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Hengill Ultra
I traveled to Iceland with pals Lisa Dailey and Carol Frazey to participate in the Hengill Ultra. Carol and I had signed up to run the 53 kilometer race and Lisa was set to run the 10K. Once we arrived I didn’t sleep for more than a couple of hours a night...
Finding Your Perfect Match
By Carol Frazey On Finding, Being, and Maintaining a Runner Partnership Running alone can be exactly what we need sometimes, but it can also be lonely. There's nothing like finding a compatible running buddy--or ten. Whether you wish to find a running group or one...
The Reset Adventure Begins!
Runners/Walkers--Some of you have already decided to join us for our 2022 Reset Challenge! We are so excited to be supporting you. Collectively, we need to reinvent ourselves, don't we? To figure out how to move about the world again!! What better way to do it than to...
Exciting Announcement: Join Our Adventure
Runners, Carol Frazey and I (Hi! Cami Ostman here) are delirious with excitement about the release of our book, 26.2 Life Lessons: Helping You Keep Pace with the Marathon of Life. But EVEN more exciting than the book is what we’re doing AS we launch it into the...
S is for Staying Sane—An Invitation (read to the end)
Let’s be honest friends, we’re tired. Between Covid 19, devastating racial violence, a bizarre presidential election, and (here where I (Cami) live on the west coast) smoke and fires, we are taxed and weary. First, we were told we couldn’t see each other INSIDE...
Pound Out the Sorrow and Draw in the Fire of Life: A Report on Running 10 for 10
By Cami Friends, the pandemic has really transformed our lives, hasn’t it? For me, I’ve felt pent up, trapped, and stilted—not to mention a little depressed. I’ve missed running races and traveling and going to coffee shops (where I do most of my work and my writing)....
10 for 10: Take the challenge!
The year 2020 has been really bizarre so far, right? Obviously, we as a collective are in the midst of some crazy shit… and some important challenges. And to a person, everyone I know is facing hard things individually—myself included. Early on in the quarantine, I...
You’re Standing at the Starting (Over) Line!
This is the year you'll reach your goals. Happy New Year! New beginnings can be exciting and daunting all at once, can't they? Some, like the start of each new year, represent another try, a fresh go at activities and relationships we're already engaged in, while...
Running Away from the Holiday Blues
Strategies for those of us who struggle through the season Some people love the holiday season. I'm happy for those folks and try not to ruin their fun as I slog through November and December. Like many others, I have my own reasons for finding the...
5 Ways to Stay in Shape and Eat Healthy Over the Holidays
Goal: This week, sit down for 20 minutes and plan out the next month. Plan to make healthy food, exercise, and time choices over the holidays. The average adult gains weight over the holidays. With all of the excitement and stress of the holidays, family gatherings,...
What to Wear
As the weather changes, it is time to think about having the gear that you need so that you can get outside to run or walk. Here are the essentials: Tops and Pants: The material that your running apparel is made of is key. Because moisture will make you cold and...
Fighting the Seasonal Blues
Let Your Good Habits Carry You Fall is here. Like many of you, I’ve had an intimate relationship with low grade seasonal depression since I was young. I grew up in and have always lived in the Northwest where the days are dark and short for half the year. I...
How to Keep Your Training Mojo
Yay, fall is here! While it makes for some perfect-weather walks and runs, it also brings more rain and cold. Are you ready for it? Sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated with your exercise program during the fall and winter months. To help you stay...
Find Your SuperPower!
What is your SuperPower? What is the thing inside that helps you walk or run outside when it is raining? What is the thing inside you that helps you choose a glass of water as a beverage? What is the thing inside you that helps you speak when you are afraid? This...
Training for Life
New habits take repetition and patience to develop. Any time we begin something new, especially if we don't get started until later in life, our first efforts can be clunky and unskilled. Remember the first time you went out for a run (or took up any other new...
Process vs. Goal
Two years ago, I was lucky enough to hear Dr. Temple Grandin speak. You may know that Dr. Grandin is one of Time Magazine's 2010 Most Influential People in the World and she happens to be autistic. One of her lessons that really stuck out to me was when she kept...
Self-Medication or Self-Soothing
Finding practical ways to manage depression I've heard a lot of runners say things like, "Running is my therapy," or "Running keeps me sane." I've even heard, "Running is my drug." When my husband gets home at the end of the day, he often tells me he needs to get out...
