There's a chill in the air!

Hello there friends,

I'm coming to you live from the comfort of my home on my nice soft couch while my latest Netflix is playing in the background! LOVE Julia Roberts, so when I saw Duplicity hit the DVD list, I was ALL about it! JG and I are currently relaxing after a rather busy morning! I met the lovely Maris at 7AM at her house and headed out on our 12 mile journey from there!
Maris has a sweet bike that I REALLY like! Love the paint color and and she looks like quite the outdoors-er while peddling away on it;) Jambo was sad in the background that she wasn't able to join us for the journey. :( We hopped on Linear on 13th St. and went west until it ended and then went to Anneburg and did a semi-loop before turning around and heading back to Linear. The sky went from sunny and slight clouds to more clouds and less sun! I got chilled a bit while running but was still sweating so it was all temperature confusion for this body! I went quite a bit slower than I normally do trying not to push too hard but still log the miles. I had to stop about 4 times to blow my nose (where does the snot keep coming from?? seriously?! A little snot factory in my head or what?!) Also, needed lots of water while running and the Clif Shot Bloks were also a great necessity!
Chose to walk at about 11.25 until .50 and then was able to finish the last half mile well. Had a quarter mile cool-down and SO glad Maris was with me the whole way! We had a great chance to catch up and it was refreshing to be able to pray together around 8 miles for strength and for other happenings in our lives! Loved being able to pray while in motion, it's almost like I can picture and really believe the things I'm asking God for with more assurance. It was cool and I'm thankful for it!

After the 12, I took a quick shower and Maris' house and then headed to one of my favorite locally-owned establishments: Bluestem Bistro! Look who came too:

Beth and Brady! They are making a double appearance on 2 blogs today possibly;) We enjoyed a lovely breakfast and had fun times playing with Brady! Excited to get to recap and share the journey with Beth all along the way! She's great at letting me verbally process through the run and all other life happenings;)

Well, the movie is calling my name and I think I might lay down for a bit;)

Happy Saturday all!

ps: these homemade granola bars....not healthy:)

where's the sun?

Ok, wow--the sun doesn't come up for a long time....I mean we're talking like 6:30ish!
I was heavily relying on my handy dandy headlamp for the capability to see! I ran out 3 and stopped to walk a little bit, ran another mile, walked a tad, and did that until I got home--ran 6. I'm trying to listen to my body really well because I still have lots of phlegm and not push it too hard!

Well, got kids to teach:)

Back at it!

Well friends the sickness has been the forefront of my mind, but not any longer! I ran today on the treadmill down in the workout/blue dungeon room at the high school! woohoo!
That looks like my reading material in the right cup holder-but I'm pretty sure it's the instruction manual on how to use that bad boy...needless to say, but I did NOT read it;) I ran slower than my normal pace but did 3 miles with a .30 cooldown afterwards. It felt pretty good, I was definitely more winded during/afterwards as there is still junk in my sinues, etc, but I was pleased! I started to think while I was running that my mindset about my body has changed just a little bit during this training process. I can remember working out in the evenings as a way to "work off" some junk that I ate during the day, almost like a form of punishment for myself. I used to do heavy resistence and high speed, or heavy weight and high repitition in the name of "pushing myself," when in actuality it was a way for me to beat down my body--like it or I had been bad. I was kind of aware of this when it was happening, but notice a shift now in my thinking. When I was running, I was really wanting to treat my body well and be kind to it so hopefully it will continue to hold up and do what I'm asking it to do week after week. I began to see running as a means to treating my body well and with respect not something that must be broken-down day after day.

Not-so-ironically-I spent some time reading this verse earlier in the week:
Learn to appreciate and give dignity to your body, not abusing it, as is so common among those who know nothing of God. 1 Thes. 4: 4,5

It was refreshing to think about! Just like these flowers :)


Well, the G-ma in me is ready for bed! I wasn't allowed to take and post a pic of my workout buddy in the dungeon this evening--but it was fun gettin' work done wit ya! Not everyone can say that they work out with the--oh sshhh, I'm not saying, that's right;)

Goooodnight moon!

waaaaamp waaahhhhh

That's the debbie-downer sound effect, just imagine it :) Unfortunately friends, I did not complete the 16-miler to write to you about. My body was not having any of it. Last I wrote, Friday morning woke up with scratchy throat...well faster than anything I've ever experienced, I went from scratchy throat, to pounding headache that would NOT go away despite all the meds I took to throwing up and feeling like DEATH! Friday was such a range that by 6:30 PM I crawled into bed without even changing clothes and lay there trying to survive!

