The Pursuit Of Happiness: 2.72
Colorful sky | Fall Foliage | Dammit Dolls | Giant Chocolate Penny | Sushi Delivery | Baltimore Half Marathon Finisher Certificate | Spending The Evening With My Love | Catching Up On Shows
Showing posts with label running. Show all posts
The Pursuit Of Happiness: 2.62
My half marathon is tomorrow! I seriously can't believe it. I went to the race expo/packet pick-up today and got my bib and shirt and lot's of other goodies, because let's face it, I have a shopping problem.
The Pursuit Of Happiness: 2.4
Okay where to begin - today was a pretty decent day and I can't pick just happy moment, but then again sometimes more is better.1. I woke up and made it to swimming today. That's two times in one week, pretty good after a month and a half off.
2. My teeth got nice and clean at the dentist; they a sparkling white (yay)
3. I am super happy with myself for making it out on a run, even though all I wanted to do was take a nap! It was crazy slow for me but I got in 4.75 miles.
4. I made a scrumptious bowl of seasoned zoodles with sauce and a left over meatball. It was delicious and it was way healthier and cheaper then ordering delivery or eating out like I have been choosing to do lately.
5. And last, I am typing this while laying in our new tent. Yes, Brenden and I bought a tent; yes, it was delivered today; yes, Brenden set it up straight away in our living room for us to play/hang out/sleep in tonight; yes, we are extremely excited about it! It's got glowing lights and fits the air mattress I am currently laying on, perfectly. A peaceful end to a day filled with great things.
It is crazy how much of a difference one day can make. I went from thinking hard, thin to figure out what my one happy moment in 24 hours was, to not being able to narrow it down to just one. It just goes to show you to remember, "tomorrow is a new day," or in one of my favorite Annie lyrics, "the sun will come out tomorrow…it's just a day away."The Pursuit Of Happiness - Reborn
The Pursuit Of Happiness posts are making a comeback because, well, I need them too. I started these posts to remember the happy times and hope to inspire everyone to see some good in their day, even if it seemed like a not so good day. I completed a year of posts only a few days ago last year, and today they will resume, but this time they are more for me then others. I need to re-inspire myself. Of course if I help a few others along the way that is all the better, but at this point in my life I need the motivation to see the good in my life, to inspire myself and most importantly to be happy with me; because ultimately, no one can make you happy except you.A lot of negative things have happened in my life in the past month, but it is time to take charge and continue living. I know the struggles aren't over, but I hope that through this I will be able to see that my journey can continue in great ways.
So to start myself off, today, amongst all my days of sitting and wanting to get out but still sitting, I finally got up and out and went for a run. A real run. The type of run I haven't done in over a month and a half. I ran 4.1 miles in a little under 41 minutes. It wasn't the fastest I have ever run but it was a step in the right direction, and just the fact that I went out and was able to run that far is an accomplishment. I went through a plethora of emotions: feeling good, wanting to stop, feeling sad, wanting to cry, feeling proud, and overall feeling accomplished I did it. I have had a goal to run a half marathon this fall and this was my first step to that goal; now I just have to keep it up.
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #362
Another 1-mile fun run with another (1 second) PR, and 2 of my favorite shows followed. |
| Source: Pinterest |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #352
2.25 mile run followed by a sushi dinner with my friends and family.
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #351
So I know I felt off the map with these posts for a couple days, but I was taking a break from technology post work, and that in itself was a happiness win for me. My mind has been swirling from all the blogs and research about a million things I was interested in looking up and I just couldn't concentrate. So a brief recap on what would have been my posts for the last two days:July 22: Another successful 1-mile fun run. This time I finished in 7:04, 2 seconds faster then the last. And, some of my tri friends came out and gave the run a try as well which was nice to have more company.
July 23: A yummy Panera dinner and catching up with all kids of chit chat with my friend Jeff.
And tonight (July 24) I leave you with a quote: "A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better then a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." ~Gandhi
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| Found on mavericksquared.com |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #328
Another tough but good 5K cross country run with some friends, and then a night with another friend Jeff, eating dessert and dinner. Yes dessert then dinner. Ordered a burger to carry out and got a milkshake as it was being made. Both were amazingly delicious, but even better was the company. I love Fridays :).
