theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for August 2017

Thinking Out Loud #4

filed under: my so-called life, Thinking out loud

It’s another Thursday and I am linking up with Amanda from Running with Spoons for Thinking Out Loud for some random thoughts!

+ If you’ve been watching the news and are devastated by all the images from flooded Texas and you don’t understand why a city like Houston wasn’t prepared for a storm like Harvey, this article explains pretty well why. The 500-year-flood explained: why Houston was so underprepared for Hurricane Harvey.

+ If you are a runner and would like to #runfortexas (or walk!) with me this weekend, this is a good opportunity to get some miles in AND help out in a big way. This virtual run/fundraiser was initiated by some awesome runner friends on Instagram and I am just spreading the word. I am sure most of us know somebody affected by Hurricane Harvey and would love to help. I am doing the 10k, but there is also a 5k option. They’ve already raised over $15,000. That’s amazing! I love the runner community!

+  I’m itching to work on my blog layout a bit again. You know that feeling. I usually don’t change a whole lot, but I want to play around a little bit. It’s just a matter of finding making time for that.

+  I purchased a new knitting pattern… with ‘stars’! If you know me, then you know that I love stars-everything! :) I have jeans with stars, and a necklace with little stars, and a star-stud in my ear.  I’m so excited for fall when I definitely will pick up my knitting again and make that shawl (pssst, I already started. Couldn’t wait.)!

+ Ugh, I’ve been so hungry this week. I could eat EVERYTHING. Do you have phases like that? Where you just had lunch and you are hungry for another full meal? What is happening??

+ Just an FYI, if you’re a Stumptown Coffee lover, you should take advantage of their current promotion ‘Grab two bags of beans // Get a free coffee jar‘, and if you order on Monday, all the proceeds are going to the Harvey Relief fund! Win-win!

What’s a random thought on your mind today?

August Favorites

filed under: monthly favorites

1. I’ve sung my praises about the Runtastic Running app before and I have recently started using a ‘sister-app’, which is called Runtastic Results. It’s an app that customizes a strength training plan around your fitness level, which you can then use in conjunction with your running training. So far, I am pretty happy with it.

2. I’ve been drinking (watered down) Powerade before, during, and after my workouts, but have really come to love Nuun hydration tablets. They come in different flavors (which one is your favorite?) and have very little calories. It’s a much better option than Powerade.

3. I scored this The Sak Iris Crossbody Bag at Ross for 50% off the sales price a couple of months ago. I win. You must know, I am not big into handbags  (as in, I use them, but I don’t have a wide variety and switch them out all the time), but you can never go wrong with a medium-sized black crossbody bag, am I right?

4. Mascara is one of my very few ‘must-have’ makeup items (what’s yours?), so I am always on the hunt. I saw this one recommended over and over and while I still love the mascara I recommended in one of my previous Favorites posts, I also really loved this one this month, too: the L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise. I snatched it on sale (I usually try to use up makeup before I replace it) and I am pleasantly surprised. I am a fan of the brush, it’s not as finicky as the Covergirl one.

5. I have a slight obsession with coffee mugs and one of my favorites right now is this mug from Rae Dunn Clay, which I currently use for my morning cup-of-joe at the office. Do you have a favorite mug?  

6. I’ve mentioned earlier this months that I’ve discovered Farro at Trader Joe’s and that I completely fell in love with its taste and texture and versatility as a substitute for rice or as a whole grain base for bowl dishes. It cooks in 10 minutes and can be prepared in advance (and stored in the fridge). 

Recipe | Chicken Salad with Farro

filed under: food, recipe

Since we’re still dealing with triple digit temperatures here in the Central Valley, we’re also still trying to keep our cooking to a minimum and use stove and oven as sparingly as possible. J and I both are fans of chicken salad but have usually just made it as chicken salad sandwiches with oven fries. To lighten up the meal, I suggested we could just spruce up the chicken salad with extra veggies and grains to make it a bowl meal. What a fantastic idea, am I right?

I found Farro at Trader Joe’s and knew that I wanted to try and use it and I thought it would be perfect to add to the chicken salad as a whole grain base. It cooks quickly and can also be cooked in advance and then kept in the fridge for later use.

What is Farro?

Farro, also called emmer wheat or Zweikorn, is an ancient whole grain that is rich in fiber, protein, and minerals. It also has a lower glycemic index as white rice and is, therefore, a great substitute for white rice or other refined grains. 

