Runner problems.

Okay ladies and gents.  For those of you who might be new to the blog, I am currently training for a marathon.  I am running to raise $1200 for the Getty Owl Foundation.  You can donate and get a nice tax deduction here.  And really, who doesn't like a good tax deduction?

Now, in my training there have been a few things that have befuddled me and some that have really gotten on my nerves.  I just want to get it out there and give those of you who are in the beginning stages of running a little heads up.  So, I'm going to share with you one of my biggest pet peeves.  It's fairly vain, however, I am an almost 30 year old women and not a 13 year old adolescent.  This is not a problem I think I should be dealing with at this point in my life...I digress.

Running makes you sweat, even if you're new to the sport you should know this ya'll, if not consider yourself informed. Sweat tends to make you break out.  Running sweat is different then other sweat.  I really believe this.  I broke out like CRAZY the first 2 months when I started my "official" training.  It was awful.  It was like PMS every week but not just my face, it attacked my shoulders too!  There was NO relief.  I tried as many products as I could and nothing seemed to work.  I wiped my face with baby wipes, make up wipes, hot wash clothes, cold wash clothes, warm washcloths, alcohol pads, witchazel pads, and the list goes on and on.  I splashed water on my face, I showered right after runs, I tried foaming cleanser, and soapy like cleanser, and....
Anyway, I am 3 months into my running and my shoulders and face started to miraculously clear up.  My body sweated out all the yucky stuff and now I just sweat salt (which is another post entirely).  All that being said, I cling to the cliche' of you just have to "sweat it out" sometimes.

However, not all is lost.  There are a few products that I really like when it comes to my face.  Ones that have done well amidst the crater drama.  Ones I wear or use on a daily basis both for my running life and for my non-running life.

For example, for sunscreen when I run I like to use one of two products:

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*I use this product daily. If I know its going to be really hot I will wear this one while running.  I have found that it doesn't "melt" like most I have tried.  Also, it's SPF 30 and smells really good!*

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*I use this one on cooler days because for me it feels like it adapts to the temp outside and it feels cool on my face when I'm starting out on a cool morning.  Be warned though, this one SAYS moisturizer, however, it rubs on like a sunscreen.  My face has never been burnt wearing this one so the protection is good.  It does "melt" a little on long runs so if you try this one I would suggest wearing a hat to cover your forehead and just put this under your eyes and down*

For the cleaning of my face, let's just put it out there people...I'm lazy.  Also, I am not as coordinated as Jennifer Gardner on the Neutrogena commercials and I just make a big mess if I try to wash my face at the sink.  It's just not going to happen.  So, I use pads.

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*I have used these pads on and off for a while and I love them.  They do have salicylic acid in them so if you have a really sensitive face be warned, start with using them once (morning or night) instead of both.  Sometimes I don't even use them but at night.  I also use these on my shoulders sometimes if I feel a little breakout booger trying to burst through*  

What are some of your favorite easy go-to products when you work out?  I'd love to hear about them!

*I was not compensated for the above product reviews, the companies did not contact me, and all these opinions and words are strictly my own.  If you would like to have a product reviewed on my blog please contact me at TeaganTales@gmail.com *

That SMA thing I run for.

I have failed miserably this month.  To be honest, I'm losing steam as far as inspiration goes right now but that is not a viable excuse.  This month called August also happens to have an "AKA" and it's SMA Awareness month.
I have been training for my very first marathon.  I have been training to raise money to help kick SMA in the YKW (you know what).  The money that goes to Getty Owl Foundation is used to aid Dr. Brian Kaspar at Nationwide Children's hospital to potentially cure SMA. I have not done a very good job of telling you guys about what it is, how it works, and the fact there is currently no cure.  So, here goes...

SMA (spinal muscular atrophy) has 5 "types".  0-4.
*0 being the most severe, where the onset is before birth and the sweet baby isn't estimated to live more than 6 months.
*1- is a close runner up as far as the most severe form of SMA goes.  These sweet babes cannot sit up without support.  Breathing, moving, and swallowing are difficult.  A simple cold can exacerbate the difficulties and can potentially cause death if not handled appropriately.  The average lifespan of children with SMA type 1 is barely 2 years.  However, with your help we can increase this number.  And as a sweet reality to this fact, sweet Getty will be FOUR in March....just saying.
*2- people with type 2 are able to sit but not stand.  Those diagnosed with type 2 have an estimated lifespan that can go into adulthood.
*3-those diagnosed with type 3 can walk but this ability is lost over time because you caught that "atrophy part" right?
*4- those diagnosed with type 4 are extremely weak but can walk and should not lose that ability over time.

