Yes, I had to look that up. Can you believe there is a Stardate converter that takes todays date and converts it to a Star Trek Stardate? Love it. Anyway, this post has nothing to do with Star Trek and everything to do with other random musings.
Today's post brought to you by...this beautiful mug and some hot home-brewed Starbucks Christmas Blend, my favorite of their beans. Both were gifts, separately. The mug I just recently received as a thank you from a doula client, imagine how my heart sang when the card inside read simply "to the best doula ever". And it wasn't just any mug, it was a mug identical to the ones I had admired in their home when we used them to share many cups of tea and coffee over the course of 4 childbirth/relaxation classes. The coffee beans were a part of a wonderful week I experienced in the first week of January, hard to believe 4 lbs of Christmas Blend has lasted me through March! And I still appreciate the gift, very much.
Ooooh, I just noticed another gift in this photo, the yummy green & pink flowered blanket in the background what a Christmas gift last year from my amazing sister-in-law! I am one lucky lady!
Runners Log?
Inspired by recent events, I decided to start logging my running progress. Today I ran 3 miles and it felt amazing. (ok, I didn't really run three miles yet but I am going to when I drop Emma off and I'm psyching myself up) I did however start my day with a new green smoothie recipe that I made up, or heard somewhere and cataloged in my brain. Whole Foods was out of long leaf spinach this weekend so I bought some Red Kale and viola, a new recipe emerged.This is using the 3:1 ratio of veggies to fruits that I learned from Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet. Her website www.crazysexylife.com is one of my favorite places to visit for ideas and inspiration. Anyway, here's todays smoothie recipe:
- 1 piece of Organic Red Kale, stalk included
- 1/2 Organic Cucumber, peel on
- 1 Organic Granny Smith Apple, peel on
- 1 handful Organic Baby Carrots
- 1-2 cups Organic Orange Juice (enough to make all items blend smoothly and pour nicely)
- 1 tablespoon Flax Oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
I hear Emma over the monitor singing "mommy, mommy, mommy" which means it's time to go see her big smile and start our day!
MID-DAY UPDATE:
Much to my own amazement, I accomplished this mornings intention of running 3 miles. Setting that intention was inspired by an article written by a dear, beautiful friend who set an intention of sending a monthly newsletter and just passed the one year mark! I wrote it in two places, this blog and on my kitchen chalkboard, so that it was fresh in my mind.
I decided to go for my Christmas Day 3.2 mi loop, carefully setting goals along the way. After briskly walking the first minute or two I set out on the Burke paths that trail behind the houses and made my way slow and steady out to Burke Lake Road. Listening to my body I decided not to stop at the top of the first incline (which is a bad habit of mine), instead I simply slowed down to the point I no longer felt winded. I continued along and again didn't stop where I usually do to cross Burke Center Parkway, instead I slowed my pace on approach of the intersection so that I arrived when the light changed. I had a goal to get to the top of the next incline and then walk, but as I climbed, instead of looking at the crosswalk sign (my goal) I kept my head up but let my eyes follow the line where the grass meets the pathway and repeated "relax, relax, relax". I was thrilled when I reached the top and instead of needing to walk I set another goal of the next crosswalk sign and used the same technique as before. I didn't waste energy jumping up to hit the sign (as I used to do) as I passed it, just kept picking new things to run to. As I passed mile two I eventually let myself walk to the approaching traffic light which took about one minute and then started running again after crossing. That all too familiar cramp in my side was building so I did some deep belly breathing as I had read in Runners World and it passed around the same time I excitedly passed by Starbucks for the first time during a run since Christmas Day. As I crossed back over Burke Center to head home I took off my hat and outer layer, which cooled me off a little as I slow rolled it back through the paths and into my neighborhood. I walked the last 30-60 seconds and jumped for joy as I arrived home feeling exhilarated!
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