I’m always preaching about inner strength, sweating out the small stuff, being positive and happy, yada, yada, yada….(seriously, I just set up this link for inspirational quotes)

Well last night all that was tested…It started so nice. I had a speedy commute home from work, leashed up the dog for a casual stroll to go get my car that was parked at the bus stop from the morning. The sky was so clear that I could see so many stars including the Big and Little Dippers and O’Rien’s Belt! I felt pretty peaceful and had already poured a glass of wine that I left on the kitchen counter so when we returned I could drink up. We arrived at my car and the battery was dead. I know, I know!!! This is SMALL STUFF! I tried to keep it together but I literally cried instantly. The dog curled up on the front seat expecting we’d be driving home any minute. I could have just left the car there and walked home but honestly all I could think about was my wine and cheese and crackers. (yep I cannot tell a lie). I realized I was only two blocks from a friend so I texted him and sure enough he was home and willing to come give me a jump start. Thanks so much Alex! I owe you big!

I spent the evening obsessing over this. It wasn’t so much the battery dying but that it was only 3 months old and after researching a bunch of web forums discovered that the malfunctioning rear lift gate latch that I chose not to fix (they wanted $400) was the cause of the dead battery. There’s some weird link. I love my Jeep, but it has had it’s fare share of quirky issues.

So I had a moment and reached out to my Facebook friends to reign me in

cantfallasleep

 

My friends are great! Valerie suggested I buy a portable jump starter battery to keep in the car for future situations like this. And lots of other friends gave me the virtual slap across the face. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I actually own one of those portable jump starter batteries! I bought it after Superstorm Sandy when we lost power for days. It has plugs for usb devices, and regular plugs as well as the jump starter cables.

So this morning I woke up and immediately got my run in.

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I was going for the Punky Brewster look!

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6 mile dose of medicine

 

6 miles….and don’t ya know, by mile 4 I was feeling a WHOLE LOT BETTER!!! Running truly is amazing. And this song just reinforced the feel good chemicals going on in my head. Oh and while I was running my parents drove right by me. This time they actually noticed me and we waved to each other. So funny.

So I came home, showered and then whipped out that handy dandy battery and jumped the Jeep all by my very self!

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up and running! woo hoo!

Then it was off to Sears to get a new one.

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I had an hour to kill waiting so I popped into Starbucks for a long awaited post run meal.

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Caramel Macchiato (160 calories) and a turkey and cheese sandwich (450) = 610 calories!

My plan was to handle this situation in two separate days. Today, all I would worry about was battery replacement. I made an appointment at Jeep Service to have the rear hatch latch shmutchik thingamajiggy replaced on Tuesday =)

And so in the end I practiced what I preach. I sweat out the small stuff, and that my friends feel pretty darn good.

And in honor of Throwback Thursday here are some pics of my Lady (Jeep) Liberty from the day I brought her home and her first Christmas. Yep. She’s like a child and I can’t bear the thought of the day she goes to SUV heaven.

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Question: Do you have true love for your car or is it just a way to get from A to B? How do you handle stressful “small stuff” situations? 

I noticed some tightness in my left hammy after my back to back weekend runs. As of yesterday I was planning on skipping today’s 4 mile hill workout. But last night I bounced on my trampoline to warm my muscles and then did some stretching and today I felt good. So I packed my gym bag (and didn’t forget anything this time!) and at 11:45 am left the office with my new found excitement for a treadmill workout. Conspiracy theory??

This is what I saw:

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renovations…without major interuption in service!

“Without major interruption in service”….um…I’m sorry but when all treadmills (we’re talking 30+) are unavailable on a day I arrive to do a running workout that IS major interruption in service to me thank you very much.

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it’s an elliptical treadmill pile up!

Ironically I took it very we’ll and immediately conjured up a plan B!

I remembered reading somewhere that the stepmill is the closest in comparison to hill running so I jumped on and climbed 188 floors!! (That’s more than the Empire State Building according to the little computer cues) 25 minutes later and I was soaked.

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I got to put my initials in for one of the best climbs of the week. I guess there aren’t many members of this gym who like to climb…

I finished out my session with 15 min of easy biking to complete a total of 40 min which is what my 4 mile run would have taken me anyway. Sometimes the world emphasizes what decisions we need to make 🙂 (And I’m not just talking about workout swaps…I’m deep!)

