Category Archives: life philosophy

A single step

  By Crystal Clarke | July 7, 2015 - 6:50 am | , , , ,
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A mere 4 weeks after I broke my foot I hobbled around the block. I am still wearing my boot cast, but I only used one crutch kind of like a cane as I made my way around the block. I’m not a big fan of cliches and whatnot, but I couldn’t help but think that this was one of those “single steps.” It’s the most I’ve “walked” in a month. It was exhausting. None of this sounds good for the race I’m signed up for in 6 weeks. However, I found a runner to finish up the race with me! This … Keep reading →

My November Challenge

  By Crystal Clarke | November 5, 2014 - 7:00 am | , , , , , , , , ,
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Every month I set up a money budget. I don’t follow it to the penny, but it gives me a sense of control and understanding of my spending habits. It helps me to plan ahead. I’ve been following my budget for over a year and it has reduced my life stress by a lot. Last week I was thinking about my training schedule and it occurred to me to make a time budget. For a few years now I have felt like I don’t use my time wisely and my theory is that it’s because I don’t allot enough of it … Keep reading →

Counting Blessings

  By Crystal Clarke | December 1, 2011 - 9:49 am | , , , ,
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As I was driving home from the winter biking interval session I coach, I felt so happy. It was at this moment that I realized that I had done it. Somehow I have managed to fit everything that I love and am passionate about into my life. Sure, there are times when some of my passions take a bit of a back seat to other ones that I am focusing on, but they are still present. Somehow I managed to have several jobs that combine into my one perfect job. When I was a young university student there was no … Keep reading →

Decisions of the head and heart

  By Crystal Clarke | August 27, 2009 - 10:59 pm | , , , , , , ,
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Yesterday I decided to go for my shortest run in at least 6 months. I took my dogs out for a 30 MINUTE RUN. That’s right… 30 minutes! I barely worked up a sweat. And you know what else? We walked sometimes. Yep, walked. And we stopped for water several times, just because the water fountains were there. And you know what else? I didn’t even time it, I’m just guessing it took 30 minutes based on how far we went. This feeling of freedom from training is just one sign that I’m burned out from training and thinking about … Keep reading →

Water, Water, Everywhere, not a drop to drink… only to swim in!

  By Crystal Clarke | April 9, 2008 - 5:25 pm | , , , ,
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I have really been focusing on my swim for the past couple of months. I’ve always considered it to be my weakness because I use my legs a lot and have little upper body strength. However, with my coaches help, I’ve been increasing my strength through calisthenic exercises and through freestyle pulling. With my foot being sore (but is healing now!) and my trainer not being appealing, the swim is all I’ve had until now. However, it is now nice enough to bike outside, which is exactly what I’ll be doing next week. I’m so excited to get out onto … Keep reading →

Simplicity

  By Crystal Clarke | March 26, 2008 - 7:57 pm | , , ,
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Sometimes life can see so complicated – work, relationships, nutrition, and training. Then there’s housework, bike maintenance, massages, chiropractor, movies, music, volunteering, and life stuff that just pops up. Right now it all seems so simple to me. There have been times over the past few years when doing this much really did overwhelm me, but right now I’m taking it all in stride. Maybe, just like my running stride, it gets longer with more practice and I have learned to adapt. For instance, tonight I went running with a running group. I haven’t run with this group for at … Keep reading →

Pure Bliss

  By Crystal Clarke | December 6, 2007 - 10:16 pm | ,
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This week I spent more than 12 hours in a car driving for work. The work I did was worth it, but my body felt more than lethargic. Last night when I got home, I had to muster all of my strength just to eat some food before crawling into bed. Long days do that sometimes. I had every intention of popping right out of bed and into my running shoes, but when the alarm went off and my eyes had to open, I knew it was not happening. Rest is what I needed. However, after another day in the … Keep reading →

YOGA!!!!!

  By Crystal Clarke | December 3, 2007 - 10:04 pm | ,
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Tonight I went to a 2-hour yoga session that my friend, Georgina, teaches. It was so so fantastic! We did a ton of partner stretching and poses, which was really awesome. It works the core, the balance, and the strength. I couldn’t really do much for inversions tonight because I was having lots of issues with dizziness and blood pressure, but I did do a tripod headstand and held it, which I haven’t done before. G shows us so many poses and some of they are so hard and at first I was intimidated, but now that I’ve went so … Keep reading →