march foodie penpals.

I read quite a few blogs (even though I don't comment on them all the time) and a while back I noticed a project called Foodie Penpals. It was started by a fellow Lindsay over at The Lean Green Bean, and it's a great way to meet fellow bloggers and food enthusiasts and try new things you might not have had before, or get a gift of things you already enjoy!

For March, my first month, I was paired up with Hilary, who doesn't have a blog or a Twitter but who is still incredibly awesome. Here's what she sent me:

yum!

In case you can't see everything, Hilary sent me

• Trader Joe's Mango Butter
• Trader Joe's Green Tea Mints
• Vanilla almond granola 
• Pumpkin seeds
• Granola bars
• Peppermint cups
• Tea

I haven't tried everything but so far I've gotten into the granola and the mints, which are both very good! I am definitely going to look for the granola next time I go to Whole Foods.

CHOCOLATE! PEPPERMINT! THE BEST!

The first thing I dove into was the peppermint cups - I am a sucker for dark chocolate anything and peppermint + chocolate is one of my all-time favorite combinations.

I am definitely taking part in the penpal program in April (my birthday month!), and I hope to send and receive more great treats!

Here are some details about Foodie Penpals  in case you’re a interested in participating in the program:

• On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions. 
•  You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
• The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination! 
• You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!) 
• Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month.
• Foodie Penplas is open to U.S. & Canadian residents.  Please note, Canadian residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from U.S. to Canada and vice versa. So Lindsay keeps the two countries separate.

If you’re interested in participating for April, CLICK HERE to fill out the participation form and read the terms and conditions. You have to submit your information by April 4 and pairings are emailed out on April 5!

I hope to read more about people who participated in the Foodie Penpals, and I hope that Cheryl over at Live Fit Daily liked what I sent her!

Have you ever had a penpal who sent you cool stuff before?

bicycle.

I've found a new love. It's certainly not swimming (I say that because nothing will ever top swimming for me, ever). And it's obviously not running. But it's a new love. The kind of new love that makes you a little nervous because you aren't really sure what to think and things might go too fast and you're afraid of falling hard and hurting yourself.

No, I don't mean this in the sense of a relationship with a person. But it sounds oddly similar doesn't it?

View from my Saturday ride.

On Saturday I took my mountain bike out for a ride. Not too far - about 4 miles - but up a huge hill at the end. It was hard. And it felt good. I am being truthful when I say that I am a little nervous and I don't really like going downhill because I don't like going that fast. And yes, I'm also nervous I'm going to fall down. It could happen. Anyway.

Tonight, I made a mix and pulled my road bike into the middle of the living room and did a spin workout with some climbs and some speed bumps. It was not easy, but it was fun. You guys! IT WAS FUN! I have been missing that in my running lately, which is part of what inspired a break. If what you're doing isn't fun, you shouldn't be doing it. That goes for exercise, work, relationships... If you aren't enjoying it you should make a change so you do.

I am going to keep working on my bike(s) and get out there and hit the road with them more (or at least trails, because drivers here scare me a little). I am going to try running again when I can, although I am seriously taking a time out for now. And I am going to swim once the pool I have access to offers better hours OUTSIDE. Don't ask me why I'm not a triathlete. I don't know.

I do want to give you a quick PSA though, while we're on the topic of bikes. There's such a thing of riding safely and responsibly. Don't be that guy riding a bike without a helmet. It's not safe, and if you respect yourself you will protect your brain. Seriously.

On that same note, if you're riding your bike anywhere outside (on a trail, on the road, anywhere), don't wear your iPod or headphones of any kind. It's not necessary, and if you're listening to tunes you are not listening to your surroundings. I don't even like to run with music most of the time but this is not about personal preferences - this is about your safety and being aware of other riders, pedestrians and cars.

What are your best bike tips for beginners? What do you like most about bicycling?

I don't know about you but... I want to ride my bicycle. BICYCLE!

dear legs.

