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Do You Even Lift?

This will be a quick one. I've always heard the whole "if you don't blog/facebook/instagram about it, did it even happen?" thing so in my case, I've done essentially nothing for months. This is not true. You know how I go really long spans without blogging? Because sometimes life is better spent being lived than written about? Yeah, kind of the same with the whole exercise thing right now.

I started this post a loooooong time ago and am just getting around to finishing it so it's interesting that it's still so relevant. I'm currently training for the Eugene Half Marathon (which was originally going to be marathon #4) and doing Orangetheory once a week which is not exactly nothing. I've posted a few somewhat obligatory #gymselfie pics on instagram but in general I've just been doing my thing and not talking about it much.

I follow the instagrams of numerous athletes, almost all amateurs and really enjoy them so don't think I'm against sharing exercise. I think when it comes to me, I felt like I got stuck in a very one dimensional place. When you thought of me, you thought of running. And I thought that's what I wanted which it was until it wasn't. I have a lot of sides to me and being so known for just one side made me really uncomfortable for whatever reason. When I moved to Oregon (10 months ago, holy crap) the few people from Louisville who kept up with me or asked about me spoke almost exclusively in terms of fitness. "How are you liking the trails out there?" "Have you found a place for lap swimming?" "Which races do you have your eye on?" I mean, at least they were asking something, right? But you know me, I can never be fully satisfied and those questions just seemed really shallow to me. Nobody was asking about me, they were asking about things.

So even though I've continued working out since it is important and enjoyable to me, I haven't made it the big thing it used to be. I've gained weight that I'm working on losing again, I run faster some days than others and I've joined maybe 3 group runs in the entire time I've been here. Obviously a lot of that has to do with school being all consuming but now that it's almost over and my time has freed up I've been doing a lot of other things and trying to remember what's made me happy. Coloring has become a new fad and for the first time it's one I was already ahead of so that's been fun. I'm also reading again; albeit slowly I'm getting into books and in true form reading more than one at a time. And I'm cooking. Not huge things or anything terribly time consuming but I've made it a point to eat more veggies and have been cooking some up and throwing them into many meals which has me feeling pretty good.

In a nutshell, I hate being in a nutshell. I want all of my sides to show and to embrace my complexity. What about you? Do you feel like you're stuck in a shell? Or maybe you like being known as "the one who *insert whatever*?

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