Be A Donor!

I’m type A+, which I found out by donating my blood.

https://www.redcrossblood.org/

Today, I donated my blood! We went to the blood drive with a local fire department, a lot of my friend’s dad’s from growing up are firemen there so it felt like going to a lacrosse game, very cool. My aunt waited in the car for an hour for me, which was funny being that I had no awareness of the time flying by. I probably would have texted her if my mind was not in my own world, having all that fun in there squeezing the foam thing. Laying on the table, my ring really shined from the bright lights on the ceiling, it entertained me to say the least. I closed my eyes not thinking anything of it, and they thought I passed out, so needless to say I kept them open and just gazed down to my hand to be focusing on my dazzling ring the entire time from that point moving forward. Squeezing that foam thing every three seconds, to make it go by faster, hahah. The lady was so nice, and I did not even feel the needle going in or being taken out, lucky day. We went on a walk, with my sister, when I came out. I was pleasantly surprised with a long sleeve t-shirt for donating blood, that was really nice of them to give me. I gave the shirt to my sister, because I like to give my sisters my t-shirts from races and things, so I guess my oldest sister has my donor shirt as my middle sister has the NOLA marathon shirt. Aunt A, got a shirt just for checking on me, wondering where I was, she’s a donor too. My sisters cannot wait for my next race, so I will give them a t-shirt to wear to bed or the gym, I purposely choose which one will have each shirt from different events to make it more special over the years; my way of keeping my sisters wanting more of me, spicing up our lives. :)

I took iron pills all week to do this, it was 14.5, which is good. Personally, I do iron pills with vitamin C to make it absorb more. It is hard for some women to absorb iron. Afterwards, I ate a pocket full of hershey kisses, even after all the snacks and juice they gave me. Everyone was really nice to me.

Blood donation is so important, and I realized this when a loved one had a baby and needed to receive donor blood in an emergency situation whilst giving birth. My boyfriend whom I had met in Maine upon studying English Literature during college, really understands that blood is something money cannot necessarily donate, and he definitely turned me onto becoming a donor at the right time; he donates a lot of money and a lot of blood, it’s like his thing to do whilst having free-time from skiing or playing backgammon. As a runner, I would not do it if there is a race in the next two weeks, but if your race is a month out everything bounces back to normal levels, so it’s not a problem. With all my races canceled and me not budging on the specific races I want to run, not a settler hitting that almost ten years of marathon-running milestone, I really have no excuse to not donate my blood. I bet I’ll run my world major super fast, even being a blood donor, just time it all out the right way and everything bounces back. Donating blood is a good thing, especially when you run faster than those blood doping whilst being a blood donor; you feel extra good racing in those events. The reason I bring running up is, because there is a stigma regarding being an elite runner and donating blood, and I am letting you know ‘jump in the water is fine’. :)

Here is a link to a Runner’s World article about being a runner and a blood donor, at the same time. Simultaneous talents! I actually like Jenny Hadfield’s article a lot. Coach Jenny’s suggestion in the article to run by effort right after giving blood is awesome, while also knowing everything bounces back and you can run race pace after a couple easy weeks.

https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20787976/7-strategies-for-giving-blood-while-running-and-racing/

ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES

Even if you feel like you just fell hard, find that way to bounce back with composure and keep trying to run that marathon time!

The Time Standard

Back in college, I had a math professor and there was a power outage in Maine. I went to stay with my sister in Boston. This was also the weekend of the NYC Marathon, I thought about running it that year, but it just did not work out with my schedule. When the power outage was over, and I returned to school from my sisters home in Boston, he asked me in front of the entire class if I had run NYC. He knew that I did not run the NYC Marathon, and I was very upset over that not being the marathon for me that year with my schedule. Being chastised publicly, and humiliated over not running a particular marathon is very wrong, not worth a year in court, but very wrong. Even without a year in court, they were never to directly speak to me without an attorney ever again, because that is how life works when you humiliate someone; there is a consequence. Not worth the lawsuit, but certainly an attorney away, like that proff would have to write my lawyer a letter and then I may not feel willing to read it myself; one of those situations. I have no shame in sharing that story, I wish I could have finished that semester virtually or could have switched out of their class the last month; wish I did not want to kill myself over that class and that race. I should have taken that class with a better school anyway, it was not even the real version of the topic requirement I needed for my grad program, chastised for a worthless class I would have tested out of somewhere normal; never lower your standard.

