"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die tomorrow."

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die tomorrow."

It is time for everyone to start realizing their full potential in life. We are all capable of so much. We let the stresses of our day get in the way of living the life we once desired. We let fear get in the way. We are not living the life we once desired, we are living our fears.

Now is the time to dream again. Now is the time to dare and make a difference. Now is the time to do something for you. Yes, I know, you’re a care-taker right? You're so unbelievably good at taking care of everyone else. Yes, you’re good at it. But, are you happy? Are you living out your dreams?

Is there something that tugs at your heart, a dream of yours? What is it? Don't say, oh it is silly or too hard or too late. That isn't true. Don't live your life with regrets. Try saying yes, mean it and be open to exploring possibilities.

But know that anything worth doing seldom comes easy. There will certainly be challenges; there will be bumps in the road. There will be bad days and days when you want to quit. But keep your eyes focused on your goal and move on, keep going.

Believe in yourself.

I also believe that everyone has something to offer to others. It is important to help others, to teach, to encourage and to motivate. Why? Because I firmly believe that everyone is capable of greatness far beyond what they think they can do at the present moment. If you have something to offer others, then help.

I believe that I have something to offer to others. I have gotten my running coach certification and December of 2011, I opened a FB page to encourage others. 

I have come a long way over the last few years. With my move to a new town, I left my family and friends and city that I knew. My stress fracture in early 2012 that stopped me from doing what I loved to do the most, I've learned a lot. I've cried so many tears. I've been angry, horribly sad, depressed beyond belief. When you hear on TV that depression hurts, it's true. It hurts.  But slowly, I've climbed out. I have realized that pushing my limits through exercise and helping others keeps my world happy and ground stable.  I still occasionally deal with depression and its ugliness. I keep seeing this image on websites and at first, it just irritated me. But the more I saw it, the more I realized that maybe it was a message to me. Maybe my depression and bad attitude is a choice? Maybe I could just turn things around and be happy. Maybe depression's ugly butt could be kicked out and told to beat it. I try and focus on what makes me happy or I do something nice for someone else. Either or always works.

Ever since I was a little girl, I would look in the newspaper to see if a place called Death Valley, CA made it the list as the hottest spot in the United States again. Even back then, I was fascinated by the place. Years later, it is not a surprise that my goal is to run the Badwater 135 mile endurance run. It starts in Death Valley. My critics tell me it can't be done or I don't live in a proper weather condition for training (the beach). I certainly don't listen to my critics, in one ear and out the other. This fall, I'm running my first 100. It is the first step in making my dream come true. I will likely need to run what is called the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning. Its 4 100's in four months time. http://www.run100s.com/gs.htm I can see myself running the Badwater endurance run, I envision myself and I have set a goal, 5 years. I will run it and nothing; absolutely nothing will stand in my way.

What about you? What is tugging at your heart? What would you like to achieve in life?

"It must be borne in mind that the tragedy of life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach." 

I'm hell bent on reaching my goal

I have 5 weeks until my racing fun begins. The training runs to come are 18, 20, 14 and 22 miles, the shorter is a resting run. June 23rd, I am running the Sunriver Marathon, elevation is at 4,200 feet. It's a flat route on a bike path, but highly elevated. 3 weeks later on 7/14 I am running a 50K trail run. The elevation goes up to over 7,000 feet, I hear I'll be sucking wind. On 7/28, 2 weeks later, I bring things down a bit and run the Mt. Hood 50 miler, total elevation gain is 5,600 feet. After the Mt. Hood 50, I begin fully preparing for my first 100, Javelina at the end of October.

Yesterday, I ran 16 miles on my favorite mountainside. Having the elevation begin at 360 feet is pretty good considering my Garmin is constantly registering my house in the negative. My run yesterday went from 360 feet up to 2967 at my 8 mile turn around. It is one big uphill until I decide to turn around and go back.

I have begun to question if I am doing enough to prepare. Every time I stop to walk on this mountainside, I ask, do I really need a rest? The big black bee that shows up every time I slow down does get me  moving again. Am I training hard enough?

A few things help answer this. I started this training period having come back from a stress fracture that left me torn, physically and emotionally. I've run the Mt. Hood 50 before and when I trained for it last time, I wasn't training on a huge mountainside that I am now conquering. So perhaps, really, I shouldn't be so hard on my self. I am going to be just fine. I'm strong, have over come a lot and I CAN DO ANYTHING!