Dear legs:

We've had a good run. We crawled, we walked, we ran. We rode bikes. We danced. We played soccer (albeit not well - we might be the only kid who vividly remembers being made fun of for how slow we were). We swam. A lot. We might not have been the best kicker but that's what distance freestyle is for. We marched in a band. We went on trips and climbed sand dunes and jumped rope and all those good things.

We've been through a lot, and mostly in the past year our time has been spent trying to run. We have overcome a nasty set of shin splints. We ran our first 5k. We ran a 10k (on really not enough practice). We even finished a half marathon.

I'm not sure what happened, legs, but lately, we haven't been on good terms. Maybe it's my fault. Maybe I haven't been treating you so right lately. This (my inspiration for this note) made me think that's probably true. We don't foam roll like we should. We don't ice every day. We don't sleep enough. I thought taking nearly a week off after that 5k last weekend would help, but today we only logged 10 minutes.

Last year I liked running. There was that carrot dangling in front of us (that half marathon) and we made it there. Now with a 10-miler on the horizon, we're in an epic war. I haven't liked running like I should. I haven't been inspired to do it. I haven't wanted to throw on my shoes and hit the treadmill or the trail near here. When it's hard to walk down the stairs, running doesn't seem all that appealing.

So legs, maybe we need to take a break. Maybe we need to do some yoga and ride our bikes and take it easy and enjoy ourselves. Maybe we won't train for that 10-miler after all. Maybe we'll do short runs, just for fun, just because we can. Because it's fun. Not to prove anything to anyone else.

You see, legs, we don't have to prove anything to anyone. We have to do things we like to do so we enjoy ourselves. We don't have to prove a damn thing. We have to be healthy. We have to feel good. We have to be happy.

I want to run. I do. But right now, it's just not working out. We're going to be on a break. And if things look promising later on, we'll get back together - for a trial run - and see how it goes.

But for now, I'm gonna give you a break, and drink a beer.

random ramble and a poem.

I used to write more. I don't know what changed... maybe it's that I graduated college and all of a sudden had a different outlook on things. I used to write a lot, and it was a release for me. And I don't just mean blog posts (because I did and still do have a LiveJournal and I write in it sometimes just because), but I mean really writing, something of substance or creativity that I would actually want to share with someone else.

I don't do that anymore, really, and I don't know why.

I think it's important to have a creative outlet. Maybe it's taking photos or knitting or cooking or something. You can have whatever creative outlet will work best for you. Mine has always seemed to be writing. One of my most favorite classes I took in college was a creative writing class. We wrote poems and stories and it was freeing. I actually wrote a story about a moose named Mikel Gorbachev (spelled slightly wrong on purpose) who took a trip to meet the love of his life. It was fun.

Being an adult is fun too. But there are also decisions to be made and bills to be paid and responsibilities. So you have to find a balance. And I'm working on my balance, I really am. Lately it's just been a little harder to find.

The Pacific Ocean - August 2010

So here's a teeny tiny poem I wrote a while back (as part of my creative writing class), and I hope that soon, I will find the joy in writing more things, just because.

Ocean

No matter how many times

You tickle my toes

I keep running back for more.

I did not even mind when

You stung my eyes.

Do you have a creative outlet? What is it?

40 day dream.

A quick recap, for those of you who are keeping track at home.

After a bad, bad run last week I had my second attempt at the St. Patrick's Day 5k here in Colorado. I did it last year and it was the first official 5k of my entire life. When I did it last year, I had to walk a decent amount of it. This year was much, much better and even with some bad runs under my belt, I was still within 30 seconds of my Colorado PR. Which is not close to my Michigan/sea-level PR but that doesn't matter.

Because you know, running at 6,200 feet is way different than running at sea level. You come here and run with me and you'll see!

But because it was St. Pats I decided I must utilize my green socks. So I did.

And now my legs are sore again so I might shift my training around this week. Which is fine. Because I'm a very busy lady and I have fun things to do.

Like go see the Hunger Games.

