Wordless Wednesday (The Rüdesheim Edition)

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Coco

(Dont drink too much Riesling and drive your car into the Rhine!)

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Don’t Judge Me

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Coco

I’ve read several “Don’t Judge Me” posts around the blogosphere recently, and they got me thinking. Here’s mine.

Don’t judge me based on my size.

Don’t judge me based on what I do or do not eat, or how much, or how little.

Don’t judge me based on how much I exercise, or when, or why.

Don’t judge me based on what my husband says.

Don’t judge me based on what my kids do or don’t do, or the schools they do or don’t go to.

If you have to judge me. judge me by my actions and my words, but don’t assume that you know why I made the choices that I did or the road that I’ve traveled to get to where I am.

Don’t judge me.

Posted in Life, Venting | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Celebrating My Blogoversary

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Coco

It’s hard to believe that I published my first blog posts one year ago today, on August 29, 2010. I had no idea what I was doing, and I really had no idea what I was getting into or how much fun it would be!

Looking back, I am struck by how my life has come full circle.

My first post was about kicking-off my training program for the 2010 Army Ten Miler, and here I am gearing up for that race again.

I thought I’d be further along with my training program this year, but my recent ITB flare-up and toenail incident have held me back until now.

I also published a faith-related post, which was more of a vent about people dragging Jesus into their political views. That certainly hasn’t changed!

What has changed?

  • The WordPress data tell me that I’ve published over 290 posts and grown my readership considerably (thank you!) over the past year.
  • The style and content reflect how much I’ve learned about blogging from Katy Widrick (but don’t blame her for my corny clipart!).
  • Most importantly, I’ve discovered the wonderful fitblog/fitblogger community and gotten to know so many amazing bloggers that inspire and entertain.

So, thank you for reading, thank you for commenting, and thank you for Tweeting and Stumbling.Here’s to another year!

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Before The Rooster Crows

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Coco

One of the more interesting sights we saw on our vacation in Germany was churches with rooster weather vanes where we expected a cross to be:

One local tour guide told us that the roosters signified Protestant churches while crosses signified Catholic churches (and a Google search seems to back up that bit of lore), but another local tour guide told us that both Protestant and Catholic churches have roosters or crosses.

But why would a church have a farm animal on its steeple? All of the tour guides agreed that the rooster stemmed from the Gospel story of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus on the eve of the Crucifixion. As set forth in Matthew 26: 34-35, 69-75

“I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered [to Peter], “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”
But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

***

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.
But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.
Then he went out to the gateway, where another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”
After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them, for your accent gives you away.”
Then he began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

One tour guide explained that the rooster was a reminder to stand firm in your faith–and not change like the weather or deny your faith like Peter did.

This whole concept is very interesting to me, and I’d like to learn more about this tradition and its meaning.

I wonder what it is like to worship in a place where the symbol on the steeple harkens back to a story of betrayal and shame. Is it a constant reminder of our human shortcomings? Does it steele worshipers to be stronger than Peter? Do I really think that I would have been more faithful than one of the chosen Apostles?

Have you seen a church with a rooster on the steeple?

What do you know about this tradition?

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Easing Back Into Running

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Coco

I was in such a groove with my running before my vacation. While I was ready for that planned week off, I wasn’t ready for the extra time off forced by my ITB flare-up and ingrown toenail procedure. Now that both of those injuries are resolving, I need to figure out how to ease back into my running program and get ready for the Army 10 Miler without doing too much too soon again.

This week I started off with an easy 3 miles on the treadmill.  I hedged my bets by warming up on the elliptical for a few minutes before I warmed up by walking on the treadmill.  Then I ran for 1 mile at 5.7 mph, 1 mile at 6.0 mph, and 1 mile at 6.3 mph.  I walked for 5 minutes to cool down, and took plenty of time to stretch and use the foam roller.

On Tuesday I was back to my elliptical and weights routine, which I mixed up a bit to include some burpees, mountain climbers, and jumping jacks, based on last Saturday’s kick-ass workout.

On Wednesday I went for a 4 mile “test run” outside. My injuries didn’t bother me, but my legs felt heavy and my average pace was about 10 min/mile. I decided the burpees were too much and dropped them from my weight routine on Thursday, although I kept the mountain climbers and jumping jacks.

On Friday I went for another 4 mile run outside. My legs felt better and my average pace was back to “normal” at about 9:35 min/mile.

I planned a 6 mile run for Saturday, but wasn’t sure if I would run outside or on the treadmill. Running outside meant doing the same loop that caused my ITB issue two weeks ago, but I decided that I couldn’t let that fear build and intimidate me.  Plus, it’s a good training course with a mix of flat sections and hills. So, I headed out for that loop, but decided on a slightly different route that ended up being 7 miles.

With hurricane Irene making her way up the east coast, it was very humid and the run never felt easy. Although my recent ITB injury (along the outside of my left knee) was fine, my chronic, nagging ITB issue (along the outside of my left thigh) made its presence known. I decided during my run that I’ve GOT to get that fixed or the Army 10 Miler will be in jeopardy.  I spent lots of time stretching and foam rolling, and am going to look into getting a sports massage this week. (Thanks, Carly, for the tip!)

I hope to resume my usual running routine this week, with 4-ish miles Tuesday and Thursday and 8 miles on Saturday. If all goes well with those runs, I will start planning speed and hill workouts to get ready for the Army 10 Miler on October 9.

How do you get back to your training program after an injury?

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