After the race we headed to Whistler for four days, and it was by far our favorite part of the trip (outside of the half ). The mountains are gorgeous, and the entire drive was breath-taking.

Once we got to the condo we were staying at, we parked the car in the garage for the duration of our stay and rented bikes to get around. We rode all around the village and to and from some amazing small lakes. Our entire trip pretty much consisted of eating (extremely important after running so far), playing outside, and reading. Perfection.

The small lakes scattered around Whistler felt utterly unreal.

Super safe looking helmet right there.

We may have been teasing one of our fellow travelers who likes to stand like this… but isn’t the river a crazy color?!

Stand up paddle boarding was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I had a huge incentive not to fall in (snowmelt fed lake anyone?), so I didn’t do anything too crazy. It was really nice to enjoy a quiet morning on the water with my brother and explore the lake. At some points you could see logs under the water or beautiful underwater plants. The wind also gave us quite a workout.

On our last full day in Whistler we took a gondola up Whistler Mountain and another gondola across the peak to Blackcomb’s peak.

The views were incredible!

Once we got to the top we hiked to a lake near the summit. The entire way was full of stunning lookouts and gorgeous trails. If I had more time I would have come back another day and hiked around more/ ran some of the trails.

This is the face I make when you repeatedly ask me to turn around so you can take a photo and I don’t really want to.

This place could make a trail runner out of me.

The lake was so cool! I’d imagine it is usually completely frozen in the winter since it didn’t seem very deep. It was the picture of serenity when we arrived. It sort of seemed like we had stepped onto another planet though since the water was pretty chilly and there wasn’t any life in the water (plant or otherwise).

On the ski lift ride down the mountain we even spotted a little bear munching on some plants! (My mom was beyond excited about seeing it. The bear could not care less.)

For a water girl, I sure do miss the mountains.

Pictures via my iPhone and my dad. You can check out more of his stuff at Dean Ferreira Fine Art or Pinterest. 

I love athletic clothing – the colors for every mood, the comfortable shoes, the snuggly sweaters, the sleek lines – all of it. I can talk myself into needing just about any item. It’s been kind of cold outside lately, so another long sleeve shirt would be good. If I had one more pair of pants then I wouldn’t have to do laundry so often. I could wear this to work and no one would know I also work out in it. If I don’t buy this now, it’s going to be gone forever. It’s a problem.

While some clothing is necessary to work out six days a week without doing daily laundry or clearing a room with stench, it’s easy to overdo it. There are some things I am ridiculously drawn to the point where I will think about them for the rest of the day after seeing them. And then there are things that I know I need (like a windbreaker/water resistant layer for the wet fog where I live). I have a tendency to nearly convince myself I need a lot of things I don’t.

In the never-ending battle of need vs. want, athletic clothes are my biggest weakness. While a new item every few months or so to replace something that needs it or to fill a true need isn’t bad, it’s easy to purchase unnecessary pieces and not only waste monty, but also make a big impact. Most athletic clothing is made in sweatshops out of materials that won’t break down in a landfill (both of which go against my normal criteria for clothing purchases).

For a while I opted out of all emails from companies. It was the best – I never knew that there were new things out every week and I didn’t have the temptation to buy so many items. But then I was looking for a water resistant layer to run in, I signed up for one of them again, and I’ve kept it ever since. I used to say it’s because I helped research product pages for Yoga Journal and I needed to stay on top of trends, but the reality is that it goes deeper than that.

It’s not only that I love to look at all of the new pieces, but also that of everything in my closet, my workout clothes are what make me feel the best. I would much rather rock my running gear than a ball gown. But instead of reaching for my wallet every time something catches my eye or I want a little pick me up, I’ve been pinning it to my wish list and letting it sit for a few weeks. I’ve also been stringent about my budget and when it comes down to tough decisions, I have been prioritizing experiences over new clothes (like a weekly yoga class or a night out with friends).

As of right now, unless it’s directly replacing something that I already have, no new pieces are coming into my closet. Even race shirts aren’t free of the scrutiny. If I bring home a shirt, even if it’s from an event I loved, something else has to go. Turns out I don’t love race shirts as much as the clothes I already have, so I kindly say no to most (or give it to someone I know would like it).

I currently have enough clothes to make it through an entire week of workouts without having to do laundry, which is perfect for my sanity and it means I only do full loads of laundry. In the winter when I wear more of my gear at once (I love layers, especially on cold runs), it doesn’t kill me to wash a little more frequently.