Luckily, 1 puking experience later (sorry for the week tummies out there...) and lots of sleep I woke up on Saturday with just a sore throat and lots of phlegm. So yesterday was spent laying on the couch watching NEWSIES!!! yipeee for nostalgic childhood memories and drinking Sprite--thank you mr. J for the get-well package;) Although, I do have to say that Newsies is mabe not the movie for the adult who never watched it as a child, because, well it is a Disney musical--and just not as cool if you're, oh, say 29 as opposed to 8-12:)

Currently, on this Sunday morning, I find myself still not 100%, more like 60% with lots of junk in the throat/nose area and wishing I was closer to atleast 80% !! I am glad that this illness is coming now in August as opposed to late September or early October when the marathon is very close. I know that I have enough training time ahead of me to keep logging miles and trust the program and my body that I'm not going to lose everything I've worked for. I have to keep telling myself that because it's very tempting to want to make up for lost mileage and do more than I should. So, while yes, I'm bummed that it's beautiful outside and I can't be out there, and yes, I'm bummed that I'm sick and that I missed the long run, I'm thankful for the rest and down time. Pray for a speedy recovery and super-star immune system that fights off the bad-guys inside my body! :)

I hope that you all are having a great weekend and enjoying the great outdoors for me! Breathe deep that beautiful clear air and pause just for a moment, because that's what I would do--hopefully without coughing or sneezing:)

Love,
Shelb

I'm a nerd!

Hello!

I am offering up some self-awareness (freshmen vocab word!) and just letting you know now that I am aware of my nerdness/goofiness! Yesterday at school my order of new textbooks arrived! I have not ordered books in my years here yet and this was a huge landmark for me! I got to select the Nutrition/Wellness books and they arrived and I am very excited! They are 2010 editions and have current information for the kiddies to learn from! The workbooks were backordered, but I'm glad the books are here! A little perk for my Friday AM organizing them!

So this week has been a little different for my training. I told ya'll about my knee tweak, well after that I was reading this book, "Marathoning for Mortals" and I got to the chapter about injuries and I think I got paranoid and began to see the part of the struggle of training for a marathon is making it to the starting line injury-free! I decided that Thursday instead of my usual 4 mile run I would take a rest day and did Sunrise Yoga instead and then in the evening rode my bike around a little bit and worked in my garden area! Weeds--I tell ya what--they keep coming BACK! Thanks J for your help with the super star clippers and rose TLC, haha! :)
This lovely Friday morn I woke up with a scratchy throat a little extra drainage--so pray that I am not catching a bug from the children back at school! I spinned my little heart out this morning at 5:45AM and am SOOO glad it's FRIDAY! Ya know when you just really need a weekend?? Yeah, well that's me--need some down time in the sun AFTER I run 16 miles tomorrow! Yep, you read that correctly, 16 miles tomorrow with my homegurl Bethy. She's awesome, let me just say that! She's going to ride a long with me and we're still deciding on the route today...wish US luck! :)

Happy Friday all!

Much love, Shelb

ghetto knee taping

Haha, this was making me laugh as I was taping myself up at school today!
Ofcourse I grabbed the only bag with a hole in the corner and didn't realize it until I got back to my room. So I put it in a ziploc bag and forgot to secure the ziploc....so water was steadily dripping down my leg. So, in the spirit of wrapping things around my leg I wrapped a towel underneath the ice to catch excess liquid...which then became saturated and slowly dripped out onto the floor. Meanwhile, I'm trying to plan/work and not loose my toes on my right foot because of extreme coldness!
After some mopping and tape removal all was well agian. The ice helped, but the knee just feels tight still and doesn't appear swollen so that's good. I am anti-injury!! :)

Turning a corner

This morning I hit the streets in the dark dark of the am. I was pushed for time, but I decided to do 7 miles anyway. I ran out north and it was dark dark, I mean dark, couldn't see the big rock that I rolled my ankle on. It wasn't a bad roll, didn't feel tweaked that bad, but it stretched out my knee and IT band a bit with the hyper-extension. I could feel that it might be sore later but kept right along. I was going north for about 3 miles and then decided to go west so when I would turn around the rising sun would be all that I could see when I turned the corner.
Man, when I turned around that sky was beyond brilliant! I was looking at these streaks of pink and purple and I knew that the colors were so vibrant just for that .5 of a mile when I was running right into it. All I could think of was how grateful I was that God created that sunrise of beautiful colors for me. It was a special moment and I couldn't help but smile for the half mile running into the sunrise. Then, the most amazing thing happened, my pace began to quicken. My stride lengthened and it felt good! I was gliding right along in the middle of corn fields and countryside and just clicking right along. I mean for 3 miles I was just going, and my legs could keep up and it was uplifting.

As soon as I stopped running my knee really began to hurt. I stretched the best I could and planned to ice it at school!

Like I said, pushed for time means getting ready for work in 30 minutes--not easy for me and rushing to school!
Now, I'm planning away for me day with a big 'ol bag of ice on my knee all athletically taped on real nice! Thanks Katie for the hook-up...best head VB coach around if you ask me!