I got a roasted chicken (discarded most of the skin) and diced up onions, celery, and a bell pepper. I also added shredded carrots.

For a lighter dressing, I used mostly greek yogurt, a little bit of mayo and mustard and spices.

It’s a super-easy, super-quick weeknight dinner and it’s a tasty and very satisfying meal. The celery and bell pepper give it a nice crunch and the yogurt-based dressing keeps it light.

What do you think? Wouldn’t you want you to give this a try?

[yumprint-recipe id=’15’] 

 

 

Review | Berkey Gravity-Based Water Filter

filed under: review

The first time, someone saw that big shiny thing on my kitchen sideboard, I think they commented what a “huge badass coffee maker” that was. Ha. I do like my coffee, but I don’t have a caffeine addiction. What they were looking at was my Berkey water filter*.

I meant to blog about this in forever. I think I started this post sometime early last year and then it got buried in my draft folder. Go figure. Anyway, I don’t think it’s too late to dig it out, especially since I can give you a better review of the Berkey after having used it for a while!

When we moved to our house 18 months ago, I realized that the BRITA® faucet filter that we had been using for years, wouldn’t fit on the faucet in our kitchen (it’s one of those pull-down faucets, which are awesome in general, just not for using the faucet filters). I didn’t really want to start using a pitcher because the thought of having to keep that pitcher filled up felt cumbersome and inefficient. With the faucet filter, I had filtered water at my fingertips right away.

Having to make a decision on how to get our water filtered from now on, I started researching for other water filters on the internet and realized pretty quickly: using a BRITA® filter helps the environment (by reducing plastic bottle waste) and is better than not using any filter for your water at all (it helps to reduce chlorine taste and odor, zinc, and harmful contaminants like copper, mercury, and cadmium), but it’s really not that great in filtering out other contaminants (and the filters need to be constantly replaced, too, which can be costly). And apparently, not all BRITA® filters filter the same stuff (I didn’t know that until I did more research):

Brita Filters
Source

I realized that without knowing it, we made the right choice choosing the BRITA® faucet filter, but why in the world would that be the only one to filter out all these contaminants (see above graphic) and then not filter out what they pitcher or dispenser would filter? I don’t get it.

As you may have guessed, this realization opened a whole nother can of worms, and I started comparing different water filtration systems and also looked into water purifiers, not least because of what had been going on last year in Flint, Michigan. Good God.

While drinking water in Sacramento overall is not bad (at least according to the last official water report), I did find a few things of concern and when I read this article on the local news last summer, I was even more convinced that it is a good idea to invest in an overall really good water purifier.

Something I repeatedly read is: to find out which water filtration system is right for you, find out about the quality of your tap water where you live and then find an appropriate system that can filter out what shouldn’t be in your drinking water in the first place.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has a good tap water database, where you can learn about your tap water.

One filter that I came across over and over again was the Berkey Filter System (which is actually a purifier). It’s been kind of difficult to understand the difference between filtration and purification (because often the terms are not used correctly or they are used interchangeably), but as far as I understand: filtration by definition simply means to strain out the impurities from a water source.To purify water, additional steps have to be taken, to remove even more – often the smallest of smallest – contaminants. The Berkey is a gravity based purification system, which means that the water is filtered through normal gravity process, from the higher point (upper compartment) to a lower point (lower compartment), without the help of any external force or need of electricity. The water flows naturally through the installed carbon (and fluoride) filters and leaves the contaminants behind. The filters are cleanable and last for many years before they have to be replaced.

It’s portable and can be taken out into the wilderness if needed (and turns non-potable water into drinking water). Or, as in our case, it’s a pretty stainless steel cylinder that sits on our counter and purifies our tap water. Other options would have been a ‘reverse osmosis filter’ (which is installed underneath your sink) or a whole house filter (which is even more expensive). 

The Berkey has a very good record of removing a wide range of contaminants, from the lab results I have looked at. If you want to look at some of the lab results yourself, check here, here, and here. It outperforms most other conventional household filter systems.


