Saturday, May 31, 2014

.Training

#OperationMCO was a little hit & miss this week. Although I was eating healthier, I wasn't eating as healthy as I wanted to. I find it hard to adjust when you get used to eating fatty or fried foods, and it doesn't help that they are delicious! I've also been bad with recording in my food journal; I started out with good intentions but as the week went by, I got lazy. I vow to be better next week!

In the few years I've been running half marathons, I haven't really followed any training program. I've looked up quite a few online however I've never followed them exactly. The one I have been trying to follow lately is two shorter runs during the week, and then a longer one on the weekend. Before I got sick, I was also trying to incorporate having one two run day on the weekend so I could prepare for my double run on June 14th, however unfortunately I haven't gotten back to that yet. This weekend, my plan is to run 11K tomorrow with some friends who are preparing for the Spartan Race in July, and then play ball hockey in the evening - so there won't be any time for a double run. That's ok though, as that's a lot of physical activity for one day.

I've decided to try something different before the Edmonton Half Marathon this year and try to up my personal best of 2:43 by maybe five to ten minutes. Before I ran Canmore last year, the Edmonton Half was my personal best, so I'm confident that this is an attainable goal, particularly because the course is mostly flat. Enter the Nike Running coaching program.


This program works on the Nike Running app and involves 12 weeks of running to prepare you for your next half marathon. I typed in the date of the half, and it has me starting on Monday. I chose "intermediate" over "beginner" simply because I've been running for a few years now, and even though I'm slow, I don't want to start over. I've been doing some training on my own so I think this will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to it. The coach will have me running five times a week, cross training on Thursdays, and then a rest day on Sundays. This does change a little bit as the weeks go on, and some of the runs aren't just straight runs - they include intervals and different paces which is a type of training that I haven't done too much of. I'm hoping that I can stay strong and avoid getting injured during this time period so I can see how effective this program really is. The big challenges will be on week seven and week nine, when my scheduled long runs will be 14 miles. I've never run that long before! This will be a good test to see if I'll be close to running a marathon in the next few years, as that's not something I want to tackle until I can run a half in 2:15 or less. We'll see how it goes, but I'm feeling optimistic!

June is a ridiculously busy month for me, so I anticipate that most of these runs will be in the early morning. Thankfully the runs during the week for the most part will be completed in less than an hour, so I shouldn't have to get up too early. Even though I find it hard to get up in the mornings, I also think that the morning is the best time to run! It's nice and cool in the summer, it's quiet, and I find myself re-engerized for most of the day afterwards. 

One thing I do need to look into is the use of chews or gels to help with a pick me up during races. You aren't supposed to run super long distances with just water, so I'm going to need to do some research on which ones are good (and which ones are soy-free) and that don't taste like crap. Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't like the taste of artificial fruits and I'm not really into chocolate (I know, what's wrong with me?)

Until next time,
xo
-Dianne

Monday, May 26, 2014

.Operation MCO

I've been an "ingredient-reader" for I'd say, the past four years or so. I find that if I look at the ingredients and find that it has too much sugar or too many bad foods or chemicals, I'm less inclined to buy it. Now, I look at labels 100% of the time to make sure there's no soy (and believe me, LOTS of things have soy in them). I was sick over the weekend and looking for some soy-free chicken noodle soup (as unfortunately my go-to favorite Lipton contains soy as the 4th ingredient) and was looking through the chunky soups aisle and noticed that a lot of the Campbell's soups that had chicken in them, said "modified chicken" with soy in brackets directly afterward. So all this time I thought I was eating real chicken in these soups and it may just be a soy by-product? Ew, no thanks! I did cave and buy the Sobey's brand of Alphaghetti's since it's soy-free - I don't know why I like them so much, but they are delicious and my guilty pleasure!

I've been crazy busy at work the past couple weeks and we've been spoiled with catered lunches and people bringing us snacks all week. Although most of the lunches are on the healthier side, I noticed that during the past two weeks I was eating just for the sake of eating. By the end of last week, I wasn't even hungry most of the day, but was eating anyways because I felt like I should! Needless to say, my body was NOT happy with this and I ended up feeling sick and gross for the majority of the weekend. Looking at myself in the mirror, I was not impressed - my jeans are a little bit snug so I think it's time to get back on track! My injuries have finally healed, the weather is nice enough to run outside again, and I have to bikini ready in less then two months! Insert #OperationMCO.

