Friday, May 31, 2013

#PositiveThurs - Week 105!

It's FRIDAY!!! YAY!!!!!!!

What an awesome day of sharing yesterday! So many awesome tweets, that it was hard to pick some to feature!

Let's Dive In!!

First of all:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTIE!



A Great Reminder:



Hoping everything is ok... but also a good reminder:



This also made me smile!



It's a beautiful day for a neighbour! ;)



This is an AMAZING picture, Juhli!! I love it!!



This tweet made me laugh outloud!



Be sure to click through the slideshow, it's FULL of awesomeness!!

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Five things that being injured has done for me.

Ok, quick recap for those just joining us.
I am overweight, trying to get healthy. I found out that I love running. I ran too much and now my knee is super angry-face at me.

Ok, now that we’re all caught up.
Five things that being injured has done for me.

1. I've been forced to try new things.

I got into a groove where I was running 3+ days a week and only picking up the weights when I couldn't come up with a good enough reason not to.
Now, I ride a recumbent bike, I lift weights, I go for walks, I even started going to Deep Waterfit!

2. I've had to refocus my goals.

Like I said, I was running a lot. This made me able to eat quite a few unhealthy meals a week, and still lose weight. However, now that I’m not running, I've had to become more nutrition focused. Which reminded me that I was STILL putting WAY more unhealthy foods in my body than I should have been. I had also started getting obsessed with running faster/farther. However, this interruption reminded me why I started all of this in the first place - HEALTH!

3. It has allowed me to connect more with my sister.

My sister (who is freaking awesome, BTW) has started her own health journey. However, she is not too interested in running. So I've been able to go for walks with her and we went to Deep Waterfit together too! Breaking out of the "need to run faster/farther" helped me remember that ANY exercise can be done with others!

4. It has given me the chance to prove how much I want this.

All too often, we are thrown a ‘wrench in the plan’ or a brick wall is put up to stop us. We then have to choose if we want to push ahead, or cave to the pressure. This is less black and white than I’m making it out to be.  However, it’s exciting to know that I want this badly enough to try out new things & step outside my comfort zone.

5. I've gotten quite the mental workout.

Anyone who has been injured before knows how hard it is to basically have life tell you “Hey, you can’t do that thing you love doing anymore.”
I've been through weird bouts of near depression. I've been sad about not running, sad when I know my friends are running and sad when I see other runners.  I was just starting to consider myself a ‘runner’… and now I feel weird saying it because I can’t run.
It has been hard to motivate myself to do workouts that take up as much or more time, but don’t burn near as many calories as running does. Running provides a release of emotions, a way to slough off the day. Then I'd kick myself for feeling negative about not running. As if I didn't deserve to feel badly about being injured.
Getting over THAT mental wall is the hardest part, in my opinion.


Basically, to sum things up: This injury hasn't been all bad.

It’s important to remember that you’re not the first to have an injury, hit a wall or feel sad about stuff. There are so many amazing blog posts and resources on the internet (and beyond) to help remind you you’re not alone and to help you cope/recover.
Also, don’t forget how important it is to share how you’re feeling with those who are close to you. You’ll never get help if no one knows you’re hurting.

Friday, May 24, 2013

#PositiveThurs - Week 104! [Pictures GALORE!]

This week there were SOOOO many awesome tweets, quotes, pictures and quote pictures. DISCLAIMER: There is a picture with a "bad word" in it.

Ok, let's get to it!!



(I love the pictures that Janet shares!!)



Tikki is such an inspiration. She is AMAZE-balls. (the best kind of amazing)



This picture NEVER ceases to make me SMILE! (Honestly, from here on out.. all the "featured tweets" are pictures... lol)





SOOOOOOOOOOOOO Gorgeous!





LET THE GOOD THOUGHTS SHINE OUT YOUR FACE!



ALRIGHTY y'all - here are your AMAZING #PositiveThurs tweets in a slideshow! (Thanks for being awesome!)

Friday, May 17, 2013

#PositiveThurs - Week 103!

Holy holy moly, YOU GUYS! You are so awesome!
Look at all the awesomeness you tweeted out yesterday!!!



I'm also lucky to live in the same city as my parents!



Wow Shannon, This is some view!!



Christina, I REALLY love this realization! :)



The Hashtag #everythinghurts made me laugh.



A little gem to remember:




You are all so amazing! Thank you for sharing yourselves with all of us! I love #PositiveThurs!!

Here are all your awesome tweets - Slideshow Style!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Hitting A Brick Wall


It’s been a little quiet over here on my blog.
Do you remember when I ran the #GhettoHalfMara with my run buddies? Do you remember how I said that it felt like I was killing my knees? So as it turns out, I was.

 It wasn’t just the half marathon, I was generally overdoing it.
After about a month of thinking "Oh, it'll just go away!", and it not just going away, I decided to cut down on the running (nope, hadn’t decided to see someone just yet.) I started doing knee strengthening exercises and running shorter distances with less frequency. I told myself that I could have 2 weeks, and if it still hurt – I’d go see someone. Well, I went to see someone.

I found out that I had, indeed, “overused” my knees. I was prescribed some exercises, some SuperFeet insoles and ideally, I need to stop running (for now).

It has been three weeks since I last went for a RUN.
5 reasons why I dislike this fact?:

1. Not being able to go for a run with my run friends just plain SUCKS.
When you're a pretty busy person, running with friends can be an extension the entirety of your social life. Not being able to run with your run friends, usually means you don't see your run friends.

2. Running burned A LOT of calories.
This gave me more wiggle room. Not burning those calories, means no poutine keeping a closer eye on what I'm eating.

3. Being in pain is exhausting.
Pain makes motivating yourself to move your body A MILLION times harder.

4. Not being able to do what you enjoy makes exercising a chore.
Imagine having to watch repeats of a terrible movie instead of watching a new awesome one. That's what exercise can be when you don't enjoy what you're doing. Which, in turn, makes motivating yourself to move your body AN EXTRA MILLION times harder.

5. Numbers are my motivation.
Being motivated by doing "better than the last time" can get you into trouble. (Exhibit KNEE). However, not being able to do as much activity as I was used to also gives me the feeling of “Why even bother?” When you can't get the same intensity or improve from where you were, it's hard to motivate yourself try.

My knees are definitely better than they were 3 weeks ago, (thanks Dr.Stefanie Yao) but I’ve never been very patient with injury recovery. I’m doing everything I can to not F*#$ this up.

I've hesitated updating my blog because I wasn't feeling accomplished - It's hard to share your struggles. But what I've realized, is that overcoming these struggles will be a greater accomplishment than running a bajillion kilometers.

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out; the brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” – Randy Pausch

Friday, May 10, 2013

#PositiveThurs - Week 102!

WOW!!! What a week!

There are SOOOO MANY tweets to choose from that I chose a lot. So I won't say much, I'll let the tweets stand for themselves... but I just want to say: THANK YOU!!! What an incredible week of sharing/being awesome/love we had!!!

PUPPY!




SUMMER!



Love that hashtag, #SingLikeNobodyIsWatching





(PS Running is awesome)





don't forget... It's Mother's Day this Sunday!!





Last but not least, I think EVERYONE should click the link in the next tweet and read the blog post.




OK, OK! I know, that was a lot. BUT GUESS WHAT! That's only the beginning! Click through this slideshow to see all the AMAZINGNESS from everyone!