I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Jenn

The holidays are upon us, friends. In case you didn’t know it, you can just check my schedule and be reminded. Lawd, things get busy this time of year. This week I actually have THREE nights in a row where I have no obligations, and I don’t know what to do with myself. Last week I had zero free nights. Not that I’m complaining, because those non-free nights are usually filled with boozing and merriment with friends –so, they are commitments I’m willing to make. And even double-book.

This past weekend Dad came in on Friday afternoon. Mom was laid up with a bad cold at home and couldn’t come, so we promised not to have any fun.

We toured the Corsair Distillery here in Nashville, which was really fun. Oops – sorry Mom! It’s in the old Yazoo Brewery space for you Nashvillians. They make gin, whiskey, rum, moonshine, vodka…and probably six other things I’m leaving out. And you get to taste them all at the end. Yes – it’s as much liquor as it sounds like. It didn’t help that we had a high alcohol content beer while waiting on the tour to start – so by about 6:30 p.m. on a Friday I was ready to go to sleep. But, I had a parent to entertain! So, we went to J. Alexanders for dinner then home and watched the first episode of Breaking Bad – trying to get Dad hooked on this one.

Saturday morning Dad and I got up and went to the Girls on the Run 5K. He registered as a normal runner and I was running with my running buddy, Ava. She is the coolest third grader. She PR’d and bested her previous 5K time by 5 minutes! I was so proud of her and we had a great time running. Dad just barely missed the podium and came in 4th or 5th place overall, cause he’s a speed demon. No little girls beat him, which was really all he cared about.

Dad and I celebrated our athletic efforts with lunch at the Silly Goose (the Goose is Loose!) which I think he really enjoyed. We polished it off with some Jeni’s Ice Cream and his visit was pretty much complete. He headed back home that afternoon and Rog and I went to our first Chanukah dinner that evening!

We had the most delicious traditional Chanukah dinner – thanks Kate and Andy!

Sunday I had my Sunday Funday book club and baked approximately 1,000,000 sausage pinwheels. I made some for work, some for book club and some for the band that Rogers had over last night. Seriously – I bought $35 worth of sausage, crescent rolls and cream cheese and just went to town. Consequently, also ate about 100 of them and now feel like poo.

Book Club was awesome, as usual. I love those girls. We did a book swap, too, which is always my favorite because the only thing better than a good book is a free good book! We do our big swap every six months and totally rack up. After about four hours of consuming wine, we also decided to hold our March book club in Palm Springs at Sally’s parents’ house. Sorry I’m not sorry my book club is cooler than yours.

Also, as 30 is rapidly approaching I’m acting more and more like an old lady every day. Last night in the dark I fell down (tripped over an ottoman that I suddenly forgot was there, even though it’s been there for a year or more) and banged my knee (my good knee) SO hard. Then this morning when I woke up I was laying there looking at my phone and I sneezed. I was sort of on my side and jerked my head in some funny manner when I sneezed, and damn near threw my back/neck out. Really? I couldn’t LIFT MY HEAD to sit up and get out of the bed. I thought I was going to have to wake Rogers to lift me up into a sitting position. But rather than do that, I just rolled onto my side and off the side of the bed. I landed with another solid “thud” on that same knee. Yes!

I laid in the floor for a while thinking Rogers would surely wake up and call 911 because I surely was dying (it’s possible I was also over-dramatizing the whole thing) – but he was still sleeping soundly. Men! So I somehow crawled into an upright position and managed to get dressed and ready. But dang – I’m injured.

I guess I’d rather hurt my neck when I sneeze than pee on myself when I sneeze. That’s next, right? Old age.

Xoxo,
Jenn

It’s Cool — I’ll Just Sleep Here, Too

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Jenn

If you’ve read the blog for long you know my love hate relationship with running. Some days I love it and some days I’d rather bang my face against the wall than run. Several months ago I started switching up my workout routine to try and come out of my “I hate running, especially in the summer” funk. I did a couple of bootcamps, which I loved, got addicted to BarreAmped, which I cannot afford, and bought a couple of random Groupons here and there.

Speaking of – if you are in the Nashville area, I have about 15 day-passes to the Delta gym if you’d like them. Lemme know.

I told myself that as soon as I sold my house I’d get a YMCA membership. All my friends (i.e. all the cool kids) are members and I wanted to be too – but just needed to wait until the damn house sold before incurring any extra expenses. (That’s what grown-ups do…ahem ahem).

