Listen to What Pulls on Your Heart

This blog started a few years ago as an outlet. Somewhere to talk about my obsession with running. Somewhere to report race results. A place I could creatively tell my story for anyone willing to listen.

But, as it always does, LIFE happened and the blog went by the wayside. Two kids turned into three. My dream job turned into graduate school to pursue my new dream job and several job changes after that. I began running farther and faster. I got a coach. I trained more and trained harder with bigger and bigger goals. And as it all grew (kids included), my time for blogging shrunk until I forgot about it.

In that time I've been blessed to meet so many wonderful runners and coaches who have invested in me. Because of them and their efforts, I've grown immensely as a runner and accomplished goals I never thought were possible seven years ago when I started running. For a while now I've been feeling like I could and should do more to give back to the running community. But, I wasn't sure what that MORE was.

When a friend asked for help with her running goal, it dawned on me...I can share what I have learned, my experiences and maybe I can help more than just one friend discover the difference running can make in your life. I've always been a researcher, and as a teacher by trade, educating others just comes naturally to me.

But, I don't plan on stopping there. Oh no, my dreams are bigger. I want to coach. I want to work one on one with athletes who are professionals, who have families, or both who want to train for more than just a finish. I want to help others learn that YES, you CAN balance all three and chase big goals.

Big things are in the works. Training plans, coaching development, and research for posts galore. It's an exciting time and I hope you'll join me for the ride.

In the meantime,

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Training Better (and smarter!)

This is is my first official training cycle. For my first half marathon. I've run races before, so how is this the first time I've trained? Well, up until now I wasn't all that serious about my running nor was I tackling distances that required actual training. A view that's becoming entirely too common for my husband and my children. :( During this training cycle (this is week 8 of a 15 week plan) I've been injured twice (sprained ankle and a sprained LCL). After two injuries it finally clicked - I need to adjust my thinking when it comes to training. Until recently I'd treated training the same as running for enjoyment, just doing it more frequently with a plan dictating distances to shoot for. Now I realize: training is serious. The more serious you take it and the more you put into it, the more you're going to benefit from it. I'm dressed, my head is ready...now if only my body would cooperate! All that being said, I...

Chicago Polar Dash - Race Recap

Well, after an unplanned break from blogging ( ah, the joys of graduate school and the holidays! ), I can officially say - I am BACK! 2014 is a new year and I've got big plans, big aspirations, and big events coming this year. But, more on that later… For now I attempt my first race recap - forgive me if it sucks. After the difficulty to complete last year's challenge of 13 in 2013 and the major events coming in 2014 ( HELLO graduation!!!!) , I knew a lot of races wasn't an option this year. Enter the year of BIG races. I'm still going to do a handful of races, but they'll be larger distances or big, fun events to travel to. Either way, each race will be carefully selected. :) The Chicago Polar Dash was my first race of 2014. Why did I choose this race? A couple of reasons really: 1) My friend Jess from Run With Jess was doing it and I've always wanted to do a race with her, 2) it had GREAT swag, and 3) it was a 14 mile race which would set a new distan...

Emotional Toll

I've never been good at letting go of incidents that upset me. This picture I found from Runner Girl X sums up pretty well what I needed to do but had a hard time doing. In the back of my mind I've always known how much my emotions affect the rest of me and how I function. Yesterday's run brought that lesson to the forefront again. Earlier in the day I'd had a run-in that deeply upset me and left me very emotional the rest of the afternoon. Tearful conversations with my husband and neighbors left me feeling a little better, but really, the last thing I wanted to do was my 7-mile training run. I dutifully dressed and laced up to head out anyway, knowing if I skipped the run I'd just feel worse than I already did because of guilt. Heading out to one of my favorite trails, I should have been in a great mood and ready to put some mileage on my favorite pair of Newtons. Instead I was still fighting back tears and wanting to go home and curl...

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