High Fiverr…

Soooo….I mentioned in my last post that I have pretty much jumped off the deep end in terms of buying things for the wedding (I will one day have to stop using it as an excuse to purchase everything in sight). But back to me losing my mind – I found a wonderful shop on Etsy that does watercolors of animals and I sent a message asking if it was possible to turn my dream into a reality.  That dream being a watercolor of our venue with our two pups looking toward it…I want them to be incorporated somehow and I thought this would be cute to then turn into welcome cards to put in the tote bags that I purchased.  Well fast forward to me receiving the quote for an 11×14 print…$700 + shipping.  SEVEN-HUNDRED dollars…I literally thought maybe there was a typo, maybe the lady’s hand slipped and added an extra zero by mistake.  It was not a mistake.  I kindly replied to the woman that I was grateful for the quote but that was just not in the budget.  I felt slightly defeated and then I thought…well I can paint.  I used to be really great at it.  But I would literally have to buy all the brushes and supplies and that could add up.  I was basically about to give up on my mission when I thought well there is an app for everything.  So I then got this genius idea to turn a photo into a watercolor but again I was obviously not thinking about the fact that I did not have a picture of what I wanted, it is something that doesn’t exist.  I then remembered this site that a girlfriend of mine uses often called Fiverr.  She is amazing and she has a wonderful blog called ‘In Pursuit of Simple‘.  She is so great in fact that she sat with Brittany and I for 3 hours once to tell us everything she knew about blogging when this was all but a dream for Britt and I.

But  back to the whole point of this post…Fiverr – I can’t believe I never looked at it until now.  It is a marketplace for creative and professional services.  They couldn’t be more accurate with their description; People who love what they do help you get everything done at an unbeatable value.  And it is true, I found in 5 minutes a very talented artist to do the same thing as I had asked on Etsy and it came to $52.50 including tax and shipping.  I couldn’t believe it.  I am averaging here but $650 less than what I had found Etsy.  So my advice is, is to continue to love on Etsy (because I assure you I will still use it for a lot of things) but also take a look at Fiverr if you haven’t…because it is simply brilliant and saved me so much money!

L&L ~Rachel

 

It’s all about them stamps…

I just recently sent out the invitations to our wedding and after I spent hours on the inter-webs curating the BEST vintage travel themed stamps I could possibly find – it dawned on me…does it even matter?! Will anyone even notice the lengths I went to for these stamps?!  The answer to the first question for me was a yes and the second answer is that it is okay if no one notices.  With our wedding being overseas the little details that I once thought were trivial and unimportant have become so significant to me.  I want as much of our wedding to reflect us and our lives together and the future life we intend to live.  And that involves travelling, being adventurous, loving each other and loving our pups.  So these stamps became just as important to me as the invitation.  I have not wanted to spare any amount of cuteness or customization where I can fit it in…even if it means commissioning someone on Etsy to do a portrait of Atlas and Oscar with a Greek backdrop for little note cards (seriously…who am I and what have I done with myself?!) – I need help!

 

I have a handful of other little ideas that I am hoping our guests will love, one of which includes beach totes – I mean we are going to be on a Greek Island and we do have a cruise planned for the day before so I thought it would be a great idea to have something functional for our guests.  And that is truly what almost everything I buy comes down to; is it functional and can it be reused? If the answer is yes to both then 99.9% of the time I purchase.  With that being said these totes that I purchased HAD to be functional and had to be something I would like to receive as a gift and so I made the conscious decision to make sure that Michael and I’s names were not on the tote or the date of our wedding….who wants to carry a bag with our names on it with a date that is only special to us?  So I had a custom print of the island and a little heart put near the venue of where we will be saying ‘I DO’.  This way I am hoping guests will reuse this bag and will think of us sans having to put our names/date on it. I will definitely add a picture of the real thing when they arrive!

UPDATE: They arrived today! To say I am in love is an understatement – they are also Atlas approved!

L&L ~Rachel

A Bash to Gush About…

My friends are the absolute BEST.  My vocabulary actually is not vast enough to cover how truly special each one of them is; they are kind, generous, hilarious, smart and beautiful inside and out.  And this past weekend they threw me a bachelorette weekend I will never forget – and I don’t think they will either!