Source

So, long story short: we invested in the Berkey system. It’s not an exactly cheap investment up front either. The system, including two black purifying filters, two fluoride filters, and an extra spigot, comes out to a little more than $300. This sounds pretty steep, I know, but if you calculated how much you’d pay for bottled water (which is not that great, not mentioning the environmental impact of the plastic bottles), or how many replacement BRITA filters (again, not that great!) you’d buy over the course of 4-5 years, I think in the long run, the investment in a Berkey make sense. Berkey water costs just 1.6 cents per gallon to produce. The black filters don’t have to be replaced for a few years (depending on usage, of course!) and first and foremost, I feel good and safe about the water we’ve been consuming. Most importantly, you can really taste the difference!

I know, these days it feels like nothing out there is safe anymore. Precautions have to be taken at every corner. Water is contaminated, food is not safe or loaded with sugars or chemicals. But you know what? As intimidating the whole thing is, I’d rather do my research and do whatever I can to make the healthy and safe choices that are within my power than turn a blind eye to the problem, cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Berkey’s systems are available in six different sizes ranging from a capacity of 1.5 – 6 gallons. Please note that due to California law, Berkey is only able to ship their “outdoor” water purification systems to California (not sure if that has changed). We bought our Big Berkey (2.25 gallons) off Amazon and it did ship to our address without problems. It comes as a complete kit (including the black filters and fluoride filters), and assembly was pretty easy.

If you do like your water refrigerated (I do drink mine at room temperature), just filter some water into a pitcher and put it in the fridge. Voilá. 

Since it does take a little time for the water to filter through, it’s a good idea to refill the Berkey frequently. (I let J handle that and he’s always on top of filling it just enough to make sure that we have plenty of water to drink and for cooking! One small downside is that the Berkey can overflow, so you want to be careful not to overfill it when there is plenty of water in the bottom compartment.)

Do you have a water filtration system? Have you heard of the Berkey?
Leave any questions in the comments!

*Note: This is not a sponsored post, and I paid full price for the Berkey. I am not affiliated with Berkey or Amazon, nor have they endorsed, sponsored or paid for my review. I am just sharing my love for the Berkey.  All opinions are my own.

Currently | August

filed under: currently

so relieved that my Mom’s and sister’s surgeries in the last two weeks went so well.  Thanks again for all the good thoughts and well wishes! I appreciate it very much.

reading Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman. It’s a kind of strange book so far, but the reviews are good, so I am curious where this story is going.

excited to try this new kohlrabi salad blend from Trader Joe’s. They must have heard me talk about kohlrabi recently… haha.

listening to Pod Save America. I am trying my hand at podcasts again – uh-oh! Hat tip to Stephany for recommending it. We’ll see how long that will last.

enjoying my long runs on Sunday. It’s so nice to be out and about on a Sunday morning when the air is still crisp and it always puts a smile on my face seeing so many other people out running or walking their dogs!

eating overnight oats with raspberries. 

drinking Gerolsteiner + grapefruit juice. So refreshing!

thinking a lot about all the things happening in this country. I am so tired of the news cycle, the outrageous tweets, the ‘off the cuff’-speeches by the president.  Part of me really wants to take a break from everything, part of me is afraid of missing the next big faux-pas.  

anticipating my first official raise (ever) on my next paycheck (however little it is going to be, ha!), and

wondering how much of it will actually show up as extra money on my paycheck (my hunch, not much) or if it’s all going to be eaten up by taxes and the next health care premium increase. Sigh.

watching baseball. Always. It’s one of the few things I can currently focus on.

feeling like such an adult. We got our gutters replaced earlier this month (in preparation for the next rainy season) and nothing makes me feel more like a grown up than handing over a big check to someone who fixed something around your house. Ha.

What’s up with you currently?

August Link Love

filed under: link love

So many good links this month. Are you ready for a long list?

 

Around the Interwebs

Well, that’s scary. The future of fake news: don’t believe everything you read, see or hear

How to spring clean your digital clutter to protect yourself. I think I need to do this. Any time is a good time to do this, not just spring.

5 diet changes to make in your 40’s. Maybe I should look at this a bit more?

Why you feel richer or poorer than you really are. This was such a fascinating read. I’d like to hear your opinion about it.

This is seriously cool. Who remembers the time of typewriters?

Worthwhile. Trump, America’s Boy King: Golf And Television Won’t Make America Great Again

Did you know there was an Embarcadero Freeway (along the piers) in San Francisco? Me neither.

How to boost resilience in midlife.