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can dream it, you can become it.” William Arthur Ward

Ask, Believe, Receive. The healing of my Stress Fracture

With all my heart, I believe that God gave me the gift of running and the gift to encourage others. Running is extremely important to me, I absolutely love it. As most people know, I had to hang up my running shoes on January 14th due to injury. It was devastating, I was depressed and traumatized. I really thought my life was going to be over. But, I got through the healing time. I didn't run for 5 1/2 weeks, giving my healing longer than it needed. Followed my resting time was 6 weeks of therapy. During that time, there have been lots of worry and lots and lots of prayer.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Throughout my time of healing for my injury, I prayed every day. I'd get down on my hands and knees and prayed, I cried and I begged! I would go to church and hear about people being healed. I would hear how some would thank God daily for healing and finally they would be healed. I heard about people who were healed instantly. I began thanking God daily for healing.

This is a great explanation on how God answers prayer: http://executableoutlines.com/pray/pray_08.htm
It basically talks about how God answers prayer; no, instantly, wait, not as expected.

During my 6 weeks of therapy, I was nervous and worried if I felt a single twinge of discomfort. I would say out loud "I bind and rebuke that pain in the name of Jesus. I ask for healing and thank you for healing!"I also constantly kept hearing from God and others that I really need to quit pushing on the area.

During the week of April 15-21, I was now a few weeks out of therapy and into training. That week was a bad one for me. My leg at the injury site was beginning to hurt. It hurt at times when I ran, at times when I walked, and always when I pushed on it. I was really beginning to worry. I was mad, I cried and the thought that I wasn't going to be able to run again was just too unbearable. 

I remember several occasions that I would just cry out to God. I begged for healing. I said "God, if you were standing right in front of me, I would go to you and beg you for your healing, please don't take running away from me, it is so important to me!"

I went to church on April 21st. It was a church service that I almost missed due to my children's bad behavior. I was sitting at church and listening to the speaker and once again I heard of someone else being healed instantly. Right in my seat, I just about burst into tears. I prayed to God silently in my seat, "why not me God? I've been begging and begging for months. Please don't take running away from me, pllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssseeeeeee!!!!" Well moments later the speaker said he was going to say a prayer for anyone that needed healing. I stood up for my leg and for the depression that I was experiencing. I was healed for both of those problems that night.

The next day, I set out for a 10 mile run and felt nothing, no pain. I heard, "you can push on it!" But I didn't want to. I was afraid that it wasn't actually healed and I was finally being obedient and not pushing on the area, so now I can push on it? I did push on the area. I felt nothing. Every run has been flawless since. No problems.

So what is next? I'm running the Sunriver marathon 6/23 in Oregon, the Siskyou Out Back 50K 7/14 in Ashland, OR, the Mt. Hood 50 7/28 and Javelina Jundred, my first 100 miler Oct 27-28 in Fountain Hills, Arizona.

God will be with me on every run.

14 mile trail run for Mother's Day 2012

My 14 mile, Mother's day run was up on the mountainside, my new favorite trail. It's extremely hilly, very warm, hard and fun. It's my me time.
It started at an elevation of 360 feet to 2650 feet at the 7 mile turn around.
The run was warm. I was still in protect the knee mode after Friday's fall at Crossfit.  Knee was fine.
Throughout the run, I saw 5 humans, two snakes, almost stepped on both of them, the 2nd one I told it to get out my way. I saw two fat squirrels, tried to give it bites of my sandwich, but when I came back, they didn't take it. I saw two large birds, a lizard that I really almost stepped on and I yelled at it. Plus, I saw a bear!!! So unbelievably awesome. It was the size of my Australian Shepherd and it was running back into the forest. I could hear it running also. I was  just a little nervous about running past where it ran back into the forest, but it was fine. That was the highlight of my run. I didn't want to go home, I love it up there on the mountain. Happiest place on earth. Week ends with 35 miles, a 9 % increase.

Every day that I spend running is a gift

Every day that I spend running is a gift. This is something that I believe with all my heart, something that is deep within me. 

On January 8^th, 2011 I had to put my running shoes away and allow my body to heal. A serious of aches, pains and fatigue led to an injury, a stress fracture on my lower leg. I made the decision to rest instead of pushing on and risk making things worse. I was emotional, devastated, angry, confused and I definitely didn’t want to talk about it with anyone except for those that I had to. 

Running was everything to me. It was there for me when I was depressed after we moved from Oregon to California. Running became my companion. And I have to take 5 ½ weeks off? I had no idea how I was going to make it through the next several weeks. I even put 5 ½ weeks of daily vitamins in a Ziploc bag as a countdown to when I could run again. 

During my time off, I focused on swimming. I got up to swimming 3.10 miles and I’m maintaining that. I made it through my weeks of healing. I am in therapy now and it’s going well. I have runs scheduled this summer, a 50K, 50 miler and my 100 at the end of October, Javelina Jundred. 

