Explanation:
I’ve flirted with self-hosting this site in the past.  My personal blog was self-hosted for a long time.  And since I’ve come to the realization that running, spreading an image of positive body image and social media makes me happy, I decided that I need to take my blog a little more serious.  Thus, the move to self-hosting JillWillRun.com

And if you’ve missed out, I’ve posted lots of fun stuff over there on JillWillRun.com so head on over, catch up and say hi!

The phrase “mental health” has a lot of stigma surrounding it, in fact when googling the definition of stigma it even uses mental disorders as an example: ‘A mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person: “the stigma of mental disorder“; ‘  Niiiiiice….  NOT!

Touching upon the immediate areas of mental health people think of when hearing the phrase (depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, eating disorders, etc.)  These are real issues that affect good people.  They often sneak up on the individual and can have a dramatic affect on their lives.  I’ve battled an eating disorder, I am currently taking an SSRI to help with depression.  These are things that I previously would have looked at as personal failures in my life.  Granted, I wouldn’t have judged others as being of less value for battling these same things, but in my perfectionist mind (which is actually another area of mental UNhealth) I was less of a person because I had these issues.  Now I recognize that I’ve required a lot of strength to fight this battle… really FIGHT.

But mental health is something that everyone needs to be aware of, because everybody needs to nurture their mental health.  The world we live in is constantly switched ON.  We’ve got a steady stream of information and news and updates coming at us.  People are so much more stressed now than ever before.  Taking time to decompress is essential for our mental health.

How do we do this?

Date night with a significant other.
Time with friends.
Exercise.
Rest.
Bubble bath.
Enjoying a nice meal.
Engaging in something creative.
Exploring a new hobby (or resurrecting a hobby you’ve shelved.)
Reading a book.
Playing with a pet.
And many other ways that are as individual as each and every one of us.

Sometimes we need the help from a professional to reclaim our mental health.  Or sometimes our body chemicals are off and we need some kind of prescription to help.  None of this makes us any less worthy of being loved and respected.  Nor does it mean we should mock those who are in this position.  Because truthfully, they are working hard to maintain themselves… meaning they are showing great love and appreciation for themselves.

The biggest things that need to happen are that people need to stop being afraid to talk about the topic AND insurance companies need to provide adequate coverage for these treatments.  I wish I knew how to fix the insurance issue, but at least I can be open and honest about my own mental health battles and share that with others… in the hopes that even one person is helped.

Even if that one person is me…

It’s pretty powerful.

I need to find a dermatologist!  But in the meantime, make sure you sunblock up!

Mid-point of our training season! Recommitment paperwork is being completed, travel arrangements are starting to be made and our official team numbers are dwindling. We started the season with 85 people and we’ll be lucky if we end up with 30 who have recommitted by Monday. That’s okay though, we had a team full of people in interesting situations. Several young college students, several without jobs and a solid majority with no personal connections to the cause. And there were 30 people that never even started fundraising. That’s never a sign of success!

But the people that we do have are so good! We’ve got a solid core group that shows up all the time, they bring a good energy to each training and they are all eager to do the fundraising and the mileage. And the mileage was certainly up… 7 miles on the schedule for today, our longest training so far this season.

The day was clear and there wasn’t any wind during our training. I’m always grateful when we don’t have the super strong Vegas winds blasting, but a little bit of a breeze would have been nice. It was in the high 70′s when we started and got into the 80′s quickly. The tough thing about this season is that one day it’s cold, the next it’s very warm so it’s hard to get heat adapted. Once the heat settles in for real, then it actually gets easier.

Our course was a 3.5 mile out-and-back and then repeat. They were supposed to run a certain spot under a bridge to the Team Challenge water jug, that was the water stop and visual cue to know where to turn around. Well, someone stole our water jug. In the 20-30 minutes from when we dropped it off to when the first runners got to the spot, someone had picked up the jug (full of ice & water) and walked off with it! Who does that?! Now we need to find the budget to buy a new water jug (or see if someone will donate new jugs to us!) We also need to buy bike locks or something to keep them anchored in place. Sometimes people are just amazingly dense.

The missing water definitely made it hard on my group, they had to rely on the water jug that was at the start/finish point. Fortunately that hit that once in the middle of the training, but it was still too warm and too far between for a lot of people. Some of them are carrying their own fluids, but not everyone.

Each of them pushed through and made it through the full distance. We had one gal that I encouraged to cut through the soccer fields and eliminate the last 1/2 mile because she was getting dizzy. I felt that by eliminating that last 1/2 mile and going to get some food in her she’d be better off than pushing.

