Originally posted December 15, 2022

Cookies. Cake. Chocolate. Egg nog. Pie. More cookies… It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

While it may be the most wonderful time of the year, for most people it is also one of the hardest times of the year to stick to a healthy routine.

To help keep this season wonderful for you and your fitness, check out the following tips:

Enjoy yourself! (with moderation)

Let’s be honest. We runners often take ourselves too seriously. We’re the kind of people who get up at 5 am to run in the dark. The kind of people who think that it’s normal to want to run over 26 miles as fast as we can so that we can run another 26 miles as fast as we can around a whole bunch of other people running 26 miles as fast they can (in an unfamiliar city). We are what some might call… “intense.” While this intensity and focus is usually a wonderful thing it can, at times, keep us from being present with the joys of life around us. We can get so focused on getting that work out in that we miss watching the annual Christmas movie with the family. We can become so concerned with “eating healthy” that we pass on grandma’s famous pie and the cookies that the kids decorated (no one said you had to eat the whole pie or all of the cookies)! While we don’t need to become gluttons and couch potatoes over the holidays, remember that the point of being healthy is to enjoy life more not less.

Say “No” to A Cycle of Guilt

So you’re making the effort to enjoy yourself over the holidays? You skipped your workout to go see Christmas lights with the family, you ate (many!) cookies at the Cookie Run, and you even had a glass of (223 calories per cup!) egg nog! … and you feel awful about all of it. In fact, you feel so bad that you say, “At this point, who cares,” pour an even bigger glass of egg nog and sit on the couch watching the original Santa Clause movie imagining the whole time that you already look like the overweight version of Tim Allen. This, my friends, is unhealthy behavior (and not because you are drinking an extra glass of egg nog). Guilt is a destructive motivator. Guilt shouldn’t fuel your workouts. Guilt shouldn’t keep you on a healthy diet. Eventually, guilt will wreak havoc on your mental health and happiness and can even become a serious physical issue especially when it is focused around health and fitness (I know, I know, this was supposed to be a lighthearted blog but it is important to acknowledge these things). Instead of guilt, allow yourself to be human. Allow yourself to have off days, as well as bad days. Remember that there is always tomorrow, next week or next month to get back on course. When you de-catastrophize things, you break that guilt cycle that so often pushes us even farther into unhealthy habits and attitudes. So if you did pour yourself that extra glass of eggnog, enjoy it! You’ll get back to your regular routine soon.

Make exercise a family affair

Maybe you don’t have time to go on your regular runs throughout the holiday season. The kids are off from school or you’re traveling home to see family? Even though that treasured run may be the “you time” you’re craving, you can still get some exercise in by involving family and friends. All you have to do is find an activity with a little more… activity. Ask everyone to go on a walk after dinner! Play Dance Dance Revolution (do people still play that?) with your kids! Go on a bundled-up bike ride! Play Twister with the family! Go on a hike! There are lots of things you can do to add a bit of movement into your day that still add quality time with the crew. Sure, it’s not your run, but it’s still exercise with the bonus of also being quality time with those you love.

Think Big Picture

Because the holidays are rife with interruptions to our treasured routines it can become really easy to hyper-focus on things that are outside of our control. Travel can make getting a workout in nearly impossible which can lead to serious frustration or impossible standards. But thankfully health is more than our specific workouts or specific weeks or months of our lives. If your flight got delayed and you’re going to miss your run, go for a walk around the airport to get more steps in. Focus more on being active than that specific activity. Yes, Christmas dinner isn’t the healthiest meal you’ll ever eat, but you can make sure that there are fresh vegetables like a high-quality salad included so that you and your family are still getting important vitamins and minerals. Are you tired from all of the holiday prep? Lucky for you sleep and rest are vital parts of health! Take a nap, go to bed early, or sleep in (if you can… sorry parents of small children). Health is for the long haul and thinking about it in broader terms will help you maintain an appropriate mindset and empower you to make healthier decisions in the midst of what can be chaos.

I spent my Christmas holiday over in Deutschland, home of Adidas shoes, delicious baked breads, and dark beer. On New Year’s Eve, I was not where you might have expected. I was not cozy and warm at my German host’s house, nor was I embracing a New Year at a cheery Brauhaus. Instead, I was out running. It was the Kolner Silvester Lauf 10k race (Silvester means New Year’s Eve). I was still recovering from jetlag (Germany is six hours ahead of Tennessee time) and some sinus troubles, but I decided that I wanted to embrace the German running culture to the fullest. So, I paid my 20 euros for the sub-50 minute 10k race. There were four different race options: a 5k if you thought you were faster than 22 minutes; a separate 5k for those who expected slower than a 22 minute finishing time (i.e. those who wanted to have fun and enjoy their run); a 10k for the sub-50 minute runners; and a 10k for those who expected to take longer. The races were all run separately and did not begin until the previous race had finished. 