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #325
Another 1-Mile Fun Run and another PR for the race. But even better, my mom ran it with me the time! I started doing these races 23 years ago when I was 2 and I would chase my mom trying to keep up and so proud not to be pushed in the running stiller once. My mom even has an article from the paper on it. I was so excited to have my mom join me again and she did amazing! She finished in 13:42 and I couldn't be more proud of her. I can't wait to see how we do on the next one :D
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| Woop, woop! |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #321
Experienced my first Striders Cross Country Series Race tonight. It was definitely not what I was expecting, in that is was super tough! Glad I did it though and I can't wait to do the rest of the races in the series and see how I can improve. |
| Source: happyrunningfeet.net |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #319
Brenden and I continued with the 1-mile fun run this summer. So proud of him for getting out there to begin running again, and happily surprised myself with a one mile run in 7:18. I can't believe it was that fast at the beginning of the seasons. I guess I set the bar high for myself, but that makes it even better. |
| Source: runnersworld.com, "The Runner," by Julien Gauthier |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #313
My friends love me and I love them :). Nommed on one of my favorite ice creams from the shop down the road. My friend was kind enough to get me a ton of mint chocolate chip with Oreos while I was out of town this weekend because it was the only day this month Meadows was having that flavor. Yay, made my day! So I enjoyed some ice cream while I watched the season premier of Pretty Little Liars, after going on a run and catching up with my friend. Really, it can't get much better then that! |
| EAT ALL THE ICE CREAM! NOM :D |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #262
Race season is officially here. My first race of the season was a 5k - the Red Shoe Shuffle for the Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore. I ran it in under 27 minutes which I was pretty excited about after not running much. That was my their 2 goal wootwoot. I met some cool people by signing up with the Chai Life team at BHC. It was a good way to start the day and a great way to start the season.
A Half Marathon and A Full Wineglass
As you may have read (in more then one post), Brenden and I journeyed up to Corning, NY a few weekends ago. We had a chance to visit the Corning Museum of Glass and spend time with Brenden's family. But, the original reason for the trip was the Wineglass Half Marathon I had signed up for, only a year or so ago. Since going to college in upstate NY, the area has found its way into my heart. Plus the fact that Brenden was still living up there at the time of registration did not hurt my reasoning for choosing this race. A vacation and race all in one, perfect. And even though Brenden has moved down since, we still got our vacation and race, only I didn't have to do the endless hours of driving by myself. In fact, Brenden did all the driving and I just kept him company (between sleeping, whoops). Does it get any better then that?! Love him!So we set out early Friday morning, and had a lovely weekend exploring and visiting and pretty much running around. Only too soon was it 5 am on Sunday morning, and I was waking up for probably the fourth and final time that night/morning. My nerves had kept me tossing and turning in the hours leading up to the race. It was my last race for the season, but I was just as nervous as I was for my first, just for different reasons. I was nervous for the forecasted, all-day thunderstorms, for my various injuries that had been acting up since my last race, for completing the race, for making everyone proud. But as I got ready I shook off the nerves, the rain that I heard pattering all night was slowing down, I was feeling good and confident, and I knew everyone was proud of me just for making it this far. Brenden and I packed up the last of our things and headed to the race.
The half marathon started about an hour and a half away from where we had stayed that night, but it felt like it took forever to get there. I was ready to go. It was a point to point race so we passed the full marathon runners as we drove to my starting point. I was getting excited. We followed the mile markers, distributed to guide the runners along the course. With each mile the race became more real. And then we were there, waiting in a line of cars packed with runners. I hopped out of the car, said goodbye to Brenden who wished me lots of luck, and walked toward the start line as Brenden drove in the opposite direction to meet me at the finish.
I walked about a quarter of a mile and finally got to the start line. It was already packed. I started to make my way back to the pacer I wanted to follow. I hadn't fully committed to a time before getting to the race, and of course that small voice of competitiveness (even just against myself) spoke up and said "You are feeling good, go with the 2 hour pacer. You can do it." So, although an even smaller voice in the back of my mind said I should keep walking farther back in the pack, my feet kept me planted toward the outskirts of 2 hour time. My ultimate goal was to finish in under 2 hours, but given the recent injury flare-up I had tried convinced myself that I was content with just running the entire race and finishing. My gesture to stay with the faster pacer told me that my original goal was not quite out of my head.
Now it was just a waiting game. I stretched my legs as much as I could in the two inch circle I had of personal space; I listened to the people around me chat with there friends and family, and I tried to get into my head and concentrate. It was finally time to start. I set my watch, slowly jogged to the actual start line as the masses of people scattered out (they decided to make it a one wave start), and I was off!
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| Photographer: Marathon Photo |
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| Source: Marathon Photo |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #93
October 6, 2013Wa-hoo - succeeded in my second half marathon today (and, the rain held out)! Got my personal best time by about 3 seconds, finishing in 2:07 and some change. So proud of myself for pushing through and running the entire thing :). And it was great having Brenden there to watch me finish and share my joy at the moment!
