Dorothy Beal

I have this thing with running...

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The Sweetest Escape

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I’ve been running mostly alone for the past 18+ years (not including my stroller running years). There have been periods of time where I had running friends that were close but for the most part even when I had friends that were close the times that I had to run weren’t exactly conducive to meeting up with friends. And if I am honest, I like running alone. I may complain about it from time to time and feel sorry for myself on really long runs when I’m tired and know that the run would feel easier if I had someone by my side, but even then, it’s not all that awful.

Running alone means I have a lot of time to think and overthink.

When my youngest, Colton, was in preschool I had roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes to run and do anything else I needed to get accomplished without him in tow. My runs didn’t feel all that enjoyable because when I was running I was calculating how much time I could cut from the run if I ran faster or how many miles I could squeeze in if I just ran some of my errands with him.

My to-do list would consume the majority of my thoughts on the runs. Sure almost 3 hours sounds like a lot of time but any parent can tell you that window of time can fly by in an instant.

My runs didn’t feel all that enjoyable and instead felt like something else I had to check off on my to-do list. One day I decided that I needed to take back that time and make the run truly an escape. I quit thinking about my to-do list. It took practice, in much the same way that it takes practice to bring your thoughts back to your center when you are meditating, but once I got the hang of it, it made every run that much better. Once I felt I mostly had mastered that, I started adding on things I wasn’t allowed to think about during the run. Essentially I attempted to leave any stressors at home and used the run as an escape in order to recharge.

Colton is in 4th grade now and I still don’t allow myself to run through my to-do list while running. I don’t think about who I need to email back or that project I’m late on, I don’t run through what I need to get at the grocery store or how much laundry is piling up. I literally leave my worries at home and allow myself to enjoy the run.

Yes there are days I’ll find myself running on rage or getting upset about things outside of my control, but for the most part I try to keep the run as my escape. 10/10 recommend.

Make Plans, God Laughs

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I’ve started a handful of posts that are sitting in drafts and two of them both start with the quote about making plans and God laughing….

The elite edition of the London Marathon 2020 is this Sunday, October 4th. London was going to be my last major marathon finish I needed in order to earn the Abbott World Marathon Majors 6 Star Medal. When London was postponed this spring I was initially disappointed. I trained hard all winter for what was hopefully going to be one of my faster for me marathons and while I was able to swerve when Tokyo was canceled and run something else, I had hoped to better my time at London. That being said London being postponed was a blessing in disguise, I honestly wasn’t ready for my six star journey, as they call it, to be over.

I was sad about London being over before it even began. This is something I continuously struggle with…I know that almost everything ends and that it’s just a normal part of life, but I sometimes have a hard time being fully present in a moment because I know it’s already a memory on some level. If the memories will keep happening, then it’s not a big deal, but when it’s something that may never happen again, I feel a bit sad before it’s even happened and certainly long before it’s over.

I’ll never forget the first time I went to Kona to watch the Ironman World Championships, it was my first time visiting Hawaii and for someone who loves watching endurance sports, it was Hawaii on a whole other – better – crazier – more intense – level. Lost in thought one afternoon a friend asked me what I was thinking about. When I said oh I don’t know, just in my own world I guess, he responded, you are already sad this is over, aren’t you?? I had literally never shared that, that I have this weird? quirk so I was taken aback. Yeah I was sad, I was in paradise and I was already sad it was over, even though it wasn’t close to being over. He told me that it was only the last time I would spectate that race if I wanted it to be the last time, that if I wanted to go back I would find a way to make it happen…and I did, two more times.

The more I like something or enjoy something the more I’m preemptively sad it has ended. The thing is I know logically that endings make room for beginnings and not going on the same life adventure repeatedly makes room for different, often better, adventures.

I’ve run Marine Corps Marathon 11 times, but up until I ran The Great Wall Marathon I don’t think I fully realized that yeah it’s fun to run the same thing over and over, there is a sense of comfort there, but there is also something exciting and fun and truly much needed when you try something new and step outside of your comfort zone (even if that something new involves a hell of a lot of steps of varying sizes, that you don’t totally feel prepared for).

