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Making Sure Long Days Aren’t Short on Sanity

Standard Theodora Upfront Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post for Starbucks. I am addicted to Starbucks and have been since high school, so it’s awesome to recoup just a little bit of what I’ve spent there in the past 14 years.


Summer’s definitely over, and work is getting incredibly busy right now.

When I’m putting in long hours, it would be so easy to just reach for some sort of comfort food, but I know that it’s not worth it in the long run. It’s not worth the energy crash, it’s not worth a potential stomachache, and it’s not worth needing another snack an hour later.

There’s a few things that keep me sane during these long days.

A morning run.


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After so much kicking and screaming, I finally became a morning runner, and it has done tremendous things for my sanity. To get to work and have already run a bunch of miles is a great feeling. I am so much more calm, and it’s one less thing to worry about accomplishing during the day.

Something for me.

Like you, my days are filled with all kinds of obligations. It’s really important to my mental health (which then translates to my physical health) to do something that’s for me. Sometimes that’s just the morning run, but that’s usually blogging and/or Junior League. Sure, both of them are more work, but these are things I choose to do.

Unplugging.

Working in social media and being a blogger, I’m terrible at unplugging. But I know that if I am on my computer or phone until I go to sleep, I’m never going to relax. I try really hard now to spend as little time on my computer as possible when I get home from work and try to set a cutoff of 10pm on the computer. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s a good goal to have. I’m not much of a TV person, so I’m trying to read more instead of wasting time on the Internets.

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Healthy snacks.

I love a good cookie as much as the next girl, but I know that if I go for a cookie for an afternoon snack, I will be hangry. So I try to have some sort of nuts, protein bars and/or fruit on hand to prevent that late-afternoon energy crash. The morning run actually usually helps with this. On one of my rest days a few weeks ago, I got really tired in the late afternoon, and one of my coworkers actually asked, “Did you run today? You’re so tired.” I hadn’t run, and that was actually why I was tired. They’re not lying, morning running really does energize you.

Vitamin D.

I need to get out of the office every day, even if it’s just for 5-10 minutes. When I do bring my lunch, I still need to get out for just a few minutes to get some sunshine and fresh air. Just a quick walk outside makes most situations at least a little better.

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Each beverage is a sparkling, delicious boost of natural energy from Green Coffee Extract you can enjoy any time. With real fruit juice, B vitamins, ginseng, antioxidants from Vitamin C and only 60 calories per can, it’s a pick-me-up you can feel good about.

This is a sponsored post, produced in collaboration with Bliss and Starbucks. I received a Starbucks Refreshers sample to review. The opinions shared in this post are my own.

Can I Get a High Five?

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Can I get a high five?? (Or eat my camera? Same thing.)

It’s barely 10am, I had nowhere to be that required me to be up early, but I’ve already run 6 miles (I tweeted that I ran 5, but I realized that I messed up my Garmin again, so it’s 6!) and lifted. Yesterday, I was just not feeling running alone today, so I tweeted to see if anyone wanted to run today, and my girl Ashley said she did. She ran over here and met me at 6:45am, and we ran to the river.

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We split after a little after a mile, and I continued running downtown. I got to 2.5, and I just couldn’t stomach turning around and running the same 2.5 miles again, so I just kept running down until I got to my old ‘hood and went to the Equinox down there to lift before hopping on the subway. I’m getting a little sick of running the same route over and over again–I really need to start mixing things up.

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I had a serious craving for a spinach feta wrap, so I stopped at Starbucks on my way home for a wrap and iced coffee. And yes, with one fell swoop of a Sharpie, I became a dude. (That cup says Theadore. Serious fail.)

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Speaking of dudes, this little one was still sleeping when I got home. He’s not training for a marathon.

But I am! I know it’s super-early in the training season, but this was a workout that made me feel really strong and excited for the marathon. If I keep strong and injury-free like this, I think 4:30 is possible.