Guest Post: Miranda from Miranda Runs

Today is jam packed with finals. In the past I only ever had one final per day but today I have two that are back to back. Tomorrow I plan on packing up some things so on Monday when my last final is over I can move out of the dorms for good. I'm stoked!

I mentioned earlier this week that I had two guest posts for you guys this week. Today's is from Miranda and she talks about a personal struggle with anorexia nervosa. If this topic is uncomfortable for you, if you have had/have this disorder, or if you don't agree with this topic then please move on and don't read this post. Thank you!




Hey guys! I’m Miranda and I’m a teenage blogger over at Miranda Runs dealing with graduating high school, training for my first half marathon, and all things in between! I’m guest posting for Danielle today while she’s busy with finals… Good luck girl! Rock those finals!

Danielle thought it would be interesting for me to do a post on eating disorders. A personal story. That being said, before I get into the dirt of this post, if you are struggling with an eating disorder or ever have and are triggered, PLEASE skip over this guest post. I don’t want you to slip any deeper or fall back into it. This post isn’t worth it!

Some of you may know that I struggled with anorexia nervosa for 2 years in high school.

This was taken August 2011, 10 pounds heavier than my lowest weight. Scary, right?

I’m super happy to say that I’ve physically recovered now and, although I’ll never be able to shake all of anorexia’s dwindling effects, I’m making progress every day. Anorexia had a pretty solid grasp on my life for years, and I did the same exact routine day after day. Buckle your seat belts… we’re going back in time! PS- please get the reference!

Date: school day in April 2011

6:15 am- Rise and shine! I would get out of bed, lift up my shirt and see how “huge” my stomach looked that day. I would get dressed, do my makeup, and head out to the kitchen for breakfast.

6:30 am- Breakfast time. 1 cup of skim milk + 1 tbsp fat-free vanilla creamer. What is this, 100 calories max? That was my limit for breakfast calories. I wanted to keep it low just incase I ate more later in the day. This “prevention technique” is something I’m still working on getting over.

7 am- Leave for school and obsess over food. calories, and exercise during school. A lot of anorexic’s grades slip because they are too hungry to focus on school. I avoided this, thankfully, but only because I trained my body to ignore hunger cues. It wasn’t until I was done with 4 months of recovery that I actually felt “hunger” or “fullness” again. 

11:30 am- Lunch time. I’m about 85% sure I didn’t eat lunch more than 5 times my whole sophomore year. People asked me why I didn’t have lunch and I’d tell them “I forgot”, “I’m not hungry”, “I had a big breakfast”. Lies. All lies. I got to be a fantastic liar… If I did bring lunch, it would be exactly 1 cup (measured) of Cheerios. And then I would have to burn an extra 100 calories at the gym later. 

2:10 pm- End of the school day! I would head straight to the gym and not eat a snack (in case you’re keeping track, I’ve probably eaten a total of 100 calories for the whole day)

2:45 pm- Start on the elliptical. Every single day I would go on the elliptical for 65 minutes and burn a minimum of 800 calories. I hadn’t started running yet and frankly if I had, I probably would have fainted (or worse) because my body couldn’t handle it. I found a 2011 calendar where for each day I wrote down the amount of calories I burned, and from that I realized I didn’t take a rest day for 3 months. If the gym was closed, I would run stairs at home or do something else to burn calories. I worked out on Thanksgiving, my 16th birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Years… Some people call this “dedication” but it was definitely an unhealthy obsession.

4 pm- Do the lat pull down and seated row machines. I just did this so I didn’t look so skinny- it gave me “muscle”. 

4:20 pm- Leave for home

4:30 pm- Take a shower and wait for dinner. No snack here either. I can remember looking at the clock and counting how many hours it had been since I had last eaten. 

5:30 pm- “Eat” dinner. This means taking a portion 1/3 of the size of a normal one. I wouldn’t eat bread, fats, cheese, and I loathed eating out.

