2016: A Year in Running & Beyond

Welcome to my 2016 year in review blog post. I know it's a bit cliche, but this is a really fun way for me to reflect on the year. I always forget all of the amazing adventures I went on, the races I ran, and fun I had this year.  It's nice to scroll through the photos on my computer and really spend time thinking about the past year before jumping into the next. I'm sharing a couple fun things that happened each month in 2016 running, fitness, and beyond!

January

Snowzilla hit Baltimore in January bringing the best snow on record for the city. It was crazy.  I also started coaching at Charm City Run which was definitely challenging with lots of snow and ice on the ground!

I also spent plenty of cold mornings running and working out with November Project Baltimore, which celebrated it's second birthday. 

February

Besides a lovely Valentine's Day dinner in with my boyfriend and some more running, I ran the Nuun Year Dash with a group of fellow Team Nuun runners and some cool people from Harlem Run. It was great to spread the Nuun love and run the FitFam virtual race in person! 

8 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Fitness Fans

I seriously can't believe it's the week of Christmas. SERIOUSLY. Between moving, bouncing around between doctor's and physical therapy appointments, plus finals, this past month has moved crazy fast. Luckily I have done some online shopping plus braved the crowds at Target this weekend so I only have a couple gifts left to purchase.  

If you have been mostly shopping deals to buy presents for yourself and now need to finish all your shopping in T-7 days, here are some great last-minute gift ideas for you! 

I shared lots of products that you can purchase on Amazon because I'm an Amazon Prime addict with that free 2-day shipping. You can't beat getting things in 2-days if you are short on time!  Check out some of my favorite items for runners, yogis, and any other fit fans in your life. 

8 Last-Minute Gift Ideas for Fitness Fans

1.  Believe or Complete Training Journal and Believe Logbook

I have been using the Believe Training Journal for the past two years to record my weekly workouts, log my miles, and write down my goals and progress.  I love that it includes articles on different topics like goal-setting and nutrition. This year I was given the chance to review the Complete Training Journal and Believe Logbook. 

The Complete Training Journal is a souped-up version of the Believe Training Journal and focuses more on competitions and tracking progress towards goals and races more in-depth. The Believe Logbook offers an open and customizable, minimalist workout logbook with an annual calendar. 

All three are also available on Amazon with Prime shipping: Believe, Compete, Believe Logbook

2. Namast'ay in Bed candle

The Brooklyn Artists and Fleas Market is open Saturdays and Sundays in Williamsburg, BK and carries this cheeky 100% natural soy wax candle from the 125 Collection. The candle is hand-poured in NY and features one of my favorite quotes-perfect for the yogi (or sleepyhead) in your life.  

If you're not near Brooklyn, you can order the candle from the store's Etsy site. 

5 Winter Workout Items to Put On Your Wish List {and Athleta Giveaway from one of the best gyms in Pittsburgh}

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by XShadyside. The giveaway gift card is provided by and will be delivered by XShadyside for my readers.

 I'm currently still recovering from my injury, but I can't wait for the day soon that I get to start running again. I'm going to start adding in some workouts this week after not having gotten my sweat on in over a month. That means I'm definitely adding some fun winter running and workout clothes to my Christmas Wish List. Who am I kidding, I rock tights and running clothes as part of my regular wardrobe even if I'm not working out. Here are five items I have my eye on from my favorite brands. 

Also thanks to one of the best gyms in Pittsburgh, there's a giveaway below for a $25 Athleta gift card so you can treat yourself before the holidays! 

5 Winter Workout Apparel Items to Put On Your Wish List 

1. Women's Distance Long Sleeve Running Shirt from Brooks Running ($44)
This is my favorite color and the shirt looks SO comfortable for working out or lounging around. 

2. Spandos Jane Bra from Oiselle ($64)
I LOVE all of the Spandos line which sells out fast. This bra offers nice coverage and is super cute. 

