!  I did run once this week, and tomorrow will have my third ART treatment.  I’m working hard to fix my calf and my blog.  Wish me luck!

Advice needed:  if you have a blog, how do you back it up?  

Do you like wearing race t-shirts?  Have you ever gotten an especially ugly one?

Top photo by Jeremy Lapak on Unsplash

 

More Posts

Reading and Eating

I’ve started Edge of Eternity and we are now in the 1960s!  It’s amazing to me how much I actually don’t know.  Yes- I did know there was a wall in Berlin.  But if you asked me when it was built, I would have said… right after WWII?  No!  It was built in 1961, after the US and USSR threatened war over the Berlin crisis.  This was going on during the Civil Rights protests in the US.  What an incredibly turbulent time!  Needless to say, I’m loving this book. This is the third book in Ken Follett’s Century Trilogy, and in between books 2 and 3 I quickly read this: This was a reread, as all Agatha Christies are for me.  I found it at the used bookstore, flipped through it and didn’t recognize any of the character’s names.  I took that as a good sign, and decided to risk it.  So many times I start an Agatha Christie (I read them all at least thirty years ago) and remember the ending about halfway through. Not this time!  I KNOW I read this one, but I truly couldn’t remember it.  I even tried out different “ingenious” solutions: “The narrator is the murderer!  The priest isn’t really a priest!  Someone is a long-lost son!”  Nope.  The ending was a complete surprise.  I really enjoyed this reread! Eating wise… I’ve continued to pretend that it’s not hot, muggy, and steamy here, and made chili!  I while ago I made Vegan Cincinnati Chili from this website. I was planning to make that again, but when I went to the website, I noticed he also has a recipe for “Texas Chili” which is called Best Damn Vegan Chili Ever.  Well!  I had to try that. It was very good!  I’m not sure I believe the claims that this chili is “award winning.”.  But to be fair, I did leave out two “optional” ingredients, pickled jalapenos and masa harina.  Mayne next time I’ll put those in and see if it wins any awards. I will say that my husband LOVED it!  We ate it for two dinners, and both times he exclaimed over how much he enjoyed it. Chili: Cincinatti, or Texas style? What are you reading now?

Fall Fun

I had a really nice, fall-ish weekend!  When I say “fall-ish,” I don’t mean I visited a pumpkin patch or went apple picking.  No, we don’t have that in Florida- although, I’m pretty sure it’s too early for those things just about everywhere right now.  But those are things that never happen in Florida, so we have to make our own fall. We may not have cool temperatures and falling leaves, but we do have football and homecoming!  Saturday night was our high school homecoming dance, and my daughter went with two of her friends, looking amazing in her new dress.  I got a lot of GREAT comments on my post about the suit vs. dress dilemma, including one from Julie saying that she wore a tux to her prom!  For this dance, my daughter wore a dress- who knows what will happen in the future. I dropped my daughter and her two friends at the dance, and I loved seeing all the kids dressed up.  I also loved that these three girls didn’t feel like they needed dates- they were happy to be going together.  I was excited that it was my daughter’s first high school dance. I was also excited that after the dance, another mom was picking the girls up and bringing them back to her house for a sleepover.  I knew that my daughter would be in good hands and I knew she would have fun- and my job was done for the night. I got home just in time for the start of the Baylor game.  It was gloomy and rainy outside (a typical South Florida evening in September) and my house was so cozy!  We broke out the fall food and beverages. We tried each of the beers: the Oktoberfest was very good; the Pumpking Ale was okay, and the Howling Gourds was terrible.  The only one we actually finished was the Oktoberfest.  It turns out some things just shouldn’t taste like pumpkin, and beer is one of them.  But it was fun to try them all. I LOVE chips and salsa, but don’t normally eat them.  It’s one of those thing I can’t stop eating once I start, so I usually don’t let myself start.  But I made an exception since they were “fall-themed” (holiday foods don’t really count, right???) and I loved them.  The pepita salsa is delicious, and chips are always good.  Plus they looked like fall leaves! We also had this: It was good.  I mean- it was good for a prepared dinner.  Elaborate cooking wasn’t in my plan for this night, so we definitely enjoyed these “heat and serve” enchiladas. We watched Baylor win, and oh yes- I was wearing my new favorite pajamas. After the game, I stayed up late reading, and finally crawled into bed, knowing that there was no work or school tomorrow, and no one would be needing me for anything.  I could sleep as late as I wanted, and didn’t wake up until 9 am.  It felt AMAZING. After a nice slow start to the morning, Sunday got underway.  I picked up my daughter, did the grocery shopping, and started thinking about plans for the week.  I felt a little melancholy that the weekend was coming to an end.  Sometimes everything just comes together perfectly.  I know there will be more fun times this fall, but it’s possible that I’ll look back and say “Yes, that was the best night of the whole season.” Are you starting to think about fall, or are you still in a summer frame of mind? Pumpkin ale- yay, or nay?

