Stand a little taller.

     A friend shared this on Facebook today.  The chorus fits my mood, which of course has been swinging wildly from moment to moment.  Today my motto will be:

                                      

Really live.

Run4Beer


Here is the full quote:

“Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.” 
― Edward Abbey

     I am currently reading "The Man Who Walked Through Time:  The Story of the First Trip Afoot Through the Grand Canyon," by Colin Fletcher.  I have just finished "The Thousand-Mile Summer" by the same author, describing his hiking the length of California. His writings, classic nature writings, remind me of those by Edward Abbey. I love the Edward Abbey quote above.

Holiday motivations.....trash those can'ts.

Here is Christopher McDougall speaking at Ted.com discussing "Are we born to run?"  It gives me hope as a runner/jogger.

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This applies to everything we try, not just running:

Run4Beer

‎"Even if you haven’t actually run, even if you're overweight, even if you were always the kid picked last in gym class, even if you’re clumsy, even if you don’t own a single piece of fitness equipment, you ARE a runner. You don’t have to run fast to be a runner. You don’t have to be skinny to be a runner. You don’t have to run marathons to be a runner. You only have to want to run. Take your first step along your path to joyful running right now by writing down all the reasons you can’t run, can’t be fit, and can’t possibly become an athlete. Then crumple up that list with all the force you can muster and toss it in the trash. Not the trash in your kitchen, where you can get it back out and try on those ‘can’ts’ again for size, but in the trash by the curb. Trash those can’ts. You can run. You are a runner."

~ John "The Penguin" Bingham, No Need for Speed

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Run4Beer

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 Epic Ultras

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I saw this shared on Facebook.  Way to go noble stranger.

T-Rex Runner

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Run4Beer

The hills are alive.......

     Did you survive Thanksgiving and all the food?  I ate for 3 days straight and exercised too little so will get back into a healthier routine today.  This is what I need:



     Also, I will go pick up my dog Charleigh from the pet-sitter.  I have missed the little doofus being underfoot.  I hope she was good and also that she enjoyed her stay.

PUP BUDS


Thought for the day:

Buddhism

(I now have to re-watch "The Sound of Music.")

         Food For Thought - Daily Inspiration to Follow Your Dreams

Happy Thanksgiving

“Throughout history, people in all cultures and lands have gathered together at mealtimes. In forests and mountains, in humble abodes and great mansions, beneath star filled skies and beside hearths, people have given thanks, and offered their blessings." — John Robbins
                                         Food Revolution Summit



 

     Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone.  I plan on it.  I have a friend who has been listing one thing every day of November for which she is grateful.  I have been trying hard to concentrate on doing that.  Of course, I forget sometimes....quite often, in fact.  But then, I try again.
     Yesterday was Hug-a-Runner day.  Make this weekend a hug-your-family holiday, and laugh a lot.


A day without laughter is a day wasted.
                          Charlie Chaplin

Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.
                           Victor Hugo

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
                           William Shakespeare

Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
                            Victor Borge

Hug a runner today

     Today, Tuesday 11-20-12, is the second annual HUG A RUNNER day.  Wear your running shoes all day and commit random acts of hugging.



November 20th, 2012 is a celebration! To the broad-shouldered, the knock-kneed, the pigeon-toed, the wide-hipped, the long-waisted, the short-legged, the stocky, the skinny, the slow, the fast, the old and young RUNNERS everywhere - This is our day!

There is a little bit of a RUNNER in all of us...SHARE THE SWEAT!
                                      Run The Edge


Running for Health and Fun


Congratulations to Millard North 2012 State Champions.  Way to go! Woot, woot!!

“All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle” Ralph Waldo Emerson

     A friend of mine put this picture up on her Facebook page.  I had to share as it is soooo me!


This also describes me...the queen of denial.

