Please, Runners, honor my spirit well. 😉
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In case you’ve missed my BIG NEWS, scroll down about 1/2 inch to yesterday’s post or check it out HERE. 😉 #ezzere #runlaughbe #artyrunnerchick
More CARTOONS!!
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1) Not to be morbid, but finish the sentence in a humorous way: “When I die I want to be buried…
2) What’s your favorite kind of chocolate?
Can’t really go wrong, but I love me those chocolate chips inside some pancakes. 🙂
3) What are your running plans today?
I’ve run in some pretty crappy conditions, but today marked a first for this runnerchick. I literally had to run/swim, like stop the watch and doggie paddle kinda stuff! California goes from the golden winter to flash-flooding my bike trail today…it was craaaazy!
Actually the episode was actually quite comical. I almost tripped and went full-submersion style. [side-note: I have a phobia of leeches, visions of them stuck to my legs and torso riddled my mind the whole run] So a toast to you, Winter, you pulled a fast one on me today. You done good, but I still won out. I’m pretty sure that was hail there between those bullet rain-drops and I came out looking like a wet, sewer rat but I got that run done.
And hey, I’d still take a bucket of rain over some of those well-below zero temperature readings from other states. You runners over there, good gracious, seeing icicles in your beards, eyelashes, and hair!! But I did have to make a cartoon for my run today because, quite honestly, I’m not doing one BIT of over-exaggeration for comedic effect.
Sometimes reality, in it’s own sickly sense, is way more hilarious.
Go on, run on…run/swim on?? 😉
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HUGE NEWS!! If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw the Spoiler Alert! My latest running shirt design has dropped! The Peacock Runner…check out my Mommy-O model, the first runnerchick to don this one.
Full details on this one to come and it will be available to buy at my store soon…but my excitement bubbled over and I had to give you the sneak peek. 😉
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1) What’s the deepest water you’ve had to cut through during a run?
Today was well above my waist.
2) Worst conditions you’ve ever run in?
3) Are you pretty good at keeping a secret if you’re excited?
Ummm…no.
Runners are crazy. I’m crazy. But you know what…
Be YOU.
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BIG NEWS is coming tomorrow!! You excited, yet? You should be. In fact be CrAzY excited! 😉 It has to do with THIS!!
I HATE to have to do this but I need to add another disclaimer. I’ve gotten lots of questions from people asking to save or download my artwork and cartoons. I ask that you PLEASE do not, I sell prints of all my artwork. Art and writing is how I put food on my table. Be kind, respect the amount of time, creativity, and work that goes into the work that I share with you. Contact me: cait@caitchock.com to order a print or purchase rights to download and share. Thank you.
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1) What’s some exciting news you have to share?
2) What are you looking forward to this weekend?
Bippidity Boppity…moooove over, Magic Wand, these running shoes are far more magical. 🙂
And we don’t need no glass slippers either! Talk about a major injury hazard…who comes up with this stuff?!?! 😉
Personally I like my running fairy tales a bit better with some sweat, endorphins, miles, and runnerchicks and runnerdudes. Speaking of Princesses, no one’s been able to peel me out of my favorite new running shirt yet. 😉
1) What running shoes are you in love with right now?
2) Do you have pretty pick feet?
3) Where was the last awesome place your magic running feet took you?
There are just some things I think us runners are entitled to. Runner elitism at its finest perhaps? Regardless, I stick by our demands.
Runners, take a STAND. Circulate this petition and get as many signatures we you can. Untied we CAN make a difference.
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More Runner’s Strip Cartoons!
I also did a guest post at The Cookie ChRUNicles…go check it out! 🙂
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1) What’s another demand you’d like to add to the list?
2) Give me the det’s on YOUR priority treadmill or particular exercise equipment at the gym? The one you’re always scoping out and want to kick anyone off of if they DARE use it. 😉
Running can put you in some awkward situations. At a certain point all runners realize that control over our bodily functions can only go so far. Whomever happens to cross our paths at just the wrong time…well, that’s on them. Maybe a hazard of living within a 10 mile (maybe 20+ mile) radius of a runner. 😉
The thing is, be a runner long enough and we tend to have a warped perspective on just what IS socially awkward…and how awkward it rates…the lines get blurred. Farts, spitting, talk of all that, it become just commonplace. Business as usual. Ducking into a bush to avoid an ‘in your shorts’ disaster…there’s not shame in it.
Runners united, at least WE can laugh at ourselves…the rest of the ‘normal’ world and their standards of social etiquette be da**ed! 😉
1) What’s another hazard of living within a 20 mile radius of a runner?
2) What’s been a scenario where you did get embarrassed or at least felt bad for some ‘normal person’ bystander you happened on while running?
3) Who’s racing this weekend? What are all you other runners doing??
Running…a’duh! 😉
You see, us runners have a REALLY scientific and sensible way of making the important decisions in life. 😉
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More running cartoons HERE!
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1) Do you decide your workouts in advance? How far in advance? Are you following a training program at the moment or have a coach?
2) Do you pick out your clothes the day before?
I always lay out my running clothes the night before…I like every extra second of sleep. 😉
3) Do you tend to plan your dinner and meals in advance or just wait to see what you feel like?