And head up to Denver for the Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros show on Wednesday. I am particularly fond of the Ogden (which is also where I saw Adele last year...) so I think it will rock (pun?).

I'm also excited because now it is officially less than three weeks until my birthday (you are never too old to love a birthday, so I'm sorry not sorry about this one) and we're almost into event season at work. Plus a new season of Mad Men starts on Sunday and I also have a fantasy baseball draft, which means the regular season is almost here. These are good times, my friends. Good times.

Here's a little ditty to get you through the rest of the day (especially in the event that you don't know who Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are).

 

Let me know what great things you're looking forward to this week - it will help the week go by faster!

a running rant.

Running is hard. I know this. And you probably do too.

Now that I've had some time to think about it and cool off about how mad I was after my run, I can explain what I think the problem is without swearing or otherwise having a tantrum like a child.

Tonight my training plan said to do 2 miles. I figured with a warm up and a cool down and the advice of my friend Susan I would be there about 35 minutes. I could totally do that! 35 minutes! I've done it before, lots of times. I ran lots of good miles in January. I made a lot of progress over the last year, and I took 7 minutes off my 5k time between St. Patrick's Day and Thanksgiving, and I even finished a half marathon. I should be able to handle a 2 mile run.

So maybe it was my attitude that I didn't want to run tonight (or do anything for that matter).
Maybe it's because my legs have been cranky for the last few weeks.
Maybe it's because running doesn't feel like it should (and by that I mean fun).

I did my run tonight and it felt BAD.

Bad enough that I cut it short (less than 35 minutes! But it was at least still 2 miles if you count all the walking) and hopped on a bike to try to salvage my legs, because I felt like I had some sort of muscle atrophy or something.

I mean, it was cold. But I had pants on.

And bad enough that because I was at the store anyway, I bought a big 10 pound bag of ice and immediately came home and threw it in the tub. And added cold water. And got in there with it.

Which helped.

A little.

And it's not my shoes or my form or anything like that. It's not.

I think at this point I need a better attitude (because running needs to be fun like I said) and I need to be better about taking care of my legs. I need to use my foam roller and work on strengthening my core and making my body happy to run so that my brain can enjoy what my legs are doing.

Does this make sense?

My relationship with running is rocky. Especially right now. But running and I can get along just fine. If I set my mind to it.

Have you ever had trouble doing something you once enjoyed? How did you wrap your brain around soreness and injury to get back to doing what you like to do?

a to z.

I am not one of those bloggers that has ever felt the need to blog every day. I don't really think I have that much to say (if I do have things to say, I resort to Twitter), and I don't want to bore you with the same old post about how my legs hurt but I'm gonna run anyway because I want to and how I went on a trip and learned some stuff (because you always do on a trip).

Plus, because there are things like magazine deadlines and live chats I'm hosting and stories to write and programs to apply for and all that stuff, I don't have time to write a well-thought-out blog post that will inspire or annoy you. So for those of you that don't know me that well (or even those of you who do that just need a reminder), I found this survey on another blog I read (she's a Michigander!) and I thought I'd fill it out. If you end up filling it out on your blog, send me the link so I can read it! And if you don't have a blog but you want to fill it out, you can post it in the comments.

A-Z Survey

A is for age: 25. At least for another 25 days or something. I'm not counting. I hope 26 is as awesome as 25.

B is for breakfast today: I had Chobani (the best!) and Cheeri-os - the new peanut butter ones. I like this breakfast.

C is for currently craving: Is this supposed to be a food item? Because really I just want a nap.

D is for dinner tonight: I am not one of those people who can decide these things in advance. It depends on what I feel like eating once 6:30 rolls around. Maybe I should get better at planning.

E is for favorite type of exercise: Swimming. I don't get a chance to do it that often (I can't wake up at 5 to make it to a master's practice and I'm limited in my other available pool time) but it's really what I'm best at. I'm ready for summer so I can return to swimming at the outdoor pool at the Olympic Training Center at lunch.

F is for an irrational fear: The dark. 25 years old and still a bit afraid of the dark. Maybe that's not so irrational.

