Juliana Moves

I’ve had a topic that I’ve wanted to write about all week. It’s been a half formed idea that’s been floating around in my brain since last weekend but, every time I sit down to write, my brain fizzles out and can’t muster up quite enough power to make it happen. Maybe because this week in the world has been truly horrendous. Personally? My week has been good! I was very productive at work, I hit 200 miles of running for the month, and Patrick and I have been up to all sorts of fun little activities. 

The thing is, I do not and cannot exist outside of the realities of our world and the world has sucked. It sucks to be inundated with tragedy, fascism, and struggle. I don’t think that is news to anyone! And so, my brain power is limited. I have to be selective about where I put my focus and thoughts – in order to ensure sustained energy. 

I’m choosing to have grace with myself and present to you… a series of half formed thoughts! Some of which I’ve been meaning to make a full blog post about and others that have simply popped into my brain. Enjoy!

This E.B. White Quote

I heard this quote on a podcast recently and, man, it is just so good. “Every morning I awake torn between a desire to save the world and an inclination to savor it. This makes it hard to plan the day. But if we forget to savor the world, what possible reason do we have for saving it? In a way, the savoring must come first.” -E.B. White

On Positive Mindsets

I just finished reading Deena Kastor’s memoir Let Your Mind Run. She is an inspiring human and runner! What sets her apart is how she trained herself to find gratitude and positive angles even when struggling – in life or running. I found myself implementing some of her tactics right away. Last Saturday I headed to a local park to do my 22 mile long run, only to find very slippery, icy trails. I knew I couldn’t safely do my run on the trails, so I ended up swapping my weekend long runs and did Sunday’s 12 miler on the road that ran through the park. I was initially annoyed, but decided to change my mental framing. I considered it an opportunity to embrace change and pivot plans, which is not my strong suit. (I love a plan.) Then, when the road running got tough, I told myself that this was great training for when I wanted to stop during MMT 100 but needed to keep pushing along anyway. It worked!

Curb Shopping

Yesterday I spotted a white dresser on the curb in our neighborhood when finishing my run. I sent a photo to Patrick and suggested grabbing it for the basement to replace our crappy dorm room-style plastic drawers. We lugged it into the car and then muscled it down into our basement! I think it’ll do the trick very nicely. It was fun to grab furniture like that, too. I don’t think I’ve done something like that in a hot minute!

Life Changing Products

If you’ve read previous posts, you know I have a goal of buying less dumb stuff this year. In the pursuit of this goal, I have found that I’ve become increasingly sensitive (read: easily frustrated) to people trying to sell me stuff. Ads, emails, influencers on the internet – you name it! Is your product actually life changing? Or is the influencer getting paid $40,000 to make this stupid post just enjoying her pay day? Girl, bye!

Fuck Donald Trump

Enough said.

Not Planning Ahead

I keep saying that I am not going to make race plans/fitness plans for post-MMT because I need to take a chill season to recover and let my body not be running for once. Plus I want to focus on the big task ahead of me… running 100 miles! ….. That said… Why do I find myself getting excited about doing a 5k or a 10k in the summer or fall? I’ve got issues. My body doesn’t even hold up to speedwork all that well, but it still sounds like a blast. I think I like how running fast makes me feel. I also want to explore the possibility of bikecamping/touring… Something longish distance. I’m not looking to get fit or fast on the bike. I am convinced that my body is not made to go over 11.8 mph on the bike and I am okay with that. We’ll see!

And there are so many more thoughts rolling around in this noggin of mine, but I’ll spare you. Love ya!

JN