Friday:

Myself and a few of my girlfriends from middle school and high school left Pittsburgh just after 2PM.  We all had what seemed like the busiest/craziest weeks so it was nice to be together in the car for the next 4 hours to catch up and discuss the usual girly things. It took us a little over 4 hours to get to DC and I would call that a win for navigating through DC on a Friday during rush hour.  When we pulled up to the house (insert some Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) the rest of my girlfriends from middle school, college and from my past work were waiting and already into the wine!  The house was gorgeous (Kelly booked this using my old faithful, airbnb) and it had a fully open floor plan that made it feel like we were always together even if some were in the kitchen, at the dining table or sitting on the couch.

My friend Karen (is a phenomenal chef – we refer to her as this because she truly is unbelievable) made 2 different Asian dishes and a beautiful Asian inspired salad.  I may add here that she is working on the finishing touches to her cookbook!  I cannot wait to get a signed copy and I couldn’t be more proud. I mean Karen is legitimately the only person that I know that just whips up wanton soup, dim sum, tofu donuts and kimchi…just because it might be Tuesday?!

Pickled Bamboo Baozi

Wonton Soup

Tofu Donuts

To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement…my best friends from all different parts of my life were all together. That seriously is one of the best feelings I think a person could ever feel.  They spared no amount of cuteness.  I had my Bride Tribe and #IDoInCorfu infused themes from adorable napkins, wine glasses and tank tops.  It was more than I could ever ask for.

After dinner it was time to open up some lingerie – I will add that I am very grateful because I don’t own ANYTHING remotely sexy.  I had to guess who bought each one and I got very few correct so I did a lot of drinking.  My girlfriend Jennifer loves games so she had sent Michael questions prior and had a beautiful laminated game sheet in which I had to answer the same questions and see if I got them right.  I pretty much #nailedit and missed 2 of the 20 questions.  This is also around the time that I received the “cake”.  It literally is the best cake I have ever received in my entire life….it was 1 large “wiener” surrounded by the cutest wiener dogs made out of Hershey Kisses, twix’s, chocolate chips, and tootsie rolls (Photo Credit: Jennifer G.). Honestly…how cute are these?! And if you haven’t read the Tale of Two Tails yet, you may not know I am obsessed with my two miniature dachshunds and anything that may have a dachshund on it.

Saturday:

On Saturday the majority of us were awake around 6-6:30 (stupid internal clocks).  So we spent the morning in bed chatting.  My lovely friend Sarah brought us coffee in bed and we continued to laugh about our past and the things that happened the night before.  We decided that around 9 that some of us should start showering/getting ready for brunch.  We ate at the Orange Anchor right next to the harbor.  It was really laid back and casual – which was perfect.  We ordered a plethora of pitchers of mimosas and bloody Mary’s to get the day started. From here we walked to BHLDN (which is Anthropologie’s wedding line).  I tried on 4 dresses that I had been stalking on the website for months…and they were beautiful.  I had even thought I had found “THE ONE”…however, as I was heading back to the room, my consultant Busy, mentioned that there was one more left.  I actually said “I don’t need to try that one on” and she insisted.  THANK GOODNESS she did because as I put that one on, I knew immediately it was the one!  It was a hit with my girlfriends and when I said “YES” I found myself crying…just like the brides on TLC’s SYTTD.  It is overwhelming and I couldn’t help but shed some tears.

I am going to have to reserve what transpired between the hours of 6-8PM in another post because it truly deserves its own recap. But just a little teaser, it involves Butlers in the Buff (thank you for the recommendation Erica, haha!).

For dinner we ate at Barcelona Wine Bar which I had no idea had multiple locations in other cities – I had previously been to the one in New Haven, CT. It is a wonderful laid back Spanish atmosphere and is a wine/tapas bar – need I say more?!  We had the opportunity to do the party tapas option which is $35 for unlimited tapas or for $45 we could have unlimited tapas and paella.  We had so much tapas we couldn’t imagine having the paella but it was too late to cancel (so just a tip the tapas is enough).  The paella was amazing and they have vegetarian options too. From dinner we headed to a place so we could dance…I’m going to be honest I have no idea what the name of the establishment was but we ended up with bottle service and spent the rest of the night dancing.

