RIP Peanut Butter

I can't get over this amazing weather we have right now! Today, it was 65 and sunny... in November... in MICHIGAN. All summer long, we heard about how cold and snowy this winter will be, and I was expecting the worst. Of course, it's not even winter yet, so we could still be in for really harsh weather. But this November weather is amazing. I hope it holds out for the weekend when my friends are here.

Speaking of which, I have been non-stop busy getting ready for the weekend. Having a houseguest is one thing, but having three from three different states is a bit more complicated (although, it's three times the fun!). Also, I'm hosting my Wine Club meeting at my house on Friday, so I have that to prepare for as well. Lots of work, but the weekend will be totally worth it. I'm super excited!

Yesterday started week two of MAF heart rate training. I was scheduled to run for 35 minutes, so I just did a lollipop route that I knew to be about 3.3 miles. I felt good! Nothing notable about the run.

Average pace was 11:13, and average heart rate was 144 bpm.

Today's run was a bit different. I felt SO lethargic! My legs felt heavy, and I just wasn't feeling my best. My pace wasn't too far off from yesterday's, though.

I started taking my resting pulse when I wake up in the mornings, and it hasn't been very interesting. Sunday was 53 bpm, Monday was 51 bpm, and today was 49 bpm. I have an app on my phone that measures pulse, so that's what I've been using. I tested it out several times, and it's actually very accurate! You place your fingertip on the camera lens (I have an iPhone 6, not sure if that matters), and it uses the flash and lens to detect your pulse. The app is called Instant Heart Rate: Heart Rate & Pulse Monitor. It has a million ads, but since I only use it once a day in the mornings, it's not bad.

This heart rate experiment is kind of fun! It's nice not feeling any pressure at all to hit a particular pace or anything during training. I just keep my heart rate under 146 and whatever pace that happens to be, that's what I run. A lot of people have expressed interest in seeing how it works out, which makes me even more interested in sticking it out for the full 12 weeks. On Sunday, I'm running a 10K race; but, true to my word, I'm going to keep my heart rate below 146 during the race.

The weirdest thing has happened to me recently--I have an aversion to peanut butter! I promise I'm not pregnant (someone always asks when I mention something like this)--but the thought of peanut butter actually turns my stomach. Isn't that crazy? I used to be obsessed with peanut butter! I would literally eat peanut butter out of the jar with a spoon more often than I'll admit to.

Well, recently, I had a Reese's Pumpkin in my freezer, and it wasn't even calling to me at all. I finally ate it yesterday (even though I didn't want to... I shouldn't have eaten it!) and I actually had to gag down the last few bites. I immediately thought that I must be dying. It's SO weird! The only thing that comes to mind is that I started taking fish oil and vitamin D supplements a few weeks ago, and maybe that did something to my appetite? I don't know. I'm not complaining, though. Peanut butter has always been one of my biggest vices!

Speaking of vices, ice cream is my top vice; so, I was really excited yesterday when Jerry found the new Halo Top flavors at a store near his work. I won't pretend that Halo Top is the same as eating Haagen Dazs, but it's definitely good for an ice cream craving. I love the Mint Chip one! I told Jerry to pick up a pint of Mint Chip and surprise me with another. He chose Cookies & Cream.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'll write my thoughts when I do. (If you've tried Arctic Zero and didn't like it, I promise that Halo Top is better! It has more calories than Arctic Zero, but still a very low amount.)

Whelp, I'd better go cook dinner and get started cleaning the boys' bedrooms. I saved their rooms for last, because I am dreading them the most! I'm not sure how much I'll be writing over the next week or so, but I'll try and squeeze in a couple of posts. (I know it's only Tuesday, but my friends arrive on Thursday morning!)

By the way, I haven't seen Boomer, my sweet little bird, again--but I look for him every day. Hopefully he'll come back!

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Bathroom makeover!

So, the first week of MAF training is done. Today, I ran 45 minutes, and it ended up being a terrible run! There was actually frost on the ground when I woke up. This unusually warm weather has been so odd, it was kind of nice to see that it's getting colder. My weather app said the temp was 34 degrees when I headed out for my run, so I wore a fleece top, gloves, and a headband to cover my ears.

I felt fine when I started running, and I decided to do an out-and-back route, turning around when I hit the midway point (22:30). Usually, I run at least a mile before I get a beep telling me that my heart rate is high and I need to slow down; today, it took only a quarter mile. After that, it was beeping so much that I just ran as slow as I felt my legs would allow. Even then, my heart rate was right on the border of 146 the whole time.

I had a low calorie day yesterday (not on purpose--I was super busy and didn't have time to eat lunch), and I wonder if that had anything to do with my heart rate being high today. I think I'm going to start taking my resting heart rate in the mornings when I wake up, just to see if there is any correlation with how my run goes--does a high resting heart rate mean my run is going to feel harder? It'll be interesting to see.

Anyway, my average pace was 12:11, and my average heart rate was 145 bpm. In comparison to my last long run (6 miles on 11/5), my heart rate was also 145 bpm but my average pace was 10:59! Big difference. Today's run was very out of the ordinary for me. We'll see what happens next week.

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I've spent the last week or so really cracking down on getting our bathroom finished. The whole project started out to be SO simple--remove the thin strips of trim that cover the drywall joints. (The strips are something that manufactured homes have--I have no idea why.) Sounds like no big deal, right? I couldn't have been more wrong.