Let's talk genes.  Something I don't know a whole lot about and maybe you don't either.  That's why this handy-dandy diagram is dummy proof....

Thing about this carrier thing is it's not in the regular work up as far as prenatal blood work goes.  It's foolish seeing as SMA:
is the #1 genetic killer of young children
occurs in nearly one out of every 6,000 births (and this number seems to be on the incline)
is NOT based on race, ethnicity, or gender

All that being said.  We NEED to find a cure.  Soon. Quickly. Rapidly. Allegro. Yesterday.
My race is November 16.  I am collecting money either in person or online via Crowdrise.
ALL the proceeds go towards Getty Owl Foundation which is a 501c-3 organization.  This means it's TAX DEDUCTIBLE people.
My goal is $1200 because seriously, it's SMA and I'm running a MARATHON.
That would be 26.2 miles guys. 26.2.....

In all seriousness though, please think about donating to this cause whether it's through my Crowdrise site or directly to the Getty Owl Foundation.  We've gotta get on this y'all.  We just gotta.

 

That face.

I look back at baby pictures of the girls occasionally and laughed when I saw this...Teagan still makes this face when she's crying, especially if she's gone into tantrum mode...

Mysterious belly problems, we're over them, thanks.

We took Teagan to a pediatric gastroenternologist today.  Blood work, poop collecting, and an ultrasound are in our sweet girl's future over the next two-three weeks.  If those things don't provide us answers, then she'll have to be put to sleep and they'll have to go in with a camera.  

She's been having belly pain for six-eight months.  Constant but not consistent.  We've been to the doctor several times, thinking it's growth spurts, UTIs, milk allergy/intolerance, or just the hard age of three.  We took out lactose, she can't have a six month growth spurt, she has only had one UTI, and we can't do anything about the age of three.  We can't pinpoint any triggers.  We're at a loss.  So, here we go down the road of testing and guessing and more testing.  However, in the front, middle, and end of all that is a lot of prayer.  So, we would appreciate it if you would join us.  Because you know my mommy brain has gone to the bad, several times, and I've had to reel it in.  Thanks ahead of time.

When we forget...

I was talking to a dear friend of mine the other day on the phone.  Someone whose heart tends to be similar to my own in certain aspects of life.  This was one of those times.  We were talking about how easy it is for us to forget.
For example, I still don't have a job.  I've been out of graduate school since mid-May.  I think I've been through every emotion on the spectrum and finally fell where I should have been from the start, where I've been about maybe 59 percent of the time.  On my knees, giving it all to Him.  Getting into graduate school worked out seamlessly.  Graduate school was nowhere near as gruesome as I set it up to be in my mind.  Graduate school barely took time away from my family.  Graduate school gave me sweet friends for that moment in time and beyond.  Graduate school helped me appreciate the support and prayers and all of the above more that I ever had before.  Yet, somehow I forget that.  Somehow I focus on the hard and the now and my time.  I let the thoughts flood in that it was a mistake.  I think that it might have been a mistake because nothing is happening right now.  Things aren't happening in my time.  Then, I have phone conversations that bring His greatness back into focus.  It's then that I realize HE worked all of this process out, in HIS time and not mine.  I refocus back on how he provided for my family during graduate school time and now.  How he worked the details out for graduate school in a mere two weeks.  It's all happened in HIS time and it's going to continue to be that way.  If I try to rush the process it tends to suck the joy out of the goodness and sweetness that HE gives us.  And why would I ever want to do that?

 

Treading carefully.

So far today I have had 8oz of mango Naked juice w/2 tblsp of Olive Leave supplement (I'm trying to fight a cold),  PJ & Nutella on a wheat English muffin, an iced coffee, a spinach salad with deli turkey, tuna, zucchini, baby tomatoes, and walnuts with Raspberry vinaigrette dressing.  I also had a handful of Cheetos and three sips of a real Coke (which sounded better in my head than it tasted on my tongue).

