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Bone Broth Chat
If we had bone broth chat today, you’d comment that I’m up early. I’d tell you that even still I got almost 9 hours of sleep, but that I’m up because I’m sooooooo excited.
Bone Broth Chat
So come, sit down, let’s have some bone broth chat.
Today is the day I have been waiting for for a really long time. It’s kind of a combination of #45 (from list 1) meets #11 (from list 2) on my 105 in 1,095 days list. Later this afternoon, I’ll head to Calistoga, California for the weekend to stay at Mayacamas Ranch for a 3.5-day detox and zen retreat with one of my favorite people in California, my soul-healing sister, if you will. According to the “schedule” (which we can do or not do), there is a lot of relaxing, hiking, yoga, meditation, writing, Vision-board making, and reading that’s going to happen. Since it’s so beautiful in that part of California, I’m hoping to get a nice, long run in, too. There will be no blog posts until I come back, but my goal is to find a ton of new inspiration while there.
It was a really good week for us this past week, despite the awful colds Samarah and Isaiah got (still have). Ceci got them this play tent for Christmas, and they are constantly playing in it. Even Amiya loves laying among the balls where she can explore (and work on tummy time). She’s almost crawling!
Isaiah is 20-months today (even though I thought yesterday was the 13th, so I had it on Facebook that it was yesterday – bad mama). He is a hunka little boy. He never misses a meal, thinks he’s funny as all get out, loves his sisters (usually) & you’d *never* know he was born a Preemie.
Samarah recently started saying to me, “….and when I was a little baby like Maya, I was in your tummy, Mommy.” It took me back the first time she said it. She was laying on me at the time, so I just held her tight, and said, “Yes, baby, you did come from a tummy.” “But,” I added, “….even better because you also came from my heart because I loved you so, so, so much.” I asked Ryan, “Do you think she’s going to be sad someday when she realizes that no, no she did not, in fact, come from my tummy?” We both agreed that when she’s old enough to understand, but not old enough to “understand” that she is likely to feel sad. I pray those feelings are short lived, and that I always have the words to express to her how crazy we have always been about her.
And this past week, Amiya’s social worker called to let us know some good news. The road bumps we ran into awhile back were likely just that, bumps. There is a court date this upcoming week, and we have a feeling it’s going to be a great one in our favor. I hate to even say out loud for fear of jinxing the process, but our hopes and goals include a Gotcha Day this spring or summer. It could really happen!
I signed up for Care.com after several friends recommended it. Wow! We already have a ton of interest, so now I’m just sifting through everyone’s information, and will be setting up interviews in the next week or so. This is really happening….I am really going back to working more, and I know without a doubt that this is what needs to happen in this season. I was shooting some new things on Tuesday, and I realized that the “balance” of work plus family will make me a much better mother. 
I have been running a 21-Day Gut Healing Group Program, and it’s been amazing for me to watch the women start their journey off with hope and inspiration. Working with me means that you’ll start thinking about things and digging for answers in places you might never have thought before. Watching ah-ha moments for them is always the highlight of my days. The endless “thank you’s” make me know that running this program once per year is so worth it. Many have emailed asking if I might do another program in 2017, but the answer is, as it was when I released the program, “No.” For the duration of the year, the only way I work with health coaching clients is HERE.
Now that the Hot Chocolate 15K is out of the way, I’ve been focusing on how to train for the next race (end of March, a half marathon). While at the ranch this weekend, I”ll write the official “plan,” but this was such a strong week from a fitness standpoint, that I’m planning to keep the following structure:
- 1 day of intervals/hills
- 1 day upper body
- 1 day mid-length run and/or tempo run
- 1 day lower body
- 1 day long run
- 2 days completely off and/or Bikram Yoga
This week, so far, I’ve done the intervals, upper body, and mid-length run. Today is lower body. We got a treadmill (similar to THIS one), and I’m loving it because it’s allowing me to easily track intervals and hills plus when it’s rainy and cold, I still always have my outlet. If my workouts are interesting to you, I can post them weekly, every other week, or monthly?
We have been eating allllllll the goods this week, mostly in the form of roasted root vegetables (’tis the season). Our local farmers’ market is currently not in season, so every other week, I have a Farm Fresh to You box delivered right to our doorstep. I started this quite some time ago, thinking we’d probably only use it for a couple months, but here I am, still using the service because it’s convenient, 100% organic, and awesome quality. (p.s. If you want to try it, you can use code SARA7874 at checkout and you’ll get $15 off your first order.)
This week, I had them bring me some beets, so last night we roasted a big dish of beets, yucca, turnips, and parsnips. I doused it with Nutiva Organic Buttery Coconut Oil, salt, and pepper, and it was a huge hit around our house.
I have a feeling our meals are about to get another upgrade, too. I caved, and yesterday ordered an 8 Qt Instant Pot. Do you have one? Tell me what your favorite things are to make in it!