As you may remember, I took down the strips (I think in July) and I used drywall joint compound and a special kind of tape to smooth the drywall joint (this would make it one smooth wall, rather than having those vertical strips every few feet). Obviously, after doing that, I would have to paint the walls. Again, no big deal--the color clashed horrendously with my bedroom (which I'd painted in the summer as well).

When we had issues with the water heater and furnace recently, we knew we'd have to replace the floor in the laundry room (where the water heater and furnace are). We bought the materials to replace the flooring, and it was messy, but we got it done! (Many thanks to my brothers and Becky).  Since we had all the materials, we figured we might as well replace the small section of subfloor in the bathroom that had some water damage from the shower. We fixed the leak years ago, but the wood needed to be replaced.

Our bathroom floor actually had CARPET in the whole thing except for where the toilet is. Carpet is a really bad idea for a bathroom! We always knew we wanted to replace it, but it was never a true necessity, so we put it off for "someday".

Another issue was our bathtub. In addition to a stand-up shower, we had a huge corner bathtub, but I very rarely used it. It sounds stupid, but I was always afraid that there would be spiders inside of the jacuzzi jets in the tub, and I feared they would come out when I took a bath, so I just rarely took baths. (I'm terrified of spiders!)  The tub was basically a big waste of space in our bathroom. We decided to remove that as well--which would have to be done before painting the walls and doing the flooring.

This led to one big messy project: We needed to paint to cover the drywall mud; but, we couldn't paint until we removed the bathtub (for obvious reasons). Once removing the bathtub, the flooring would all need to be replaced, because there would be a big empty spot where the bathtub was otherwise. Everything was reliant on the previous thing, so it wasn't a project we could work on a little at a time, unfortunately. It reminded me of the "If you give a mouse a cookie..." scenario.

I had no idea what color to do--my bedroom is yellow and white, and I wanted it to match that, but not perfectly (I didn't want the same yellow walls in the bathroom as my bedroom). So, for the first time since becoming a homeowner 13 years ago, I actually painted the walls WHITE. Plain old boring white walls ;)

Jerry and I picked out vinyl plank flooring, and Jerry did the dirty work. He cut the bathtub in half to get it out of the bathroom, and then tore up the carpet and linoleum. Then he fixed the subfloor in front of the shower that needed fixing. He had never done flooring before, but it would save a lot of money to do it ourselves, so we decided to give it a try (and by "we", I totally mean "Jerry").

He laid down the underlayment over the subfloor, and then started on the vinyl planks. It actually didn't end up being that bad! The planks fit together really easily, and they don't need glue or grout or anything like that. Jerry got the plank part done in probably five hours total. We put in a new toilet, and it was finished!

The only part that we still need to do something with is the cabinets in there, because they completely clash with the floor; but, that isn't something that has to be done right away, so we'll save that for later. Like always, I forgot to take a "before" picture of the bathroom, so the best I can do is this stupid pic Jerry took of me flossing my teeth, haha. But you can at least see the drastic difference!

Here are some photos of the progress:

This is what was under the mirrors--floral wallpaper

No mirrors, no trim strips covering the drywall joints

Drywall joint after removing the strip

This was after I put the joint compound on. It looked like this from July until now!

Jerry tearing out the bathtub

After priming and removing the flooring

After painting and starting the vinyl planks

Finished! Well, until we decide to work on the cupboards...

Obviously, we need to put something in that right corner (the toilet is off to the left; you can't really see it in the pic). Someday, maybe we'll put a linen closet there, or maybe some nice shelves, but for now, I'm just going to leave it as-is. My mom said I should use chalk paint for my cupboards, so I'm going to look into that. It'd be much better (and cheaper) than having to replace them.

Anyway, I absolutely LOVE the floor! Jerry is super proud that he did it himself, and we're already talking about what we can do with the rest of the house--again, for a "someday" project, haha. I really wanted to get this done before my friends come over next week, because there will be FOUR women in the house that need to take showers and get ready, so having two bathrooms will be nice!

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Military pet charities

(This post is sponsored by Purina. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Not only is today my favorite date (11/11--my favorite number is 11), it is also Veterans Day--a day to honor those who served in the military. As you may know if you've been reading my blog for a while, Veterans Day means a great deal to me. It wasn't until I experienced my brother's deployment that the sacrifices veterans make really sunk in for me. I'm always in awe of the veterans in this country and how much they've sacrificed for us. I can't begin to express how much I appreciate them!

My boys at the airport waiting for Nathan to come home from Iraq in 2007

So, when I heard that Purina was going to be donating $100,000 to two military pet charities, I was thrilled. I honestly wasn't even aware that military pet charities existed! The two they've teamed up with are Dogs on Deployment and Pets for Vets. Here is a brief rundown of each:

Dogs on Deployment- Dogs on Deployment (DoD) provides an online network for service members to search for volunteers willing to board their pets during service commitments. Their mission is to give military members peace of mind concerning their pets while unable to care for them during their service. This way, their pets won't have to be surrendered to a shelter! As of early this year, nearly 900 pets had been placed in foster care for these service members.

I was checking out the Dogs on Deployment website, and out of curiosity, I searched for pets near me that need fostering. It's so tempting! If I didn't have three cats and a dog already, I would love to foster for a service member. If you're interested in fostering, you can go to the DoD website and enter your city in a search bar. It will list pets nearby that are looking for foster care. You could also register as a potential boarder, so that the service members can search in their local area.