I started near the back of the over 100 person lineup for the sub-50 minute 10k (I was far behind my girlfriend, Celine, who was also running). The gun fired, and I took off at a fast but manageable pace, bearing a big smile for all those taking photos on the sidelines. The course started on a track, took off into a park and then returned to the track and looped back to the park, three times. The first loop felt great, the second loop, after I hit a 5k distance started to hurt and I could feel my achy body demanding I slow down. As I began the third lap I saw the winner, almost lapping me, run through the finish at 30 minutes. I slowed down on the final lap until I was overcome by a side cramp and had to walk for a couple minutes. I was 2 km out at 43 minutes, so I geared up and braced against the pain to run out and finish at 47 minutes. Upon crossing the finish line, pylons immediately directed me into a single file line of sweaty steaming finishers. I was pale with pain from my cramp, breathing heavily, and desperately awaiting the water cup table. Expecting to quench my thirst with no more than some tap water, I was surprised to find opaque liquid in my cup. I quickly took a big gulp and almost gagged on the hot semi-sweet tea I had just swallowed. Suffering physically from the run and now mentally from the shock of drinking a hot, almost bitter tea, I followed the line of people to a food truck trailer, where I received a big, soft, warm and sugary pretzel. This was a delightful surprise after my tea, but still utterly disappointing when I realized the breadiness increased my thirst and that there was no water to be found at this track. Luckily Celine (who placed 1st for the women) spared me some water from her bottle. 

I had survived the New Year’s Eve race. It was more than worth the experience, however, I still remain flustered by the remembrance of having tea and pretzels after racing. I wonder if there is something to be learned from this… maybe Terra should start giving out hot tea at races… I don’t know, but next time I will bring my own water and bananas to a German race.

In January, I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah for the annual Outdoor Retailer trade show. The running specialty industry is just a subsection of the entire Outdoor industry, and it was so interesting to learn more about the outdoor retail space as a whole. 

Touted as the largest global business-to-business trade event serving the outdoor industry, "OR," as it's called, was definitely situated in the right city for the crowd. Salt Lake City was a great area to visit. Although I didn't hit the slopes for pre- or post- show skiing like many of the visitors, I enjoyed exploring the city on foot. I went for some really great runs around town and visited Memory Grove Park, the Utah state capitol building, and Temple Square. I think running through a new city is the best way to explore it, and Salt Lake City didn't disappoint! It felt safe, the sun was shining, and the sidewalks were wide and accessible!

Inside the trade show, I met with some new brands, as well as some familiar ones to the running industry. I was able to chat with some of the national sales managers for Qalo, an active jewelry brand, and decided to bring in their popular silicone rings to offer at Terra Running Company. (They even custom engraved a dog tag for Rocky while I was there!) Another brand I was excited to meet with was Klean Freak, a husband and wife team who created a great individually wrapped, natural body wipe perfect for post-run or workout. I am always on the hunt for new, unique brands to offer to the Cleveland community, and Klean Freak really impressed me! We now offer all of their body wipes in the store and they've quickly become a staff favorite.

In addition to the trade show, there were tons of education sessions I attended. From learning about trends in the outdoor industry from 2022, to mastering social media marketing, I came away from OR with tons of new ideas for our team to implement! 

Overall, the chance to attend Outdoor Retailer was a huge win for Terra Running Company. We strive to stay on top of industry trends and bring our customers the best brands on the market, and OR was an awesome chance to continue toward that goal.

Cookies. Cake. Chocolate. Egg nog. Pie. More cookies… It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

While it may be the most wonderful time of the year, for most people it is also one of the hardest times of the year to stick to a healthy routine.

To help keep this season wonderful for you and your fitness, check out the following tips:

Enjoy yourself! (with moderation)

Let’s be honest. We runners often take ourselves too seriously. We’re the kind of people who get up at 5 am to run in the dark. The kind of people who think that it’s normal to want to run over 26 miles as fast as we can so that we can run another 26 miles as fast as we can around a whole bunch of other people running 26 miles as fast they can (in an unfamiliar city). We are what some might call… “intense.” While this intensity and focus is usually a wonderful thing it can, at times, keep us from being present with the joys of life around us. We can get so focused on getting that work out in that we miss watching the annual Christmas movie with the family. We can become so concerned with “eating healthy” that we pass on grandma’s famous pie and the cookies that the kids decorated (no one said you had to eat the whole pie or all of the cookies)! While we don’t need to become gluttons and couch potatoes over the holidays, remember that the point of being healthy is to enjoy life more not less.

Say “No” to A Cycle of Guilt

So you’re making the effort to enjoy yourself over the holidays? You skipped your workout to go see Christmas lights with the family, you ate (many!) cookies at the Cookie Run, and you even had a glass of (223 calories per cup!) egg nog! … and you feel awful about all of it. In fact, you feel so bad that you say, “At this point, who cares,” pour an even bigger glass of egg nog and sit on the couch watching the original Santa Clause movie imagining the whole time that you already look like the overweight version of Tim Allen. This, my friends, is unhealthy behavior (and not because you are drinking an extra glass of egg nog). Guilt is a destructive motivator. Guilt shouldn’t fuel your workouts. Guilt shouldn’t keep you on a healthy diet. Eventually, guilt will wreak havoc on your mental health and happiness and can even become a serious physical issue especially when it is focused around health and fitness (I know, I know, this was supposed to be a lighthearted blog but it is important to acknowledge these things). Instead of guilt, allow yourself to be human. Allow yourself to have off days, as well as bad days. Remember that there is always tomorrow, next week or next month to get back on course. When you de-catastrophize things, you break that guilt cycle that so often pushes us even farther into unhealthy habits and attitudes. So if you did pour yourself that extra glass of eggnog, enjoy it! You’ll get back to your regular routine soon.