For the rest of the evening, I would do homework, watch TV, hang out with my boyfriend, mess around on the computer… “normal” teenage stuff. I barely snacked, but if I did, I immediately felt self-hate. 

9:15 pm- Bed time.

I did this every single day. I’m ashamed of my life back then. Honestly, the best day of my life was when my boyfriend forced me to tell my mom about my anorexia because he was scared I was going to die (okay he never said this BUT I can read in between the lines…). My BMI was about 15.6 and I was in danger of my heart stopping at any time.
It’s been a long, hard road to where I am now.

But man oh man I’m so much happier and healthier. Sometimes I wish this had never happened to me… but it’s made me such a stronger, better person!

Starving yourself will not make you happier. Skinny does NOT equal beautiful. Society has brainwashed our society and anorexia is rearing its ugly head more and more. Ladies, love yourself! If you’re not going to take care of your body, who will? You only get one body!

I’m not usually this serious but a sad post calls for a not-my-normal-goofy tone. You can see my normal happy self at my blog Miranda Runs! Thank you so much for letting me guest post Danielle!

Question

What do you love about yourself? Does this story resonate with you?

Thanks for sharing your personal story, Miranda! We are all glad you are recovering and living a healthy life. Check out my post I wrote awhile back about the influences television and models have on young women.

Guest Post: Brittany from DulceVie

It's nearing the end of the semester which means it's time to start studying for all of my finals that are coming up. While I am away studying like a mad man I have two great guest posts in store for you this week! Both bloggers are students like myself. I know how hard it can be to manage a blog and go to school full time so I love when I meet other bloggers out there like myself!

Today I would like to welcome Brittany to the blog! Brittany is going to share her story about how she fell in love with running. Enjoy!

Hey guys! My name is Brittany over from DulceVie . For those of you who do not know me, I am a rower planning to row D1 this fall (I'm super excited). I currently live in Chicago, but I will moving out to California this fall for college!

How I fell in love with running

Running was never something that I did willingly. In fact, I hated running. So how did I fall in love with it?

Well, last year my family and I went on a trip to London and France. I was going to be missing practice and I knew that I would probably fall behind if I didn’t do something while on vacation. I also knew that there would be no rowing machines in the hotels, so I made the decision to run everyday while on vacation. 

As I walked into our hotel’s gym a thought entered my head. Rather than trying to run a certain distance or pace, why not just focus on running for about 30 minutes. I stepped onto the treadmill thinking that I would probably get tired and end up walking. I turned on the machine and began increasing the speed to a slow jog. The treadmill was set in km so I had no clue how far I was actually running. After 40 minutes of watching tv while jogging, I noticed that I had been running for 40 minutes. It was then that I realized that running was not so bad.

After running everyday, I came back to practice and was able to keep up all of my teammates. When my season ended, I decided to keep running. After running everyday, I actually began looking forward to my runs. I liked being able to run and have a little “me” time.  I also began feeling more confident about myself. I felt like a better athlete and clothes were beginning to fit me nicer (score!).

While discussing my running journey with my best friend, who is also beginning her own running journey, I realized that there are ways to enjoy running. Here is my advice to those of you who are trying to enjoy running:

•  Don’t stress about how fast or how far you can go. Just get out there and do something. Anything is better than nothing

•  Lie to yourself. Yes, you heard me! If you aren’t feeling motivated to go for a run, tell yourself that you are going for a walk. When you get yourself walking, tell yourself that you will just jog for a few minutes. After a few times of lying to yourself, you will find that it is easier to run.

•  Treat yourself to some awesome running shoes or a cute outfit. Getting new workout gear can make working out more exciting. So treat yourself to some new stuff!

•  Look at running as “me” time. Use it to take a break from those around you and enjoy the great outdoors, or hop on a treadmill and listen to some music.

Running began as a chore and has become a new passion for me. Running is great for your health, so go for a run!

