what women want

Last night I was watching What Women Want and I was surprised that I had forgotten how much I liked the advertising pitch for Nike Running that is shown in the movie. During today’s lesson at GOTR the advertising pitch again stuck out in my head. In case y’all aren’t familiar with what I’m talking about, thank youtube for the wonderful footage.

What women want - Nike from Matthew Leem on Vimeo.

Today at girls on the run we talked about advertising, but more specifically supermodels and how the pictures we see in magazines and on TV aren’t always what these women look like in real life. We went through a slideshow of before and after photos of celebrities and popular icons that the girls would recognize, showing them how beautiful these women are before photoshop and airbrushing. Most importantly we talked about the expectations of our own appearances, and that we, and others, shouldn’t be expected to look like the women that we see in magazines. Being who we are is okay, and as one girl pointed out, its easier too, and no amount of airbrushing or photoshop or make up can make us better runners.

As fun as our inside lessons are, listening to these girls build confidence and make connections, it’s the laps outside that I look forward to the most. Although it is sometimes a struggle to get the girls running, it is always exciting to see progress and the self-confidence that comes along with that. This week the girls were faced with a goal of completing 3 miles during practice in preparation for their end of season 5k race in a few weeks. I headed out with two of my favorite little ones (well three if you count Kate’s stuffed dog that she runs with) and we completed our first mile in 12 minutes. With a little bit more nagging from me, we finished the next mile in 15, and aimed for 15 minutes for the last mile. As we set out on our last lap I knew the girls were tired but we continued on, setting small goals like running to the next lamp post and running to the bottom of the hill…and running to the top of the hill… and running to the next lamp post until we found ourselves running all the way back to the finish where we found the entire team welcoming us back with a makeshift finish line. My girls were the only ones to finish 3 miles today, and finishing was all that mattered. I am so proud of the strides these girls are making, physically and mentally towards coming strong and confident women and I can not wait to see them cross the finish line on December 3^rd with smiles and tears at their end of season race.

never underestimate the power of a good run.

or a good playlist. 

happy tuesday y'all.

GOTR

This week I started my first week as a coach for the Girls on the Run chapter closest to Clemson, located at the Anderson YMCA. If you're not familiar with Girls on the Run, straight from their website......

"Girls on the Run is a life-changing, experiential learning programs for girls age eight to thirteen years old. The programs combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts. The goals of the programs are to encourage positive emotional, social, mental, spiritual and physical development. The objective of Girls on the Run is to educate and empower girls at an early age in order to prevent the display of at-risk activities in the future. At risk activities include substance/alcohol use, eating disorders, early onset of sexual activity, sedentary lifestyle, depression, suicide attempts and confrontations with the juvenile justice system."

It is my dream to someday work for Girls on the Run in the program development area! This week's lesson was right up my alley (ie. healthy eating!) I loved listening to the girls creative answers to trivia questions about the different food groups, what gives us energy, and what makes us powerful girls. 

One of our questions this week was "What is the doctor recommended running distance that girls our age (8-13) could train for?" As the program suggests, the recommended distance is 3 miles. One of the girls, when learning this answer, scoffed at this and said, 

"Well we can all run 3 miles, that's easy!" 

Her confidence was inspiring. 

Not only was she confident, but she was empowered by her ability to run. 

After one day spent with the girls in Anderson I fully believe in the positive effects that running can have on a young girl's self-confidence and optimism. I am incredibly excited to continue with these girls throughout the 'season' and watch each and every one of them recognize the power that they can achieve through running.

bitch to bacon, year two.

two weeks ago kayla reeves made the trek to the maineland while i ran the old port half marathon. this weekend we made the trip again to participate in the td bank beacon to beach 10k road race. the race allows over 6,000 entrants and minutes after registration opens all the spot are filled. kayla and i were lucky enough to get two spots during those critical moments and it was the first race we ran together since my very first 5k, the clark university 2nd annual green run.

for being one of the most prestigious races in maine, i can't say that this years bitch to bacon was as enjoyable as last year, but despite the heat/humidity and our relaxed attitude, it was a wonderful way to spend my last weekend in maine. its amazing how quickly i've fallen back into the pattern of seeing kayla almost every day and i'm surely dreading saying "see you later" next week, knowing that later will be much longer than a few days.

old port half marathon, in review

march 2nd, 2010 i wrote my first blog post, just three months after my second acl reconstruction, i wrote "today i started training for my first half-marathon." now, almost a year and a half later i can successfully say that my training is over, and i can finally cross that first half-marathon off the list.