G is for gross food: Celery. I might be alone in this but it's really the one thing I will refuse to even try.

H is for hometown: St. Johns. Best known for its mint fields and the annual Mint Festival every August.

I is for something important: When I look back, going to Central Michigan and joining a sorority were two of the best decisions I have made.

J is for current favorite jam: I feel like there are two ways to answer this, so I will do it both ways: my favorite jam is my mom's strawberry jam, and my other favorite "jam" is "We Are Young" by fun.

K is for kids: I am so not ready for them yet. Give me 5 or more years.

L is for current location: Colorado Springs. More specifically, my cube at work.

M is for the most recent way you spent money: This past weekend I visited my good friend Jamie in Oklahoma City and we had good food and visited the outlet mall there. She is moving here in about two weeks (yay!) and she summed it up perfectly: "Great day blowing money and eating bad. Looking forward to more of this but with less shopping and more salad."

N is for something you need: I'm not sure I really need anything, but I think the thing I would like most right now is to go home for a few days. Home as in Michigan, not my apartment 4 miles away.

O is for occupation: Content Coordinator for USA Triathlon.

P is for pet peeve: Excessive use of LOL, people who don't work hard and then blame everyone else for their troubles, rude runners

Q is for a quote: "Every moment one lives is different from the other. the good, the bad, hardship, the joy, the tragedy, love, and happiness are all interwoven into one single, indescribable whole that is called life. You cannot separate the good from the bad. and perhaps there is no need to do so, either." - Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Yes, my bib number was 317 for the St. Pats 5k last year.

R is for random fact about you: I only started running about a year ago. I never ran regularly before. You probably know this if you have been following along, but my educational fact for this week is that my first 5k last year was the St. Patrick's Day 5k, and this year I'm planning to run it again. It is exciting to know that I should at least be able to run faster than last year!

S is for favorite healthy snack: This probably changes a lot but right now? Chobani. The pineapple kind.

T is for favorite treat: Is it fitting that I say pie?

U is for something that makes you unique: If you google my name, I am the only one of me in all of the world. My name is super unique. This happens when you have a Polish last name.

V is for favorite vegetable: Zucchini. You can do ANYTHING with Zucchini!

W is for today’s workout: Running. I know you're shocked. My 10-mile training plan started this week.

X is for X-rays you’ve had: Besides at the dentist (which does not count): 1. I got kicked by a girl in an intramural soccer game in college and had the worst bruise of my life. They wanted to make sure nothing was broken. It wasn't. But I still have a spot there to this day, and this happened in 2006!

Y is for yesterday’s highlight: Having lunch at Paris Crepes downtown with a friend, and taking a walk after work, just because I could!

Z is for your time zone: Mountain, which is not bad most of the time until the Olympic Games happen and we're on a TV delay.

Hope you're all having a great week!

the stuff i do wrong.

I have all kinds of random thoughts swirling in my head so I am going to write a list. Because it feels like an appropriate thing to do when I have other things I really should be doing. Which brings me to the topic of this blog: The Stuff I Do Wrong.

I don't pack anything for a trip until the night before I leave. This really isn't too terrible, actually. I think it's a good skill to be able to pack for a trip last minute. However, it's the fact that I usually leave my laundry til the last minute too. And then all of a sudden it's after 9 p.m. and all I have packed is a t-shirt and a hair tie. When I am preparing for some of my marathon work trips this fall, I'm going to have to get a grip and pack sooner than this. Right? We'll see how that goes.

I don't eat the food I have in the fridge. I mean, I do. Sometimes. But then I realize I only have vegetables and nothing to eat with them. So I give up. I need someone to teach me how to properly cook things for one person. Or even two people. So I don't cook things for six people and have too many leftovers. If anyone has any idea how I can be better at this, please let me know. I need recipes that don't have foods like chips that I eat too many of. Because...well...