Last year when I was looking at getting a new day-timer, I found this cute little Etsy shop called Plum Paper Designs that made custom planners, one of which had a food/work out diary in it!  I am ashamed to say I haven't used the food/work out diary portion of it since...January. PAINFUL, I know! So as part of #OperationMCO, I am going to start making use of this way more often and tracking what I'm eating and what I'm doing for exercise during the week. I find keeping a food diary will help keep you accountable for what you eat! Obviously there are going to be days where you may have a cheat meal, but as long as that cheat meal doesn't turn into a cheat day or week, this is totally doable!


#OperationMCO is all about getting fit and ready for the summer! I'm headed to Orlando, Florida (airport code MCO) on July 16th for Stella & Dot's national conference (fingers crossed this time it WON'T be on crutches) and I want to look fit and fabulous! This means making an effort into making lunches and dinners on a daily basis, eating out less, and working out more (my work-outs will be a mixture of running, boot camp, yin yoga, and hopefully some fun things like November Project and Nike Training work outs as well). I'm going to try and go back to follow the Eat Clean diet as well - which essentially is no refined sugars, no white bread, rice or pasta, and no processed foods. I'm aiming towards eating clean 80-90% of the time as I know for me, 100% of the time would be near impossible.

I'll be documenting #OperationMCO daily through my twitter account, so feel free to follow along there and join in! Keeping a little notebook with you to mark down what foods you are consuming is easy-peasy! Summer is coming and the weather is already getting nicer - why not look and feel your very best by eating right and getting a work-out in every once and awhile? :)

PS: Check out this article on why refined sugars and "fake" sugars are not good for you! It pains me that the whole wheat cheerios I ate this morning actually taste like they have more sugar than the normal ones!

xo
-Dianne

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

.Back In

It's been a long few weeks but after heading to physiotherapy on Thursday last week, I was able to get the all-clear to start running again! YAY! Turns out I have agitated/pulled my sartorius muscle, which actually goes all the way up from your knee to just under your abs.  I had no idea it went all the way down to my knee until the physiotherapist starting pressing on it and I felt pain! I'm still not exactly sure how I did it; I know I tweaked it during ball hockey three weeks ago but I can't pinpoint what exactly I did. Thankfully, she gave me the green light to run as long as I wasn't feeling major pain (minor discomfort is OK) so I am quite relieved! I went for my first run this past Sunday since I've been injured, and although I felt tired and sluggish (which could have partially had something to do with the beers I consumed at the Backstreet Boys concert the night before, which was AWESOME by the way) my time wasn't too bad. I made it just over two miles before I decided to walk the rest of the way home. I did feel some discomfort in my left leg, but not enough to stop the fun. I ran again with my hubby on Monday and this time we covered just over 5K, and I felt no pain or discomfort during the run and I was much closer to my normal tempo for time trials, so I felt a lot better! I'm still feeling fatigued and I can tell my endurance has suffered, but I'll get that back. I'm going to arrive early to work tomorrow or Friday and do a run in the river valley to start my day, and maybe try to do that one more time this week, so I'm hoping by the weekend I'll be back up to close to my normal pace!

I went back to physio this morning and let her know about my runs this week, and she said I'm making great progress! I made a follow-up appointment for next week, however she said that if I can continue to run and work out with no major pain, I should be good to go! I still have some sort of joint issue in my right ankle that hasn't completely gone away, so I might keep the appointment if that stays the same. Essentially running and walking don't hurt, but standing on the ball of my foot does. It looks like I'll be wearing flats for another week!

I also did another class of Yin Yoga this past Saturday at Lotus Soul Yoga and what a difference this instructor made! I enjoyed it about 10 times more than I did the other instructor, which I found interesting because in hot yoga I didn't find it really mattered what instructor I had. I'm going to try and go back during the times that Joe is instructing because that class was amazing!

Since I've stopped taking the vitamin with soybean oil, I've started feeling a little bit better, but my stomach has still been a little uneasy. I'm looking forward to meeting with the naturopath again next week to see if we can find out what's bothering me and I can go back to feeling normal again! I know sometimes it can take more than a week for soy to leave the body so hopefully by the time I go see her I'll be feeling better already!

