Encouragement....

I find myself revisiting an old struggle with Encouragement! So many people around us need it and it seems like such a simple task, right?! How often have you read a post on Facebook, Twitter or read a blog post that made you think "I need to reach out to that person". However, the next thing you know it's two weeks later and you never did reach out to them. I think this happens to all of us! We are all so busy with our own struggles / lives. We often have good intentions but never follow through with them. I also think it's common that we forget that even the strongest amongst us need encouragement, too. I know I am guilty of it! I will make a note to check on someone or send them a text and never do it! Sometimes, I look at the strongest people around me and think "why are they struggling with this?". Even the strong ones have struggles and they need a word of encouragement just as much as anyone else. 

I am reminded of all this in the faith area of my life. I am blessed with a great church family. There are several members whom I see on a regular basis. They are a great inspiration to me. A handful of them have been with me through my first wedding the divorce now my second marriage. They stood by me, never judging, only supporting RJ and I through our hardest days. I am blessed to be apart of Sunday School class that challenges me weekly. Isn't that what a church family should look like? Shouldn't we be there for each other celebrating our christian life and faith together? Shouldn't we be there on the hard days, too? The days when I am tired and just want to sleep in are usually the most fulfilling days at Fellowship Baptist! 

I am also reminded of this often in the fitness area my life. I am blessed to be surrounded by several strong (physically and mentally) women and men on a daily basis. Each carry their own passion for fitness and inspiring others to get fit. The trainers I am friends with show their encouragement by doing every grueling workout alongside of us, not just watching us work our butts off. They do every Burpee, Squat, Sit Up, etc.. with us! I watch as friends take on new fitness challenges and encourage each other along the way. I watch as new & old friends begin their running journey and I try to cheer each of them on. Most of our crew is about empowering each other, not competing with each other or tearing each other down. We send texts, facebooks posts, tweets, etc... to each other to show the world we are happy for our each other! As students we send our trainers messages to celebrate their success, too. It's an ongoing cycle and it's awesome to be apart of it! Isn't this how it should be? Shouldn't we celebrate each other's accomplishments? 

I have been struggling with all this lately, really struggling. I want nothing more than to share my story with people so that they can see every struggle (big or little) brings along another chapter of their own story. 

I wish for people to share their encouragement for one another, not tear each other apart at every turn. You can be different from your neighbor without judging them and their choices. As a good friend said earlier "Sometimes all you can do is pray but remember that prayer provides changes and that's a good thing!" 

My prayer is that I encourage people around me every day whether it's at work, at church, at a race, at a training run, heck anywhere! I want to be a light.... a bright and shiny light! 

Here's a little video clip of one of my favorite songs from Sidewalk Prophets "Live Like That" : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfosSggwQS0&feature=share.

That's my goal, I want to live like that! 

Drenched 5K Recap

I'm a little late posting this race recap due to back to school craziness in my life! You may remember a few weeks ago I wrote about the Drenched 5K. During our little birthday weekend getaway, on Sunday, August 11th my little family of three participated in the Drenched 5K held in Jacksonville, FL. We were not exactly sure what to expect, other than we knew we would be drenched by the end of the 3 miles. My goal for the race was simply to enjoy a little family time with my fellas. There was no time clock, pace group or medal to worry about. All we had to focus on was getting to the finish line! 

We arrived at Metropolitan Park across from Everbank Field early on race day. A little too early but you never know how traffic will be. We enjoyed a little stroll along the river on that beautiful morning while waiting for the race to start. As we gathered at the start line we reminded RJ that this was for fun and this wasn't a timed race. Looking back on it, I am not sure if Scott and I were reminding RJ of this as much as we were reminding ourselves, ha! The race director started the race at 9am after explaining the first 1 1/2 miles would be a little hotter than the last 1 1/2 miles. 

We ran around Everbank Field, past the baseball complex and around the Maxwell House coffee plant before returning to Metropolitan Park. The director was correct, the first part of the race was a bit warm while the second part of the race consisted of being drenched by bystanders with fire hoses and at the half way point we ran through foam! For the record, the water coming from a fire hose stings a little bit! The finish line was a giant slip 'n slide, so awesome! Riley flew down the slip n' slide in a flash. Even though there are no pictures Scott and I both slid down it as well, promise! 

Pre-Race Photo - DRY

A little soaked :-) 

RJ getting hit by the fire hose . . . OUCH! 

Yep, we are DRENCHED! 

Love this finish line photo of RJ. 

Thanks to my9oh4.com for the picture! 

Hilarious!! 

This race was so much fun! The race organizers completely lived up to their promises.. it was hot, it was wet, it was fun! We laughed the entire 3 miles, which rare in any race! My goal of just having an enjoyable morning was achieved!! If there is a Drenched 5K happening in area near you I strongly recommend you grabbing your family and/or a group friends to participate in this run. 

Taking a break from the half marathon training was very welcomed. I think it's so important when in the middle of training or racing to plan a race that is just for fun. It's good for the mind, the body and the soul. In this case it was good for me and the fellas. Now, it's back to training for this Momma, bootcamp three mornings a week along with running three days a week. 

Happy Running! 

Mitzi 

Little Birthday Getaway!

In order to squeeze in one more family vacation Scott, RJ and I headed east to Jacksonville to meet up with my parents to celebrate Scott and My Dad's birthday's. I think it's pretty cool that I married a guy with the same birthday as my Dad! They are both football fans when we found that Scott's favorite NFL team the Miami Dolphins would be playing the Jacksonville Jaguars we decided we to make a weekend of it! The weather was a little hot. Like always you can set your clock by the 3:30pm rain shower/storm but each night after it rained the weather was divine! We enjoyed being on the river and relaxing a good portion of the trip. 