Anywho…

So I joined the Y a little over a month ago and HOLY gym rat, Batman. I am one of them. I am LOVING the Y and all the options I have now. I’ve gotten totally addicted to yoga, circuit blast, swimming and am dabbling in cycling, now. I just took my first cycling class last night and can barely sit down today. You know – in the crotch area. Wow.

But I LOVED cycling! I had no idea. Riding a bike up pretend hills while listening to rap music as someone yells at you to “BREAK AWAY FROM THE PACK!! You’ll come in last if you don’t KICK IT!” through a microphone? What’s not to love?

So, here’s what a typical week looks like for me now – of course, meetings and happy hours occasionally drop in there on the evenings, but if I had NO obligations, this is how I’d roll.

Monday
6:00 a.m. – swim a mile downtown (indoors, friends)
5:30 p.m. – yoga with Debbie downtown. She rocks!

Tuesday
6:00 a.m. – Circuit Blast (in East Nash.) with Nikole, my Hungarian beauty. This is 50% of why I joined the Y. (No, not to meet hot girls). My friends are in this class and (rightly so) talk about Nikole non-stop. She seriously is amazing. She’s so encouraging, puts so much thought into planning workouts for us and pushes us till we about die every time. YES! We fondly call it “hell class.” The folks in our class recently raised over $2,000 to send her and her daughter back to Hungary for a visit since she pines for it regularly and hasn’t been in many, many years – so that should tell you what an impact she has on her classes.

Evening – rest

Wednesday
6:00 a.m. – swim a mile or run 2-3 miles, depending on how I feel
5:30 p.m. – cycling downtown

Thursday
6:00 a.m. – Circuit Blast with Nikole again
5:30 p.m. – rest or yoga downtown (am trying this class tonight for the first time). How well I like the instructor totally makes or breaks yoga for me.

Friday
5:30 a.m. – Pancake Run! 3 miles.
6:00 p.m. – Yoga with Gina in Green Hills (Nashville peeps. Have you been to Gina’s class yet? Lawd. She about killed me. It is hardcore, but awesome. Come with me if you’re here!)

Saturday
REST! Eat and drink. It is football season, after all.

Although…there is a spin class at 8:45 a.m. that I’m checking out this Saturday. :) I’m addicted.

Sunday
4:30 p.m. – power yoga with Ed. Again – quite the challenging class.

Start it all over again.

So, you’re probably wondering how in-shape I am and how much weight I’ve lost after doing this routine for a little over a month, now? Well, first thing first….I’ve GAINED a couple pounds. UGH! Dang it. It sucks being a woman. Rogers “cut back on his carbs” the past two weeks and has lost nearly 20 pounds. I’m not kidding you. TWENTY POUNDS. I workout like crazy and eat mostly healthy and I GAIN weight because my body is all like “OH NO! Reserve the fat! What if we want to have babies one day?! Must.hold.onto.fat.” DUMB.

In other news though, I know some of the weight gain is from muscle strength. I have lost inches, I can tell, and am much stronger than I was when I first started Nikole’s class, for example. So, I’m not too mad about the scale. So long as my pants continue fitting and I don’t bust out of them like the Incredible Hulk when I walk, I won’t worry about it.

I don’t have a recent picture of me in a sports bra to show you my workout bod progress — but this one looks pretty much just like me, so it’ll work.

source

Ha.

Are any of you members at the Y and have a class that you just love? Tell me! As you can see, I like to try new things. :)

XOXO,
Jenn

Weekend Recap–Downton Abbey Style

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Jenn

Yesterday was my Girls on the Run 5K. Girls on the Run is a program for 3rd through 8th grade girls that uses the power of running to help prepare girls for a lifetime of self-respect and healthy living. It is an AWESOME program and I have so enjoyed being a “running buddy.” We do one practice 5K (about a month ago) and then the real deal 5K that’s an open race that anyone can register for and run. GOTR has one running buddy (volunteer adults) per girl, to keep her safe along the run, pace her, help her meet her goals, etc.

I was paired up with Leandra yesterday, who was the cutest girl out there. Don’t argue – because you would lose. She was the cutest by a landslide. Le Le (as I call her now since we’re BFFs) is in the 4th grade and loves her dogs and school. She doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up because she “has way too much time to figure that out.”

We had the best time running (and walking) and talking A LOT. She beat her previous time by 3 minutes and her mother and brother who were there supporting her were SO proud. I can’t wait till the professional pictures are posted and I’ll show you one of Le Le and I. I was afraid to take my camera because it had rained off and on all morning – but trust, Girls on the Run (and Le Le) are the jam. So awesome.

