So long #SuperSeptember!

Happiness Collage 
of the day
to end September

If you can't wait :) and would like to see the content of the boxes - scroll at the end of the blogpost!

Before I say my farewell to September. . . . . . .

First of all a, "Hello!"

☆WELCOME ALL NEW ♡ FRIENDS/FOLLOWERS♡☆!!!!!!!!!

(on  Facebook page, Twitter & Instagram :) )

I hope to get to know you more, and support you in your pursuit to realise your dreams & goals, as much as you support me in my personal pursuits.

Opening my private instagram to public recently, signalled for me personally my comeback to actively interacting again with the running world, and it's diverse and awesome communities everywhere.

If you've been following me since 2006 as a blogger, you knew me before I became a runner.

It was a period, that I used writing/blogging as creative therapy.

In January, 2011 after blogging anonymously for 5 years, I finally began public blogging
@My Daily Mooosings in the Netherlands
Photo was taken in May, 2011
3 months later I began with running!

Blogging gave me the courage to finally pursue what others might view as impossible dreams.

Berlin Marathon 2012
A year after I begun running!

For those who have connected with me since August, 2011, you knew of how I worked to fulfill my dream of running back to back marathons in my 40's.

a few (200) meters towards the finish line...

from left to right
Berlin Marathon Summer 2012
Paris Marathon Spring 2013
Luxembourg (Half-Marathon) Summer 2013/2014
(in 2014 I became one of the face of this marathon :) )

You have witnessed, read, cheered & supported me through my highs & lows.

As a runner with bipolar disorder I am constantly on a rollercoaster of highs & lows.

I am proud to say, I never gave up and will never give up!  Running only strengthened my fighting spirit.

Running from January to August 2014

 #TheStoryofSlow is something I fully embraced, specially after my great experiences this September.

#TheStoryofSlow in few short words is about not being bothered how long it takes you to fulfill what you are after in life: goals, dreams, etc.

You, yourself have the freedom, the right to dictate: your life's pace,  your life's style, it's content & what ultimately gives it quality.

After a difficult early Summer this year, I vowed September would be Super!

I knew for it to be truly SUPER, I had to let a lot of things go, which were constantly blocking me.

I've learned the lesson of letting go a long time ago.

BUT  what I learned recently,  you have to keep practicing the art of letting go because like many things in life you can't make letting go perfect but you can improve it by each attempt.

Doubts will come ALL THE TIME; it starts with whether you should trust how you live life; you will always have a niggling doubt on how you literally & figuratively run your life.

After the
Nike Training Club live class
@ Carré, Amsterdam
22nd September, 2014

As long as you are doing things to improve yourself, and help/support others on their path to improving themselves, you can shove those doubts, fears & all negative vibes away!

NTC live class in
@ Carré, Amsterdam

with power house Lars Schuijling (Nike Master Trainer)
awesome Carlijn #crewTheMermaidClub
lovely Demi blogger behind Free Runners

photo courtesy  of 
Carlijn/taken by her beautiful sister Elles

photo credits: Meeùs Run Club 
@ Posbankloop
my first (6 K) participation in this event
28th of September, 2014

In the month of September, besides embracing #TheStoryofSlow in my life, I embraced the rewards that participating has constantly been giving me.

with Carlijn #crewTheMermaidClub

 NTC live class in
@ Carré, Amsterdam
the culmination of
#ChaseSummerChallenge


photo credits:
Carlijn/Elles

I am no longer giving energy to those who question whether I deserve what I get.

I may not run amazing times but I run with amazing enthusiasm. I may not have (yet!) a toned body but I am not giving up on working towards keeping my body healthy & strong.

photo credits: Meeùs Run Club 
@ Dam tot Damloop
my 3rd Damloop!
10M 21st of September, 2014
4 miles in 2011
10 miles in 2012
won a bib in 2013 but had to skip due to my injury

Besides sponsored runs this month & VIP running clinics, I received rewards in kind.

What did I do to have had the privilege of experiencing and receiving these rewards?  I broke through the bounderies my bipolar disorder places in front of me all the time, and overcome personal limitations I put on myself.

photo credits: Meeùs Run Club 
VIP running clinic with the club's Ambassador
Erben Wennemars
@ AV Sprint, Breda
15th of September, 2014

photo credits: Meeùs Run Club 
There is still a blog coming up this week
about this training evening for the Breda Singelloop,
which I will run for the second time in a row this coming
Sunday (5th of October)

I showed up; I participated; I did my best; I kept moving (forward) - 42 years as an individual, 3 years as a runner.

Perhaps many will view all the rewards I have received as marketing machinery but I view it as machinery of magic motivation!

Met new friends @NTC live class in
@ Carré, Amsterdam

ALL power house ladies who are all inspiring and motivating with their energy & positive spirits!

From left to right
Marleen who represented #crewGlowMagNL and is a crew member of #HALFCRAZYRUNNERS
Carlijn #crewTheMermaidClub
Natasja  who was also a crew member of #crewGlowMagNL
photo courtesy   of:
Demi blogger behind Free Runners, also was a crew member  of #crewGlowMagNL 

Hope you end September in a happy spirit!

