I love a challenge!!!

So... a few weeks ago, I did a live video on Facebook, about how I was not happy with my current weight and fitness level, and I was going to go back to the weight loss phase of my nutrition plan. I was open and transparent, and stayed on plan for all of.... 2 days.

That is the cycle I find myself on ALL THE TIME. I know myself, and I find that once I am on plan for a good couple of weeks, it becomes almost a habit, and easy to maintain. But getting that first couple of weeks under my belt is SO HARD. I find myself on plan for a day or two, then fall off. Then on plan for 2 or 3 days, then off plan. I never get myself back to the point where I am stable and consistent enough to see any results.

HOWEVER. A fellow coach that also happens to be a personal trainer, gym owner, and fitness know it all (in the best way) is starting a challenge tomorrow, with the goal being a reduction in body fat percentage.  I love it that the goal isn't just pounds lost, and that gaining muscle does NOT hurt progress in this challenge.

There are several things that the challenge asks people to track daily or weekly, and it is very precise. The goal is that if you are precise in your tracking, you will know exactly what you need to do to be successful, or if you are struggling, you will have the data to examine to know why.

There is also the competition aspect of it. You accumulate points throughout the challenge, and you are ranked not only for your change in body fat percentage, but also in the number of points you earn though consistency.  So if you are consistently focused, you get double the benefit. This is something I really need, since consistency is one area I really struggle with.

So the challenge goes from tomorrow, 03/08/20, and goes through 04/17/20. I'll keep this blog updated with my progress! Wish me luck. IF I CAN STAY CONSISTENT, DAMMIT, I'll be back close to my ideal weight before summer. 

I am SO EXCITED about this challenge, and the fun starts tomorrow!!!

mom

I'm not sure I am really ready for this post, but I felt like I had to write it, so here I am. I haven't written consistently in this blog at all, but I feel like this is too important for a short little Facebook post.

As you all know, I live in Alaska. My mom lives in Maryland, entirely across the country. It is a long flight so we didn't see each other often, but about once a year or so, either I would fly out to visit her (making sure to bring each of my kids once), or she would fly up to visit me.  On one memorable occasion (her 60th birthday, so in 2013), we met at Pensacola Beach for a week:

and even took a little side trip to New Orleans:

That was a really fun trip, tropical storm Karen notwithstanding.  But mostly, I would fly to Maryland and we would go to Ocean City and/or DC for a few days, or she would fly to Alaska and I would show her all the touristy things.

In the summer of 2018, we decided to split the travel, and both fly to San Francisco:

We went to see the redwoods while we were there, which were AMAZING:

It so happened that the weather was pretty windy and chilly that week in San Fran, so we decided to hop in the rental car and drive down the coast, through Big Sur:

until we found a warm, sunny beach. We were successful:

But I was a little worried about my mom that trip. She had a terrible cough, especially at night, and she did not have a lot of energy. I didn't realize until we were driving back to San Francisco how tired she was getting, and I felt bad for dragging her around too much. But other than the cough and tiredness, she didn't seem really ill, although I could tell something wasn't right. I encouraged her to go to a doctor when she got home, but she insisted that she had probably just inhaled some dust from some remodeling she had recently had done.

By fall, the cough had worsened, and she kept telling me she was spending a lot of time resting, in bed. She finally agreed to go to a doctor, but was absolutely furious when they wanted to do a PET scan to check for cancer. She was adamant that they only suspected cancer because she was a heavy smoker, and that they should rule out the easily treatable things before considering cancer. She finally agreed to the PET scan, however, and in October, she found out she had small cell lung cancer.

Small cell lung cancer is almost exclusively found in heavy smokers, and is the most aggressive form of lung cancer. Most statistics I found said that less than something like 6% of people with SCLC survive 2 years post diagnosis.

She started chemotherapy the beginning of November, and I flew down to be with her for her first dose, since we didn't know how bad the side effects would be. It turned out to not be too bad, thankfully. She was supposed to get 4 doses, 3 weeks apart. She wasn't able to receive her last dose, however, because she wound up in the hospital with an infection that almost killed her. I flew down and stayed with her for two and a half weeks while she was in the hospital, and got her safely home, then flew back to Alaska.

