Run Like Stef

Hi Everyone! 

 My name is Stefanie, aka spaceinyerface. 😊

(That’s me on the right. The handsome dude is my husband, Zach)

 When I first started, my blog was basically a runblr. Really, it was more of an Internet training log but pretty soon I started finding other tumblrs who embraced me and encouraged me as I trained for my first full marathon. That lead to discover healthblr and fitblrs and slowly my blog morphed into more of a healthblr than anything else. Then, a little less than a year ago, I got really sick and had to be hospitalized (more on that here, if you're interested) which led to getting diagnosed with lupus. Getting sick has really thrown a wrench into my whole life, not to mention my fitness, and I have been struggling to find my balance again. I'm hoping that this is going to be just the kick start I need! 😄 

 GOALS  - Drink at least 85 oz of water every day  - Exercise 5 days a week  - Run at least 70 miles each month  - Secondary goal of breaking 100 miles in one month - Track my food and drink every day  - No more than 3 alcoholic drinks per week. (That's the total number of drinks. Not the number of days I am allowed to have drinks. I have to be very clear about his now because Future Stefanie can be a sneaky bitch sometimes. 😁)  - Run Hood to Coast at the end of August and feel good about my performance. - GET OFF PREDNISONE (This one isn't up to me, unfortunately but maybe by putting it out there, I can somehow MAKE it happen alá The Secret)

CHAMPIONS My biggest, best and most favoritest champion is my husband, Zach. He is my best friend, my running coach, my cheerleader and my personal trainer all rolled into one. I can use him to help me succeed because he loves and believes in me, he wants me to succeed AND he knows me and my illness well enough to be able to tell when I need to be pushed and when I really just need to rest.  And I am really hoping that all of you guys will be my champions too! I really hope that by supporting and encouraging each other, we will all be able to be successful. (I'm also still looking for my Accountability Buddy, if anybody still needs one. 😁)

CHALLENGES My biggest challenge is learning how to handle my disease. The medication I am on not only slows my metabolism, it also causes me to feel super hungry pretty much all the time. I have put on 25 pounds since I got sick even though I have still been eating (mostly) well and exercising regularly. (Granted, I wasn't really allowed to work out very much for the first four or five months, and I'm still not active as I used to be but I am also not sitting on the couch stuffing my face every day either.) It also causes bouts of extreme fatigue sometimes, which definitely makes getting motivated to work out more difficult. And I have to be careful because MOST of the time I'm just tired, and sometimes it's just good old lupus fatigue but my lupus occasionally causes me to have hemolytic anemia so SOMETIMES it's because I don't have enough blood in my body and if they don't catch it soon enough I could end up back in the hospital. It sounds scarier than it really is, though. Really, like 90% of the time I'm just sleepy or whatever and the really scary thing has only really happened the one time but believe me when I say once was enough to make me paranoid about it for the rest of my life. Honestly, I don't really know what to do about this one, other than just getting better at living with lupus. When I first got sick my rheumatologist warned me that it would probably take about a year and half to two years to get my meds dialed in so I'm hoping that things are going to get better here soon. My second biggest challenge is ME, if I'm being totally honest. I get so frustrated with my lack of progress that I end up making bad choices because it feels I'm like "if I'm going to gain weight anyway, I might as well have a damn donut" which is just THE MOST counterproductive thing EVER but I keep doing it anyway. I'm going to combat this by only weighing myself once a month, rather than weekly, and by focusing on non-scale victories instead. 

Hi Everyone!

So I know this is a long shot because I don’t think I’m friends with too many PNWers on Tumblr but I’m desperate so here goes nothing!

Our Hood to Coast team is in need of one more volunteer to dedicate 4-6 hours on August 26 or 27. This relay race spans 36 hours, starting at Mt. Hood and goes all the way to Seaside, Oregon and depends on thousands of volunteers.

If you volunteer for us, you will be an official member of our team, Where My Beaches At. You’ll get to experience a seriously awesome race, get a cool team shirt and come to our fun pre and post race parties! 🎉 Plus we will love you forever (and there’s also the part where we will be disqualified if we don’t provide 3 volunteers so that’s no good)

More information of what’s involved in volunteering or the different types of jobs they have, you can check out the website at: http://www.hoodtocoastrelay.com/volunteer