The reason I had to do all those standardized tests, is because those classes were not hard enough, which is why I was so excited for grad school so I could learn harder things, freely be as smart as I am. Absolutely could not wait to stop taking baby classes, and be in it with all the hard stuff. The reason I started college in the tenth grade, and did five classes every summer of highschool, there was a reason for all the work that I put into my studies. Evidently, I wanted a teacher with a more correct demeanor. I hopped over to my cool aunt, to fix it so I would not die inside and out; I felt beyond helpless, and like it was the end of the world. I truly felt that teacher ruined my entire life and future, everything that I ever worked for; after that day in class when I was chastised, whilst all I ever did was study my brains out. So, I dropped his class after that day with the NYC Marathon issue, and took a yoga class with someone I knew would give me an A and four credits. I took the real version of his class at a good school here in NY, and had perfect scores on almost everything, not one conversation with the professor nor my classmates; it was a 4.0 semester. That is how I found out that not everyone respects professional athletes, but it made me more flexible and do what I really needed to accomplish in real life. Graph paper and neat handwriting make me happy and so do neuroplasticity research studies.

I want the general public to realize it’s not always the race, a lot of people respect time standards that you could run anywhere in the world, any race in any location. You can run very fast anywhere, and that is meeting the standard of time and demands respect. That professor is an example of someone who should feel 26.2 miles is pretty far, even without a time standard for someone my age; I started so young for my sport in my teens, my god. Who are they? I don’t even know if I’ll ever run NYC or the Olympic Trials, I think I’ll run the time I want to and then just teach and find a less strenuous passion. All I care about is the time I run, not the race. I’m not the glam marathon runner, I’ll go for a time in the middle of nowhere anyday.

Do they think to no avail, can I run the race that I actually want to? Like I just run around aimlessly everyday for years, for no reason; it’ll never work out, just pointless. I feel like I could wait another three years to debut in the marathon as of now, and it would still be young in reality. You know, I am always jealous when people ‘debut’ in the marathon, I wish that I felt like I was debuting in the marathon when I started ten years ago... Perhaps, it is never too late to debut in something you have already been doing efficiently for a long time. It could be time to ‘renew my vows’ with marathon running, to keep it spicy. Was I robbed of debuting? Do you still have your marathon card? Only time will tell, but sometimes people are mean and you just have to give them the cold shoulder.

My old cross country coach, Oscar B Jensen (OBJ), is the one who started me at an early age to have the mindset that running is a black and white sport, meaning you either run a time standard or you fail. Who cares which event you run the time in? My coach would put people in races or cut them based on the fact of the time they ran, he added up the minutes on paper and put all of us side by side. Ironically, he never wanted us to run with a stopwatch, it’s funny. Nothing changes in any running event, at any age, it is the time standard. Everyone could run the same time in a race, technically, the point is you run the time or you do not; even if you do not run the time, you can do better next time.

When I was younger, I thought my mile mark was a mile, but it was a mile and a half. I would look at my legs and look at my watch and do ANYTHING to make it to that mark, in the time I wanted to run a mile. To think it was really a mile and a half, I had no idea! That is probably how so many of my teammates have run sub-4-minute-miles in their careers, our coach knew what to do to us in our teenage years. You know, I never ask those buddies what race they ran sub-4 in, I just think it’s cool they did it, even if it was on a treadmill in their house and not during track season; however, they all had cool races. I need to ask them to pace me in a marathon sometime, or we could all win a relay someday. Nevertheless, it made me a lot faster, whether I realized it or not. I do enjoy having a gps in my stopwatch, nowadays! Kids have it easy with the gps stopwatches, nowadays. My advice as an athlete is whilst running make sure to keep your shoulders back, your hands loose, and keep springing your legs.

Perspective is everything. Like, I thought my boyfriend did not want me to go skydiving, because I am a highly respected professional athlete who needs to avoid injury and risk. I would believe he would rent out the whole place, before thinking we would all intentionally drive three hours to not skydive. He would do anything, for me to not jump out of an airplane, especially during marathon season; break out the flip-phone and make the call to stop me, yelling at somebody profound. I could be wrong. Sometimes, you just need a professor who is another class of human being inside and out, with a different university. I have to tell you, my professor with the big name university whom I retook this class with sophisticatedly cultured classmates and received an A from, is indeed a woman from upstate NY. Syracuse University and OCC saved the day, letting me jump into their class, move on from that awful professor I had somewhere else. Be stubborn with your goals, and flexible with your methods.