31 ways to insult others… POLITELY. Love it.

Online dating these days seems kinda… intimidating. What if you don’t look like a celebrity?

A distraction free phone. Could you do it?

Interesting read. How social media warped my understanding of friendship.

News flash: there is no wrong way to use Instagram.

 
Around the blogosphere

This title is misleading, or let’s put it that way: it’s not what you think it is about.  We’re not materialistic enough.

Other people’s voices don’t diminish your own. Just remember, everyone is fighting their own battle.

The argument for sugar and carbs. Love this. When it comes to nutrition, I am a moderator and I don’t believe in cutting out complete food groups.

 
Craftiness

Easy meal planning bullet journal ideas.

Why you don’t have good handwriting and what you can do about it.

DIY Planter Wall. So cute.

30 ways to use a blank notebook. Maybe I will finally put my collection of notebooks to good use – haha!

 
Deliciousness

Open Faced Tomato and Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette. That sounds divine. Yes, please.

Garlic Shrimp in Coconut Milk, Tomatoes and Cilantro. I need to give this a try!

I love cherry jam!

 

Share a good link with me in the comments!

Thinking Out Loud #3

filed under: Thinking out loud

More random thoughts, yay. Aren’t you excited? I am linking up with Amanda from Running with Spoons for Thinking out Loud again.

+ My Mom’s surgery last Friday went well. Thanks so much for sending well wishes and good vibes. I was able to talk with her on Saturday (and every day since then) and she sounded really good on the phone. It was a huge relief to me. We also found out that the growth in her adrenal gland was benign (this is GREAT THE BESTEST NEWS EVER. Especially since the doctor’s didn’t really present his outcome as much of a possibility. I can’t tell you how heavy the weight was that was lifted off my shoulders.

She was released today (in under a week, which is fast for German standards after such a big surgery! They had to make an 8-inch incision on the left backside of her  torso) and she will most likely go to a rehabilitation facility again for three weeks (also standard in Germany) to gain back core strength and flexibility. You guys, I am so, so relieved. Being so far away is hard.

+ Staying on the topic of surgery, I found out that my sister will also have to have surgery.  It’s less invasive (thank goodness!) as it will be an arthroscopic procedure on her shoulder, but it’s tomorrow. Can we just stop with the surgeries, please?
She was recently complaining to me how in the world it can be that she had several surgeries already (on her knee, her wrist, her foot… now her shoulder) and other things (hernia, kidney stones) and I have had NOTHING (oh, besides a broken leg when I was two and iron deficiency anemia about a decade ago). I can’t really say anything, because it’s true… I’ve been mostly spared from health issues so far. Not that I am wishing anything on my sister, but I am very thankful that so far I haven’t had to deal with any major injuries or health problems in my life.

+ My own scraped-up elbow is healing nicely. It’s been a week and a half since my fall and I’ve used ointment and band-aids (big ones!) to keep the area covered. It’s pretty much healed except for a tiny spot (which seemed to be the one that was scraped the hardest). Yay. Now I just hope that it won’t leave scar.

+ I am starting week two of my Runtastic Results strength training plan and I can only say three words: 1) ‘ouch’ (I am sore!), 2) “yay” (it’s more fun than I thought it would be!), and 3) ‘awesome’ (I can already feel getting stronger!).

+ Four books became available at my (digital) library at the same time. Does that ever happen to you? I happens to me all the time. Sigh. Nothing for days, and then four book all at once. I hope I can finish them in the next 21 days.

+ I made German apple pancakes last weekend and they were so good. They’re a little different from American pancakes (as you can see) because they don’t use leavening. Just flour, milk and eggs. I added a bit of protein powder, which made them a great post-run meal!  I love apples (all year around, as I told you in my recipe post on Monday), but I really can’t wait for apple season this fall!

What’s a random thought on your mind today?

What is happening to this world?

filed under: I can't make this shit up

A few weeks ago, two Chinese tourists posed in front of the Berlin Reichstag and snapped pictures giving the nazi salute. They were arrested. I’ve seen some people on Facebook comment on the news article expressing that they thought that arresting them was a bit harsh, that they were just joking around. Well, I didn’t find the punishment harsh, and I didn’t find their behavior funny. Not by a long shot.

