Daughter Date!

Trampoline places are the equivalent of a relatively inexpensive way to discover you have a weak pelvic floor. Also, supportive sports bras should be required. Some women will regret their choices tomorrow.

Having a “date” with my (only) child somehow always ends with ice cream. And by ends I mean ice cream is the whole point of the date! There are few rules on girl’s date night/day so ice cream could be at 9am or 9pm. I make the rules around here. Braums is our regular hangout, but Dairy Queen will do in a pinch. We didn’t have Braums on the east coast so I’m making up for lost time. According to my internal ice cream tracker, I’m behind approximately 6.76 years.

Speaking of daughter dates, it would be sad not to include my childhood best friend in this post! Morgan and I grew up together. She remembers my Dad, that’s how far back our friendship goes. If you’ll recall, she and I ran the 2018 Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Half Marathon, as well as this past December’s Stars at Night Half Marathon in San Antonio. Morgan has a huge heart and I’m so thankful for her friendship! Her love of Mexican food is my next favorite thing. Bonus: her birthday is 2 days after mine. I’m sure our parents were just overjoyed when we ingeniously thought of joint birthday parties.

You’d think after nearly a year of part time teleworking we could get this figured out. You’d think, but… My work from home days are still a confusing piece of the week mixed with a little frustration, lots of annoyed looks, and sometimes some tears. Lucky guess on what belongs to whom. I’m eternally grateful to games, letter boards, badminton, and whatever the above photo shows of this shaker glue thingy. It makes it to where I can get approximately 3 minutes of work done before moving on to the next thing or playing maid.

I’ve heard it said going to work is hard. I disagree. Staying home is harder. And somehow louder. Yet the 3 mins to do some work before interruption is still the same. Imagine that.

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I ask you –

Do you have regular dates with your child(ren)? How often does it include ice cream?

Did you and your childhood best friend bond over a close birthdate?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day shenanigans!

Training Updates!

Elvis would be so proud

To answer your question – the one you didn’t audibly ask – no. No, I don’t enjoy eating within 30 mins of waking up. It rather makes me feel like vomiting is an acceptable response. The only bright side, besides of course it giving me energy, is it makes me need to poop. haHA! Bet you didn’t see that gem coming! Trust me, it’s better to have an urge while you’re still at home than mid-way (or any way) into a long run.

Alas, this is what long run weekends tend to look like. Or pre-work runs. If you want to run, you have to eat, Kel. Contrary to popular belief, most running cycles won’t inherently cause you to lose weight. I can put on weight while training because the hunger is serious. However, water weight and dehydration are my downfall. Throughout my weeks of training, I expect to lose several pounds. Anything more than 8 begins a range of problems. So I eat when I’m hungry and aim for very electrolyte-rich beverages to combat dehydration. So when you see me with food in one hand and a shopping list in the other, please be kind!

new favorite snack

Did I mention my local gym closed in…January? Or was it December? The writing was on the wall, but it still saddens me. Being a part of the Anytime Fitness community really opened my eyes to so much in the fitness world, as well as allowed me to meet some incredible people. If it wasn’t for the owners of an Anytime Fitness, I wouldn’t have started Running on Fumes when I did! Nearly two years ago, the DeStefano family put a lot of trust into me and happily gave me the reigns to write and share as I please. Forever thankful! Here we are today. I don’t know for certain if they still follow and read it, but, if you’re watching, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Where was I? Oh, right, AF closed. Maybe it’s just from my experience as part of several different locations in all kinds of capacities but there’s a problem with top-down leadership in the fitness scene. One day I might get a chance to open my own AF; that would be the ultimate test of ‘where does the problem lie’. In any case, I haven’t joined another gym. Probably won’t for awhile. I still feel very loyal to AF, but I own most of what I regularly used inside the gym and it’s tough to balance a strength training regimen with a training cycle. I do have a full-time job, you know. My local area is pretty well saturated with gyms – big box options and more exclusive types – so if/when I decide to re-join I can visit this issue again. In the mean time, it is what it is.

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I ask you –

Are you the rather rare person who can eat upon waking? Just coffee for me, thanks.

Have you ever experienced your gym suddenly closing?

Tell me about someone, who by taking a chance on you, changed your life!

Training Records

Dreamer + Sickness

In a sickness-induced haze, I dreamt the following post:

1. I’d love to create a bookstore/winery. Imagine this – floor to ceiling dark, wooden bookshelves with a vast winery stretching into the distance. Each room surrounded with oversized comfy chairs and a fireplace in each corner. You heard it here first.