I wish you beautiful sunrises friends and moments of intimate connection with your Creator!

much love, Shelby:)

That's a long way!

15 miles--yeah buddy! Here's some pics to recap:

Before heading out, I had to wake-up Jack! He's been a little lonely without JG here to take him out on long walks....but he likes me, so it's okay! He does NOT like 5:30AM though:)
Katie was AWESOME and offered to ride along while I ran and we had originally planned to start at the Big Blue let in, but we had some technical difficulties with the bike in back of Katie's car...
The sky looked pretty for us though:)
So, after some rearranging, we went back to my house and Katie rode my bike...not too bad of a revamp:)
After a little ways....say, about 6 miles, it was time for water:)
Katie took some action shots! So, most of the run was pretty good. I split it up into 5-mile increments and that helped me mentally stay focused. We had quite the math word problem trying to figure out how far to go before turning around to end at my car...I won't go into it again...too complicated! :) It felt pretty good and I managed to stay pretty constant with my pace until about mile 12 and then I started to slow a bit. Things, got pretty hard the last 2 miles. I was really hurting and had to walk at about 14.08-14.20 and then ran home! Man, it felt so good to be done!! I was excited to STOP and walk and rest! It's like a weight is lifted and I could relax a while!
Post-run smoothie set-up....got some spinach, tofu, almond milk, strawberries, frozen bananas, and almond butter! mmmm, good! Green-goodness! Delicious!! :)
I hope ya'll have a great weekend and get some rest! :)

Running into daybreak

I thought of title as I was leaving my dark house, to get on a dark street and run until it was light. The sky in the west was beautiful and just breaking light purple, then light pink, then orangey--beautiful;)
The run was sooooooo good! I have been really praying for a good run, and this was it! Even though it was dark outside for the first half, no cars came close because of my trusty headlamp, I felt good and quick! It felt like a burden had been lifted and somehow I felt lighter. I had negative splits and the last one was 8:50! I'm not sure the burden, but there was a refreshing ease to the run. I'm so thankful--I needed an encouraging run before the 15 jaunt on Saturday! I think my friend Katie is going to bike alongside me and I think it'll be really good! We'll be safe--I promise!

It's been really fun to see the squirmy new freshmen get orientated to the big kid school! I always love when they're all awkward and fidgety! It brings joy to my heart to see how they always start off high school and then when they finish, it's never like that :)

Tomorrow is Friday! yipeee!

Ready to get started!!

Bring on the kiddos!! Too much down time...ahem, I mean "planning" time and I get bored:
I think it's for you...

Check out the new Camelbak bottle--love it! Feel a bit like it's a bottle of some sort because I have to suck on the straw...but still like it!

see--ready! :)
Okay, so I got a sweet computer that has a camera on it and I LOVE it...photobooth rocks! I could entertain myself with that for hours literally! Well after meeting upon meeting I've been working away and got a lot done. I went spinning this morning, so I've been up since 5:09AM. Tomorrow I'm going to try and get in 4 before 6:45AM Hopefully that works out well because this week it is too hot to be doing it in the 4-5-6 o'clock hours after work! I'm getting my hair cut today and I'm pretty psyched about that--little Miss Judy always makes me feel very pampered!
Happy Hump Day!

Weed jungle

Here's some before pics of Jenny and I attacking the backyard...we filled 2 trash cans with BIG 'ol weeds and and had a big pile of branches and stuff on top. The trash men at Howie's were very generous to us and picked all but 1 big branch up for us!


My arms are super sore today from holding the massive NOT light weedeater! And, let me just say, between you and me, I didn't really know what I was doing with that thing! I mean I held it and hovered and sometimes I pushed really hard on that trigger thing, and other times not very hard and it was all trial and error! My legs looked really hard core afterwards and I was splattered with grass/weed flecks from head to toe--literally! ;) Well, I'm going to try to run in the early in the am--we'll see how 7 before 7 goes!

Comment update

Hey guys!

I know some of you have told me that you tried to leave a comment before and it wouldn't let you....well after some heated words with blogspot..haha-jk! I changed the settings, so feel free to comment away!! :)

It's eaaaaaaaaaaarly! Happy Monday!

Shelby

Hold on to your hats!

This is going to be a long one! The past 48 hours have been non-stop activity in Shelby's world! I've been going....going....going....and then last night: SLEEPING! :)
To start off, I took some FUN students to a leadership training at Living Water Ranch, and we had a great time! Here are some pics of the day from our eyes:


Really cool--waterslide dug out from the "mountain"--it went surprisingly fast and furious! The chicas chose not to bring their swimsuits so we watched others flail about and then decided on a hike at my prompting! :)

Which led us to THIS! TA DA! We climbed to the top of this MONSTERous hill and bonded the whole way:) It was really fun! We created it to be quite the adventure and it was worth it the whole way up. We stood around the top and enjoyed the view for a while before coming down and then we felt quite proud of ourselves:) I cooled off afterwards by cannon-balling into THIS pool....now you might be asking yourself...is it Jesus? Is it a dove? Well, friends, I contest that it could be both--but I think we concurred on: DOVE.
Later that night...