People can get jealous of anything you have, like girls hated me for dating my boyfriend who I happened to have in college; he’s someone I should have felt like I should be dating anyway, in my pool of a person to have as a boyfriend in real life. We are both roman catholic, and bonded over our faith and spirituality, he drove me to church on Sunday mornings when I did not have a car, it’s a big deal for me to find that in a man. You save a lot of money on uber that way. It’s hard to find someone by chance in real life, who shares the same faith or lifestyle and moral values. Who else would I want to go out to dinner with? Just an alternative to staying in bed and watching tv or reading a book, would be driving around with him. The things that girls would say, even guys. I wondered if they thought it would make him like them instead, to make up horrendous gossip. When we first started dating my freshman year, my male RA was so jealous I put on a loft dress for a brunch date, they wrote me up for ‘cutting myself shaving in the shower’ and I had to pay $500 for this bullshit fine; fucking crazy. Would that have been worth a $10,000 lawsuit? My lawyer just worked it out on the phone for that one. Things make me snap and phone my attorney all the way over in Penfield sometimes, I still have the letter of that fine, and it literally says the reason is ‘cutting shaving in shower’ next to the dollar amount; my dad wishes it was something he could make a joke about like a party. It would be fun to walk into my lawyer’s office, throw a stack of papers on their desk and say ‘deal with this’ but that’s not what ever happens, I just text them or something and it’s not all that you see in a lifetime movie. Then, later on in our relationship five years later, it’s a matter of keeping the reservation with the table you requested, perhaps inviting a single to join the two of you for some wine, hope they admire my sophisticated marathon running career as an adult; some people like meeting me because of the way I run, it’s cool when that happens. I’ll admit there were times whilst I ‘boyfriend ditched’ my lady gang and they could be upset about it, but random people can be crazy jealous of a couple and it’s weird. You can only pray those random people, find a love of their own someday. In the long run, that gossip made him start working out more, now he’s in really good shape, it is so funny; I don’t care what he looks like, it would be fine if they never lifted a weight ever again. Running can be like that too, the running world can be mean. You just find people who respect standards and relationships to have in your daily life. Was it worth dating him? I don’t know, but I don’t like anyone else so I suppose spending time together is special to me.

Running Challenges I Have Run in the PAST

My thing through the years is running a correlating amount of miles for a specific day or occasion. For example, I usually run the amount of miles that matches the New Year, from 2013 to 2020, that tradition stood. 2013 I ran 13 miles on the New Year, 2020 I ran 20 miles on the New Year. On my birthday, I like to run the age that I turn, if I turned 15 then I ran 15 miles. My birthday run challenges are really the reason it made sense for me to just do a marathon later in my teens. Races are the victory lap of all the hard work from practice. Beauty is pain, in life.

When I turned 24, I only ran 22 miles, and then I had to run a marathon the weekend afterwards, so I suppose it was not exactly 24; it still bothers me. I have to admit, I feel anything over 23 miles so as I become older, my birthday miles become more intense to finish. In one of my marathons, I actually sped up 23 miles in, because I just wanted to finish it as soon as possible which was unexpected. It takes years for the marathon distance to feel natural to a runner, my birthday miles attest to that idea being real. One of these years I’ll just need to break out my road bike in the middle of winter for those birthday miles, or try speed skating them; be creative. Those run challenges are a lot of fun to do, if you like to run a lot! Just my idea of fun, nothing special. The trails in the woods where I live have been a godsend for all my running career, very pretty and perfect for snowshoeing in winter if the opportunity presents itself. My go to long run is 18 miles, that’s my 20 miles in three hours easy long run on a Sunday. I do a lot of ten miles in the morning ten miles at night, for 100 miles week season, 3-3-3 on easy days. Workouts in double-digits of miles make me drink a lot of water, I deserve as much water as I would like after a run. A chapter in my ‘run book’ will be about drinking water and eating cupcakes, for sure, because you do not want to be so hungry and thirsty that you have your attorney prosecute running to the fullest extent. I feel starving after running anything over five miles, so especially 20 miles, yeah I need to eat and drink something enticing. Enticing, because when I am not enticed I just go without anything, which is unhealthy as I like to keep my weight up and not down. This girl is a lucky lady to have a dad whom gives her an extra $20 to buy whatever cupcake and water her heart desires after a long run in marathon training season, contracted in my contract; our bottom line, if you will. Sometimes, I let my best friends take a bite of my cupcake or a good crispy apple, and then I just end up with my special bottle of water, we are funny people. Some people like red bull mixed with soda and pumps of sugar flavoring, but for the same price I treat myself to a delicious bottle of ice cold water to top off a twenty-mile run as an adult elite athlete; spoiled rotton me. There is surprisingly a million dollar study conducted by the government that says ‘You need to drink water when you run twenty miles to stay alive, elite athlete or not’. I cannot eat a sheet cake everytime I run a lot anymore, nevertheless I am always happier than a pig in a cake when I run. :)