in true fashion, i suppose i will start out with my thank yous. i am forever gratefully for my ever-growing cheering squad. i was lucky enough to have three of the most important my people in my life bouncing around the race course, cheering me on throughout the thirteen miles. i am not quite sure my parents fully understand how much it meant to me to see them there at miles one, three, four, four and half, six, eleven and the finish. and of course, papa schutte repping his steps foundation t-shirt was enough to make me blink back the tears when i first spotted them out of the starting line. along with my parents, having kayla reeves along the course was all the motivation i needed to keep my legs moving. although i could have done without the vomit comment at mile eleven, she has constantly been a source of motivation, inspiration and consolation since day one. i can confidently say that without her, i would have given up a long time ago.

the quote at the top of this page states that "if you run, you are a runner. it doesn't matter how fast or how far. it doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. there is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. you just run." i also believe this applies to the running community. runners accept and encourage each other regardless, which is why i am so thankful to have met another inspirational runner at acs. elise has been a constant supporter and partner as we simultaneously trained for our first half marathons. although she was not along the race course, her support during the weeks leading up to race day was comparable and i am unbelievably excited for her to experience her first half on august 7th.

the prizes of this weekend include much more than my finishers medal, t-shirt, or pint glass. i have forever joined the 13.1 club and proved to myself that i am capable of things that i, and many others, never thought possible. i tried to look at my second acl tear as a set back, knowing that a set back is only a set up for a comeback. i think it is safe to say that i have made my comeback and i have savored every mile.

this certainly isn't over, there will always be more roads to discover and new races to run.

mind over matter

as i fully expected, yesterdays long run through the backwoods of central maine was just what i needed to boost my confidence for next weekend's race. it still amazes me that in ten miles i was able to cross three towns, seven wild chickens, eight different people that i know, and four red pick-up trucks (including one spotted from the i-95 overpass) i've never run ten miles before. during my training for twin-lights the longest run i completed was eight, so even yesterday i was doubtful about my ability to run as far as i did.

yesterday convinced me that mind over matter is really most important and that by staying positive this week only good things will be in store for me on sunday.

summer in the city

and here it is, my long overdue blog post. seeing how my last post was following boston marathon weekend it is probably time for an update?

where to start... I didn't register in time for the twin lights half marathon in order to secure a t-shirt, so I never registered at all and that plan fell by the wayside. It wasn't a horrible decision because kayla's graduation weekend was hectic enough without attempting to run my very first half as well.

summer is more than halfway over now and the majority of it has been spent in my somerville, ma apartment with the lovely paige begley, hostessing at the russell house tavern in harvard square, and working as an intern on the making strides against breast cancer walk of boston put on by the american cancer society. between the irregular schedules and sometimes late nights at russell house I haven't always been able to get in the best quality runs, but when I do I am often dodging cars and waiting for stoplights. more often than not it is during my runs that I find myself missing home the most.

living just across the charles from historic boston makes it hard not to imagine myself running boston someday (see previous post), but before boston must come a half marathon..and none other than the old port half marathon next sunday! I am beyond both nervous and excited to run my first half in one of my favorite places in maine, and I registered in time to receive the t-shirt which is always an added bonus. kayla reeves will be making the trek to the maine-lands to watch and I know that having her there will only mean positive things, as well as a guarantee of finish-line tears. I have a fresh playlist lined up for next week, a new pair of sneakers in an attempt to alleviate my recent knee pains...all that's left is my daunting 10-mile training run tonight and then a week of mid-distance runs before race day on sunday!

I am happy to be home this weekend for my last long run and I'm confident that running some of my favorite routes will give me the final inspiration and confidence I need to be prepared for next weekend.

Boston Marathon Weekend Wrap up

Yesterday was the 115th running of the Boston Marathon! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to fly to Boston last Thursday and spend the weekend with some of my favorite people, bouncing around in and around Boston until flying back to Clemson this morning (and by opportunity, I mean the weeks that I spent hating my life at MGTA this summer provided the funds for my airfare). Although I left Clark for greener pastures, it's still nice to go back and see Kayla Reeves and the rest of the dirty woo that still remains!

