The Numbers Game

I have a love hate relationship with numbers. Math has never been my thing so numbers have always been a bit vexing to me. Yet, as an avid home chef I use numbers every single day when cooking. To get the results I want I have to nail the numbers (measurements/cooking temp & time/timing of when each dish is finished so they hit the table at the same time). Don't even get me started on the numbers game runners play!

A lot of life is measured by numbers. Everything from how many minutes a day of play your tot needs, how many days of vacation you have, square footage of your home, how quickly your car goes from 0 to 60, how much is in the 401K, to what size jeans you wear.

Numbers, numbers everywhere.

(Numbers on the track)! Michelle and I hit the track to do a portion of our Saturday long run. I don't love track running, but I have to admit it felt really good on my body. I may be a convert. 

I've been blogging/reading blogs for a long time and a when it comes to fashion and running blogs in particular numbers are a big deal. It's how you convey the progress of your training plans and if you reached your goals or not (something readers feel invested in if they have been following for a while). It's also how you give people a reference point for knowing what size they should order if they like the fashion you are posting links to.

Numbers can be an important tool, and provide helpful information. Except when they don't.

I'm pretty confident and comfortable with who I am, and what sort of runner I am. But, I'm not going to lie it gets hard reading blog posts from (non professional) runners talking about how they had a bad race, and had to run so slow that they almost DNF'd (did not finish) because what was the point. 9 times out of 10 they are running my pace, or a pace that is fast for me. Most of the time I skim right over that part and don't care, but after years and years of reading blogs it gets old.

After a while it's hard not to think "man I wish I ran like so and so"..."I wish I was this or that like so and so"..."I wish I could wear that size"...you get the idea.

The Pilates group I'm part of has a self care theme every month and this month it's "Be Kind to Yourself". Strive for a state of grace, not perfection...and for sure don't strive for another persons idea of perfection, or in this case numbers.

While I'm not arrogant enough to think anyone reads my blog or posts to try and be like me, or strive for the "numbers" I post, more and more I've been struggling with contributing to the numbers game on social media. While I can't be held responsible for others personal struggles/issues, I also don't want to contribute to them.

I can't change the numbers driven world, but I can change how numbers driven my part of the world is. To that end I will no longer be posting here/ FB/IG, my running stats. The numbers don't matter, they just don't. I may mention the distance here or there, but specifics about pace, finish times etc. will go unmentioned.

Instead I am going to try and share photos from runs (like the track photo above from Satruday's, wet, cold, windy long run), the highlights, and not highlights of a run, but the numbers of the run will be left out. I'm not ashamed of my numbers at all, and if anyone wants to know email/message me and I'll share.

I just don't want to be caught up in measuring my life or worth in numbers. And, I don't want to contribute to others doing so either.

Trail run Sunday with my munchkin.

It's all about how much fun I have along the run, not how long it took me to finish. :) 

Total side note, Sky is the wrong person to run with when the training plan calls for a slow, easy run. We'd be running along and all of a sudden she yells "run faster" and takes off. Then 10 second later, "run slower", then "walk" over and over and over. Intervals are not my idea of a slow easy run!

If you need an interval coach she takes payment in princess dresses and pixie dust. 

P.S. This is not criticism or judgment towards those that do share such info on blogs/social media. I totally get the why behind it, and sometimes numbers are the only way to share the reference points...I get it! Keep doing your thing, and I'll keep doing mine, and we can all be happy together! :)

 

Loving My Running Life!!!

I actually have a DIY project, and decoration challenge/solution to share, but first I must share the awesome little run I had today! 

Numbers are a love hate thing for me when it comes to running, and health in general.  On one hand numbers are the proof positive way to determine gains/losses, improvement/declines, strength/weakness, winners/losers etc.  On the other hand, numbers can lead to a lot of judgments and comparisons from others, and from ourselves.  

When I mention numbers it's not really to say look how amazing I am, or how fast I am, it's really just a reference point for how far I've come.  I started out running 12'ish minute miles (which was really hard for me) and felt content with that.  So, it's shocking to look at the Garmin and see anything under 10 min miles. 

Today I saw sub 9!  Not only that, but I felt good, like I could keep going at that pace for much longer than I did!  I stopped after 2.3, because I was hitting the uphill section to get back to the house, and needed to stretch out the hip (it feels awesome while running except for hills) before taking on the hill from the lake back up through the college.

Since the first two miles were in the 8's I thought I would take the last, mostly uphill, mile home easy and comfortable.  Ummm, since when was anything under 10 easy and comfortable?  Again I'm shocked to find that my comfortable, I feel like I can do this forever, pace is getting closer and closer to a 9 minute mile!  I'm loving this whole running thing! 

On to my nap-time projects from yesterday! 

Does anyone else have a huge, ugly electric panel just out in the open with no idea how to make it look nice?  We do!  It's in the dinning room, and while our dinning room is super casual it's still not nice to look at.  So I came up with this solution...

    Great use of 4x4 instagram prints!

 

Mark actually has a great idea to cover it up by extending the curtain rod/curtain past the window to cover it up, and make it look like the window is much bigger than it is.  But, I know it will take us some time to find new curtain's and rods, so this is my solution until then. 

 

Any other A Beautiful Mess blog followers out there?  If you don't follow them, you should!  So creative and colorful and just fun!  Check em out HERE !

 

I got the idea from THIS  post to mod podge my instagram photos to a 12x12 canvas!  I had run out of room on the refrigerator for all my instagram prints, so needed to figure out something to do with them.     

 

 

Vacation canvas above and Sky canvas below.

 



Since they print 4x4 a 12x12 canvas should fit 9 pics perfectly.  It doesn't by the way, they hang over the edges a bit and overlap each other.  But in theory it should work.  Anyway, they didn't turn out as awesome as I had hoped they would.  It looks ok, but I'm not in love with the final outcome.  Not sure how much I like working with mod podge, and how it looks painted over the pics.  I would maybe cut the borders off all the pics and if there was any canvas showing between the pics use colored sharpies to add jot's of color between the pictures.  I don't know though that I will try this project again to see if that would look good or not.  If you give it a go let me know!   

I do love this little project though...

 

...since I only had two black and white prints I got 4x4 canvases and mod podged a picture to each one.  There are miniature easels you can get for the 4x4 canvases for easy display.  So cute! 

 

Any DIY success or disasters to share? 

 

Running plans this weekend?

I want to get a 5 to 7 mile run in, but just depends on the weekend goes.  When I don't have a race on the books I try and spend as much time with my babe and baby as possible.  We will be at Graces first finish line Saturday night!!!  So excited to see her finish her very first race!

 

Have a great weekend!