Thus began a series of treatments that slowed the cancer down for a time but never stopped or eradicated it, and a series of life threatening complications, from both the cancer itself, and the treatments. Throughout this process, mom got progressively weaker and sicker, but stayed as stubborn as ever, and absolutely refused to consider that she would not beat the cancer.  I think her sheer force of will kept her alive for a long time.

In mid December, after her last hospital admission, she finally came to the realization that she was not going to get better, and that there was nothing more that could be done to stop the cancer. She signed up for hospice care, and asked James and I to come down to see her, which we of course agreed to. We agreed that I would come down in early January, and up to two days before I got to her house, she was still talking and sounding like her normal self, still on Facebook, etc. The only difference I noticed is that she seemed to be spending more time in bed. But by the time I was boarding my plane, I was starting to worry, because she had pretty much stopped responding to messages, and when I talked to her the day before I got there, she said she wasn't feeling well and was going to bed.

We got there on Tuesday, January 7, and she passed only 9 days later, on January 16. I was shocked when I got to her house. and saw her condition. I was only supposed to be there for a week, but I decided that I just could not leave her. James had to get back to Alaska, but I stayed, and I am so glad that I did. I got up the morning of the 16th to take her her medications, and found that she had passed in the short 3 hours between doses, while I was sleeping, but at least she was not in the house alone.

I've described my mom's illness in a few short paragraphs, but there are no words to explain a year and a half of fear, pain and anguish. At the end, she was tired of fighting, tired of being sick, hated above all else being helpless, and just wanted to go, so in some ways her passing was a relief. But she is my mom, and while I am so, so glad that she is no longer anguished, I am also so, so sad that she is gone.

I'll always love you, mom.

Alaska Endurance Trail Run 2019

I wrote this back in June, and just realized I only had it saved as a draft, and never actually posted it:

***

So last weekend (haha, May 31-June 1, actually), for the third year in a row, I ran the 24 hour Alaska Endurance Trail Run (AETR) in Fairbanks Alaska. The last 2 years, the weather was sunny and warm, which is pretty typical for Fairbanks in June, so I was hopeful that trend would repeat itself.

Going into this race, I felt pretty confident, because I have run it twice before and I had a good idea of what to expect, I thought. I made sure to have enough electrolyte replacement on hand. I had extra Camelbak parts. I had extra shoes. I had my sleeping bag, and even a tent and pad. Fuel, both gels and nut butter. Extra socks, Lots of bandaids. I had it all. I was READY. The beautiful thing about a loop course is that you can have as many extra supplies as you can haul at the start/finish/aid station area.

I had a training plan leading up to this race. Although there were plenty of times that life got in the way, and the plan was certainly not executed perfectly, I did get a few really good long runs in, and was feeling pretty solid.

In addition, I have been really micromanaging my nutrition since the beginning of April, and by the time of the race I was down 15 pounds from my weight at the end of March. By the time of the race, I was only 10 or 11 pounds from my goal weight, and the reduction was having a noticeable and favorable impact on my running.  I felt lighter and was running a little faster.  My pie in the sky goal was to do 1 loop every other hour, non-stop, which would net me 72 miles. My more realistic goal was to just keep moving the entire time, no matter what, and to run the race smarter than the last two times.

I had to be in Fairbanks for work the week leading up to the race, which began on Friday night at 8 pm. When I left my house, the weather forecast was for temps in the 60's and 70's during the day, and 50's at night, and sunny. SUNNY. I packed my rain jacket and a hat, but not my waterproof pants or extra sets of clothes. It wasn't supposed to rain, In hindsight, I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was, LOL. I was not prepared for what actually happened.