I signed up for the virtual London experience thinking I would run 1 mile every hour for 24 hours with a couple of hours being more than 1 mile. I was honestly really excited about it and then you know, plans changed (in a good way, but not one I’m ready to explain)…

The crazy person inside of me keeps telling myself to bust out a marathon. Drive to the end of the trail in the dark, park and just jog for hours, walking when needed and finish 26.2 all at once. I know I could do that…which yes I am grateful to have a body that can handle my nonsense, but I also don’t feel like that’s very smart when I’m under an abnormal amount of stress right now + I don’t have time to lay around and recover from what that will do to my body.

So I’m choosing not to do the 24 hour thing, choosing not to be a moron and run 26.2 miles off no training and I’m choosing to not dwell on it or care. I have exactly a year to get myself together so that at the finish line of London, I’m not sad it’s already over, I’m just fully present in the moment with my friends (and medals!!!) and ready to drink lots of whiskey + dance the night away.

p.s. Don’t @ me and tell me London 2021 might not happen either, I’m a bright side person and I’m choosing to hold on to this dream 🙂

InsideTracker InnerAge 2.0

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Yesterday InsideTracker launched their InnerAge 2.0 test, something I’ve been really excited about!

I was part of their beta tester group and couldn’t wait till it launched so I could talk about it. Why do secrets feel the worst – lol!?!

The InnerAge 2.0 test tests 14 biomarkers that determine your biological age as compared to your chronological age. I’m not sure what age I was expecting it to come back at but I’m highly competitive with myself so when it came back with 35 I felt let down – I REALLY wanted it to be lower. After consulting with InsideTracker, it turns out that anything under your chronological age is really great. Most participants of the beta group were actually older biologically than chronologically, which made me feel a bit better about my 35!

I have 6 biomarkers that are raising my InnerAge and 8 that are lowering it.

If you are wondering what exactly a biomarker is, you aren’t alone. When I posted a Dear Dorothy on my instagram page the other day that was the most asked question about InsideTracker. If you CLICK HERE it links to a FREE e-book that explains everything you need to know about biomarkers.

My iron and ferritin levels (my ferritin is currently 30 ugh) have consistently not been where they should be so it was no surprise that my TIBC (total iron binding capability) is adding to my InnerAge. I’ll continue to try to figure out that piece of my “health puzzle” as simply supplementing didn’t work for me.

The other 5 that are raising my age I had no clue what they were or how to improve them, thankfully InsideTracker takes the work out of figuring out how to improve biomarkers. On the right hand side of the screen in your individual dashboard there is a link you can click that tells you how to improve each individual biomarker.

The biomarker lowering my InnerAge the most is one I’m excited about (yes I’m a nerd), my LDL. My LDL was high in January when I took an Ultimate Test and honestly it made me mad – lol. I consider myself a mostly healthy person, so to have a cholesterol level that was in the high zone made me feel terrible. I have this thing about wanting to live for a really long time. My best friend from 2nd grade often laughs at me and is like but yeah who actually wants to live to be 100, you would be so old, and I’m like ummm yeah me, I do. My great grandmother lived to be 100 and got to meet Chloe when I was pregnant with Miles. We have a photo of 5 generations all standing together and I think it’s the coolest thing ever. My grandfather passed away last year at the age of 90 and my grandmother just turned 90 this month! She still does yoga, goes for walks, and is generally an active person. I want to be like her!!! It’s literally a life goal of mine to live a very long life!

After testing in the high LDL range I followed some of the InsideTracker recommendations and have since then lowered my LDL significantly! So yay to being younger on the inside than I actually am and yay to being competitive with myself and making it a goal to lower that number on my next test!

If you want to try InsideTracker for yourself (they are a partner) you can use code: mileposts 

The code gets you 20% off the Ultimate or Vitality tests and for a limited time the InnerAge add on is complimentary if you use my code! (I don’t see who uses it and I don’t get anything from it, if you are the type of person who is worried about that!)

Questions? Send me a DM on instagram!

@mileposts on Instagram

Dorothy Beal