And wow did I forget how sweaty a stepmill workout can make me.

I’ve decided I am going to start adding in some mental workouts into my training.

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clear the mind

All kidding aside I want to start a little positive affirmation journal of some sort. I need to keep working on that inner strength. 🙂 UPDATE: I just added this page to the top nav bar of my blog for some visual inspirational quotes. I’ll let you know as I add more. This seems like a good place to start.

I came home to a package of goodies that I ordered. I’ve been treating myself to a lot of goodies lately. Eh, I’m worth it =) Fancy swiss hair care and skin care products. I’ve used most of these before but I did buy a few new items. Can’t wait to try out the hair masque! The cold dry winter air is doing a number on my curls. They need a good quenching. (anyone else think quenching is just such a weird word?).

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product!

Well now that it’s 1am I better go to bed or I’m gonna need toothpicks to keep my eyes open tomorrow. (where do these expressions come from, right??!!)

Happy Hump Day!

Question: What positive quotes help you get through your day or your workout?

Typical Sunday.

Started with a run…

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Then took a walk…photo 4

And then took a selfie…photo 3

If you asked my what my favorite weather was I’d say today! It was mid 50s and sunny.

Well now I’ve got to prepare for the week.

Question: What was the weather like this weekend where you live?

 

OK, OK, I’m going to get a little emotional/inspirational (I hope) for a bit here.

It was such a beautiful day I decided to do tomorrow’s long run today.

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before and after

It’s a step back week so my long run is “only” 10 miles. But 10 miles is long enough for me to really dig deep into my thoughts and emotions. Today’s big epiphany….Inner strength is more important than anything.

I was listening to this song by Bon Jovi called Army of One. It just got me thinking about how important it is to build strength (emotional and physical) within yourself and not to expect that someone else will always be there to make you feel good and strong. Yes, sometimes it’s a family member, spouse or friend who gives you strength but ultimately you need to be your own soldier. When you can find a passion (for me that’s running) that helps you build that strength you are only going to be able to tackle that much more that comes your way. Don’t get me wrong, there are things that happen in life that are almost impossible to get through alone. I’ve been there. When my husband was terminal and we knew he only had weeks to live I broke down one day at work just trying to grapple with the inevitable that he WOULDN’T be able to be the one to comfort me at his funeral. Who’s arms would I have to hug me and tell me it’ll be ok. This April will be 15 years since I lost him. I made it through those early years even before running by taking walks, joining a kickboxing class with my friend Gina, seeking out support from people who had been through similar situations and ultimately coining a nickname for myself. I was The Rock! I wanted to be strong for myself. I wanted to get up every day and find the joy in life. Granted, there were times I was so overwhelmed with grief I couldn’t get out of bed and I did rely on friends at times to carry me through. But it’s that inner strength that I tapped into then. And I have continued to do so through my running. I’ve been running about 7 or 8 years now and as I reached personal distance records and personal time records I’ve cried tears of amazement. Each mile that I log is like a stitch in the wicking technical fabric of me. =)

When you’re struggling with something in life or with a bad workout, don’t make your first reaction to go cry to your spouse or your mom but rather do something to empower yourself and build that strength. Go for a walk, write in a journal, take a step back and take a deep breath and assess the situation and how you can help yourself through it. Be that army of one…

OK, gonna switch gears here for something funny (well not really funny)….Duncan managed to get car grease all over him. I have no idea how. I tried to get it out with baby wipes but you can see in the zoomed in pic that apparently it’s still not all out. Looks like he’s getting a bath later.

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greasy doodle

And if you follow me on Instagram then you saw this sweet pic…

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And to switch gears again, let me tell you about this awesome new item that I bought for myself that arrived today. It’s called the Joby GripTight Micro Stand and it’s this tiny little stand for my iPhone. It folds up and attaches to a keychain!

photoI’ve noticed since getting the new iPhone 5s that my case is not flat and I can’t seem to prop my phone up to take pictures using the timer. This is a big problem in the blogworld no? So I got this stand to take with me on runs. It was only $20 on Amazon.

Well, I’m taking advantage of this commitment-free evening to channel surf and foam roll. Bliss!

Have a great weekend!

Question: Do you ever have epiphanies while running?