That's pretty much how my Thanksgiving can be summed up. There was a lot of turkey, and a bit of chaos! I traveled with my boyfriend up to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with his family. It was definitely difficult to be away from my family, but I took one for the team. (We'll be spending Christmas with my family.) Relationships are about compromise, right? Back up... Chaos?! In between houses #2 and #3 on Thanksgiving, we had a deer JUMP into my passenger door, and BUMP all over the passenger side of the vehicle. :-| Fortunately, neither of us were injured, but my poor car... No bueno. If all goes well, I'll be picking it back up from the Cleveland area next weekend. While I'm not thrilled about the impact of being without my car for two weeks, I am happy that the damage was not substantial, and that we made it back home safely.  I must warn everyone out there in an area with lots of deer to beware! Male deer are literally chasing tail this time of year (wher...

I did it! I did it! I ran my first half marathon! The whole thing! I have a recap forthcoming, which I am excited to share, however, the purpose for this post today is to tell you about this awesome bath I took after the race, which helped relieve some of my muscle pain after the race. I'd heard about Epsom salt from my mom, as well as from more hardcore runners than myself. According to the instructions on the packaging, all you do is put two cups of Epsom salt in the bathtub while you draw a bath, and you're good to go! Noting that the bag of Epsom salt I had in my trunk for the last year or so had a hole in it, and was probably only good for throwing down when it starts snowing or something in the next month, I made a stop at CVS after the race. There, I picked up some Epsom salt, but also spotted a couple of extra ingredients I wanted to add to my relaxation and recovery bath. ...

As I can't stop telling everyone, I'm going to be running my first half marathon on Saturday! That's right: The Annapolis Running Classic is finally here! I can't believe that I will finally be able to stick a 13.1 sticker on my bumper! My fellow A-Team members are also getting pumped, and I can't wait to slap a big ol' grin on my face for our group photo after the race! Wait a second! Did you register? If you haven't yet, but you want to, get on it RIGHT NOW! Today is the last day to register, yo! Register HERE  and use the code ARREF15  to get an additional 10% off. Okay, now that we're over that minor detail, let me tell you about this app, and what it has to do with the Annapolis Running Classic. You may have noticed that I'm a RunGo Ambassador . That has been pretty sweet  for me so far, but it just got a little sweeter today. You see, the lovely team at RunGo put together two guided routes for the race. They have one for the 10k, and ...

This week, I am tapering (mostly) in preparation for my first half marathon EVER! As many of you know, I will be running the Annapolis Running Classic Half Marathon this Saturday! I have met several of my fellow Annapolis Running Classic A-Team members over the last few months, and I'm looking forward to meeting the rest on Saturday. Judging by the weather reports, the race will be about 20 degrees warmer than last year , and it should be sunny on top of that. Woohoo! If you haven't signed up yet, make sure you hurry up and register ! The last day to register is November 18! Be sure to use my discount code ( ARREF15 ) to take an additional 10% off the registration price! Speaking of cold weather, it is that time of year where most of us starting to get a little cracked around the edges. The cool air can really take a toll on your skin, so I know I definitely have to give my skin a little extra TLC to help it survive the fall and winter. I'm always on the lookout for go...

While I normally read political nonfiction, I have been focusing on reading other genres this year -- particularly other genres of nonfiction. I have been inspired to read the stories of other athletes, which is why I jumped at the opportunity to read The Accidental Athlete: How Running Changed My Life  by Stephanie Atwood. Reading the stories of athletes can be both inspirational and motivational, while challenging you to examine the role of sports in your life. The Accidental Athlete  was a quick and easy read about how Atwood became a runner, and grew to love running even more than she did as a child, despite a series of heartbreaking life events. I'm a bit torn on how I felt after reading this book. On the one hand, I love reading about how different people reach self discovery, and was interested to see how Atwood came to call herself an athlete. On the other hand, the writing style left much to be desired. ...

Yesterday, I had a wicked long volleyball tournament. Our region hosts these tournaments called fellowships, where you basically practice with your team, and try out new players who might want to join your team. You get "rated" as a scorekeeper or referee at these tournaments, so they don't count for anyone, and you can't get upset if there are scorekeeping errors or new refs who don't necessarily know all of the rules. I think of it sort of as a preseason for the USA Volleyball season, or practice tournaments. My volleyball team has actually expanded quite a bit over the last two seasons, so much so that we actually added a second team, and formed a club. We had several players who are new to our club who came out yesterday and played with us. We ended up playing in both the morning and afternoon sessions, which means that we played 5 volleyball matches yesterday. Fortunately, they were shorter-than-usual matches, so we weren't as exhausted as you would n...

Nom nom nom! That's the sound I made when I tasted my soup after it had been cooking in all of its veggie goodness overnight! In my totally humble opinion, this is my best lentil soup recipe to date! I have been fiddling around with different flavor combinations, and I think I finally achieved exactly the flavor I was looking for. As I may have mentioned on here before (maybe not?), lentil soup is absolutely my favorite type of soup. I'm pretty picky about my lentil soup, and while I should maybe be a little embarrassed by how picky I am, I'm really not. You see, lentil soup has been my favorite soup since I was really young, so I've tried so many different types of lentil soup, and have pretty much settled into what I expect out of my soup. First and foremost, lentil soup cannot be runny. I need it to be thicker, almost like a stew. The vegetables are crucial to the flavor. I don't care much for lentil soup recipes which require celery, or those which requi...

I have been on a super wacky schedule lately; however, I have managed to (generally) stick to my modified Mediterranean Diet and lose a few more pounds. Eating more vegetables and lean protein is definitely helping my clothes fit a little looser, and my belly look a little slimmer. I'm not losing crazy amounts of weight, which is actually why I am encouraged. I know that this diet is sustainable, as long as I stay motivated. Since I've been feeling more confident, motivated, and focused on my wellness, I came to the conclusion that I want to work on training for a marathon next year. Of course, this was inspired by all of the amazing speakers at the National Endurance Sports Summit , which I wrote about previously. I'm running my first half marathon in just a few weeks, so I know, with a bit of dedication to training, I can actually complete my first marathon. There's just one problem... ...