Pets for Vets- Pets for Vets provides a second chance for shelter pets by rescuing, training, and pairing them with America's veterans who could benefit from a companion animal. Animal-assisted therapy has been very helpful in fighting PTSD or combat stress. Over 5 MILLION dogs and cats are euthanized every year because they don't have homes--and Pets for Vets gives a lot of animals a second chance by training them to be great companions for veterans who need them! There are plenty of ways to volunteer for Pets for Vets as well (including fostering, dog training, fundraising, event planning, and several other opportunities).

Both organizations do excellent work for great causes. Purina is going to be donating $100,000 to the charities--$75,000 to one of them, and $25,000 to the other. They are asking for public votes to determine which charity gets each amount; to vote for the charity you prefer, you can do so at Pure Love for Pets.

Personally, I love the Pets for Vets idea. When my brother came home from Iraq after serving four years in the Army, he adopted a black lab named Bailey. I really think that she helped him establish a feeling of being "home" again. A lot of war veterans come home feeling like they just don't belong anywhere, and it's a difficult adjustment. Adopting a pet to care for can give them a new "purpose", as well as be therapeutic while they adjust to civilian life again.

Anyway, please make sure you take a moment today to thank our veterans for their sacrifices and service! xo

I'll end with these cards that my kids made for Uncle Nathan on Veterans Day a few years ago. They make me smile every time I look at them!

"You are a great Army man" --Eli

"Thank you for saving our country" --Eli

--Noah

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A message from a little bird

I'm so glad the presidential election is finally over. It's sad seeing all of the hateful social media comments people make to others based on their vote. Especially this year.

Anyway, I have a nice story to share, and today is the perfect day to do it.

A few days ago, I was sitting in the living room with the kids when I saw a bird crash into our window. Instead of dropping to the ground, the bird fell and caught its toenails on the window screen. My heart sank, and I felt so bad for him. He wasn't moving, just hanging by his toenails, so I assumed he was dead or injured.

I went outside to check him out, and when I touched him to help untangle his nails from the screen, he started moving around. It took a couple of minutes, but I managed to unhook him from the screen, and as soon as I did, he hopped right on my shirt and sat there. I thought for sure he was injured and couldn't fly. I picked him up off my shirt and let him sit in my hand while I tried to figure out what to do with him. He didn't have any obvious injuries.

I was thinking I could just put him in the bushes, and hope that he was okay; and right as I thought that, he flew out of my hand and into the woods. Relief! He was such a pretty bird. I had no idea what kind of bird he was until I posted his picture on Facebook and Instagram, and I learned he was a Golden-Crowned Kinglet. Spending a few moments with him totally made my day!

This morning, I took the kids to school, and when I got home, I was walking up the porch steps and saw a bird lying on the porch, on its back, unmoving. I was furious, because Phoebe had snuck out of the house yesterday, and I thought she killed him. I reached down to pick him up and move him off the porch, when he jumped up onto my hand!

I was startled, but very pleasantly surprised to see my little friend again. I thought for sure he was injured this time, because what bird just lies on its back, "playing dead", and then allows itself to be held? I held him in my hand, trying to block the wind because it was chilly and very windy this morning. We sat on the porch for a few minutes, and I was dying to get my phone from just inside the house so that I could take a picture of him.

He actually fell asleep in my hand, and I very carefully opened the door and got my phone. Then I sat on the porch with him for about 15 minutes--again, trying to figure out what to do with this little (injured?) bird.

His feathers are a little ruffled from the wind ;)

I was freezing by this point, and really wanted to go inside, so I decided to make the bird a little nest out of leaves to block the wind. I walked, bird in hand, to the side of the house, and bent down to grab some leaves. Then he just jumped out of my hand and flew away. I was so grateful that he wasn't injured! Maybe he just likes me ;)  I feel like this little bird needs to make his rounds to bring cheer to everybody that needs it! Or at least to remind people to be gentle with each other.

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Yesterday was Day 2 of MAF training. Like I said in my last post, I'm going to run at or below my MAF heart rate for 12 weeks straight and just see what happens. Yesterday was another 30 minute run. I covered my watch with my shirt sleeve, and just ran a three-mile route without paying any attention to pace. The heart rate alert is set on my watch so that if my heart rate goes over 146, it'll beep to let me know to slow down.

Average pace was 11:09, and average heart rate was 143. I expect my pace to vary (both faster and slower) day by day; but, over several weeks, the goal is to see a downward trend in my pace. Every couple of weeks, I'll do a graph of my pace at my MAF heart rate to see what's happening.

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Now, I am about to spend the entire day doing laundry. How does it pile up so fast?!

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A different kind of goal

Today, I woke up before my alarm went off because the phone was ringing. I was totally confused for a minute, until I saw that it was from the kids' school. Whenever they delay or cancel school, the calls come very early (5:15 ish). I couldn't imagine that it had snowed all night long (it's been in the 60's and 70's here!!) so I guessed fog.

The recording said that school would be delayed for two hours due to heavy fog. I wish I was able to go back to sleep, but I am always wide awake after the school calls. After breakfast, I figured I would have enough time to go for a run and shower before I had to take the boys to school.