Thank you so much Danielle for letting me guest post!

 

Double Digits

When I first signed up to run the Indy Mini-Marathon in May my dad had mentioned that one of his friends at work ran it every year and was interested in running it with me. I immediately agreed to it, having no idea how fast this guy ran and having never met him before. This weekend I had both the pleasure of meeting Lance and running with him.

I talked to him on the phone earlier last week about meeting up to go on a run and at first was a little nervous. He is in the Army so in my head I had pictured a big intimidating guy who would be pushing me the entire run yelling at me to run faster. I was so relieved when I  met him and he was quite the opposite. He was willing to run any pace that I wanted and didn't yell at me to hurry up once!

(I thought I would end up being like the guy on the right in this picture with an Army man pushing me to my limits. Thankfully that wasn't me on the run yesterday. Note: the guy on the left is my dad! Can you see why I imagined Lance to be a little intimidating?)

I met Lance at his house because he had a good 10 mile route planned out. We ended up running through a college campus and around a huge lake. The view was gorgeous and the weather was perfect.

Our splits are as follows:

We ended up finishing the 10 miles in 1 hour 35 minutes with an average pace of 9:33. Not bad for my first 10 miler! I felt some pain around mile 7 which is why we backed off our pace a little bit and today I'm feeling a little sore but after some rolling and spending time wearing my compression socks I'm feeling better! This week I plan to start tapering because the race day is in 11 days!

Question

Did you go on any runs over the weekend? Do you have a favorite route?

Photo Shoot Giveaway

If you remember about a month ago I began selling t-shirts to raise ovarian cancer awareness along with money for my aunt's fundraiser. I had also mentioned that if you bought a t-shirt you were eligible to win a photo shoot by Michelle Davies Photography.

When I first talked about the giveaway, the deadline to enter was April 15th but that was before some complications with the shirts arose. Most people did not receive their shirts by this date and most people received a misprint. The shirts are supposed to say "Raising Awareness With Every Mile" so if you bought a shirt and it did not say that, then be on the lookout for another one coming in the mail soon!

Giveaway Details

In order to be eligible to win a photo shoot with Michelle Davies Photography you must:
1: Take a picture of yourself in the shirt. (A phone picture will work!)
2: Email the picture to michelledavies [at] michelledaviesphotography [dot] com
3. Live in the Fort Wayne, IN area or be willing to travel to the area. (Michelle considers anything within 20 miles of downtown Fort Wayne the Fort Wayne area)
4. The deadline to enter is Friday, April 26th at midnight.

Everyone who enters will be put into a drawing and a winner will be chosen at random. The winner will win a photo shoot that is an hour long, at a mutually agreeable location, and can do clothing changes.

All photos sent to Michelle Davies will also be posted on the blog!

Thank you for helping me raise awareness and don't forget to wear your shirt on Saturday May 4th to support my cause while I am running in the Indy Mini Marathon!

If you have any questions please feel free to comment below or send me an e-mail. I look forward to seeing your pictures!

* If you did not buy a shirt but still want to donate towards the cause you can find more info here.

Run For Your Lives

Are you an avid runner or do you only run when you're being chased?

I am a huge fan of the The Walking Dead, which is a horror-drama television series about a group of people fighting for their lives in a world of flesh-eating zombies. When I was watching the season finale a few weeks ago I saw a commercial for a 5k race called Run For Your Lives.

Running and The Walking Dead? Count me in.

(Photo Source)

This race is infested with zombies and obstacles that test your speed, strength, and wit. Each runner wears flags ("lives") on their belt and if they cross the finish line with at least 1 life then they are a survivor, if the zombies get all of their lives then they transform into a zombie. The main obstacles are a blood pit, smoke house, and a maze but there are other natural obstacles like mud holes, etc. I am the most nervous about the smoke house. A dark house filled with zombies scares me!