As the week went on, every single time I looked at the weather forecast for the weekend, it got worse and worse and my sense of foreboding increased. You see, I am TOTALLY a fair weather runner. I HATE running in the cold and I HATE running in the rain, and I ESPECIALLY HATE running in cold rain. The day before the race, which went from 8 pm Friday to 8 pm Saturday, the forecast looked like this:

Yep, you see that right. It was supposed to start raining Friday evening, and rain until Saturday evening.  Like, only when I was going to be running. I knew I was doomed. LOL.   Long story short, the weather forecast was 100% accurate. It started raining at about 6 pm, and rained and rained and rained. All night, all day. It just rained.  Sometimes it was an absolute downpour, sometimes just a drizzle, but it never stopped until maybe an hour or two before the end of the race Saturday night.

I had discussed this race with my coach, and come up with a plan. Since my goal was to maximize my time on my feet and keep moving the entire 24 hours, we decided that it was a smart idea to use a run/walk interval the entire race, from the very start. We settled on 3 minutes running/2 minutes walking, and I was able to set an alert on my Garmin to tell me when to run and when to walk. The only exception to this timing was that I ran down hills even if I was supposed to be walking, and I walked up hills even if I was supposed to be running. It sounds complicated, but it actually worked out really well. Walking the up hills saved energy for later in the race, and running the down hills let me squeeze some advantages from gravity.  This strategy worked really well for the first 40 or so miles.

I lined up at the start line with all the other runners, including my friends Michele and Chris. Chris had his GoPro out and recording and Michele and I made sarcastic comments about it. The race would not have been the same without Michele's sarcastic attitude. We all counted down the last 10 seconds to the start, and we were off. I ran with the rest of the group for the first 3 minutes, joking and laughing about how ultrarunning is just like a party with running. And pain. But the pain came later. 3 minutes into the race, my watch beeped and I slowed to a walk for 2 minutes, just long enough for the rest of the runners to disappear from sight and leave me alone on the trail.

That was kind of a weird moment. Even though I knew I was slowing to a walk for a reason, a big part of me wanted to stay with the group. It's really hard to overcome that urge to stay with everyone else, and I felt sort of lonely the first few minutes. As I got into the groove, however, the loneliness disappeared and I got sucked into the joy of trail running.

The first several loops passed pleasantly except for the rain, and without incident. I stayed warm enough even with the rain, and I ate almond butter and aid station snacks, and drank Gatorade Zero, and did a pretty good job of staying on top of my nutrition and hydration. My feet and legs quickly got soaking wet and stayed that way throughout the race. I had my Goretex rain jacket, so my upper body stayed dry, I thought.  As I said, my goal was to do at least one loop every 2 hours, and I quickly built up a 1 hour cushion during the first few loops. I maintained a pretty consistent pace for the first several loops, and felt good. I even did a Facebook Live video at 1:30 am, since so many of my friends wanted to know what a 24 hour race was like.

My friend Travis lent me his trekking poles to use if I wanted, and to see if I liked using them enough to buy a pair. I only used them for one loop. I found running with them very awkward, But because of the cloud cover, it actually got pretty dim out for a couple of hours, and it was pretty dark under the trees, making roots hard to see and dramatically increasing the risk of tripping on one and falling. I used the poles to help steer me through the roots, and found them fairly helpful there. I wound up walking a good chunk of that loop just because I was worried about tripping. Of course I didn't have my headlamp because everyone knows you don't need a headlamp in Alaska in June.


It was maybe after this loop, or it might have been the one after that, when I entered the aid station area at the start/finish, and my friend Bruce had arrived to volunteer and feed us runners. He made me a grilled cheese sandwich with 2 slices of pepper jack cheese and it was SO GOOD. Hot, buttery, cheesy, and just a bit spicy, it was PERFECT.

I set off on loop #6 at about 5:30 am. I knew Travis was going to show up around 6 to run a loop with me, but I didn't want to sit still long enough to wait for him to get there, so I asked the race director to send Travis around the loop in the opposite direction so he had to meet me somewhere out on the loop. He did, and it worked great. When Travis found me, he turned around and ran the rest of that loop and all of the next with me.