I dressed in bright clothes, because I was expecting some serious fog, but it actually wasn't too bad. I stopped for a picture of the lake, thinking that it would be really foggy over the water, but it just wasn't there.

This is without a filter--isn't it pretty? 

Just after I finished my second mile, my cell phone rang. I pulled it out of my Flipbelt, and saw that it was the school again. This time, they said that school would be canceled due to the fog! I don't remember school ever being canceled for fog, and considering I couldn't see much fog this morning, I was surprised. Oh, well, my kids were thrilled ;)

While I was running, I was trying to think of a good goal to work toward right now. I don't have to start training for Indy until February, so I have a few months without any running goals. For the past few runs, I've been taking care to make sure my heart rate stays under 146, and that led me to come up with a different kind of goal for this winter.

For the next 12 weeks, I'm going to run at or below my target heart rate for easy running--for me, that's 146 bpm. I'm really curious to see if my easy pace will get faster without doing ANY speed work--basically, just solid MAF training.

I tried to do this once before in 2014(?) but I just wasn't ready to do it then--I was too impatient to see results. When I started heart rate training last year to train for the 10K, I was doing all my easy paced running at a low heart rate, but I still did speed work once or twice a week as well.

Ever since I first read about MAF training, I've been so curious about whether it really works. Now is the perfect time for me to experiment with it, because I have about 14 weeks until I start training for Indy, and until then, I don't have any goals lined up. My 10K training taught me that I really need to trust the heart rate training process, as counterintuitive as it may seem; so, unlike in 2014, I'm not worried about the consequences of trying something that may not work. I'm also willing to be very patient with it.

I want to do this solely as an experiment on myself. So, for the next 12 weeks, all of my running will be at or below 146 bpm. As far as my distances, I'm going to follow the Base Building Plan that I wrote, starting on Week 5. Today, I did a 30 minute run, and my average heart rate was 143.

So, on Day 1, my average heart rate was 143 bpm and my average pace was 10:53/mile. I'm going to start a line graph of my pace, to see the overall trend in my pace at this heart rate. The goal of MAF training is to see the pace gradually get faster while the heart rate stays the same (over a period of several months).

My goal at the end of 12 weeks is just to maintain the same low heart rate but be running significantly faster (I actually don't even know what a "signifiant" amount would be). I'm not sure how quickly this training works, because I've never done it before, so it should be interesting to see the results! And it gives me a purpose when I run, which makes me happy :)

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Starting and/or growing a blog

I was just looking through some drafts of posts that I never shared, and came across this one. I don't know why I never posted it! But here goes...

The topic of blogging itself has never been very interesting to me, which is why I don't write about it much (if ever). When I started my blog, it was literally just a place for me to keep a daily journal--even though it was public on the internet, haha. I liked the idea of having some people read my thoughts because it also helped me stay accountable in my weight loss (otherwise, I would have just written a private journal instead of a blog).

As my readership grew, I learned about all of the potential that comes from writing a blog, and I was given some amazing opportunities because of Runs for Cookies. In that way, it turned from less of a journal to more of a blog--but I've always tried to maintain my original writing style.

I don't have interest in writing an "informative" blog, so I keep those sort of posts to a minimum. I prefer to just write about my own experiences, and for some odd reason, there are people that actually enjoy reading it! ;)

Anyway, I've been asked several times through the years about starting a blog and/or how to grow readership. I haven't written a post about it because I don't feel like I'm the best person to give that sort of advice. Blogging itself is not my forte. But, because blogging has given me so many amazing opportunities, I thought I'd write this post to share what little knowledge I do have about it, in order to help someone else who may have the same attitude and goals I did about blogging.

Unlike a lot of the "big name" bloggers, I use Blogger.com to host my blog. It's free, it's simple to set up, and I really don't think that Google is going anywhere, so I'm not worried about losing this platform. In the blogging world, using Blogger is sort of looked down upon, but that doesn't bother me at all. Blogger does what I need it to, and I'm happy with it.

Once upon a time, I looked into switching to WordPress, which is the more desirable blogging platform, but it was so confusing to me! I spent days researching how to switch over, and the costs involved, and then I realized--why? When Blogger is doing everything I need, why bother switching? And from then on, I just decided that I don't care if my blog is less professional this way (I was never going for a "professional" blog anyway!). However, I thought I'd mention WordPress in case you're looking for an alternative to Blogger.

For someone who has never blogged and has no idea how to start, I think Blogger is fantastic. You can literally create your blog and write your first post all within about 20 minutes. You sign up at Blogger.com, just by following the prompts. You can select from all sorts of different layouts, or customize it to look how you'd like. (I started with one of the basic layouts, and customized things here and there throughout the first couple of years).

I do recommend buying the domain name that you'd like (Blogger makes doing this easy, too, otherwise I'd have had no idea how to do it). I purchased runsforcookies.com for $10 per year, and it renews automatically.

