Running With Perseverance

Holding My Tongue

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Coco

When I think about sin and how I fall short–which I try not to do very often–I think I am most guilty–and most frequently guilty–of saying unkind things about other people. I’m just not good at holding my tongue.

It’s an age-old human weakness that James writes about in the New Testament.

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. … It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

These are harsh words, but words I need to hear.

I think of myself as a kind person. I want people to know and experience God’s love, and I try to show that through my interactions with others. But I get sucked into office gossip. When someone irritates me, the urge to vent has me reaching for my phone. When someone sends an email that sets me off, I find myself hitting “forward” and dashing off a “Can you believe this?” message to a friend. When I see comments or tweets on social media complaining about other comments or tweets, I want to trace them back to the source and then jump in with my own.

I like to believe that my venting is harmless, but if I really think about it, I am sure that some of my words could be hurtful to the person I am venting about.
(Gosh, that is hard to write–so hard to admit in black-and-white.)

I am trying to stop myself before unkind words escape my mouth–or my fingertips. Realizing that my emails, tweets and Facebook posts may someday comeback to haunt me, I try to delete snarky comments before I hit send. It is not easy to sit in silence with whatever injustice I have suffered, but if I can’t share my side of story without possibly hurting someone else, it is probably a story that does not need to be told.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord.
~Psalm 19: 14

Do you get sucked into gossip?

Are you able to filter your words for kindness?

Posted in Life, My Faith | Tagged Bible, Friends | 3 Comments

Hills, Hills, Hills (ATM Training)

Posted on September 29, 2012 by Coco

After running the Army Ten Miler several times, I have learned that if I want to be less miserable on the 14th Street Bridge, I need to train for hills. You may not think that bridge is hilly, but when you are crossing it one stride at a time, you get to know the steepness to every ramp and incline!

After my long weekend of extra workouts at Fitbloggin I was worried that my legs might not be up to a week of training, but they seem to have held up.

Monday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I modified my strength routine to give my legs a bit of a break, but I added 3 sets of 12 Crossfit-style “air squats” that we learned at te Fitbloggin Crossfit workout. Yowzie!

Tuesday: Neighborhood Run (5 miles, 49 min, 9:44 pace)
My legs were ready to run and the 50F temperatures made it a perfect fall run–although it was really dark at o’dark-thirty.

Wednesday: Strength Routine
AM Dog Walk: 1 mile
Strength: I was back to my full strength routine, replacing the single-leg squats with those Crossfit-style “air squats.”

Thursday: Hill Repeats with Tiger Lilly (4 mi, 5 min)
After a warm-up, I did 30 min of hill repeats on a long hill in my neighborhood. I ran up hill for 2 minutes and then walked downhill for 1 min. When I reached the top I ran back to my starting point and did it all over again.

Friday: Long Run (10 mi, 1:36, 9:34 pace)
I walked out the door knowing that I wanted to run 8-10 miles, but I wasn’t committed to 10 miles–my legs and glutes were still feeling the hill repeats from Thursday. Since my usual hilly neighborhood route is a loop, I didn’t have to decide until I got back close to home. When I hit 6 miles, I knew I could do 9 miles, and when I hit 9 miles close to home, I decided to go for 10. I felt pretty good when I finished, but I took an ice bath to help my legs recover from my hilly week!

Saturday (Light Strength)
Elliptical: 10 min warm-up

(An elliptical with a built-in fan at the top–brilliant!)

Strength: I was disappointed that the hotel gym didn’t have any free weights, but I did my plank routine and the exercises that Amanda (@runtothefinish) posted for strengthening your glutes to ward off ITB injury.

Do you strength train to address muscle imbalances?

Did you see the interesting post on the #plankaday trend on Katie’s Healthy Heddleston blog? What do you think?

Posted in Fitness, Training Log | Tagged Army Ten Miler, Hills, Hotel Gyms, Long Run, Running, Weight Training | 3 Comments

Book Review: Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Coco

If you don’t count the “50 Shades” books (which I have no interest in reading–sorry, I’m not sorry!), Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn was the book that everyone seemed to be reading and recommending this summer.

Once I started reading it, I understood why. It was quite a page-turner with just enough twists and turns to keep me up late reading.

The story starts on Nick and Amy’s fifth wedding anniversary, when Amy disappears. The husband is always a suspect and Nick doesn’t do himself any favors.

What happens when your wife goes missing and you are a jerk?

It’s a whodunit told in chapters that alternate between Nick and Amy’s diary–and you never know whom to believe. I won’t even hint at any spoilers, but I will say that the story gets satisfyingly Revenge-y with each dark plot development.

Speaking of Revenge, who else is excited for season 2?

Posted in Book Reviews, Life | Tagged Book Review | 9 Comments

Pumpkin Beers: Round Two

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Coco

Desperate for some time together, my husband decided to accompany me to the grocery store last weekend. While I shopped the produce section, he browsed the beer selection one aisle over. He enjoyed the pumpkin beers we had sampled at Rustico, and found two more that looked good.

According to the website:

Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale is a light refreshing wheat ale with delightful aromatics and subtle spiced flavor.

This beer definitely was on the light side (but not the “lite” side!), with a strong nutmeg aroma.

He also wanted to try this one:

This is how the Star Hill brewery website describes it:

Boxcar Pumpkin Porter is a traditional English-style Brown Porter with pumpkin added to the mash. Light spicing allows the subtle flavors of pumpkin and roasty porter to shine through.

(So much darker!)

The “pumpkin” flavor of this one was more subtle, but the beer as a whole had more flavor.

I don’t think I like either of these better than the Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Pumpking, or Schlafly Pumpkin Ale we had at Rustico, but it is fun to try different variations on the “pumpkin beer” theme.

Do you have a favorite “pumpkin” beer?

Does your spouse/significant other go grocery shopping with you?

Posted in Food | Tagged Beer, Product Review, Thirsty Thursday | 5 Comments

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday (The Smiling Edition)

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Coco

I had a lot of fun at Fitbloggin trying out new workouts and learning more about blogging,
but the best part was finally meeting old blogger friends and making new ones.

I even was able to buy Josie a free drink!