#whatilikeaboutme

while crusin' my twitter feed earlier today, i saw a post that caught my eye. the tweet said "love who you are today" with the hashtag: what i like about me (but in true hashtag, no space between words fashion). after reading the post i was totally inspired to do my own "what i like about me." it's true that all too often we get caught up in the things we can fix, the things we could work on, and the things we're doing wrong that we forget to think about the good stuff. the things we ARE working and making progress on, the things we don't have to fix, the things we're doing RIGHT. thank you to runstretchgo for the inspiration!! 

#whatilikeaboutme

fitness-wise

•  i work hard at my goals. i set a mileage goal sunday night for the week, write it down in my planner, then i achieve those goals. if i have a goal of 6 miles on monday, i run 6 miles on monday. of course if something comes up and i have to cancel, so be it. besides that, i take my goals very seriously and push myself to get them done. 
• i look and feel good. when i first started running i was around 134 lbs, which is the most i have ever weighed. (i'm 5'4) i was in no way obese, but i did not take great care of myself. now, i fluctuate between 115-118 lbs. this is a healthy weight for my height. although i'm hard on myself and sometimes say 'ugh my stomach looks huge' or 'ugh i look so fat in this' in the back of my mind i need to remember i have come along way and i look great. 
• i am strong and healthy. on a good day, i can run 6 miles like its nothing. some days it takes a little more effort, but regardless i can always do it. (not too long ago i could barely stand running 1 mile!!)
• i don't give up on myself. if i have a bad run one day, it just fuels me to try harder and do better the next.
•  i'm not too hard on myself & i'm true to what i enjoy. yeah, i'm going to have a salad for lunch and make overall healthy food choices..but no i'm not going to turn down that cupcake or a piece of carvel cake. i understand moderation. i embrace moderation. (unless we're talkin' about mimosas) ;) 

 personal-wise 

• i am reliable. if i tell someone i am going to do something, i do it. 
• i am always on time. seriously. i grew up with a mother who always made me late for everything. i hated it and made a promise to myself that i would not be that way when i grew up. 
• i am honest. sometimes, brutally honest, but always honest. sometimes this means telling people things they don't want to hear. especially at work. (i'm an elementary school special educator)
• i am GOOD at throwing themed parties. i love them.
• i'm a good dog mom. 
• i'm a good friend and an overall good person. i hold myself to a high moral standard. i'm not proud of that as often as i should be. 

what do you like about you? it feels good to focus on the positive, instead of the negative. how often do we talk ourselves up, rather than talk ourselves down? love, love, love the idea of this post!! 

benched with the flu.

the flu came tearing through school. i made it through the first week of horrific-ness. we had 50+ kids out a day, along with 5+ staff. one day we had 12 staff out and 61 children. i was not sick once the whole 5 days. i thought i made it through. i bragged about making it through. sunday night i went to bed knowing i was in the clear. i made it through the week and the weekend, my immune system rocked. 

i woke up monday morning not feeling great. i felt an ache in my body. as the day went on, things got worse. by about 1:00 pm, i left the classroom and went to the nurse..in true 5th grade fashion. she took my temperature after i told her my symptoms. 100.1 degrees. all of my bragging came back to me and i wanted to slap myself. i totally jinxed it. she told me i better go home to rest. i left early, went home, and put on my pajamas. i had to ditch my plans of running 7 miles on the treadmill.  i lived off chicken noodle soup that my man so kindly made for me.

 

 the next day was torture. the day after that i felt a little better, but still horrible. the day after that i felt much better (in comparison), but still not able to get in any exercise.  the 4th day, i felt good enough to get back to work. i decided i would go to the gym after work and just try the elliptical. i had no dreams of running. i made it a half hour on the elliptical, but stopped there since i didn't want to over do it. the next day, i felt basically fine. i decided to give a run a shot. it was saturday so i was able to wake up slowly, have breakfast, and then relax before i headed out.

 

usually, i can run 3 miles in 21 minutes. my average pace for shorter runs (3-6 miles) is about 7 minutes. so this was slow for me. i had a 3 mile goal when i went to the gym, but i didn't expect it to take me that long. i was happy i fulfilled my goal, despite the pace. it was rough. 

 a couple days later, i was back to my normal pace running 4 or 5 miles. it took me about a week to get back up to 7. i get so antsy when i'm sick and can't exercise! 

 the flu was rough this year. as much as i wanted to get up and do something, i listened to my body and laid in bed watching gossip girls. i drank as much water as humanly possible and ate lots of chicken noodle soup. normally, on a day off i like to drink a mimosa or 3 and i even refrained from that. 

so happy to be back in the swing of things!