Getting inspired

Hi everyone, I’m finally back!

I needed a few days hiatus after this last weekend of work. There was too much stress and emotion going on with closing that chapter of my life to feel inspired to write posts that would be uplifting and worthy of your reading. As life goes, I ended up not sleeping very well the last two nights leading up to my last two shifts. By Sunday, I was so incredibly overtired and emotionally spent that I nearly collapsed after work. Thankfully I have a wonderful boyfriend named Eric, who grocery shops for our meals and allows me to be sleepy and mopey on his couch and makes sure I eat a meal before passing out for the night 🙂 What a great guy!

So I was going to skip posting again today, still feeling a bit blah and uninspired, but as life also goes, inspiration finally came!! I was sitting in one of my grad classes (Research Methods…really, not the most thrilling) and one of my friends and I were chatting about work, interning, life, etc. She mentioned starting out her days with running and it peaked my interest. I decided to get nosey and ask her what she did for running, how much, etc. She told me she was actually in training for a half-marathon and running about 40 miles per week…so amazing! I was really impressed and wanted to know more. I started to tell her a little bit about where I’m at with running…3-4 mile runs a few days a week. We both were interested in the topic and so after class we we really began to talk…

She said that she had read a book that really inspired her in running (which I do not have the title for, but I will be letting you know). I talked about my history with running, having been a sprinter in high school and my belief that I was only a sprint-runner. I told her how running outdoors has been something that has challenged me and that I have not believed I could ever be good at. She told me that by being a sprinter I had an advantage in speed workouts, building up my mile times after building up my mileage. I also told her how I have been struggling lately with the decision to keep my workouts in the gym or running on the road. I have had the most success with weight loss in the gym, but I also had unhealthy eating habits at that time. Since that time I have changed my outlook on both fitness and nutrition. I believe that fitness has to be more than just an all out calorie-burning sweat-fest. It must better and soothe the mind and body. I believe that nutrition is more than just making sure calories in is always less than calories out. It must nourish your body, give you energy, and make you feel full and at peace.

In considering all of this, there is the idea of running. My friend made a great point, she said the book gave her an affirmation which she lives by “Running is a privilege.” This is such a simple yet profound idea; running is not something that we have to do or should do; its something we are gifted to do and have an ability for. She said that keeping that idea in her mind took the stress and pressure off of getting in runs. I think that is such an incredible concept, especially because I find it difficult to always stay motivated and yet relaxed about running.

We also had great talks about nutrition, sharing different tips and methods. She said that a great part of the book she is reading is that it explains the different ways to use nutrition to fuel different types of runs. I told her that I am now re-assessing my diet as I have given up meat (aside from seafood and eggs) and am also lactose-intolerant. Where she uses Whey Isolate protein, I am experimenting with Brown Rice Protein. We also talked a bit about breakfast and how she often has a smoothie post-run and another mid-morning snack of fruit and nut butter. I asked her what was in her smoothies and, after hearing no mention of green, recommended to her the Green Monster Movement . Being a nutrition oriented person, she was really interested in GM’s, especially considering that she finds herself loosing energy a few hours after her runs.

My conversation with Lindsey left me truly inspired to embrace running once again. I have been really on the fence since my 5k, wondering if thats really where running stops for me or not. I have decided (after using Eric as my sounding board 🙂 ) That I am going to research running again and take it a bit more seriously; add different workouts into my outdoor running rather than simply just going out and seeing what happens. I am also going to keep my gym membership because I believe cross-training and strength training are highly important in my own fitness. I enjoy taking days off from running to focus on yoga/core or strength and maybe even bringing spinning back in my life!

I know this has been a word-heavy post and I hope that you kept with me. I am just so excited to begin this new chapter of my life where I put my physical and mental well-being first, as well as my graduate program. I will also be keeping up with my meditation which, today, came in the form of a meditative nap!

Have a good night everyone and happy Tuesday tomorrow!!

-Em