If you've been around the blog for a little while you will know that I have a history of an eating disorder.  I have had to be very careful while training.  The goal of training for a marathon has nothing to do with weight loss.  I'm actually pretty happy with my weight.  Sure, there are some hotspots I have left after having two kiddos but overall I'm pretty satisfied.  

That being said, I still have to be careful.  Because if I'm not careful moments like right now, right after I've eaten and am feeling full, could be a catalyst for a relapse.  Looking at fitness blogs or through other runners Instagrams have to have a time limit put on them because anything could trigger something unhealthy.  And personally, I don't want to come anywhere close to that road again.  I'm afraid that if I would even glance down that path for longer than five seconds that I would run, not walk, down it.  Scary huh? 

Sharing that with you has a point.  Brian, one of our Pastors at Exodus, spoke about this Sunday about going through "stuff".  We're currently going through a series on Joseph (the pretty coat Joseph, not Jesus' father on earth Joseph).  I mean Joseph was thrown in a tunnel by brothers who wanted to kill him, sold for the equivalent of a cheese pizza, put in jail by a man he trusted, and the list goes on and on...We all go through stuff and when we're going through it there is usually not a lot of light in the tunnel.  When I was going through my stuff, there wasn't even a glimmer of light in that tunnel.  God was nowhere in my story as far as I was concerned.  He turned His back on me, when it was really the other way around.  That being said, I would not change it for a minute.  The stuff I went through, the sheer HELL I went through is going to be similar to somebody else's stuff that I am going to encounter.  People that I have already encountered.  I am who I am today, I know the stuff I know today, I can relate to certain things today because of my past.  I might not have been able to see that glimmer in the dark during those time but I am trusting and loving my God, my Savior through those dark times and I wouldn't trade them for anything.  

She feels from her gut.

Anybody who knows me and knows me well knows that I am emotional, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve (well, both of them actually), and I tend to gravitate toward the melodramatic.  I have become much better about the melodrama unless I am around family over the last few years but the emotions are pretty much tattooed onto my shoulders.
Teagan is just like me.  Except in a pint sized package and the fact that she is three and a half.  She feels from her gut.  Not her heart and not her head.  Her gut.  That's where the poetic geniuses from old age say the feelings come from and I believe them.  When Teagan is upset, when Teagan is tired, when Teagan is happy, when Teagan is....she is a LOT of that emotion and her stomach tends to not feel good.  Hence, the gut reference.  Shoes, a book, not being the one to put the toothpaste on her toothbrush, not getting the pink plate, etc. can set her off in a hot minute.
There are times when I can remember that hey, I work this way, I know she just needs some cool off time, some cuddle time, etc.  Those are the moments I am most proud of Josh and I.  We recognize she is an emotional child and we adapt to her needs without giving up our authority as parents.  Then there are times when my gut and her gut bump heads.  I reach my redline and she tops it off with an emotional outburst and my emotional switch flips on.  That is not okay and I am quite anxious about her teenage years.  So, we're working on it.  We're working on Teagan's outbursts and trying to gauge them.  We're also working on our reactions to her.  It's going to be a journey with a LOT of bumps, bruises, slips backwards, and potty breaks, but we're all four in this together and I am thankful for this journey we're on.

New shoes.

I have been an Asics girl most of my recent shoe deciding years.  In high school I ran and played in New Balance.  I liked the way they looked and how they felt and they worked well at the time.
When Josh and I decided to start running and run our first 5k we went to Dicks and "got fitted".  We both bought Asics Gels.  Looking back I cringe about buying at a huge store but everything about running is a learning process and that was just a lesson learned.  I ran my first half marathon in Asics Gels and they worked well.  They lasted much longer than they should have and I am thankful they graced my feet as long and as well as they did.

Now that my Asics are on permanent sabbatical it was time to put some new companions on my feet.  Introducing, my Brooks Adrenalines.  Fitted by Julie at Walk and Run Belmont.

 

First run together. 

 
I cannot stress to you how amazing it was to have my feet and running style analyzed by a person who knew what they were doing.  I found out things about my feet I never knew.  I have a post waiting in the wings about my fitting and I can't wait to share!!