For once my running cartoons will be used and I’m deathly serious. Stretching, Runners, is no joke. I used to HATE stretching, I’d do it begrudgingly, but ever since my little revelation in Boulder I’ve pulled a total 180.
Now it’s good too because I don’t have a little bit of guilt writing about and telling runners just how crucial stretching is. I’m practicing what I preach, yo.
Areas that rank most common across the board for running injuries and the areas that runners are notoriously tight in are: the hamstrings, glutes, hips and groin region, and the psoas. I took my cartoons and put together a quick stretching routine that you REALLY should be doing as much as possible. Like daily…I’m doing them daily, so now I can say, fully absolved of any lingering guilt, that you should do the same. 😉
[Click to enlarge so you can read text…but please respect a starving artist’s work, you can always purchase prints, contact: cait@caitchock.com]
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More posts on flexibility HERE
And a post on WHY flexibility will make you faster HERE
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1) How often do you stretch? Be honest. 😉
2) What’s one of your tightest areas?
Hamstrings and adductors.
3) What’s something you kinda feel a bit of guilt about when you tell others to do it because you don’t always follow that advice yourself?
For every runner athlete who’s gone shopping for jeans and wound up wanting to punch someone in the face.
I can’t take sole credit for this one. The AWESOME quip that gave me the inspiration for this cartoon came from Sally Bergesen, founder of Oiselle, a kickbutt running apparel company. Yesterday a few of us were tweeting on the frustrations of trying to find jeans that FIT when you’re an athlete, muscle-clad, kickbutt female. Usually you wind up with some problems:
* The jeans WOULD fit in the waist but you can’t get them above your quads. Literally.can’t.raise.them.
* Go up to a size that doesn’t cause your quads to hulk-out but the waist is super saggy. We have six packs, not kegs.
* There’s also an issue with the cut of the butt. I’m not sure if it’s just me, but for whatever reason any size that fits my legs causes this funky pooch in the back; I think it’s because the waist/butt/quad ratio is off and you wind up with extra denim at the waist, so when you sit it’s like a sideways tepee.
I’ve not worn jeans for years…now, to be totally fair I work from home and literally live in running clothes. Like, live in them. #SweatsandtheCity
AAAAND, I will also argue that running clothes can be quite fashionable, I mean just take a gander at my awesome shirts:
and we ALL love Oiselle who are keeping us clothed from our rundies out to our hoodies.
Photo Credit: Oiselle
Wise up, World. We are runners, we are women, we are STRONG…we have muscles. And we look d**n good with them.
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More cartoons HERE!!
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1) What’s been an issue you’ve had with finding a pair of jeans, or any article of clothing that clearly didn’t account for your runner bod?
2) What is your ‘normal people’ fashion like?
3) What’s another vent you’d just like to get off your chest so you don’t punch someone in the face?? 😉
Runners can never, ever fear ‘failure’. In fact, failures are NOT a bad thing. To fail means that you set a high enough goal. You stepped outside your comfort zone, you DREAMED you could achieve something great.
Failures are often the most powerful learning tools. Bad race, horrendous workout…you have to not only experience them you have to FORCE yourself to get through them. Soak up the experience, actually feel how much that suckiness that was.
Take those sucky feelings and channel them into:
motivation
determination
confidence.
Confidence, you say? Yes, confidence.
A runner who pushes through when things really suck should be brimming with confidence. It’s way too easy to run an amazing workout when your legs feel like gold. To have a phenomenal race when it happens to be one of those ‘magic days’. Magic days are the exception, legs that feel like they’re running on clouds are the rarity.
To grit out a workout and keep your mind IN THE RACE when things are tough, that is mental toughness. The same goes for obstacles and challenges you didn’t expect, sudden curve balls that really test you. Get through them, keep moving forward. Those experiences, those trials, the hard times, even when you put in your best effort and the clock is brutally honest…THOSE are necessary to build a strong runner.
You survive knowing you still put in your best and never mentally gave up when things get tough, and that should give you the most confidence in the world. Those should make you think, “Look, I got through it and stayed tough when I felt like crap. Just imagine how well I’m going to run when my body and my legs feel GREAT.”
Redefine failure in your mind. After a bad workout or race, yes, you are allowed to be miffed, to be peeved. But channel all of that into a productive mindset. Rather than think as a defeatist, use the burning embers of anger as fuel for motivation and determination. Then look for any lessons you can learn from the race. (Did you go out too fast…again?? Wise up! haha)
Then COME BACK. The only time a failure SHOULD make you embarassed is if it’s the end of your road. You give up and stop your story right there.
I want you to now share with me YOUR epic fails turned epic wins. Share your stories about an obstacle you faced, overcame, and came out a stronger runner and person because of it. Tell me also about your epic fail of a race, and either tell me how you came back later to make it a ‘redemption race’ epic win…OR…if you just had this epic fail tell me how you’re going to use that in a way to reach an epic win.
You can blog about, post a picture, make some artage (you know how much I’d really love that!) and then tweet me @caitlinchock with the hashtag #epicfailWIN and a link to your epic fail win moment/story/picture/etc.
So, Runner Friends, embrace your failures because they make you stronger.
1) You know what to do, get to gather your epic fail win moment…I can’t wait to hear all about them! #epicfailWIN