Category: Family

NaNoWriMo* – Day 20 of 30

Posted on by Cheryl

“Today, Today is a Holiday” … John Kanaka-naka tu-lai-e!!!

Today indeed was a holiday from running or a rest day as Coach Amy calls it. We didn’t exactly rest, but went on a hike up Green Mountain outside of Boone, NC. So technically I didn’t rest my legs, but it was a beautiful day and we were hiking with family. Life is good.

Oh, and look up and play the song “John Kanaka” by Fisherman’s Friends. It should make you smile.

Back at it tomorrow with a 6-miler.

*NaNoWriMo is an annual event that challenges you to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month! Crazy right? Not everyone uses the challenge to write a novel – we are called NaNoRebels. For example, I challenged myself to write one blog post every day for a month and that is what you are seeing in these NaNoWriMo posts!!!

NaNoWriMo* – Day 17 of 30

Posted on by Cheryl

In October of 2018 I ran the Chicago Marathon as part of the ALZ Stars team and to support research and funding for Alzheimer’s programs.

In July of 2019, my Dad passed away. He had Alzheimer’s.

My sister who is just 2 years older than me is in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s. She was diagnosed in her 50’s. She’s not doing so well right now. That’s her in the picture on the left. She loves flowers.

I run for her, and in memory of my Dad and for countless others who suffer from the disease or are actively caring for someone who does. It is a devastating disease. We need to keep fighting for a cure.

Alzheimer’s Sucks.

*NaNoWriMo is an annual event that challenges you to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month! Crazy right? Not everyone uses the challenge to write a novel – we are called NaNoRebels. For example, I challenged myself to write one blog post every day for a month and that is what you are seeing in these NaNoWriMo posts!!!

NaNoWriMo* – Day 14 of 30

Posted on by Cheryl

Team “Christop Crew” for the Shakori 40

Shakori Hills is a beautiful farm of rolling hills and meadows in the heart of North Carolina. This region is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and is most famous for the Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival held every spring and fall.

The Shakori 40 Running Festival had events for 40k Individual, 40 mile individual and 40 mile team relay. We entered the team relay with five members of our family.

We took 10th out of 74 teams, on the backs of our two fastest runners. Each person on the team has to run at least one 4-mile course loop. I managed two loops for the 8-miles I needed to check the box on my training plan for today.

The remnants of a hurricane had barreled through 2 days earlier so it was more of a mud run than anything else. It was the kind of thick wet mud that grabs your shoes and doesn’t want to let go. Throw a few hills in and some single-track and I was thankful to finish my first 4-miles at a 10:22 pace. The second 4-mile loop, well let’s just say I got my 8-miles in today.

All in all, it was a super fun day with all the energy that surrounds race day. It’s been hard to find in-person events this year so we were really excited to participate in this one.

*NaNoWriMo is an annual event that challenges you to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month! Crazy right? Not everyone uses the challenge to write a novel – we are called NaNoRebels. For example, I challenged myself to write one blog post every day for a month and that is what you are seeing in these NaNoWriMo posts!!!

NaNoWriMo* – Day 13 of 30

Posted on by Cheryl

Do External Rewards work?

There is an ongoing debate… as to whether extrinsic or intrinsic rewards are best. Let’s take a closer look.

Extrinsic Motivation

  • Participating in a sport to win awards (ME)
  • Cleaning your room to avoid being reprimanded by your parents
  • Competing in a contest to win a scholarship (ME)
  • Studying because you want to get a good grade (ME) or avoid a failing grade
  • Working hard to close as many deals as possible to earn the highest commission (ME)

Intrinsic Motivation

  • Participating in a sport because you find the activity enjoyable
  • Cleaning your room because you like tidying up (ME)
  • Solving a word puzzle because you find the challenge fun and exciting
  • Studying a subject you find fascinating
  • Closing as many deals as possible to help the greatest number of people with their challenges

It appears that intrinsic rewards lean mostly positive; while extrinsic motivators can be either positive (the carrot) or negative (the stick).

As with other things in life, we all come to our particular situation with differences in genetics, personality, backgrounds, upbringings, world experiences and much more. I believe these also play a role in our responses to different types of rewards.

My very personal and one-person survey reveals that I respond best to POSITIVE-TYPES OF EXTRINSIC REWARDS.

And so, knowing myself and that I get excited, energized and fiercely determined when I see the reward of a finish line and a “YOU DID IT” recognition of some sort, I will set about creating a positive external reward system for myself.

I’ll share what I come up with in an upcoming post and if you find yourself in a similar camp, I’ll be happy to pass it along to you!

Cheers to all you other positively externally motivated individuals!!!

*NaNoWriMo is an annual event that challenges you to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month! Crazy right? Not everyone uses the challenge to write a novel – we are called NaNoRebels. For example, I challenged myself to write one blog post every day for a month and that is what you are seeing in these NaNoWriMo posts!!!

NaNoWriMo* – Day 12 of 30

Posted on by Cheryl

How my Polish Grandma launched my running career

Here is my Polish Grandma Nellie with me (back left) and my siblings. Grandma was born in 1892 and sadly she’s long since passed away; however my memory of her is still very strong.

When my siblings and I were younger, we visited her every week to help her around the house since my grandpa has passed away much earlier. My Mom would talk to her in Polish to write down her grocery list and we would go shop for her and bring the groceries back. This may amaze you, but she never drove a car in her entire life. And since there were no grocery delivery services back then, we filled the “instacart” role in her life.

When we got back from the grocery store, Grandma would have a plate piled high with ham sandwiches waiting for us. The bread was lavishly buttered (with real butter of course) and a bowl of pickles stood nearby. There were pastries for afterwards – kolacky cookies if it was around a holiday and that was a real treat.

Oh how she loved to see us eat.

Every time we visited, she would remark, “Chattle, you’re too skinny, eat, eat!” Her Polish accent transformed my name Cheryl in such an endearing way – I can still hear her voice with her accent and it warms my heart.

So went the visits and always, “Chattle, you’re too skinny, eat, eat!” That is, until after my freshman year of College.

It was my first visit of the summer and I was looking forward to that lavishly buttered ham sandwich. When we arrived, my grandma pinched my cheek (as she always did) and with a huge smile on her face exclaimed, “Chattle, you finally fat!!!”

I was horrified 😲

And so began my running career.

The rest of that summer I trudged around the perimeter of the local golf course and slowly (and I mean slowly) became a runner.

Back at school in the Fall, I signed up for my first 10k. I didn’t even know what that meant but my college roommate had run cross country in High School and she became my running mentor.

Now, I’m not saying I became a good runner or a fast runner, just that I was beginning to see and feel how running could possibly be just what I needed to continue to enjoy all those college carbs without piling on the weight.

Thanks Grandma! You were my very first motivational coach 😍

*If you’re wondering what NaNoWriMo is… it stands for National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is an annual event that began in 1999 as a challenge to writers to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month! Whew, crazy right? Not everyone uses this challenge to write a novel. Take me for example, I signed up for NaNoWriMo and challenged myself to write one blog post every day for a month and that is what you are seeing in these NaNoWriMo posts!!!