In regards to naming your blog, it's actually more important than you might think. Here are some of my thoughts on the topic:

• I think that having a very short title is important, because it's easy for people to remember. I would say 3-4 words maximum would be perfect.
• I would stay away from spelling things incorrectly, even if you're trying to be cute (for example, "Katie's Kookies"--spelling cookies with a K). When you tell someone your blog name, you will forever be explaining that it's "Kookies with a K" and it makes it harder for people to remember.
• Likewise, I would stay away from using numbers--for example, "Runs4Cookies". Again, you'll always have to explain that it's the number four and not "for". The less explaining you have to do about your blog name the better.
• If possible, try to hint at what your blog is about in the title. This can be really difficult, especially when using just a few words. In my case, "Runs for Cookies" actually explains quite a bit--"cookies" is an all-encompassing word for sweets and desserts. I am a runner, and part of the reason I run is to maintain my weight loss; therefore, "Runs for Cookies" is sort of explaining that I exercise in order to eat desserts while maintaining my weight loss. 
• I would stay away from things that are likely to change over the years. In fact, I've been thinking for about a year now about changing the title and domain of my blog. Runs for Cookies is still relevant, but it puts me into a blogging mold of running and weight loss, and I'd prefer not to have one particular niche. 

Before telling anyone about your blog, I would write your first post, as well as have an "About Me" page. When people visit your blog, they'll want to see at a glance what it's about, and if your blog is pretty empty or there aren't any pages for them to see more info, they probably won't stay long. 

When writing posts, it's important to keep it easy on the eyes. One of the first things I learned about blogging (that I believe has made a world of difference) is to break up posts into paragraphs that are 2-4 sentences long. When reading my posts, you'll notice I have paragraph breaks more frequently than proper grammar would require, but that is to make the posts easier on the eyes. 

Speaking of proper grammar... I think it goes without saying that checking spelling and grammar is just as important. Mine certainly isn't perfect all the time, especially considering that I write in a conversational voice, but I do read it over once or twice before publishing. I like my blog to read the way I would speak, so I don't always use proper grammar, but I think spelling is the most important part. I notice that when I read blogs with a lot spelling errors, I tend to focus more on that than I do on what the blog post is about. It's not deliberate, but the errors jump out at me and it's hard not to focus on them. 

I think it's extremely important to write your blog in your own personality. I wouldn't try to mock someone else's writing style, because it won't come across as genuine. I read a couple of blogs that are just so clever that I want to write like that, too! But it just isn't my personality, and instead of sounding clever, it would sound forced, like I was trying too hard. My writing style is really just a conversational tone--the way I write is the way I would talk with someone. 

Likewise, I think we should write about things that are important to US, and not try to please anyone else. This is very difficult for me, because I don't take criticism well (I welcome constructive criticism, and I actually enjoy it; but when people are critical just to be mean, I am very sensitive). Sometimes, when I read a mean comment, it makes me not want to write about that topic anymore. For example, one time I got a rude comment from someone who said I was making up the fact that I have anxiety.

My anxiety is very real, to the point where I have some pretty bad physical symptoms from it, but after reading that comment, I felt uncomfortable posting about it anymore. Whenever I mention anxiety, that comment pops into my head. I don't want to let one rude comment change the way I write! So I do my best to write honestly and genuinely, regardless of what others say or think. It's much harder than it sounds! ;) 

Regarding monetizing a blog... 

I chose to include ads on my blog about a year after I started Runs for Cookies. I hate annoying pop-up ads or ads that automatically include videos, so I opted out of those types of ads on my blog--even though I could earn more money if I include them. I don't think it's unreasonable to include ads on a blog, as long as they don't take away from my actual posts. Sometimes, I'll click over to a blog from Pinterest, and the ads that bombard me make me close the post and not visit that blog again--I certainly don't want that. 

Another way to monetize is by writing sponsored posts. A sponsored post is a post that the blogger is paid by a company to write. I don't do many of these, because again, they can detract from my blog's message if done too frequently. When it comes to sponsored posts, I think it's VERY important to only choose companies and/or products that you actually believe in. Personally, I would never write a sponsored post for a company that I dislike, even if they were paying me very well. I also like to use my own voice, so that the post doesn't come across as one big fake commercial for a product. Legally, sponsored posts all must include a disclaimer stating that the post is sponsored.

Monetizing a blog is something that I put a lot of thought into. I get requests every single day to write sponsored content or place new ads, but I constantly ask myself if it's worth it. Is making a few extra bucks worth annoying everyone that visits my blog with a pop-up ad? Do I believe in this product enough to write a sponsored post about it? Sometimes, the answer is yes--it's worth it. But most of the time, it's no. So, as far as monetizing a blog, I think it's very important to really consider whether it's worth what is being asked of you, if that makes sense.

About growing readership of a blog...

I get a lot of emails from people asking how they can gain more readers. I'm not the best person to discuss this topic, because I don't really focus on trying to get new readers. But here are a few thoughts...

I do think it's very important to write content that is important to you. If you're writing what you think others want to read, it "sounds" fake; but if you are passionate about something, it really comes through in your written words. I think people enjoy reading genuine posts about something the author is passionate about. 

I believe that a lot of my readers found my blog in the beginning because I was reading and commenting on other blogs. I went through a phase where I had discovered how huge the blogging community is, and I was reading a TON of blogs. I commented on them, and I think people must have found my blog that way. I would suggest that you NOT write, "Check out my blog! Here's the link."--those comments are a big turn-off (to me, anyway). I've noticed that the bloggers who seem the most gung-ho about gaining new readers usually have the least amount of success at it. 

When I notice someone commenting regularly on my blog, I always click on their profile to see if they have a blog as well--and if they do, then I'll visit and check it out. I've discovered some really interesting blogs this way, and even met some friends.