As I spent the weekend focused around all things running, it was hard not to imagine myself out there one day. On Marathon Monday as I rode the t (boston subway system for all you non-new-englanders) many people asked me if I had just run, and the more people that asked me, the more I wanted to say yes! I started telling people that running Boston sure is on my bucket list, but when I run it I want to know that I'm training correctly by getting enough sleep and eating well, two thing that aren't always priorities in college. Yesterday and today, I kept telling people that once I finish my undergrad I plan to run Boston. Although logical, I'm not really quite sure where this plan came from. I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the extensive quantities of coffee I consumed combined with the lack of sleep.

Speaking of training smart...that half marathon? I was doing really well, got up to my 8-mile long run, then on a shorter run I had an incident with some pre-run peanut butter cups that lead to my downfall in the form of yuking on the outer parts of Perimeter Road. This weekend, although inspiring, exhausting, and much needed, only allowed for one run, meaning that my training has continued spiraling downward and my long run must occur tomorrow if at all this week. I am going to keep going with my training, but as I haven't officially signed up for Twin Lights (and I missed the t-shirt deadline....) the option to choose a different half is still very much a possibility.


I'm hoping the inspirations from this weekend will be enough to carry me through the next twenty-seven days as I push forward in attempts of completing Twin Lights. The spirit of Boston is contagious and I'm still amazed by the tremendous things that were accomplished in 26.2 miles by runners of all shapes and sizes yesterday. As we did last year, Kayla and I volunteered for the Hall Steps Foundation (Ryan Hall's foundation!) at the expo events, and were actually able to hang out with Ryan for a quick minute! (see above!) The Hall Steps Foundation isn't the only non-profit that runners can choose to support in their running endeavors, there are probably too many charities that were represented yesterday, but I admire each and every runner that dedicates their steps to help others. Yesterday over 27,000 runners raised money for charities, over came personal battles, broke records (impressive records too!) and made a difference during their journey from Hopkinton to Copley Square.

Someday, I can't wait to be one of them.

snails pace

not-so-good-things about today's run
-it was still hot and humid at 5pm
-i found myself face to face with a potentially rabid raccoon
-i accidentally took the last two days off, aka today's run kicked my ass

i don't think i've ever run slower in my entire life

good-things about today's run

sarasota sunshine

SPRINGBREAK2K11 get cRaZy!

Okay, not quite. It's spring break week, and while most college students are out getting plastered at the beach with their biffles, I'm spending the week doing what I do best, eating, running, laying in the sun, and sleeping. all in the company of my parents and grandparents! I am certainly not complaining, as we all know how often it is that I get the chance to do absolutely nothing, and that's exactly what I've been doing this week. I still have a mountain of reading to get through before classes resume on Monday, but this hasn't been a priority yet. I can't say that the rest of the week brings anything exciting except more laying in the sun, sleeping, eating and running, and I couldn't be happier to do exactly that.

peanut butter cups.

I would say that about the same day I was diagnosed with mono, I became readdicted to peanut butter cups. I say readdicted in that reese's pb cups were my favorite candy pre-lactose intolerance diagnosis. Seeing how pb cups have "lactose" listed as an ingredient, they definitely fall on the "do-not eat list." Last month when I had mono I decided I was immune to the effects of eating lactose and bought two large bags of easter colored reese pb cups at rite aid while filling a prescription. Well, my mono is finally gone but the pb habit has not ended, thus each time I go to rite aid or the grocery store I restock.

Why I find it necessary to inflict bodily pain upon myself in the form of reese's, I'm not really quite sure. As I am now more than one week into half-marathon training, I have decided that I must kick this reese's habit once and for all. Dairy has a way of making me cranky, tired, hungry and bloated, among other things, all of which are not conducive to pleasant runs. I have decided that if I am going to be dedicated and successful in this half-marathon, I must too dedicate myself to kicking the reese's habit.

If I can run 13.1 miles, I can live without them, right?

ben comen

Yesterday, at the Women's Leadership Conference I attended, this video about a local cross country runner was shown.
A true definition of dedication, determination, and heart.




Thank you Ben for reminding us all
to not let our weaknesses define us,
and to let our strengths shine.

morning motivations

It's half-marathon training day three! Thursday's tend to be my marathon day anyways, with classes straight from 9:30 until 3:30, and teaching the kids at Upstate directly after until 7:30. I know myself well enough to know that tonight after work I'll be able to come up with plenty of excuses as to why I could get away with not running today, so instead I set my alarm for 6:30 and was off to Fike by 6:45. There are definite advantages to going to the gym before 10am (ie. I was able to get my favorite treadmill). Running this morning so early reminded me of the summer after graduation when I would get my booty out of bed circa 5am just to squeeze in a workout before my 8am shift started at MGTA. I had forgotten how awake I feel after a morning workout, I'm arguably more awake now than if I had slept for another hour and a half and grabbed coffee on the way to lab. Although as my runs become longer and longer, I'll have to wake up earlier and earlier, I have a feeling I'll be making my morning workouts a habit!

oh hello there world!