The next few months are so busy with school! Currently I'm taking part time classes to eventually complete my Marketing degree, and I am about a year and a half away from finally graduating. If there's one thing I'm going to tell my future kids, it's going to be to finish school before they get into the work force! I've found it to be quite challenging to work an eight hour day and then sit through three hours of class. I didn't want to take a summer class this term, however I only ended up taking one class during the winter because of the wedding, so I had to catch up this summer. Usually I take two classes per term in the fall and winter and take the summer off. Thankfully this class is only until late June so I'll have the rest of the summer to enjoy! We've got a camping trip planned, and hopefully a trip to Florida, along with some slo-pitch games and training for the big Dragon Boat race at the end of the August. 

I LOVE the Edmonton weather right now! Feel free to comment and share your plans for the summer; I'd love to read them!

xo
-Dianne

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

.Stupid Soy

I grew up with a few allergies as a kid. I was allergic to peanuts, nuts, eggs, fish, shellfish, dogs, cats and snow mold. I remember being rushed to the hospital when I was about four years old, when the daycare I was at gave me a cracker with peanut butter instead of cheese whiz. It kind of scares me to one day have kids with allergies, because when they are young and in school or somewhere that you aren't, you just never know what they might accidentally eat! Thankfully, I grew out of a few of my allergies as I got older. I beat the eggs allergy when I was about 10, and to this day I'm not a huge fan of them unless they are cooked a certain way, added to a meal where I can't really taste them, or if they are my mom's special scrambled eggs with cheese. I actually have switched over to egg whites in the last few years for the majority of my egg eating in order to eat a little cleaner!

I took an allergy test about eight years ago just to see if I had grown out of any other allergies. I told the allergist that I knew I was still allergic to peanuts so please don't test me again for it...but he did anyways and the dot swelled up like a balloon. I'm still very allergic to peanuts, cashews, walnuts and fish, but found out that I can eat shellfish (yup, I'm the opposite of most) and almonds which was pretty cool. Since then I've found a new love for shrimp, lobster, crab and scallops, and I even tried sea urchin in San Francisco when we were there in July of 2013 (and it was DELICIOUS!). I also seemed to have grown out of my allergy for some dogs and cats, as I have one of each now and don't feel sniffly all the time! I still have seasonal allergies, but that's something I think I'm stuck with. I used to get so sick when I'd roll down the hills with my cousins near my grandparent's place as a child, but it was so much fun!

About a year or so ago, I started to feel like I was having trouble digesting foods. I was bloated all the time, and food would just sit in my stomach. I felt miserable, and it interfered with my social and physical activities. I went to the doctor and they sent me for a bunch of tests. Besides my iron levels fluctuating from high to low, everything they tested for (including celiac disease) came out negative, so he sent me to a naturopath. The naturopath figured it was probably some sort of intolerance to food, so she put me on a restricted diet for about eight weeks before Christmas. I had to cut out gluten, dairy, corn, eggs and soy from my diet for a full month. Those I guess are the most common allergens, and the point of the diet was to see if one of them was the culprit in making me feel so gross. This diet was HARD when trying to eat out - most foods in restaurants have one of these things! Working on game nights, I was very lucky to have a very friendly kitchen staff who made meals for the media - and they worked with me for that time span to let me know which foods had what - and if I couldn't eat anything on the menu they would prepare something just for me. Eating at home was no problem, as I have been a "label-checker" and eating mostly organic for a few years now, so most of the food in our fridge was OK.

After a week and a half, I really felt no different and was convinced it wasn't one of those foods. I emailed the naturopath and she encouraged me to keep going, saying that some of these foods can stay in the body for long periods of time if they are consumed regularly. So I did...and a few days letter, I finally started to feel better! I even lost 10 pounds (and of course gained it all back when I started eating normally again)! After one month was over, the key was to slowly add things back in once a day, and see if I had a reaction. I thought long and hard about which item I should add back in first, and finally decided on soy because I was 99% sure that wasn't the problem. Boy was I wrong. I had tofu noodles for dinner that night and within about 30 minutes of eating, I started to feel that gross feeling again that I hadn't felt in weeks! Tried three different types of soy in a three day span and got the same reaction, so took it back out of the diet and added everything else back in, to feel fine.