I don't eat very mindfully. What is mindful eating? It's essentially being more mindful of what you are eating and listening to your body's hunger cues. I can do this. But then there's that whole issue of disordered eating, which I have already admitted to you that I have. Mostly because I think I am an emotional eater. But like one of my favorite bloggers, Marni (who is also a registered dietitian), said when she shared that mindful eating article, "Let your nutrition habits work for you, not control you." I do this wrong, and I mostly always have. It's not that I don't get that food is fuel. I just let food have too much control. That's wrong.

obviously so good.

I don't sleep when I should. I am sure I'm not the only one who does this. I admire people who can get to bed early and wake up early and fit in all their stuff they need to do. I have all these good intentions of going to bed early, and then I stay up too late packing and writing blog posts and reading Princess Diaries books that I forgot were so good even though I'm almost 26. (Side note: for a nerdy, Star Wars loving, writing princess wannabe, these books will never get old.) When you don't get to sleep when you should, you don't wake up when you should. You can guess how that works.

I don't observe running recovery like I need to. I don't foam roll as often as I should. I don't stretch like I should. I don't stop running after two miles when I tell myself that's all I'm going to do, and then even though I ice a little, I still feel like I might have done some damage. Which probably doesn't help the emotional eater. Which just leads to trouble.

I don't find appropriate time in my day for workouts. I need to work out. Working out can keep a person sane. My schedule has been kind of out of whack this week, but that's really no excuse. If I could get up early enough, I could probably work out before work. But obviously that's not happening. Next week I need to get a grip. Even if I can't run.

There's probably stuff you think you do wrong too - it happens! The thing is, for a lot of things, there is no right or wrong way. We get to decide what works best for us. That probably shouldn't include the Princess Diaries and an empty suitcase... but maybe it does. We have to find the way that makes us happy, and leads us down the path we want to. In my case, with this post, I am feeling in a rut. I want to make some changes but I am kind of going through the motions with some things... at least that's how it seems to me. It's about time that I made some minor changes to really help to make my life better for me.

What are you doing that you want to do better, for you?

the birth control debate.

About 99 percent of the time, you will find that I try to keep my politics and faith out of many conversations. I don't want to offend people, and I don't necessarily need to put all of my opinions out there. Some, sure. Not all.

But this is important to me.

You've probably heard by now that Rush Limbaugh called a law student by the name of Sandra Fluke a slut because of her pro-birth control argument. He's apologized but many people, myself included, don't particularly believe this. A number of organizations (including AOL) have pulled commercials from Limbaugh's radio show. He was wrong.

Because not everyone that takes birth control is a slut. Not everyone that takes birth control is having sex. And even if they are, so what?

a face situation i'd rather forget (2003)

I started taking birth control when I was 19. Not because I was in college and partying and sleeping around. I wasn't. I took it because my doctor thought it would be a good idea for me.

For example, some women take birth control to help clear up acne. Not many people probably remember my terrible teenage acne, but I do. It was awful. It wouldn't go away. Nothing I tried would make it go away. Eventually I had to go on Accutane, which I honestly believe is the only thing besides birth control that helped a majority of my acne disappear.

One of the main reasons I take birth control is because it helps keep my face from breaking out and potentially scarring like it did when I was younger.

Women take it to control the symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Women take it to keep their cycles regular and manageable. Women take it for a number of reasons that don't all include sex.

If someone is taking it because she wants to protect herself against an unplanned pregnancy, shouldn't we be applauding her for being responsible?

The problem is not women on birth control. The problem is that there are people who are having children because they are not using protection, and some of those children end up mistreated instead of cared for. The problem is that birth control is so expensive, women who are trying to be responsible are ending up spending an incredible amount of money (although less than having a child) in order to be so responsible.

ThinkProgress posted these stats on their tumblr, based on this article on the high cost of birth control from American Progress:

• Oral contraceptives, or “the pill,” can cost $1,210 per year without health insurance.
   
• Women of reproductive age spend 68 percent more on out-of-pocket health care costs than do men, in part because of contraceptive costs.

