A Virtual 5K

I am participating in my friend Ashli's challenge to run 500 miles in 1 year. I'm using Daily Mile to track my progress. Since September 27, I have logged 80 miles towards that goal. One way that the group decided to stay motivated was to schedule a Virtual 5K. We set a date (this weekend) and all results have to be reported on Monday. Christy and I headed out to our standard neighborhood near work to get our 3.1 miles done. Neither of us were particularly motivated but knew we needed to get it done. I tried to keep pushing... I tried to go faster and run more. But a virtual 5K doesn't have other participants. One of the great things about running a 5K event is being around all those other people. I also have to admit that I like being able to pass people- even if I'm only passing walkers. It's very motivating and a great way to feel like you're making continual progress. That is completely lacking when doing a virtual 5K. I had no other runners or walkers around. Christy and I knew we had to head outdoors- trying to do the 5K on the treadmill would have been torture for us. It's funny- when I started running, I hated running outside. Then I got used to running outdoors and now I hate being stuck on a treadmill. So I did my 5K. I ended up with an average time- slower than I'd like, really. But I did it. My time was right around 45 minutes. Christy's time was approximately 35 minutes. Christy and I both want to break 100 miles by Christmas. Christy should hit that next week as she has logged 91 miles. If I really push, I should hit by the end of the following week. It's going to take some serious motivation. So it isn't an "official" race. And I've done the 5K distance on regular runs. But I'm counting this 5K as one of my races. Race for the Cure, Fishers Freedom Festival, Wine At the Line, Indianapolis Monumental, and now the Virtual 5K. In February, I did my first ever Couch to 5K workout. As of today, I've participated in 5 events. That's pretty cool.

Season of Giving: Back On My Feet

In the month of December, I'm going to feature various groups that help those in need (that means I'm posting twice a day!!). I'm not always doing fundraising for them- just bringing attention to groups that I think do important work or may need help. Perhaps you will feel the urge to connect to that group or find something similar in your area that you can volunteer your time and talents. Perhaps you will want to make a donation. Perhaps you will just feel warm and fuzzy knowing that good is being done in the world. See all posts for the Season of Giving ***** Back On My Feet To be fair, I only learned about this organization this morning. I have a little list going of the things I want to highlight and have even asked for input from others (on the Facebook page and via Twitter) and gotten some great ideas. I'm a fan of Baise Communications on Facebook. Baise provides nonprofit connections and news through the Facebook page and I love reading about various organizations through them. Today, I read this: What started as a running club between one woman and several homeless men from the shelter she ran by on her morning runs has turned into a nonprofit organization called Back On My Feet (BOMF) - a homeless advocacy nonprofit that builds confidence through running programs. I was very intrigued so I clicked through to the website, shared the link with Christy, and we couldn't stop reading and digging and finding more information. Most exciting to us is that Back On My Feet is going to be starting an Indianapolis Chapter in March! This isn't just a running club. This is a group that advocates for the homeless while also introducing people impacted by homelessness to running- as a confidence builder, a way of setting and achieving goals. The program has steps built into it- when someone commits to the running club, they move up through this program to help them get back on their feet. Help with training, education, finding a job, finding a place to live. The blog on the website really moved me and I encourage you to read through and watch the videos to find out what kind of impact Back On My Feet has made in the lives of others. Here's a great video to give you a taste of what Back On My Feet is all about: I've signed up to get information on running a race for Back On My Feet and to learn about prelaunch events. I hope I can run with them someday- weekday early mornings won't work for me but maybe a longer Saturday run sometime would work. I've also set up a fundraising page with a goal of $100. Give a little financial support. If you are in Indianapolis and want to get involved- Get Involved with the Indianapolis Chapter. And if you live in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Chicago or Boston, there is already an existing Back On My Feet program in your city. In 2011, Back On My Feet is starting chapters in Dallas-Forth Worth, Atlanta, and Minneapolis-St. Paul (and Indy, of course). You can also nominate your city to become a future chapter! I'm very excited about this opportunity to combine my passions and am really eager to see how this all plays out in the coming months. I hope you are excited about it, too, and I hope that you might be able to donate to the Indy chapter, to your local chapter, or find a way to get involved in your city!