Finally, the fastest way to learn how to do things on your blog is to Google it--if I wanted to add or change something about my blog, I would just Google my question, "How do I ______ on Blogger?" And you can almost always find the answer that way. I think the MOST important thing to keep in mind when starting a blog is to BE GENUINE. I can't stress that enough!

Blogging has been life-changing for me, because I've gotten so many opportunities I never would have gotten otherwise. I don't see myself doing it forever, but I am so glad that I stepped outside my comfort zone way back in the day and started sharing my life online. If you've ever thought about starting one, I suggest you go for it!

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Plans and photo dump

Thanks for all of the feedback on my last post! Like I said, I have no concrete plans of quitting blogging--I'm just trying to figure out what direction I want to go with the blog. I had an idea today to start a "Flashback Friday" post once a week, where I share my old journal entries (word for word) while I was losing weight. I had a blog before Runs for Cookies, and I wrote in it almost daily while I was losing the weight in 2009-2010. It's no longer online, but people ask me all the time if they can read it.

I went back and read a few of the posts today, and it's embarrassing! My writing was terrible, I sounded SO whiny, and I just want to smack myself while reading it for some of the things I wrote about ;) I'll give it some more thought, but I think I'd be too embarrassed to post those entries.

I have three friends coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and I'm super excited about it! Caitlin and Bonnie are from my Ragnar SoCal team (Caitlin is from Massachusetts and Bonnie is from Virginia); and then Andrea is from my Ragnar Florida Keys team (the one that was in the documentary) and she lives in Kansas. Caitlin and Andrea have been here before, but it will be Bonnie's first time visiting.

I'm going to be hosting my wine club meeting the weekend they are here, which will be a fun way for them to meet some of my friends. Jerry's sister is having a Pure Romance party on Saturday, so we'll go to that as well. And then on Sunday, we're going to run the Kona Chocolate Run 10K. It should be a fun girls weekend! My house will be crowded, but I haven't had a sleepover since I was a kid, so I'm looking forward to it ;)

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I've been doing a lot of thinking about what my goal will be for Indy in May, and I finally decided that I'm not going to set a time goal. I've been having a hard time making myself stick to a running schedule lately, and I would really like to get back in the routine of running five days a week. I'll make my goal to just follow the schedule, get in all the training, and feel good while running the half. I don't really feel ready to start training very hard for a PR.

When I ran Indy in 2011, I had the same thought--just run the whole way, and finish whenever I happen to finish. I really enjoyed that race! I haven't run 13.1 miles since the half I did at Cedar Point in December of 2014. I hobbled the last couple of miles, in pain, and later learned it was because of a stress fracture. Most of my "long" runs since then have been just six miles, so training for a half-marathon will feel fresh and new!

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I bought some yarn today so that I can start knitting again in the evenings. I've been having a hard time with snacking at night lately--my day will be great and I'll count calories until evening, when I watch a show and find something to snack on. When I was losing the weight in 2009-2010, I started knitting a LOT. It kept my hands busy at night so that I wouldn't eat while watching TV. And I was excited about finishing each project! When I started my blog, I quit knitting. I didn't really realize how much I missed it until I went to the store today and started looking at yarn.

I'm really in the mood to knit, but when I was looking at patterns on Ravelry, I came across this crocheted black cat hat and I love it. So, I'll probably start crocheting that tonight!

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Photo dump... I hate that phrase, but these are kind of random photos from this week, so here goes:

Eli was a fisherman and Noah was a doctor for Halloween.
This was at Jerry's parents' house before they went trick-or-treating.

We were cracking up because Joey just decided to walk over and sit on
top of Eli's candy on Halloween night.

Went for a long walk with Jessica on Wednesday, and it was so pretty!

Jessica and me at the Metropark

I barely get any of the electric blanket, because the pets hog it all.
Here, Joey was actually sleeping with his head on Estelle. She wasn't sure what to do.

This is a portrait that Eli drew of me in art class, and I LOVE it. 

Estelle was very curious about the bag from Michael's today, and wasted
no time crawling inside and getting comfortable.

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To blog or not to blog

What a gorgeous Halloween morning!

We usually get rain every year for Halloween; but today happens to be great weather for trick-or-treating. I'm looking forward to passing out candy while I watch scary movies in the garage. Halloween still feels weird without Mark--this will be the third one without him! I can't believe it's been that long.

This morning, I took Joey for a run with me (that's when I stopped to take the photo above). I haven't been following the 10K plan I said I was going to; instead, I've just been running when I feel like it. If I want to train hard for Indy, I really need to start picking up the mileage now. (I still haven't decided on my goal for Indy.)

I'm going to make it a mission to put together a plan this week. Tomorrow is November already! I haven't made any progress at all this fall on losing the summer weight gain--it's gone by so fast. Thankfully, I haven't gained any more, but I just haven't been as determined to lose it as I wish I was. Now that I've paid for a year of My Fitness Pal, I'm hoping I'll start seeing progress.

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As you may have noticed, I've been posting very sporadically lately. I've been thinking about it a lot, and I guess I'm just unsure of where my blog goes from here. I feel like I don't have much left to say, so I wonder if I should just end the blog? But once in a while, I feel like I have LOTS to say.

When I started this blog, it was basically just an online journal--I would write about my day, focusing a lot on diet/weight loss. As I post less frequently, my day-to-day stuff becomes irrelevant, so I feel like if I write something, it should be more meaningful. The problem with posting daily is just that I feel like I'm writing the same thing over and over.