I also got to make my own glass bead for my pandora bracelet at the Corning Museum of Glass after my race. I chose clear, purple, and blue as my bead colors (Brenden helped me choose and match it to the beads I have now) and I continued by flameworking the glass together to create the shape and design. Although my arms and legs were a bit tired during this process (I finished a little after ten and was making glass by 11) it was super exciting and fun to learn and try. The bead still has to cool and go through some other processes, but it will be glowing on my bracelet in about a week. Can't wait!
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| Race tattoo all set |
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| Finish line welcome. Happy, happy :) |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #71
September 14, 2013Lots of things happened today, but at the same time I was able to have a pretty relaxing day sitting in my bed. I woke up this morning to do an 80s themed fun run sponsored by Road Runner Sports for their 30th anniversary. I got there, decked out in my 80s gear (although I was very sad I could not find my leg warmers) with a friend, and no one was there! We checked the date and location and they were both correct. It didn't add up. Turns out all the hype of the fun run was misleading because it was really a 30 minute run on your own around the area, meeting back at the store when they opened at 9am for food, prizes and shopping. Lame; I woke up so early for this excitement!! But, I ended up getting in a nice 3 mile run with my friend, and we met a few people for good conversation along the way. We then met back at the store for food where I was able to see a couple other friends. And I won (by default, I think the guy felt bad for me) a 3-pack of dry wick socks.
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| I tied for first in the costume contest :) |
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| Ice cream for dinner!! Yumm-y! |
I started some redesigning of my "Active Buddy" logo. I may have missed the mark the first time around. But hopefully something will work a better this time (I didn't realize how similar the designs were supposed to be compared to the original company). Let me know which you like. I can alter and mix and match so let me know what you think works best in terms of 1. color, 2. design, and 3. typeface.
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| Hint: One of his themes is incorporating intense car crashes. |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #70
September 13, 2013I want start out with a happy Friday the 13th to all.
Today I ran. It wasn't very fast (for me) and it probably wasn't very pretty (to others who watched me as they passed, ha). But I did it and I am proud. 10 miles! I kept going the entire time and although my legs are prettyy sore, I do not think I made my injury worse which was the goal. Half marathon here I come, I am now confident I will conquer you.
I then was taken out on a surprise date :), and Brenden chose an awesome place. We went to The Pottery Shop and painted pottery for each other. Brilliant and fun! I painted Brenden a t-rex he picked out and he painted me an awesome hedgehog pen holder that I chose and will totally put on display on my desk at work for all to see. There was also a coffee shop in The Pottery Place, so we decided to get some drinks and munchies to tied us (ok me) over until dinner. Brenden got a pumpkin spice latte. Yay pumpkin season, and I got a iced chai tea latte, a box of raisins, and a bag of pirates booty, ARG!
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| Before painting: all set up and tummy happy. |
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| After painting: front view, awesome paint jobs if I say so myself |
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| After painting: back view, "RAWR!" I don't know what noise hedgehogs make... |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #67
September 10, 2013Do you ever get great surface level ideas and then get brain dead trying to narrow it down into something usable? That is what it feels like I have had for the last two weeks. Getting into the swing of school is just not happening quickly for me this semester. But today I think I may have made a small break through. I have been working on a base design for my ancillary brand. I have some logo ideas, and now I have a draft of designs to be used on products and buttons for the website.
ROLL TOGETHER VEG WITH COMPANY STRIDE IN PAIRS
I like the bikes. I think the carrots are fine. The shoes may beed some work. They may look a but out of place next to the others, but at least the idea is there...What do you think? Going somewhere? Coming along? Make sense? How about on a T-shirt?
Feel free to special request your sport!
Finger Painting, Toe Painting: What's the Difference?
I think this is so cool. What a perfect combination: running and art. At the Ballet Wichita 5K Art Run competitors were invited to take off there shoes and join in a little painting at the conclusion of the run. The combination of feet and paint resulted in this beautiful billboard. Out of all of the creative billboards and races I have seen, this takes it to a new level. Can there please be a race like this near me. Maybe we can paint a poster as we run the course, rather then at the end? Too complicated?
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| 35 by 14 foot billboard advertising Ballet Wichita, painted by over 220 runners feet. |
The Pursuit Of Happiness - Entry #52
August 26, 2013Getting on track with my running. It was not my fastest run by any means, but I got my miles for the day in. Half marathon here I come... :).
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| Love my Nikes <3 |
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Nice To Meet You!
- This is a blog filled with food, travel, design, and of course, sparkle. But I guess you want to know a little about me. My name is Tracy, and with a mind that is constantly running, I have become the face behind this blog.