Has it really been a month since my last update? I honestly believe it. Somehow in the month and a half, thanks to karma, I somehow got mono? Not really quite sure how that happened, but either way it did, and it explains why I felt like death for so long. Unfortunately mono completely wipes you out, and there isn't really anything they can do for you, at all, besides let you sleep, meaning that I have no desire in the entire world to drag my ass out of bed and go running.

Towards the end of last week I finally woke up and didn't feel like death, which was such a wonderful surprise, and just in time for my sister to come to town too! I had such a wonderful visit with her while she was on her spring break, it makes me miss being in Worcester and eating dinner at 148 on the regular!

Either way, today I ended my running hiatus with a quick little run after biology lab (where I hide in the corner from all the WHEAT flour sprinkled around the room). Today I not only ended my running hiatus, I started my 1/2 marathon training plan. I've unofficially choosen the Twin Lights Half Marathon in Gloucester, MA on May 15. It will be the day after my sister's graduation, so I'm hoping my parents will be more willing to come and cheer me on, especially because its a little far from home! I have until April 1st to sign up and still be guaranteed a t-shirt (a requirement) so that gives me a few weeks to see how this plan works out for me, but I'm hoping I won't back out!

pretty woman

edward lewis, you know what, impossible relationships, my special gift is impossible relationships too.... i will be the first to willingly admit that i am not a football fan, hence why instead of spending this evening watching the superbowl, i instead watched pretty woman at the gym. i really appreciate the fact that tbs supports all the non-football loving women of the world to provide them with such a classic romantic comedy on the night of the superbowl.

anywhooo, i was quite disappointed on wednesday that my class did NOT go for a group run. i showed up all dressed and ready to go, but no one else was quite feeling it! There was also a 5k on campus on saturday that somehow i happened to miss, and i have yet to fit in a run outside which just makes me even more antsy every time i step on the treadmill. goal for the week; run. out. side.

I've been over doing it recently, and by over doing it, I have blisters on my blisters. I am generally the last person on earth to admit that I've done too much, but when its painful to walk in any shoes...somethings gotta give. My blisters are partially due to the black boots I choose to romp around Clemson in this weekend, but that's a whole different story. As for running tomorrow, I still haven't decided about that yet, but Wednesday brings our first group run with my marathon training class, meaning I have to be capable of running without issue as to not embarrass myself!

high five for fridays

1. Today I was officially offered a summer internship at the American Cancer Society in the suburbs of Boston! Not only will this be a wonderful experience, I will be fulfilling BOTH of my practicum requirements for my NPL minor! In addition, I was offered a position as a College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences (Nutrition falls within this college) Ambassador, meaning I would help on accepted students days answering questions, and calling new students to welcome them to the program! So much good news today!

2. The pickles are officially gone. No worries, we went to Bi-Lo this afternoon where I restocked on all of the necessities (a.k.a. pickles, avocados, eggs and frozen gf waffles) I literally haven't gone grocery shopping since I got here, and since we're now four weeks into the semester, let's say my meals the last few days have been quite creative. I'm currently cooking a pizza for dinner, my meals haven't been this extravagant in...well, forever.

3. I had my first ever caramel macchiato at Starbucks today. I can't say I enjoyed it, and I probably won't be getting it again. I also felt silly ordering something with such a long a name, as I ordered it iced, and with soy milk. Pretty sure I'll be sticking to my standard iced coffee from now on.

4. Today's weather would have allowed for a wonderful run outside, but instead I was dragged to Fike where instead, I had merely a mediocre run. Tomorrow I will stand my ground and I will run outside instead!

5. Tonight is boys bid day, meaning that all of the spring rushees will receive their fraternity bids this evening, requiring the entire campus to go crazyyy. yipppeeeee!

pickles

there's been much discussion recently in N8D about my obessive pickle eating pre and post run. I suppose some of it has to do with Kayla Reeves, and her identical passion for pickles. I however, am a picky pickle eater to please, and I am only satisfied with claussen kosher dill pickles, as shown below.


the ones above are actually pickle halves and not my preference of sandwich slices, but due to the snowstorm in Clemson earlier this term, halves were my only option, and as I eat strickly claussen kosher dill, they had to do. my mom likes to make pickles with the copious amounts of cucumbers from our garden and is personally offended when I politely decline her homemade pickles, but I just like to stick to what I know, hence why i opted for halves instead of another brand of sandwich slices.