Thursday night we stayed around the hotel and let RJ enjoy the pool. He loved it and so did we! Friday we slept in until 8am. This never happens! I did feel a little guilty for missing my morning workout; however, it also felt great to get some rest! Later that morning we walked over to the M.O.S.H. It's a nice museum, a lot bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. They have some really great exhibits. One of our favorites was the Currents of Time exhibit. It takes you on a tour of Jacksonville from the 1200's to present, very neat! It was a great indoor activity to avoid the heat!  That evening it was game time! Football is a favorite family event for our crew, we were all excited to get to the stadium. We took in all the fun tailgating activities that were set up for the fans. We enjoyed watching the NFL debut of one our favorite former Seminoles, Lonnie Pryor. It didn't matter to us that Lonnie was playing for the Jaguars, we always support our Seminoles! We also enjoyed watching all the new Dolphins. RJ was able to get his hat autographed by a new Dolphin player. All in all the game was great fun and the Dolphins won! 

Saturday we hit one of our favorite dining places in Jacksonville, The Metro Dinner. Their French Toast is the best I have ever eaten. It may take me weeks to work off all that sinfulness but it was worth every bite! RJ got more food than he could ever have eaten but loved it! After our bellies were full we headed out to finish up the back to school shopping. Did I mention it was hot this weekend? We picked the hottest day ever to shop at the St. John's Towne Center within a few hours we were done, back to school shopping is complete!! Saturday evening we had one final celebration for Scott and Grandfather's birthday at the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I was a little apprehensive to eat there for two reasons: #1 - Scott, RJ and I had a race to prepare for on Sunday #2 - I had a previous terrible experience and was scared for a repeat. Our meal was nothing short of fabulous! Everyone had a great time and we had excellent service! The three of us were fully carb-loaded and ready for our race the next day! 

My parents decided to leave Sunday morning to avoid getting home super late. My little family of three stuck around for the Drenched 5K (race recap to come in a later post). After the race we decided to hit one more favorite restaurant before heading back to Tallahassee.  We made the short drive over to River City Brewing Company. Upon our arrival we were surprised to discover that on Sunday all they serve is brunch. What a great surprise it turned out to be! Brunch consisted of breakfast goodies along with Crab Legs, Peel n' Eat Shrimp, Smoke Salmon, Pork Loin, Salad, Fresh Squash... oh the list could go on and on!! This might go down as the best post-race meal ever, haha! It was the perfect ending to our little getaway. 

Here's a few pictures from this great trip: 

Our trip may not have been to an exotic location and it may not have been filled with the something to do every second of the day but it was simply perfect! We had plenty of time to relax and really enjoy being together. Scott, RJ and I always look forward to our little weekend getaway's such as this one. However, this one marked the "End of Summer 2013" for our little family of three! 

I have been a little behind on my posts lately with the beginning of the school year! I will post the Drenched 5K recap this week and a little update on how 5th grade is going for the boy. 

Back soon,
Mitzi 

Runner's High - FINALLY!

Do you ever look around you and wonder "why they are so happy after running"? I can help answer that question! Those of us that run find a sense of accomplishment in most of our workouts. We feel awesome after a good workout and look for the positive in the "bad" workout! Yes, even on the slower days I feel accomplished for just getting out there and doing it. 

Our Mom's Run This Town group has started hosting two morning group runs each week, Tuesday and Thursday. It works out great with cross-training schedule. I started out only joining them on Tuesday's, saving Thursday as my sleep in day. That has quickly changed! I look forward to these groups runs each week. The ladies are so encouraging and we all secretly agree "We don't leave anyone". Now, if you pass us on one of our normal routes it may not seem that way but have no doubt we all keep an eye out for each other. We all have a pretty good idea of where everyone is and if we see someone start to struggle we will slow down, walk or run to their side. Our group is about encouragement from beginning to end from 1 mile to 8 miles, doesn't matter to us as long as you keep going! 

Ok, back to why I feel accomplished - can you tell I love my MRTT group?! LOL! If you've been following this blog since January then you are aware of my leg issues and struggling to find "peace" on rest days (be it planned rest days or non-planned rest days). I have gotten stronger and worked toward gaining more miles through the above mentioned group run opportunities. That strength has really shown the past few weeks. I felt my leg getting stronger on these runs and have been taking less walk breaks. Today was the best run I have had in a very long time. I convinced my BRB that we could get in 8 miles before work today, thankfully she agreed to give it a go. We ran the usual 5 mile route with the group then took off for another 3 miles, taking Kristen with us. We had a great run! We shared a little bit about faith and our families, really enjoyed getting to know Kristen a little better. Maybe it was our conversation, maybe it was the weather, ha, regardless this morning I ran a little over 8 miles without any leg pain. I did have to walk for a quick minute once to get my breathing under control but overall it was a great run! 

This photo states exactly how feel today and most days after a run: 

Finding a sense of accomplishment in all that I do is an important aspect of my life. Am I perfect? No. Do I have tough workouts? Yes. Do I have runs that make me wonder why I keep doing this? Yes. Do I throw in the towel and quit? No! I have set a goal and I plan to conquer it! If you are feeling like you need a little extra push to reach goal, just keep going. Forward progress, even walking, will get you to your goal. Share your goal with a friend or two so that you have an accountability partner. Remember, "No matter how slow you go, you're still lapping someone sitting on the couch". 

I'm looking forward to two more days of training this week before we head a little further east to meet my parents for an epic birthday weekend in honor of my husband and my dad!!