2. I also want to own a bakery. Sugar is my first love. From the very first time I realized the magic that happens when you cream butter and sugar together, I knew I was destined to be a baker. I say again – who eats cookies and cries? There was that one time, but it was due to extenuating circumstances. I’ll name each sugar-laden delectable a long, gloriously ridiculous name like “marshmallow magic butterflies covered in unicorn glitter”. P.S. I hate glitter and marshmallows.

3. Combine the two previous ideas with a running store and coffee shop. Of course the name of my blog could serve this idea well. Because after imbibing in wine, coffee, cookies, and remaining sedentary for hours, you’re going to need a new pair of shoes!

Currently I’m accepting cash and PayPal payments to go towards the necessary functions of becoming a business owner of which I have little experience in doing, but I can learn!

my co-owner and I

Also, in case you were concerned, my husband may or may not have tried to get rid of me by killing me with his cooking. Jokes on him. We both ended up with what I presume to be food poisoning so either he really didn’t intend to also hurt himself or he screwed up the plates. haHA I live to make his life hard another day!

But seriously. Food poisoning sucks. And it wasn’t his cooking. I’d almost take gastro onboard a floating chunk of steel than ever do this again. Almost.

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I ask you –

Which of the 3 options above is most likely to succeed?

Have you ever had food poisoning? Or gastro?

Just let me know if you’re willing to donate!

Welcome Back!

If you’re reading this, then it’s the very first post of 2021! What a lucky bunch of readers I have. Sound the alarm, wake your neighbors, go to work, do whatever you do best.

Let’s chat about the New Year. Most likely we’ll all be writing the wrong year for awhile, maybe even the wrong month, and still wondering why there’s so many sweets around the house. Oh, just me? Liars. I’m that girl who gets excited about a new year; a new page in our lives and, honestly, if you made it out of 2020 alive you’re doing better than a lot of other folks. Bring out the champagne!

January used to be the busiest month of the year for me. Working in a gym is fraught with resolutionists (definitely made that one up) and many eager to buy their health no matter the cost. Quite sad really. What about the other months, you ask? As expected, I say. Not to be outdone, I’m starting off my year with extra coffee and a 5am wakeup for 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer. Disclaimer: I’m not fasting; I’m de-sugaring. Again. Without my lady love home for the month, I’ll surely succeed at entertaining myself.

Oh! And I’m run streaking! Pay attention to my words. I’m doing a run streak, as in running every day for a whole month. With clothes. It’s January! Then we’ll see where it takes us. Figured since my mini me is gone for another Tennessean adventure I should pack my calendar so full she’ll be home before I know it. Looks like I have the right idea.

Stay tuned for more from 2021!

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I ask you –

Resolutions? Please share!

On average, how long does it take you to write the correct year? At least until March.

Have you participated in a run streak?

Culinary Masterpiece

Maybe in my next life I’ll be a well-rounded baker who can do more than just amazing cookies. Not that there’s anything wrong with “just amazing cookies”. But seriously. Is it a practice issue or a skills issue? Please don’t answer.

Not too shabby, but they weighed as much as a large cut of beef. At least 5 lbs. Popular opinion: they didn’t rise long enough. The fix: let them rise longer next time. Too easy!

Also, I took a page from a fabulous hostess I know and created a breakfast ring. This was my Christmas breakfast recipe.

Since then I have made a taco ring, too. Just Kelly Crocker’ing it up over here.

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I ask you –

Am I doing this right?

Yeast and other bread-leavening ingredients: tips?

Let me know if you’d like my non-award winning recipe I so kindly borrowed from someone else and will gladly take the credit for if you like it!

Join Me in the Kitchen!

Christmas goodies were never really a staple until I was in my early 20s. Maybe I was just too picky to appreciate them before. Now? Bring on the sugar-laden bonbons, festive cookies, and chocolate-dipped everything! Even though I’m not indulging this year.

Rum balls have been one of my favorites! But I suggest also trying them using Amaretto or some other kind of alcohol.

Of course, chocolate chip cookies are required. I read somewhere that you should never bake the “typical chocolate chip cookie” at Christmas. Whatever. I do what I want! There’s nothing wrong with chocolate chip cookies at Christmas time, in my opinion. Why change a good thing?!

It’s important to separate anything coated in chocolate because they all start to look the same after awhile. Unless you want it to be a surprise. I like to make peanut butter balls, coconut balls, oreo balls, and Dr Pepper balls at the holidays. Occasionally I dress them up with sprinkles of things on top or coat them in white chocolate, but it just depends on what’s available and how much time I have.

