Wonderful weekend inspiration...

Tomorrow I am heading north with my hubby to celebrate his Mum's 60th... Will be fun to catch up with the family and celebrate all of Sue's great milestones in 60 years.

I am a huge fan of inspirational and motivational quotes and sayings
so I wanted to leave you with some little gems to motivate you and inspire you through your weekend.

Thanks to this always trusty website and my crazy addiction to this amazing website, here are some treats for you...

Like a workout or treating a friend

So true! Get out there and work your booty off!

 I love this one as I am a firm believer that each day, each place, each thing you do, and so on, is TOTALLY what you make of it! So enjoy this day, this weekend and...

 And...

A tribute to a beautiful life...

This week is a sad week. Yesterday a wonderful lady passed away after fighting a very brave fight against breast cancer.

Last year I ran the Auckland Marathon as a fundraiser for this wonderful woman...

Her name is Nadia and, although I only knew her for a short time, I am, and always will be, inspired by her passionate, kind heart, her amazingly positive attitude and outlook on life. She leaves behind her husband and her two small children, 4 and 2 years old, and she leaves a very large legacy for them.

The Bible says that the heritage you leave for your family is one of the most important things and I believe that Nadia has blessed her family with a wonderful heritage.

This is her in May this year with her husband just after completing the Baylys to Dargaville 6 and 12km run. She always had a smile on just like this and this is how she will be remembered always, I am sure.

My thoughts and prayers and love are with the family at this sad time.

Thank you for your inspiration Nadia, it was a pleasure to know you, even for such a short time. You will be greatly missed but your legacy and your heritage will always live on.

Running with a bun...

And by this I don't mean running while eating some bread, which I know some of you are dreaming of, but running with a bun in the oven!! Yup.

I know some of you out there might be thinking 'how risky' or 'is it worth it' or 'why do that to yourself and your baby???' I know those are all valid things to be thinking or asking and trust me, I have done my research. In my research I couldn't even find any negative effects of running during pregnancy even when that's all I tried to look for. As long as it is something you have done before you are pregnant... That is the only thing you need to remember. DO NOT DECIDE TO START RUNNING FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER FINDING OUT YOU ARE PREGNANT! Otherwise, go for it!

Here's a tiny snippet of what I did manage to find out in my research...

The Complete Book of Running for Women, written by Claire kowalchik, has a really big section on running and pregnancy. It has awesome info.

My favourite quote from the book: "Not only is running during pregnancy safe for you and your baby, but it can also offer several health benefits..." Claire also goes on to talk about how "...many women are discovering that running during pregnancy is a positive and healthful experience for themselves and their babies. Experts now agree not only that running during pregnancy is safe for mom and baby but that it can actually enhance your well-being and and maybe even that of your child."

How awesome is that!?! Claire also talks all about the physical rewards, oxygen, aerobic advantages, well-being, running programmes, cross-training for pregnancy, stretches and exercises, and SOOOO much more! It is great, if you are wanting to know all about it I suggest you read this book, or one similar that has lots of info in it.

In short, if you are a runner, running during pregnancy is just fine or both of you, unless you have been told otherwise from a doctor.

source

There are also some amazing women whose blogs I follow who have ran or been very physical throughout their pregnancies. If you are a pregnant runner then you should totally follow them. You can find them all here...

Janae at this wonderful blog here, is an amazing runner who ran the whole way through her pregnancy and now has a gorgeous 6 wk old baby girl. She is a huge inspiration!

Hanna, who you can check out at her blog here, is just a week behind me in her 3rd pregnancy and has an amazing and inspirational story to share about her running and weight loss journey.

Katy, who has this fab blog, has a whole bunch of awesome workouts that can be done at home or the gym, all through pregnancy. She also has a whole bunch of great workouts for non-preggers chicks too.

There are sooo many other great blogs where you can get great inspiration, advice and workouts for pregnancy but I definitely recommend you check out these ones. I follow them daily and they are some of my faves. Thanks wonderful girls! x

Wonderful Wednesday...

Needing some inspiration? As you all know I love me some good ol' running quotes and inspiration. So here's a few to cheer up your Wednesday... 