Weekly Rundown- Everything is Awesome!

I don’t want to say this injury is behind me, because that would be tempting fate a little too much.  But let’s just say “Everything is Awesome” from The Lego Movie has been running through my head, and life seems good!  I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for this Weekly Rundown.  Here’s how it all played out… Sunday I walked one mile and ran 3. Everything felt good! Monday I did lower body strength at home, including single leg exercises and squats.  One of the (few) things I’m proud of from my work this summer is the progress I made in the one leg sit-to-stand.  It’s one of the foundation exercises on Sally McRae’s app and also one of the hip stability exercises from Brad Beer’s book.  You start sitting on a chair or bench, and stand up using one leg, then sit back down, stand up again, etc. only on one leg.  When I first started I could only do five reps on each leg- now I can do 36 reps!!!  At least something has improved. I also did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout..  I’m really tired of it by now! Tuesday I walked 3 miles… … and then did a different core workout!  I did Caroline Girvan’s Standing Abs Workout, and I liked it.  At least, I liked doing something different. Wednesday Again, I walked one mile and ran 3.  Still feeling good! Thursday I did my single leg exercises, and another core workout.  This one Engie recommended, MadFit Standing Core Workout..  I liked this one too!  Then I had time for 20 minutes of walking. At night we watched the Dolphins game, which was a complete fiasco.  We lost, and our quarterback got ANOTHER CONCUSSION.  The poor guy will be out for… ever?  The rest of the season?  I feel really bad for him, and now our season is a shambles after only the second game. Friday Gym day!  It was a very squat-focused workout, because I skipped deadlifts.  My low back is nagging at me again, and deadlifts sadly make it worse.  After squats and Bulgarian split squats I did some core (abs and low back machines.) At night I planned to go to our high school football game, but it rained so much that the band couldn’t play (so I didn’t go.)  They did manage to play in the rain and our team won!  This was our homecoming, and last year’s homecoming was completely rained out.  September outdoor events just shouldn’t be a thing in South Florida. Saturday This was a big day- I walked one mile and ran 4!!!  I’m getting there! At night we watched the Baylor game.  FINALLY.  A game where it didn’t rain, no one got injured, and we WON!  At least the football week ended on a high note. Sunday Off!  Sleeping in and waffles will be involved (obviously.) So, it was a good week.  Moving forward, I’m going to cautiously try running every other day.  Running every third day was great to get me back from this injury, but I can’t do that forever! How was your week?  Were there any moments where you sang “Everything is Awesome?” Top photo by Stainless Images on Unsplash

Friday Coffee Date!