Make exercise a family affair

Maybe you don’t have time to go on your regular runs throughout the holiday season. The kids are off from school or you’re traveling home to see family? Even though that treasured run may be the “you time” you’re craving, you can still get some exercise in by involving family and friends. All you have to do is find an activity with a little more… activity. Ask everyone to go on a walk after dinner! Play Dance Dance Revolution (do people still play that?) with your kids! Go on a bundled-up bike ride! Play Twister with the family! Go on a hike! There are lots of things you can do to add a bit of movement into your day that still add quality time with the crew. Sure, it’s not your run, but it’s still exercise with the bonus of also being quality time with those you love.

Think Big Picture

Because the holidays are rife with interruptions to our treasured routines it can become really easy to hyper-focus on things that are outside of our control. Travel can make getting a workout in nearly impossible which can lead to serious frustration or impossible standards. But thankfully health is more than our specific workouts or specific weeks or months of our lives. If your flight got delayed and you’re going to miss your run, go for a walk around the airport to get more steps in. Focus more on being active than that specific activity. Yes, Christmas dinner isn’t the healthiest meal you’ll ever eat, but you can make sure that there are fresh vegetables like a high-quality salad included so that you and your family are still getting important vitamins and minerals. Are you tired from all of the holiday prep? Lucky for you sleep and rest are vital parts of health! Take a nap, go to bed early, or sleep in (if you can… sorry parents of small children). Health is for the long haul and thinking about it in broader terms will help you maintain an appropriate mindset and empower you to make healthier decisions in the midst of what can be chaos.

Despite Covid restrictions, I managed to travel quite a lot the last two years. Every where I went, I added a run or two. I ran out west when I visited the Grand Canyon and Utah’s national parks, I ran at the beach, I ran all over Europe when I spent the month of July and December there, and I most recently ran in New York City while on a school trip. 

For me, running has become an essential experience to any vacation or trip. In order to best experience the places I go, I want to get out and run through them. Sometimes running is even more convenient than other forms of transportation. For example, in January I was visiting Paris. I had taken the train there from Cologne, Germany and I was relying on the Parisian subway system to explore the sites around the city. While there, I really wanted to visit Versailles. Versailles is about six miles from where I was staying in the south of Paris. This was out of the subway zones that I had paid for (in other words, the metro was not an option). So, I decided to make a run to Versailles. I packed the only snacks I had, three snack size Haribo gummy bear packets, and headed out. I used my phone to direct my way there. I ran over the bridge on the way out of Paris, through old French neighborhoods, sometimes on clean walking paths, and sometimes on narrow and hilly streets. About six and a half miles in (my phone would only read in kilometers for some reason, so I’m approximating), I arrived at the Palace of Louis XIV. I ran up to Versailles, golden studded and absolutely massive. I jogged through the guarded gateway to the palace grounds, saying bonjour to the attendant. I stopped for a picture and then ran left of the central palace finding my way around back. I could not have imagined what awaited me. I cornered the palace and looked out at the gardens of Versailles, stretching far out to the horizon. The man-made rectangular lake took up the center of my view. I looked as far as I could, barely seeing the final edge of the lake, where I could see little black specks of people moving. I had already run seven miles, but I was on vacation, so I had to go farther. I ran on into the Palace gardens, going all the way to the end. There were lots of other walkers and bikers, even some other runners. The main path forms a cross shape around the gardens, however, there are numerous branches farther on and throughout the property. I looped the whole area, stopped to eat my gummy bears, and used one of the public restrooms. I headed back to Paris on the Ave. de Paris. I ran into my metro zone and then took public transport to my Parisian lodging. I had great weather for the run, and it was relatively easy to run through the city. I would highly recommend running in Versailles. The Palace grounds alone could give you a 10 mile run. 

When I’m not thinking of Europe, however, my favorite place to run in the USA (so far) was in Arches National Park. I, also, ran there in the Winter. While you might think of running in a park as trail running, there were several good well trodden paths in Arches that are as easy as a road run. Nonetheless, the main road through Arches is also good to run on. I ran on both the Sand Dune Arch Trail and the Devil’s Garden Trail. These were beautiful paths with soft ground to run on. The only problem was that I wanted to stop and look at the nature every other minute. The Devil’s Garden Trail was longer and formed a loop, so I enjoyed it more. I ran it right at golden hour when the already red rocks appear to alight like fire. 

Running is the best way to experience a new place. Whether I visit a beach, a mountain, or a metropolis, I try to get a run in.