So what did I learn? I learned that there is more to life than running, that not running doesn’t really mean my life is over as I know it. I learned that it is bad to put running above the other things in my life…God, family. For me and my life experiences, it was really easy to do that, especially since running has always been easy for me. I love everything about running, it makes me feel great. I have never had a bad race. I have had hard races, especially at the 50 mile distance, but never bad. I am a Christian, so I am thankful to God for my healing and thankful for the experience as I have a learned a great deal about myself, about my running. I once read that for every injury, we learn something about ourselves. For every race, we learn something about ourselves. We learn where are limits lie and we learn to push past them. We learn how to deal with suffering and pain. We learn how to push away the mental demons that scream at you to get you to stop and quit. We learn to conquer because living a life of no regrets means a lot. 

 “Know your limits…but never stop trying to exceed them.” Bottom of Form

I still don’t like talking about my injury, but I don’t want to forget. The memories of it can be a constant reminder to keep my priorities in focus and a reminder of what I’ve learned during my journey. For this I will be stronger. 

How is training going? You might be surprised. Not what you expected to hear.

After I ran my 3rd 50 back in October, I got overly excited about training for my first 100 and over did it. One problem after another begun to surface. I had been planning on 3 different ultra's between January and March-a 50K, 65 miles and a 40 mile race  After experiencing my final injury, one that was not going away, I made the  decision to quit running altogether. A bold move, one that hurt me on the inside to make, considering that I LOVE to run. My last run was January 8th, a 8 mile run. I have not run since and will not run until 2/19. When I do start running, I will start near the bottom of a training schedule and train for the Mt. Hood 50. The other change is that I am not going to follow my normal Santa Clarita training guide, but one that really follows the no more than a 10% jump in training rule. This will help to prevent any injuries. Javelina, my first 100 is extremely important to me and I want to show up at the starting line as healthy as possible. In the mean time, I've been swimming. My furthest swimming distance has been 2.27 and I have a goal of 3 miles, one that I will achieve. All of my injuries are healing up and going away and I have started walking again, but still no running for the next couple of weeks. Yes, it's horrible, but proving to be beneficial. I have signed up for the Mt. Hood 50, 7/28 and am considering a 50K in Portland, 5/28 and I will be signing up for Javelina in February. As luck has it, my husband will be going with me to Javelina to watch me finish my first 100. I've been asking for a lot of advice regarding running from experienced runners and that has also been paying off. I would also like to mention why I switched from making Rio Del Lago to Javelina as my first 100. I spoke to a few runners that have run both. I had some concerns about Rio and Javelina seemed like it fit my personality better, my strengths, my weaknesses. I need to be around people, I like the idea of the moon providing light, I like the idea of a party atmosphere. This is going to be an interesting year, I'm looking forward to training again and turning goals into reality.
Happy running~
Jeannie

Book review of Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald

Racing Weight:
Racing Weight teaches athletes (runners, cyclists, triathletes, cross-country skiers, rowers, swimmers, etc) how to lose weight effectively without losing your nutrients, strength or conditioning. He has five steps to get lean for events. His book also has lists of what professional athletes eat and recipes from Pip Taylor, a triathlete.

Book description from Amazon:

Book Description

Endurance athletes are weight-conscious and given the miles and hours spent training, there’s a lot at stake. Weighing in just five or ten pounds over the ideal weight can dramatically impact race results. Author Matt Fitzgerald shows athletes how to identify their optimal weight and body composition to realize their goals. This 5-step plan to get lean is the key to faster racing and better health. With tools to improve diet, manage appetite, and time important nutrients, Racing Weight will inspire and equip athletes to make the subtle changes they need to start their next race at their optimal weight.

The book lists a few supplements that an endurance athlete should consider consuming. One in particular, Beta-Alanine,comes with a warning that I discovered on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=3234041 Before trying any of the supplements that the book suggests,do your homework or speak to a doctor.


What I took away from Racing Weight is that I should be eating a lot more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and because I'm addicted to cheese, I should drastically cut it out. I also learned about adding a 150 calorie or less pre-meal to my meals and eating more than 3 times a day will decrease over-eating at meals. I liked the section on improving your diet quality and the scoring system placed on foods. It also talks about how to figure out how much carbohydrates, proteins, etc you should be consuming and has a list of foods that are high quality foods and low quality foods. I did not like how analytically the book started out, tracking BMI's and how to go about determining your optimal performance weight. I guess, when I started reading the book, I was looking for more "just tell me what to eat and what not to eat." Some of the book was common sense knowledge, some of it I am already doing, some new information.

Since reading the book, I've lost 3 pounds in a week. I've cut out cheese, been eating more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, lots of water and have been keeping track of my food intake on the Livestrong website. http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/

Is the book worth reading? If you feel you have something to gain (or lose) than read it. But unless you are already in tip top shape or a nutritionalist, skip it.
http://www.amazon.com/Racing-Weight-Lean-Peak-Performance/dp/1934030511/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325893910&sr=8-1