Hey, it’s Friday!  Pour yourself a beverage in your favorite fall mug (wait- you do have one, right?) and join me. Let’s talk about the weekend!  Tonight is another high school football game, and I will be there.  The last two weeks have been away games, so I’ve missed going.  But you know what that means- it’s time for Homecoming!  My daughter decided to go to the dance with a group of friends, and we started thinking about what she would wear.  But let’s back up for a moment… The high school concert band uniform is tuxes for the boys and long black dresses for girls.  When my daughter was a freshman last year, she said she would prefer to wear a tux. Now, I wasn’t entirely opposed to this, but I just preferred that she wear a dress… like all the other girls?  I told her that whatever she decided to do was fine, but there’s a reason boys usually wear suits and girls usually wear dresses.  Girls are more curvy, so dresses flatter them more.  My daughter is very curvy, and I thought a tux would just make her look kind of big all over. She decided to wear the dress, and I thought she looked lovely!  Then I was telling my friend about how well I handled that situation, and she thought I was VERY WRONG.  Why, she asked, did it matter how she looked?  Why did I make that the most important thing? Er- good question.  When it was time for New Year’s, my daughter wanted to wear a suit to the party.  I agreed immediately, and she actually looked kind of cute (not that it mattered!) Later I asked how she liked wearing the suit, and she said “I loved it.  I felt really confident.”  Okay then. Back to Homecoming!  My daughter said she wanted to wear a suit, and we got to work on her outfit (I was tasked with finding her some new pants, which was surprisingly hard.) Then yesterday she went to the mall to help her friend find a dress, and came home with… a dress, which she is now wearing to Homecoming. You guys, I can’t keep up!  Girls are so hard!!!  Boys are so. much. easier. Anyway, while my daughter is at the dance on Saturday night, my husband and I will be watching the Baylor game!  I have a fun fall-themed dinner planned, with some new things to sample from Trader Joe’s. One last thing- I’ve submitted my request for postponement of jury duty.  Weirdly, the request had to be submitted in writing, and by that I mean I had to write a letter and mail it through the U.S. postal service.  When was the last time you did that? I was so confused.  I couldn’t even really remember how to do it.  When I printed out my letter, my husband looked at it and said “You didn’t leave room for your signature.”  Oh yeah- I totally forgot.  Then I had to find an envelope and a stamp, and take it to the mailbox… I mean, don’t we have more modern methods of communication nowadays?  Anyway, I hope it gets there, and I hope I get my postponement (actually, I’m hoping they forget all about me, but if worst comes to worst I’ll take a postponement.) That’s it for this week! When was the last time you mailed a letter?  I don’t mean a greeting card or postcard, but like an official letter?   Do you think I was wrong to encourage my daughter to wear a dress?  How much does appearance matter? What are your plans for the weekend? Top photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

44 Responses

  1. It wasn’t so hard to get down here! But thanks for letting us know. I’m sorry you’ve been dealing with so much. A stubborn injury that seems resolved and then comes back, over and over, and keeps you from doing your favorite thing (that is also physically and emotionally beneficial), is REALLY hard. I think you’re handling it really well. And I really hope you get the results you’re looking for with ART.
    Keeping all the fingers crossed for you.
    (Oh and your husband should write BRAT on the back of that shirt. It’d be super cool. 😉

    Reply

  2. My runfession is…I like the race shirt! It doesn’t get any more Florida Man than wearing the Iguana Man race shirt! I had quite a collection of race shirts that I used to wear all the time, but they’ve worn out. There’s nothing better than running a really great race and having a great shirt to show for it afterwards. My favorite ugly shirt was from a Turkey Trot – it is bright orange. I only wore it for running though.

    Hubs has been in a really good place with running after a long bout with PF and he’s running a TRAIL 5K this weekend. It’s the first race that he’s run since…2018???? I’m excited for him and I have absolutely no desire to join him.

    Even with what happened to Elisabeth I haven’t done anything to back up my blog. I will read my old posts every once in a while and I love seeing all of the family memories that I was writing about when I thought I was just writing about dinner, but somehow I can’t get motivated to do anything to back it up. I hope the tech stuff clears up. The good/bad thing about blogger is that it’s a consistently meh interface that hasn’t changed since I started on it in 2011 – I bet it hasn’t changed since Engie started in 2004.

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      1. Sign me up for that lesson, please! I know I should be backing up mine, but…. I did look into printing it into books once, years ago, but whatever I was looking at was willing to pull my posts but put all the photos at the end, and that did NOT work for me. My photos are throughout the writing and that’s how I want it.

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    2. Well, I’m VERY happy for your husband! Just out of curiosity, what did he do to get rid of his PF? Or did it just go away. Anyway, I hope his race goes well and that he has a fantastic time!
      I know… after Elisabeth lost her blog we all should have backed ours up immediately, but I still haven’t. I figure I should now, before I start messing around with it.

