Essential Oils and Family Health (or What Can Help After Your Child Licks a Doorknob)

A new school year is brimming with potential - new friends, new books and new concepts, challenges, opportunities, and it's also brimming with germs. Lots of them. When my oldest started Kindergarten, a string of illnesses over several months went through our family of five like a fierce hurricane. That whole school year was a blur of sleepless nights checking on feverish boys, holding buckets as the stomach bug crushed them, and watching the nurse at our pediatrician's office line up our three boys as she swabbed their throats for strep, and one by one they came back positive. I tried everything to get us on a healthy track - we ate fresh, local foods, tried to get plenty of sleep and I spent their college savings at the health food store, stocking up on elderberry syrup, raw honey, probiotics...you name it, we tried it. Eventually, I wound up in tears at our pediatrician's office, holding my youngest who had just been diagnosed with an ear infection.

This is my niece. But her face accurately depicts my sentiments in the above paragraph.  

Our pediatrician calmly assured me that the boys were bouncing back from these illnesses just fine, and the fact that we were getting so many was likely due to my oldest starting school, and bringing a host of new germs back home that we had not been exposed to before. It was at this point that I seriously considered homeschooling. But he was confident that this would be the worst of it, that each subsequent year would be better. And, he was right, it did get better. Additionally, over the years I have added several tools to our family health tool box that help keep us as healthy as we can be as we start each school year.

One of those tools, and the family favorite, is essential oils. I knew about essential oils for a long time before we actually began using them. I thought it was just "aromatherapy" and I didn't think simply smelling something nice could have that many health benefits. Introducing doTerra essential oils*. Because they are clean, carefully extracted and tested, they are safe to use on the skin, through a diffuser that vaporizes them into the air, and with most of the oils, they are safe to ingest (some plant essential oils aren't safe to ingest no matter how clean they are).

Here are our top back-to-school essential oils:

OnGuard: this is a doTerra blend, and in my opinion is a must-have in every home. This oil blend smells amazing (clove, cinnamon and orange are the predominant smells), and it's immune-boosting and cleansing benefits are incredibly effective. I have a spray bottle filled with a mix of OnGuard and water, that I keep on hand for kitchens, bathrooms, and doorknobs**. A few quick sprays is all it takes. And it is much less expensive than the Seventh Generation cleaner I used to buy!

We also use OnGuard as a hand sanitizer (a drop or two on the hands), and when I feel an illness coming on, I put a drop on my tongue, chase it with some water, and I'm good to go! I'm certain I have kept some colds at bay with this technique.

Breathe: This is another doTerra blend that helps promote respiratory health and clear airways. When diffused, it helps a stuffy nose like no one's business, and it is also beneficial when rubbed on the bottom of your feet. My 8 year old has struggled with asthma, and I love having this blend to help him through a cold, when I'll rub it on his feet and chest, and diffuse it as well. When mixed with OnGuard in the diffuser, it makes for a great cold-therapy.

On Guard and Breathe, professionally lamely photographed by me. I don't even know what that plant is behind them.

The "You're at a 10, I'm going to need you at a 3" oils. When we transition from summer schedules to fall schedules, we, like many other families I'm sure, struggle with getting back into a routine in which we are going to bed at a decent time and getting enough sleep to take us through a busy day. Essential oils have been instrumental in helping wind us all down in the evening, bringing that high energy from the day down several notches to promote good, solid sleep. All I have to do is simply think of some of our favorite evening oils and I feel a comforting feeling envelop me...ahhh. Here they are:

Cedarwood: this woody, earthy scent is my 13 year old's favorite. We do five drops of it in his diffuser every night, and add a few drops of Wild Orange to help settle his racing mind, and a couple drops of Frankincense for good measure, because Frankincense is pretty much good for everything. This blend helps him shut his brain down, and drift into a solid sleep.