So, it turns out I have a soy intolerance! It's not severe enough to be an allergy, but it's annoying enough that I want to eliminate it from my diet so I don't get that gross feeling all the time. It's strange to ask at restaurants if they use soy, as most of the time the servers have absolutely no idea. Sometimes the cooks don't even know if they bring in packaged items! However, I've found that certain restaurants in Edmonton such as Joey, Local, and the Keg have knowledgeable, friendly staff and/or allergen menus so I can find out what I can eat beforehand and don't have to be fussy at the table. I really dislike being "that" person who has to be picky about their meals, but feeling good is important so if I can do my research in advance it makes things easier for everyone!

You'd be shocked how many foods have soy in them. Mostly processed foods have soy, so in a way this is a good thing for me to avoid them. But I will miss edimame beans, tofu, Lipton chicken noodle soup and Clif bars! I just found out last night that the VITAMINS I was taking had soybean oil in them. Really!?!

Living with an allergy/intolerance is not the end of the world but it's certainly an eye opener! I've started keeping a list of restaurants that are soy-friendly and know which items that I can have, so if you have a family member or relative that is intolerant to soy (as apparently it's fairly common now-a-days) or just want to avoid it (which may be a good idea considering after doing some research I don't think it's the best thing for you to eat anyways), let me know and I'd be happy to share!

That's all for now! First slo-pitch game of the season tonight! Hoping my injury is starting to heal enough that I can jog to first base! :)

xo
-Dianne
Sunday, May 11, 2014

.Namaste

I haven't been to yoga in a very long time. I love it, and I still even have some class passes left, but there's always an excuse not to go that I can't really pinpoint. I keep meaning to go back, but now I actually have a reason! My friend Debbie suggested that I check out Yin Yoga to help stretch out my groin muscle, and also suggested that I continue doing it once a week as it will benefit my running. The only type of yoga I've ever done is Moksha, which is done is a very hot room. I absolutely loved it! I loved the stretching and the softness of my skin afterward as all the toxins sweated out. They do Yin Yoga at the Moksha studio too, but I thought I would try looking into something a little bit different this time.



Randomly - I remember watching a segment on the news a few weeks back about the pros and cons of juicing. Although I would never do a juicing cleanse of any sort (because it doesn't make sense to me or seem healthy to only drink juice for an extended period of time), I think it's definitely something I would consider to add to a healthy diet and drink on occasion. On TV they also spoke to some people from Lotus Soul Gym Yoga so I thought I would take a look at their website for my new yoga needs. I also recalled seeing somewhere that they had a Groupon, so I searched my trusty mobile app and found it. $39 for an unlimited month of yoga? Ok, why not?! I even roped my friend Keenyn along for the ride!

I have never done "normal" yoga. The only yoga I've done is in a hot room where you can't leave without having a shower afterward because you are so soaked from sweat that you look like you just came out of a swimming pool (not that's I'm complaining, it's seriously a blast!). I wasn't really feeling antsy about it, but I'm not really sure what to expect. Is it going to be as easy to stretch when you aren't in the hot room? Is there music? Will it be able to keep my attention? This morning, I had all my questions answered when I arrived at Lotus Soul Gym to take my first Yin Yoga class!

Yoga went well. Yin Yoga is all about stretching and holding poses for a long time and it was very relaxing. I could tell that my groin muscle still hurt, but I feel better that I stretched it out. The class was super full but we had a great time and the instructor was very good. Although I think I still hot yoga better, I will definitely go back and do this one again. My weeks are pretty busy for the remainder of the month, but I'm going to do my best to hit up Yin Yoga at least once or twice a week for the remainder of my Groupon for sure and hoping to feel better! I'm also considering heading a physio consultation to see if they can recommend anything I can do during my injury, as I feel like I'm losing my running endurance - so we'll see how the week goes!

Random fun fact I learned this week: a five year old in Trenton, NJ completed a half marathon in 2013 in 2:22. That's 22 minutes faster than MY personal best time! If that's not motivation to pick up the pace - I don't know what is! Check out the article here and prepare to be blown away.