This actually says it all... Brilliant!

 

As you all know, I'm no Usain Bolt so I def love this and totally agree!

Happy hump day!

Passionate Passion Party

One of my favourite quotes but I had temporarily forgotten it....

The last few weeks I have felt a bit nonchalant about the whole running business. Coming into winter I often find it's not the most inspiring time to be running, as well as getting a lot more work (which is so awesome, but sometimes tiring). However, today I had an unofficial job interview in which I got asked what my passions were and what I did outside of school and teaching.

This got me thinking and got me talking about running. For any of you who know me, you will know that once you get me started on something I love and am passionate about, it's VERY hard to shut me up again. I thought I managed to be quite contained in this situation though - my husband would be so proud! So once I got talking about how passionate I am about running, why I run, why I love it and what my goals are, it made me really feel passionate again. Yay!

Last week I officially registered for this marathon again, which I was hoping would give me the burst of inspiration and enthusiasm I needed. Alas, I found that it didn't really help, but am letting YOU all know that if it is motivation and inspiration you need, talking about your passions REALLY does help and give you the boost you need. Or kick up the butt in my case. I really can't afford to keep sitting on the couch and just blogging about it all day, I actually have to do something at some point right!?!

So just some encouragement to you, if you are feeling a little nonchalant like i was, try to remember and maybe even talk about your passion, why you love it, why you do it and what it brings to your life, and maybe even others'.

What are your passions? What helps to inspire or motivate you when you are not feeling the passion?

And I'll just leave you with this one last reminder - Whatever you are doing...

Find Your Strong

I was reading a blog post on one of my fave regular blog reads here and found a link to this website here by Saucony. 

Saucony have a Project called:

 
 'Find Your Strong' is a project in which they want to know what ways you find your strong? You've got to check out the site because they have some seriously encouraging, motivating, and inspiring quotes, people and video clips on there that will really push your buttons, tug at your heart strings and any other cheesy sayings you can think of! 

It also really made me think about how I 'find my strong'.

I guess I find my strong through having people around me that support and motivate me, such as my amazing husband, family and friends. Not to mention, my lovely readers and followers on here who are constantly giving me positive feedback which encourages me to push myself to keep going. Running really helps me to find my strong as, out there on the road (cue the theme song from Remember the Titans here and get your tissues - or not), it's just you and your mind and all that physical training that you do is only small compared to the mental training that goes on whilst running.

OK, I promise all the soppy stuff is out now, but I do want to ask you this:

How do you 'find your strong' and what keeps you going?

Hardcore to the full bore

More and more recently I have been doing things or realising things that have made me think about how serious I am getting about this whole running business. So much so that I thought you lucky people would like to read a blog post about it... Don't worry, you can thank me for it later :)

Here are my top 10 ways you know you are a hardcore runner (or trying to be, like me):

1. You have a shoe collection like this:

And you get more excited about new running shoes than you do about any other type of new shoes (sad but true!).

2. The pile of books on your coffee table, in the toilet, next to your bed, or wherever, looks like this:

Yes, all running books (Yes, that does say for 'Serious Runners' - I'm attempting to take things to the next level, I'll let you know how it goes).

3. You have started to wear sports brand clothing as casual wear - probably my saddest confession, I must say.

Thanks Nike for this casual wear

4. EVERYTHING tastes better dipped in some peanut butter!

5. Your earliest night of the week is a Friday or Saturday night (because you are doing  your long run the following day).

6. You have Nana naps that are longer than your actual Nana's naps.

7. You are constantly resetting your speedo in the car to measure distances of different routes.

8. You get more excited about buying new sports wear than you do casual wear.

9. Your life gets organised around your training plan.

10. You're always looking up running motivation and quotes like these:

11. You start planning your next race before you've even done the current one you are training for.


So what things to you do that show that you are serious about running? What are your 'hardcore' habits? Do any of these things sound like a bit of you??

True Grit...

I am currently staying with my Uncle and Aunty and two cousins in Rotorua - the city of Saturday's marathon. My Uncle asked me this morning as I was strapping on my running shoes to head out for my last light run before the race: 'What makes you want to just run a marathon?'