They are the prettiest!

I am still feeling the effects of the weekend and it is now Wednesday (haha).  But it was all so worth it.  I have been feeling the sense of being homesick now that I don’t have all of my BESTS in one place but we have so many more events to look forward to! Thank you beautiful friends ❤

 

L&L ~ Rachel

 

 

 

Back on the Horse

I promised that I would keep everyone updated on my progress from the injury I had at the end of 2014.  I wrote about it in my “In-Journey” post that feels so long ago.  As a recap, I fell off of a stool on Christmas day with my 3 year old niece on top of me.  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until two days post-Christmas I was swinging a kettlebell that led to a pain I have never experienced before.  I rested, had x-rays, went to PT, had more x-rays, an MRI and a CT scan.  Finally, we got to the prognosis which was osteoid osteomas (otherwise known as benign tumors in my L3).  Nothing really could be done besides giving them time to stop being inflamed and angry with me.  Luckily, in July of 2015 I was given the green light to go back to my regular activity.  I was so excited!  And yet I was also terrified – what if I go back and the first time I pick up weights I feel the pain?  Will I have to stop everything all over again? So I did not return to CrossFit for another 3 months.  It wasn’t until October of last year that Michael said to me, you need to go back, you are missing something.  And he was right, I had been missing something. I had been missing a huge part of me which is being active.

I was welcomed back with open arms and couldn’t wait to get back at it.  I decided upon my return that I was going to take it easy and just as fate would have it the workout included kettlebell swings.  I wasn’t scared, but I didn’t want to be reckless like my younger self. So my coaches helped me modify the workout and I did kettlebell squats instead.  I continued to work on my form and lowered my weights to begin.  Form is so important in all sports – especially CrossFit.  Most injuries occur from bad form. And this is something I will continue to focus on.

As of today I am stronger than I was pre-injury.  I just can’t believe it.  All of my lifts are between 5-15 lbs heavier than before.  I am getting closer to my 200lb deadlift that I have been after for some time!   At this point I don’t have any limitations and I can’t wait to see my continued growth!

My Mostly30 Diet

Today marks Day 18 since I set out to conquer the Whole30 diet. For those of you unfamiliar, the Whole30 is a diet best summarized by a primary focus on “whole” foods (fruits,vegetables, nuts and seafood/meat) and avoiding grains, dairy, sugars and legumes… all while eliminating any processed foods from your diet. (Bye bye wine… *tear*) This dietary behavior is intended to last for – you guessed it – 30 days.

The whole thing started when Tommy came home from his Crossfit gym armed with 3 nutritional plan options and the associated instructions for each. They were about to kick off a nutrition challenge at their gym, and he was expected to select a plan and participate along with his athletes. When asked if I would be interested in tackling the challenge with him, I accepted – what better motivation to stick to a new health plan than having a partner at home who is adopting the same habits? We read through the details for each plan and landed on the Whole30 because of its clearly defined “compliant” foods and lack of portion counting. When it comes to diet, the simpler the better (if you ask me).

After a lengthy trip and hefty bill from the grocery store, I was armed and ready to embrace my new lifestyle. I will admit that it took some work at first, carving out time to prep meals for lunch and loosely plan dinner options for the week in an effort to keep enough variety in my diet. (Plus, double checking every food item along the way to make sure it was deemed “ok” by the Whole30 gods.) But after a week or so, I found that reading label ingredients was more of a natural habit, and I was actually CRAVING the natural food items. I even passed on soft pretzels and beer at an afternoon baseball game (my go-to baseball snack), by choice! I already noticed myself turning a corner. I was feeling more comfortable in my body again.

As I continued to research Whole30, I started learning about the phases many people go through on the plan. Most experience fatigue at first (as their body adjusts to the new natural ingredients being consumed and learns to convert this into fuel rather than store it) followed by a renewed energy that they refer to as TIGER BLOOD… this still makes me giggle every time I read it. I’ll admit that I didn’t feel particularly fatigued at any point during my first days living this new lifestyle… which I attribute to the fact that I was already making relatively healthy choices more often than not (which probably resulted in less of a shock to my system as some others thriving on fast food as their main staple). However, Tiger Blood is FO’ REAL! I hit an energy level I never knew I had, completely unassisted by any coffee or sugar. (This set in around day 9 or 10.) I felt phenomenal, inside and out…and to be honest, I still do.

