Where Have I Been?

I admit it, I’ve been slacking a bit here on AM.com, but have no fear – I’m back!  And here’s what I’ve been up to:

Traveling

Kayaking around the Sucia Islands in WA

Not just a little bit of traveling, traveling like whoa.  Like New York for TBEX at the beginning of July, the Dominican Republic with the D.R. Ministry of Tourism in the middle, and rounding out the month with a trip to Washington state courtesy of the Whatcom County Tourism Board.  All awesome, more to come on the trips later.

Training

My marathon training started this month, technically while I was in the D.R.  I decided to take out one of the two 20 milers later on in the training to do week 1’s workouts twice.  I think it was a good move.  I’ve also been using CEP compression socks after my runs and they seem to be working- my legs feel pretty fresh the next day.

Hanging out with my Mom

me & my mom down in Coronado

My mom has come out every summer since I moved to California and this was the week she came out this time.  We had dinner at my favorite restaurant, Ti Amo, went and saw Eclipse (yes, I have read all of the books), and spent the day in San Diego.  There was also a pedicure thrown in there for good measure.

Writing

I’ve also miraculously found some time to write a couple articles during all of this -

http://matadorchange.com/tribe-wanted-building-sustainable-communities

http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/10-07/travel-marathon.html

http://planeteyetraveler.com/2010/07/24/traveling-to-british-columbia-check-out-these-deals/

What’s next?

  • School starts back up next week so I have to move the giant pile of stuff from my living room to my new classroom, and then unpack everything that has been delivered over the past few weeks.
  • Relaxing.  If I have time.
  • Continuing the marathon training and staying healthy.  I have the hell month of training coming up in September, so I want to stay strong and healthy throughout August.
  • Planning my next trip… Mexico in December for a volunteer trip and Europe in the spring.  Unless someone wants to send me to Sierra Leone so I can volunteer with Tribe Wanted.
  • Look for my travel blog to be re-launched soon!!!
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Make a Difference in a Minute (or less)!

Every Monday (this week it’s on Tuesday) I post a way that you can make a difference in a minute or less, ranging from free to no more than $20.  Some of the tips are going to be things you have heard of, but hopefully more often than not it is something new!

MDM Tip #12:  When you use almost all of a gift card, give the card with the remaining balance to the person in line behind you.  Even if it’s only a few cents, they will appreciate it!

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Make a Difference in a Minute (or less)!

Every Monday I post a way that you can make a difference in a minute or less, ranging from free to no more than $20.  Some of the tips are going to be things you have heard of, but hopefully more often than not it is something new!

MDM Tip #11: Forgive someone. It takes less than a minute, and it’s something you can do whether you can tell them or not.

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The neverending (?) quest for painless running

Many of you know that I’m a long-time runner.  I’m also the Managing Editor of a Barefoot Running website, and have begun to “dabble” in barefoot running (if you are interested in learning more about barefoot running, check out this article).  I first started checking out barefoot running because I’ve had this knee problem (Runner’s Knee, you may have heard of it), and supposedly barefoot running can ease problems like that.

Hiking in my Vibrams at Joshua Tree.

I have run a few times in my Vibram FiveFingers with no knee pain, just a little bit of calf tightness (which is common for new barefoot runners).

But this isn’t a post all about barefoot running.

In college, I developed tendinitis in my outer right calf and was told I needed stability shoes, which seemed to fix the problem for recreational running.

In 2006, I had shoulder surgery so I thought it would be a great time to train for my first marathon.  The friendly people at one of the local running stores watched me run, and recommended a pair of Mizuno Wave Inspires to counter balance my pronation (my foot rolls in when I hit the ground).

My knee pain started then and hasn’t completely disappeared since.

A couple months ago I was in San Diego for the opening of a new gym, and Road Runner Sports was there doing their Shoe Dog fittings.  Basically they measure your foot, talk about your foot history, and you run barefoot on a treadmill, all of which is then analyzed to find your perfect shoe fit.

Turns out, I have been unnecessarily running in a stability shoe for 4 years.  Now as a runner, I know the first thing you should look at when you have problems is your shoe.  But I didn’t think to get a second opinion from another store.

You can see the red wedges that encourage mid to front of the foot landing.

The red wedges in the front encourage mid to front of the foot landing.

So I headed over to Road Runner and picked up a pair of Newtons, which have wedges in the front of the shoe to make you land on the mid-front of the foot versus heel striking.  This is designed to be similar to barefoot running. I walked around in these shoes for a couple days and felt good, but it was very difficult to run on the treadmill – my feet kept skipping.  I tried another run and my knee was bothering me, so I took them back thanks to Road Runners’ VIP program 60 day return policy – no questions asked!

They fitted me with a neutral shoe, the Brooks Ghost 3, and an insole for just enough stability to hold off my tendinitis, the SUPERFeet Berry.  Since then, I have been feeling good and running fine, so I’m optimistic.

The correct shoe, plus strength training, and a (very) conservative pace just might = a great marathon in October!

