Sand Cloud

I follow a ridiculous amount of Instagram accounts that include the following:

Swimsuits
Handmade Jewelry
Surfing
Oceans
Beaches
Travel

Do you see a theme? Seriously, it's obnoxious but I love being flooded with so many beautiful scenes when I open the app. It does not help with the serious case of wanderlust I always have but it does help with the serious case of concrete jungle boxing in that I experience on the daily.

That being said there is a company called Sand Cloud and they make these really cool beach friendly towels that have pockets in them to hold all your secrets belongings when at the beach, lake, parking lot, picnic area, wherever you may be.

As I was scrolling one day I happened to notice that they had a picture up about following the link in their profile to apply to become an ambassador. Yes please.

I followed the link and sent everything away without another thought. The next thing I know I have received an email from them saying that I have been selected to be an ambassador. HOLY SURPRISE BATMAN!

I've never been an ambassador for anything but I thought it was a pretty cool opportunity. And who doesn't like a company that donates 10% of all their sales to marine life? People who kick puppies, that's who.

Without further ado here is all the information.

Sand Cloud

If you want to save 25% use the code "dorothy25" <- who doesn't love saving some cashola?

I used mine as a scarf because it is like woah cold outside and I currently do not have the pleasure of living near an ocean to enjoy this towel. But soon, I'll break it in properly.

Go forth and save the marine life. #diditforthetowel

2016.

It's stereotypical, but I think it's good to write down goals. Whether big or small I think it is important to have goals. Year long goals are tough, but here's to 2016 and giving it a whirl.

1. Travel
Because duh.

i don't know where i got this. 

But seriously, travel is really important to me. The beginning of 2015 was a tough time for me and I was fortunate enough to be able to sort of run away from life for a little while if you will. You can check out this, this, this, this or even this post to see more.  It was refreshing to take a break and reset. Then it was time to hit the ground running and get serious about some things and grow up a little. Just a little though, because Peter Pan will forever live inside my soul.

2. Run
Because races.

1/2 Marathon in New Orleans
1/2 Marathon in Memphis
Full Marathon in Destin
Full Marathon in Cincinnati

All important post race libations

Those are all by the first weekend in May. The next 5 months are pretty intense, but I am excited about it. I am still tentative with my injury and have been running smart, but man I am ready to just be able to get up and knock out my run without too much thought.

3. Food
Be better at it.

I eat a lot of food. I love it. I am Italian, it's in my genes. That all being said I could be a little smarter about what I put into my body. Here's to that attempt.

4. Be Present

These days it's very simple to zone out and be physically somewhere but not be mentally there. I don't think it's fair to you or whatever situation you are in to just phone it in. Everything in life takes work and effort no matter the situation. I believe it is very important to put your whole self into situations and I am making a pledge to myself and to everyone around me to be better about living my life in the here and now.

5. Read more

I am an avid reader. I read a lot. I read before bed, I read when I have nothing else to do, but I want to actively choose to read. Not just read before bed, but to read in the middle of the day while sitting outside with my doodle.

The dood, Paddler. 

6. Save more, spend less

Obviously. Very cliche.

7. Volunteer

I volunteered at the end of 2014. It was mentally necessary for me and helped me tremendously realize a lot of things about myself and my life. Everyone should take the time and volunteer. It doesn't have to be extreme like I did and take a month off of life and volunteer, but it needs to be done.

8. Be more appreciative

It is easy to fall into the trap of wanting more and newer and bigger and better things. The majority of the time none of those things are necessary or vital to life. Appreciate what you have in terms of clothing, housing, people, and quality of life. It could all be gone in a minute.

9. Start looking

I tend to stick to what I know. I want to start looking at new opportunities, places, friends, people, colleagues. Really start to look out into the world and better myself with everything I find. Really start to learn.

Still don't know where I got this. 

10. Love.

Not easy for me. I'm not taking this one on in the traditional sense, but I am taking this on in everyday life. Love yourself and the day ahead.