'Well', I said, 'great question'. But what is the answer to that I then thought? I told him my story of how I got into running, but then he was still like 'But why a marathon, what is wrong with you girl?'... Haha. I love how whenever you tell someone you are going to run a marathon (that's not a runner or sport-minded) they automatically assume there's something wrong with you.

So I thought about it and here is what I came up with:

Perhaps it is craziness that made me first decide to run a marathon. Or maybe I thought I had something to prove to the world (or just myself, I honestly don't think 'the world' actually cares what I do). But to actually go out and do it takes what I like to call True Grit! AKA determination.

This definition of determination is as so:

Definition of determination

In terms of running a marathon, my true grit/determination is defined as:

• Getting up out of bed on a Saturday morning (which to everyone else is sleep in day) at 5.30am and hitting the road by 6 (so I can be back by the time everyone is up from their sleep-ins - lucky so and sos!) and running for several hours. 
• The sore feet, joints, muscles and whole body from the enduring training
• The 'Can't stay out too late tonight as I have to get up for a long run in the morning' attitude
• It's putting your running first 
• It's putting down that cupcake the size of your head
• It's having your apple crumble and ice cream without the crumble or the ice cream 
• It's carrying snacks all the time like a mother with a mini van load of children. 
• It's constantly thinking about how your next move is going to impact on your training and running...
• It's saving up or sacrificing other things to pay for the race you've entered, new running shoes, sports supplements, clothing, massages, physio, etc. etc.
• ALL totally worth it!

That is grit, to say the least. But... Here's the catch:

Crossing that finish line knowing you had true grit and determination to get you there without dying is one of THE BEST feelings in the world.  AND... It's addictive, which is where the need to run a second marathon (and possibly more after this one) comes from.

So there you have it people - the short version to answer my Uncle's question is craziness or mild insanity followed by true grit and determination. Viola!


Although I say that I have true determination and grit, I also have God helping me too. This is what the Bible has to say...

Zechariah 4:6b -
'Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit', says the Lord.

So if all else fails God's word never does!

Stay cool kids,

RunnerGirl.

Marathon countdown: 2 more sleeps!

A little bit of inspiration - Or what I like to call 'Runspiration'...

With my second marathon looming in just over a week there's nothing more in the way of physical training that I can do to help me to do better on race day. Now the training is all just mental - gearing my mind up for enduring 42.2km of running.

I have been hunting for some inspiration to get me fired up and excited for the big day. So I thought I would share it with you, my readers, and I hope it encourages and inspires you too :)

My personal favourites:

And trust me, it really does!

I cannot explain the feeling of achieving your own personal victory after putting in all of the hard work, courage, sweat and tears - experience it for yourself - it's amazing!

Couldn't have put it better - thanks Nike!

 My quote from last week's post - This is so very true. If you believe you can then you will! Just go for it!

Happy running :)

What is your mind telling you??

Hello fellow runners (or wish-to-be runners)...

This quote above is my favourite and it can relate to absolutely EVERYTHING I think, but is particularly applicable to this blog post.

It's been a pretty up and down past couple of weeks but thought that I was in need of a blog update for all you devout followers out there (or follower - singular???).

So a couple of weeks ago I got quite sick... turns out that when you are running long distances it takes a wee toll on your immunity, but alas, I am not the type of person to get into my way... Until some terrible fevers stopped me from emerging from my bed... DOH!! So this put a little halt on my training in which time my mind (or the little evil guy on my shoulder) started saying:
'Don't you think that your body is trying to tell you something getting this ill this close to your marathon?' And 'You probably shouldn't really be doing the marathon anyway, but especially with all this time out of your training', and then my favourite... 'You CAN'T do this, especially not now!'

Even my doctor was trying to tell me that perhaps I should just think of doing a half marathon... Sheesh! Who does he think I am?!?!

I considered it and had a little battle with my mind. But I was due for a long (35km) run so I thought I would see how I went in that and then make my decision from there. Turns out that the early bird discount closed the day before I was to do that long run so the lovely little guy on my shoulder (and my ever encouraging husband) said: 'what the heck, just go for it  after all, you have put in the training hours and you KNOW you can do it!'