In between loops, I changed my socks and shoes, which may have been a mistake. My toenails were already feeling sore and wiggly, and when I went to put my dry shoes on, I realized that my feet had swollen. I was barely able to force my feet into the dry shoes, and my toes had no room to move at all.  In hindsight, I probably should have put my wet, stretched out shoes back on. At the time, I thought, "oh good. The tight shoes will keep my toenails from wiggling around". Umm, yeah, they did do that.

By the time we were into loop 7, my pace had begun to slow significantly, as I was getting tired. I was already about 40 miles in, and those miles were beginning to take their toll. Travis helped get me back in gear and worked on helping me keep my running form fairly efficient. He was a really good pacer, because he paid attention to things that I had quit focusing on, and kept me moving fairly well. By the time we finished that loop, Travis had to leave,  but said he would try to make it back later in the afternoon.

After Travis left, I got something to eat (maybe that was when I had the cup of noodles, but I'm not sure), and sat down to evaluate my feet and figure out what else I needed before going out on another loop. I sat too long however, and soon was very chilled and shivering. When I took my pack off, I discovered that although the Goretex of the rain jacket was doing it's job overall, where ever my pack had pressed the jacket against my clothes, the water had soaked in, and so my shirt was wet, in the shape of my pack. Wet clothes, chilly air, no activity to generate body heat. I got really cold, really fast. I decided to take a break and go warm up in my Jeep. Chris had come back to the aid station by that time as well, and was going to take a nap before going out on another loop, but he would have to walk because of his injury. I told Chris if he wanted to go back out, to text me and I would walk a loop with him. He agreed and I went to the Jeep. I got in, turned the heat all the way up, turned my seat heaters on, snuggled up under my Rumpl, and relaxed for a few minutes.  The seat heater never felt so good!

The next thing I knew, Chris was knocking on the window of my Jeep. He had texted me, but I had fallen asleep and didn't hear it, so he came to get me. He asked me if I wanted to go out on a loop with him, and for a split second, I wanted to say NO so bad!!! But I was there to race, not sleep, so reluctantly I shut the Jeep off and got out. Chris said he could see in my face that I wanted to tell him no, lol.

By this time, Michele had been dealing with nausea. She had come in from a loop, but had gone to lay down and try to settle her stomach, so Chris and I got ready and set out. We walked all of loop 8, but kept a decent pace. We chatted the whole loop, and the company was nice. But clearly sleep deprivation was taking hold, and we were pretty punchy. Chris told me that while he had been napping, a mosquito had landed on his crotch, and he did what you do with mosquitos, and swatted it. A bad choice, considering its placement, but the subject of lots of giggles and bad jokes.  As we approached the finish line for the loop, one of the volunteers was standing in the middle of the path watching us, in a manner that seemed impatient, Chris remarked that if he told us to "run it in" or anything of the sort, he would put a mosquito on the guy's junk. I said "and I will smack it" and we both laughed and laughed. Definitely sleep deprivation at work.

By the time we finished that loop, Michele was up and about but still not feeling great, and so the three of us walked loops 9 and 10. We told her the story about the mosquito and we all laughed some more. We were to the point where we probably had the sense of humor of an 8 year old boy.  Sometime during those loops, Travis found us, and then we shared the mosquito story with him. He tried to get us to run, but we were all at the point where walking was as much effort as we were willing to give, so he walked with us. He had fresh legs, and had not been up all night running in the cold and rain, and was very cheerful. Cheerful enough that at times, we wanted to kill him, haha.

Sometime during loop 10, my feet had just had enough. They had been sore for hours. I had had blisters and bruised toenails for hours. But sometime during loop 10, they started feeling like they were just on fire. Like they were raw and the skin was peeling away. This made even walking just misery. I was afraid to take my shoes off again to look at them.