• Surveys show that nearly one in four women with household incomes of less than $75,000 have put off a doctor’s visit for birth control to save money in the past year.

• Twenty-nine percent of women report that they have tried to save money by using their method inconsistently.

• More than half of young adult women say they have not used their method as directed because it was cost-prohibitive.

• Nearly half of women ages 18–34 with household incomes less than $75,000 report they need to delay or limit their childbearing because of economic hardships they’ve experienced in recent years.

It's wrong that we are trying to limit who can take birth control based on who can afford it, because some people don't think of it as a responsible or health-conscious choice. It's wrong that we consider women sluts who might want to make that choice. It's wrong that it's 2012 and we're having this discussion.

You can disagree with me. You can point out flaws in my logic. You can tell me I am wrong because I take birth control. But I will echo what Kat said in her post: "What I’d really like you to do is consider this an open invitation.  To break the silence on your blog and show your face as an ordinary woman who uses birth control.  Pay it forward and invite your readers and blog friends to write as well.  And if you do (decide to write, that is), please leave me a comment with the link to your post."

My use of birth control doesn't define me. And I hope you won't be closed-minded enough to think it does.

everywhere but here.

This week has been one of the busiest weeks I have had at work, which seems silly because we're a summer sport organization and it's obviously not summer. This is what happens when there are stories to write and magazine deadlines to meet and thousands and thousands of folks to engage with.

There's no offseason. There's no rest for the wicked. You know.

Part of this week's chaos has been all the meetings we have had, including my favorite meeting of the year, our travel schedule meeting. Because I love traveling and seeing new places (or places I quite enjoy visiting multiple times), I get excited to know that I can work somewhere other than my desk.

This year, my work travels are going to take me to 7 different states and 1 new country. Some of the destinations are repeats (Tuscaloosa, Ala., Tucson, Ariz., San Diego, Calif., Burlington, Vt.) while others are new (at least for races - Austin, Texas, West Chester, Ohio, Oklahoma City, Okla.). And there's that whole new country thing, which to be honest was unexpected and I'm trying not to be too excited about it in case things don't work out...

Auckland, New Zealand (source)

We have our world championships there in October, so assuming things work out, this is where I will be instead of running the Detroit Free Press Half Marathon like I originally thought.

So besides my myriad of work trips, I also want to visit friends in Reno, Boston, Myrtle Beach and of course, Michigan.

You might wonder why I pay rent in my apartment. I'm not sure why either. (This is a joke, obviously - a place to live is nice.)

I'm also hoping to fit some running races in there too, when I will be in places that I can actually do them, including:
St. Patrick's Day 5k
Colfax Urban 10 Miler
The Color Run - Colorado
Sailing Shoes 10k
The Duo at the Lodge Half Marathon

I think I want to add a few more (there are not enough 5ks on here) but this is about what I can handle right now given the insanity of my schedule.

Other things that are happening in 2012?

I'm going to start taking classes toward a graduate degree.
My best friend is getting married.
I turn 26.

As we get a little further into the year, it seems like I am going to be everywhere but here in Colorado. I know that's not true, and that I will be here quite a bit, but when you look at my calendar it's full of travel and races and I can tell you pretty much what I am doing from now until Christmas. I'm not sure if that's healthy or not but I like it that way.

I will leave you with two important insightful thoughts. One relates to this entire post and perfectly describes how I am living my life right now:

“Your twenties are your ‘selfish’ years. It’s a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Tinker, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground.”

The second is a blog I read this morning that makes me think about relationships I have with my friends. The key point was this:

"A friendship can be an extremely powerful relationship and to act like friends don’t have the power to hurt us so deeply that we have to walk away somehow cheapens the relationship."

Friends can hurt you. Friends can say or do things that can permanently change your relationship with them, because you can't forget what they said or did to you. But friendships are one of the most important relationships you will have, and I don't think the friends who truly value your relationship with them (and vice versa) will do things to hurt you deeply, because you matter to them.

Do you have your year planned out? Trips, races...? I can't be the only one to do this...right?