My 8 and 10 year old's prefer that I rub oil on their feet at night rather than diffuse them. My 8 year old loves Serenity, a soothing sleep blend. My 10 year old likes Breathe on his feet at night, as he is usually drawn to more minty-smelling oils. On the evenings that he doesn't take a bath or shower, Breathe does a nice job of covering up that stinky sock smell that seems to take over our house during soccer season. (PS - it's always soccer season at our house).

Serenity is my go-to relaxing oil in the evening, both in a diffuser and rubbed on my feet. A long list of things to do tomorrow? That's cool, I have Serenity. Laundry all over my bedroom floor? Ahhh...Serenity. Getting up at 5:00 am the next morning for a hard hill-running workout? All good - Serenity now!

Frankincense, Cedarwood and Wild Orange. On the day of posting this blog, I have officially used my last drop of Serenity and have not yet ordered more. Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

Lastly, we have our "You're at a 3, I'm going to need you at a 10" oils. These are the oils that give us a little pep when we need it, a little spring in our step when we're dragging. My 13 year-old brings In Tune to school with him. We have it in a roller, so it is easy to use and ready to whip out and roll on his neck, behind his ears or on his wrists when he needs to focus. He struggles to "engage" in the classroom, and In Tune has been a huge help with that.

My husband is a fan of a drop or two of Peppermint in a glass of water to fight that afternoon slump. He claims it's like a cup of coffee without the jitters. And, you guys, this man loves his coffee, so that's a huge compliment to Peppermint. I personally like to rub peppermint on the back of my neck for the same effect. One drop of Peppermint oil is the equivalent to 20 cups of peppermint tea (!), so it can give your lips a real tingle!

All of us love any of the citrus oils - lemon, lime, tangerine, etc. (and sometimes all 3 mixed together!)- in a glass of water or rubbed onto our hands for a little jolt of energy. Drinking water with one of these oils in it also has many health benefits (cleansing, detoxifying) along with the simple fact that it makes us drink more water - always a good thing!

Lime, Lemon and Tangerine. We can't keep up with the Peppermint use in our house and are in need of more. 

While these are just some of the oils we've been using in our house to promote good family health, it gives you an idea of the many benefits of essential oils, and doTerra oils in particular. If you want to talk more, please reach out to me - l'd like to hear about what particular struggles you might be having and see what oils could help with them. The wisdom of using essential oils for health is age-old - they have been used by generations of people from all over the world. Now is the best time to give them a try - give your family a boost before the winter germs set it...

*Note: I am a Wellness Advocate for doTerra, so yes, I do promote and sell their products, based on our experience with them and my love for this incredible company.
**Another note: In regards to this blog title - at least one of my kids has totally been caught licking doorknobs in public places. You guys - it's a for-real thing.

2016 Knowledge Droppings

I wrote this draft of a blog post almost two years ago! I logged on today because I have something I want to write but now I feel like first I need to publish this draft from 12/17/2016. I love that I called it "Knowledge Droppings." Ha, I crack myself up. So, here's almost 2 years younger me, dropping some knowledge about running...
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It has been a while, I know. Here's the thing: last year a friend and I were chatting about my blog and it went something like this...
Him: "I love your writing style..."
Me: "Thanks, though I feel there's a but..."
Him: "Yeah, it's just that you write about being injured a lot. It's pretty much about you being injured."
Me: "Oh. Hmm. But did you read the ones about me not being injured?"

Then I thought about it. And I realized I never wrote a blog post celebrating my mile race that I had trained so hard for. Why didn't I write about it? Truthfully I was proud and disappointed at the same time. I worked hard, and I was proud that I worked hard. But I thought I'd see a different time on the clock. I just couldn't shake the feeling that I could do better. I wanted to do better.

And then I went through a series of injuries, and well, I didn't want to write about that. In the time between my last blog post, I turned 40. I decided that turning 40 meant, for what it's worth, that I earned the right to tell people to "suck it" when applicable. Here are some other bits of wisdom I've realized upon turning 40:

1) Women are as strong as hell.
2) It's really not all over when you turn 40, there are personal records within reach...
3) A lot of what I loved in my 20's, I'm loving all over again with renewed enthusiasm in my 40's. Like hiking mountains. And margaritas.
4) Running is a privilege and is not something I have to do. It's something I want to do.
5) Celebrate every little victory. Don't let the "yeah, but..." take over. Own it. Own the crap out of it.