How to Survive Being an Injured Runner {Stress Fracture Life!}

Disclosure: I received Mizuno winter gear through a campaign with Fitfluential, LLC. As always all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I survived 3.5 weeks in a boot due to a  a stress fracture and over a month of not running or working out really at all. This crazy runner lady has not run in over a month. If I can do it so can any injured runner. Honestly being swamped with school and work has made the time fly by.  I still am in a little bit of a funk and just got cleared to seated cycle so I'm hoping to hit the gym and start working on my cardio again this week. Running and working out makes me feel good about myself and is stress-relieving so it has been a difficult transition. Here's some of the ways I found to make an injury bearable. 

How to Survive Being an Injured Runner

1. Catch up on sleep. 

I have been running on fumes for the past 6 months and have been trying to catch up on sleep on the weekends because I was averaging 6 hours of sleep a night during the week. I don't know what caused my stress fracture, but I'm assuming that lack of solid sleep and recovery may have played a factor.  No early morning runs or workouts means an extra hour or so of sleep!

2. Netflix and chill, literally. 

At the moment at least! {source}

I spent lots of time relaxing on the couch, putting my foot and boot up, and catching up on my Netflix queue, guilt-free. Find a new show to binge when you get home from work or school. I'm currently making my way through Parenthood-it's SO good.  

3.  Stay off of social media. 

{Source}

Things Runners are Thankful for

On a serious note, I'm beyond grateful each day for my health, my family, my ability to go to graduate school and work, as well as all of the opportunities and amazing things in my life. 

Despite currently not being able to run (#bootlife), I am also so thankful for the sport of running and all that it has given me. 

Remember to not only eat lots of delicious food today but also to appreciate what you have and donate to a good cause this holiday. I plan to donate to the LiveUp Programs and Planned Parenthood this holiday season and have already donated some coats, hats, and scarves to a local collection in Baltimore. 

On a funny note, here are some things that runners are grateful for: 

Things Runners are Thankful for 

1. BodyGlide because chafing is THE WORST. 

2 Cold beers after races because if you drink beer, a cold one after a race tastes amazing. 

3. Race volunteers These wonderful people who help out at races, work at water stations, and cheer for runners early in the morning are awesome.  

4. Public bathrooms I'm looking at you, Starbucks. 

5. Port-a-potties (that actually have toilet paper!) 

6. Free race photos because aren't race registrations pricey enough? 

7. Water fountains which are amazing during those hot & humid summer long runs. 

8.  Friends who will meet you for a 5 AM run and give you an extra push to get out of bed to get in some miles before the sun comes up. 

9. Carbohydrates  -a runner's favorite food group. 

10.  Foam Rollers because it hurts so good. 

11. New running shoes which always make me happy. 

12. Race discounts Because things are getting priceyyyy. 

13. Washing machines When your hamper is 90% workout gear. 

14. Well-marked race courses because no one likes running extra or getting lost during a race. 

15. Earth for offering so many beautiful places to see and run! 

Oh and pie. Pizza pies and sweet pies. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Wishing you a safe and happy holiday. 

What are you thankful for? What is your favorite part of Thanksgiving? 

{Friday Favorites} Grilled Cheese, BCAAs, and StrideBox

Disclosure: I received 3 complimentary boxes from StrideBox. As always all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Happy Friday! It's been a while so I decided to share some of my favorites from the past couple of weeks. I haven't run at ALL in 2 weeks, and it's been okay. I am letting myself rest and recover while I'm in the boot. 3 weeks of no exercise won't kill me. Besides I have a LOT of studying to occupy myself with this weekend.  Be sure to enter my blog birthday giveaway! 

