Let's Get Random!

Last week (and, for full disclosure, it “bled” into this week as well…sorry, really bad joke there) I was HORRIBLE at sticking to paleo.  I blame TOM.  Or maybe you prefer the nickname “Aunt Flo.”  Either way, I was a mess with cravings and lack of will power.  I was up about 5 pounds most of the week.  Also, because I was so horrible with my eating for about 3 days last week, there were 3 days I didn’t track everything I ate.  Bad Sara.  Bad, bad, bad!  So, that is the first time I have lapsed in tracking everything that I ate in a day since the beginning of May.  For shame.  But, I’m not going to beat myself up over it.  Saturday I was back on track with tracking everything and I’m still tracking everything again, so it’s all good and I’m moving on and moving forward. 

I realize that the last couple weeks I have seriously slacked about including random pictures in these posts, so I’m going to do my best to make up for that with this post (so be prepared for a boatload of random pics and memes and things at the end of this post). 

Something I think I forgot to write about in a previous Random post was in regard to my bunion.  Oh, by the way, I have a bunion on my left big toe, in case I’ve somehow forgotten to mention it or if I did mention it, you missed it, or I mentioned it before you started reading my blog…blah blah you get the idea.  Anyway, I wear one of those silicone bunion toe spacer/friction guard thingies whenever I wear closed toe shoes.  I don’t wear it when I wear sandals because, well, there’s nothing pushing my toe in toward my other toes, so no reason to wear one.  The very first one I ever bought lasted me a year.  Every single one I’ve bought since then has lasted me anywhere from just one wearing to 2 months, tops.  This is very annoying and frustrating.  I mean, they’re only expensive if I buy them from the local podiatrist.  Otherwise the most I’ve paid is $10+shipping for 2.  But I’ve recently discovered them on the Wish app for $1-$3 for 2 + only like $1 shipping for each pack of 2.  Super cheap.  So, that’s where I’ve been ordering them from lately since I apparently need them in bulk.  While I was waiting for my order of 8 of them last month, I was taping a torn one to my foot with kinesiology tape.  HA!  But, hey, it worked!  It just made the skin that was trapped under the tape super dry so there was a lot of need to moisturize my big toe and the little toe next door to it.

I’ve been seriously nailing my runs lately.  I don’t want to talk too much about my runs in the Random posts because I have 2 other weekly posts that are dedicated to posting about my runs and workouts.  But I just want to say how proud I am of myself for working so hard and hitting and holding paces I set out to run.  I love running with purpose.  I have to say, I think that’s my new motto. 

Last week I got a couple long awaited things in the mail.  First was my Capital to Coast Relay official swag running tech hat.  I really like it!

It’s it nice?  I’ll be wearing this for the entirety of the relay this week!  I’ve been asking lots of questions and compiling a nice packing list of the things I’ll need to take with me for the approximate 30 hours we’ll be out on the course as a team.  It was recently brought to my attention that there will be an opportunity to shower at a high school the first night (for a dollar, I think I can swing that…now to remember to get some cash to take with me!), so I added a towel and toiletries to my packing list.  I want to take 3 changes of running clothes and 2 changes of regular clothes.  Since our team is the Justice League, I’ll be taking a Wonder Woman tank top and my blue spandex with the white stars to cross the finish line with.  I was happy to find out that we should all get our own individual bibs.  I wonder if they’re generic bibs or customized?  Guess I’ll find out soon enough.

One of the guys that had originally signed up for the relay backed out for whatever reason so I volunteered to take one of his legs and will now be running 25.02-ish miles instead of 18.46.  Sweet! 

The other thing that arrived in the mail that was long awaited was my 2^nd place age group award from the Schlotzsky’s Bun Run last Sunday!  YAY!  This was my 5^th or 6^th age group top 3 finish (one of them I didn’t get a medal for, though…I got a gift certificate which was good too, but I love my bling!). 

I ordered ANOTHER pair of Altra shoes.  These were the One model.  They’re a really pretty orange color, so I’m excited about them.  However, at the time of this posting, they have not yet arrived.  They were SUPPOSED to be here on Monday but some GENIUS at UPS (my grandma calls them OOPS because…yea), when they were almost to me in Dallas, TX, put them on the wrong truck and they ended up in Pennsylvania.  So they didn't arrive until today.  Great.  Just great.  But, I should be good on shoes until after the first of the year.  Which is good because I’m trying to curb my spending. 