This was what the sky looked like around 6:30 a.m. when we were about to leave for the 5K – and this is my “you want me to run under that sky?” face.

I came home and ran some errands, then swung by Redbox and picked up the first season of Downton Abbey. I wasn’t really interested in this show (I mean, it comes on PBS) but everyone was just going on and on about it, so I thought for $1.20, I can check it out. Well I’ll be damned if I didn’t watch the entire first season in about a 12 hour time span. And, I learned I’d mistakenly been calling it “Downtown Abbey.” It’s Downton. We Americans butcher everything. Bollocks.

After I unglued my butt from the couch, I managed to clean the house with Rogers today. He is such a good partner and we had this place shining in no time. Josh and Ashley, my brother and sister-in-law, stopped by on their way back from Missouri and had a late lunch with us. I made the Mongolian Beef, Chinese Takeout at Home, that I blogged about recently. Nom nom.

Broseph.

He likes to have pretty women in his life.

Here’s some other random moments from the weekend.

Essie “Tart Deco” – very summery. I may need a support group for my nail polish addiction.

My friend Kim mentioned that her friend said Mabelline Falsies mascara is the greatest thing since sliced bread, if sliced bread went on your eyelashes and made them long and luscious. And since I’m no one to resist peer pressure, I promptly went out and bought some. I have to admit, I quite like it. I also have been applying my mascara wrong for about 15 years. I never knew about the whole “start at the base of your lash and wiggle horizontally back and forth.” What? I like my eyeballs unscathed and tend to keep them that way. This will take some practice.

If you want to witness the “proper” way to apply mascara, PixiWoo does it in this video.

Maybelline Falsies.

I went to McKay’s books and took my Good Reads list with me. I found lots on my list! And one that wasn’t. AH! I love McKay’s. I got 5 books for 28 bucks. A couple of them were more expensive than usual – $10 and $8, but that’s still a bargain.

Can’t wait for some beach reading next week.

I got this adorable shirt called Robot Flirting from Ript Apparel this week. R2D2 giving flowers to a trashcan. Had to have. Ript Apparel has a new t-shirt featured each day by an artist. You can buy it for 24 hours, then it’s gone, never to be purchased again. Odds are, you won’t see someone else walking around with your shirt on. And if you do, you should high-five them because you are both so stylish and sophisticated.

Then I packed for the beach. Oh beach!! Next weekend I’ll be beached.

And since I know you can’t resist the Callie Cat (and since I can’t blog without including her), here you go.

Have a good week, friends! Mine will be hectic trying to wrap up things before vacay. I haven’t taken a whole week off of work in 7 years…that would be “ever since I started the real world.” Crazy. I am going to savor the flavor.

XOXO,
Jenn

Photo Catch-Up

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Jenn

Man, sorry for the blog slacking! As spring has fallen upon us, so has the craziness and busy schedules. SO much going on lately! I literally have something on the agenda every evening and just collapse when I get home. Wah wah – anywho. Let’s start with last weekend.

Last weekend I did the Richland Creek Run, which is a five mile race (not to be confused with a 5K, friends) here in Nashville. It’s just a couple miles from where Rog and I live, so that was nice. And it’s relatively small – less than 500 people. I haven’t run 5 miles in forever. Probably since I was training for the 2011 Half Marathon this time last year. So I decided I’d just take it slow and do like a 10.30 pace but try and run the whole thing. I ended up doing like a 10.16 pace, and loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute. Smile I mean, it was RUNNING after all.

The course wound through a greenway in Sylvan Park around McCabe golf course – so the turf was all brand new to me. I’d never been back there, which was nice. I wasn’t anticipating every turn and it made it zip by. The greenway was GORGEOUS, along with the weather. We ran over some bridges across a creek and it felt miles and miles away from the city. So pretty.

Here’s my gear – I was the one in pink. Shocker. I left the pink compression sleeves off though – you know, so it wouldn’t be too much. Smile And my pre-race face.

Here’s the best picture Rog could snap of me finishing – after I’d already stopped. Because I sprinted through the finish like a big tool – but I had some juice left and there were a couple of chicks in front of me. So, I couldn’t help it. You know, better for my record books to come in 276th place than 278th.

Who knows what I’m doing in these pictures. I’m all like “Oh heyyyyyyy. Hardest race ever. Cause I ran 5 minute miles the whole time. Yeah.”

