Observations

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Yesterday, I wore no makeup at all.  One of my best friends/co-workers said I looked "radiant."

Today, I wore mascara.  One of my students said that I looked depressed.  Another said that I looked really pretty with no makeup (and of course when I say "said," I really mean shouted in front of the whole class during my lesson).

Despite looking depressed, I believe I'll be lazy and not do makeup more often.

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After hours and hours and hours a few minutes of research, I found quite possibly the best cure for terrible, horrible, no good, very bad blisters.  Are you ready for it?  Zinc oxide.  Guess what product has that as its number one ingredient?  Desitin.

Yep: you can clear up your blisters and your baby's diaper rash - all with the same magic ointment.

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It is hard to get back into running, even after just a brief respite.  While the crater on my arch didn't necessarily hurt any more while I was running than it did while I was walking (thank you, Diaper Rash Cream!), it still felt like a rod was being jammed into the bottom of my foot with each step.  Since there wasn't any friction due to my increasingly amazing tape skillz, I figured a short jaunt would be okay.

HLM and I headed out for a quick two-mile jog and ended up going just over two-and-a-half miles.  We did a great job jogging the first mile or so but then walked/jogged off and on for the rest of the route.  It was a beautiful day outside (but the wind was something fierce), our muscles were tired from yesterday's Y-Pump, and we were both just kind of...blah.  Plus, as usual, we had a lot to talk about.

It was a nice run.

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I am so thankful that I am so involved with Planned Parenthood, an organization that I so whole-heartedly support.  This evening, I was invited to a board meeting for the new Friends group, and it was great.  We got straight to business over wine and cheese, and then we sat around for a couple of hours and just chatted.  It's so nice to be around like-minded individuals of different ages and backgrounds.  I'm really looking forward to getting more involved with this particular group.

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Apparently it's necessary to sync your iPhone more than once every three months.  Whoa: that took forever.



And now, a note:

I apologize for the lack of "healthy living" posts the last couple of days.  I will be back tomorrow with your regularly scheduled boring programming of what I shoved down my pie hole, exactly what my exercise was, etc.

I know you're waiting with baited breath.

But until then, g'night.

And...She's Back

Lately I've felt like a pity party was much more convenient than blogging.  Moreover, I would have had nothing positive or uplifting to say, so I decided to spare y'all my gloominess.

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You can thank me later.

Part of why I've been bummed the past week is because my foot is still a hot mess, thereby greatly inhibiting my training.  I have not been able to run since my girls and I rocked out 3.7 miles last Tuesday.

Instead, I've been working out with two of my colleagues doing Crossfit in our school weight room.  We S-man checks out the Workout of the Day (W.O.D.) on the Crossfit site, and then we head to the weight room to crank out a 15-20 minute workout.  And holy moly: it is ridiculously hard.

On Wednesday, we did 25 push-ups, 50 knees to chest from the pull-up bar, 75 push-presses, and 300 jump ropes.  On Thursday, we did three sets of a 300-meter row, 20 ball throws, and 10 pull-ups.

I kid you not: I could not move my arms until Sunday.  It was that killer.

I did not workout on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday - and it did not feel good.  I was just highly unmotivated and feeling super down in the dumps, and since I couldn't run or do really anything on my feet, I just decided to do nothing.  And while I wasn't eating horribly, it wasn't my normal Abs Diet grub either.

Bad idea.

Today, my girls and I went to Y-Pump, and I feel like I'm going to be a hurtin' girl tomorrow.  It was a great workout as usual, and it felt awesome to get back in the groove.  Also, my eating was relatively back to normal with a Kind bar for breakfast, a huge salad for lunch (minus the turkey), and two wedges of veggie quesadilla (leftover from yesterday) for dinner.  I also just chugged a glass of skim milk and, I'm not gonna lie, may have another.  I don't drink a lot of milk, but when I get the craving, I really get it!