And get some food… that’s certainly what we did after training!

We had a recommitment party after finishing our miles. Capriotti’s provided subs (yep, we ate sandwiches at 9:00 AM) and team members brought chips, veggies, fruit, drinks and cookies. We had a raffle and we played a relay game that we do each season during recommitment. The team is usually divided into 5 person teams that have to do a relay that consists of strange tasks like: putting on a bunch of Team Challenge gear and yell out our team cheer, then pass over to someone who has to chug a can of soda, to someone who has to move 5 M&M’s from one bowl to another using a straw, etc. Each season there is one new element added to the relay in place of some other one, but we always do the relay. The winning team usually gets some kind of prize.

We’ll have our final recommitment numbers on Tuesday. There are a few people who are recommitting but they are also very scared. One gal is just 21 or 22 and she has been to every training. You can visibly see in her face how much she is enjoying the training and the experience, but she is scared because she lives in Vegas on her own with all of her family in the east. She is trying to fundraise but it’s hard when you’re in a new city. So I’m just asking people if they have a few dollars, could you donate to her fundraising… just to help boost her spirits and confidence? It can be an anonymous donation, I just would really like to see her succeed with this, it seems like it could be life-changing for her.

I am coaching a group of runners for the organization Team Challenge. They are fundraising for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America while training to run the 2011 Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon in July.

To fill the void, here is what I’m doing.

Short Runs:
I’ve been taking my little Jade The Boxer out on short runs, just one mile at a time. We run around the neighborhood. She’s still feeling a little sick from her awful gut infection, still on antibiotics and she’s still figuring out how to run on the leash politely, so the one mile at a time works for us.

Nike Training Center app:
I’ve been doing the 15-minute focused strength workouts in this (free!) iPhone app. Each day I focus on a different body part: abs, glutes, shoulders, back, legs, arms… It’s good to get back into a strength routine, I haven’t been doing much in this regard for a long time.  It’s also making it evident how much strength I’ve lost over the years (and how much I still have!)

YogaDownload:
I got an unlimited year-long subscription to the YogaDownload site. I’ve been doing a 20-, 30- or 40-minute session each day. This site has been a great resource because I can try different types of yoga depending on how I feel and what my schedule looks like and I’m not locked into a specific class time.  Plus I can experiment with different teachers in case one teacher’s style doesn’t click for me.

Hooping:
Using a hula hoop is just plain fun! I bought a collapsible one from Gaiam.  I am pretty good at keeping it around my waist for long stretches of time and changing directions. I’m not that good at hooping around my wrists or knees, but it doesn’t matter… this is one of those things that doesn’t feel like I have to be “perfect” at it, it’s just playtime that happens to have a physical benefit.

The challenges in the plan:

1. My ankle – Like I mentioned above, it REALLY hurts. I ice it everyday, but it’s hard to ice it while I’m sitting at my desk so I usually just do it in the evenings. I’ve found that I can’t do some yoga poses because of the strain and pressure it puts on the joint.

2. My ED – If you remember when I first announced my eating disorder, part of the diagnosis was “compensatory exercise compulsion.” Before I started running, I would go to the gym for an hour and ride the bike or elliptical. Then I would do an hour of power vinyasa yoga and then a strength training video. I was in a fog, mentally disconnected from my physical self, just going through the motions. Starting to run was one of the things that helped me to start healing from my disorder. Many of the ladies that I was in treatment with weren’t allowed to do any exercise at all (except for the few nature walks we went on.) My treatment team recognized that running was helping me, but I didn’t do any other types of exercise for a long time (well, I did do some yoga too). I eliminated my gym membership when I recognized my ED. There’s a small part of me that fears I will let that controlling ED voice back in and start convincing me to exercise at unreasonable levels. I know my mind is far stronger that it was before, but I also know that I have to be vigilant about my life and how I react to stress if I want to remain in recovery-mode.

3. Laziness – Previously I had no trouble getting up early in the morning to run. I would get up at 4:30 AM to run throughout the summer in an attempt to beat the heat (you know, to hit the overnight lows in the 80′s) and early in the winter months as well so I could start working by 7:00 AM. Call it “being in tune with my body” or “lazy” or whatever… but I find that I need 8 hours of sleep lately. NEED it, I can’t just block that out and continue on with my day. Sleep beckons a lot more than it used to, which means I sleep until 5:50 AM each day.

