Reckoning With Rite I

Posted on June 14, 2015 by Coco

I love my church, but I’ve been looking for a church closer to home so I don’t always have to choose between going to church and getting out on the bike path before it gets too crowded. (Hey, I’m being honest here!)

Church At Christmas

There is a church very close to home that I’ve visited more than a few times, but every time I go it leaves me wishing that I’d gone to “my” church instead. At this church, I have to try hard to find inspiration in the sermons, while I usually leave “my” church feeling filled with the Holy Spirit–and often with a new perspective on a familiar Bible story (like in this sermon I missed last week).  Continue reading →

Posted in My Faith | 5 Comments

Five Annoying Things

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Coco

I’m taking a break from my usual positivity to vent about five things that have been annoying me. 5 Annoying Things

1. Jeopardy, Jeopardize.I can never spell these words correctly on the first try. Or the second. I usually resort to typing j-, a few vowels, –p-, a few more vowels, –r– and –d-and let spell check sort it out. I even watched Jeopardy!regularly for years (although Wheel Of Fortune was my favorite game show back in the day).

2. Biscuits & Gravy, Loaded Hash Browns. I hate that these items are on the menu at our office cafeteria. No one who works in an office needs to start their day with biscuits and gravy, or have loaded hash browns for lunch. When I raised the issue with management in the context of our “wellness” programs, I was told that people can make their own choices. Understood, but do we have to make such unhealthy choices so easy?

3. Ineffective Unsubscribe Options.I do my best to “unsubscribe” whenever I get an unwanted email, but some companies make it nearly impossible. The worst was zpizza, who’s “unsubscribe” option took me to a “change your preferences” page that wouldn’t let me proceed unless I filled in even more personal information. 🙁

4. Double Captcha. It’s no secret that I hate Captcha. The old-fashioned type-in-these-minuscule-distorted-numbers Captcha can be frustrating if I get the numbers wrong (is that a 7 or a 1?). The more popular check-the-box Captcha is a nuisance but I usually get that one right. What there is no excuse for is the select-all-the-images-of-X Captcha.

captcha

The pictures are not very clear,
and you have to scroll down within the widget to find them all.

I read your blog. I wrote a comment. I typed in my name and the URL of my blog. I checked the box. Do I really have to take a quiz?

If you have Captcha on your blog, please make sure it’s not doing this to your readers! 

5. Being Injured. You knew this one was coming, right? After a heatwave at the end of May, we’ve had the best running weather, and here I sit, icing my foot and waiting for the bone to heal! As I head into indoor cycling class, I am jealous of the runners who cross my path. As I look out my office window, I am jealous of the runners cruising by. As I drive home from work, I am jealous of the runners along the bike path. The pain in my foot tells me I still have a long wait ahead, but when I can run again I will be grateful for every mile!

I’m adding this post to the Wednesday Word link up. I hope it’s not too annoying if you’ve read it already. 😉

Deb Runs

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Is there a word you always have trouble spelling?

Is there something annoying you this week?

Posted in About Me, Venting | 29 Comments

What Motivates You ?

Posted on June 10, 2015 by Coco

Today’s Wednesday Word is a challenging one for me right now: MOTIVATION.

Deb Runs

 

mo•ti•va•tion — a reason to act in a certain way

Of course, I am thinking about my motivation to work out. Continue reading →

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Coping With A Running Injury

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Coco

I am now starting week three of not running. I know it’s not the end of the world, but it is not how I planned to spend my June! Since running is important to my sanity, I’ve had to come up with a plan for coping with a running injury.

Running Injury
1. Get a diagnosis. I hurt my foot hiking (so maybe it’s not technically a running injury, but it is keeping me from running!) and when it was still swollen and painful a week later, I went to the orthopedist. I needed to know whether it would be OK to push through the pain, or whether that could make things worse. Since I chipped a bone on the top of my foot, pushing through the pain is not what the doctor ordered! 