Now for my confessions (cue Usher here): I’ve cheated. On Day 6, I had a glass of wine. And on Days 12-14, a few more. I lasted until Day 14 before Nicky’s Thai Kitchen derailed my pretty much perfect  record of food choices for the very first time. (Nicky, you evil temptress.) However, I’ve continued to get right back in the saddle – Every. Time. What I’ve concluded is that this is what works best for me… adopting most of the habits of Whole30 into most of my days, and allowing myself the occasional cheat. 

Does this “everything in moderation” attitude maybe defeat some of the purpose of Whole30, such as identifying potential food allergies and the like? Probably. Do I feel a difference regardless? Absolutely. Do I plan to continue to live as Whole30 compliant as possible? Definitely.

Maybe one day I’ll complete a “pure” 30 days living truly Whole30. Until then, I’ll keep doing my best with my Mostly30 life! 

Have you tried Whole30? What did you think? And, most importantly… who wants to share some yummy compliant recipes??

L&L

Brittany 

Take Your Kids to Work Day

This is my fourth year being involved in Take Your Kids to Work Day and I always look forward to it!  Each year I learn from past mistakes a.k.a the time we let 12 children ranging from 5-14 years use puffy paint to paint T-Shirts. I have never seen so much puffy paint on humans and or objects that weren’t meant to have puffy paint on them and the amount applied.  I will never forget the inch thick puffy painted shirt that took approximately 1 week to dry (note: it was still tacky even after a week).  But it is so much fun to meet your colleagues children and have them see what they do everyday and also learn about what your company does.

TYKTWD usually falls on the last Thursday in April which is very close to Mother’s Day.  For the last 3 years I have had the kids create a gift for their moms or their grandma’s or any special lady in their life.  Last year I had the kids paint flower pots and then we planted flowers in them as well (yep…mud everywhere!). When everyone goes home I stay late to place the gifts on the desks of those who brought in their children so that they receive their gift prior to Mother’s Day.  The moms are always so grateful.

This year I am having them create Mason Jar soap dispensers.  I am going to be honest it is a craft that I have been wanting to do myself and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to buy all of the supplies and make it.

ITEMS NEEDED:

• Mason Jar
• Soap Pump Kit (these can be purchased at Target, Walmart, JoAnn’s & Michael’s – you’ll find them right next to all of the mason jars)
• Acrylic Paint
• Foam Brush

METHOD:

• Wash your Mason Jar and dry it thoroughly.
• Using your chosen acrylic paint, use the foam brush to paint the outside – if you paint the inside you will not be able to put anything liquid inside.
• Let this dry for about 10 minutes and then repeat to get desired color.

I found this cute quote that I have printed out and then will have the kids tie it on. I am not going to lie I may have to keep the example for myself!

L&L ~ Rachel

How Much is Too Much?!

My apologies – I have been writing constantly about my wedding…it will all be over soon, I promise!  But I know that I am not alone in how I feel about the price of everything!?!  I mean even the tiniest details come with a price tag.  Which brings me to the invitation section of this process.  I feel as though the invitations often set the tone of the wedding – they reflect the theme or the ambiance you want to create on your big day, whether that is elegant and formal or casual, rustic, whimsical – the list could go on.  But why are they so hard to pick out and why are they so expensive?!

I have spent literally 4 months on this project.  I have looked at what I suspect as at least 100 options and only recently did I find the most perfect ones.  And if you guessed on Etsy, you would be correct.  I found these amazing custom invitations, but after choosing all the bits and bobs that I would need; envelopes, invitations, RSVP card + the actual customization and shipping it was going to run me $675 dollars for 35 invitations.  My heart actually may have stopped.  I love nice things and unfortunately my taste is often that of champagne on the natty light budget.  I couldn’t believe it after 4 months of looking I was faced with the decision of beautiful custom invites and spending $675.  I just couldn’t do it.  So I opted to use Invitations by Dawn (which is a great site and always offers a discount code).  I have about 20 saved projects between my Minted (which I actually purchased my save the dates through) and Wedding Paper Divas shopping carts, but Invitations by Dawn had the next best ones that I felt I could send to our guests.