Do you think that it’s appropriate to eat a cupcake after a twenty mile run? I should make a poll! Perhaps, a good 2021 run challenge is to eat a cupcake anytime you run for several hours, for whatever reason. Eat a cupcake after running twenty miles, everytime, I dare you! I actually just told an old friend and her son in Ithaca, they should try to eat a cupcake after running twenty miles in under three hours, next time. I would love to see those two accomplish such a feat, especially together, it would make me smile. They would earn lunch at Sherwood and drinks at 1911 too, if they did something like my new run challenge. Nothing makes you earn calories like 20 miles, even after a cupcake you might want to be super crazy and go out to lunch too. Twenty mile runs whip you into shape, that’s for sure, no matter what you eat or drink afterwards; you can really eat or drink anything you want and not gain weight. Finger’s crossed that the miracle happens, everything comes to fruition. She’ll show up to her board meetings, fitter than ever preaching women’s heart health, because she ate a cupcake after running twenty miles with that boy of hers; just hope they never grow out of their baby blue Ralph Lauren sweater vest and matching clip-on bow tie, running all over the place. When you lick the frosting off of a cupcake, it’s a guilt free muffin (you can eat muffins after a twenty mile run too).

You know something that is actually hilarious? My friends watching the MDI Marathon, know I love cupcakes after twenty mile runs, and had an entire box of them for me 23 miles into the marathon, with water and gels and bagels. I only had time to lick the rainbow sprinkles and chocolate frosting and drink some fancy purified water, cute of them to surprise me. Honestly, I was so thirsty at that point, I pounded an entire liter of water, I was not even looking at the brand of it. Running does that to you, you become very thirsty and drink all the water you can get your hands on. Only the best run friends ever, they are super sweet. Always remember, never torture yourself after a long run, eat and drink EVERYTHING you want to eat and drink. Whenever I guest coach, I have all the food and water my runners could ever dream of, and keep trying to get them to consume more and more of it, even when they think it is enough; I hand things out to random lucky people too.

The Surprising Tool I Train With?

When I am training for a marathon up in the mountains, I need to check my oxygen level to make sure it stays above 94. So, I have this little pulse oximeter, that I put on my finger. Checking your oxygen, is like checking your heart-rate in a speed workout on the track. Both things are very important! To check my heart-rate, I stop running after a good sprint, and take my pulse with two fingers on my neck or wrist for sixty seconds. That’s my fun training tip, to help you stay healthy and safe. Train like a real pro!

My chunky rescue chihuahua mixes, love playing in the snow! They never had snow in Texas, where they are from, so it’s fun to watch how excited they get to play in snow!

Funny story, I put tons of things in my cart shopping online that I do not actually want to buy, with having all the information saved in my phone one click can be really dangerous. Lucy and Luna accidently bought me all my hearts desires, pressing my phone with their paw, luckily I could call customer service and cancel my Aerie order. Can you even return lingerie once you buy it? I bet customer service would have made me keep it, if I could not cancel it so fast, omg. Note to self not to have one click payment options, or saved things in my phone, even though it’s nice for Uber and Starbucks coffee purchases. Sometimes it’s easier for me to uber than drive myself like when I flew all over for business trips plus I don’t drink and drive with the group, because we throw it on one of the cards and uber to be safe following the law. It’s funny to be a way and then come home for the holidays doing things differently. My puppies are too smart for such automatic things to exist, the vpn does not cut it. These puppies are a lot of work sometimes, I almost ended up with a different lace bra to wear every day of the New Year, some not even in my size. :)

We played the board game Clue last night, and I guessed all the cards in the center envelope, it was a pretty big deal. My sisters and I played backgammon about a month ago, and monopoly. I really like to play games, so my friends and family do game nights with me every chance we have. Puzzles too, I am a puzzle solver. That’s why my nieces and nephews like coming over, we have so many games to play.