Tomorrow, I have a 3.5-mile run scheduled, but I honestly don't know if my foot is going to allow it.  I definitely don't want to injure it more: after all, I need to be healthy for training, and I want it to be fully healed prior to my salt-water excursion in a couple of weeks.  :)

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I can't wait.

Strength

Today I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about food and exercise (largely because I failed miserably on the food end today - but not in the way you'd expect).  Instead, I am going to have a mini-therapy session with myself, and you're coming along for the ride.  You're welcome.

I am a strong girl.

Because of things I have experienced in the past - specifically things relationship-wise (or lack thereof) - I have become somewhat hardened.

Not a lot gets to me anymore: I take things with a grain of salt and stick to my belief that everything happens for a reason, that life turns out exactly how it is supposed to, that things I experience make me who I am.  I am genuinely (and sickeningly so) happy, optimistic, and positive that life is good and that good things happen to good people.

And, I am really great about thinking of all the positives in my life: I have the greatest family and friends a girl could ask for, I love what I do, I am healthy, I am free, and I am doing good things for my world.

Instead of getting frustrated, upset, sad, or - honestly - even phased by things that don't go my way, I pour my heart into other avenues: my students, my career, my friends, my fitness, my volunteering, my writing, my cooking, etc.

Essentially, I make myself so busy and so preoccupied with other aspects of life - and with listening to and helping others with their difficulties - that I don't have the time or the energy to get emotional about things that may not be so amazing in my life.

But sometimes, very rarely, I break.

And today was one of those times.

I don't know if it's because I haven't had a good cry in a while, or because my foot is in so much pain, or because of recent events, or what, but I am just sad.

I don't give up on things.  And I don't give up on people.

It's just not who I am.  I am persistent.  And, yes, I am stubborn.

However, I think it might be time to just give up on this one.

And in the midst of "giving up," I have been happy, I have been cheerful, I have been supportive, and I have been loving.  I have put on a really great facade.

But, like I said, that tough exterior cracked today.  The flood gates opened.

And I am indelibly grateful that Mags - one of my bestest friends - essentially forced me out of the house and was seen with me in public while I was tearing up and making a fool of myself.

She knew that things weren't good and that my emotions were running haywire, and she told me that was okay.  And that was nice.  I love her to pieces.

I know that tomorrow is a new day, and I know that I will be strong again.

But that doesn't mean that I won't shed a few more tears tonight.

Kind

As predicted, today was a much better day than yesterday - albeit still jam-packed.

I started the day with a Kind bar:

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If you haven't tried these yet, you need to get a move on it!  They are SO good - and so good for you.  Each bar is made with all-natural nuts and fruits (and sometimes chocolate!), and they taste good.  And, they're each around 200 calories or so.

Mid-morning, I had a banana.

For lunch, I ate another round of the Colossus Salad that I had for dinner last night.  As expected, it was delicious again - thankfully, since I left it at school half-eaten to finish up tomorrow.

I love, love, love my silly students, but my favorite part of this particular day happened after school - and in two pieces.

First, I had a 3.5-mile run scheduled, and I had two students interested in joining me.  I'm not going to go into too much detail here, but one of the girls is more of a sister/daughter to me than a former student (she was in my class last year), and I am so, so excited that she is interested in participating in See-Us Run Des Moines, as it will be very good for her.  I had never met her friend before today, but she seems really sweet, too, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her more as we continue running together.

The girls went for a run/walk yesterday by themselves and ended up doing three laps around Gray's Lake, which is approximately six miles.  I'm guessing they did a lot more walking than running, but I was still very proud of them.  They then went to yoga and said they really enjoyed it.

Today, we set out around the neighborhood in the cold, drizzly weather.  (I was super impressed that they still wanted to run, even though it was so icky out.)  We ran a mile (in 10:37) and then stopped to walk a bit - and continued that pattern of lots of running followed by a brief respite of walking - for a total of 3.7 miles.

And made it back to school just before the downpour hit.

It wasn't a fast run by any means, but I was just so proud of the girls - and thankful I had running buddies!