In my travel themes post I wrote about the personal touches I want to add and realized that I want my invites to reflect the entire feel and theme of the wedding and decided that this was going to be it – again for better or for worse I pulled the trigger.

The price tag on these with all of the inserts and names printed on the envelopes (saving my hands from cramping/callous’s haha) came to less than half of the above mentioned invites.  I am happy with my decision and hope that I will someday stop thinking about the beautiful Etsy ones haha.  How do you feel about the cost of everything wedding related?!  Any tips and pointers would be wonderful!

L&L ~Rachel

The Tale of Two Tails

Hello Friday – where have you been all of my life?!  This week was incredibly busy and yet it still felt like it took 4 weeks for Friday to arrive.  Since Brittany and I took such a long sabbatical I can’t believe I didn’t even share the fact that in that time I now have two of the cutest and feistiest miniature dachshunds.  I didn’t grow up with a dog, but I always wanted one. And somehow I was lucky enough to have two!

How we ended up with our pups is not your average story.  It began with me sending photos of puppies daily to Michael.  He would always reply with an “aw he is cute” or “one day” and even the ole’ “puppies are a lot of work” lines.  As time went on I could tell that he was going to eventually give in and be the person that would let me get my first puppy at 30 years old.  We picked out the sweetest looking puppy that had a herniated belly button from where his mama tugged too hard on the umbilical cord.  For this reason he was discounted but it was only a cosmetic defect.  He was perfect, he was a blonde piebald miniature dachshund.  The breeder had named him Parker and Michael loved the name.  A few weeks before we were able to take Parker home another one of the breeders puppies was being returned because the owner could not take care of him.  I sent the picture to Michael and asked if we could give him a home too.  And to my surprise he actually said yes!?!  I went from never having a puppy to getting two puppies at the same time (this one was 4 weeks older than Parker and was named Sampson).  So on May 13^th, 2015 we drove to Ohio to pick up our two new sons!  We decided that Sampson’s new name was going to be Atlas – for my love of traveling and adventure, it was very fitting.

Atlas and Parker

On the car ride home Parker slept on my lap and then Michael’s and Atlas was very energetic and climbed all over the place – it was in this moment I realized that two may have been more than we could handle.  But I was in love and I was so excited for all the joy they were going to bring to our lives and all the work I was willing to put in to train them.  A few days after we had them Atlas started showing signs of being sick…I mean really sick.  We decided on the 3^rd day of him not eating and throwing up and having diarrhea that the vet was really needed.  We took our little Atlas in that now weighed only 3lbs at 13 weeks old to the emergency vet and were immediately taken to a room.  The vet suspected parvo virus and told us that if the test came back positive he would have to stay there and have treatments and his survival rate was not high.  I cried and cried and cried.  How could this happen we’ve only had them for a week?!  For anyone that does not know what parvo is, it is a horrible puppy killing virus.  Pet MD describes it as;

The canine parvovirus (CPV) infection is a highly contagious viral illness that affects dogs. The virus manifests itself in two different forms. The more common form is the intestinal form, which is characterized by vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss, and lack of appetite (anorexia). The less common form is the cardiac form, which attacks the heart muscles of very young puppies, often leading to death. The majority of cases are seen in puppies that are between six weeks and six months old. The incidence of canine parvovirus infections has been reduced radically by early vaccination in young puppies.