And finally, no bone broth chat would be complete today if I didn’t tell you that it’s only been a little over a week since my hardest goodbye happened. Because of WhatsApp, I feel the burden a little less, but it’s still there. Yesterday someone made the comment to me, “It’s kind of like your oldest has just left for college.” It’s true. We drove past the high school yesterday, and Samarah said, “I want to see Ceci.” Yes, we all do. She sure was a gem.
Okay, I think we’re all caught up, now that we had this awesome bone broth chat together today.
I love our early mornings together, and I hope you have a really wonderful day and a simply beautiful weekend.
Xox,
SKH
Unafraid
My one word for 2017 is unafraid. ((I have done the “my one word” now for 5 years. 2013: Life Unprocessed (ummmm….2 words?!). 2014: Unprocessed. 2015: Healing Through Intention (again…..one word?!) 2016: Less.))
I have, almost literally, been paralyzed by fear nearly my entire life.
- Up until sometime in high school, I was so afraid to stay anywhere but home. I missed out on so many things because of it.
- I have had massive snake phobia nearly my entire life. When I was really little, I ran over one with my little trike, and in grade school, while jumping on a trampoline, had a friend’s brother throw them at me. To this day, I have a hard time doing a lot of things outside in summer, namely hiking, for fear of a snake encounter.
- I was a gymnast for most of my youth, but as I got into junior high, I became massively afraid of “getting hurt” so much so that I did get hurt, and had to stop altogether.
- Somewhere along the line, I became afraid of food, which trickled down into several years of eating disorder (which I’ve talked about many times on my blog in the past).
- When “fitness gurus” made it seem like specific workouts wouldn’t work or shouldn’t be done, I became afraid of doing them because surely they knew my body and life better than I did.
- And on, and on, and on….
Living a fear-based life has affected every single piece of my life, from my daily activities to my relationships and overall health.
Nelson Mandela has a beautiful quote that says,
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
And The Bible has an even better one,
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan? Matthew 6:27
Unafraid
A few months back I began a new journey in my life, one in which I should have begun long ago, but did everything in my power to avoid.
I finally sought the professional help of someone to address these fears. There is no shame in me telling you this because what I began to accept from the beginning of this journey is that the very act of feeling shame or guilt is only fear creeping into my life and paralyzing me even more.
My book, Gravel Roads will see this through in detail, but how it relates to my one word and 2017 is that I am ready to stop living based on fear, and instead living in a way that says I don’t need to control every single step of every single day out of fear for what could happen.
I can live unafraid, and really live, for all the millions of things that could happen.
It’s a funny thing, isn’t it? We either live with fear or fearless, but either way, something could happen, the possibilities are endless. Seems so much more peaceful to attempt fearless, being unafraid.
I mentioned my 2017 personal goals yesterday, but most of those don’t really take any act of courage. ere are some 2017 goals that
Here are some 2017 goals that will take courage:
- Running. I started running again, and I have been loving it. Sure, the first mile is awful, but such is life. I recently completed a 9-mile run and on New Year’s Day, I will do my longest run to date, 10 miles. My debilitating mid-cycle through the beginning of the following cycle cramps have made me absolutely fearful of running. But I am not dying. There is nothing that is truly holding me back from running, so I’m doing it. Simultaneously, I’m working to figure out the triggers for it so I can get the pain under control because….
- Race. Race. Race. Short Distance. I have a packed 2017 calendar full of races I want to run. The first one I’m doing is January 8th, a 15K, in San Francisco. I am not expecting anything phenomenal for this race, other than to get the butterflies out of my stomach for racing again. I was sick from November 10 – December 19 (when I finally got antibiotics for a severe sinus infection), and so my training runs were far below par. But I’m doing it! I plan to sprinkle in many other 5 and 10K’s throughout the year as well.
- Race. Race. Race. 1/2 Marathon. The only 1/2 marathon I’m sure I want to race is the Livermore 1/2 Marathon at the end of March (because, obviously, wine at the finish line)! My goal would be to do 2-3 more 1/2 marathons beyond that in 2017.
- Race. Race. Race. Marathon. And finally, my top and main 2017 running goal is to run my very first marathon in Sacramento at the California International Marathon in December of 2017. But wait, that’s not even the real goal. The real goal is to run at a pace that would qualify me for the Boston Marathon, which if you don’t know would be a 3-hour and 35-minute marathon (or 8:13/mile for 26.2 miles). Many might say this is super lofty, and it totally is, especially given the female pains and an autoimmune condition. But I won’t let fear hold me back. (Follow my running and paleo-ish journey via paleoishmama on Instagram.)
Additionally….
I have been afraid of heights my entire life, so we are entering the lottery to hike Half Dome. (We = Ryan and I — do you see the things I get him to do with me?! We might also mean the addition of my brother, who is also afraid of heights, and who I would love to have join us!)