The girl that I just met today was so sweet.  Afterwards, she just kept saying how excited she was to start this and thanked me repeatedly for letting her run with me - to which I responded, "Thank you for running with me!"  When we were talking about our next scheduled run (two miles tomorrow), she asked if I did this every day.  I explained that I run about four times but try to work out six days a week, and she said that she was so inspired.

It was super sweet - and I'm not going to lie: it felt pretty good to be a fitness "inspiration" to these girls.

Let me tell you how impressed they were, though, when they saw this:

You're welcome.

That is the blister from Sunday.  It started hurting before we had even run out of the parking lot, so I knew I was in for a treat when I finished 3.7 miles.

Let me tell you: it kills.  It still hurts now, even though I gooped on the Neosporin, covered it in gauze, and wrapped athletic tape around my entire foot.

Tomorrow should be interesting - especially my two-mile run.

Oh, I also forgot to tell you about my toenail.  It's not good.  Basically, the medial side of my right big toenail is lifting off from the base and is about to pop completely off.  Shockingly, it doesn't hurt, but it tingles quite a bit.

Either I can be classified as a "real runner" now, or I just dropped something heavy on my foot and don't remember it.  I'm guessing option number two is more likely.

My second most favorite part of today was spontaneously deciding to drive 45 miles north with one of my friends/colleagues to watch our boys play their substate game:

People say we look alike all the time - kids even call us the wrong name, ask if we're sisters, etc.  Thoughts?
(Also, please disregard the fact that I'm not looking at the camera.  iPhones are tricky.)

Unfortunately, we lost the game and are now finished after a really great season.  I'm really proud of the kids - and the coach, who is a great friend - for rising above and, well, kicking butt.

The game was one of my favorite parts of the day, though, because my Number Two Gal and I always have incredible conversations, and today's hour-long round-trip was no exception.  She's super sweet, smart, thoughtful, kind, sincere, and I'm very thankful that we've gotten to know each other over the past year - and have gotten closer in the last couple of months.

So it was a very good day.

Today

I was going to start this post with how rough my day has been, but as I was cooking dinner tonight, I had a perspective check:

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Yes, today was rougher than yesterday: I went to work when it was dark, and I left work when it was almost dark.

Hi, Car.  I'm so sorry you're lonely.

I had longer-than-expected meetings, I had schedules I had to set, I was irritated with dumb boys, I missed my workout, I had a million and a half things to grade, I couldn't get the computer system to work, I was doing school stuff until 9:30 this evening, etc.

It was a rough day.

But you know what?  Yesterday was a great day.  Tomorrow will also be a great day.

I am alive, and I am so blessed, grateful, and thankful for everyone and everything I have.

Before I tell you about my meal plan for today, I wanted to show you what I cooked for "family" dinner last night:

Mmm...  Mussels Josephine, a la Bonefish Grill.  We also cooked up some Bang Bang Shrimp for an appetizer (but were too hungry to take a photo) and ate some delicious crusty bread to soak up the lemon butter sauce.

If that doesn't sound healthy, I don't know what does.

This morning came way too fast - or perhaps the Oscars lasted way too late.  I whipped up a Virgin Cabo Daiquiri to take to school for breakfast and my morning snack.

Unfortunately, it didn't fill me up too much because I was starving come lunchtime.  Good thing I brought the Ultimate Breakfast (Abs Diet): oatmeal, berries, banana, etc.  It was even good cold!

After school, I scarfed down an apple prior to my meeting and then had two pieces of chocolate (one mini Reese's and one mini Hershey's with almonds) and four Twizzler's during the meeting.  (It lasted much longer than I had anticipated - which was totally cool since we got tons of great work done - but I was a hungry girl!)

At 6:30, I finally headed home.  Before I sat down to do work, I cooked up quite possibly the most delicious meal I've ever made - modeled directly after the Colossus Salad from Court Avenue Brewing Company.

OMG.  It was so good.  I made falafel.  Who makes falafel?!  This girl.