After what felt like eternity, the vet came into the room to tell us that indeed Atlas had parvo.  The treatment could cost as much as $5000.  Five thousand dollars….we just didn’t have that kind of money to have him stay at the hospital and after discussing declined the treatment Atlas needed.  Heartbroken is an understatement – the vet left and we never actually saw her again.  An hour later an assistant came back in the room with an IV of fluids.  She told us this vitamin packed fluid has a 50% chance of working and that we would have to give Atlas an IV twice a day.  She showed us how to tent his skin near the back of his neck and pierce him with the needle and squeeze the fluid until it bubbled.  I did not know Michael did not do well with needles so he almost passed out.  After some water his coloring came back and I realized that I was going to have to be the one to stick the needle into Atlas twice a day.  I thought to myself how am I going to do this, I am not a vet tech, a nurse or a doctor – I cannot do it.  However, when you’re faced with difficult situations you find the strength somehow, some way. And I knew Michael and I as a team would do it together. The assistant said that if he didn’t pull through by day 3 he was not going to make it.  Those 3 days were a struggle.  Atlas still didn’t want to eat and I couldn’t tell if he was getting better.  But by the end of day 3 he did want to drink some water!  There was hope, we couldn’t’ believe our eyes he was actually going to make it!  And he did, he survived! However, in the midst of Atlas having parvo our little Parker that was a month younger than Atlas started showing signs….how can we do this again I thought.  He is too small, he only weighs 3lbs.  And sure enough Parker did have parvo and we decided to do the same at home treatment for him.  Except Parker never recovered and we lost him.  He was only 10 weeks old.  Michael and I were devastated.  We never thought in a million years this is how this would go.  But we decided in Parker’s honor we were going to give Atlas the BEST life a puppy could have.

Sweet little Parker!

Fast forward 4 months (September 2015) Atlas is now seven months old and we get a message from the breeder asking about Atlas and his behavior and we told her how good he was. She then mentioned that Atlas’s brother Oscar was being returned because the owners said he was a bad dog!!  A bad dog?!  He is a puppy and a dachshund – there are no bad dogs there are bad owners!  I looked at Michael and he said we have to save him.  If he goes to another home he may just be sent from one to the next.  So we told the breeder we wanted him and that we were willing to put in the time to give him what he needed.  On September 25^th I drove to West Virginia an hour and half away to pick up little Oscar.  He was so scared and so underfed.  The owners didn’t’ even look sad.  I picked him up and placed him in the car and he slept the whole way home.  Oscar is not a bad dog, he is nervous and scared and that is okay.  We have worked with him every step of the way to learn how to calm him down.  He is the cutest, smartest and sweetest little pup.  When he is all curled up on the couch we often ask how anyone could give him up.

Oscar

The boys just turned 1  on February 17^th and we threw a puppy birthday party with all of their friends – to say it was a hit is an understatement.  Everyone loved it even the humans!

Our puppy story has definitely been a roller-coaster of emotions and because of Parker two other puppies that were returned get to live the best life with two humans that love them so much…it should almost be illegal how much haha.

L&L ~Rachel

 

 

 

 

Travel Themes

I have always been a fan of themes – from college parties to weddings! And on this topic, I have only recently begun to think about the little details that I would love to have incorporated into my wedding.   Insert a Pinterest time warp in which 4 hours can easily be lost while searching for EVERYTHING.  Until now it has just been the big picture idea of having a destination wedding and all of the people I love most being in one place.  As we are creeping towards the end of April I realized that September is going to be here before I know it.  So I ended up in a Pinterest rabbit hole and of course found endless ideas for weddings…all of them cuter than the last.

I don’t want to go overboard since the wedding backdrop is going to be stunning by itself. Piedra Del Mar in Corfu sits between the mountains and the sea. However, there are just a few ideas that I would like to have as personal touches.  On Monday I read this article from the Pittsburgh Magazine about a sweet couple that incorporated a travel theme into their wedding, one in which no plane ticket was necessary.  I immediately fell in love with their luggage tags for guests to find their tables.  This is where Etsy came in handy BIG TIME.  I found a shop on there called Porter Leather  which has great prices on custom luggage tags.  I have selected three neutral colors that I will have coordinate with the meal options.  There are also a few travel quotes for each of the three colors that I am going to have embossed in gold on the back.

• A journey is best measured in friends not miles.
• No road is long with good company.
• Travel.  Life is not meant to be lived in one place.

The couple also used a beautiful Lonely Planet book as their guestbook – it is stunning and I may have to borrow this idea or one similar for ours.  As far as the tablescape I am going to keep it fairly simple by having garland instead of huge center pieces.  This way guests can see one another without having a blocked view.   For the actual table numbers, I found these small globes from the World Market  – I have decided that I can paint a gold table number on them and call it a day! 

