I Run These Towns

I often have people ask me how I stay motivated, and to be honest - it's not easy. There it is - the secret is out. While I want all of you to think I'm super human, I'm not. Great, there goes my rep.  The secret to being motivated is...well I don't know what it is. I do know, however, that it takes hard work. It takes pushing yourself. And some days, even for me, it just isn't happening. One of the ways I am motivated is by being public about my running and even about my health struggles. It helps keep me motivated to know that  other people are following what I'm up to. Before my Crohn's issue a few weeks ago, I was in a super motivated streak. I was working out, both running and cross training, 5-6 days a week. I was feeling great physically and emotionally. Everything was running smoothly. After my overnight hospital stay I took a week off running, and it's been slow going in the two weeks since I started working out again. In the last few weeks ...

Last weekend was our first chance to enjoy the inaugural season of our West Virginia football tickets, and it came at a perfect time. It's been a busy few weeks at work and at home, and I was really looking forward to a weekend away.  One of the perks of being in Morgantown, WV is that my phone doesn't sync e-mails or connect to the internet, and it's freeing to be a little disconnected.   Morgantown, taken from Mountaineer Field I usually take Fridays off from running, but I ran Friday morning before we left so I could take the weekend off. It's been almost three weeks since my partial bowel obstruction, and I'm still feeling a little sluggish while I'm running. I've been running low mileage, but it's been rough going. I'm hoping this week I can get back into it, but first I needed a weekend of recharging. It was nice to be in Morgantown and be able to sleep in a little bit despite the fact that I was sleeping in a twin bed in the guest room...

We've long established as part of this blog that I have issues knowing when to slow down and knowing my limits. I get it - I'm viciously stubborn and extremely motivated. It's quite the combination. But last weekend I did it - recognized my limits and switched to the 5k of the Capital City River Run here in Lansing instead of running the half for the third straight year. On Saturday I made my way down to the Lansing Center in downtown Lansing to pick up my packet. I work in downtown Lansing maybe half a mile from the Lansing Center, so I'm really familiar with downtown. But on packet pick-up day all of the available parking nearby is marked "event parking" and it's a total cluster getting down there and finding someplace to park. The expo is not one of my favorites. It seems disjointed and really loud. My husband asked if I wanted to look around, and I just didn't. I just want to get out of there. The race, on the other hand, I've always loved...

After living in Norfolk, Virginia with and then near my sister for a few years in the mid-2000's, I moved to Michigan seven years ago.  I felt homesick leaving Norfolk, and I still feel a strong connection to the city having worked for the Mayor and with my brother and sister still living there. Being 12 hours away requires extra work, so a few years ago my sister and I decided we'd do an annual sister trip each year - just a long weekend with no real agenda other than to hang out. Last year we met in New York City for a long spring weekend, and this year we went to Chicago. At Madame Tussauds in NYC, April 2011 Now we're looking to plan out 2013 trip, and we're a little stumped. I mean this is what happens when the possibilities are endless, right? It would be fun to go someplace neither of us have been, but we both travel a lot so that becomes more difficult. Taking photos of ourselves at The Bean in Chicago, May 2012 I've been wracking my brain for co...

I'm not good at living my life within its limits. I am constantly pushing harder, pushing to do more, do better.  And sometimes my Crohns prohibits me from pushing, and it is still, after 15 years, always a surprise. Early last week I woke up like any other morning, put on my running clothes, and took off with my husband to walk our dogs. About a block into the walk, I doubled over with abdominal pain. We cut the walk short, and I headed home and collapsed into bed, quickly shooting an e-mail to the office that I wouldn't be in.  I'm a tough guy, so I figured whatever it was would just go away within a few hours. A few hours later I had to get out of bed because I was in too much pain. I restlessly ambled around my house trying to get comfortable - watching TV, walking around, lying down. Nothing helped. Around noon I called my husband to tell him it hadn't gotten better, and I was swallowing my pride and saying we had to go somewhere. Initially I suggested urgent c...

On Saturday I ran the Touched by Adoption 5k, the inaugural 5k held by Adoption Associates, the agency my husband and I are using for our domestic adoption.  The race was in Portland, MI, about 20 minutes from Lansing. I've run several races in Portland including my 5k PR last summer in 26:00, and I was excited for this race. I found myself extremely emotional as soon as we pulled up to the race start. The first person we saw was our case worker, and there were dozens of people with their children.  I don't know how many of these parents were parents by adoption, but my heart felt so happy seeing all of the families.  Before the race a speech was given by a tearful volunteer and mom by adoption, and I felt so much joy to be running this race. Adoption Associates has placed over 4500 children into adoptive families, and I was overwhelmed by the happiness of being part of this group. The race was along Portland's rural river trail. There weren't a lot of spec...