By the time we finished what was loop 10 for Michele and I, and loop 11 for Chris, the rain had pretty much stopped, finally, and there was less than 2 hours left on the clock. This meant that if we weren't sure we could do another 6 mile loop and finish before 8 pm, we could do half mile loops instead. Michele and I had decided that since the end of loop 10 put us at 60 official miles, that we wanted to do 4 of the mini loops, to get a full 62 miles or 100k.  But my feet were hurting so bad by that point that I was not sure if I really wanted to do the mini loops or call it at 60. Michele and Travis did a mini loop while I rested with my feet up for 10 minutes or so, and reported that there was only one really wet spot, and I decided I was going to keep going. Michele and I did 3 mini loops together, and then she left. I did one more loop after she left, so that we were both at 62 official miles, then called it.  We wound up tying for 4th place female. This was my first 100k finish, so I was thrilled. The run/walk strategy I used the first 2/3 of the race had definitely paid off.

They had a BBQ and awards after the race, and even though I had been starving, I suddenly was not hungry at all. Also, my legs were starting to cramp up, and get really stiff, so I decided to just pack up my gear and go to my hotel. I went through the McDonald's drivethrough next door to my hotel and got a Quarter Pounder with cheese, a small fry and an apple pie to take to my room and eat. I was only able to eat maybe half of it.

I finally checked out my feet and found several blisters on my heels and ankles, and maybe some trench foot, but nothing a couple of bandaids couldn't manage. My toes, however, were a different story. Pretty much all of my toes had brusing and blisters under the toenails, and also on the bottoms of the toes. Oddly, my right foot also had some chafing on the tops of my toes.






I drained some of the fluid from the blisters under my toes, liberally applied neosporin and bandaids, and went to bed. I slept terribly, with weird dreams.

The next morning, when I woke up, my chest felt sore under my sternum, like I had a gas bubble stuck. I also had no appetite, and eating made the pain in my chest worse. I drove the 5 hours home from Fairbanks, stopping to run a slow, painful mile at the rest area in Denali National Park.


I also stopped at the southern Denali viewpoint along the highway, to see if the mountain was out. It was:



By the next morning (Monday), my chest was still hurting so I went to urgent care, After an EKG and some lab tests, it appears that I somehow strained my diaphragm during the race. Not sure how that happened, but there you go. I didn't run Monday, or the next several days. I decided to not run for a few days, to let my diaphragm heal, because I can't risk aggravating it. I have Angel Creek 50 coming up in a month and a half.

This race, as usual, was very well organized. The course was well marked, there were lots of volunteers, lots of food, and lots of smiles and encouragement. It has a very friendly, laid back atmosphere with runners being greeted like they are friends or family.  I love this race, and had a good time, despite the conditions this year. Maybe next year it will be sunny again. I can only hope.

sometimes you just know

I have a friend from church that had a service dog for many years, but he passed away a while back. This friend has not had a dog since, and I think she really misses having one. She has been struggling with some vertigo issues, so she didn't feel she could drive herself, but she really wanted to go to the animal shelter and look at dogs. A few weeks ago I agreed to give her a ride, so off to the shelter we went.

She didn't adopt a dog that day, because none of them were quite what she was looking for. I'm certain she will keep looking, though.  But they had some kittens in cages near the front door of the shelter, that were available for adoption. One of them was a tiny calico kitten.

Ok, now the back story. We used to have a petite little calico, Cookie Dough, because that is what her fur looked like. James became very attached to her, and was really sad when she passed away. He doesn't talk about it, but everyone in the family knows he misses her and has felt sort of lonely ever since she passed.

Cookie Dough

SO.... when I saw this tiny kitten, I knew immediately that he would love her, and that maybe it was time.  I called him and told him to come to the shelter when he got off work. I met him there, and handed her to him when he walked in, and she cuddled right up to him and started purring. You could see by the look on his face that he was enchanted. I knew at that point she would be ours, but it wasn't that easy.

By the time he had made it to the shelter, they were about to close, and they didn't want to do the adoption paperwork that night, and they would not agree to hold her for us and not let someone else adopt her. They opened at 11 the next day, a Saturday, and I knew they would be busy, since it was a weekend, and someone would want her. So I made sure I was there before they opened, and I was the first person in the door.