For our cards I would love to do something similar to this vintage suitcase that this adorable couple used for their wedding.So far I believe these few items are the only things I decided were a must for me to incorporate into the wedding.  What are some personalized details that you have incorporated into your big day?! I would love to know!  P.S. I am going to have to bring a huge suitcase to lug all those globes in!

L&L ~Rachel

Marathon Monday got me like…

Although I have never ran in the highly coveted Boston Marathon, I still make it a point to check in on the race’s progress every year. The Marathoner in me suffers sympathy race-day tingles for those runners lucky enough to race as/with the world’s elites! It’s usually around this time that I start to ache for that finish line euphoria, and ultimately con myself into another race registration. This year isn’t all that different…

Technically, I already committed to the Marine Corps Marathon back in March of 2015. (But that is a story for another post.) Long story short, I am committed to run the D.C. long-haul this year on October 30th. This will mark my 4th full marathon, but my first in nearly 4 years come race day. I’d be lying if I said I was super stoked at first to find that I am locked in for another round of 4-5 months of training torture, but as it grows nearer to that time to kick-off training, I find myself feeling those traces of excitement/dread that surface in  anticipation of a new race. (It’s a love/hate relationship…) I enter training mode for this race with my sights on a sub-4:00 clock time, which equates to shaving 9 minutes off of my PR in the Walt Disney Marathon back in 2013. I got this, right? (Insert endless prayers to the big man upstairs here.)

It’s true what they say about the roller coaster of emotions that is a full marathon, both in training and the race itself. There are days in training when I feel on top of the world after a double-digit mileage run, and days where I quite literally feel as if my legs might fall off during a simple 3 mile jog. There’s a science behind this (i.e. what you ate the day before, hours of sleep for the week, etc.), but honestly – I am not the type of runner to take the time to track all of those things meticulously. (I typically just concern myself with water intake and not eating overly fiber-rich foods the night before a long run.) Besides, I am convinced the system isn’t 100% reliable – I’ve been known to have some of my best runs after housing a Chipotle burrito for lunch. (Which most would deem the equation for mid-run disaster.)

I don’t think I could explain more perfectly the onslaught of actual race day emotions than Buzzfeed does in its video,The 8 Stages of Running a Marathon. I’ve probably watched this montage a million of times, and it’s just as hysterical every time… (so funny, it’s true). If you aren’t familiar with running, or have yet to push the distance of a full, don’t let this deter you – like I said, it is a love/hate relationship.

All joking aside, despite the frustration, exhaustion and “I want to die” moments that hit us all at some point during a marathon, it’s the endless positives that keep me coming back for more. The general sense of accomplishment and accountability that comes with preparing for and running 26.2, the increased health and wellness, the added practice of time management and, ultimately, the inspiring running community you ultimately become a part of. Runners are overall happy and caring people – take a spin around any marathon expo and you can feel a buzz in the air. Along the course, you’ll see runners pause to help other runners in need, even if just an encouraging “high five”. I once had a runner offer me one of their energy gels during a full marathon… if you run, you understand what a gesture that is to give up part of your limited source of nourishment on race day! And most major cities have recreational running groups, which seem to welcome anyone and everyone as one of their own(with no judgment on speed or distance capabilities).

I think my heart swelled to its biggest as a runner after the bombings in Boston in 2013. Such a tragic event turned into such a positive out-pour of support as the running community worldwide joined together in honor of the runners and their families. Here in Pittsburgh, a local running store organized a run to honor Boston, which drew an astounding number of participants, runners and non-runners alike. And coming shortly after fundraising for LLS in a race that autumn before, my friend Kristen and I felt compelled to keep our fundraising juices flowing… so we partnered with a local bar to host a charitable happy hour to benefit The One Fund Boston. The amount of donors to a cause that did not necessarily impact them personally, or even geographically, served as a reassuring reminder that there is still plenty of good in this world.

At the end of the day, running is not for everyone. Some people are only able to embrace the hate part of the love/hate relationship… and that’s OK. But for me… running is my balance, my sanity and a reflection of my relationship with myself. No matter how many days I may complain about it or hate it… I just can’t live without it.

Go out for a run today.

L&L

Brittany