Favorite Easy Cause to Support: Tab for a Cause

So I I'm one of those people who always has tons of tabs open in my Google Chrome Internet browser window. I can't help it. I've always have a few tabs I'm actively using, a few that I am saving to work with later as a reminder, plus constantly am clicking on things. My friend Kate suggested checking out Tab for a Cause, an internet browser extension that replaces your tab page with a beautiful page that raises money for charity. It's free and for every tab you open, you earn hearts which you can choose to give to your favorite charity. The extension's sponsors provide money to charity divide all the money raised amongst the charities based on the number of Hearts donated to each charity/cause. 

 It hasn't slowed my internet down, and if my excessive internet browsing can help a charity that is awesome! 

Favorite Snail Mail: StrideBox

October's StrideBox goodies

My 4th Blogiversary {Prize Pack Fit Giveaway}

Disclaimer: I was sent complimentary flowers by ProFlowers. I mean, who doesn't like being sent flowers? 

Okay so my 4th blogiversary happened to fall on the day of the Chicago Marathon so it was overshadowed by all that fun and now the subsequent craziness of school and #bootlife afterward.  Thanks so much to ProFlowers for reaching out and sending me a lovely congratulatory blog birthday bouquet, which totally sparked me actually celebrating my blog's birthday. I love having fresh flowers in the apartment-they totally brighten my day. 

Beautiful Autumn Birthday Wishes bouquet

I've grown a lot blog-wise and personally in the past 4 years. Plus I've run like a LOT more races. As I stated in my very first post, I'm still trying to find peace and balance in my life. I think I get a little bit closer every day. I'm full of gratitude to have my little corner of the Internet to share my thoughts, cool product finds, race recaps, struggles, and accomplishments. I'm mostly grateful for all of the wonderful adventures and people I've met through this blog and places it's lead me. 

I'm still not a super fancy blogger and despite pretending to be a food blogger, fitness model, fashion blogger, or professional runner some days, I still have plenty of work to do. However I like to laugh at how far I've come. A few phone upgrades also helped a lot! There's many rambling blog posts, terrible dark photos, and messy early posts. I've thought about cleaning some up and maybe I'll refurbish them into new posts, but I like leaving those behind. It's authentic, it's me, and it's something to look back on! 

Here's a couple photos from 2013 that are too bright, dark, and have that lovely chipped nail polish. 

But for real, I'll cherish my first marathon medal forever. 

In contrast, I've learned a thing or two in 2016 and have a long way to go! 

Can I just go back to Seawheeze and Vancouver? 

Here's to a even better 5th year of blogging with more running, adventures, and FRIENDS! 

To celebrate and thank all of my fabulous readers I decided to throw together a little fitness prize pack giveaway with not one but TWO winners.  Each winner will receive a prize pack including some of the following: Bondiband headbands, Vibrant Health protein powder packets, Momentum Jewelry, Nuun Hydration electrolyte tablets, Sweat Pink shoelaces, Run10Feed10 bracelets, and a few more goodies. Enter using the Rafflecopter below! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway ends November 23rd, 2016, 12 AM EST. The winner will be notified via email right away. If I don’t hear back from the winner within 24 hours I’ll have to pick a new winner. Prize and delivery of prize is from me and is not associated with any of the brands included in the prize pack.  

What is your favorite topic to read about on blogs? What do you like to see on my blog? 

So I Have a Metatarsal Stress Fracture

So this really isn't the thing you want to be given (aka pay for) at the doctor's office as a runner. 

It seems I have a metatarsal stress fracture in my right foot. 

According to OrthoInfo a stress fracture is "a small crack in a bone, or severe bruising within a bone. Most stress fractures are caused by overuse and repetitive activity, and are common in runners and athletes who participate in running sports, such as soccer and basketball." Recovery time for healing is 6-8 weeks. 