Love this new video. Harry Styles, is my favorite singer. My chihuahuas especially love listening to Harry Styles, watching me run on the treadmill from their puppy bed. There’s an entire new album out Fine Line, making my life complete all my One Direction fantasies come true listening to this. https://hstyles.lnk.to/FineLineAY

Runner Feelings

Sometimes, running is a frustrating sport, and you go through emotional phases about how all of your work correlates with everything you accomplish. I’m not exclusive with the marathon distance, but I can let the marathon ‘gods’ know that and decide if I am going to run the time I want to and place top three, top seven, top ten, or top fifty. A runner may wonder if they are willing to have a certain relationship dynamic with their training, and not have everything they want, or wonder if a different event will give them everything they want if they feel a certain way with a special level of work. 5k, 10k, marathon, half-marathon? Where and how do we decide? Sometimes you want a break and do not have one, and other times you want to work through it all and have the race that never happens. However, in every runner’s career, some freak thing does happen, and you get everything you want. I hate to be flashy, but I have felt on top of my running game before, and I hope to feel that way again soon.

Sometimes, the ‘run gods’ tell you to do something else that is for you, three months into it you have everything you could have dreamed of, and you needed to let the event that was not for you go. Those ‘run gods’ just have to let you know one way or another, so you are not screwing around with the wrong event another year of your life. If you feel like you should have everything you want from devoting your entire life to something, like running, there is an event that will give it all to you! If after eight years this is the one you think that you would like the olive leaf crown, medal, party, a bunch of smaller race wins, and to add ten pounds to the amount you bench, then it is okay to switch events to make all that happen for yourself. Find the correct event that’ll give it all to you, and kick the wrong distance to the curb. You truly can have everything that you want, just keep praying on your dreams. Tell the event that’s not for you, “With a heavy heart, I am not doing this anymore.” Say it, because you can literally have everything you want if you are willing to work hard, and feel a certain way anyway. Take three steps back, look in the mirror and confidently say, “I can have all of my hopes and dreams come to fruition, because I work hard and those ‘run gods’ are going to give it to me!” Be positive and think, this time next year I will have everything I want in my running and family life.

Feel that you have the luxury in life to not feel a difference between practice and winning the race, feel nice, have that support system fill in the warm fuzzy gap between practice and winning. You should feel the same in practice that you feel when you win, and have the luxury of a support system who enables you to feel it; encouraging support through the process, exceedingly emotionally content the entire time. Sometimes, winning is figurative when you are really doing your best, reaching your personal goal, and it is more than fine. Ultimatums with racing certain distances is real, but when you commit to one upon making a decision it works out pretty well, because when you stride towards perfection you fall pretty close.

Sometimes, I just count my steps, and have no idea what that means.

The ‘marathon gods’ did not seduce me to ask if I was ready to become a marathon runner, before it happened almost ten years ago. At least that idea makes me laugh, nor did those ‘marathon gods’ count to three like in Sesame Street. I felt like my boyfriend must have turned me into a vampire while I was sleeping, after my first marathon. There is always an entity which does not take anything seriously and wants to sabotage something, but you just fluidly run by it. Rise above all the bad, focus on all the good. Everyone actually worth having respect from, probably has respect for you, the rest is history.

Running is the best looking sport, for sure.

Today, I felt very cliche running around listening to Josh Groban’s Christmas album!

Shined My Ring

Even though I have had my humble promise ring for two years, I still love it so much. All it needed was a shine last night, with some typical jewelry shiner. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but this ring picks up the light very beautifully, has a diamond cut from the gem cutter, and it is very very lustrous. One time when we broke up it felt like the movie, A Christmas Kiss, but I was not the girl in the elevator, I was the woman they had a whole life with day in and day out. ‘Oh hi’. Other times, I have just been so excited to have a boyfriend, that I had to let him bring me out to dinner, or cook dinner for him. You almost become friends after a while, like them a little. It looks good in the light, after a good shine, I cannot believe how much nicer it looks now that I did the shine; feeling happy again. After shining my ring, I felt pure joy, because it looks how it did when I first put it on. :) These are nice to wear everyday, out and about, it’s like wearing swarovski earrings out and about. I love that buying these rings goes towards charity, and it’s really the one I asked for specifically. When I was with my boss in NY for a business trip, a client loved my ring so much she had her husband buy her several to wear out and about. Loved it so much, and just had to have it, because I did. Hahah when that happened, I must have been wearing a sharp looking suit with my hair in a french twist too.