PS. Happy Mother's Day Mom. So glad I got to spend some time with you yesterday since you were sick today! You are so strong and I love ya! Dad's looking down on us today. :)



xo
-Dianne
Thursday, May 8, 2014

.Throwback Thursday

This blog will be a little off topic (since talking about my injury and how frustrated I am that I can't work out isn't that exciting), but it's hard to believe that my winter wedding was almost 3 months ago! It's amazing how much planning goes into one day, for it to fly by unbelievably fast! What an amazing day it was though.We got our pictures back yesterday! Here's a sneak peak:






We were lucky enough to get married in a beautiful church, surrounded by 200 of our favorite people, and have a lovely photographer (Photos With Ashley) to capture all of our special moments. It was only -20 or so, so the outdoor pictures were a tad cold but we had enough beer in us by then that I don't think we really noticed! Special thanks to the Alberta Aviation Museum and Central Social Hall for letting us do some indoor pictures at their venues!




I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful day. Love you husband! Cheers to many more happy years to come! :)

xo
-Dianne
Sunday, May 4, 2014

.Injuries

I am what I think you could call "accident-prone". My first (and only) major injury doing gymnastics was a sprained ankle, and I did that doing a simple round-off (essentially, a cartwheel with oomph and landing on two feet) the day before one of the biggest competitions of my gymnastics career. My dad took me to the medi-center after practice where the doctor told me I shouldn't compete the next day. My response: "Oh, I'm competing. Tell me what I can do to make it through." I ended up taking all the elements of difficulty out of my routines and completed everything but vault; I even placed 7th on beam out of the 20 competitors! I'm sure the other girls were just shaking their heads as I hobbled up to get my ribbon.

Most of my major injuries have come by accident, or plain stupidity. In 2012 while playing slo-pitch with my company team, a ball from another field came over the dugout and hit me in the face while I was playing first base. The ball broke and shattered my nose and I needed 3 stitches, but thankfully I came out of that without a concussion or anything more severe. Then last summer, again playing slo-pitch, I jumped to catch a ball that was overthrown to me at first base. When I landed, I landed half on the base and half on the ground, so my ankle rolled and I ended up spraining my ankle quite badly (to be quite honest, I can't even remember which ankle I sprained the first time, so it may have been the same one I did as a gymnast, I'm not sure! This sprain was much worse though, and I spent 3 hours in emergency for them to suit me up with crutches and give me some T3's). Being on crutches for almost 2 weeks was definitely not fun, especially because my house has a lot of stairs, and I was headed to Stella & Dot's national conference in Las Vegas in 10 days!



The trip ended up going very well, people were so nice and helped me get food and such when it was a buffet, and I was able to get early entrance into our conferences so I could get a good seat without worrying about getting trampled in the crowd! Thankfully, I also went to physio and was able to train and successfully complete a half marathon less than two months later - and hit a new personal best while I was at it!

It's every athletes nightmare to get injured or sick; it puts a dead stop to training and when you're in the groove, it can sometimes it can be very hard to get that motivation back. That's kind of how I feel right now. The last few weeks, I've been making an effort to run and work out more, and then last sunday playing ball hockey I pulled a groin muscle (I know it sounds dumb, but I didn't even realize a girl could do that. Apparently I should have paid more attention in my anatomy class in university). After being in pain the first day, in the days following the pain started to subside to the point where 4 days later, I didn't feel it anymore. Unfortunately on Wednesday I started to get sick and caught a nasty cold that's been going around, so that kept me couch bound for a few days as well. I had contemplated going for a run yesterday, but then the weather gods decided to make it snow here in Edmonton (and I don't run much in the winter; more about that in a future post). It was probably for the better; I went dancing last night for my friend Sheena's birthday and I felt a little bit of pain while dancing, but not while walking. I went to play ball hockey today and realized damn, the stupid pain is still there. It's just in a different spot than when I started!

I had high hopes for this week including an early morning work out tomorrow, November Project on Wednesday and Friday, bootcamp Tuesday and Thursday, and some runs on the weekend. I was going to start it off easy since I had to take a week off, and see how the week went. Now it looks like I'll be spending the week with an ice pack! I'm trying to think of the positives though, as there is still 6 weeks until my first races of the season, so I still have lots of time to prepare. In reading a couple running blogs, I've also found out that there are other runners out there who do double runs in one day, so I'm not the only crazy one! (I will be running a 15K and a 10K on June 14th, both for different charities. They are both close to my heart so I couldn't choose - I'm hoping next year they will be on different weekends!)