It Didn't Start Out Bad

Yesterday started out as a normal day. I was in a fine mood. Got to work and my morning was normal. And then something weird happened. I have no clue what happened. But something had to have happened to set my day on the wrong course. Around 11, I set an appointment with a co-worker to review a product line that I need to become familiar with. When setting that appointment, I took time to review the agenda for my 1:00. My 1:00 was a web and conference call where I'd been asked to lead a demonstration on a computer system for our corporate office. I reviewed the list and was confident about what I needed to do. Left for lunch- workout day. Hadn't made it to the gym Tuesday or Wednesday. Had to go. Went and had a great workout. Did 1 mile, some weight work, and then another mile. Head to the locker room. Set up my post shower clothes, turn on the water, start to strip down and happen to glance at my phone when it suddenly hit me... THAT IT WAS 1:05 and I HAD PEOPLE WAITING ON ME FOR A CONFERENCE CALL WHERE I WAS THE MAIN EVENT!!!!! CRAP! CRAP CRAP CRAP! Christy was witness to my panic freak out. I tossed her my phone and asked her to call our admin and tell her to tell my boss that I'd be there in 5 minutes. Christy couldn't work my phone- which is understandable. I jumped into the shower, cranked the water to cold, spun around, rinsed my hair in the ponytail, jumped out, grabbed my towel, scooped up my dirty clothes, and raced into the toilet stall. Half dried myself while shoving my legs into clean undies and somehow putting on my bra at the same time. Raced out of the bathroom and headed for my clothes when I figured some deoderant might be a prudent choice. Raced to my locker and back to my clothes. At this point, Christy and our trainer decided that hanging on the sidelines until I was done was their best option. I flew into my clothes. My shirt had a tie in the back and I let it stay untied. I grabbed my coat and threw my dirty clothes into my gym bag and shoved my bag into the corner since I knew I'd be back the next day. I grabbed up my sweater, my towel, my purse. And I raced out the door. Yep- my gym towel is in my car instead of in the gym's hamper. Ah well... I'll be back soon enough. Dash to the car, take off, get to work (across the street, thank heavens) and find a space close to the front door. Dash out of the car, run across the parking lot (and never out of breath!!), into the front door, down the hall to my office. I fling my stuff to the floor in the general direction of a chair while shoving the door shut behind me. I dial in and apologize profusely and then hear groan-worthy words from my boss... "Liz, I've got my screen already shared here in my office. Could you just come in here?" I'm still sweating. I can feel sweat drip down my back. Heat is radiating from my scalp. I'm certain I smell like a gym. Like someone who just did a big, sweaty workout. And she wants me to come into her office. Where she always runs a space heater. Ugh. I do a quick search for some body spray but come up with nothing- I consider the Static Guard in my drawer but pass. And it was fine. I didn't miss much and no one was upset with me. It was fine. I never got stinky- even if I felt like I needed a shower. I didn't get my shower until about 10:00 last night- rushed home to meet the family for dinner and then off to church for music team practice. Home to watch a little TV and then a nice, relaxing shower before bed. Until I got that shower... everything was just a little off. Not bad... just off. Ever have one of those days?

Season of Giving: Kiva

In the month of December, I'm going to feature various groups that help those in need (that means I'm posting twice a day!!). I'm not doing fundraising for them- just bringing attention to groups that I think do important work or may need help. Perhaps you will feel the urge to connect to that group or find something similar in your area that you can volunteer your time and talents. Perhaps you will want to make a donation. Perhaps you will just feel warm and fuzzy knowing that good is being done in the world. See all posts for the Season of Giving *~*~*~*~*~ Kiva I'm not Oprah, that's for certain. And I hadn't paid any attention to her lists of favorite things since the audiences started going all insane and the giveaways kept getting more and more over the top. But I hear she highlighted Kiva as a Favorite Thing this year- and I couldn't agree more. I first heard about Kiva a few years ago and spent hours pouring over the stories of the people who have been positively impacted by this microloan program. More accurately, Kiva connects lenders to loan applicants through existing microloan companies and programs. From the website: Kiva's mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty. Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Kiva was born of the following beliefs: •People are by nature generous, and will help others if given the opportunity to do so in a transparent, accountable way. •The poor are highly motivated and can be very successful when given an opportunity. •By connecting people we can create relationships beyond financial transactions, and build a global community expressing support and encouragement of one another. Kiva promotes: •Dignity: Kiva encourages partnership relationships as opposed to benefactor relationships. Partnership relationships are characterized by mutual dignity and respect. •Accountability: Loans encourage more accountability than donations where repayment is not expected. •Transparency: The Kiva website is an open platform where communication can flow freely around the world. Some of the loans are combined to help out a group of people or help a larger project. Some of the loan requests are smaller- an individual who needs seed money to buy materials to build their weaving business. You can loan to Glicerio- a farmer who used to work as a hired hand but saved enough to buy a small amount of land and plant his own bananas and coffee in Peru. Or maybe loan to a group of women in Sierra Leone who are seeking to grow their cereal business. Or maybe loan to Hugo- seeking to build and strengthen his bakery business in Peru. $25 to me is frivolous spending at the grocery store. $25 to this loan program is helping to fund someone's roof or helping someone start their own business or helping someone educate their children. Kiva is powerful, in my eyes, because it takes small donations from many and turns those small donations into a large impact. There is a lot of information to read if you should decide to make a loan of $25. Kiva shares information with you about the risks. When your loan is repaid, you can donate the money back to Kiva, you can finance a new loan, or you can transfer the funds to PayPal. There is a lot of information given on the website so read up and think about participating! Hey- if Oprah says it's a Favorite Thing, it must be awesome, right?

