I'm a Gleek

I don't like to promote TV shows or Movies on the blog...but, I will admit it I'm a Gleek.  I watch Glee, and I like it.  Yes, I know it's a high school show, they sing show tunes, and break out in song and dance every 3.5 minutes.  But, I like it.

The #1 reason I like it, it's real (aside from the singing and dancing that is).  I grew up with 90210 and there is a new and updates 90210 on TV currently and it's rubbish.  A bunch of rich kids struggling with what party they are going to next and what outfit they are going to wear.

Glee on the other hand deals with kids who's parents are laid off and are struggling to get by, bullying, teenage pregnancy, coming out of the closet and having people hate you, teenage suicide, OCD, getting into college etc.  Basically they are kids dealing with real issues that most teenagers would be able to relate to in one way or another.

Last weeks episode was hard to watch.  I cried almost the entire time.  In short a football player has been outed as being gay, the team makes fun of him, other gay guys in school make fun of him, and the gay guy he has a crush on won't return his calls, so he tries to kill himself.

One of my core beliefs is that no matter what my personal feelings/morals are even if someone is the exact opposite of what I believe is right we are all humans, and we all deserve a basic level of respect and kindness.  (Aside from murderers, rapists, molesters...you get the idea).

Judge Less and Love More.

One of my main goals in raising Sky is raising her to be a nice girl.  I don't want her to be a push over that gets walked on, but I do want her to know that her words have the power to make someone feel worthy or worthless.

I would feel like a failure if I found out my daughters words contributed to someone feeling bad about themselves or trying to hurt themselves.  She doesn't have to like everyone or be friends with everyone, but I do expect her to treat everyone with basic respect and kindness.  (In general of course, if someone tries to hurt her and she needs to defend herself then it's on and she can kick ass).  

The majority of my friends don't like Glee and I have heard my share of jokes, negative comments, and been made fun of for watching it.  But, you know what I don't care what they think.  I appreciate the message from last weeks episode and the reminder as to what values I want to raise my daughter with.

Plus, say what you want about show tunes, there is some serious singing and dancing talent on the show!

Compression Sleeves

Why, why, why did I wait so long to get compression sleeves for my legs?  I ran my longest distance today, with my new sleeves, and I feel amazing!!!  Ever since this training thing started I have had shin splint issues and it sucks!  On top of that my calf's have constant cramps and are hard as a rock all the time and hurt when I run.

But, after 6 miles of road running today my legs feel great and they didn't hurt not once during my run today!  I'm so excited!  I felt so good at the end that I could have kept going, and I'm looking forward to doing 8 miles next weekend. 

I may go get 10 more pairs.  :)  Actually I will probably get by on one pair until the marathon and get a cool pair at the expo.  (I'm so excited to go to my first race expo!)  That will be my treat to myself for the 1/2...new sleeves. 

I'm icing my knees, shins and ankles as preventive treatment.  Later I will spend some time with the foam roller and work on the quads and gluts.  That's my new strategy, wear the sleeves every time I run (perhaps wear them after the long runs for a few hours to help with recovery - got that tip from a marathon runner)  ice, stretch, foam roller even if it doesn't feel like I need it. 

Thank you for the run Jodi!  It felt good to get up and get it done early in the weekend, plus I like running with you.  :)  Looking forward to next weekend!

For The Love of Running

Ever since registering for the 1/2 marathon and starting the training I have lost my love of running.  It's a simple thing really, the difference between calling a friend and saying, "Hey I feel like running Chambers, want to join me" and "Hey, I have to get in 6 miles today, want to join me?" 

It's the difference between I have to and I want to.  I have been looking at all the training miles as something I have to do, not something I want to do.  Obviously I wanted to register for the 1/2 and wanted to put in the training miles or I wouldn't have registered, but my mental outlook has been negative.

(This has nothing to do with the running company I have been keeping as of late...I enjoy being around the people I run with and look forward to running with them as far as the social aspect...I have just not been loving the actual physical act of running.)

So much of running takes place in your head and my head has not been a happy running place the last few weeks.  

I didn't want to run yesterday, but I had to get 3 miles in, and as I was getting dressed was thinking  of it as something I had to do, not something I wanted to do.  In this negative mind set I managed to make one of the best running related decisions ever.  I plugged into my MP3 player and skipped listening to RunKeeper.  (RunKeeper tracks miles, pace, calories, elevation etc.)     

And you know what, I loved it.  I smiled at every single person I passed and I got lost in each song that came on.  I settled in and didn't think about am I too fast or slow.  I was able to pay attention to what hurt and why, is it an injury issue or just normal running pain.  And, I was able to just settle into a comfortable pace that felt good even if I had to idea what that pace actually was.

For so long I have been focused on pace and getting faster.  I have to get over the feeling of going backwards in my running.  I had finally gotten to a point in my 5K's that felt good and fast.  I was running between 8:40 and 9:20 a mile on a consistent basis and my training runs were fast as well.  But, they were short.  I didn't feel the need to run more than 3 or 4 miles since my races have, for the most part, all been 5K's.  It took a year for me to get to that point and now having to slow things down a bit feels like a step in the wrong direction.  But, it's not and I know that, just had to let go of it.

Even though I listened to my MP3 player I still had RunKeeper running .  When I checked it at the end of my run I learned that 10:20 to 10:30 is pretty comfortable.  I felt like I could have kept going for many more miles.  I feel like 10:30 may be a good pace to aim for.  I guess I will figure that out as I start doing longer and longer training runs.  I think I'm going to stop listening to my pacing for the majority of my runs.  I will probably listen once a week or so just so I can adjust while running and know what faster or slower feels like without having to be told.

Yesterdays run was just what I needed.  So looking forward to my long run tomorrow with Jodi!!  

Thankful Thursday...

Will be back next week...

For now here is a link to the video of the news story KOMO 4 ran of Mark's eye surgery last night. 

Check it out. 

http://www.komonews.com/home/video/Social-media-helps-give-man-the-gift-of-sight-140113923.html

Presidents Day Camping Trip

We had a lovely time camping this last weekend.  I am so glad we have a camper because it means we can camp early or late in the season and stay warm and dry.  We were about 1 1/2 from Forks, home of the Twilight books/movies.  Several of us in the group have read the books and seen all the movies and one little girl in particular couldn't wait to visit all the Twilight hot spots in Forks.  It was a little goofy since the movies were not actually filmed there, but the town has done a great job of cashing in on all the sparkly vampire fans out there. 

 Pancakes for breakfast with all the girls.  

 We visited the Olympic Game Park and since the speed limit is crawling, because of driving through all the animals, Sky got to sit in my lap while we drove through.  We had lamas, yaks, elk, zebra, buffalo and little dear things sticking their heads in the truck windows waiting for us to feed them.  Sky LOVED the elk.  She would jump up and down and laugh like crazy every time she saw one and every time they got close to her.  She had a ton of fun feeding the yaks and buffalo pieces of bread.  

 Happy camper!

 I love the way she is looking at her Daddy!

Mini Beckham's. 

Gone Camping

That is the lovely thing about having a trailer with heat...early season camping!  Leaving around noon today for the coast.  And, while I have all of Sky's stuff packed and tucked away in the trailer, I have not packed a single item for myself.  Lot's to do! 

Enjoy the long weekend all.  I'm sure there will be pics when we get back Monday afternoon.