Tomorrow starts a new week! As per my friend Debbie's advice, I may look into some yin yoga this week to help stretch everything out. Fingers crossed!

xo
-Dianne
Thursday, May 1, 2014

.My "Why"

If you would have asked me in junior high or high school what kind of sports I liked, I can guarantee you that long distance running was the farthest from my mind. My first love was artistic gymnastics, which I did faithfully until I was 20 years old and involved in a car accident. I had to stop cold turkey for 6 months, and my body couldn't really handle competing at a high level after that. I dabbled in adult classes and occasionally go to drop-in, but sadly it's probably been a few years now since I did a back-handspring.

I participated in track and field through school, but mostly in long jump and shot put, which was fairly shocking for most considering my scrawny frame at the time, but I had built up arm muscles from gymnastics. I even qualified for the city finals a couple of times to represent my school! I also remember in gym class being told we had to run the 1500M, and having to walk for most of it and being one of the slowest in the class. It wasn't until a year after I met my now husband Brian that I even considered doing anything long distance.

Brian had mentioned to me in our first year of dating that his new year's resolution was to run a half marathon or complete a triathlon. I thought it might be fun to do that together, but wasn't sure I'd actually be able to do it. I had just joined an outdoor bootcamp which I loved, but when it came to anything running I couldn't even run a full mile without being out of breath. My body had changed a lot since I quit gymnastics and although I still had the small frame, I wasn't nearly as muscular or had the cardio fitness level I used to have. I also have a mixture of normal asthma and exercise-induced asthma, which I had never let stop me in the past, but worried that it may in this case.

So I thought to myself - I want to help him complete his goal AND I want to take part in this challenge as well. As I was taking part in bootcamp, I overheard one of the participants talking about a half marathon in Vegas that they were attending. I went home and looked it up - and said to Brian "Hey - how would you like to complete your new year's resolution in Vegas?" I had excellent travel benefits with my job at the airport at that point, so we booked our trip and started to train. We did some running together, and I continued in bootcamp. When it got too cold to run outside, I ran laps at the Kinsmen Sports Center. I think the most I ran before the big race was about 8 miles...and that was tough, so my goal was honestly just to cross the finish line before the 4 hour mark when they started removing racers from the course.

To this day and 4 half marathons later, the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Half Marathon is still one of the coolest races I've ever run. We ran the inaugural race in 2009 which involved closing down the famous Las Vegas strip and running all the way up and down it (and then some) in the early hours of the morning. All the big hotel signs were lit up with encouragement for all the runners, and showed pump up tweets from friends and family. We ran the race together, and unfortunately Brian re-injured his knee while running so he ended up power walking after about six miles. Because of this, we ended up being the same speed and ended up crossing the finish line at the exact same moment holding hands. After that, something clicked. I was so happy I almost cried at the finish line, and even more thrilled that we were able to do it together. My goal was to finish the race in under 4 hours, and we finished in 2:58:16. I was hooked.



Fast forward to 2014 and I've fully caught the running bug. I've completed half marathons in Edmonton (AB), Canmore (AB), Disneyland and Disneyworld. I've completed some 10K's and 5K's along the way too. This summer I'll be running Color Me Rad (5K), Spartan Race (5K + obstacles), the Underwear Affair (10K to raise money for cancers below the waist), Run for Your Dad (15K to raise money for the Heart & Stroke Foundation), and the Edmonton half (13.1M). Currently I'm working hard on my 5K time to get it under 30 minutes, doing bootcamp 1-2 times a week at lunch, and fitting in some stairs and hills workouts with November Project Canada (which I will definitely go into more later in other posts). When I'm not running, I want to run! My personal best in a half marathon is 2:43 and I'm looking to improve that to 2:15 before I start training for a full marathon. My running goals include qualifying and running the Boston Marathon and New York Marathon one day!

Whenever I do a Stella & Dot trunk show, I start off by telling the ladies my "Why". This is something I've learned while working with Stella & Dot; and it's essentially the reason why you've decided to go on your journey! My "Why" for running is not complex; I love doing it, it keeps me in good cardio shape, and it provides that sense of accomplishment that I was missing in my life. One thing I really miss about gymnastics was competing - and although I don't race to win against other competitors, having people cheer you on and wait for you at the finish line is incredibly rewarding for me. I decided to start writing this blog to keep myself accountable with my running goals, and to share the random ups and downs I go through. Thanks for reading!

Keep calm & run on. Right? :) Now, to get over this bad cold so I can get back on track...

xo
-Dianne