It was really easy.  I mashed up a can of chickpeas, mixed in about half an onion, some parsley, some cumin, some coriander, some salt, and some flour to make it all stick together.  I rolled it into balls (hehe...balls) and baked it (instead of frying it) to save on calories.  (At first I had it in the oven at 350, but then I opted for 450 instead - I think that was the better option.)

I also topped the salad (romaine and spring mix) with roasted portobello mushrooms, tzatziki sauce, hummus, kalamata olives, pepperocinis, feta, and a balsamic glaze.

And on the side?  Toasted pitas, very helpful in scooping up the delicious salad stuff.

Go make this.  Thank me later.  For real.

Also, check out what I got in the mail on Saturday:

It's a MiiR bottle, courtesy of a LivingSocial voucher from a few weeks ago.  The company has some super fun color combinations to customize your bottle however you choose, and their are also trendy "skins" to select to make your bottle even more individualized.  Furthermore, the water stays cold for.ev.er.  

The best part about this company, however, is that for every bottle that is purchased, enough money is donated to provide safe, clean drinking water to someone for an entire year.

Way cool.

I hope you all had a wonderful day today.  And if you didn't, just remember: 

Sunday, Blistery Sunday

As predicted last night, I was asleep shortly after blogging - which means that I fell asleep in the middle of this week's Grey's Anatomy (courtesy of Hulu) for the second time.  Oh well.  Third time's a charm, right?

Because I did nothing but eat and sleep yesterday, I woke up bright and early at 7:30 and headed out for a four-mile run.  It was a bit chilly but overall an absolutely beautiful morning.

I guess it doesn't look super beautiful from this photo, but I kind of like the look of the city from this angle.  The streets were empty because it was early on a Sunday, the Principal building is peeking from behind the trees, and it just looks so urban.  I love Des Moines.

I wore my tights and a dry-fit long-sleeved shirt, and I was just perfect.

However, it was not a great run.  I think my activity from yesterday (nothing but eating and sleeping, remember?) was definitely a negative.  Also, I'm working on yet another headache.  And, I wore my minimalist shoes with my inserts this time, hoping to prevent shin splints.  They definitely worked for the shin splints since I'm not hurting too horribly, but I developed yet another problem:

(Beautiful ring from Stella & Dot!)

That beautiful blister developed around mile 1.5, and I stopped a few times to try and fix it.  First, I took the insert out of my right shoe.  It felt a million times better.

But then I was off balance since one of my legs was shorter than the other.

I figured that a blister was better than orthopedic issues, so I put the insert back in - which, obviously, aggravated the blister more.

So, I spent the second half of the "run" alternating between jogging and walking.  I cranked out 4.25 miles in about 51 minutes (walking the last fourth of a mile), which I guess isn't too bad, but it just didn't feel good - especially after last week's long run.

Oh well.

After my run, I quickly showered and got ready because my parents were coming to town!!!

When they got here, we (and my sister, her boyfriend, and BFF) headed to my favorite restaurant in Des Moines - Americana - for their Bombshell Brunch.  It was so, so good.  I had a sampling of the following: macaroni and cheese, biscuits and gravy, bacon, waffle bread pudding, sweet potatoes, pineapple and watermelon, granola and plain yogurt, crepes, and that may have been it.  Needless to say, I was stuffed.

After brunch, we walked around the Sculpture Garden for a bit and then called it a day.  It was such a wonderful morning.

Me and my pops - courtesy of my mom. 

I hope this picture made you think of this song.

I know Omaha is only two hours away, but I wish I lived closer to my parents so that I could see them more often.

Now, I'm off to start the rest of my day.  On the agenda: run errands (grocery store, Target, maybe Old Navy), grade some papers, cook "family" dinner (get excited: it's gonna be good), and watch the Academy Awards.

Oh, and maybe a nap thrown in there as well.  :)

See you tonight!

Lazy Day

It's Saturday night, and guess who's home alone?  This girl!