4. Negative Self Talk – I really do try to be kind to myself, but it is so easy for the negative voice to slip in and tell me I’m not doing good enough.  I know there are other people who train harder and run longer/further/faster than I do.  I know that I’m doing what is right for me at this time.  But it’s still hard to not compare myself to the rest of the world!

However, I am also willing to be flexible.  If something in my plan isn’t working, I am free to change it.  I don’t have to hold myself to something that isn’t right.  And it’s actually empowering to recognize that!

How are you empowering yourself right now?

Reebok RealFlex
Reebok enters into the minimal market with their RealFlex shoe. Their website says they are “low profile” but it doesn’t specify the heel-to-toe drop. Interestingly, I can never seem to find Reebok shoes on running store websites like Running Warehouse or in running specialty stores. I wonder why that is? They have posted a three-and-a-half minute video on YouTube about the shoe and the “76 flex-friendly sensors” featured in the shoe. The bottoms of the shoes are kind of crazy looking, but not as much as their ZigTech shoes. These are retailing for $89.98

Merrell Barefoot Shoes

Merrell Power Glove

These came out a month or so ago, but they look pretty interesting. The most intriguing thing about them is they released an iPhone app at the same time to walk you through a whole training program to transition into minimalism.

The women’s line has three models: Pace Glove, Pure Glove and Power Glove. They range in price from $90 – $110. The Power Glove is really… unique looking, kind of a strange boot/sandal! The Pure Glove looks like it has potential to be a cute casual shoe.

The men’s line isn’t quite as odd, again with three models: Trail Glove, Tough Glove and True Glove. They range in price from $110 – $120

Mizuno Wave Prophecy

Mizuno Wave Prophecy

This is NOT a minimal shoe, like the previous two I mentioned. But it stood out to me because of the price point… retailing at $199.95! That’s a pretty high cost, but the company is apparently really excited about it. They’ve said they have been working on this shoe for 7 years. The full length Infinity Wave Plates at the bottom provide a unique look, but they are also there to help with cushioning and stability. The press release said they help to promote a midfoot or forefoot landing, but they seem to show a lot of heel striking in their promotional video. The different gender specific versions are meant to take into account women’s higher Q angle compared to men’s more neutral hip alignment. The shoe was launched on May 6, 2011.

Note: I haven’t tried any of these shoes… so I have no opinions on how they perform!

Image via Wikipedia

Saucony is branching out with a huge new campaign under the tagline “Find Your Strong”.  Just the phrase alone invokes positive images for me.  They’ll be hitting up print media, but also playing a big part with social media and their first ever television commercial:

The commercial doesn’t speak to me particularly, because I don’t think it illustrates MY STRONG.  But I did like the phrase, which made me start to think about what MY STRONG might be.

I’ve made some huge changes in my life the past couple years and I’m getting a lot better at owning my choices and forming my truths.  They may not be the most popular ones or the ones that are expected… but they are mine and were formed by the perspective that is uniquely mine.  Here are some personal truths I’ve embraced recently:
- I don’t really like decorating my home.
- I am far more comfortable in casual clothes.
- But if I want to wear a girly embellishment with cargo shorts, that’s my prerogative.
- Not everyone will like my opinions, but most people are kind enough to listen and respect others.
- If someone dislikes me because of my opinions, I don’t have to care.
- I want more tattoos.
- I’m angry at the world’s standards of what constitutes beauty (or handsome)

So I guess my latest strong is that I’m learning to Embrace ME! (Small plug for Emilie‘s awesome Embrace:Me project! Like it on Facebook!)

It will be interesting to see what direction Saucony takes this campaign in… I guess they’re riding the success of the Kinvara to pay for this?

I currently have the Kinvara and my trail shoe is the Peregrine… love them both!  They are just releasing the Kinvara 2, which is basically the same as the first one, but with new colors.  This is the first line of shoes I’ve run in that has had so many color options and it makes me want them all!

They also have the Hattori, a zero-drop minimal shoe without shoe laces, and the Mirage, a 4mm drop shoe with a little more stability for runners transitioning into minimalism.  It’s like a whole training wheels program!
Mirage —> Kinvara —> Hattori!

Saucony Hattori (men's version)

Me with my mom at the start line

We got to the expo area and wandered around a bit. We stopped in the Pretty in Pink Cafe (for survivors and a guest) to grab a little last minute food… a pink glazed donut we split! Not traditional pre-race food for me.  We got the annual Ford Warriors in Pink scarf, some free bags, brochures, etc. while wandering around too. After we dropped our freebies off at the car, we headed out to the start line. We stood together for a bit, but then my mom moved over to the walkers corral. She entered as an untimed walker this year due to the surgery she had recently. (She was only authorized to return to exercise a few weeks ago!) I stayed in the runners corral, but there were a lot of walkers in there. In fact, I would guess most of the people around me were untimed participants!