What if?
What if? What if we changed just one tiny thing in our lives? What if we added one healthy habit that didn't take much time or effort? What would be the good things that would happen? What are some bad things that could happen? What if you took the Clara Challenge? We...
Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly
Exchange perfectionism for joy "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."—G.K. Chesterton One of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton, a Christian philosopher who argued that most of what must be done to make the world go 'round is done by the average Joe who...
Trail Running 101
As you explore the beautiful trails in your area, keep in mind these tips. Trail Running Tips: On single track trails, use "popcorn feet" where you quickly moving your feet up and down and lifting just a little higher than when you are on the roads in order to avoid...
Swallowing Bugs
How to be resilient when we're surprised by a sudden negative experience Have you ever swallowed a bug? If you participate in outside sports of any kind, I'll bet you have. This weekend I was taking a slow, easy run on a gorgeous trail beside the big lake...
What Are You Waiting For?
Stay in the game and commit to improvement at any age. Through all of 2013, I was trying out a new training strategy for my running. My old goal, back in the years when I was working on completing the seven marathons on seven continents,was simply to finish each race...
One Thing Different
What is one thing different that you can do each day this week to feel betterphysically or mentally? What are some things that you know when you do them, you feel significantly better? Here is a list to help you get thinking: Eat an extra serving of vegetablesWalk...
When Everyone is Faster than You
What to do when you can't keep up with your peers Yesterday I made my third attempt at reaching a specific time goal in the half marathon distance. I've been training for months to speed up my pace from an average of over eleven minutes per mile to a solid 10-minute...
Being Misunderstood is Painful
How to bear the burden of being misunderstood by others One of the hardest burdens to bear is being misunderstood by other people. All of us at one point or another experience looking into the eyes of another person and realizing that he or she simply does not see us...
Happy New Year!
Are you one of the 45% of Americans making New Year's Resolutions? Well, let's make this year the one where you achieve what you set out to do. By becoming clear about your GPS (Goal, Plan, and Support), you can guarantee a year of success. Set Your GPS G - Goal - Set...
7 Steps to Eat Better
Many people have contacted me with nutrition questions. Many ask, "How can I fit in "eat nutritious meals" with my busy lifestyle?". Below are 7 simple steps you take for yourself and/or with your family to eat healthier and still have time to live! (My favorites are...
Grieving During These Holy Days
Questions--not answers--for a difficult time I was working on a newsletter article to send out to my mailing list about gathering strength for the final push of the celebratory holiday season, ready to wish everyone a Merry Whatever You Celebrate. I was writing at a...
Fueling for Life
Energy (Calories) can only come from carbohydrates, fats, and protein. As you fuel for your day, your workout, and your life, try to make conscience choices of nutrient rich foods to help you feel your best. Below is a guideline to help you plan your carbohydrates,...
Defying Age Authentically
How do we really help ourselves feel vital and relevant? Last week I ran a 10K in under an hour! It was the first time I’ve ever done it. In fact, I’ve been an avid runner since I was in my mid-thirties, and just now in my mid (to late-ish) 40s I’m finally...
Your Healthy Lunch
Planning your lunch is an easy way to eat well and stay healthy. Even though this site is titled "School Lunches", it has some low-calorie, healthy lunch ideas for all ages. One of the easiest ways to reduce calories is by eating food from home. Restaurant/Deli...
Way Leads to Way
Every Course of Action has Its Gifts and Drawbacks For years I had the joy of running on the miles and miles of wooded trails in the Northwest town I lived in up near the Canadian border. Fifty yards outside my door was a trailhead that connected me to another...
5 Components of Peak Performance
Are you thinking about training for a race? Well, congratulations (even if you are just thinking about it)! After you think about it, then you sign up, then you think, "Oh no, what am I doing?!", then what? There are so many training plans out there; it is hard to...
When is Quitting a Good Option?
Questions to help you decide if you should press on or consider calling it quits Have you ever gotten halfway through something (a book, dinner, a marriage) and realized you didn't have it in you to finish? Here's what happened to me recently: I signed up for an...
How do I get faster?