But it's by choice, I promise.

I have had something every single night this week, and I was in dire need of a night to myself.  And so far, it's been glorious.

But let's rewind to yesterday.

School was good but busy.  I was intending to leave right after school to go work out, but I got side-tracked by an amazing conversation with a student.  He is very knowledgeable about racial issues, and talking with someone so well-versed in issues of privilege (let alone a 14-year-old!) was unreal.  So, it was a nice distraction from working out.

However, by the time our conversation was over, I saw two of my friends/colleagues heading to the weight room for their makeshift Crossfit workout.  Because it was still icy outside from the previous day's storm, I decided to skip by three-mile run and exercise with them instead.  The Workout of the Day (WOD) yesterday was a 500m row, 12 dead-lifts, and 21 box jumps.  Apparently the boys were pretty sore from the week's workout, so they skipped the dead-lifts.  Because there were only two rowing machines, I ran half a mile while they did their rowing and then did the box jumps followed by planks.  I did two reps while they did three.

And then I made them do planks.

When they were putting stuff away, I tried the rowing machine.  And loved it.  It was super fun and quite difficult - and this morning, my back and shoulders were definitely screaming at me.

It was great.

I went home and showered and lounged around for a bit, and then I headed to our boys' basketball game.  I knew I'd be going out afterwards, so I had to look somewhat put together:

I got lots of comments on my hot heels.  My favorite, though, was when I was walking to the concession stand to grab a water and popcorn (for real: should be a food group) and a little girl, probably about seven or eight, was staring at me and whispered, "I really love your shoes."

It was so cute.

After we won the substate game (!!!), Kiara, Mags, and I headed to Star Bar for a late dinner.  Shockingly, I opted for something other than the fish tacos - the veggie burger!

I ate about half of the burger and three-fourths of the salad (with balsamic vinaigrette).  It was really, really good.  Naturally, I had a glass of cabernet.  By about 10:00, though, I was exhausted and ready to head home.

This morning, I woke up and had breakfast with BFF.  It was quite the interesting experience.  We tried to go to Waveland, our favorite breakfast dive, but it was so packed that we couldn't even find a parking spot.  So, we headed downtown to Centro.  Apparently they do not open until 11:00 on Saturdays.  So, we walked a couple of blocks (in cold, windy weather and not enough layers) to Django, which was also closed.

Ugh.

So, for the second time in 14 hours, we headed to Star Bar.  And had a delicious breakfast:

I opted for the omelette that was jam-packed with goat cheese (mmmmmm), red peppers, and spinach.  On the side were potatoes mixed with garlic, red onion, and more red peppers as well as a couple slices of sourdough bread.

Needless to say, I was a member of the Clean-Plate Club this morning.

After breakfast, I went home to sleep some more.  For approximately four consecutive days a month (you guess which four days those are), I have raging headaches.  Unfortunately, one of those days was today.  When I was researching with my Bible, I found something called "menstrual migraines" and am thinking that might be what these are because they are quite debilitating - and something I should probably discuss with my doctor.

Sorry for TMI, but long story short, that was Nap One of many today.

At 2:00, I met my good friend Amber out for lunch.  I haven't seen her forever, so it was really, really good to catch up - and something that we need to do much more often.  We hit up Palmer's, so obviously I opted for my regular meal: the salad that you've seen nearly 8,000 times.  I also rewarded myself for a week of hard work with the rice krispie treat that has been tempting me for weeks.

I then went home and slept for probably four hours.  Srsly.

When I woke up around 8:00 p.m., I cleaned my apartment a bit, ran to Gateway for dinner (a margherita pizza), and lounged some more.

And I'm not going to lie: I'm probably going to head to bed in about a half an hour.

I need to get a four-mile run in tomorrow, and I'm hoping to wake up around 8:00 to do so.  My parents are coming for brunch, and I am so, so excited.  I haven't seen them since Christmas, so it'll be really great.

Don't worry: I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.  :)

G'night, y'all!