The photo gallery on the race website shows people running through rivers, covered in mud, climbing up ropes, crawling under barbed wire, and running from zombies. I think the race will be similar to a Tough Mudder but with the added bonus of running for your life.

Do you hate running but still want to be a part of the race? You can sign up to be a zombie! The Run For Your Lives crew will give you a professional zombie transformation by doing your make-up and shredding your clothes! Zombies even get a few added perks like free parking and camping.

Now you can't tell me that seeing that zombie won't make you run a little bit faster. I know it would make me sprint the entire race!

I am signing up for the race in Indianapolis, IN and you should sign up for a race near you too! You can find the complete list of race locations, learn more about how the race works, and check out the after party details on the Run For Your Lives website. Just the fact that this race is different from your normal 5k race makes me want to do it! Color runs are fun but zombie runs? It can't get much better.

Disclaimer: In return for writing this review I am receiving a discount on my race entry, however all opinions are entirely my own.

Question

Have you ever heard of the Run For Your Lives 5k race? 

What is the craziest, most original race you have ever done?

Prayers for Boston

I don't know how to explain how I felt when I found out the news about the explosions at the Boston Marathon today. Because I am a runner I felt like it touched me a little bit more. And the fact that I had just finished a run without any injuries, pain, or suffering made me feel guilty.

For some people the race is a tradition and they run it every year, for others their dream of running in such an amazing race came true and this was their first time participating. I cannot imagine what those running today felt when they were so close to finishing a race they have been training for for months, some even years, all to be over with just like that.

I cannot imagine being able to celebrate after completing the race when some families are now without their loved ones. Knowing that most of the people who were injured or killed were spectators saddens me. They were there to support and cheer on their loved ones. As a runner I know that my support group is so crucial to my training and without them I don't know if I could push myself as much as I do. Knowing that a member of my family was hurt cheering me on would break my heart. I cannot imagine why someone would want to do such cruel things to a group of people.

All I do know is that as runners, we have to stand up. We can't stop running just because of the acts of one person. We have to keep doing what we love for those we love and for those who lost their lives at the Boston Marathon today. We need to take a second to pray and send our thoughts to the families who are suffering.

Half-Marathon Advice Needed

Thank you all for all of your great comments regarding my race last weekend!

Yesterday was really nice outside so I took advantage of it and went on a short run by the river with some friends. I was planning on going 10 miles over the weekend but they aren't big runners so we stuck with 3. I'm hopefully going to get the 10 miles in today.

Speaking of long runs and only having a few weeks left before the race, I am looking for advice from all of you pro-half marathoners. Do you think that running 1 medium (8 miles) and 1 long run (10 miles) in week 1, 1 long run (10 miles) in week 2, and the race (13 miles) in week 3 is good or too much? I don't know if I should be running a long run the week before the race or not.

I also don't know if I should make one of the long runs 13 miles instead of 10. I have never ran anything longer than 10 so I'm a little concerned about the race.

Sorry for making this post so short but I don't really have too much on my mind to blog about today other than asking for advice from you!



I saw this on Pinterest and loved the quote so I thought I would share.

Question

Should I run 13 miles before the race? Am I doing too many long runs?

5k Race for Hunger Recap

Last weekend I signed up for a small 5k race in my hometown. One of the fraternities at Indiana Tech was hosting a 5k race to raise money for St. Mary's Soup Kitchen. I don't know exactly how many people were there but there were around 50 which I thought was a good turn out for a cold, Saturday morning. Pretty much everyone there was around my age and there were also a few older adults that ran making for some good competition. The worst part about this race was the temperature outside. It had been super warm all week so I had packed clothes for warmer running temps - little did I know it would be 30 some degrees and windy that morning! My hands were mighty cold.

