Like a Girl

 

I know this commercial has been making the social media rounds lately, but I think it's worth sharing and talking about.

 

http://blog.petflow.com/this-is-a-commercial-every-woman-should-see-im-blown-away/?f=1&utm_content=buffer0a8b8&utm_medium=Shared&utm_source=ilmd&utm_campaign=AZPost#XI5Lsc7WDOIjhF4f.01

 

I hate to admit this, but I heard my husband use the phrase, "like a girl," while he was playing baseball with some friends the other day.  It felt like nails on a chalkboard to hear those words come out of his mouth and I wanted to jump up and start screaming at him all of the reasons why I never wanted to hear him say that phrase again.  Keep in mind, my husband is the kindest, fairest, most wonderful man I've ever met.  I know he doesn't understand the gravity of using a phrase like that and I know he doesn't mean anything by it.  But, maybe that's exactly what makes it so aggravating.  Somehow, being derogatory towards women is still so ingrained in our society that no one thinks twice about it.  How is that?  We've all come so far in so many ways, but still, women are viewed as less capable than....what?  Than everything??!?  Why is it that doing something poorly is automatically associated with doing something, "like a girl?" 

 

We all hear the phrase, "like a girl," and just let it roll off of our backs like it's no big deal.  But it is a big deal.  Women are strong and powerful and smart and funny and everything that a man is and in so many ways, so much more.  Are we different?  Of course we are.  But, we aren't less than.  We as a society have to stop saying it's okay for women to be treated (or talked about) as if they are less than.  And guess who has to lead the charge in this change?  That's right.  WOMEN.  We have to be the change we want to see.  There are too many young girls out there looking up to us.  Too many young girls who need to be told that there is nothing wrong with being "like a girl."  We have to let these young girls know what they are worth and I mean what they are intrinsically worth just because they are girls.  We have to let them know that being a girl is a precious gift to this world and we can't let them down.

 

Hell yes!



Orange You Glad You Went to the Gym

Just when I thought my morning run on the gym treadmill was going to be boring. 

Remember: Be loud. Be proud. Be bold. Be bright. Smile and make others around you smile. 

Happy running. 

Ghost Bikes

The other day, my neighborhood run took me past this:

This is a Ghost Bike and sadly, they are all over Houston. The Ghost Bike project is an international memorial to bicyclists across the world who have lost their lives in cycling accidents. The vast majority of ghost bikes represent a cyclist who was hit by a car. These stripped down, white bikes are placed in the exact spot (or as near to as possible) of the tragedies. Somber (and still beautiful) reminders of what can happen on the road.  Seeing so many of these recently pop up in Houston had been a sad awakening. 

What this particular bike reminded me is that we all share the road and we need to do a better job of it. I can't tell you how often I see people cruise through the stop sign near my house as I run up to it. I'm definitely scared of what could happen if a driver isn't paying attention while we share the road. I do my very bet to make sure I'm seen, always running on the correct side of the street, wearing reflective clothing, and even strapping a blinking light on somewhere. But, I know that it just takes one small lapse in concentration by a passing driver for things to go all wrong for me. And, if I'm going to be totally honest (and I promised you I would be), I am guilty of being an inattentive driver.  How many times have I driven, pulled up to my destination, and wondered to myself how I ended up there, unable to recall any details of the drive?  I think the point of this entry is that we all have room for improvement, if we are on our feet, two wheels, or four, we could all stand to pay a little more attention to one another. After all, we are all sharing the same road together. Let's just make sure we don't start seeing white running shoes piling up around our city. 

Screwed

Well, it looks like I'm in for a pretty terrible day. Ran across (actually they ran across me) these two guys on my run this morning.  

How creepy does flash photography make this look?!?

You know what they say about a black cat crossing your path. Is two doubly bad?  Pretty sure it is. Pretty sure I should just call it a day and crawl back into bed. You know, for safety reasons...

Summer Slowdown

Today marks the official start of summer. And for many reasons, I welcome it with open arms. More than anyone, I am ready for days at the pool, cook outs, flip flops, and summer vacations. I am a summer girl through and through. As soon as the temperature starts inching towards the 90's, my whole mood changes. I really live for summer months. 

Except in one small area.... summer running!  I'm just gonna put it out there: summer running is a real bitch. No matter how hard I try, along with summer comes the inevitable slow down.  This time of the year, Houston is plain ol' hot and humid. Plain ol' hot and humid leads to plain ol' slow. I mean really slow. 

Yesterday morning on a five mile run I had to stop....twice. The day before that, I ran 3.1 miles and came home telling my husband it might have been the hardest 5k I'd ever run. It doesn't matter that I'm out the door running before 6:00 a.m.  Houston is already near 100% humidity and well into the 80's as soon as the sun rises. It doesn't matter that I've been hitting the treadmill intervals really hard lately or that I've stepped up my strength training game. None of it matters when I step out summer running. Once summer hits, runs feel less like a connection to the universe and more like a trip towards a slow death.  For me, summer running is not summer loving. 