I'm not saying that I'm quitting the blog (at least not yet). When I do, I would hope that my last post will be much more meaningful ;)  I'm just trying to make up my mind where to go from here. I was thinking of making shorter-term goals (a monthly goal, for example) and that would give me something to focus on when I write. I'm not sure! I keep hoping it'll just come to me.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that weight loss/maintenance is not nearly as huge a part of my life as it was a few years ago. Back then, everything was still very new to me. Since I've gotten into a pattern with each year of maintenance, it's not as exciting. It's just... life.

I'm sure once I have more going on in my life (training for Indy, becoming an AUNT in March, etc.) I'll write more frequently. For now, though, I just wanted to explain why my posts have been so sporadic. I'm just not sure what to write!

I hope you all have a Happy Halloween night!

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Cross country banquet and race pace run

Boy, was I sore this morning!

Yesterday, after I dropped the kids off at school, I went to Jessica's to meet her for a long walk. From her house, a lollipop route around the state park is exactly seven miles, so we chose to do that route. It took us about an hour and forty-five minutes, and my legs felt fatigued but good at the end. Then I woke up this morning, and I was SO sore! 

I never get sore from running (unless I do a crazy tough workout, then I might have a little soreness the next day); but switching things up yesterday by doing a long walk used some different muscles and I definitely feel it. It's a good thing! We already made plans to do it again next week.

The cross country banquet last night went great! It was a potluck, and with 24 kids on the team, let's just say there was a LOT of food. I was only on day two of really getting serious about calorie counting (again), so it was very hard to resist stuffing my face with sheet cake, frosted cookie cake from Mrs. Fields, fried chicken, meatballs, tacos, etc.

Thankfully, I was so busy with a project we had the kids working on, that I didn't really have a chance to eat. I was cleaning up their project while everyone else was eating, and then we jumped into awards. Shockingly, I didn't eat a single thing there! (I ate dinner before I left home, so that I wouldn't be starving at the banquet.)

The project that we had the kids make was a new concept. Last year, Renee and I chose awards for each individual (things like "Fastest boy", "Fastest girl", "Hill Monster", "Most Enthusiastic", "Most Improved Runner", etc.). This year, Renee suggested that instead of us choosing the awards, we have the kids choose awards for each other. 

We put their names in an envelope, and each kid drew someone else's name. Then, they had to come up with a positive award (we had a list of suggestions if they couldn't come up with something) and decorate a paper plate to give to the person whose name they drew. In theory, it sounded like a good idea; however, there were complications we didn't plan for (a couple of kids not showing up, some boys who didn't want anything to do with "decorating" something, etc.). 

But, we got it all figured out, and then we handed out the awards. We also gave the kids medals and printouts of their individual race times. We had one special "Coaches' Award", which we gave to a boy that had been to every single practice, every single meet, improved his running significantly, always ran with a smile on his face, and never complained. 

Then, the team gifted Renee and I school spirit shirts with our names on the back, and a HUGE surprise--a nice banner for our team! When we go to the meets, all the other teams have banners for their tents, but we didn't have one. The families chipped in and got us a banner to use next year!

I had to blur out a lot of this picture for privacy reasons, but you can at least see the size of the banner. The kids were very excited about it:

The season seemed so short! I'm going to miss coaching. I definitely plan on coaching again next year, but Renee isn't able to do it with me, which is a big bummer. We work really well together, and it's gone so smoothly for two seasons.

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Like I mentioned, I really needed to get serious about calorie counting again. I'd been counting 4-5 days a week, and then the other 2-3 days I didn't count for whatever reason; and my weight was just stuck. Jeanie, my sister, decided to start using My Fitness Pal again, and she said she was going to pay to have the ads removed (the ads in the middle of my food log was the reason I switched to Fat Secret).

Anyway, I decided to do the same--pay the $50 for the year to have no ads. I think that's a crazy high price for a calorie counting app, but I figure that by paying for it, I will be much more likely to use it. I hate wasting money, so if I don't use it, it would be like throwing away $50, and I don't want that.

So far, so good! On my first day, I went to Ann Arbor and resisted all the baked goods at Whole Foods. Then yesterday, I didn't touch any of the sweets at the potluck. Two very tempting days in a row! But I reminded myself that I'm paying for MFP, so I want to make the most of it. It's funny how something as insignificant as an overpriced app has the power to motivate me so much!

I've been feeling more motivated to run, too. With the nice fall weather, and my realization that my running motivation doesn't kick in until late morning, I no longer feel like I'm dreading my runs. This morning, the weather was great for a race pace run--since I am hoping to pace Stephanie to a sub-60 10K next month, I decided to run three miles at race pace. For a sub-60 finish, that would be 9:39/mile (although I was thinking it was 9:49/mile until I just now double checked).

The run was anything but smooth! Looking at my splits, it looks darn near perfect:

Pretty even splits, right? My pace and heart rate chart show a totally different story, however:

Mile 1: Started out in the low 9:00's, so I slowed down a little until I was at around 9:35. It felt crazy hard! I was doubting whether I could even do one mile at that pace, so I told myself just to get to the end of the first mile, and then I could jog the last two miles. Managed 9:39 on the nose.