I signed up for this race for a few different reasons:

1) I haven't raced since last fall and thought it would be good to get another race under my belt before the half-marathon.
2) The race was for a good cause and didn't cost an arm and a leg to enter
3) Free t-shirt! (this is what I am always most excited about when it comes to races)

I had told my mom when I signed up for the race that she had to go with me. I think she forgot about it because Saturday morning I dragged her out of bed for the race! She was happy with her hot Starbucks coffee and camera though! (My mom also wrote a review of the race, check it out here)

My Garmin time ended up being 25.59! I am happy with this time because I was running into the wind for a good portion of the race which made it a bit of a challenge. And not to mention that my hands were numb for half of the race (not that that has anything to do with time, it was just painful!)

The best part about this race? I won first place in my age group! This is also my first plaque ever! I have a handful of ribbons and medals but no plaques so this is a fun one to add to the collection.

And here are the winners from all the age groups. Doesn't the guy in the blue look so excited to have won?

After the race I went home and put on my ProCompression Marathon Socks to help with recovery! I am seriously in love with them! See my full review of the socks here.

And speaking of ProCompression socks, the winner of the ProCompression Marathon Socks giveaway is Julie M! Julie I am e-mailing you, be sure to check your inbox and spam folders just incase.

If you didn't win the giveaway you can still use the promo code SOMF4 to receive 40% off and free shipping on any baby blue or purple pair of ProCompression socks throughout April!


* All photos taken by Michelle Davies of Michelle Davies Photography

Question

Have you ever under or over dressed for a race?

Super Sweaty 15 Minute Lower Body Workout

Today I realized how inconsistent my blogging is. While I always post at least twice a week, some weeks I will post much more than others. Does this drive any of you crazy? I'm sorry if it does! I find that I have much more time to blog when I don't have as much homework to do. And speaking of homework... I better make this post quick because I have some that is due tomorrow and a test to study for!

Today I completed a new lower body workout I threw together. Afterwards I was literally lying on the floor, not moving an inch. Here's the proof...

At least I still had enough energy to smile for the camera! I also may or may not have dropped my phone on my face while scrolling through my Instagram while laying on the floor :)

So if you want a super sweaty-lie dead on the floor when it's done-leg workout then this is for you!

Enjoy!

And be sure to enter the ProCompression Marathon Socks giveaway! The socks will be perfect for recovery after this workout ;)

Question

What is your favorite lower body exercise?

Blogging Tools

If you are new to blogging, not so tech-savy, or looking for easy to use blogging tools then you have come to the right place! Some of these sites may be old news to you but I thought I would share because I know how it feels to be a new blogger and search Google endlessly for the latest blogging tools. I learned about all of these sites through other bloggers and from the countless Google searches. I have all of these sites favorited on my computer and thought I would share my absolute favorites blogging tools with you that have made blogging easier for me.

I don't consider myself to be an expert at all when it comes to blogging so these are all just suggestions. There are probably other services out there that are even better than these so if you know of any let me know! I am always looking for the next best thing when it comes to blogging tools.

(Note: If you click on the subheadings it will take you directly to that website)

PicMonkey

This site is a lot of fun and so easy to use. You can upload pictures or blank images to the site and then add text, graphics, and more! This is where I make all of my workouts and recipes for the blog fun and eye-catching.

The Pin-It Button

When I first began blogging a few months ago I don't think that this button was as user-friendly for Blogger as it is now. I tried to edit my HTML code so many different times and it never worked, until now. The people over at Pinterest have changed things up and made the button incredibly user friendly!

Image Maps

Do you see those little social media icons on the sidebar of my blog? Yes, I made those myself and yes, it was easy. Image Maps is a website where you upload your image and then can link different sites to the image. It was so easy to use and I highly recommend it especially if you are making your own social media icons or buttons.

Bitly

Ever go to tweet something and then find out you have to cut out half of the words because the URL you put in the tweet is too long? Bitly shortens up the URL making it look cleaner and allowing everything to fit when you only have X number of characters to use. You are also able to see how many clicks the link gets!