I want to do another Spartan Race because I’m trying to get over the fear of that cold water, but currently, the one I want to do is one week after my March 1/2 marathon, so I’m still debating.
Ryan and I have been building out our home gym, so I began creating some lofty strength goals as well (I’ll hopefully share those at some point, too).
And remember those snakes? Well, I’m going to start hiking period to prove that not every single time I step on a trail or anywhere a snake might exist will I see one (and then will it bite me).
This is my start, and I’m praying that 2017 sees me to living a full life, unafraid, in all aspects of my life.
Ceci’s friend gave her this for Christmas, and I grabbed it from her immediately and took a picture.
Simple. Perfect. And, well, just unafraid.
What are you afraid of? Now go….make it a part of your 2017 goals!
Xox,
SKH
p.s. What I’m not afraid of anymore? Food! I don’t count calories, fat, carbs or anything any longer. I watch what I eat to the degree that I medically need to, choosing the foods that help me feel my very best (+ fuel me to run, run, run)….AIP Bread anyone?!
p.s.s. Interested in following along with the Pinterest board?!
Runner’s Diarrhea {and 10 tips for runners with IBS or IBD}
Ever heard of runner’s diarrhea? You laugh, but it’s real, especially for Gutsy runners.
…
Mile One
In running, and in life, mile one is always the hardest.
In high school, I joined the track team for one season. Because I had no endurance and was an awful runner, I thought I’d “just run” sprints, the 50 or 100 and/or be on relay teams where I’d run no more than a 200.
I wasn’t good, at all, not even a little bit. In fact, towards the end of the season, I thought I’d try a new part of track and compete in the shot put. I’m laughing as I write that. I mean, can you even imagine me doing the shot put? It basically just got worse and worse, and then my track days were over.
I ran about a 12-14 minute mile in high school, and because the mile was so hard for me, I thought I’d never be a runner. I couldn’t sprint, and I also couldn’t do the mile (aka a “long run” for me back then).
I almost quit running altogether. Surely I was not cut out for it.
But then in 2008-ish, I picked it up again. At that time, it was merely just to “lose weight” for my wedding. Nevertheless, I became hooked on running.
And in 2009, as some of you who have read my blog since the beginning, I became a Nike Human Race Ambassador. I lead a worldwide virtual team of over 1,000 people to run a 10k virtually with me in October of 2009. All the while, I had been training for my first half marathon, and this 10K.
My friends who knew me back when always joked that I used to run “like an elephant,” and was the last person they would ever think to be a runner.
But here I am, years later, and I am still a runner, still hooked on it.
Mile One
These past two weeks with getting back into my running groove have reminded me about mile one.
Even at the peak of my running physical fitness, mile one was always hard. Mile two was not much easier, but by the time I hit mile three, four, five and six, I had finally found my stride.
Yesterday on my 5-mile “long run” (” = because that’s not even long), I thought I might die for the entire first mile. All I kept thinking was, “Is this the day when I start hating running?” But then, like clockwork, I looked down at my watch to see mile 1.40 hit, and in that moment I realized I was back to a 3-3 or 3-2 breathing pattern.
And every single time I run, my splits show it. (The below splits are from my run yesterday. Make note that it stops at 3.9 miles. It was abrupt, and I was super grumpy. My phone still had 50% battery life but turned off and wouldn’t turn on again. And with that, I immediately ordered my new White Garmin Forerunner 35 Watch. Should be here tomorrow!)
The longer I run, the easier it gets. My goal was to stay about a 9-minute mile yesterday (or about 1 minute more than my ultimate race pace). Somehow, my body goes on autopilot and just picks up speed. (Side note: I can’t wait until I’ve trained long enough in 2017 to see that 9-minute marker even greatly reduce!)
Like Life
I’ve been thinking about this concept a lot during this past week.
I always thought I’d never be able to do anything but sprint because I never got past the parts that were painful. In other words, up until just several years ago, I didn’t allow myself to go past mile one because it was just “too hard.”
Turns out, I’m not made for really anything less than 1.4 miles.
It has taken me almost 34 years to realize this.
I think about running so much like life because the parallels are always there.
How often do we quit too early? How often do we “tire” before we have reaped the real benefits?
We go and go and go because we believe it will be worth it, but for those things that are truly worth it, sometimes we never even get the chance to see them come to fruition.
We give up just shy of where the comfort zone begins.
Motherhood even shares so much of what I’m learning by making it to mile 1.40. Like mile one, the struggle is real, but thinking it’s going to be like that for all 13.1 (or 26.2!) is not reality.
In running, like life, it just might take awhile to find the right stride…..the one where we are soaring vs. struggling.
The key is just to make it past mile one.
Xox,
SKH
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