So, I'm retroactively owning my 2015 mile time of 5:55 as a victory. If my past self gives me a "yeah, but..." then I'm going to tell her to suck it.

Tiny is Just Part of the Journey

"Tiny" is a term I started using years ago when I watched how my boys acted when they were feeling nervous, overwhelmed or scared. When they are tiny, their normally loud voices are so soft I can barely hear them talking, their boisterous personalities shift, and they almost visibly shrink in size. They hide behind my husband or me. They cling to us. They become "tiny" in every sense. Being tiny happens for different reasons- for one of my boys, it is on the first day of school/camp/really any social situation. For another boy, it is when he has to have a difficult conversation, like saying he's sorry or sorting out a conflict with a friend. For the other boy, it is when he has to go somewhere on his own, without mom or dad or brothers. Every time I see this in my boys, my heart melts a little and I soften, because I know what being tiny feels like (don't we all?).

Being tiny is hard, especially when you can't hide behind your mom and dad or cling to someone. But being tiny also means you're doing something hard, something that challenges you to step outside of the familiar, to step into the unknown. I have felt tiny many times over the past seven weeks while I trained for the mile race (yes, the one that is less than a week away. Gulp). I have felt tiny literally every time I look at the crossfit Workout of the Day (WOD) on the board at the Confluence. Like when the workout involved power cleans, and I wanted to turn around and go back to bed. Or when I thought there was no way I'd be able to flip upside down and attempt a hand stand push-up, in front of everyone at the gym none the less. I especially felt tiny when I went to a mini-track meet in Burlington a couple weeks ago. Sprint 100 meters in a race, in front of a group of spectators? I haven't felt that tiny in a long time.

Yet despite feeling tiny, I stuck to my training plan. I met friends at the track and pushed through hard workouts. I didn't turn around and head back out the door when I was overwhelmed at The Confluence. I stayed at that track meet and not only sprinted my heart out for the 100 meters, I also did an 800 meter and 400 meter race. I can't say it was pretty (especially the 100 meter race), but I did it.

This is how I wanted to look racing the 100 meters:

This is how I actually looked:

I have to admit, I'm feeling nervous about the race coming up this Friday. Maybe even a little tiny. What if I don't run as fast as I hope, what if I don't see the time I hope for on the clock at the end? Then I am reminded of the words Tyler, one of the instructors at the Confluence, wrote on his Facebook page a couple months ago:


"Life is a journey. Not a destination. A goal is merely a point on the roadmap of life. Roadblocks that send you backwards or sideways or upside-downways are reminders that progress is not a linear march or a process that is inflicted on you in the name of improvement. Progress is a dance. One in which you participate, learn, and enjoy yourself. Sometimes you find that your original goal isn't that important when you finally arrive. Aspire to do great things, and enjoy the detours - they are the journey."

And what a journey this past several weeks has been. I have not only experienced the joy (and pain) of running full speed around a track, I have also been reminded of how awesome crossfit is - the way it can feel purposeful and like play at the same time, and the way it takes me from feeling tiny to feeling totally freaking badass-strong all within a single hour. I am going to step up to the line on Friday for the mile race and give it everything I have. After all, I have worked really hard to get there. But whatever happens, I have been dancing along this training and have enjoyed the detours, I showed up despite feeling tiny, I learned more about myself, and I experienced progress in the non-linear sense. Bring on the mile race, I'm ready. 