If you’re German, you live with the perpetuated guilt of what happened during World War II. We’re not allowed to take these things lightly and nazi salutes and any other signs or gestures referring to the Nazis is forbidden and punished in Germany. We know and understand why, even 75 years later. The rest of the world still doesn’t let us ‘off the hook’ for something that happened two generations ago (most of the people who lived through it are mostly gone now). We, as a society, still pay for what happened before most of us were born, but we recognize that this is only because we can never let something like this happen ever again.

And yet, fascism is on the rise again, most recently evident in this country. You guys, the news out of Charlottesville, VA has left me kind of speechless. How is this kind of stuff happening in 2017? Have people learned nothing?

If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. #resist Click To Tweet

Americans (excuse the generalization) seem to have an obsession with World War II. You just have to turn on the History channel where 90% of content is related to Hitler and the Third Reich. Yes, of course, history needs to be remembered and teach a lesson, but the emphasis is on ‘teach a lesson’, never ever letting something like this happen again.

There is a fine line between teaching and educating about historical events and making sure that nobody glorifies them or portrays them as something to strive to repeat.

What is wrong with people? Specifically, what is wrong with mostly young (white) men? Where does this hate come from? What are they afraid of? What are they trying to protect?

“We won’t be replaced…” is what they were yelling. Replaced by whom? By what?

The white supremacists with their hate and bigotry have been allowed to step into the spotlight and they’re not even covering their faces. They feel legitimized by a president that has spewn around hate, bigotry and racist remarks himself just to appeal to a certain group of people. Now he can’t even publicly renounce what happened in Charlottesville because he’s afraid of losing his base. Worse yet, he might actually believe what is coming out of his mouth, bascially standing behind white supremecists and telling them that what they’re thinking and doing is ok.

This is what being caught in the middle must feel like. How does this work out for someone who’s conveniently tried to swim with the tide at all times?

I tell you how it works out. Not at all. You can’t conveniently flip-flop on every single issue while standing for nothing. This is not what leadership is about. What the president said in yesterday’s press conference is all you needed to know about this man. He has no integrity, no moral compass, no feel for right or wrong. 

I don’t know if there were counterprotesters who engaged, even initiated, confrontation. I’d wholeheartedly condemn this. But the fact is that one group was protesting rascism and hate and the other was promoting it. Which side do you think our president should be on?

Please excuse the rambling. I am afraid I am not really eloquent in putting all my thoughts together coherently. There is a lot I still don’t fully understand and it’s hard to stay on top of everything that is going on, but I’m trying hard to stay engaged and educate myself.

Regardless of how much I have to learn, I do know this: This is NOT OKAY.  Nazis are NOT OKAY. The KKK is NOT OKAY. Racism, hate and bigotry, or whatever you want to call it, is NOT OKAY.  Violence is NOT OKAY.

In this country, free speech is encouraged, even protected, but the Constitution also doesn’t give you a blank permission to say whatever you want. Free speech and hate speech are two different things. You can’t go around spewing hate and expect to be respected. These two things are mutually exclusive and there will be consequences.

The Constitution protects the right to peaceably assemble, but does showing up with torches and guns really send the message that you’re peaceable? Does using a car as a weapon send the message that you mean no harm? That you “just want to state your opinions”? I strongly disagree.

Still, I believe most people are inherently good. I do believe that love and compassion can conquer all. I am convinced that most people agree that we’re all equal and deserve the same rights and freedoms. Not one person should be allowed to suppress another. Equality doesn’t take anything away from a person, it simply gives rights to someone else who hadn’t been so privileged before.

Equality doesn’t take anything away, it gives rights to s.o. who hadn’t been so privileged before. #resist #nohate #equality Click To Tweet

I have no idea how to wrap up this post in a neat way, but may I suggest some reading material.

So, you want to fight white supremacy.

8 ways to help after Charlottesville

Syllabus for white people to educate themselves

These are scary times. We can’t look away. We need to stay engaged. White supremecy has been around for a long time, but we can’t under any circumstances let this fringe mindset become mainstream.

 

Recipe | Apple Crumble Cake

filed under: recipe

As I mentioned last week, I had been thinking about baking something for the weekend. Baking makes everything better and after the news that came out of Charlotteville on Saturday, I definitely needed something ‘to make things (just a tiny bit) better’, if only to soothe my aching heart. Obviously, there is much more to do than baking a cake (but that’s a topic for another blog post). 

