I am moving my blog...

My new blog is over here https://gracefuljoysite.wordpress.com same name just a new hosting site. All the posts will slowly be disappearing while I move them over so go over to the new one for any future posts. Hope you like the new look:)

Ruth ~

       So,all my blog readers out there I will be once again attempting to do a bible study type post series. Once a week I will post a passage from Ruth. In small segments with my thoughts. You all feel free to follow me on Instagram its the most assured way you get the info on all my upcoming projects. And some heads up on posts. @fitnannyontherun

The posts will cover 5-10 verses each.
All you have to do is read it. I would love your opinions and insights as well. Feel free to post questions and thoughts on what you see or glean from the verses. Or even something that God is doing in your life. I also love to pray for you all out there so feel free to share or email your prayer requests to: nicjs025@gmail.com You can also share your thoughts on the blog and the passages there as well. And yes its a real email address 😆

I will be set to drop the first one on Monday night. Remember,my readers I am a fallen sinner and as such my level of understanding is flawed and not perfect. I am coming to you merely as a imperfect believer walking through my own journey and growing in my own ways. I will try to stay humble and very careful of my words. But,because I am human I will fail you. So instead of taking my words as fact, please speak to the one who created me. My Savior and his words are the only ones that hold any water in our fallen world.

Off I go to drink some coffee and study some Ruth... See you guys on Monday night.

Hydration

Water what about that simple drink we can get from a sink or bottle or refrigerator door. Water I kinda have a love and hate relationship with water. I love how I feel when I get enough water. But let's face it my day to day water consumption is just sad at best.

    But ladies and gentleman, I am taking another step to be healthier by drinking enough water each day. So here are a few tips I use to get enough h2o in my days. I'm on the go a lot so I have to have an easy way to keep my mind on track as far as water goes. The rest of my life is a little not so on track 90% of the time. So, my fitbit is my best friend for this. My fitbit Alta is my little buddy looks like a smartwatch. But a few best features of it are the watch and the alarms (and of course the fitness and step tracking). My Alta buzzes and flashes the time at me at the set time I choose. So I set it for two times a day to remind me to keep my mind on my water goals. At 10 am and at 2 pm. These times help me to keep track of how much water I have drank and how much I have to still drink yet. Some days I smile and tap to dismiss the alarm.

The second tip I have is go buy 2 or three water bottles all different colors or styles. Why you ask ? Mood,and well we all have those days where we forget that pesky bottle in the car or ekk... we lose one.
Or one breaks there was one of my favorite life factory glass bottles that bit the dust in a car overnight in the middle of errrr... winter. In my defense, we had gotten home late from an event. So,I was tired and it was full of water. Therefore, pointing out my statement before about not having a good track record with water drinking. In Wisconsin it gets cold and sometime in the middle of the night the cold made my bottle bust into many pieces. However, the fantastic silicone outside sleeve to the bottle kept all the pieces encased.

Rabbit trail over...

So go buy two or three bottles. You can go cheap and basic but as a sort of water bottle collector I will tell you my two go to brands. I love my klean kanteens I have three. My other favorite is life factory. Klean kanteen's are stainless steel. And my Life Factory bottles are glass. Tomarrow, I will tell you why Love both of them. And why having more than one bottle is important

My Stadler Pens

These pens well they kinda go with me everywhere... Work, home,church,bible study .

They are my go-to writing utensil for many reasons:

    They are .3mm which if you are obsessed with pens like me you know .3mm pens are not easy to find. Sure they have drawing pens and such in smaller and the same mm as these. But they bleed through stuff, dry out and frankly any less then .3mm break far to easily. So stadler wins hands down in all three of these problem areas. They are a nice thin thickness for note- taking and such. And amazing for writing smaller or basically any type of writing. The porous tip allows no ink bleeding, but keeps writing even when stored upside down. Which as you can see you do in the provided case. Other pens of this type seem to have the dry tip issues if stored upside down. The pigment from these stays very regular and doesn't seem to lessen much with continued use (adult coloring :) or long hours of use).

     The shape- OK, at first glance you might not see the shape difference but these pens are actually triangular in shape and not round. At first I was thinking while its unique it didn't seem like it would effect the use much. Well, I was wrong it effects the use quite a bit in fact it makes using the pens more comfortable and easier to get a good grip.

      The ink, it dries almost instantly helpful for me.I'm a left- handed writer so I always hate pens I use that take 30 seconds to dry because it gets my hand all inky and the writting smears. These don't smear at all the only time I have had smearing issues is if the surface I am writing on isn't made for pen ink. Like plastic or glossy paper. Which if we're honest,most pens besides a sharpie or other permanent ink pen will smear in those situations.

     

Last, but not least is the fact that these come in a carrying case. Or as the company calls it an easel case. The cases are the last reason I love these pens. I am the queen of taking 5 pens in a bag with me somewhere and somehow always coming home with 4 pens. Now, if you are toting around Bic. Pens no tears needed. But when you invest in $1-2 dollar a piece fancy pens, its a sad moment. I used to just end up buying and endless string of pens. Money not going to much use right there. The black hole in my bags has yet to eat one of these pens. And I love the colors they come in it makes some pretty artwork out of adult coloring. So if your looking for a pen that can sign checks, write notes, crafting or scrapbooking, and also can be used in coloring. These pens are your ideal match. You won't be sorry. I have almost all the colors now. Ekk... What are you waiting for go find some for a little self Christmas gift. 😆

Money-wise tip...

