Tag Archives: Jenn

When It’s Time To Heal and Grow

by

April Fools Half 2015

I don’t know how to start this post because I hate goodbyes. I should’ve written this a while ago but some things are much harder to do than others. Every time I tried, I found an excuse to walk away from the laptop and do something else.

When I first told the other ladies here at Scoot that I was leaving, the main reason was that I’m going to start school in January and get a B.S in Environmental Studies. It’s an online program and I’ve been told to expect to spend 20 hours a week per class. I’m really not a fan of school or homework, so I immediately felt overwhelmed by this. That said, if I want to be paid for the level of work I’m currently doing, I need this degree. Adulting is dumb. Actually, no, money is dumb. Yet, I am fortunate. I am extremely privileged and lucky that my company will pay for this degree. Therefore, it also seems dumb not to take advantage of that opportunity.

I needed to clear my plate a bit because my anxiety was already vibrating super high. I’ve always thought of myself as a bit high-strung, so this feeling was nothing new to me. Still, it’s not fun, and it’s one of the reasons I was seeking mental health help. After a summer of searching, I connected with a therapist. She’s helping me understand my C-PTSD, Developmental Trauma, and ADD so that I can learn not to feel like a clock wound too tight.  I need space to work on this stuff, though, a plan my therapist strongly agreed with.

Not really. This is just one of my favorite gifs.

One way I can make space is by stepping away from Scoot, as much as it hurts. People tell me that I’m the busiest person they know, so maybe that’s a hint it’s time to focus on a few super important things, instead of half-assing many things. I’ve narrowed those things down to the ones that are necessary and feed my soul purpose.

  • Finish the first draft of my novel
    • I’ve been working on this for years and my self-esteem can’t handle not getting it done before I start the degree. Plus, creative writing feeds my soul.
  • Begin My Childhood Trauma Recovery Journey
  • Get my First Bachelors Degree

That’s it. That’s all I have mental and emotional space for outside of the necessities of daily living. I’m learning to be okay with that. It’s not like it’s not a lot of stuff. I don’t need to do ALL the things.

I loved my time here. I made many friends and accomplished feats I never dreamed of attempting. Maybe my absence won’t be forever. Promises were made that if I do anything exciting or beautiful in that Colorado-esque sort of way, to guest post about it. If you want to follow my writing or mental health journeys, you can find me on my website, Author J.L. Perez. I’m not far away. Thank you all for your love and kindness over the years, your support pushed and inspired me to be the best version of myself.

 

Hiking Calypso Cascade

by

Summer is almost over so I wanted to share a tranquil, beautiful hike with you. Join me via video on my hike last night to Calypso Cascades in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into one of our beautiful national parks. I also hope this hike brought you a bit of serenity today. It always does my soul good to get outside and connect with the trail.

That chipmunk was chowing down on a big mushroom he found. I named him Samwise after that.

Feelin’ Clever On our 1000th Post

by

After years of searching for the perfect planner, I think I may have finally found one that meets all my needs!

It’s called the Clever Fox Planner Pro and it’s the perfect blend of planner styles because it’s includes goal setting, weekly planning, and bullet journaling. It could be customized to use for race training, too. It’s supper nifty and I’m stoked to tell you more about it below.

This post is not an ad. I received no incentives for posting about this Planner. I honestly just love it and wanted to share with other planner-y type people.

 

 

This post marks our one-thousandth, and we think that’s pretty cool. We’re grateful to each of you following along and making us laugh! We’re gonna keep on keepin’ scootin’.

Forget BMI, What’s Your ACE Score?

by

School was not my favorite place to be. And tests were never a fun thing unless it was an essay test on Pride & Prejudice, AMIRITE?! Just me, eh?

Oh, Lydia.

Well, I recently took another test called the ACE Quiz. ACE stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences, and I scored really high an 8/10. Only, this is one of those tests where you don’t want a high score. At all. A high score on this test can indicate the likelihood of allllll kinds of negative health problems, like COPD and lung cancer, to name a few.

If you aren’t familiar with the ACE Quiz, let me summarize for you. The ACE Quiz (it’s more of a questionnaire) consisted of ten questions about your experiences with traumatic childhood experiences. Your score can indicate your propensity to develop a plethora of adverse health outcomes. To learn more, watch this TED Talk from Dr Nadine Burke Harris. Basically, the study determined that childhood trauma influences your lifelong mental and physical health.