Speaking of the Altra brand…I applied to be an ambassador for the brand!  I don’t know when they’ll send out notification of whether or not applicants were selected or not, but I definitely have my fingers crossed.  I’m hoping I talked myself up good enough that they’re willing to take a chance on me.  I really love their shoes and honestly don’t see myself changing to another brand of shoes…ever.  Even if they don’t choose me, it won’t tarnish my opinion of the company or their amazing product.  I imagine I’ll hear back from them whether or not I’ve been accepted as an ambassador around the end of November as they’re taking applications through November 7^th.

Speaking of being an ambassador, I’ve got my application for INKnBURN all filled out, now I just need to take a few pictures of me in INKnBURN gear that are flattering to the brand and attach them to the application and send it off.  Like I said, I’m thinking this will be the last time I apply to renew my ambassador status with them.  Not because I don’t love the company or their product anymore, but because I don’t want to feel pressured to buy as much of the product as possible just so I can promote it.  Don’t get me wrong, the discount is nice, but I’d rather pay full price and get things I KNOW I’ll wear a lot rather than buying things for the sake of the fact that I’m an ambassador and I feel that’s what’s expected of me.  I will always love the company and their product.  I will also never stop buying their product.  I enjoy being an ambassador and telling people about the company and the high quality of their product and will continue to do that even once I’m not longer an ambassador.

Other things I bought recently were a new band for my FitBit Charge 2 in a seafoamy color.  I like this so much better than the blah black band. 

I also bought a case for my new phone.  I picked this case because it has a place to attach a lanyard/wrist strap.  I want that so that when I’m out running, I can have a wrist strap on in case I drop the phone.  Even though it’s supposedly shock proof to like a 5 foot drop, I don’t want to chance anything.  Now, when I get a new hydration pack that has pockets that my new phone will fit in without it hitting random buttons, then I won’t have to worry about it so much, but for now I’m holding my phone in my hand while I’m running and, well, my hands get a little sweaty at times.

I’ve mentioned it already, but I bought some military cadence CD’s plus downloaded more cadence off Amazon music.  I’m seriously obsessed with running to cadence now.  I think it really helps me focus on hitting my paces better than just regular music does.

I also bought a pair of silicone donut molds!  I’m a little disappointed that they don’t make full size donuts.  It’s more like medium size donuts, but that’s fine.  I want to make them and then use them as pre-long run and pre-race fuel.

So, I’m sure you have all noticed that I changed the banner on the blog.  I had business cards for my blog made about a year ago after I attended a women’s conference and those cards have the now former banner on them.  So, I’m thinking I should get new cards made with the new banner on them.  I’ll get them for cheap from Vistaprint, so it won’t be a huge expenditure.  I’m hoping to attend the women’s conference again next spring, so I want to have good, attractive business cards to hand out to people.  I really want to attract more readers and followers and hope to make lots of new connections with fellow runners and weight losers and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts.  So, I think I’ll get to designing a new business card after I’ve finished with costume making.  HA!

Speaking of costume making.  HOPEFULLY this weekend I can finish up the mermaid and barbarian costumes.  I just need to make some wrist wraps and lace drawstrings in the barbarian costume.  For the mermaid, I just need to sew in the waist elastic and then affix a wrist strap to the tail fin so it’s not dragging on the ground getting ruined.  Then!  Then I get to sew some wings for the crow costume.  I’m really excited for this year’s costumes!

Aaaaaand, speaking of costumes!  Joann’s Fabrics and Crafts had Simplicity patterns on sale for 99 cents and McCall’s for $1.99 this past week.  So I bought a BUNCH!  I’m going to go back and buy some more as I think the sale goes through the end of next week.  I’m going to stock up while they’re cheap!  OH YEA!

My mom’s birthday was on Tuesday.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  I love you!

And now some random pictures from my phone...

this stuff is actually really good and goes great with brisket!

sweet potato waffles

breast cancer awareness month means pink badges at work

love bug!

gluten free homemade-ish pizza

patterns were hugely on sale at Joann's