Although I was a little unsure that I could do it I still went ahead and registered anyway. Then, with much prayer, a supportive running buddy, and a super awesome husband supporter, the next day I completed my super long (longest) training run and felt great! I was a little sore but I finished the run feeling like I could have kept running, which I think is the main thing, as the actual marathon is still a bit longer than 35kms. Phew!

So after all my considerations, my trials and tribulations, my doubts and my struggles, I am only just over two weeks away from completing my second ever marathon and getting more and more excited about it by the day. Still trying to be wise and stay healthy but squeezing in a couple of training sessions here and there too, such as spin class, short runs and some fitness like hill repeats and sprint sessions. Now it's all downhill until the BIG day! Woop!

So, if you are pondering a run, struggling with your mind and not really believing you can achieve what it is you want to then let me leave you with some inspiration... Including this quote:

'Your body cannot achieve what your mind cannot believe' (sorry, not too sure who said this but isn't it great?!). It's sooo true too, 90% of the battle is mental, 10% is physical! Ok, well maybe not quite to those percentages but mentality plays a HUGE part! Have you ever had to overcome any mental struggles when it comes to sports or training or anything like that? I'd LOVE to hear!

This one's for everyone!

The thing I love about running is there is not much else to do but think and reflect - especially when you are really clocking up the kms on those long slow day (LSD) runs. I usually take my iPod along with me and listen to music while I'm running, but the thoughts just tick on over.
I also pray a lot - as a Christian prayer is very important, and I find running one of the best times to do it. It is uninterrupted and you are not distracted by anything else. So as I was running today I was praying for all of you - so readers, consider yourselves prayed for :)

The actual point of this post today is for all you people out there who  read this and think "Oh I wish I could do that", or "I'm just not a runner like you", and whatever other thoughts you might have. As I said in my earlier post, my aim is to encourage you with this blog, so be encouraged that EVERYONE CAN RUN!!! No excuses!


I understand that some people may have injuries, be pregnant, have conditions or just purely be lacking motivation and inspiration (which happens to the best of us at times), but please, be encouraged that you can OVERCOME IT!!!

At school, cross country was my worst enemy. I even remember trying to hide in the toilets to get out of it once (to no avail). About 5 years ago, I remember trying to run with my husband a lap of our block (about 750 meters) and not even being able to make it the whole way. I was "just not a runner". I loved walking, but running was definitely NOT for me.

Then I started off easily and slowly - I was living overseas in a foreign country and didn't have much to do other than go to the gym. I would start by trying to run for a couple of minutes, then gradually build up. I remember being so excited going home and telling hubby that 'today I ran for 20mins on the treadmill!!'. Next thing you know I am signed up for my first ever 7km run with some friends. YIKES! It took me 52 minutes (which now is about how long it takes me to run almost 10km) but I DID NOT STOP!!! It was the best feeling and just got better from there. Next thing I was doing 15km runs, then on to half marathons (21 kms) and now here I am aiming to do more marathons (42 kms). Phew!

 Me and the girls just before my first ever 7km run - feeling just as nervous as we looked.


So what I am trying to say is that if you really want to do it then quit with the excuses and start small. Set small, achievable goals, whether they just be to run to the end of your road and back without a stop, or a time goal, whatever it is YOU CAN DO IT! And if you enjoy it then set further goals to better yourself. I can't explain how amazing the feeling of achieving a running goal is so you really just have to experience it for yourself. Nothing beats the feeling of achieving your goals. And as I read last night in 'Marathon running - From beginner to elite' by Richard Nerurkar, "There are still no shortcuts to achieving your goals" - which is so simple, but I love, because then you know that you really have worked to achieve!

This is me after my first (and so far only) marathon in Auckland, 2011, feeling rather chuffed.

All the best people, I look forward to hearing stories and comments about running as you set and achieve your own goals. Also, if you have questions feel free to ask and I will try answer them as best as I can, however they will probably mostly only be answered from what I have learned through personal experience, and not everyone is the same.

Be encouraged and run with joy!