I still had a bunch of apples in the fridge that needed to be used, so I decided to make an apple crumble cake. I ‘healthified’ (is that an actual word?) the recipe a bit by using whole wheat flour, substituting a part of the flour with flaxseed meal and using some Greek yogurt.

I cored and then sliced the apples. I usually don’t peel the apples, because most of the nutrients sit under the skin. I used Gala apples because that’s what we usually buy to snack on. There are better apples to use for baking, but the Galas worked just fine. 

I topped the apples with the cinnamon crumbs and then the thing went in the oven for 55 minutes. 

The smell made my mouth water. I know apple pie is usually considered a fall treat, but I am totally on board with apple pie in August (or any other time of the year, really!). Aren’t you?

If not, a) you’re weird, haha, and b) I guess, you can save the recipe for later this fall… but I am telling you, it was delicious!! I can’t guarantee that there will be any more pieces left for very long!

[yumprint-recipe id=’16’]I am linking up with Food, Pleasure and Health and The Fit Foodie Mama for the #MeatlessMonday Linkup.

Friday Five: Running Family and Friends

filed under: Friday Five

I am linking up with  Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 Linkup today and we’re talking about running with family and friends. It’s pretty amazing, while I’ve been active all my life, my friend Susi inspired me to pick up running (in a more serious manner) and then, in turn, I inspired my sister, cousin and his girlfriend to start running regularly, too.

I am going to approach this topic from a more inclusive perspective of physical exercise in general because I’ve always been surrounded by people who value an active lifestyle and regular physical exercise in their lives. Four family members (including myself) hold degrees in physical education. I grew up playing many different sports. Running was always part of, but never my main form of exercise. 

Here are the family members and friends who inspire me every day!

1. My Dad  — When it comes to physical exercise and an active lifestyle, my Dad has always been my biggest inspiration and role model. He has never been a distance runner, but he’s instilled a love for sports and exercise in me from a young age. He’s a (now retired) P.E. teacher, tennis trainer and skiing instructor. Now in his late 60’s, he still regularly works out, plays tennis (on a team), golfs, and is still an avid skier during the winter months.

You know how it is, runners want to talk about running all the time and most people non-runners roll their eyes if you repeatedly bring up your training or races, but can you imagine how amazing it is when your Dad is someone who genuinely wants to talk about that kind of stuff? Who asks you every single day how your workout was. Who wants to talk about fitness gear, statistics, and new workout plans. My Dad is the first person I call with questions in regards to my training, with injury advice, or simply to get some emotional support.

2. My sister  — We’ve played sports together all our lives. We were on tennis and softball teams together, we both studied P.E. in college. (She’s teaching P.E. at an elementary school now, I got a teaching degree for P.E. in high school, but ended up choosing a different career path.) My sister has a full-time job and two kids and doesn’t get out to run as often as she’d like to, but she recently picked up her tennis racket again and I am so proud of her for making time to exercise.

3. My cousin — He also studies P.E., plays soccer and regularly visits the gym. He’s into living a healthy lifestyle, eating healthy and staying fit. I was able to go for run with him when I went back home in May (of course, he’s way faster than I am) and he (and his girlfriend) are contemplating running a race with me here in California when they come visit in September. I am so stoked!

4. My friend Susi  — If it wasn’t for my friend Susi, I would have never considered participating in a race. I blogged about it before, if she hadn’t dared me to sign up for a race with her, me + running (in the way I am pursuing it now) would probably not have happened. Susi inspires me every day to become a stronger and better version of myself and I am so proud of her for how far she’s come!

5. My BFF from back home — I mentioned her before, she’s my oldest friend (we have known each other since elementary school) and she has been battling a brain tumor for the better part of the last decade. She’s one of the best people I know and I still can’t wrap my head around why she has been dealt this card in her life, but in spite of it all, she’s one of the most positive and life-loving people I know. She has never been particularly sporty when we were younger, but she has picked up running to keep active and physically healthy and it was one of the highlights of my trip back home in May to go for a run with her along Lake Starnberg!

 

5 PLUS 1. All of you — I am so incredibly thankful for the running community that I’ve encountered online (mostly through Instagram, initially, and then also through all your personal blogs). You all inspire me every day to keep at it. Your personal journeys motivate and inspire me and hold me accountable!

Who inspires you? #running #fridayfive Click To Tweet