Perhaps I will make a tutorial video of how I blow dry my hair, design my french twist to be professional and work appropriate, I always pull it all back for serious events. My sister just gave me a revlon brush/dryer for Christmas, which is just as nice a my ghd things, all us girls love it. In college, my best friend/roommate always wanted to borrow my blow dryer, and sometimes I just gave her my key to my room so no one would look at her funny trying to ‘break in’, because I was not always there to get it for her.

I had to tutor French and grade all of my advisors papers at all hours, all the flashcards I made for everybody makes my hand hurt just to think about; they picked like 9pm on the third floor in a random classroom for some of my tutoring slots it was the worst job ever. My boss in NY does not even work me like I was worked in college, ‘tutoring’, the writing center was the size of a closet so instead, I used my professors office, the library, or a random classroom on the third floor from time to time. You know, one time I was helping my best friend by correcting their paper as the official ‘tutor of english’, and I was scolded by the Philosophy professor for not helping her in the closet sized room, and the library instead; mean private school scandals. It was funny that they were angry, because she demanded we go to the library, those were the days. It takes plenty of hours to grade tons of papers. Grading papers, and raising organic turkeys for slaughter on the school hobby farm, it made me well rounded having these jobs, but atleast I liked my alumni office job calling everyone. I never managed to be helpful enough for some of them, no matter how available I was as the official tutor….

There is always that one weird person who would see my best friends coming in my room and find a way to make it controversial, otherwise I would have just left my door open all the time (I’m kidding around, I usually just let my door wide open all the time). She would love this so much I almost wish we still lived together, day in and day out. I’m going back up to Maine and living in her parents guest house so she can try this baby out, and order a fancy pizza from Domino’s while doing it. Then, we will swing by Kennebunkport with the lady gang as embarrassing tourists wearing matching shirts, holding seashells we found on the beach to bring everywhere with us. That would be so hilarious, we are overdue for a girls weekend as is everyone in the world. Just some nice stories about my old days with the SAAB 93 I had to drive in college, bottled water, my blow dryer, and that promise ring... Everyone wanted to know how I style my hair to look professional for work when it is so long, and now you know I hide it in a french twist with hundreds of bobby pins after a blow-out.

These are very nice pieces of jewelry. No matter what is going on in my life, wearing glam jewelry always makes me feel good. Those shiny, or lustrous things keep me happy, just matter of factly.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PIDcrafts

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Lucky, I was never emotionally attached to these guys, fulfilling my dream job back in college. I helped make sure they were all pleasantly plump by Thanksgiving break. Plus, picked a lot of veggies, dug things, watered plants with as much water as those plants wanted. I may have even overwatered some plants, just to make sure they wouldn’t die from not drinking enough water, with all that sun exposure from not living in a windowless closet. Did my school not think I was helpful enough raising these turkeys for slaughter for my student job? Apparently, I retroactively did not make them all fat enough for someones Thanksgiving, so I was punished with driveway paving tar on my hands and knees, just like when I was gardening in the dirt…. Just like Cinderella!

My SAAB cruising days in college were really something else, however I loved all my run stickers on the back of my car, all the stickers a girl could dream of to go with the AAA. That car was real special. Us girls have some fun memories bringing that baby around Maine…. it could not have been more college appropriate than this tank.

My Favorite Running Memory Ever...

My favorite time running, surprisingly is not a PR or specific race, or running my first marathon. Running on the beach is my favorite memory. I can run so super fast in the sand, barefoot, I can just fly; go zero to one-hundred. This girl just adores being right on the edge of a waves endpoint and the beginning point of dry sand, and leaping over jellyfish in a dead sprint. Dead sprint, looking into the horizon with the ocean on one side and egret flocks on the other, maybe a heron standing in the ocean side, pelicans flying adjacent to me, tiny sea shells touching my heels. Running on the beach did more than keep Florida with gramma lively, it’s my happy place that I can go back to any time in ten seconds through mindful meditation. Beach running, and those cheap kitty cat sunglasses were my favorite. I do not need wifi, or new sneakers, old ones are the best because they make you want to throw them away to run barefoot instead. Solving five hundred piece puzzles without looking at the picture, and running barefoot was my thing whilst with grandmama.

Are you surprised my favorite running memory isn’t any huge PR or marathon, even though it could be? Let me know your favorite running memory. Florida running always got me into the best shape, but I never ran the race down there after.