Raige Creations

It had been over 2 weeks since I did any real exercising. And a particularly tedious week at work. On Friday morning I was sitting on the back porch enjoying a cup of coffee looking forward to getting off work early (we get done a half hour earlier on Fridays) and coming home to relax, put the week behind me and get in to enjoying our house. Then I remembered. I had signed up for the 26th annual  St Patricks Day 5k Irish Jog. It was after work. Not enough time for me to come home to change, had to bring my gear in and change at work and go. I was bummed! The thought of having to stay in town, and then go 3.14 miles, after such a week, and when I was looking forward to just hanging out, chillin'. BUMMER. But I had committed to it. I wasn't so bummed that I would blow it off. So I packed my bag. Workout pants, shirt, socks, shoes, ponytail holder, hat, tom tom runner, headphones and hand-me-down ipod. As I was packing, the bummer feeling lifted and I realized t...

After a very active morning (a few weeks ago now...) - a 3 mile mostly walk with little jogs mixed in, 15 minute morning yoga routine, and a 30 minute yoga workshop (to help me step through Down Dog , which I can't do very well) - I sat there on my yoga mat deeply thinking. Thinking, " I am calm, it is a beautiful day really, and oh - a donut hole would be good!" and then I shared my desire for doughnut holes after all that good-for-me activity. I was struck first that I wanted to share such a thing. With whom, exactly, do I want to share these accomplishments mixed with signs of weakness? Facebook?? Really??? No, not really. I realized. I have purged my Facebook friends to mostly real friends and famlily (even if it is distant cousins I haven't seen since I was a kid and friends of whom some I haven't seen since High School, and creative friends that I have not met in person but feel a closeness with via venues like Facebook {which initself is quite stra...

I got to sleep in a little today, a nice Sunday, perfect for staying in bed a little long, just because. I got up a little after 7am, but I was feeling very guilty about not getting up earlier to go for a run/walk, or Wog (walk/jog) as I now like to call it. I was a little groggy, but got on my running gear, decided that coffee after the run would be better than before the run, got my Tom Tom Runner searching for a satellite, and turned the ipod on and headed out.  Photo By Charlesjsharp - Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography, CC BY-SA 4.0,   The ' Go! ' beep went off on the Tom Tom  , so I started walking. Got on the road and I heard this banging on metal. Strange, but then I saw the culprit. A woodpecker , probably the one I saw in the Almond tree yesterday, was searching for food in the gutters. Cool. I decided to start to run, and after a little trouble getting going with all the thoughts going on in my head - the questioning o...

I commented to hubby this morning, "there is nothing better than having coffee with you, out here, on a Sunday morning". "Bee Happy" photo courtesy of Raige Creations. I totally felt that, right then, in the moment. I was truly enjoying my slightly sweetened and slightly creamy coffee, after a very good 3.1 mile run (I went past our place to get over the 3 mile mark....yes I was that runner today), and just relishing the moment (even tho hubby was trying to talk politics....my least favorite subject). I feel I should add - this was all before 8am! I just realized at that moment, I was thankful for the slow Sunday we were enjoying. You might say, "SLOW? you call getting up before 6am and running 3 miles slow?" And to that I say, "YES!!" I could get out of bed at my leisure, not because I HAD to at that moment. I got to go for that run, and witness a most beautiful sunrise, and watch an older gentleman line-fishing off shore in the fo...

Long overdue, but finally: The Jingle Bell Run 2013 . AND What Running Has Taught Me ~ Finding Success in Every Effort The Jingle Bell Run 2013. Ho-Ho-Ho People have fun dressing up for this race. photo courtesy of  Thoughts of Raige I trained and planned for this race, with huge expectations. Huge for me that is. I wanted to better my time from last year, and not walk at all if I could help it. Mainly, I didn't want to throw up when I was done. I had high hopes for the race - see my big smile? I am in the baseball hat in the middle. photo courtesy of  Thoughts of Raige I succeeded in that last thing, I didn't want to throw up and fall over when I was done. That was it. But at least I felt good at the end. Perhaps not the best race, I was slower than last year. I did have to walk, but really just a little, and yes, it was on those confounded hills. I still couldn't drink the water at the water station, just couldn't catch my breath. (The...