And here’s me acting more normal, back at the Flat.

Moral of the story – Richland Creek Run will be an annual tradition! So fun.

Some other sights from the weekend:

We saw this lovely outfit outside the Holiday Inn. She had on some sort of hat that looked like a cat. I mean, I’m a crazy cat lady, but this was too much.

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks…

Heading to dinner at Rachel and Nick’s.

A little Easter morning quiet time.

Rog and I spent Easter Sunday afternoon walking through Centennial Park, which we’re so fortunate to have right across the street from our place. We love it and should use it even more. It was gorgeous this day. We’re just waiting on the baby ducks to be born – it’s about that time! They are so dang cute and it’s basically the highlight of the year. Smile

Have some babies, duck!

You don’t realize how gigantic the Parthenon is until you’re next to it.

The view from the Parthenon looking across the front lawn, toward our place. Soooo pretty!

That was the weekend. This weekend I’m looking forward to doing not a whole lot. I seriously can’t believe how busy this spring has been already, so I’m savoring the quiet moments. I plan to read, get the oil changed in my car and workout a couple times. What’s your weekend look like, little nuggets?

XOXO,
Jenn

Weekend Recap–Two a Days

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Jenn

Most people would agree that running is a sport – but maybe not a “game.” But if you run, you know it’s very much a game. A mental game. I’m really good at the mental game. You see, when I picture myself running, I’m really good at it. When I think “I can run 5 miles,” it seems totally doable and easy, even. 5 miles, that’s nothing.

Then I go try it – and I run three and end up walking…a lot. And cussing even more. I tell myself, “it’s mental. Suck it up.” And I just feel like barfing and like I might pass out.

So yeah, I’m really good at the mental game of running – just not while I’m actually running.

Granted, I waited to run until about 10 a.m. this morning and it was much, much warmer than I’ve run in yet this year. Gag. That first hot run of the year is always so humbling.

Cool down on the back porch, with Callie Cat.

Back it up – weekend recap.

But first, last Thursday y’all, I made homemade pizza that was AH-mazing. You must try this pizza if you like these ingredients. My friend Kim posted it, so I’ll link to her blog for the recipe, but you have GOT to try this – goat cheese, jalapeño and prosciutto pizza.

Recipe here.

Rog is out of town – he comes home tomorrow, yay! But I managed to have a lovely weekend doing whatever I wanted.

This fell out of my Kindle cover when I read last night. Aw.

Friday was my one year anniversary at my job. I am so lucky to be there and OH EM GEE I am so glad that I’m not selling insurance any longer. That was what I thought about on Friday – was just how fortunate I feel to be doing what I love and actually working in the field that I studied in and earned a degree in, all for a great company.

Anniversary flowers from the boss lady. Very, very nice and lovely.

Friday night my friend Kim and I went to a yoga class at Sanctuary Yoga in Green Hills. It was a level 1/level 2 class, which the website said any beginner with a firm understanding of the basics could complete just fine. Well, I’ve never taken a single yoga class, so I just hoped for the best. I was joking with Kim before class that I hoped my “dead pigeon” and “backwards dog” didn’t embarrass her. (P.S. those aren’t real yoga moves.)

The class ended up being “intermediate,” and I was POURING sweat before it was halfway over. Lawd. The instructor was super awesome and came around and helped me several times. Probably he was secretly taking my pulse to see if I was about to die on his watch. Overall, it was a great experience and I’d definitely do it again. I think I’d benefit from a couple of super beginner classes though. Namaste.

The best part of our yoga outing was going to eat at Pei Wei afterwards. I’ll workout for food any time.

Saturday I ran a couple of errands and then showered up and got all professional looking, because I was part of a panel of presenters at the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) regional conference at Belmont that afternoon. I was pretty honored that someone thought I was a “Young PR Pro,” which was the name of the session me and three other young geniuses led. It was really fun and we had some great discussion – talking about tips for interviewing, getting experience in PR, how to succeed in the business, etc. The students were so eager to learn from us and I even connected with a couple of the eager beavers on Twitter afterwards and hope to keep in touch.

Saturday evening I watched My Week with Marilyn. It was fine – Michelle Williams is absolutely captivating. But it really just made me so annoyed with Marilyn Monroe. The movie portrays her as such a terrible actress who was a royal pain in the rear for everyone who had to work with her. She was never on time, a lover of pills and a huge whorebag. We all knew that already, but MAN she is annoying. So, eh, it was ok – if not for Michelle Williams and her amazing acting skills, it would have sucked big time.