Here is the thing: it's not just me. The summer slowdown happens to most runners and there is scientific reasoning for it.  The heat and humidity actually physically makes running more difficult by significantly increasing your heart rate and decreasing the evaporation rate of sweat (sweat is your body's natural cooling method). This leads to both perceived increased effort and actual increased effort.  Which, as I've mentioned, leads to some sever slowing of pace.  I came upon this chart the other day that made me feel a little better about myself. I've only been seeing about a 35 second her mile slow down, but it's good to know the slow down is normal.  

 

 

Of course, knowing it's normal is not much of a consolation. We runners (I can speak for you too now, right?) hate slowing down. Let's be honest, we live and die by those numbers on the Garmin. Seeing that pace number creep up and up is frustrating and discouraging. It's hard to know as a runner that you're doing everything right in your training, but not getting to see any of the results. 

Maybe that's the problem. We judge our results not by the effort we put into a run, but by the numbers we see on our wrist after the run. Maybe during this summer slow down the thing to do is focus on the  strength and endurance we are building and not on the speed in which we are doing it. Instead of needing the instant gratification of seeing an improved time, let's find the enjoyment in knowing that down the road, when the temperatures fall and the summer shorts are put away, we will be faster, stronger, better runners for having pushed on through the summer. 

In the meantime, I hear being red faced, covered in sweat, and crawling on your hands and knees is really in this season. What's that you say?  Oh, it's not?  Yeah, I figured. 

 

Not A Bad View

My husband and I never go the gym together. I mean, really close to never. So, last night was a special treat when the stars aligned and we both ended up working out at the gym together. As I spent some time on the mats foam rolling (my quads have been trashed lately) I ended up with a pretty great view!

It was odd, he kept asking me how much longer I needed to foam roll. I kept telling him that I needed to roll a really long time. I don't think he ever guessed why ;)

Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?

Let's see, I spent the first part of last week running in Indiana and the last part of the week running in Fort Worth. I've always been a fan of running out of town. I make it a point to never take a trip without my running shoes. I am telling you, if you ever want to experience a city like the locals, find a popular trail and hit the ground running. 

I thought I'd fill you in on my Fort Worth runs. 

First, the hotel gym. 

Hotel gyms can be pretty hit or miss. I've seen my fair share of tragic gyms (I once ran on a treadmill in a closet-sized room that was shared with the hotel ice machine. It was kind of awkward when people would come in in their PJ's to get ice and have to squeeze around me). I've also been able to sweat in some pretty great ones too. The Worthington Renaissance's gym was pretty darn nice.  I spent a good deal of time doing some pretty intense intervals. They also had some good free weight equipment that I used to spice up my strength training routine. My only two complaints of the gym were (and they are pretty much shared universally with every other hotel gym I've ever visited):

1. The pool - hotel gyms are almost always located right next to the hotel pools, which leads to a whole lot of people stopping in their bathing suits and testing out equipment. This might be one of the oddest phenomenon out there, but I promise you it is true. At almost every hotel gym I've worked out in, I've shared it with at least one or two people in their bathing suits and flip flops sitting on the cycle bike. Listen people, you will not lose whatever weight it is you think you need to lose before heading to the pool on that bike in those flip flops. Trust me. 

2. The hand weights - 

This is such a pet peeve of mine. Why are the weights always the super bulky old fashioned kind?  Come on hotels, we women lift too. But when the weights are the size of my entire arm, it makes maneuvering them a little (a lot) difficult. It also doesn't help that the hand grip of the weight is as coarse as sandpaper, which as we know, is lovely for the texture of our hands. 

But, I digress. My original point was that I spent some time in Fort Worth at the hotel gym. And can anyone spot what I forgot to pack?  Needless to say, I had to air out my shoes every night. 

On my last day in Forth Worth, I woke up early and headed to The Trinity Trails (with new socks in hand--err on foot).  This trail system was recommended to me by some friends who live up there (big shout out to Drew and Blake for helping me stay well fed and then burn it off while I was up there!). 

 

First thing I've got to say is, good on ya' Fort Worth!!  These trails were awesome! Honestly one of the best city trails I've ever run. Well developed, well maintained, and well utilized (lots of runner waves along the way).  There were even portions of the trail marked specifically for me:

My only disappointment in the run was that my mileage isn't up very high yet since taking my month off, so I didn't get to see as much of the system as I would have liked.  You can see the trails are pretty extensive and I was only able to see a few miles before I had to turn around and run back.  Now I'm looking forward to going back to run when I'm in shape enough to run significant mileage. It's always good to have fun ideas/goals to motivate you along the way. 

 

 

 

More information about the trails can be found here: http://www.trinitytrails.org/

 



You know a city is serious about setting up good spaces for runners when they paint a giant running shoe mural along the trail.