As we were doing the adoption paperwork, I was holding her in my arms, and noticed that the incision on her side from her spay surgery was oozing. I mentioned it to the vet tech, who took her from me, and pressed on the spot with her finger, and a fairly large (and gross) amount of pus and other fluids came out. Uh oh.  It was clearly infected.

We finished the adoption paperwork, so she was officially ours, but they kept her until the vet could see her the following Tuesday, and started her on antibiotics. That led to an extra week and a half that the kitten stayed at the shelter, because the infection did not clear up as well as they hoped, so they opened the incision back up, cleaned it out, put a drain in, kept her on antibiotics, etc. But a week and a half later, and fully recovered, she came home with us.

She still doesn't have a name, but we are working on that. She gets along with Mario (our 5 year old cat) and Daisy (my dog) just fine, and is super affectionate. Also super playful and inquisitive. She has walked across my keyboard 3 times while I typed this. And the most important part, is that James adores her, and it appears to be mutual.

Welcome to the family, little one.

Winter is Coming

So, in Alaska, summer is almost over. The leaves are turning yellow and falling to the ground, and although it is still warm during the day, it has been getting cooler at night. The other night it got down to 43.

For me, as summer draws to an end, I start thinking about what I am going to do over the winter. This year, it is particularly on my mind, since summer most decidedly did not go as planned. Two of my big races got cancelled due to wildfires, and another I DNF'd.

I started Crossfit last winter and loved it, but quit going after a few weeks, because I felt like between that and running, I was tired all the time. I didn't realize this at the time, but my nutrition was also suffering, and in hindsight I am sure that contributed to being tired all the time. Also, I do not enjoy getting up early AT ALL. But there is a reason I started getting up early to go to Crossfit, and that is because it is the only time in my day I can fit it in, and I love the workouts, and the results.

I originally started running because I wanted to keep the weight off. I still run for that reason, but also because I have fallen in love with running. I don't love running on the treadmill so much, but I am willing to do it because it keeps me in shape over the winter. If I slacked off all winter long, starting up again in the spring would be so much harder. Running is a depreciable skill.

For a few years now, though, I have wanted to work on building body strength and muscle in places other than my legs. I have flirted with weight lifting, but doing the same routines over and over is super boring after just a few weeks. That's why I tried, and enjoyed, Crossfit. It is always a different workout, but over time, strengthens your entire body.

I said last winter that I wanted to focus on improving both my running and my overall strength, and wound up doing neither. I gained a bit of weight, which I have managed to lose again (I have a great nutrition plan when I follow it), slacked off on running, and only did the strength workouts for a couple of months. So I shouldn't have been surprised when this summer, I was plagued with one overuse injury after another, and went into my races undertrained. Then, after my last race, a marathon that I DNF'd at mile 19.5, partly because of a nagging injury, and partly because I just didn't feel like running anymore, I decided that for the rest of the summer, instead of stressing about a training plan that I wasn't following that well anyway, I was just going to run for fun and when, how far, and at what whatever pace I felt like.

I know I can perform better than I did this summer. I really want to see what I am capable of at peak performance. But I need to build up to that. So, here is my plan.

1. Continue to run every day. But plan short days where I really only run 1 easy mile.
2. For the first half of the winter, October through December, focus on speed.
3. For the second half of the winter, January through March/April, focus on building back up to be ready for long, technical summer running.
4. Crossfit. I really want to get back into it. And I think if I do it in a way that is smart, and for the first few months, keep most of my runs on the short side (ie no more than 4 or 5 miles), I should be better able to manage it without wearing myself out.
5. NUTRITION. I have been really focusing on improving my overall nutrition lately, and I want to continue that trend. I have found that the quality of the food I eat really plays a part in how I feel and how well I perform, and to maximize performance, I have to maximize nutrition.
6. Body composition: right now, although I am at a healthy weight, my body fat percentage is higher than I would like. Over the winter, I want to lean out, and build muscle, and bring that percentage closer to 22% or so, which I think would be ideal for performance, with my body type. I think if I can meet the rest of my goals, this one will fall into place.

