Miracles

What a weekend.

Started off on Friday with Restorative Yoga. My poor body AND mind needed this SOO badly. With all the running I've been doing and with all the shiz going on in regular life, this was the perfect opportunity to check out for 90mins. During the class, while sitting in childs pose, the instructor read a very beautiful passage about miracles.While I can't remember the exact quote, the idea was, while we don't often feel like miracles happen around us, the mere fact that we somehow manage to stand still while the earth spins on it's axis at a gajillion miles an hour while hurling itself through space...that's a miracle. The fact that the sun rises and sets every day...that's a miracle. Our existence on this planet is pretty spectacular. 

I know, I know. You're all "Like totally dude. Far out, man" I sound like a bit of a Yogi, Granola Type, but when she read that passage, it really resonated with me. Our whole presence here on Earth is actually a pretty amazing thing. The human body is an incredible thing.

Exhibit A:

6am, Sunday Morning. A dense fog rolls in.The clouds hang heavy with the promise of rain. (Dramatic, right??)

AT and I head out at 7am to conquer 20km. 10K out, 10K back. Tired, sore and undermotivated, we dragged ourselves UP the first 10km ("It'll be a flat run, don't worry" AT says. HA!). At the 10K mark (in the middle of nowhere I might add) I lean on a sign to stretch my aching knee while AT strips a layer off. We look at each other and have an unspoken agreement: "Let's kick the next 10K's butt"

Que RAIN! Pouring, wet, cold...rain.

No matter, we plug along, my knee yelling "Waddya mean you aren't done yet?" At about 15K in, out of no where swoops this amazing bird of prey (Falcon?) as if to say "You can do this, just keep going" so we marvel in that moment and we come up a hill to see a paddock of adorable baby horses frolicking and jumping on each other. We giggle about that and quite honestly, before we know it...we're less than 2KM from home!

Miracle? Maybe not traditionally, but as we were looking around us, my knee stopped hurting, and my body took over and pushed me forward. I was firing on all cylinders and not even thinking about it. My heart was pumping, my lungs expanding and contracting, my muscles carrying me. It was a feeling I will never, EVER forget.

Take a moment now and sit back and just feel your body working away. It does that every day on autopilot. Pretty cool, I know.

Thursday Inspiration...

Saw this on Pinterest today and it really spoke to me. Bad stuff is ALWAYS going to happen, that is life. Focus on the good, enjoy the moment and keep moving forward.

Running to Bake

So here is the thing. My whole life I have LOVED eating. I really could eat all day, every day if someone just gave me the chance (and got rid of those pesky calories everyone seems so concerned about). Eat is/was my favourite form of therapy. Accomplished something at school? Celebrate with food! Bad break up? Drowned my sorrows in food. Bored? You know, FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD!

Not only do I love to EAT IT, I love to MAKE IT!  There is just something SO soothing about whipping together a batch of cupcakes, put together that PERFECT fudge, to beat a batter the way you wish you could beat whoever, to make those mouth watering treats you see ALL OVER PINTEREST! It truly is a form of therapy that you just can't get anywhere else.

Here is the problem.

Up until recently, I HATED exercise. Really, I despised everything and anything about it. If I DID choose to exercise it was because I was either forced to OR I was attempting to loose weight (which, since I love eating, was A LOT of the time). It always made me cranky, resentful and here's the kicker - gave me an excuse to EAT more food. You know, the whole "Well, I just burned a bunch of calories, that means I can eat anything I want."

Yea, no.

Recently, I have actually come to terms with my hate for exercise and now, dare I say it, I actually enjoy it *hides face* I KNOW. I can't believe it either!

Wanna know something else? All that blah blah blah that Doctors and fitness types spout about it helping you sleep, making you feel better, giving you more energy and all that shit? It's TRUE! They aren't saying that just to get you to join their creepy fitness cult. Exercise ACTUALLY helps make you feel better!

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), it isn't easy. This is why Fitness Haters  (or FH for short) like, try to do it for a little while (we're talking like MAYBE a month) see some results and think "Yea, I've put in my time. MA, where's the ice cream?"

Where is all this going? Hang on, I'm getting there.

Here is my next problem. Food is and will always be, one of my TOP loves in life (aside from my Hubby, my Pup and my friends and family of course) and we need to eat to survive.

What is a food loving, exercise hating girl like me to do?

Well, I started with Zumba. I knew I had to find an exercise program that I liked in order to stick to it. It worked! I'm now a Zumba instructor! Zumba was great, it was the PERFECT exercise gateway drug into fitness. I dropped 10lbs, loved going to classes, it was the bomb. HOWEVER, I was not getting the Therapy Rush that I did with baking/eating. Something was still missing.

Now, I've run on and off my whole life. I hated it. It was so much work, my legs always hurt, hills suck, people look at you, it was just blech. I only did it because I had to or I felt I should. Turns out, that's not actually running. I mean, the act itself is, but I was not getting the actually running experience.

In December 2012, I decided to join my crazy friend and my crazy sister and train for a Half Marathon. "What the BLEEP am I doing" I remember thinking to myself. "This is the dumbest thing I've ever signed up for, I HATE running"

FALSE.

It started with my poor ass dragged on a 10KM run (**DISCLAIMER, do not try this at home, it was only because of my fitness level due to Zumba that my friend thought this was a good idea**) and you know what? I did it. Then I did 13K, then 14, then 15, now I'm up to 17KM. And now? I crave it. There is truly NOTHING like getting out there (first accomplishment, I might add) and being alone with your thoughts (or venting to a friend). It is truly amazing. I got the same rush from running that I did from baking & eating (sometime, even BETTER because there is no food hangover after).

So here is where everything comes together (10 years later, I know).

I am going to do 2 things with this blog:

1. Post delish recipes that I find and have made and enjoyed.

2. Post running tips, tricks, triumphs and sorrows in hopes that someone out there can relate to me and find the encouragement to get out there.

Through this blog, I am going to mash together my 2 great therapy loves and make sense of it all!