Not running for a month has taught me a lot about myself. I have started to do activities that I have put off because I was so focused on becoming a stronger runner. My love for sewing has been put on the back burner and my injury has prevented me from working on my tumbling skills for cheerleading, jumping, and running. As my doctor said, I could start bike riding or swimming but I just couldn’t see myself doing those activities for a long time. Instead, I took a break from being super athletic and did whatever activity I felt like doing at that moment.

RELAX

This one can be hard for me. I love to be on the move and constantly doing things. I’m not gonna lie, Bruno Mars’ “The Lazy Song” made it easier for me to just sit, do nothing and chill on my snuggie. I know, what you’re thinking, “It’s summer, who would want to bundle up in a snuggie!” Get ready for it, because my sister bought me a towel snuggie. I kid you not. And just how cool do I look in it?!

Perfect, right? Thanks to my sister Julia, I can now call myself the hottest one beside the pool.

BTW the Bruno Mars “The Lazy Song” music video is brills (aka brilliant). It was all done in one take. Enough said.

READING


This is something I have been putting off. I have 3 Runner’s World Magazines that I haven’t read yet and a Women’s Health. And not to mention the dusty novels on my night table. I started to make my second home the lounger and read in the sun. Yes, I’m still kinda crazy when it comes to the sunscreen department but I’ve gotta be. I’m all about practicing safe sun. I picked up my ZEN and the ART of RUNNING book for the last few months that it has been stuck on the last chapter.  And what was it about, running (or lack of) with injuries. Crazy right? And the best lesson there? Some things you just can’t control and if you are told that you can never run again it’s not a bad thing. You’ve taken a lot from training that you can put into your daily life and you can pursue other activities. Perfect timing to end that book. And I’ve been reading every night before I go to sleep again and I honestly don’t know how I stopped doing this. It’s the most relaxing thing to do before bed.

DESIGN


Designing is my other love that I left when my nose incident happened. It’s funny because even though I have a degree in Theatre and specializing in costume design, I never make outfits for myself. Mainly because after you get home from a day of sewing at work, the last thing you want to do is sit at your sewing machine all night. As you know, I’m back cheerleading and it feels SO good. I’m on the Open All -Girl Level 6 All-Star Very Cherry team. Yes, that sounds like a loooong name. Every team has a flavour to differentiate all the teams and you can only imagine how many cherry items I am collecting in my wardrobe. So, we had a VERY Cherry practice last night. I obviously felt like I needed a costume and out came my friends the sewing machine and serger:

I needed something CHERRY, spandex, and LOUD. This is what I came up with:

Cherry Front

PS- this is post practice so don’t mind the sweaty mess!

Cherry Back

And of course a cheer outfit just wouldn’t be the same without a homemade cherry inspired bow!

Front

Back

So fun right?! Wow, I miss sewing. I’m sure you will find some more creations as I come up with them!

BUILD SLOWLY


I’ve been at every cheer practice and stunting but I haven’t been running or jumping. Doctor’s orders. But last night, I attempt to do some jumps and then conditioning came. It involved a mix of running with push ups and squats. I was on it. I was feeling good and destined to get a little run in. My running may have lasted 10 minutes but I did it. With pain you ask? Well, no not really. I say not really because my foot felt a bit of pain in my left foot and not my right and I think it’s just from the tensor bandage being to tight in that one spot. So, I got home, iced up and I’m feeling good! I put some musclecare on my feet this morning and I think I will be ready to do a little 5K on Friday! Relax today, physio tomorrow, and have a killer (10 minute) playlist for Friday! Maybe I will make it a 15 minute playlist in case my pace is a lot slower than what it was.

I can honestly say that this injury may have made me a stronger athlete. Even after eating all of my homemade sorbet in every fruity flavour:

And if you want a great running read, I highly recommend this one:

Shapiro applies Zen techniques to a runner’s biggest issue- overcoming obstacles, training, injuries, races, and aging. I have gained so much useful information out of this book and I can’t wait to test out his practices!

It’s good to be back.

Happy Wednesday Friends!