For example this: http://trufflesntreadmills.blogspot.com/2013/04/procompression-review-giveaway.html

becomes this: http://bit.ly/Xursb9

Question

What are your favorite blogging tools that you use on a regular basis?

Funny Search Keywords

Awhile ago I saw that another blogger (can't remember who!) was talking about funny search keywords that led people to her blog. Today when I was looking over my blog stats I noticed some funny ones so I thought I would share!

If I was looking to be directed to a blog that was similar to mine and focused on fitness and healthy living then in Google I would search things like:

"fitness blog"

"blog about running"

"blog about staying fit while in college"

"fun workout blog"

Now most of the time people search these things and are directed to my blog but other times they put the funniest things into Google and are directed to my blog. Some of the funny, strange, or random things people have searched are:

Chicken Feet Soup

Okay, I have no idea why this would bring anyone to be directed to my blog but I laughed when I saw it. Chicken Feet soup?! I have never even heard of it but I guess it really does exist. The only way I can see someone being directed to my blog when searching that is because I have talked about chicken noodle soup before.

Sunglasses in Megan Green Color

Is megan green a color? I have never heard of it before. I think I have talked about sunglasses once on the blog before when I talked about a shopping trip with my roommate.

Pineapple Butter with Eggs

1) This sounds gross. 2) I don't think pineapple butter is a real thing but I could be wrong. Also, I have never talked about eggs on the blog before so I don't know why this keyword would bring anyone to my blog! Interesting...

 

Question

What are some interesting and funny search keywords bringing people to your blog?

ProCompression Review & Giveaway

* This giveaway is closed *

 

Today's run was great due to 3 things: 55' weather, my BAMR Bands headband, and my brand new ProCompression socks!

I have heard so many good things about ProCompression socks but was skeptical about their "magic powers." I have had problems with my legs throughout my running career and had compartment syndrome in my right leg which led me to get surgery (basically my nerves and blood flow were being cut off whenever I ran so they had to fix that).

I had emailed the company and told them about my running problems and asked if there was anyway I could try a pair out. I figured it would take them awhile to respond and thought all they were going to do was send me the coupon code for Sock of the Month. Well I was wrong because they replied within a day and said they would send me a pair to try out (which came in the mail within another 2 days). They also said they would do a giveaway for my readers! Talk about awesome.

The pair of socks they sent me were the Purple Marathon socks. I love the bright purple color and lime green accent.

Magic Powers

ProCompression socks are comfortable and offer a ton of benefits, which I also call "magic powers."

From the website: "Experience maximum benefit with the Marathon full-length, graduated compression sock. Compression technology helps improve blood flow, resulting in better, more consistent performance with less fatigue and faster, more efficient recovery. In addition to improving vascular performance, Marathon compression socks provide support to critical muscles and tendons, helping reduce inflammation and soreness."

My Results

As soon as I put these socks on I could feel a difference. I loved how much support they offered and how snug they were on my legs and feet.

When I wore these on my run today I could feel a difference. My calves didn't feel sore at all and when I was done with my run, my legs still felt good as new. Normally they are sore after a run or feel tight and today they felt fine. Today's run was a quick 3 miles but I am sure that these will make a huge difference on my longer 6+ mile runs.

I also liked that the socks didn't slip down at all while running and were breathable. It was a pretty warm day out today so I almost opted not to wear the socks because I thought my legs would feel overheated but they didn't.

Giveaway

The generous people over at ProCompression are allowing one lucky reader to win a pair of ProCompression socks! There are a ton of ways to enter and earn extra entries so make sure you complete as many as possible for more chances to win. The giveaway will be open until Friday April 12th at 12:00am. and be announced on the blog over the weekend! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sock of the Month

If you can't wait until this giveaway is over to get your hands on a pair of ProCompression socks, head on over to their website to check out their purple and baby blue Socks of the Month. Just use the code SOMF4 at the checkout for 40% off and free shipping!

Disclaimer: I was sent this product free of charge, however all opinions are my own.