Thankful Thursday

Classes being finished

New running shoes to break in tonight at the SCSU on the Move 5K

One in class final + one take home final

A year of graduate school finished

Life Changes at 13.1 Miles

Eight months ago I embarked upon a journey that I thought would end at a single 5K race. A single race of 3.1 miles, and about nine weeks of training to get to that point. By the end of December I had completed eight 5K races and began to wonder if I could one day run a 10K or even, gasp, a half-marathon. While I was not necessarily determined to run a half-marathon anytime in the near future, I found an enticing one on April 24th. I began training in the end of January, early February and realized along the way that most of the battle was mental. Physically, I could do it, mentally, completely unsure. Last weekend, I decided to run a half-marathon relay with my friend Kate, just to get some distance in before an attempt at a half-marathon. I ended up running the 7.1 mile portion of the race and while it was slow going, I completed the race and Kate and I had a half-marathon time of 2 hours 32 minutes.

Enter this weekend. Rainy Saturday, ankle issues and a plethora of doubts. And the weekend of the half-marathon. 13.1 miles of running. Doubts plagued me up until mile 6, where I decided to take the half-marathon route as opposed to the 10K route. Doubts then again plagued me at mile 7 when my feet, soaked by the rain, began to blister and hurt. Doubts plagued me at mile 8, mile 9, mile 10, mile 11, mile 12 and mile 13. The doubt left as I crossed the finish line in 2 hours 58 minutes. A slow 13:34 mile pace, but I finished. I, Molly Refsland, finished a half-marathon. My dad was there to see me finish and I would not have wanted it any other way.

I am thinking of running another half in August and a 10 miler in October. I am now, what I consider to be, a runner. A slow, "caboose," but I am a runner. And running has changed my life. It has made me confident, stronger and healthier. It has made me realize that running can be fun, it can be challenging and it can altogether suck, but I cannot stop running. At this point, I will say a full marathon is probably not in my future, but we'll see. Someday :)

Thankful Thursday

My parents coming to visit tomorrow

Finishing my grammar paper

Having a great night with some of my favorite people

Knowing I'm where I'm supposed to be

Jamie Oliver

Nutrition and running go hand in hand. If I don't eat the right foods, I tend to not be able to run as far or as fast. So I have taken a real liking to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. In a brief, but meaningful blog, I encourage you all to sign his petition.

Please, check out Jamie Oliver's website and sign the petition.

Help stop the epidemic of obesity in this country. As a woman who is considered obese, I believe it is very important for children to learn about proper nutrition. I wish I had learned more in my youth, not that you can combat genetics, but it wouldn't have hurt to know how to eat right and to be influenced by my school lunches.

Thankful Thursday

Running two races this weekend (5K tomorrow and half-marathon relay on Saturday)

Seeing my parents next weekend

Making my mom's spaghetti sauce tonight for a pasta dinner tomorrow

Clean laundry

Faith

I'm not usually one to write about religion because I don't really know a whole lot about religion. I know that I was raised Christian and I'd say my morals are guided by Christian principles. I haven't been to church in roughly 5 years, but I am a firm believer that going to a building to worship doesn't make you any more of a religious person than someone who devotes time to God, or another higher power in their home. I think people struggle with religion and faith and spirituality because we have so many options, people telling us one thing is better than the other. However, over the past few years, I've come to realize that a set religion, such as Christianity, isn't important, but having faith or belief in something, anything, is what is important. Dustin, the man I used to date, is Pagan and while I don't know much about the religion, I know he believes in something, has faith in some higher being. To me, this extremely important because in all honesty, you can't do things on your own, nobody has enough friends or family to lean on all the time. I think somewhere in my youth I lost sight of my faith and I've tried to find it again. Over and over.

I struggle with the constructs of certain Christian ideals, including the Bible. I've often argued that it needs to be updated, contemporized. I have a difficult time understand "uber" Christians who to me, are not in touch with reality or the changing world around them. With that said, I envy, to a certain extent, people who are incredibly in touch with their religious beliefs. What I've realized in regards to that is that I envy people who can have faith in something that could be totally made up. A complete hoax. But faith is what grounds these people, faith in something whether real or imagined, faith that someone is watching over them.

And it's faith that has helped me though. Through a breakup that I thought I was over, thought was good and thought I had a grasp on. Through graduate school. Through my doubts, disbeliefs, and disasters. Through long runs and lazy afternoons. Faith in something. I'm not even sure what. I do believe that a higher being is watching over me, guiding me, helping me through the day. Someone I can talk to, knows all about me and has a master plan for me. A plan I don't know about and one I'll never know to its entirety. But I have faith. Faith gets me through my day.

Thankful Thursday

Getting Twins v. Rangers tickets for May 30th (at Target Field!)

Being able to hang out and relax with friends tomorrow night

Realizing my dreams and continuing to follow them

My incredibly amazing family

Founder's Day

While it was almost two weeks ago, I thought I'd give a little shout out to Founder's Day at Cottey College. For those of you who don't know, Cottey College is a two year liberal arts college for women. Cottey is full of memories for me and other alumnae and it truly was the best way for me to spend the first two years of college. Without Cottey, I would have never met some of the most amazing women on this planet and probably wouldn't have been encouraged to pursue anything I'd like. I love Cottey College and someday I hope to have daughters to carry on a Cottey tradition.

Speaking of tradition, Founder's Day Weekend is quite possibly the best tradition Cottey has. One weekend every year, the college invites its alumnae back to relive their experience, see people they haven't seen in years and to help carry on the vision of Virgina Alice Cottey. This year was my 5 year reunion and I had the pleasure of seeing many of my friends and even making some new ones. I can't even express how much I value my education and experience at Cottey, but I will say, it was amazing and one of a kind.


The best part of my trip? Seeing my best friend Kali and her beautiful baby boy, Judah.

Opening Day

In honor of Opening Day/Week for baseball, I thought I'd share with you a few things from my favorite team, the Minnesota Twins. First of all, thanks to my dad for being a Twins fan and I guess making me one. I like the Twins, but now with a brand new, outdoor field, I may even love them. While I have yet to step foot in Target Field, I anticipate it greatly.

The following is my favorite commercial...maybe of all time. I get so happy when I see it, smiley and giddy, it is a bit odd, but baseball season is finally here and we have a new stadium! Holla!



One of the reasons I love baseball so much is because I get to go to games with my dad. He's truly my hero and getting to spend time with him always brightens my day. He loves the Twins and he enjoys baseball so getting to do something we both enjoy is beyond amazing. My dad has taught me a lot about baseball throughout the years, but what I remember most is cheering on the Twins with him while he tells me pitcher's ERAs, batting averages, how many homeruns Mauer has hit and who we just acquired on a trade. Just the simple act of spending time with my dad. And of course having a beer or two :)



Here's to a great baseball season. GO TWINS!!!!!! I cannot wait to go to Target Field with my dad in May :)

Thankful Thursday

Warm weather...running in shorts and a t-shirt!

Two VERY good classes (observation one day, debate the next)

Getting to see my Cottey girls last weekend

Lazy afternoons