A Little Bit About Me

Meet the Blogger!

Hi, how are you?  How are you doing?  I’m hanging in there, my knee even more so than myself!  No, seriously, it’s hanging in there by one single frayed little ligament.  And I’m crutching around thinking about calling myself Lil Crutchy Crutch and spitting some mean verse intermixed with my take on Cher’s iconic If I Could Turn Back Time, I would have two good knees… 

Neighborhood Watch!  Yes, we dress in costume on Halloween and run around the neighborhood like this.

So, let’s get to it.  I was a competitive gymnast for basically a decade before suffering a high ankle sprain in high school that I could never quite heal from.  I was well into my college academic career before I finally stopped re-spraining my ankle every few months.  It was a vicious cycle of thinking I was good and could compete until I would be hobbled and sidelined yet again.  That injury made for a really frustrating journey to a college scholarship, and despite having the skills to make it to the NCAA, I did not have the health to get there and keep my scholarship.  It was a tough decision, but I made the right decision by stopping in high school.

State Uneven Bar Champ!  Bars were my jam!

 

In the end, I made the right call.  I became a fan of running in my mid-twenty’s thanks to a crazy, amazing Brittany Spaniel named Mac who loved running.  Our first run was inspired by the delusions of the elliptical machine – I thought I was really in shape for doing the elliptical for an hour.  I soon found I wasn’t in shape, but my dog didn’t care.  His endless love for running prompted me to overcome my hatred for the sport and learn to love it as much as he did. 

 

Mac, my first running buddy.  He still means so much more to than I could ever describe.

Since then, I have run a countless number of 5ks, 7ks, 10ks, 10-mile, 15k’s, half-marathons, and all 26.2 miles of marathon three times.

I play with numbers by day, but at night, I teach tumbling to kiddos.  I love helping kids learn new skills and seeing them excel and succeed.  Plus, it helps me keep my skills up – though I’m definitely not going to be twisting onto hard surfaces anytime soon…

He knows how I weak I am for avocado toast!

 When I’m not working or running, I’m watching crime documentaries or police procedurals with my fiancé.  He’s an amazing chef, and yes, I’m very well-fed.  I’m not going to lie, when he starts experimenting with ideas, I’m more than happy to help him taste-test!

 

Maris is awfully drooly for someone so judgmental!

My Brittany Spaniel now runs with me in spirit, but my big, red, ginger biscuit bottom is my companion now.  Princess Maris Sandberg is a Rhodesian Ridgeback and has been my running buddy for over 7 years.  She’s helped me train for two marathons.  She can easily run 10+ miles, but I try to not to push her too much over that because I know how hard running can be on a body and how differently dogs respond to pain.  I never want running to hurt her physically or mentally.

This sweet little biscuit loves tagging along with her momma.  Maris is my heart!

This fall we had a health scare with Maris. She had a growth, but we were able to take care of it rather invasively, and her health is back.  I did realize how lost I would be without her, so we found a certain little young sir, Yogi Bear Bryant.

Our little young sir, Yogi Bear Bryant

And that’s me in a nut-shell.  A former gymnast turned runner who loves her dogs, her hubs, and eating all of the good food he sticks in front of her face!