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  3. Oh Jenny, I am so sorry that you are still having issues with your foot! That’s cool that the hubs is running though! I don’t mind the shirt, if he wears it while running and falls off the sidewalk or something he will be easy to spot. Unless he falls into very bright grass. The color of very “safety first.”

    I have only run twice in the last five months and the second one, which was eight miles, made me sore!! I will probably try for a few short runs dining my cycling break in September and we will see how it goes. I am out of running shape, that’s for sure!

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  4. Oh Jenny, I am so sorry that you are still having issues with your foot! That’s cool that the hubs is running though! I don’t mind the shirt, if he wears it while running and falls off the sidewalk or something he will be easy to spot. Unless he falls into very bright grass. The color is very “safety first.”

    I have only run twice in the last five months and the second one, which was eight miles, made me sore!! I will probably try for a few short runs dining my cycling break in September and we will see how it goes. I am out of running shape, that’s for sure!

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    1. Ha, yes, that shirt does scream “safety first.”
      The thing I’ve discovered is- nothing keeps you in shape for running other than running. You can be crushing it on all other sorts of cardio, but when you go back to running you feel like a beginner. At least that’s my experience!

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  5. I’m not a fan of most race shirts. I’m not a t-shirt gal, so the majority of my shirts (the good, the bad, and the ugly) don’t see much action anyways. Now if they had a more flattering fit (with ANYTHING but a crew neck), that might change my perspective:-)

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    1. Yes, I never wear t-shirts for running. I wear tanks almost year-round, unless it gets “Florida cold” and then I’ll wear a long sleeve. I never wear my race t shirts.

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  6. I’ve gotten plenty of ugly race shirts and they get purged. End of story. That one there is a real prize. Haha! Sorry about the blog and the calf. Hopefully all will settle down for you soon. My blog is a tech mess. There’s a Google thing that expired and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I do have my plug ins to update automatically, that’s about all I can say.

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    1. It was a plug in that caused my problem- it didn’t install properly after it updated or something. I got that fixed but the blog is still messed up. I’ll be spending some time on it this weekend!

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  7. Good luck with the treatment, Jenny! Hope it goes well.
    Yes, comparing anything with your house burning down, aieeee. Last year when the fires were in Kelowna, that scenario did cross my mind. Talk about terror!

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    1. Wow, I’ve never been in a position where I actually had to consider the possibility of my house burning down for real. Definitely terrifying.

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  8. Well this morning I woke to a notification that my post today was flagged for inappropriate content so readers will have to acknowledge that there is sensitive content before they can read the post! I panicked and then figured out it was due to a description of a book that I DNF’d. But wow was that weird. It still looks like it is flagged for inappropriate content but oh well. Not sure how else to fix it! I hope you figure out why the comments are in an odd place! I have not backed up my blog but I would need to do it on my husband’s laptop since I don’t own one currently and I rarely use his laptop!

    I hope the ART helps!! I’m sending you allll my healing thoughts!!!

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  9. I have thought about my house burning down too and no, definitely would not be a good thing. Helps to put things in perspective sometimes though. Good for you husband! Sorry you couldn’t join him. Hoping those ART treatments will do their thing soon. Have a good weekend

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    1. Thank you Deborah! I guess it really does put things in perspective- I’d rather be getting ready for work on a morning of not running, than picking through the charred rubble of what used to be my house. Things are good!

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  10. I’m a fan of bright running clothes but I usually only wear race shirts to bed so your husband’s shirt would be a no-go for me! I just don’t usually wear t-shirts for running because I sweat so much and then they just cling ugh. Some races I’ve done have the option to skip the shirt and save $5 on registration so usually I do that!

    I’m hoping you get some relief from your calf issue soon!

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  11. I have thought about what would happen if my house burned down. Definitely not good. Helps to put things into perspective though. Congrats to your hubs! Sorry you could not join him. Hoping that ART does it’s magic soon and you are back at it!

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  12. I’m with you on it being hard to have runfessions when you’re not running – I hope you calf issue resolves itself soon!

    Congrats to your hubby! That shirt is quite loud LOL Let us know if he actually wears it.