Many people ask me how to improve their running form. When most people start a running program or want to go faster, the common thought is to stride out and push hard. The truth is, we want our body to land on top of our feet. If you watch a professional distance...
The Trilogy of Your Life
Do you need to close one book in your life and crack open a new one? Here's how. I’m always looking for metaphors that might resonate with clients as they seek to catch a second wind in their lives. And while the metaphor of running strikes my fancy, I’m aware it...
Eating and Running
What should I eat before, during, and after a run? This is the question I get most often. The question is not easy to answer since our bodies are all different and our stomachs react differently to different foods. So, most people find out what works best for them...
One Footfall at a Time
How Uncertainty Challenges Us to March Ahead “If you plan on being anything less than you are capable of being, you will probably be unhappy all the days of your life.” –Abraham Maslow A couple of summers ago I participated in the Northwest Passage Ragnar Relay. This...
Make a Declaration
My main mission in life is to empower women through running. That is why today I am making a declaration, and I want to encourage you to make your own declaration. I declare… To speak if I see or hear a woman being shamed, hurt, or ridiculed.To not allow only...
When Loss Rattles Your Confidence
If I'm not a (fill in the blank), what am I? More than a month ago, I started to feel a dull ache in my left heel. Slowly, over the course of about a month, the ache turned into a sharp, stabbing pain that hurt every time I brought my foot to the ground. I knew it was...
Keeping it Simple!
The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is an ongoing research study of a group of over 10,000 people who have maintained at least a 30-pound weight loss for one year or longer. Here are the basics of what the NWCR has found: 78% eat breakfast every day.75% weigh...
Struggling to Reach Your Goal? Take a Break!
The counter-intuitive wisdom of resting as a way to succeed at your goals. So, you're reaching for a big goal this year. What is it? Are you training for a marathon? Writing a book? Traveling the world? Quitting smoking? Losing weight? You're on schedule (or...
Happy Spring Ahead!
As we spring ahead, let's look to Spring Cleaning our health. What if we look at spring cleaning in a different way? Let's ask the question, what can we eliminate? Exercise What would you like to take out of your current exercise program? Are you spending too much...
Aversions and Strong Dislikes
Working with the things we hate I’ve been thinking lately about the term “aversion.” Webster says aversion is, “a strong feeling of dislike, opposition, repugnance, or antipathy.” The website viewonbuddhism.org defines aversion as, “an exaggerated wanting to be...
Can you see it?
Throughout my 23 years of coaching, I've been lucky to work with a variety of athletes from beginners to Olympians. Many people have asked, "I've been training so hard, how I take it to the next level?". One skill that all successful runners practice is that they...
Why Does This Hurt So Much?
In midlife, transitions abound. We're sending children off to school, making arrangements for parents to be cared for, getting gray hair, and perhaps even grieving our way through a divorce or an illness. You wouldn't be alone if you...
Goal: Eat 3 fruits and 4 vegetables each day
Try this… before eating any "less healthy foods" this week, be sure to eat at least 3 fruits and 4 vegetables. After eating these foods, you will less likely crave "unhealthy foods". Let's rock this week!
Navigating the “Ultras” in Life
We all have "ultra" situations in our lives. I recently took part in an "ultra" marathon. While marathons are always 26.2 miles, ultras are races of any distance longer than this (the Leadville Trail Race in Colorado, for example, is 100 miles). They're...
Fiber Up!
This week, let's make a pact to increase our fiber intake. FIBER Why we need it: a complex carbohydrate with no nutritional value but important because it helps to move waste through the body… so, helps maintain bowel health! Reduces the risk of diabetes and...
Finding Your Team
We all need community and a sense of belonging. This post is in response to How to Become Happier: 5 Tips for Today by Maureen Healy In her retelling of the ugly duckling story Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, observes, “[W]hen an...
What is Your Minimum
What is your minimum? How many minutes, miles, or days of exercise can you do to know that you did enough? What is the minimum amount of exercise you could do to lift you up mentally, where you feel good physically, and you don't feel the guilt of "not enough"?...
Three Steps for Getting a Heavy Heart off the Couch
What do you do when a heavy heart puts you on the couch? Do you feel stuck in a self-definition that isn't quite working for you at the moment? Maybe you've been pegged by loved ones or co-workers in a way that doesn't feel fair or true (you've been blamed or...