I didn’t take my Garmin, I didn’t worry about pacing, I just wanted to have fun. So I trotted along the course, weaving in and out of people and took in the scenes. I read people’s shirts and “In Memory of” and “In Celebration of” signs. I saw a couple of contrasts in encouragement on the course… both times were a father and a daughter around the age of 5. One duo the father was dragging the girl by her hand, she was crying and he was telling her to “Dig Deep!” and “Keep Pushing!” The other duo had the father trotting alongside the girl saying, “Look at you go!” and “You’re doing awesome!” and the girl was smiling broadly. Just kind of interesting… I know some people respond to different types of encouragement, but it would seem that a little kid probably wouldn’t react to “Dig deep!” as well!

After I finished I got some water then headed to the food area. The worst part of this event is the greed that people show as they gather for FREE FOOD!!! (Scream that like some starved college student…) There are always people grabbing multiples of everything. There would be plenty of food if everyone took one thing. I went through the line and collected the reusable Trader Joe’s shopping bag then added one orange, one apple, one banana, one snack mix and one yogurt to my bag. I also picked up one fruit cup (which I promptly ate; strawberries, pineapple and grapes. Yum! Why do so many fruit cups have a bunch of cantaloupe and honey dew melon, I hate those!) I also collected a bag and food for my mom, because I wanted to make sure she got her share. The women in front of me were prowling the lines like they were grocery shopping, “Hey Madge, how many bananas did you want, 5 or 6?”

After I had the food, I walked back on the course to see my mom finish. When she approached I pulled out my iPhone to snap some photos of her. Granted, the iPhone basically sucks when it is in sunlight so I couldn’t see the screen at all. I just lifted it up, pointed it in the general direction and tapped on where I thought the shutter button was. I got a pretty good shot of her though… she ran it into the finish line and looked strong!

My mom heading to the finish line. Isn't she cute?

On another note, after we got cleaned up we went out to lunch. The restaurant happened to be right by the only ElliptiGo retailer here in Vegas so I went in to check them out. And they let me take it on a test ride. So I handed my husband my camera and told him to take a picture of me on it. Which he didn’t do… but I’m glad because I WIPED OUT on it.

Seriously, I went to turn in the parking lot and just tipped over. I felt so stupid. I had on new khaki-colored shorts and they were all black up the side of them and the entire side of my right leg was black. I have two small wounds (on my toe and on my ankle) where it scratched off the skin, but really my ego was bruised more than anything physical.

I told my husband when we were home, “I must admit, my ego was kind of bruised by that!”

His response, “Mine too… I was embarrassed to be seen with the girl who crashed in the lot.”

Sheesh… thanks for the support honey!

I did get back on and take it for another loop around the lot, which went a lot smoother. I think if I ever got the opportunity to ride one again, I wouldn’t wear flip flops! DOH! But it was weird for me to get a feel for… it was heavier and higher off the ground than I anticipated. Plus I haven’t rode a bike (or a scooter, or a skateboard, or roller skates, or anything) in years. At first I said, “I guess the lesson is that I shouldn’t ride a bike or anything else that moves and just stick with stationary things.”

My mom told me, “No, the lesson is to get back on and try again. Which you did.”

True dat…. True dat…

Expo:
We got to the expo about 2 hours before it closed.

Like my shirt? It says "Pain is Just a State of Mind" and is from SOMbands

This is the first time my husband has ever gone to a race expo with me, so I was a little excited to share that with him.  But the environment didn’t feel as thrilling to me as the first (or second or third…) expo did.  And maybe because he was obviously not that interested in things, I was a little less eager to jump in and talk to various vendors because I didn’t want him to be bored.  We did have to run away from some timeshare company that had a booth set-up there.  That’s a bummer exhibitor, I hate timeshares!  The people from ElliptiGo were there, I spoke briefly with them.  I REALLY want to try an ElliptiGo.  They said they were going to have a cheaper model soon (which was just announced.)

Hotel:
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency Newport Beach, it was very close to the start line.  I only had a mile walk to the start (or a jog, if you’re ambitious like the guys who trotted past me… who I later passed while walking up the hill to the start.)  The hotel has craptastic parking… they charge $20 a day for parking and the parking lot is down a hill on the other side of the compound from the rooms.  Plus there is the antiquated practice at “nice” hotels of charging for internet… that’s stupid and it’s something that should end, SOON.  It’s an expected amenity! In fact, I’d rather have free wi-fi than the ironing board they provide!  Go ahead and charge me to rent an ironing board!