 Funny Stuff



                                                                Ashley Hodges





And sometimes this describes me, too, and I have the desire to chuck it all....no stuff, no worries, just lightness.
I am now a turtle. Virtually everything I own is on my back and suffice it to say I am one ton lighter and therefore 2,000 pounds happier. All houses are gone. 
Bobby Darin 

Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place. Rumi

Rumi

I find this striking.

     Audrey Hepburn was a wise woman.

 
                             http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/




DEATH BY BAGUETTE. The wrong type of carbs can kill you.  Perspire Fitness
The holidays are approaching.  Eat healthily.  Dr Joel Fuhrman is starting his 3rd annual healthy holiday eating challenge.  Sounds like a plan....let's get through the holidays eating for life.



Mind Body Balance

"Everything in the universe is within you." Rumi

My thoughts


 verba

Perspire Fitness

Free Your Mind and Think

inspiration

I like these.....

                      Pinterest




               Quotes



I am still working at doing plank-a-days.  It is my minimum for exercise and takes just a couple of minutes. I'm up to 80 days straight this time, but am worried that Thanksgiving will throw me off my streak.

           Succeed At Fitness

“You - you alone will have the stars as no one else has them...In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night...You - only you - will have stars that can laugh.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, El Principito / The Little Prince

Quotes

Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote. ~George Jean Nathan

     Whatever your political view, get out there and vote.  It is your responsibility as a citizen. Our planet, our healthcare, and our civil rights are at stake.

     Dog training of Charleigh is hot and cold.  I think she is really getting it for a day or two, then Sunday night she chose to chew the bottom fabric off of an upholstered chair while I was on the phone.  She walks well on leash.....unless there are squirrels, rabbits, deer, blowing leaves, or almost anything else to distract her.  This is truly a lesson in patience.....mine, not hers.



 Come on the peace train

When you're happy, you enjoy the music. But when you're sad, you understand the lyrics. Frank Ocean

     I attended the contemporary service at my church yesterday.  The music is always beautiful and uplifting. The choir is talented. The church is theologically open, diverse, and accepting of everyone as they are, no matter what their beliefs.
     Here are two of the songs sung, which happen to be favorites of mine.  Sing along, please.

 

n

Now don't you feel better?

Did you set your clock back?

 
Free Your Mind and Think

Sometimes

Does this sketch look like me, or what?

I <3 to run

Oops.....no glasses.

Happy World Vegan Day.

     Today is World Vegan Day, first celebrated in 1944.  It is also the start of World Vegan Month.  How will you celebrate?

   

   

     George McGovern died last month.  He chaired the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs from "68 to "77.   His McGovern Report set out to cover the causes of hunger in America,  His committee quickly discovered that malnutrition involved not just diseases of deficiency, but also diseases of excess. The report suggested eating more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and less high-fat meat, dairy, and eggs.
     The report triggered strong reactions from the meat, dairy, egg, and sugar industries, including from his home state.  The committee were forced to water-down their results, congress disbanded them, and George McGovern lost his bid for re-election.
     We continue to tilt at windmills in this country trying to obtain nutritional health.  Big money is still winning and our health is worse than ever.


http://www.foodpolitics.com/2012/10/rest-in-peace-george-mcgovern/



     Yesterday was Halloween.  It was a beautiful night.  There was a nearly-full Hunter's Moon.  Temperatures were warm.  Leaves on the ground rustled crisply underfoot.  Ghouls and goblins were out in full force, although this year they traveled in huge packs for safety.....in groups of 10 to 20.
     Usually Dean hands out the candy as he enjoyed doing it, and I like keeping candy out of sight, out of mind.  This year I handed out the candy.  It was fun, but I ate every box of Dots in the mixed bag of treats! After shutting off my lights, I hid the remainder in my freezer to give away.  Again, out of sight, out of mind until this time next year.
     Later, walking my dog among the groups of costumed older kids was enlightening.  I saw it from my dog's perspective.....strange noises, lights from glo-sticks, eerie mobs, and laughter echoing in the dark. Cool!