In a couple of days, I am leaving for Utah, and will be gone for a week and a half. The day after I get back, I leave for Bethel for 5 days. So it won't be until mid September that I really have a chance to start Crossfit up again, but that is the plan. I think I'm going to see if they will let me take the starter lessons again so I remember the basic lifts, and then go from there. It should be fun!!

So, there you have it. I am going to try to keep track of how it is going, and how well I am sticking to the plan, If I don't track it or measure it, I will be less likely to follow through. I am not looking forward to winter, but at least I have a plan.

routines

I have been trying to find ways recently to simplify my life, and at the same time, make my daily life healthier. One of the ways I feel like I can make progress towards both of those goals at the same time is to develop healthy routines and implement them in my life.


Developing a routine can have a positive impact on your mental and physical health. It helps create healthy habits, aids in coping with change, and allows us to feel more in control of our overall health and wellbeing. It also provides structure in how we live our lives and conduct our daily activities. So it is easy to see how having healthy routines can help me reach my health and overall wellness goals more easily.

Since a routine is something that you do repeatedly, it eventually becomes a habit. This increases efficiency in our lives and enables us to do things without always consciously thinking about them. I do something called "habit stacking" to develop my routines and get to the point where I do them habitually. (There is a book on this topic, called.... Habit Stacking. Go figure.)

With habit stacking, you basically take something you do that is already a habit (such as brushing your teeth before bed), and add another small behavior (for example, washing your face) onto that habit, so the first habit (teeth brushing) becomes the cue to complete the second behavior (face washing).  I have developed entire routines of microhabits that are cued by doing a thing that is already a habit for me.

So, I have an evening routine, for example, that looks like this:

• brush teeth and put retainers on
• wash and moisturize face
• take meds/vitamins/supplements
• review my journal and add anything I wanted to and haven't yet
• check tomorrow's calendar, weather forecast and menu
• get meat out of the freezer for tomorrow's dinner
• set out clothes for tomorrow
• get my work bag ready for tomorrow
• double check alarm is set
• take contact lenses out
• go to bed

Having this set routine makes the going to bed process easier and helps me to calm down, as I don't rush through any of these things. Because I pre-prep for the next day, it also helps me start my morning off on the right foot. I am really not a morning person at all, so prepping for my morning the night before makes my mornings much less stressful and I don't get that "chicken with my head cut off" feeling. I am also much more likely to remember everything I need to take with me the next day if I get ready at night, instead of in the morning, since I am typically much more alert at night.


I also have a morning routine to help me get through the morning with as little chaos as possible, but it essentially boils down to:

• hit snooze about 5 times
• jump out of bed at the last minute
• shower
• throw my clothes on that I picked out last night (thank goodness I did that)
• start the crockpot if that is the plan for dinner (also a good thing I got the meat out last night)
• grab my work bag (pre-packed and ready to go)
• put my dog outside
• go to work

I am SO not a morning person but I am trying to make my mornings more productive and purposeful. I want to add yoga and meditation to my morning routine, but I have to break the snooze button habit for that to happen, lol. I am still working on building my morning routines, because mornings are so challenging for me. But I feel like it could be an important improvement in my health and daily life.


Establishing and following a healthy routine can improve the following MacroHabits of Health:

• Healthy Mind. A routine allows us to feel more in control and less stressed. Knowing that we’re preparing our evening meal at 6:00 p.m. and going to bed by 10:00 p.m. provides comfort and helps to eliminate uncertainty. Routines also let you get things done on "autopilot" so that you are expending less mental energy trying to remember to get everything done.

• Healthy Eating & Hydration. A routine allows us to block off dedicated time for meal planning and eating. Try setting an alarm every two – three hours as a reminder to have a fueling, healthy snack or small meal. Also dedicate some time on the weekends to plan your meals for the week ahead. Some people also find it very helpful to not only plan their meals, but prep a lot of their food, such as cutting up all your vegetables, mixing sauces, etc on the weekend so they have less to do to have a quick but healthy meal on the table after work.