The best parts? My drawers don’t overflow anymore with clothes I don’t love to wear (everything that itched or chafed is long gone), and I am sticking to my monthly budget.

My first TV commercial airs today!

In case you didn’t see it on Instagram, for the past few months or so my friend and coworker Joe Stoltz and I have been slaving away over our biggest project yet, a TV commercial for the startup we work at, Curious! We had a blast writing the script, shooting, and making meticulous changes over and over again.

The 16-year-old inside of me who thought she would go to USC’s film school couldn’t be more stoked. Check it out!

I’ve never really fit the stereotypical definition of a girl. I’ve had a long-running aversion to all things pink, I give the way I look very little thought, and my fingernails are more often colored by dirt than polish.

But it’s taken me a while to be comfortable in my own skin. I have often felt different and like I didn’t fit. Even at my all girls high school I was the outlier. The one who would wear pants and a basketball sweatshirt every day. The one who didn’t own a single thing of makeup and rolled her eyes whenever someone complained about the things she ate. I had no clue how to curl my eye lashes or roll my skirt.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized I really liked being me. I didn’t care that I didn’t look like the other girls in my class (or the boys either). I had a distinct point of view and I saw value in that. I finally felt confident being me.

I’m sick of all of the pressures put on women and girls to look and act a certain way. Don’t you dare tell me something I do isn’t “lady-like.” Why do we try to pigeon hole people into looking or behaving in a certain way? Why do we demonize and put down girls?

You can be a girl and be powerful. You can be a girl and speak up. You can be a girl and a leader.

It’s time that being a girl doesn’t matter, that it isn’t something used to put someone down or tell her she isn’t good enough. Women do amazing things. They go to space, fight for people’s rights, and change the world completely unseen. Let’s start seeing.

I got lost down the rabbit hole that is the internet recently when looking for inspiration. I decided to find some of the top female professional athletes around the world and add them to my Instagram for a daily dose of motivation.

Instead what I found was depressing and frustrating.

The top searches were all about the “smoking hot” female athletes who frequently posted bikini photos. Most lists (like Bleacher Report‘s) somehow left out all of the photos of athletes in their element in favor of cleavage, pouty selfies, and poll dancing videos. And the athletes.

#FBF in honor of March Madness…. Final four in 2007…. Wonder wha I was bout to do? #LADYvols #FinalFour #Cleveland #YoungCP

A photo posted by Candace Parker (@candaceparker) on Mar 13, 2015 at 11:18am PDT

Women athletes are frequently only seen for their beauty, their bodies. Not what their bodies can do or accomplish, but what they look like in and out of a bathing suit (I’m talking to you Sport’s Illustrated). They rarely have news coverage where someone doesn’t talk about the way they look (from their smile to their waist size) or are asked questions no one would dare (or care) to ask a male professional athlete.

I want to feel like this again.

A photo posted by Lauren Fleshman (@fleshmanflyer) on Jan 7, 2015 at 10:09pm PST

Female athletes are so much more than what they look like. And yet they rarely make ESPN’s top plays of the night. They don’t make the front page of the sports section. Their names aren’t spoken over millions of dinner tables after a big game.

And it frustrates me. Why is it so hard for me to find female role models? Why are the Lauren Fleshmans, Annie Thorisdottirs, Alex Morgans, and Candace Parkers so hidden? Why do we hold male athletes in such high regard and think little of their female counterparts?

What do you call a runner that can’t run? Depressed.

Junior year of high school I went from being the starting point guard to the score keeper in a cast days before the season was set to start. With half the basketball season out of the question, I sat on the sidelines and watched my team move on without me. I spent more time crying and feeling sorry for myself than I did practicing.

Now it’s years later, my team is just me, myself, and I, and yet being forced to stop doing what I love feels an awful lot like that ruined basketball season. I spend my time obsessing over all of the things I can’t do and wallowing in jealousy over everything everyone else is doing without me.

Almost exactly a year ago I had my first inklings of pain in my feet. As my injury progressed, I spent two months unable to run (and  losing my mind). I didn’t know what to do with myself, and the thought of losing all of the strength and endurance I worked so hard for for years just wasting away while I had to rest physically hurt almost as much as my feet and ankles. I tried running and not running, doing yoga, going for a swim, riding my bike, but no matter what the pain followed (and often worsened). Meanwhile the weeks ticked by and my half marathon grew closer and my mileage goals for the year more impossible.