Wedding time! I went to a colleague's wedding at St. Isadore's Church and took some pics of great peeps I work with! I sincerely apologize for not taking more pics at the event, I was distracted by intense hunger! It was a 7PM wedding and I didn't eat before and they did unveil the finger-foods until 9ish...so carrots and celery didn't quite satisfy!

Aren't they cute? The Sig's are a great family! I really enjoy being around them!Macy is 1 already!! So beautiful and so fun! So I had to jet outta the wedding sooner than I would have liked (10PM) to get home and catch some zzzz's before the big race! Inagural Brew to Shoe 10K! Had to be at Manhattan Running Company at 6:30 to pick up my race packet...which means I got out of bed at 5:40 to give myself a chance to wake up/eat and get ready.. to look like this:
But feeling like this........haha, I'm a nerd, I know:)

The race was pretty good for me. I was a little disappointed by my time, but the elements were not my usual conditions: extreme HEAT and WIND! The race started at 8:10ish and I was hungry because I only ate a banana at 5:50 and 2 chunks of watermelon, so I had some gatorade before the run. Well, that wasn't the best idea because during the intense heat because I started to not feel so hot around mile 2.5. I kinda wondered if I was going to lose my cookies along the race but I told myself: do NOT throw up, keep it down! So around water stop 3 I threw water on my face and forged on. The shade felt really good along part of the course, but then it was gut check time up one HUGE hill! I felt good to maintain running the entire time and then coast down. I finished in 58:05 which was slower than I wanted, but I honestly feel like I ran a smart race and listened to my body the entire time. I always pride myself on passing people and never getting passed:) I don't have any post-race pics because I was enjoying the festivities too much! :)
Happy-Restful-Sunday all! :) I think JG are going to attack the weed jungle aka: backyard this afternoon!

Shelb

It's over

Well, I think as I was getting ready to come out to work in my room today I realized that this is my last day without time constraints and restrictions! Eek! That means that summer is officially over :(
I ran 4 this morning at a nice easy pace because I've got a big race this Saturday! I've got a whirlwind of activity the next 2 days and really enjoyed a slower easy run. My body is pretty tired and I'm trying to listen to it when it tells me to ease up or stretch longer, etc..
Some exciting news: After the Inaugural Brew 2 Shoe 10K I am getting trained on how to teach indoor-cycling (spinning) classes from 12-4! That means I get to be as cool as all the other people I like that teach Cycle AND get to be drill-sargent-esk-while-being-inspiring-and-pushing-people :) yipeee!
So, as I'm working in my room today while playing the RENT-LIVE, filmed on Broadway on the projector and every once and awhile I break out a dance number or belt out a GREAT tune;) So...don't come by without calling first! haha!
Happy almost FRIDAY:)

Big Pimpin'

Professional Shelby

So, this conference is mediocre, but the experience I've had in Wichita has been pretty good:) Upon arrival, I learned that our room was no longer available for us, the Hyatt made a mistake, and to make up for it, they gave me and my colleague at hospitality SWEET, errr, suite!


view over the river

DOUBLE doors, how fancy:)

So this morning, I met Cara at 6:30 to run/ride along the river. She volunteered to ride alongside me as I did 7 miles. I was REALLY blessed that she a. volunteered to go with me and b. to have to company and distraction as I logged the miles! She was awesome and great to have as we went under bridges and through wooded areas where homeless people were sleeping and had been. There were some definite shady characters that I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing alone and was glad she had her KEYS ready to KEY someone if needed;) haha! But, have no fear faithful followers, we were safe and smart! A note about the Hyatt--I walked in the hotel lobby looking WET and tired and before I could even navigate to the elevators a women that worked at the front door handed me a bottle of water and smiled! I was touched, it was great because I ofcourse, was thristy! Oh, and last night I got 2 free wifi cards so I can blog to you now LIVE! :)

Conference food: this is a total first for me at these types of conferences! QUALITY food, with excellent flavor and great ingredients! dark greens on a salad! it was good, no ranch alternative for dressing, so naked, but still good!



Vegetarian option was grilled veggies in a pesto sauce with melted/fried cheese on top..not sure about the cheese part, but the veggies were awesome!
What was left, ate it all sans cheese glob on top of plate:)
A little apple fruit tart, nibbled on some of this, but was pretty dry. Well, off to more learning endeavors and shopping/dinner out and big brother later! whoop whoop!

:)