My Motivation Outfit from Nike!
30th of September, 2014

All crews on the Top 5 of the NTC leader board of  #ChaseSummerChallenge were invited to the                                                           

                                   Nike Training Club live class

@ Carré, Amsterdam

as a reward for the active Summer &

accepting the invitation for an energetic work-out 

in an amazing location

we were all given these cool Nike work-out gear!

photo courtesy   of:
Natasja  
who was a crew member
of
 #crewGlowMagNL

7/100

#SuperSeptember: #BetterYourBest!

Happy Feet in the Netherlands is back on track, peeps!

http://bit.ly/HappyFeetNLBETTERYOURBEST100914

SEEN during my 12.72 km run:
click on the bitly link above if you would like to see a few seconds of PONY adorableness! :)

Struggled over the Summer, and ran "only" a little bit over 4 miles (6.5 km) in the month July, after what was a promising end of Spring and beginning of Summer.

My Nike+ stats seem to represent rather clearly my personal state of ups and downs…
After being in the deepest low in July with only 6.5 km, I picked it up in August with 78 km thanks to the #ChaseSummer Nike challenge

There were once again questions over motivations: doing it for myself to be a better healthier me VS doing everything in an attempt to meet up expectations - whether imagined or real, it was a pressure I put on myself once again.

Struggles are your best teachers, I repeatedly learn.


When August came, and an opportunity to shake myself out of the stupor in the form of a Nike (#ChaseSummer) challenge, I grabbed the chance, and came knocking with it on the PM (private message on FB) doors of my sole/soulsisters, who in turn knocked on the PM doors of their sole sisters et voilà, the #crewTheMermaidClub of The Mermaid Club was born.

More updates over the  #crewTheMermaidClub
#ChaseSummer Nike Challenge @ The Mermaid Club on a later blog, promise!

I would not be #HappyFeetNL, if I will not be open & honest with the ups and down of my fitness path: 9 days before the challenge was over, I started sinking once again.

The more I push myself, the more I sank deeper.

There were personal as well as mental health reasons behind what would turn out to be in the end 18 days dip.

Last night, I wrote something on my instagram page :

If you make yourself a part of a community, be engaging, be supportive, you would never be in a personal dip, too long. 

If you try hard to think beyond yourself, reach out, help out, support others, you will never feel alone even if you have what you think is a very personal "burden", no one can relate to.  

We are all connected; we can all make a difference for each other.

#NeverGiveUp #KeepOnMoving

Since May this year, INSTAGRAM has been my creative playground and a place I create images to empower myself and affirm a life I find is a simple good life, I do not want to take for granted.

My loving family, good friends, have shown time and time again how they are there for me; I value their love and support.

There is an often contradicting wisdom, which I share to my love ones, people, who are very dear to me as well as those I meet, who suffers from mental illness themselves and/or people, who supports those who suffer from mental disorders: we need to experience success in helping ourselves, in order to have the strength to reach out to others and ask for much needed help.

It can be frustrating for everyone but with time, a lot of patience, support and understanding, people with mental illness can lead a life of quality with their love ones.

Another thing I learned during this most recent 18 days of depressive cycle…

If you can no longer find peace in words you read from others, then create your own simple words that will bring you peace...

The image above is something I shared, together with the text below on instagram. I created this to empower myself to let go and be okay with how things are, and how things would be. Perhaps my simplified way of saying: I need to keep on moving,  I will keep on moving and never give up.

It seems to represent the balance between the "helplessness" in times of depression and the "strength" from within - the individual's fighting spirit - that you can call up when things are really rough, and enable you to just  let go - for your own peace, for your own well-being…


(Text to the image - "I don't know…It's OK" - above)

This afternoon I was updating my blog, "Fueled By Goals: 7 Down, 7 To Go" 

At first I was a bit sad, frustrated, scared & a tad disappointed with myself.  

It was soon replaced with shame. Shame for feeling those negative feelings.  

My 100+ blogs does not even relate all 3 years worth of wonderful stories how running around Holland (and other parts of Europe) has changed my life. How it changed life for the better.  

Some things you can't quantify. You can't even represent it with a image of before and after. You can only feel it from within you: a personal transformation. 

Quickly right after I felt my old fighting spirit taking over. 

I don't know how the next months will be, and you know what? It's okay. I will be okay. No matter what. 

The next day, I ran. :)

And the following day, as well …

Life is to be participated in…even against the odds,

over hurdles and against your worst enemy: the

worrying mind…

Even "the fight" to overcome is participating in life…

It might not seem spectacular but if you keep at it long enough, your life will be!

#SuperSeptember continues with a #BetterYourBest challenge!

Summary 
of
Running 2014 January - August…

Worry LESS! 

Work-out (or fill it in with what you love most, that keeps you going and keeps you healthy!) MORE!

6/100