Yeah, of course, it does. I knew that before I took the quiz. What I didn’t know is that I’m three times more at risk for heart disease and lung cancer than someone with an ACE score of zero. It affects mental health, too. People with high scores are TWELVE TIMES more at risk of suicide, and their life expectancy is shortened by twenty years.

What I want you to take away from this post is to take the ACE Quiz for the sake of your kids, and try to take it as if you were your kid, too. I like this one NPR shared because the questions were worded clearly. See if there are things in their environment that you can change for the healthier. Coming from divorced parents gets you one point on the test, so basically, almost everyone in America can claim that adverse childhood experience. Yay us.

I will continue to keep on doing what I’m doing in terms of fitness and nutrition, despite learning this new information. What I can do is try to reverse or mitigate the risks by being as healthy as possible, while still balancing the enjoyment of what makes life fun. Including donuts sometimes.

I also want you to take away how very proud I am of myself for my gif choices in this post.

BOCO Grab Bag of Awesome Giveaway

by

We’re sharing the love from our BOCO Gear Grab Bags of Awesome with TWO BOCO Gear awesome giveaways! We love this company so much and can’t wait to share the love with two lucky winners who will score two hats each.

Check out the Vlogs and leave a comment here on this post to enter by Friday, May 24, 2019. We’ll notify winners over the weekend so be sure your comment is linked to your email! US residents only.

Giveaway One from Mer’s Grab Bag of Awesome

Giveaway two from Jenn’s GBOA

 

Beyond Plogging – Next Level Climate Actions

by

Earth Day was earlier this week, and I think it’s safe to say that all runners share a love of our planet. If we didn’t like to be outside, we probably wouldn’t be runners. For some of us, running might be the only time we are able to get outside and connect with nature. Doesn’t matter if you’re on the pavement or a dirt trail, being outdoors is medicine for our tired souls.

Plogging has taken off, and we get it. Picking up litter on a run is something easy we can do, and we’re making an impact when we do it. By doing household stuff like reducing consumption, gardening, and decreasing our individual carbon emissions, for example, we collectively make a difference. We need to continue to do all we can to reduce our personal household carbon footprint. But the honest truth is, these actions won’t get us where we need to be.

Facing Facts

It is imperative our government act now with urgency and conviction. Instead, they have failed to craft, or adhere to, climate policies that protect our future. 72% of Americans think climate change is real. 73% say it’s important to them personally. 69% say they are worried about it. And I would guess that nearly 100% of us feel like we can’t make a significant difference in tackling this global crisis.

It’s like these guys are in charge.

But we can. We have to step up our game, though. Nearly three-quarters of us understand this is not a drill, and three-quarters of us is plenty to make a big impact. If we make an individual commitment to do some of the actions I’ve listed below, collectively we will change the conversation on climate change in our government. These next level actions do take effort and research, but if we expect our leaders to act with urgency, we must show them our demand for action is urgent, too, and fueled by fury and perseverance.

Hardcore Climate Actions

  1. Understand your Reps positions on climate issues and policy. If you don’t agree, tell them so.
  2. Let them know your position on climate issues and policy.
  3. Support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018, learn how it works here
  4. Ask your Reps to support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act of 2018
  5. Support the Climate Action Now Act
  6. Tell your reps to support the Climate Action Now Act (it’s being reviewed in the House this week or next).
  7. Don’t support candidates who take money from the fossil fuel industry
  8. Instead, support candidates who support science.
  9. Stay informed on your city and county’s environmental planning and policy meetings. Attend if possible, ask questions, tell your officials what you want them to do. Be Vocal.
  10. Stay informed on your state’s environmental planning and policy meetings. Attend if possible, ask questions, tell your officials what you want them to do. Be Vocal.

The talking heads are already predicting that climate change will be an important issue for the next election. Let’s make them understand just how much our votes depend on how well they address this critical issue. Get engaged. Get vocal. Be unladylike if needed. Now is your chance!

 

At my day job, I am a sustainability and corporate social responsibility coordinator with a background in business sustainability management.

How to Sew a Patch – Scoot Stitches

by

Happy Friday, Lovely People! I’m bringing back our Scoot Stiches series today to show you how to sew a sew-on patch. BOCO Gear sent all their 2019 Ambassadors a sew-on patch, and I quickly realized not many folks know this easy-to-learn skill. The great thing about patches is that you can sew them on to just about anything, and today’s video tutorial will show you how in a snap! I’ll be sewing my patch onto my Skirt Sports Toasty Girl Vest (which I love).