2. Do what you can. Coping with a running injury is all about doing what you can when you can. Borrowing from some of my favorite chapters of Carla and Ronnie’s book, I am being flexible so I can stay consistent, being determined instead of obsessed about not running, and seizing the opportunity to catch up on my cross-training. 

WYCWYC

click the image to purchase via my Amazon affiliate link

Basically, I can do anything that doesn’t hurt, which means cycling, most low-impact weight training exercises, and yoga. I am still exercising 6 days a week, just not running. Some days, I have to push away thoughts of “why bother?” but I know my body is benefiting from the change of pace. 

3. Maintain your routine. I have my alarm set for 4:40 or 5:00 am so I have time to walk Tiger Lilly and get my run/spin/workout in before work. I don’t need quite as much time for my injury-modified workouts, but I am still getting up early so I don’t get used to a different schedule. Plus, my body expects a workout in the morning, and a shower and coffee just don’t work as well to wake me up if I haven’t gotten some movement in too. 

4. Treat yourself. It was serendipitous that I got new tops for spinning class at the Athleta Sweatpink event the day before I hurt my foot, but having new outfits to wear for the fitness activity I still can enjoy makes it slightly less painful to not be running.    Yes, I do like the strappy peek-a-boo look!

I also treated my toes to a gentle pedicure–if they look better they will feel better, right?

5. Anticipate your recovery. Just like looking forward to a vacation can help me get through those last days of work, anticipating my recovery is keeping my spirits up. I’m not counting on being able to run at Fitbloggin’, but being forced to take June off will have me almost looking forward to running in the heat and humidity of July. 

Do you have any other tips for coping with an injury?

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

Ultimate Coffee Date June 2015

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Coco

Welcome to the June 2015 edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date! Make sure you thank my co-hosts Deborah and Lynda, and stop by other blogs in the link up to say “Hi!” If you’re interested in more tips on how to get the most out of a blog link-up like this one, you should check out this post.

The Ultimate Coffee Date Link Up

(Use the code above to grab the Ultimate Coffee Date badge for your blog!)

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you’ve heard that this year we have the longest possible “summer” if you measure summer from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. That’s because Memorial Day fell on the earliest date possible for the last Monday in May, and Labor Day will fall on the latest date possible for the first Monday in September. I can’t help but wonder if my son knew that when he decided not to work this summer ….

If we were having coffee, I’d have to share my pictures from the local Sweat Pink event that Mar organized for us at the Athleta store in Georgetown. It was hectic getting into the city on Memorial Day weekend, but I’m so glad that so many local Sweat Pink bloggers were able to make it.

Sweat Pink Ambassadors at Athleta

Me, Erica @ MCM Mama; Alexis @ Flecks of Lex; Deborah @Confessions of a Mother Runner; Mar @ MarOnTheRun; Jenny @ Run Jenny Run; Kathryn @ From Dancing to Running; Cynthia @ You Signed Up For What?! (and her mini-me!) and Colleen @ Live Free and Run.

We had the store to ourselves for an hour of shopping, and then a full hour long yoga class led by Cathy from Yoga Del Sol. I’ve been slacking on yoga lately, even though it always feels so good when I do it. My arms were shaking during the chaturanga series, but my hips loved that Cathy include happy baby pose in the final sequence.

If we were having coffee, I would ask if you saw my Instagram pictures from my business trip to Hilton Head last week? (Follow me on Instagram here.) This will probably be my only trip to the beach this year, so I made sure to get up in time to catch the sunrise.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Watch the whole slideshow (6 pictures) for the sunrise sequence.

If we were having coffee, I would tell you that I am trying to stay positive about recovering from my hiking mishap on Memorial Day weekend. It was frustrating not being able to run on National Running Day (did you see the National Running Day survey link up?), but I’ve done my best to stay motivated with indoor cycling and my strength workouts. 

             

This was from last Thursday–but the swelling is still going up and down.

[Tweet “Join the #Coffee Date #LinkUp  #Sunrise #Shopping #InjuriesSuck”]

Are you going to the beach this summer?

What is your favorite yoga pose?

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Posted in Coffee Date | Tagged , | 32 Comments