Mile 2: Started at a slow jog, because I planned to do the rest of the run slowly. I started spacing out, daydreaming, and realized that I'd picked up speed. That happened a few times over mile two--speed up, slow down, repeat--but I was gradually lowering my mile split. Finally, I decided just to try and hit another mile at race pace. I had to pick up the pace quite a bit to make up for the first half-mile, but I did it. Told myself I could take a walk break if I hit 9:49 or better. Squeaked by with 9:43.

Mile 3: Started out with a walk. Initially, I thought 10 seconds would do, but I kept adding more until it was more like 40 seconds. Then I started jogging slowly. The same thing happened during mile three that happened during mile two--I was gradually picking up the pace without realizing it, until I realized I could probably hit another mile on target. I pushed it the last quarter mile or so, and hit 9:38.

Definitely not the ideal way to hit a target race pace run, but it was better than nothing ;) It felt good to push myself today, even though my heart rate didn't get as high as it probably should have (ideally, it would be over 162). I was also feeling fatigued and sore from my long walk yesterday, which may have contributed to this run feeling harder than I expected.

I've been so busy for the last several weeks, and tonight I don't have anything going on. I plan to just curl up under the electric blanket and watch a movie or something. (Or maybe start to catch up on the last few seasons of The Walking Dead--everyone's been talking about it and I feel left out!) It started raining just after my run, so it's the perfect day for it!

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The season is closing

I had a fun weekend with Jerry! He worked SO much the last few months, I never really saw him. They were doing a special project at work, and other than our vacation in early September, he only had 4 days off out of 70. He had this whole weekend (Friday through Sunday) off, and it almost felt strange to have him around ;)

On Saturday, my cross country team had our last meet of the season, and it was awesome. It was so exciting during the second- and third-graders' race, when some of the older kids from our team started screaming, "Austin's in the lead! Austin's in the lead!" Sure enough, I saw the golf cart zoom by, followed by Austin. (There were 80 kids in the race, so this was impressive)

My heart started racing and I couldn't believe one of our kids was leading the pack. That's never happened to us before in the two years I've been coaching. The race was 1.2 miles, and Austin was neck-in-neck with another kid for the last quarter mile. Just before the last stretch to the finish line, Austin started to slow down because he thought he was done, when he actually had to make a turn and run another 50 yards or so. Everyone started yelling, "Keep going! Keep going!" He looked surprised but sprinted ahead toward the finish. For the first time for us, one of our team members actually WON the race! We even took 5 out of the top 10 finishers. It was a super exciting way to end the season.

Our whole team did really well, and I was SO proud. It made for a great last meet! Tomorrow, we have an end-of-season potluck banquet, where we'll celebrate the season and recognize each kid for something special they contributed to the team.

Speaking of running, I am finally getting my motivation back. I've had ZERO motivation to run recently, and I can feel myself getting more and more out of shape. So yesterday, I finally made myself go for a six-mile run, and I felt really good about it all day. I noticed that I feel much better about myself on the days that I run.

I realized that my running motivation doesn't hit me until later in the morning, after I've had breakfast and tea. Lately, I've been feeling like I need to run as soon as I drop the kids off for school, and I just don't feel motivated to; but when I was consistently running all spring, I was doing it after breakfast when I felt the urge to head out there.

Today, however, I had plans with Andrea in the late morning, so I dropped off the kids at school and then went to the outdoor track to run. It was still dark outside, and I hate running in the dark, so I figured the track would be lit up. I was wrong. The track was pitch black, but it still felt safer than running on the roads in the dark. At first, it was hard to see even a few feet in front of my shoes, but once the sun started coming up a little more, it got better.

I just ran three miles at an easy pace (circling the track made it feel like forever!) and then I went home to shower and get ready to meet Andrea. She had never been to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's before, so when I told her I had to go to Whole Foods, she said she wanted to come with me.

I'm going to be hosting Winers at my house next month, and I chose to do an "Around the World" theme--wine from several different countries around the world, and food to go with each. I knew Whole Foods would have a good wine selection for that, so I went up there (Ann Arbor is about 45 minutes away). I ended up getting wine from Spain, Italy, France, Chile, Japan, and Germany. I meant to get an Australian one, too, and I totally forgot. It'll be fun to taste them with my wine club!

I managed not to buy any desserts at Whole Foods (when I think of Whole Foods, all I can think of is their bakery section!). After that, we stopped at a consignment shop, where I bought a cat shirt (if I wasn't cozy under the electric blanket right now, I'd go take a picture--it's a cool shirt!). Then we headed to Trader Joe's. I bought a few things there, but nothing too exciting. Thankfully, they had exactly zero jars of Cookie Butter in stock, because I don't know if I would have been able to resist buying some. I haven't had it in so long! By the time Andrea and I got home, it was time for the kids to come home from school.

I'm starting to think about what plan I want to use for half-marathon training for Indy. I don't have to seriously start training until the beginning of next year, but I definitely need to start picking up some mileage now. I am debating using Hansons Half Marathon Method--I loved using the Hansons Marathon Method while training for Chicago, but I felt so burnt out after all those miles. I may write a plan similar to the 10K plan I wrote, which is using the 80/20 method and heart rate training. I still haven't fully decided what my goal is going to be! So, I guess I should figure that out before choosing a plan ;)

Tomorrow morning, I'm meeting Jessica for a long walk--seven miles!

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