Guilty Pleasures

I love having little things that can make me happy for no reason at all. I'd love for this to be some deep moving post about watching my kids while they sleep or gazing into my husband's eyes. But this is about guilty pleasures. Things that bring me little moments of joy that are really small, unimportant, and maybe even stupid. 1. Dumb TV shows Hellcats is top of my dumb TV shows list and yet I can't stop watching it every week. The writing is bad, the storylines are unbelievable and unrealistic, and the characters are shallow. But it's a dramatic show about cheerleaders. What's not to love?? 2. Plum wine I love a good bottle of wine and there are some deep and intricate and fancy sounding wines that I enjoy. However, my latest guilty pleasure is a simple bottle of sweet, sweet plum wine. It reminds me of fun nights out for sushi with my girlfriends. 3. Worn out blankets My favorite part of the day is when I get into my jammies and curl up on the couch for some down time and snuggle up in my worn out old Winnie the Pooh blanket. It's warm and cozy and holds fond memories of my brothers when they were little. 4. Nutella This is a big deal! You might have noticed I've mentionned it a lot lately. I grew up being allergic to hazelnuts- seriously allergic. While there wasn't ever an epi pen involved, there were hives and concerns about a swollen airway so it was considered life threatening in my family for me to have hazelnuts. I lived hazelnut free for years- always taking careful precautions when it came to ingredients. When Christy went to Paris in September, she brought back chocolate and most of it had hazelnuts in it. So we decided to do our own food test to see if my allergy still existed. Thankfully, I had no reaction and have dived deeply in love with hazelnuts. I was very eager to get my hands on Nutella and it did not disappoint. I love it on a spoon, on a toasted english muffin, on apple slices. 5. Christmas! I am so excited that it is December and I can get all kinds of Christmas crazy. The lights are up, the tree is decorated, the tunes are playing. I've been excited for snow flurries and cold temperatures. I'm looking forward to all that this month has to offer and I'm hoping I find a way to share a little Christmas magic as the month goes on! What are your guilty pleasures??

Season of Giving: The Fresh Air Fund

I'm going to do a new feature in the month of December. I'm going to feature various groups that help those in need. I'm not doing fundraising for them- just bringing attention to groups that I think do important work. Perhaps you will feel the urge to connect to that group or find something similar in your area that you can volunteer your time and talents. Perhaps you will want to make a donation. Perhaps you will just feel warm and fuzzy knowing that good is being done in the world. *** Today, I'm featuring The Fresh Air Fund. From the website: Since 1877, The Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit agency, has provided free summer experiences in the country to more than 1.7 million New York City children from disadvantaged communities. Each year, thousands of children visit volunteer host families in 13 states and Canada through the Friendly Town Program or attend Fresh Air Fund camps. I never went away to camp when I was a kid. I look forward to camp experiences with my kids- there is a family camp we could attend through our church. I read books about summer camps and I dreamt of summer getaways where I could swim and do lots of fun things. The Fresh Air Fund gives kids that opportunity. In addition to providing inner city kids from New York with summer vacation and camp opportunities, The Fresh Air Fund has programs that run year round. From their website: Summer may seem far away, but NYC children are currently participating in Fresh Air programs, from weekly tutoring sessions to job shadowings to weekend retreats at Fund camps in upstate New York! Our Career Awareness Program serves more than 300 youngsters in middle and high school. We also have new leadership programs for young women to develop their “can-do” attitudes!

The great thing is that even a small donation can make a difference. $10 covers the expense of transporting a child to their Fresh Air Fund summer experience. $24 pays for a week of swim lessons. You can be involved with a small donation or even go so far as be a volunteer or a host family. Did you have outdoor fun as a kid? Go away to camp? Visit family in the country? I'd love to hear about it!

Turkey Leftovers

So far, we've just been enjoying our leftover turkey as a classic leftover kind of dish. Turkey, cranberry sauce, veggies, stove top. Turkey sandwich with a little mayo and cranberry sauce. I wanted to do something different with it. I searched recipes and thought of flavor combinations. Last night, I made delicious leftovers and just had to share. Teagan's Turkey 1 cup water. Set to heat on the stove in a deep skillet. Add liberal amounts of taco seasoning and Tastefully Simple's Si Si Cilantro (awesome spice mix you can use to make a yummy dip or in cooking). Whisk to combine. Add in a bunch of cut up turkey. A bunch. Add a few tablespoons of sour cream. Blend well and heat through. While that was cooking, I made a package of Knorr Red Beans and Rice. After it was done, I added it to the turkey mixture. As Teagan put it... It. Was. AWESOME.