• Healthy Motion. It can be difficult to fit healthy motion into our schedules when life gets busy. By having a routine, even if it’s only a couple of days a week, we can create time to incorporate motion into our days, whether it is just a little bit of increased activity, or formal exercise. If you plan to arrive somewhere a few minutes early, that gives you the time to stretch when you get out of the car, park further away and walk, take the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. Also, giving yourself time in the morning for a few minutes of stretching, yoga, or walking can help you wake up and increase your alertness in the morning.

• Healthy Sleep. Going to bed and waking up at the same time each day allows our bodies to get used to a regular sleep-wake cycle. It’s important to establish a regular sleep routine to feel well rested and to allow your body to recharge. Dedicate some time to winding down before getting in bed and aim to get between seven to nine hours of sleep each night. If possible, find a way to wake up that is less jarring than a sudden alarm. Some people find success with a light that gradually brightens to wake them, or with an alarm that starts quietly and increases slowly in volume, as opposed to a sudden loud noise waking you painfully and abruptly.

All of these things, reduced stress, improved nutrition and hydration, increased motion and better sleep are important to long-term health and longevity. As an Optavia coach, one of my major jobs is to help my clients establish these healthy routines and habits in their own lives, so if you need ideas or assistance, ask me! And remember, I am always working on improving my own! No one is perfect.

2019 summer plans

Soon, another summer will be here... the short, dim days and long, dark nights of winter are almost over. I made it through another one. Almost. Only two more winters to go.  I said a while back that we are moving to Hawaii, and I thought it would happen this summer.  However, my youngest is still in high school and is really thriving right now, so we have decided to put the move on hold until he graduates in 2021. So the pace has slowed down on moving prep, but its still in the works.

Once that decision was made, it made figuring out this summer a whole lot easier. I had no idea which races I should sign up for because who knew when the move would happen. But now? I can run ALL THE RACES.  But reality set in once again, and I can only actually run SOME OF THE RACES.  I picked:

• April 6: Valley Thaw Out 13.1 - just a little fun jaunt on local gravel roads. which I will use as a training run. This race is new this year, so it will be fun to check it out.
• April 13: KrrrBrr: however many loops most closely resemble my long run for that weekend... another fun one that was new last year and super informal. But I hear there are shirts this year!
• May 31-June 1: Alaska Endurance Trail Run, 24 hour timed run. I've run this twice before and it should be AWESOME. And bonus, my friend Michele is now running it with me. Last year I did 53 miles in 24 hours. I know I can beat that if I run smart. 
• Also in June on the 22nd, Kesugi Ridge full traverse (about 30 miles). This one will be challenging. I ran it two years ago, and missed the cut off at the halfway point.
• July 13: Angel Creek 50 miler. This one is my "A" race this year. I got lost in the fog during this race, and wound up scratching around mile 31-ish. I'm determined to finish it this year.
• August 4: Archangel 26.2. I did the opposite 26.2, Hatcher Pass Marathon, in 2017, and it was a lot of fun. That race was 25 miles uphill, then 1 mile down. This race runs the same course in the opposite direction, 1 mile uphill, then 25 miles down. Should be a blast.
• August 10: Resurrection Pass 50 miler: Another one I completed in 2017 in the absolute pouring rain, my first 50 mile finish. Hoping for better weather (and a better time) this year. 
• August 31 (?): A Day at the Beach 12 hour 

My "A" race, Angel Creek 50 miler, is only 124 days away, so I need to get cracking on the training. I have an ultrarunning coach and a solid training plan so I'm feeling optimistic. 

I put in 4 miles today, which were supposed to be at a steady pace. However, I'm in Homer, and I ran on the spit, in the wind, which was gusting to 30mph. That made for some extra resistance, and very uneven paces. That little 4 mile run was hard work!