 

Check out some of our other tutorials in this series; Make a Running Skirt with a Waist Band Pocket, and Make a Gear Bag from a Race T-Shirt

Scoot’s Most Popular Posts

by

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe Scoot A Doot has been going strong for six years. It’s fun to take a look back over all our posts and remember the race destination or recipe that inspired us to share a post with you. It’s also fun to take a look at the stats and see which ones are the most popular over time. Today, I thought I’d share a look at our most popular posts. The top five posts on our blog cover everything from food to costumes to inspiring a positive body image in our kids.

The Color Run vs. The Color Vibe

Far and away our most popular ever post is retired Chick Victoria’s comparison of the Color Run and the Color Vibe races. When theme races were in their heyday, everyone wanted to know which of these two packed the biggest colorful punch.  Vic dishes on her experiences at both, and reading this brought back memories of my own Color Run. We all need a little nostalgia sometimes.

Costume Tutorial – Running Skirt with Pocket Waistband

When Meridith and I ran the BOLDERBoulder together in 2015, we knew we needed special costumes befitting the 3rd largest road race in America. Going with the whole rock theme, we settled on Wilma and Betty from the Flintstones. I decided it was the perfect chance to try making a running skirt with a pocket, and an even better opportunity to document the whole process so you can make one, too.

Ready for a nap. And beer. Maybe beer, then nap.

Product Review: Buff Butter

Retired Chick Bec was a nut butter nut, and got everyone excited to try Buff Butter. The company is  now called Buff Bake, and Bec gushed over three of the four flavors she tried. To quote her, “If you haven’t heard of Buff Bake’s butters, it is a line of high quality nut butters with added whey protein. Depending on the flavor, you’ll also see things like hemp, chia and flax seeds and organic coconut palm sugar. And, it comes in awesome flavors like Snickerdoodle Almond Butter and Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter, just to name a couple.”

 

Road Tested: Sweaty Bands

once upon a time, Meridith had a MAJOR problem with headbands. Her thick goregous hair (trust me, I’ve braided it) could not be contained by just any headband. She gave Sweaty Bands a run way back in 2013 and she was a big fan. I later bought one at a RunDisney expo and loved mine, too.  Skeptical? See for yourself in Mer’s review!

The Most Important Thing About Me

One of my favorite posts is from retired Chick Cam, and some insight she gained into the mind of her then eight year old daughter. If you’re a parent, especially of girls, this post will speak to you. Even if you aren’t a mom, you’ll remember being easily manipulated by society’s expectations of what’s healthy and beautiful. It’s a reminder to jump off that bandwagon.

We are the champions!

 

With nearly one thousand posts on the site, there’s quite the archive to browse through. I hope you find a few more things that speak to you. Be well, friends!

 

Food for Fuel and Pleasure

by

Six months of nutrition coaching ended recently and what I learned was not what I expected at all. I thought sharing it would be a good thing to do because my experience goes a long way to show how every body is different. Although I didn’t get the end result I expected, it was worth all the effort and expense. Here are the big takeaways.

I learned what my body needs to feel satisfied, and it wasn’t what I expected.

I learned to substitute some of my favorite things for healthier versions. I grew to love sweet potato fries instead of french fries. And gluten free pumpkin spice scones are in constant rotation now. After months of not eating gluten or white sugar, my sweet cravings can be satisfied with good quality dark chocolate. Once my taste buds adjusted to a different palate, it was whole new world of taste. Berries never tasted so sweet! I learned to listen to what my body was telling me to eat, too. When I was feeling a little anemic, I’d crave foods high in iron. I learned to listen to what my body was telling me it needed.

I learned that because of how my body is, it’s kind of a choice between ideal blood sugar levels and feeling hungry all the time

This was the biggest surprise. The learning of this was not pleasant. There was one week that I did a very strict paleo diet and in that week I lost seven pounds (I’d already lost nine by that point) and I was hungry the entire week. Of course, my blood sugar numbers were perfect during that time. The desire to not be hangry is preferable to having excellent blood sugars. At least, if I want to remain married and have friends.

I learned how to achieve and happy medium between food for fuel and food for pleasure.

Most days are far from perfect. I’ve rolled back the program because I understand now that a strict paleo diet is not sustainable for me for the long-term. It was the process of food journaling really that helped me understand my cravings and where they come from. My nutritionist taught me some coping strategies which are incredibly helpful. Learning to reward myself with other things instead of food treats, things like self care time and pampering, taught me a much healthier way to deal with my emotional eating.

 

Going on this six month journey was an invaluable thing for me to learn more about my blood sugar levels.The interacction between food and all other aspects of our lives is incredible. I feel more armed than ever to make the best food choices for me!