Archive | News RSS feed for this section

Very Brave

30 Apr

I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much. – Mother Teresa

Every now and then you come across a person, or in this case a story about a person, that just stops you in your tracks and leaves you with so much emotion that you don’t know what hit you.

This news piece on a deaf, blind man about to walk the Flying Pig 5k did just that. Deaf since birth and blind for many years, David Conroy likes to pursue lots of interests.

“The thing about being deaf and blind is you get really bored,” stated a LADD employee in the video.

That statement hit me like a rock. I cannot fathom losing either my hearing or my sight, but to lose both? That’s incomprehensible to me. I’ve sat here for a while trying to even grasp what that would be like, and can’t. And yet, it’s David’s life. And he chooses to live with the sort of courage that I only read of.

I want to walk away from this learning from David. I want to stop being such a spoiled brat who takes my health everything for granted. I want to appreciate more. I want to remember David when I set out to run the Flying Pig Marathon Sunday morning.  I want to look at this world with fresh eyes. I want to possess just a small piece of his incredible perseverance.

And most importantly, I want to be brave.

Advertisement

Tags: , ,

And I thought Adriana Lima woke up looking like that …

9 Nov

The Daily News recently published this article about Victoria Secret Angel Adriana Lima and her strict diet and exercise regiment that preps her for the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.

Twice-daily workouts and goodbye to solid foods? No liquids at all 12 hours before the show?? Sad. I thought she just naturally looked this amazing.

It’s probably a good thing I wasn’t born with a model’s physique. Being a model sounds like more work than training for my marathon.

Tags: ,

Running in Grass Skirts and Coconut Bras

4 Nov

I was recently introduced to the wonder that is www.joggingjeans.com, which is a blog that consists of… well, people jogging in jeans. Which is preposterous, yet hilarious. Well maybe it’s not that crazy. I mean as kids, didn’t we play and run in our jeans all day, every day? It never seemed to bother us then, right? You never see a kid stop their fun and say ,”Wait guys. Let me put on some more appropriate clothing for running.” Nah, they just take off.

This got me to thinking about the most ridiculous things I’ve run in:

  • Cross-trainers – When I first started running almost five years ago, I ran in an old pair of cross-trainers I had in my closet. It pained Donnie to see me run in these and he eventually bought me my first pair of running shoes when I started to complain of ankle pain.
  • Street clothes – Recently my friends and I traveled to Cleveland, OH for a wedding. We had a layover in Atlanta. Due to bad weather and a delayed flight, we had less than one minute to get across the Atlanta Airport. Despite this being an impossible challenge, we tried anyways. Running in low-rise jeans, a regular bra and flats was a massive fail and my sprint quickly turned into a really slow jog. We missed the flight (not because of how slow I was, but because the plane had already left without us) and ended up sleeping in Atlanta.
  • Street clothes (again) – When a friend was struggling during her marathon earlier this year I threw on my running shoes and started to run along side her for a little motivation. I’m so thankful that she said she was fine, because running in tweed shorts was sure to give me some massive leg chafing.
  • Coconut bra, lei and a grass skirt – In 2008, Donnie and I ran Muddy Buddy here in Orlando, FL. They really encourage you to dress up for this bike and run obstacle course so I hit up the dollar store for inspiration. The two grass skirts, two coconut bras and two leis later I had our costumes for under $10! Who cares that our grass skirts caught caught in our borrowed bike’s spokes and we were picking out skirt for hours? At least we had epic race pics:

Donnie and I on the final stretch of Muddy Buddy

Around mile 3 we figured out that it was best to tuck our grass skirts into our shorts to avoid getting caught in the spokes. Wish we would've remembered to untuck for this pic.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve run in?

Tags:

Nothing Says Christmas Like…

18 Oct

Ho... Ho... Ho...

Jersey Shore brings the holiday cheer. Found at the Walgreens in Winter Park (corner of Mills and Fairbanks).

Tags: , , ,

Babies are the New Medal

12 Oct

When I read this story about a woman giving birth after the Chicago Marathon this past Sunday, I had two initial thoughts:

  1. Which was harder: completing the marathon or giving labor?
  2. Whoa… she ran at an 11 or 12 minute mile pace? That’s my pace during long slow runs and I’m just carrying myself!

From the video interview, it looks like running the marathon nearly 39 weeks pregnant was easier than the labor for Amber Miller.

All I know is that the next time I’m running long, if I even think about complaining I’m going to say this to myself: “Push through, Hey. If a pregnant woman can do this, so can you.”

And then I’ll go ahead and eat for two afterwards.

Tags: ,