Either way, there has been a series of google-ing session investigating the cause of these post run cravings for pickles, and nothing of value has come up. Apparently pregnant women crave pickles (I'm not pregnant...) and sometimes people drink pickle juice to cure/prevent muscle cramps (I never drink the pickle juice, and I don't get muscle cramps). I suppose the jury is still out on this one, but whatever it is about those pickles, they've been getting me through some powerful runs these last few days!

ke$ha

oh keSha, no one could have said it better, i'm in love alright, with my crazy beautiful life. And life recently, hasn't been slowing down. From classes, to working, to working on a few new things for Gamma Phi, to spending quality uh, bonding time with the roomies, running hasn't been a priority, meaning that today's run was much over due. It may have been because I was listening to keSha loud enough for the girl next to me to hear it as well, but either way, best run I've had in a while.

recently I haven't been feeling the treadmill, or when I want to run its dark out, or there is simply too much to be done in the form of working, sleeping, eating... It's going to be hard for me to convince myself that these are NOT actually legitimate excuses as I may actually be sticking to a training plan for once in my life. I neglected to include in my last post about dropping my Religion class, that instead I added a one credit leisure skills class, called Marathon Training. Although we didn't have class today, we usually meet once a week on Wednesday afternoons. I'm excited for this once a week source of inspiration, even if the training plans, running logs, and endurance strategies fall through, but I'm going to try my hardest to stick to the plan. We don't actually get graded on a successful completion of a marathon, but simply attending classes and keeping a training log, which should be easy enough!

sunday monday

Happy MLK Day! Being that we are in the south, they take Martin Luther King day pretty seriously around here, meaning no classes! We had quite the lazy morning around the apartment and when Sammi finally was dragged out of bed circa 12:30, I dragged her off for our second day in a row at Fike. Sammi has big plans to get her beachbod on before her TriDelt Cabin Weekend in February, and now that she actually has motivation it's been so much easier to make her come with me! This afternoon brings an extended stay teaching the kiddies at Upstate, only to be followed by copious of reading that I was convinced to stop doing last night :)

adjusting

I've been back at Clemson for an entire week now even though it seems like I never left. I promptly assumed stress mode again as soon as Beth (my wonderful advisor) registered me for English 213, meaning that I would be taking 21 credit hours. Today I finally broke down and decided to drop my Religion class, rationalizing that I can always fill that requirement next semester, at a time other than 8 am.

Either way, its been good to be back, some roommate dramaz, actually, a lot of roommate dramaz, too many books, too many classes (which hopefully has been resolved now) but today's adventures included a trip to Fike with Sammmi, and for now we have posted up in the living room with bigggg bowls of popcorn, Good Luck Chuck, and my standard bag of frozen peas on my knee!

new years resolution

The thing that sucks about the month of January is that everyone wants to lose weight. They decide by some miracle starting in January with help them do so. Apparently this is extremely true for college students as well, because at about 7:30 this evening, there was not one open treadmill, elliptical, bike, ab center, or machine to be used, thus why I had to entertain myself by running on the over crowded indoor track. I applaud Clemson for having an indoor track, however, running ten laps to equal one mile is one of the most depressing things ever. ever. Regardless, today was the first officially day of classes here at Clemson (pushed back a day due to snow) and I figured I should officially begin my running patterns again, meaning squeezing in a run after work at 7:30, and before Grey's Anatomy at 9. I have hope that once the semester gets underway and the month of January passes, less and less people will be at the gym, and Clemson will learn how to plow a sidewalk so I can run outside instead!

back in tiger town

Well, here I am, back in tiger town and it's SNOWING. Essentially the entire town of Clemson shut down as soon as the snow started falling, and oddly enough there is more snow here than when I left Maine yesterday! I've been back at school for less than 24 hours, and I'm already back into my old ways of baking obsessively, cleaning everything, and watching VH1 (and not actually watching it). I'm excited to get this semester underway on Wednesday with more interesting classes, more hours at Upstate and a better class schedule that is conducive to running (much more conducive than my schedule during winter break!) As for today, I have more baking, cleaning, organizing and unpacking to accomplish, and then its off to the Gamma Phi hall to reunite with some of my favorites! <3