World Suicide Prevention Day 2014

Today is World Suicide Prevention Day. With the recent death of Robin Williams, it seems like everyone wants to talk about suicide prevention. This is good, but I thought why didn't anyone want to talk about it before? We seem to be embarrassed by mental health issue and no one wants to talk about it. I deal with anxiety and depression and until more recently I've always been embarrassed by it. Why? I don't know if I can even tell you. I have been pretty silent about them. Once I opened up to someone I felt better. I can tell you that it is scary to speak out. People can be very judgmental. Every single person reading this (even me while I type this) has judged someone at some point. I'm going to make an effort to not judge anyone. You never know what someone is going through.

This year the non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms is using the campaign "No One Else Can Play Your Part" to bring awareness to National Suicide Prevention Week (September 8-14) and to World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10). They want people to tell their stories. Every person's story is different and they want everyone to be honest with their story.

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TWLOHA

I've known about this organization for years. It started in 2006 after founder Jamie Tworkowski wrote a blog post about his friends struggle with depression, self-injury, and addiction. This story spread throughout MySpace (remember MySpace!?) and a lot of bands started to wear their t-shirts. Now it's 2014 and people have a place to find help if they need it without being judged. They have plenty of ways that you can get involved to help spread the vision. 

During one of my favorite songs by Christina Perri is called "I Believe". She wrote this song for TWLOHA's Heavy and Light Tour. I'm going to leave you with the video from one of the nights she played it.

If you or someone you know is struggling and needs help please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK(8255).

NYC Marathon Training Week 10

Week 10 of training has come and gone! (Just like August.) Whoa!

This past week was much better than the previous weeks. This helped my confidence a lot.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 6.01 miles
Wednesday: 1 hour of yoga
Thursday: .5 miles walk, a lot of lifting at work
Friday: 5 miles, walk at beach
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 9.12 miles, 4.68 mile walk


On Friday I  got to hang out with Nate. We went to White Horse Beach during the day. (You know where there was a shark and everyone freaked out.) We got to just relax on a day off which was nice. That night we went to the Museum of Fine Arts for First Friday. Every first Friday of the month they are open from 6:30-9:30 pm. This does require a ticket ($25 or free for members), but there is dancing, drinks, tapas, and meeting new people. We spent our night walking through the different exhibits and enjoying some art.

Checking out the Shinique Smith exhibit

On Sunday I got up and ran 9 miles. This was the first time I've felt good about running in a while. It was exactly what I needed. Then I drove to meet up with with my friends to drive to Provincetown. I've never really traveled on the Cape so this was a first time to go down there. We had a nice time walking around before we drove back home. 

Look at how big these flowers are!

This pole is usually under water.

When we got back to my friend's house we took a walk down to the beach (the same beach I was at on Friday) and up to Manomet Point. This added up the miles for me which I needed.















I'm hoping to hit the half way mark this week with my fundraising. I need to raise $125 to do so. I think that I can do it! If you would like to help out a wonderful cause you can do so here.

Week 9 Recap

Remember I said that the weeks weren't looking so great? They still aren't. Last week was rough. I was so emotionally and physically burnt out that it took it's toll. Then we entered into some sort of crazy weather pattern that is making it super humid.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4 mile walk

Wednesday: 5.03 miles

Thursday: 30 minutes of yoga

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 3 miles

Sunday: Rest

I had planned on doing 7 miles after work on Saturday, but by the time I left it was so hot and humid I knew I couldn't do it. I'm hoping that this week will be better. My first run of the week was hard. It was pretty humid and I felt really slow. I've been beating myself up over it, but I'm trying to just accept that at least I'm getting out there and doing it. This does make me nervous for NYC, but hopefully I'll be ok.

NYC Marathon Training Week 8

I'm a couple days late with my check-in, but my brain was barely working the past few days. Last week was rough. I did more cross-training, but not enough running. I've been burnt out from the Tax-Free Weekend and the work that has been going on. This is how my week looked.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 5 miles

Wednesday: 1 hour Full body workout with 5 lb weights

Thursday: 4.07 miles on track

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 4 miles

Sunday: Rest

I was suppose to do 12 miles on Saturday and could barely get through 4. I remember feeling beyond frustrated and annoyed. I thought maybe that I could make up a few miles on Sunday, but I had worked almost a 12 hour day. I'm moving on from last week and gave myself Monday and Tuesday of this week off to relax and try to get all the anger and frustration out of my system from the past couple of weeks. There are better things to worry about right?

I've hit the 40% goal of my fundraising as well. (Well it should be more, but it seems there was a flub in the system the end of last week. That should be fixed shortly.) So as of right now at 10:49 am I have hit  $1,400! I want to hit the $1,500 mark by September 1. I think we can do it. If you can donate you can do so here.

Runner's World Food Pyramid

I saw this earlier on Facebook. I laughed. It is totally true. I'm awful at my nutrition in general. There's a good chance that when I finish a race I don't eat right away. I want to be better, but I just can't figure it out. Someday I'll get it down.

Just A Thought For Tuesday

This was in my email for the Zooma Run Cape Cod. We're a little more than a month out now and this seems fitting. 

Week 7 & Tax Free

Tax Free weekend definitely took a toll on my training this week.

I had worked 6 of the 7 days this week. My day off was actually the Bobby Doyle Summer Classic last Sunday. My body was feeling tired for sure. I didn't do anything outside of running this week except my normal duties at work. (That counts still right!?!)  I went to the track after work on Thursday for some "speed work". I played around with different intervals to get me through so I guess it was more of a fartlek training than anything else. It took about 2.5-3 miles to really get into it properly. I did a 10 mile run after work yesterday and it took a toll. Both of my knees were giving me attitude during the run at some point which made me more frustrated than anything else. I pushed through it though. Much better than the run I did on Tuesday for sure. I just could not get into that run to save my life.  Like I said last week was kind of rough.

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 2 miles
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: 5 miles at the track for speed work
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 10 miles

This week will be another hard one with the work schedule, but it should be better than last week.

I'm making my way to half of my fundraising goal. How does money donated to Boston Children's Hospital help? Look at this fun image to see some ways that you're donation helps!

If you want to make a difference too you can do so here.