I know there are a gazillion websites and blogs that talk about the greatness of running. I read them too. But since I have started running again, after my 3 month break, I have learned some valuable  life lessons . Each lesson is great for running, but can be translated into every-day life as well.  (previous lessons: Shoes , Sleep , Form ) I am sharing these life lessons with you while training for the  Jingle Bell Run , which I am participating in on December 7th. ( Donate HERE ). Today, I can tell you ~ It gets harder before it gets easier . The Backstory I was running the a couple weeks ago and one day, I noticed a pattern when I ran. A disturbing pattern. The pattern went something like this: In that in the first mile I was feeling pretty good. I was energetic and my breathing is just right. I could even run halfway up that fairly big hill at the beginning. In the second mile, I started to get tired, legs ached, breathing was not as comfortable. Thoug...

I know there are a gazillion websites and blogs that talk about the greatness of running. I read them too. But since I have started running again, after my 3 month break, I have learned some valuable  life lessons . Each lesson is great for running, but can be translated into every-day life as well. I will be sharing these life lessons with you while training for the  Jingle Bell Run , which I am participating in on December 7th. ( Donate HERE ). Today, I must stress the importance of keeping your form. The Proper Form. I actually researched this online, because I knew felt so awkward running. I noticed as I ran by the furniture store downtown, which has full windows across the entire block, that I looked goofy and that I made it look awkward so I set to find out how to run better. There are loads of pictures , articles , videos , etc. I recommend reading and looking at some of these, as I did.  What I am telling you here is a condensed version showing how they a...

I know there are a gazillion websites and blogs that talk about the greatness of running. I read them too. But since I have started running again, after my 3 month break, I have learned some valuable life lessons .  Each lesson is great for running, but can be translated into every-day life as well. I will be sharing these life lessons with you while training  for the  Jingle Bell Run , which I am participating in on December 7th. ( Donate HERE ). Today we talk about sleep. How important is rest? The Sleep. Last week I talked about how I happily I went out for my first run in my new shoes , excited to get in a great run! But i t wasn't a great run, and I walked quite a bit. Not the energizing workout I wanted, but at least m y legs didn't hurt. But why was it so bad? Well, the night before, I only got a total of 6 hours of sleep ~ split into two 3 hour sessions with a 4 hour awake time in between.  Basically I fell asleep on the couch (a common thing for m...

I know there are a gazillion websites and blogs that talk about the greatness of running. I read them too. But since I have started running again, after my 3 month break, I have learned some valuable life lessons . Each lesson is great for running, but can be translated into every-day life as well. I will be sharing these life lessons with you while training for the Jingle Bell Run , which I am participating in on December 7th. ( Donate HERE ). Today, I must stress the importance of good running shoes. The Shoes. I know, I know, everyone talks about the shoes. And here I am  again  stressing  their importance. But let me explain. When I started back running, 2 1/2 months ago, my running shoes were already old . I justified keeping them because I had taken a 3 month break, and thought I could get some more pounding out of them.  I am not sure when it started, but I really noticed my legs hurt. They hurt when I ran, after I ran, and most of the rest of the ...

Yesterday I just couldn't find a song I related to. Well, I did while running, but couldn't remember what those songs were by the time I was done. So instead I randomly searched for inspiration. I spent a long time looking for a song. Somehow, Born Slippy got on my 'suggestions'. I forgot how much I liked this song! And wouldn't this be great for a running playlist? YES! I just hope I am not on my way to a new tension headache..... Why Born Slippy ? The title of the song comes from a greyhound the band bet on and won . Then the 'suggested list' showed Iggy Pop , Lust For Life . (If you hadn't noticed the Trainspotting theme, yes these are on the soundtrack . Great movie !)  Well, that's like hypnotizing chickens.  ( My new favorite lyric.) Nothing is better than Iggy's endless energy, never a shirt, dancing around like a crazy person. I might add this to my running playlist too..... If these songs don't get your day going,...