Let me know if you know where this is from. 

Running.

I used to to write a running blog. But then I got bored with the whole talking about running and I didn't know how to incorporate anything else into said blog, so I decided to put in spurts of running on here.

With that long winded intro....

I ran a race on Saturday morning (afternoon? brunch hour?) at 11. Firstly, that is a weird time. Secondly, it was my first race post 1/2 marathon at the beginning of December. Thirdly, it was one of 3 runs since said race. Fourthly, it was the first run post injury where I felt mostly normal.

To reverse this train.

I was training for a marathon at the beginning of December and was lucky enough to make friends at work who were training for the same race but the half. Totally a-okay with me. I just logged extra miles before our long runs together. They are some awesome people and I am totally thankful that they allowed me to tag along and run with them and also allow me to force them to be my friends :)

hi friends!

Training was going really well, I had knocked out a 17 miler with negligible pain with a pretty stellar pace, and then I decided to add in some cross training. NOTE: Add cross training in gradually and at the beginning...probably not 3 weeks before the race like I did. Lesson learned. I was on injury reserve for 2.5 weeks and decided mid race to not complete the full and tuck my pride under my tail and run the half.

Preliminary race to see if the big race would happen. #turkeytrot

It was the smart move. I however hated every moment of the decision.

so proud of these three!

Back to Saturday.

The original three met up and drove out to Shelby Forest for the annual Hill and Dale 8 Miler. Not a bad way to start out a new year.

I was tentative going into this race. Jess said she would race with me and Kirk I knew would be out ahead of us.

We started off strong with just under a 9 minute mile for mile 1. The race lives up to its name. There was a monster hill we ran down (ahem shuffled down) and another short but steep one we ran up (ahem walked up). But then we hit the switchback and realized we had to do all of that in reverse.

The steep hill that was up wasn't so bad going down except that it had a hell of curve that was a little nerve wracking. By this time I was a little behind Jess. Apparently not really running for almost 6 weeks slows you down considerably.

Then came the monster hill. Ha. No. Walked up that bad boy. And then finished strong.

I was proud of my time: 1:12:57. A 9:07 minute mile pace. That's with walking up two monster hills. I'll take it.

I told myself two things going into this race.

1. Race smart
2. It's okay if to bow out

I didn't need to bow out and I raced smart. I didn't push too hard and I recognized the difference between racing strong and being hurt.

Now hopefully my training can get back on schedule and I can reach some of my goals I have set for this new year, race-wise.

Cell Phone Dependency.

I went off the grid for a little while and it was fabulous.

It wasn't exactly self imposed, it was more of a my phone screen stopped responding to touch and I didn't see the merit in replacing the screen or upgrading my phone.

So I went without a phone for just about 2 weeks. You can learn a lot in any amount of time that you don't have a phone.

1. You will constantly torture yourself by pushing the buttons on the phone and then remembering that you can't open anything.

2. People will still text you even though you don't have a way to respond and then you have to email them as to not look like an asshat.

3. Life goes on.

Seriously life goes on. I didn't have a cell phone until I was almost 16. Before that it was fine. I didn't need a phone. I still don't need a phone. A phone is literally just a convenience luxury. That is it.

When I was in Guatemala I learned to live without my phone. I used it to take pictures and if I had access to wifi I would text my parents updates and post random pictures to Instagram.

I finally got a new phone and it is shiny and fancy and has sucked me back into the vortex of the technology. I sort of hate myself for letting it happen, but here I sit with my new phone and my iPad within reaching distance...

Saying all of this means absolutely nothing except, that to me, it seems sad that I have come to be so reliant on a piece of technology that I literally never used to have access too and got a long just fine.

2016 I have a few resolutions and not being so reliant on my phone is a big one.

Cheers to being more aware, in touch, and less self absorbed by a tiny glowing screen of nothing.