Trying to undo all of the training mistakes I made this week with some #yoga and #mobility. #PlantarFasciitis

A photo posted by Mandy Ferreira (@treading_lightly) on Feb 23, 2014 at 3:24pm PST

With each doctors appointment, new shoes, new inserts, etc. I got a sense of hope and would finally start to feel my mood lift. But days or weeks later when there wasn’t any improvement and I couldn’t sit still without thinking about the pain in my feet, I was right back under my dark cloud that rains all over me. I was desperate for a turning point and for some real hope. I started to throw myself into my PT exercises, contrast baths, and everything else I could do to heal faster. I stayed away from sugar and other foods that are taxing on my body. I pushed through some pain and pulled back before I made things worse. I listened to my body (and hopelessly ignored it). And it worked. I slowly got better. I got stronger. I ran a half marathon. And then another eight weeks later. All the while I lived in fear that my pain would return, that I would be broken again. Sidelined. But after a while the fear faded, and with it went my adherence to my exercises, the contrast baths, the self-massages, the intuition to listen to every little twinge in my body.  

 

I’m still flying on my Nike Women’s SF finish. #tbt #runchat #werunsf

 

A photo posted by Mandy Ferreira (@treading_lightly) on Oct 30, 2014 at 3:08pm PDT

 

I got careless.

And I paid for it.

It’s a year later, and my PTT is back. Another flair-up. Another setback. Another frustration.

But this time I know. I know I need to be doing my exercises. I know my shoes aren’t going to be a magical fix. I won’t suddenly wake up one morning able to run 13 miles.

Comeback’s are a struggle. But they are worth fighting for. I have four weeks until I run my first race since October, and I am sure as hell going to be at that starting line strong. I am going to strengthen my hips, my ankles, my feet. I will create a solid base that will keep me going through the summer and into the fall. I am going to have months without pain, without limits.

Instead of feeling sorry for myself, I’m looking forward to being set free, to being stronger than before.

Over the past year I’ve been slowly removing things from my life – extra stuff, unnecessary obligations, TV shows, negative or draining relationships. I’m still busy and I still struggle to balance everything, but for the most part the things that fill my time also bring me joy and contentment.

The easiest thing to give up was TV. In college I used TV as a mental break or a reward for hard work. I would treat myself to an episode or two after completing certain assignments or working uninterrupted for a few hours. After college it was easy for me to justify binge watching entire seasons or coming home to a few episodes every night.

When most of the shows I was watching ended for the summer, I filled my time with more of the things I loved (hi books, I missed you). I realized how much more satisfied I was digging into a good book for 30 minutes than a show I sort of liked. When fall rolled around I picked two shows and ditched the rest. Now I watch an hour (or less) of TV per week when they are in season, and each one feels like a real indulgence. I honestly don’t miss the rest.

I have more room to be creative and create instead of constantly consume. Most importantly, I have more time for the things that are really important to me.

I have taken to asking myself “does this add value to my life?” over and over again during the day. It’s been a powerful tool for me to refocus, stop procrastinating, and make decisions.

Throughout the day I find myself with an absurd amount of tabs open all calling for my attention. Most of them are work related, but the ones that aren’t call louder than the others. I find myself opening news stories that sound interesting, diving deeper into obscure blogs, and clicking on every link in newsletters (I’m looking at you Ann Friedman). Before I give one of these things my undivided attention (and ultimately ignore everything else), I ask if reading this page will add value to my life or just take up minutes I could spend elsewhere. More often then not I close the tab and move on.

But this constant questioning goes further. It’s becoming an important part of how I decide if I will do just about anything. There are some things that seem so wonderful and attractive (like watching the Jimmy Fallon, Will Farrell, and Kevin Hart lip sync battle over and over again) that I immediately deem them worthy of my time. But when I really look at it, they don’t add value and aren’t helping me get where I want to be. They aren’t improving my life or providing anything substantial.

Value is a weird thing to pin down. What’s important to me one day seems useless the next. It’s different for everyone. Some things add value by inspiring me. Others are very strategic (like buying a new notebook for work or taking a class). Which isn’t to say that I don’t see value in relaxation, fun, or pure entertainment. Those definitely factor in heavily for me.

I was originally exposed to the idea when reading Everything That Remains (you can read more about The Minimalists’ take on value of objects, work and personal impact, and even relationships), but it took me a few months to really integrate it into my life and see the power in the exercise. Questioning my actions, decisions, and purchases has gone a long way to help me simplify my life, feel more in control of my time, and find direction.