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday. Like I said…Join me in the kitchen. I’ll just be here forever dipping balls of things into melted chocolate. Pun mostly not intended.

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I ask you –

Should I have included recipes? Whoops.

Do you bake/cook/imbibe in anything specifically for the holidays?

Share a favorite holiday treat!

Not all Sacrifices are Difficult

In typical holiday fashion, lately there has been a lot of food. But wait, there’s more! Some might say I picked the worst time to begin a restrictive eating routine; at times I may agree. But the fact I’ve located a few migraine triggers and have lost a few pounds makes me believe it has been worth it.

Admittedly I didn’t have a lot of faith in myself to give up sugar completely. I have blood in my sugarstream. Fortunately for me, the perfectionist won that battle. It was sort of a game. Can you go 2 days without sugar? 5? Upon the week mark I was feeling a little cocky – I hadn’t really been challenged yet. Bring out the big guns. So when PMS hit with a vengeance and Aunt Mary Catherine’s world famous blueberry pie was offered, a meek, unsteady voice emerged from me and quietly said “No, thank you.” To be honest, I don’t know whose voice that was or why she was allowed to speak. As I calmly watched others imbibe in the pie I love so dearly, I knew I’d done the right thing but did it have to be so damn hard?!

I continue pushing forward. Life goes on. Is this lifestyle for everyone? Let’s hope not! But I can live with giving up some things if it means lessening the severity and/or frequency of migraines. ‘No, thank you’ is much easier than ‘Mommy can’t right now, her head hurts’.

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I ask you –

Have your holidays been full o’plenty?

Sweet or salty? What would be harder to limit or give up entirely?

Name your guilty snacking pleasure!

Where the Pines Grow

When I’m here I remember what peace actually feels like: leaves falling, long, winding, dirt roads, and a stillness that speaks to my heart.

This is the part of my life I willfully hide yet am trapped inside. Still working on that book; there’s so many twists and turns I’m half afraid a publisher may encourage me to separate it into two. But what a problem to have, right?

My childhood home – now reduced to overgrowth and rotting wood. When I look at this photo, I think of the movie Titanic. In many scenes, they show a type of flashback where the beautiful, newly painted stair case transforms into the vision of what the researchers found at the bottom of the sea. My mind’s eye paints a picture of a home with children inside and a grandfather clock chiming. Memories, the most nostalgic.

I don’t recognize any of the vehicles that pass me while out walking, but I feel my heart beating and know I belong. Still.

Passed down from my grandfather, a gift I hope will always keep on giving. I’ve renamed this land Kel’s Corner though family will know it always as Uncle Pete’s Place. I am blessed beyond measure to own this little slice of my past.

Speaking of slices, my great Aunt Mary Catherine’s blueberry pie is legendary. Although I have the recipe, there’s no comparison. Nothing will ever be like hers. If I could have one wish, it would be to epitomize a fraction of the woman, baker, mother, friend, and God-loving aunt she is to me.

As for that pie? No, I didn’t share.

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I ask you –

Did you grow up in the city or country?

Do you revisit your childhood home? (provided you don’t currently live in it)

Fun fact: I once won a contest with a story I had written about my Aunt MC. She tells me she still has it.

Infamous History and such

Took another shot at the downtown Farmer’s Market. It appears okra and squash are still growing strong. Get it, get it. Busy as ever (clearly I mean the market, not me), I knew exactly what I was looking for this time so no wine samples. Oh the travesty.

Courtesy of The Odd Duck Coffee Co. and BCocoa

Since it was a beautiful 80° out, coffee in hand, I walked around some in search for other treasures.

Wichita Falls has much history and artifacts to be explored. Trains are fascinating to me because, much like ships, it’s hard to understand their magnitude until you get closer.

Unbeknownst to many, WF is home to the world’s littlest skyscraper. Could be worse, I guess. Standing an astounding 40 feet tall, built in 1919, the story behind this ‘skyscraper’ is quite fascinating. Knowing my own storytelling abilities, I’ve included a link so you can read for yourself: https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/news/local/2018/06/19/wichita-falls-story-behind-worlds-littlest-skyscraper/715470002/

I also stumbled upon not one but two local shops to return to with my mini love. Peddling their wares of cupcakes and gelato, respectively, October is sure to be an exciting month!

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I ask you –

Anyone else have a vested interest in downtown character?

Is your city/town known for such an obscure reason?

Name your favorite local coffee shop!