When I first started running I definitely noticed that runners are a breed of their own. They have a close-knit community that is hard to understand unless you are a part of it (sort of like our own little blogging community!)

And then something like the Boston Marathon happens and I understand this community. I mean seriously, people who had just run 26.2 miles kept on running to donate blood at the local hospital.

Runners are definitely amazing. They are compassionate and care about others. Here are some of my favorite running brands that help others:
Janji 

The first day I worked out with my trainer at the gym I worked out for 10 minutes with him and almost puked. The second day I worked out with my trainer, I reached midway and started crying! Ok, not a good start I know. Aaron (my trainer) asked me what was wrong as I was killing myself on the elliptical with tears streaming down my face.  

I can’t believe I’ve gained this weight.
I can’t believe how out of shape I am.
How could I let this HAPPEN!

You wanna know what Aaron said to me during my pity party?  He looked at me and said “Ya know what Rhonda, this is where you’re at today. Who cares where you were 6 months ago.  This is where you’re at today.”  

A few months ago I was crying over a bowl of spinach. As much as I stared at the bowl of healthy dark leafy greens it wasn’t going to miraculously turn into a bowl of ice cream, even though I was hoping it would. At the time I felt this feeling of frustration over eating healthy and exercising. I know all there is to know about what’s healthy and what’s not, how to lose weight and keep it off, moderation vs. overeating and the list of what I should do to be active and fit. I felt frustrated over my fitness to-do list. The list was full of goals; goals to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date, goals to run a race by a certain date, goals to eat a certain amount of calories daily and goals to give up certain foods to get to other goals I set. I would look at my list and feel frustrated because I have had the same list for years now. 

I trust a cookbook when the author hosted birthday parties for her pet chickens in South America as a kid and shares the Gospel in the opening pages.

It's an honor to review Freda Rauch's new cookbook, A Recipe For Survival.  Freda is a follower of Christ, wife, gluten-free cook, author, and Chemical Engineer major - she knows what she is talking about!

Her cookbook has really hit the delicate balance of honoring God with health and cooking while making it accessible to us, the readers and cookers!  Don’t you love when real life intersects with our faith?

Every year it’s the same.  
I am going to get in shape this year!  
I want to lose 50 lbs.!  
I want to run a 5k! 

And then the obsession begins.  Do whatever it takes to make that goal.  Forget about everything else.  This obsession becomes the single most important thing in my life every year... for about 3 weeks.  Then I get frustrated that I’m not doing a good enough job.  The weight just isn't coming off fast enough!  I can barely run for 1 minute without feeling like I’m going to die! So I give up for a few weeks, gain whatever I lost and then start again.

If you had told me what 2012 had in store for us, I would have laughed right at you!  Upon questioning your sanity.  But then you would have been shockingly, horribly right…

In early 2012, my healthy 26-year-old husband was suddenly diagnosed with an unusually severe case of Crohn’s Disease.  Collectively we’ve logged a solid month of hospital stays, 7 surgeries, hundreds of doctor’s visits, and lived months of the unknown. 

The question that continues to tug at my heart, “Lord how do we glorify you in this??  In the pain and broken; in a season of fear and unknown?”