Race Gear:
The bib numbers were custom to the event and featured the participant’s name on them.

The shirts were a nice tech shirt and it is probably my favorite race shirt EVER so far.  It fits well, it has a nice cut and it’s attractive.

I need to clean my office. And work on the lighting if I'm going to use it as a photo studio!

The medals are attractive, with both a custom ribbon and medal, both of which specify the year in particular.  Do you ever wonder about races that give out a medal and it doesn’t say anything about the year?

Course:
Lots hillier than I anticipated, but it was also pretty.  I loved running past interesting homes and I was mesmerized by the view of the ocean. I had to keep reminding myself to look forward and not keep staring to my left as we ran by it for a ways.  There were some sections with some serious cambor to the road which I think is the cause of the pain I felt in my right hip by the end of the race and for several days after.  The roads have a lot of raised reflectors, so those are things people need to be aware of when running.

Along the Way:
I saw a lot of people in Vibram Five Fingers on the course, I only saw one guy completely barefoot (and he passed me around mile 6).  There was a woman running in Crocs too.  There were plenty of fun motivational posters along the way, one that made me laugh was a guy holding a posterboard that just said, “Big Motivational Poster.”  There was a stretch of girls with signs that read things like “This way to skinny!” and “Your butt is so tight!”  I actually found that stretch kind of annoying.  Maybe it’s because I was already in a negative mind space by that time, but I just kept thinking “Why don’t they focus on things other than looks?”

Post-Race:
After the race we were all given a small bag that contained: a banana, 2 mini Clif Mojo bars and 2 mini Erin Baker’s mini breakfast cookies. They had water and bottles of G2 for everyone. I bypassed the finish-line photos.  There was a tent set up with Kool ‘n Fit spray, the staff would spray down runners’ legs to quell the burn and promote recovery.  The man at the booth sprayed down my right leg and told me to walk around for a while to see how I felt.  The stuff felt REALLY good post run!  I absolutely went back to get my left leg sprayed too!  They had an exhibitor area on the fair grounds that had Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Nirve bikes (super cute beach cruisers), CrossFit (a specific Newport Beach gym, but they encouraged everyone to check out their local CrossFit sources), Paindrops, Nutrilite & several other booths (but I don’t remember who else). There was also a booth for the book The Power of Real-Time Social Media Marketing by Beverly Macy and Teri Thompson, the book is actually being used as a text book for some college courses. I am intrigued by the book!

The hubby came to pick me up after the race, but it was a little bit of a traffic nightmare getting into the parking lot at the fair grounds.  He was stuck at a light right by the lot for about 30 minutes.  If I had known, I should have just walked out to the street to jump in the car and avoid the $5 parking fee!  Live and learn!

In the days following we spent a little time vacationing.  We saw sea lions, dolphins & whales (oh my!).

We saw the sun set on the beach, we ate yummy food, we went to Disneyland…

…and Jade was fine at the vet’s office the whole time. But she was super happy we were back home!

Author Chris Cooper contacted me and asked if I would like to look at a copy of his new book Long May You Run.

Yes… yes I would.  I am a bookworm, a nerd if you will.  If I could write full book reports all the time, I might consider doing that!

Anyway, I was really surprised when I received this book in the mail at how pretty it was when I removed it from the packaging. It’s a hardback book with beautifully styled cover.

And the contents are just plain fun.  It’s not a book that you have to sit down and read in one pass (but you could).  Instead it could be used to help inspire you, one page at a time.  Or you could dive into a section that seems like it contains information that might help you with something you are struggling with or interested in.

Some of the items are motivational, some are instructional and some are pure fun. For instance, a list of “Signs You Might Be A Runner”.  (And I totally identified with the item about being jealous of runners on the road when you are in a car!)

The pages are designed in fun and unique ways, specific to the content on each page.

Interspersed throughout the book are blurbs on some “Running Hall of Fame” people throughout history.  Katherine Switzer, Jim Ryun, Steve Prefontaine, etc.

I was impressed with this book just because it felt very different from so many other running books out there.  It could be enjoyed by a newbie or a seasoned runner.  It would be fun to keep it next to my running gear and just flip it open to read a page before setting out, just as an energy boost.

If you’re looking for a gift for a running pal or hoping to inspire someone to run, this would be a great choice!