Photo Credits:
Vibrams – JoAnna Haugen
Newtons – Morton Liebach on Flickr

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Training Tuesday: Week 5 of Get-your-butt-in-gear-before-real-training-starts

Previous Week

Monday: strength training & core

Tuesday: climbing

Wednesday: off

Thursday: climbing

Friday: 20 minutes

Saturday: off

Sunday: 30 minutes

I’m pretty impressed with myself for this week considering that I was recovering from the TBEX (Travel Blog Exchange conference) craziness from this past weekend.  I need to push it a little bit this week because my training starts while I’m in the Dominican Republic… although the training starts on Monday and I come back Tuesday, so if I will try my hardest to get that first run in, but I may have to skip it.

Weeks until marathon training officially begins: 1 – I miscounted before :(

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Make a Difference in a Minute (or less)!

Every Monday I post a way that you can make a difference in a minute or less, ranging from free to no more than $20.  Some of the tips are going to be things you have heard of, but hopefully more often than not it is something new!

MDM Tip #10:  Take a reusable bag to the store instead of using a plastic bag (I like to keep some in my car). If you forget, most places sell reusable bags for $1-2!

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Things I learned on my first press trip

  • Take pictures of everything, you never know what might turn into an article.
  • As a follow up to the first point, take notes about or use a voice recorder for everything.  Again, you never know what you might use for an article.
  • Get business cards, and write a quick note/description on the back to remind you who the person was.  I collected business cards like nobody’s business and forgot who half the people were.
  • Be sure to find out the calling rate for calling long distance on the phone in the lobby, even if you have to hang up and call the operator.  Otherwise, you might check your bank account and find a $40 charge even though you only left a voicemail.
  • If you are polite and make conversation with people, you will make connections.  If you don’t make conversation, or you make strange/awkward conversation, you will not make connections.
  • Take the time to talk to people, even if it means spending less time taking pictures or notes you never know when you might run into that person again, especially if they are in PR or another writer.
  • People will be jealous that you get to travel for free, but they don’t realize that the trips are a lot of work and a lot of schmoozing.  Some people find that fun, anyway, and luckily I am one of those people :)

What tips can you add?

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Make a Difference in a Minute (or less)!

Every Monday I post a way that you can make a difference in a minute or less, ranging from free to no more than $20.  Some of the tips are going to be things you have heard of, but hopefully more often than not it is something new!

MDM Tip #9:  Tell someone you appreciate them. I know I don’t do this enough!

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Why are we so uncomfortable with the truth?

A couple weeks ago I had to write a review of a spa/hotel that I had visited.  I thought the place was beautiful, but it didn’t totally meet my expectations, and there were some things I didn’t like.  Instead of just writing from my heart, with my honest opinions, I tried to sugarcoat it.  I tried to skimp on the actual review so that I didn’t go into *too* much detail.

And the article got sent back by the editor.  Twice.  I can’t say that I blame her, it kind of sucked.

I felt like I was letting her down.  I felt like I was letting myself down.

So I started over from scratch and wrote what I felt, what I thought, what I did (and didn’t) experience, and 700 words later it was done.  And it wasn’t half bad if I do say so myself.

This experience brought up a very good question:

Why are we so uncomfortable with the truth?

Obviously, there are tons of reasons why people don’t always tell the truth.  My reason? Probably the most common excuse – I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings (as if the owner’s self-esteem hinges on my review, right?).

I feel like society sets us up to be uncomfortable with telling the truth, and I decided that I was letting that into my life and my decisions.  We’re taught to “bite our tongues” and to sugarcoat things because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.  We call people fake and two-faced because they are afraid to tell people how they feel.  People who are up front with people are either applauded for being “straight shooters” or looked down upon for being “blunt.”

I for one, appreciate honesty.

I feel more connected to people who are honest than who are “just nice.”  If I mess up, tell me, so I can learn from it and not do it again.  How can you learn from your mistakes if no one will tell you what they are in the first place?

Honesty doesn’t have to be brutal.

Maybe sometimes people can’t be honest without feeling mean, but if the honesty is coming from your heart, not from a place of making someone else feel bad or feel wrong, it won’t be brutal and most likely will be appreciated.

So I’m committing to being honest.  Straight, from the heart, honest, even when it’s difficult or uncomfortable (Thanks Keith!).

How about you?

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Training Tuesday: Week 3 of Get-your-butt-in-gear-for-real-training

Previous Week

Monday: strength training & core

Tuesday: watched basketball

Wednesday:  ran 20 minutes

Thursday: Climb, Core, Push-ups, Lunges

Friday: rest

Saturday: apparently when 6 of your preschoolers are out in one day, there is an illness going around and you will get sick

Sunday: 20 minutes ~2 miles

Despite the unfortunate turn of events this weekend, I still feel like this was a good week.  I got a couple runs in, a couple strength training sessions in.  Next week, I’m upping my runs to 30 minutes.

3 more days of school left then summer vacation!  I’m very excited to integrate some yoga and possibly some workout classes into my routine to mix it up a bit!

Weeks until marathon training officially begins: 4

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