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  13. Yes many ugly shirts and too many that don’t fit. NYC ones are the best… they always fit well and I like to wear them. Otherwise I limit my race shirt wearing to runs and gym visits. Only the nice ones do I wear on race day.

    Will you both run with me in Ft Lauderdale? Haven’t registered yet. I’m afraid that I’ll get injured.

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    1. Everything is up in the air right now- I have a race in November and I’m not sure if I’ll be running that or not. And then I’m thinking of attempting Forgotten Florida again- that’s in February so running Ft. Lauderdale would probably be out. But you never know- I haven’t registered for it yet. Either way I’ll see you when you’re down here.

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  14. Now that is a specifically colored shirt! I hope he wears it out and about and you get a picture of it! (In my household, that would go right onto my holiday card, haha!). I have no idea how to back up a blog and hope you find out and get it where you want it to be! I’m just excited to be able to write on mine on a computer vs. my phone like I have been this summer, oof haha!

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    1. If my husband wears that shirt in public, hopefully I won’t be with him! But I’ll try to get a picture, somehow.

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  15. I hate it when my blog gets all glitchy. I hope you get it sorted out!

    I’m feeling a little down about running–it’s been rough lately and it’s not because of the weather. My body is starting to rebel with long distances. Sigh…

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    1. Well… summer running is hard. Maybe you’ll change your mind in the fall, or maybe not! There’s plenty to do with shorter distances.

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  16. Jenny–I hope your weekend turns out lovely and that ART is doing the good work.

    Your mind is taking you to the darkest places–what if you had cancer? what if your house burned down? What is going on, friend? I’m so sorry you’re going down those rabbit holes we have no control over.

    But I do think there’s a way to back up your blog… I feel like I saw Engie do a methodical, step-by-step, tutorial once. Let me go find it!

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  17. Ugh, I’m sorry your blog is giving you trouble too! How frustrating!

    My blog “backup” is that I write all my posts in a Word document before I post them. Maybe they aren’t IDENTICAL to what gets posted, but close enough.

    That shirt is… very visible! I am mystified by the sombrero, too. And why the iguanas are lounging with cocktails instead of running? But congrats to your husband on his great finish!

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  18. I had some blog issues the past few weeks but finally figured out what was going on — a jetpack update messed up my akismet spam settings. Enough about me ….

    Congrats to your husband! I’d wear a “loud” shirt like that, especially if I did so well,

    I hope things start looking up for you!

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    1. Thank you Coco. I’m looking over at my husband and he’s wearing the shirt right now, ha ha. I guess he’s pretty proud of that race (as he should be!)

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  19. I *think* my blog gets backed up regularly but I should make sure it does! I think you use WordPress, right? I can try to see what the problem is – I’ve had to get very good at WP issues with my job, so sometimes I’ve been able to solve my own blog problems thanks to that! Just an offer for you!

    That is a VERY interesting race shirt, haha. The color! The cartoons!

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  20. If you’re on WordPress, there’s a plugin that you can use to get a full back up of your database. Do you pay for hosting? Then your hosting company should also make regular backups. You should ask.

    Re: race shirts, I am kinda picky with what I wear when I run and I would not wear that color LOL (I have started opting out of receiving a shirt, unless it’s a really cool design/color because I don’t need extra shirts lying around that I don’t wear). But congrats to your husband on second place!!

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  21. Oh, how frustrating! I have an auto backup of my blog saved to my hard drive but I’m not sure I would know how to access it if I needed it.

    That shirt is something else! I only wear race shirts around the house and to bed.

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  22. Oh, how frustrating! I have an auto backup of my blog saved to my hard drive but I’m not sure I would know how to access it if I needed it.

    That shirt is something else! I only wear race shirts around the house and to bed.

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  23. LOL on the color of that shirt. I remember in the 80s when neon was a bit of a thing. I would have worn black leggings with a black top, and maybe socks in that color. I had a chartreuse blazer for awhile that I adored, but it wasn’t neon.

    My brain goes dark sometimes too. My husband’s cousin recently had her house burn to the ground with all of their things in it. NOT FUN, just as you said. Thankfully everyone got out, but wow, what a lot of work.

    Reply

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