Chip Gaines said this so well "growing up my parents said we will provide for your needs and you provide for your wants" meaning if he wanted a game or such in middle school his dad would help him find a way to make the money. And Chip would earn the money and buy it. - from the book The Magnolia Story. By Chip and Joanna Gaines

    Reminds me of my parents we always had our needs met. But they helped us navigate the wants. My mom and dad always helped us find ways to earn money and yet taught us how patience felt. It took me almost a year and a half of saving but i bought myself a wii years back.They taught us how to see money as a blessing and puttig it in the right level of importance.  Money is neccesary but it cant be everything. Still today, I find myself at the store looking at an item going is this a want or a need. Hearing my dad always say things like how long do you have to work to pay for that it? Sticks with me. Life isn't about things its about moments and family and friends. Some of my finest memories are moments with friends and family laughing and talking. You can't put a price or a tag on that. Go Live... Work will not be  in the room when you take your last breathe, people will be.😉😃

Why I am still running?

The medal is real wood. My First Half Marathon.


Ok so I have been working all summer on my goal of faster 10ks. And a pipe dream of a Half Marathon next summer. And I had proved that I could run a half on my own in August. So I was good with just waiting until next year.

    I was happy with my speed while out on my own,and the de-stressing of running. If I am stressed I run. If I am sad I run. If I feel well pretty much any emotion in the book I run. Its how I cope with life. And the legs it gives you are not too shabby either😂. I was running 8 miles, loving how I felt after. In all honesty I like long runs because I get to.just be on my own and think things over and listen to my music. And the sights around me are amazing. I love my small town and my state the hills and trees. Farms and cows that stare at you as you run past their pasture. Ok I am a complete dork I moo at the cows as I run. And then giggle like a teenager at them staring at me. My whole body has strengthened, and I feel amazing after a run.

Still,I was content with my 6-10 mile runs and didn't feel like I needed to push to do a half marathon race this fall. Then one of my good friends started encouraging me to.do a half. I just kept saying I will in summer next year. Then when they decided last min. to do a half marathon. I caved and did it. I loved the first ten miles and I felt awesome at 7 miles. Then at 10-11 miles my body started to want to stop but my drive kicked in and I said you got this. Then I was re energized I wanted to be super peppy at the last mile. But I saved just enough pep to cross that finish line with a smile on my face. They announced my name and handed me a medal at the line and I was happy and so proud of what I had just done. Amazed at myself and the ups and downs of training and how good I felt. Would I do another one yes and I plan to do one in May 2017. I finished in 2 hours and 16 minutes. Or 2:16 . I am excited to strengthen my body with other workouts as well as running to speed my time up. I am as motivated as ever to continue my goal of faster races. Running has changed more than just how I look but also its changed me. I have done some things I never ever thought I would or even could do. It's a huge part of my life now and I even look forward to running for years to come

Why I run?

Seems like a pretty easy question to answer,right. But it's not as black and white as you might think it is. Why I started running, and why I am still running are two different answers.
Why I started running?

I originally started running just to do something active and cheap. And if I am honest so I could listen to my music for a half hour. I also was encouraged and motivated by my dad and a few of my friends. Who were able to be active and healthy while working full-time and since I had just jumped into the working full-time boat. I felt like it was a good idea. The first challenge was knowing that where I live I was going to have to concur hills. We live in a town built on a big hill and its surrounded by hills so you can't go more then a mile without a hill and some are decent sized. So, as I stood ready to run the very first time I stared down the hill and simply tried to ignore the hill after it. I started running down this hill and got to the bottom feeling ok, and frankly pretty confident. Across the bridge I go at the bottom and still confident. I started running up the hill. I got about 50 feet and started walking, breathing to hard to do more running. The confident feeling gone and my willpower almost on zero. Pausing to wonder who's brilliant idea this was anyways. I finished one mile that day of running around my 3 mile loop. Consisting of 2 miles of walking. I got home and I was mad I didn't feel the famed runners high and I was tired.

I wanted to give up right then and there. I had started this to get trained for a 5k. I was starting to think that was a pretty good pipe dream and nothing else. But there was just enough of my very stubborn self that wasn't going to let this running thing get the best of me. Just ask my family they will tell you I am as stubborn as can be. Sometimes to a fault. If I decide I want something bad enough I am hard to stop. Sometimes I swear a trank dart is about the only thing to stop me.

So three days later once I could walk again without a lot of soreness. There I stood at the top of that hill again. Staring down that hill willing myself to make it up that hill this time. Giving that hill the meanest look I could. Again, I made it to the bridge feeling ok and confident but a little scared. I started up that hill and got about half way up and had to walk. Feeling better this time for having made it quite a bit farther. I walked only half of this three mile loop this time. Running a mile and a half. Still feeling like the 5k was a bit too much to ask for.

For the rest of that summer every three days or so I would run the 3.1 miles. At the end of that summer I ran most of the 5k. Concuring my goal for that summer. But I still wasn't satisfied I felt like I could do more. Over the winter I barely ran. I have such a hatred of running on a treadmill and outside is not going to happen in -0 temps. And also my work schedule in winter is 50-60 hours. I started up the next summer with a goal to do a 10k. And I did it. That was last summer. Tomorrow,I will tell you how I am doing this summer. And what my goals are now. Also, I will share: Why i am still running?😜