Today, hence the title of this post, I got up and ran a few miles (walked, too). Then I had a meeting downtown for the Jr. Chamber’s 13th Annual Ragin’ Cajun Crawfish Boil. Get yo’ tickets if you haven’t already.

Downtown was beautiful today. The weather was great (for standing around, not running).

Then, I went to BarreAmped class. Y’all – if you have not been to one of these, I highly suggest you do. My friend Jess teaches here in Nashville and I go to the studio on Music Row, but there are several locations or even similar Barre classes in your area, probably. But BarreAmped is where it’s at in Nashville. Lawd, I’ve never had such a butt kicking.

So, I’m officially ready to relax and enjoy my Sunday evening before another full week. Whew. I hope your weekend was lovely – and that you have a productive, happy week.

Since I know you can’t get enough, here are a few photos of the most beautiful fur baby ever.

Baby girl loves an open window. She had the best Saturday going in and out her “kitty door.”

The end!

XOXO,
Jenn

Sweet Tater

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Jenn

This morning I had this for breakfast.

Pancake Pantry. My new favorite Friday morning activity, even more so than sleeping. Mind you, I did have 3 very sweaty Music Row miles as an appetizer, so it’s not all fun and games.

Happy Friday, little nuggets. Hope you are as delighted as I am about this fact.

XOXO,
Jenn

Will Run for Food

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Jenn

My new, sweet friend KB may be convincing me that running and working out is just an excuse to get some girl time and socializing into your schedule. She’s onto something, and I’m digging it.

She invited me to run with a group that meets every Monday evening in the 12 South Neighborhood. We ran 3.5 miles and it felt like we had just started – because we gabbed the whole way, mostly griping about our combined list of running injuries over the past couple of years.

While we ran, she often referenced “The Pancake Girls.” Turns out, there’s a small group of women who meet one day a week to run at 5:30 a.m. (“nah – not interested, no thanks”) and then eat at the Pancake Pantry (“wait…what? Where do I sign up? Should we do it three days a week instead of one?”)

It sounded like the Sweet Potato Queens or the YaYa Sisterhood or something…but with pancakes and running – so far superior.

P.S. this photo was taken AFTER I ate breakfast and cooled down for over half an hour. How is my face still so red? I’m such a sweaty kid. Or maybe it was the bacon sweats.

So I met them this week and had a blast. Such nice ladies and such a good breakfast visit. They were shocked when they learned I’d lived in Nashville for 7 years and hadn’t ever been to the Pancake Pantry. It seemed a tourist trap, so I avoided it and I DO NOT like to wait in lines. But at 6 a.m. it’s a different story. The locals are there.

The ladies were even more shocked when I didn’t order pancakes. I know – for shame. But I wanted bacon and eggs…and grits. So that’s what I had. But next time, it’s the sweet potato pancakes because they were the jam.

Later than day at work, we decided it was a “ladies who lunch” kind of day and five of us went to the Silly Goose in East Nashville. I have blogged about this place before, but it truly may be one of my favorite places in Nashville. It is SO hipster and the food is to.die.for. And beautiful. AND, the rosemary lemonade haunts my dreams. I want to make it at home but it would never be as divine.

This round, I had the Zipper.

Smoked salmon, honey black pepper goat cheese, caramelized onion, baby arugula on toasted marble rye. Served with balsamic dressed greens and couscous. OMG.

And no trip to Silly Goose is complete without a trip next door to Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.

This trip I had a scoop of Gooey Butter Cake and a scoop of Salty Caramel. They were the perfect pair. Although, I sampled Lime Cardamom Yogurt and will need to go back and eat about $20 worth of that, soon.

Cool lights in Jeni’s.

Last night, Rogers and I watched “Water for Elephants,” finally – I know. I wanted to read the book first though, and LOVED it. I was impressed the movie stayed so close to the book. And Rogers loved the movie, too. Winner.

Then we went to a showcase at 9:30 to check out a couple of budding young talents that Rogers is going to work with soon. We don’t do the showcase scene often – but last night was fun, at Hotel Indigo. Best part – we were in bed by midnight. Yes sir!

I’d say that kind of Friday was a delightful kickstart to the weekend — what do you think, little bloggies?

Hope yours is divine – see you on the flip side, which will suck, because the flip side of the weekend is Monday.

