u/Kristina-Louise

Thankful I waited to buy- one of my local stores had signed Rogue Planet variants! Very exciting

I hung him up on my door :-)

Pumpkin plant from a mixed seeds pack. Should I be concerned about this?

[TRIGGER WARNING: Anxiety and Depression]

After years of being off anxiety meds, I’ve decided to restart medication. I was on medications for most of high school and college, and I’ve previously had moderate results on decreasing anxiety and depression… and an odd array of side effects. I decided to take a break from meds a couple years ago, and I eventually found more success managing my mental health without meds than with.

Fast forward to this year; I had some seasonal depression and just never bounced back. I’m in a position in my life where I feel like I SHOULD be happy- I’m not overworked at my job, my partner is moving in this month, I’ve been making huge improvements in my fitness… but all I want to do is lay in bed and worry about illness and my friends getting hurt. What the actual hell.

I’ve been prescribed a new medication I haven’t tried previously, and am scheduled to start therapy again. I’m feeling really off right now from the new meds, but am trusting that will clear up soon and I feel better. It is always hard asking for help, but I’m hoping to feel more “me” in a few months.

(Chicken fingers with ketchup, pineapple, pretzels, and yellow cake)

I did the Flying Pig Half in Cincinnati yesterday- it was my second half!

I use walk/run intervals while running, and ran a 5 minute run/2 minute walk pattern this race, with a 5 minute walking break every half hour. I finished my first half marathon in 3:09:16, and I trained with the goal to break 3 hours this time, but had some rough long runs and went into the race knowing that it may not be achievable this run.

Around mile 10, the course becomes mostly downhill. I started crunching numbers in my head and realized a sub three hour may possible if I cut down my walking. I had not trained with shorter walking breaks, but was feeling physically capable and determined to attempt.

And I did it! For the final three miles, I ran for longer and took ~1 minute breaks as needed. The downhill helped A LOT. Once I hit the final mile, I pushed to run as much as possible, and I finished with a 2:59:36… 24 seconds to spare :-)

The Flying Pig was wonderful; I love running in Cincinnati. Pushing that hard was NOT in my plan for the weekend, but I’m taking the next few weeks off running and focusing on letting my body heal. I’m hoping to increase my running intervals in future races and continue shaving time off my PR… without the giant sprint at the end!