Can we do coffee again? (I don’t know about you but I had a lot of fun last time).

Are you on Instagram? I’m on Instagram. We should follow each other if we’re not already following each other. Or we shouldn’t… depends if you want to see all my fitness posts… My plan is for my posts to be 80-90% fitness-related and the other 10-20% for randomness. Let’s face it, randomness probably means the hilarity and craziness of having kids. Also, I’m going to try really hard not to let it become an obsession.

I have poor boundaries when it comes to most social media, which is why I don’t have the Facebook app on my phone anymore. I also don’t allow my phone to come into my bedroom. It always charges in the kitchen. Otherwise I can’t control myself and I’m up waaaay too late scrolling through ways to make sure your husband is happy, saving crafts I will never make, and pinning pies I will never bake. For some reason, Pinterest calls to me after about 9pm if my phone is in arm’s reach. Do you have strategies that keep you from falling too deep down the rabbit hole? What are they? Seriously. I need to know.

Speaking of social media, you might have noticed I announced on Facebook that I’m available as a personal running coach. I love running. I’ve been doing it for my entire adult life. I’ve run six marathons, I’ve done two Ironman triathlons, I have been teaching spin class for over 15 years, and I could talk about running and fitness for hours. I had a night alone in my house last night, and since I could do whatever I wanted… I got cozy with a webinar on half marathon training.  Yahoo! For all the details on how I can help you reach your running goals (whether you live near or far) click here.

And I got an actual gig as a run coach! Rev Running brought me on board as a coach for their beginner program. I’m going to coach newbie runners from 0 to 5k over nine weeks and I’m pumped for that. There were so many questions I didn’t even know I should have been asking as a beginning runner. Hopefully I can help some folks. If nothing else, it’s a chance to meet great people. And no, my expectations are not inflated. Runners are great people.

Did you know one of my best friends is someone I met in a parking lot after a run? We were running with totally separate groups but somehow caught wind of the fact that we both needed to get in another four miles. We ran together that day and we’ve probably logged four hundred miles together since then. Speaking of, there was another friend I used to run with back when I lived in Rhode Island. That was over ten years ago. We haven’t talked in years and last week she called me like no time had passed and we plowed through some baby sleep issues. Which is ironic because my 2.5 year old still doesn’t sleep the whole night through every night. And extra ironic because my advice seems to be working for my friend (fingers crossed). I’m hard core into cry it out style sleep training. Don’t ask me for baby sleep advice if you  think that turns babies into sociopaths.

But back to running, I continue to have little niggling injuries that have kept me from running as consistently as I’d like to, but a few people I’ve run into lately swear by these Foundation Exercises developed by Dr. Eric Goodman. I’ve been doing them every morning and/or before I run. Today was my seventh consecutive day. Between the exercises and a PT session, I ran 4 pain free miles yesterday and 6 pain-free miles today, which I’m thrilled about. I am hopeful I can stay healthy enough to do a half marathon this spring. Since I’ve been running less, I’ve been lifting more; partly because it’s something I can do that doesn’t hurt, partly because I know I need to do it, and partly because it’s really fun and gets me sweaty. I’m surprised by how much I enjoy strength training.

On another topic… Ugh so many topics, so little time! We’re going to have to schedule another coffee date or maybe a glass of wine before we leave. Speaking of, I gave up alcohol for January. Between my birthday, Dan’s birthday, and all the holidays, November and December were hard on my liver. More accurately, the beverages I chose to drink were hard on my liver. Also, I make bad decisions about food (specifically desserts or anything in the pantry) when I’ve had a few drinks. I’ve been to a few social gatherings since the dawn of 2017 and said no thanks to alcohol, which,  a) was not nearly as hard as I’d imagined it would be and b) did not interfere with the fun factor whatsoever.

I’m speaking at the DU Women’s Conference again this year! It’s Friday Feb 10th on the University of Denver campus and it’s free and open to the public (woot!) and I get to talk about Impostor Syndrome again. I put so much time and effort into that presentation last year, (like, so, so, so much) and I am happy to use the material again.

And I don’t know why I waited till now to tell you but I finally got what I’ve been wanting for over a year now— a regular writing gig(!!!!). I get to write a weekly post for Parent.co, a website I find verrrry sticky. (The latest piece I wrote for them, on waiting to live with Dan until right before we got married is here).  I don’t know if “sticky” is a word everyone uses… I found it in one of those “How to Make Your Blog Amazing in Three Easy Steps!” articles that pops up in my Pinterest feed but in case you didn’t know, it means once you’re there, you feel compelled to keep clicking and reading more articles. So don’t say I didn’t warn you. I warned you. But it’s quality writing, and I’m thrilled to be part of it. And obv. to get paid. I have struggled a lot with being primarily a SAHM and not contributing financially to our household and I don’t want to care about money but the truth is, I do. Do you? That’s a conversation for that glass of wine. Or a long run.

Gah, one last thing before we both have to go. I know, there’s never enough time… For my birthday gift, I spent this weekend at a two day writing retreat this weekend and it was mind-blowing. The teacher called it an excavation, and that was exactly what it was. There were things I wrote that I didn’t even know I felt or thought. There were tears, there were tissues. There were coffee, chocolate (bacon chocolate!), mixed nuts, herbal tea, gorgeous Flatiron views and visits from a family of deer and an owl. Oh yeah, and words. Pages and pages of words. And truth. And truthiness (because, we determined, truth is overrated, especially when it comes to processing your own experiences through writing). I can’t recommend the teacher (Lisa Jones) highly enough. This is not a sponsored post!

Ok girl, I know you’e busy. Till next time. Also, I know I’m going to text you some crucial thing I forgot to mention about 20 minutes from now.