How it started
So 6 days after the Chicago Marathon on 10/9 and a couple easy runs, I decided to run the 5K and a leg of the marathon relay (Leg 4- 7 miles) at the Baltimore Running Festival on 10/15/16. It was super fun and the excitement got to me so I ran a little fast. The next day as I took my first steps during my run with the Charm City Run training group I was coaching, I had pain on the bottom side of my foot that did not go away.  In fact it continued to hurt the next couple of day as I took each step walking. It was mostly this pain on the outside of my foot which made me suspect tendinosis, but there was also this achy not sharp pain on the bottom top and heel of my foot that also felt kinda burning sometimes.  

Initial Steps
I took a a bunch of rest days, iced my foot, and used some KT tape to tape it up. It was feeling better later that week by the time of the appointment I made with the orthopedist. I've never had any injuries so I was freaked out and wanted to get it looked at. Things felt good and the X-Rays came back clear. I did a couple shorter runs with my training group (3, 4 miles), and it felt a lot better.  

Monday 10/24 I went for a 9 mile run with a friend, and my foot felt great until just after mile 4 where it was in pain. After the run it was in a lot of pain-no bueno. So I called my doctor and got an MRI scheduled for 10/29. Perhaps for another post, but MRIs are SO weird. 

MRI & Where I'm At Now
The MRI saw some bursitis between my 2nd, 3rd, 4th metatarsals (inflammation between my toes), tendinosis and fluid at my peroneal longus tendon (inflammation in my tendon along the outer edge of my foot), and a 4th metatarsal stress reaction (stress fracture almost in my 4th toe). 

Image from AAOS

My doctor said it's a stress fracture from what he sees on the MRI despite there not being a ton of pain. It hurts more when he presses on it than the next toe but not a ton and way less than there was initially.  Honestly the tendinosis is bothering me on the bottom/side outer edge of my foot more lately.  As a future clinician the science of it all and looking at my MRI was pretty cool. Minus the fact that it was MY foot. 

The doctor think it is just an overuse activity from running and marathon training since nothing else seems glaring wrong. Although we're going to get my bone density tested as a precaution (despite not having the Female Athlete Triad), and in a few weeks I'll go to physical therapy and get my gait analyzed to see if it's something bio-mechanical in how I'm running as well as re-strengthen my foot. I just had my calcium and Vitamin D levels tested with Insidetracker, and both were in the normal range (which I tried hard to make sound legit when I explained to my doctor, haha).  

I got the MRI results on Thursday and pretty much spent all weekend watching Netflix and having a pity party party for myself. There was a lot of sobbing, beers, and some ice cream. Plus reading every Google search results on metatarsal stress fractures and running, of course. 

It just sucks because medical issues cost lots of money and time which I am happy to do to be healthy but still I'm a poor graduate student. Also I LOVE RUNNING, and JUST came off some great races and was finally feeling stronger and faster for the first time in a while. 

Now I feel like I'm going back to square one.

I went to a yoga class (that was actually great) last Tuesday and haven't worked out since. 

For now I'm in the Aircast boot for 3 weeks all the time except sleeping, until I go see my Dr. again and get re-evaluated with some X-Rays to see how its healing. He said for now pretty much just rest unless I can get in a pool and go swimming.  

Feelings About It All
Honestly I go back and forth between being fine and accepting my body-mandated rest period, and then just crying and freaking out. I'm actually really bummed that I can't run the Philadelphia Marathon anymore, but clearly it wasn't meant to be this year.  

Despite this I have a lot of gratitude. It's sucky but hey this all happened after training for the Chicago Marathon and then running a big PR and BQ and amazing race. I'm assuming since it's November it should get colder and take a couple months off from running at the holidays to rest won't be so badly. Lastly (and only second importantly to already getting the PR/BQ), is that I am lucky enough to still have healthcare through my job even though working full-time ish hours during full-time grad school sucks. That means I have a Hopkins sports medicine orthopedist to work with through all this which is awesome. He thinks I should be back to my running self in January/February which is great to hear.

Now I'm that runner who is on #injurydeck and can't run. Bring on the Netflix marathons and stay tuned!

So anyone ever had a stress fracture? How do you stay sane during injuries?