XOXO,
Jenn

Shut Up and Run for Sherry

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Jenn

The blogging world is amazing. Heck, I’m always in awe when someone comments on my blog from another country — “how’d they get them internet lines all the way across the pond, ya think?” Yeah — it’s like that.

Just when you think the blogging community can’t be any more amazing to me, if goes and does something like this.

Sherry Arnold, 43, a teacher and beloved wife, left her house in small town Sidney, Montana at 6:30 in the morning on January 7 and never came home. Hours later, they found one of her Brooks running shoes. They still haven’t found her body, but seven days later two men did admit to killing her.

I read the hilarious and adorable Beth’s blog over at Shut Up and Run on a regular basis. Beth happens to be Sherry’s cousin. She has organized a virtual run in Sherry’s honor for Saturday, Feb. 11 at 9 a.m. MST. That’s 10 a.m. in my neck of the woods.

You can read all about the run and Sherry’s story over at Shut Up and Run — here. And download and print a race bib. There’s a FB page on the run, too.

I think for women particularly, this is like our worst fear. It could have been me, could have been you, could have been her…could have been anyone in the path of two sociopaths at the right time. But in the morning and half a mile from her house — where she felt safest, no doubt? Stop the madness, world.

I’ll be running a 5K with my Sherry bib on next weekend, praying for 3.1 miles that her family can bring her home — and being thankful for all the mornings that I was blessed enough to get out of bed and use my God-given ability to run, then return home safely. Because life is short, and you just never know.

XOXO,
Jenn

Never Trust a Weatherman

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Jenn

There was a break on the radar tonight – about 30 minutes where it wasn’t supposed to rain at all, after rain all day and continued rain late tonight. As soon as I saw it letting up, I took off out the door already running.

I just wanted to get a couple quick miles in so I wouldn’t regret the half of a cupcake I ate today.

The first part of the run was great. Light sprinkles – just enough to make you feel hardcore for running in the rain. However, the last mile it came a torrential downpour with a serious headwind. Lovely. I couldn’t even see and was tasting mascara.

I passed students on Vandy’s campus who looked at me like I was crazy.

One guy said “ma’am – do you need a ride?” I just glared at him and kept running – since he was on foot and all, I’m not sure how that was supposed to be helpful. And don’t call me ma’am, you little turd. I was in college ~~not that long ago~~ once.

Someone asked me the other day if I do my runs in the winter on a treadmill. NO. Heck no. I loathe the dreadmill. I did all my training for those half marathons in the snow, in the rain, in the 100 degree temps.

I literally cannot run on a treadmill. I can’t balance on them and I fall off. Reason number 1,023,345 why I don’t have a gym membership – right behind reason 1,023,344, which is sweaty, grunting men.

XOXO,
Jenn

I Just Want to Pound the Pavement

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Jenn

Is that so much to ask?

After being sick as a dog with this terrible winter cold for the past 10 days and not exercising AT ALL, I finally ran the past two days in a row. And it.was.glorious. It felt so good to sweat again. And from something other than eating too many Christmas cookies in a row.

I recently got some new SuperFeet insoles.

I’ve been using these since I started training for my first half marathon almost two years ago. I had never even really heard of or considered insoles – but basically all the cool people at Fleet Feet were doing it, so I signed up for the extra $45 expense as well. When in Rome.

They help stabilize your foot in your shoe and provide more support, therefore aligning everything all the way up to your hip and so on as you run. Although I have a pretty normal arch and stride and don’t really need them, I’ve been wearing them because I was told it can’t hurt.

But when I got my new shoes over Thanksgiving and didn’t have my inserts with me, I did a few runs without them. They felt fine – great even. And then I got my inserts back and with the first run in them my shins hurt and knee was sore. I wore them again, and the same thing.

So I removed them today and ran without them – and it felt good. What the heck, SuperFeet? Should I have been running without these things for the past 2 years? Why is running so confusing? I just want to run – not solve world peace. This should be easier.

I sincerely wish I could just go out and SkinnyRunner every run I ever attempt – but it’s always such a mental and physical battle. It’s a love/hate relationship.

Any thoughts on inserts from you runner types out there?

XOXO,
Jenn

Category Archives: Running

I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up

It’s Cool — I’ll Just Sleep Here, Too

Weekend Recap–Downton Abbey Style

Photo Catch-Up

Weekend Recap–Two a Days

Sweet Tater

Will Run for Food

Shut Up and Run for Sherry

Never Trust a Weatherman

I Just Want to Pound the Pavement

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