Training Highlights: Dick Van Dyke and Shit-Pan Suppers

I'm kind of whooped. Good whooped. Like I've been working my butt off kind of whooped. So, without too much pondering about the meaning of it all, here are some highlights of my last week of training:

• Did the following track workout: 2 x 200 m, 2 x 400 m, 2 x 800 m, 2 x 400 m, 2 x 200 m, 4 x 100 m, with half of each distance of recovery jogging between, and I actually said, "Wow, that was good!" afterwards. Yep, insane.
• Driving home from a 5:15 am WOD at The Confluence, my friend and I swore we saw Dick Van Dyke drive past us. Seriously, it was him.  

• Ran one of my most favorite Montpelier loops - 7.3 miles - which includes an almost 2 mile climb up North Street in the beginning, but the views at the top are always worth it. Ran with some of my favorite women, the "Hillbillies". Best part? We started and finished at Birchgrove Baking, and snagged an amazing coffee at the end. Totally perfect reward.

• One of the WODs I did last week included rope climbs. I love rope climbs, I think I need to somehow incorporate them into my daily life. Forget taking the stairs, I'm gonna take the rope. 
• Again, driving home with my friend from the Confluence, when clearly we hadn't had coffee yet, I told her about my new favorite cookbook, and our conversation went like this:

          Me: "It's by Molly Gilbert, It's called "Sheet Pan Suppers."
          SG: (confused look) "Did you say She-Pan? That's a weird name."
          Me: (thinking she said Shit-Pan) "Ha, ha, not Shit-Pan! But that's awesome. Hey kids, we're    
          having a Shit-Pan dinner again tonight!"
          SG: "No, I thought you said She-Pan, kind of sounded sexist. Shit-Pan is actually better."
          Me: "Totally. Anyway, I'm getting you the cookbook. It rocks"

• During a strength session of a WOD last week, I back squated 130 lbs. I didn't realize until after that I was pretty impressed with myself, I basically squatted with a whole entire me on my back! 
• Ran my second "tester mile" to see where I'm at. I did this at the start of my training 4 weeks ago. I ran a 6:32 then, and this time ran a 6:16. It's nice to feel like I'm making progress, but more importantly, I'm having so much fun training. I'm still keeping my eye on a goal of a mile personal record (PR), (well, "post-babies PR" for now, which is sub 5:55), but for me the joy of running is back. My knee pain has settled down, and running fast laps on the track has brought back that feeling of child-like exhilaration that I love about speed work. Just running for the joy of it, fueled by Shit-Pan Suppers. 

Crossfit and the Importance of PLAY!

Yesterday morning I woke up to my alarm at 4:50 am. I'm starting to get into the rhythm of the 5:15 am crossfit WOD on Tuesdays & Thursdays, but I don't know if it will ever be "easy" to get out of bed before 5 am. It certainly helped that a friend was picking me up for the WOD, so I knew I had to get moving for her. Mind you, getting up at 4:50 am gives me exactly 12 minutes to get from my bed to her car, so I rolled out of bed, grabbed my workout clothes, and threw on a hat. Side note, I've been getting crazy bed-head lately, which is why I wear a hat to all my workouts and runs. We're talking world-record-breaking bed-head.

Anyway, so my friend and I drove up to the Confluence just as the sun was coming up over the mountains. Pink sky, gorgeous morning. We met the crew of 6 fellow early birds and our instructor, Tyler, and began to warm up inside. Our warm-up was a 12 minute fun mixture of mobility and agility movements (which I dubbed the "mobag" warm-up. But don't worry, I dubbed it that silently, to myself, because I do realize it probably wasn't funny to anyone else. Not at 5:15 am anyway). After the mobag, we headed outside to the Fit Park:

First up outside was a 10 minute game of Hoover Ball. Ah, what now? Hoover Ball is kind of like volleyball, only with a 6 pound medicine ball. I was feeling a little suspect about it all, kind of wanted to go right ahead and skip it. You know, maybe do some more mobagging or something. But we got set up at the volleyball net, 3 against 3, and started tossing the ball over the net. Suddenly, the theme song to Top Gun began blasting (again, only in my head), and I put myself right in that Tom Cruise shirtless volleyball scene (though I wisely kept my shirt on), and we played a serious game of Hoover Ball. So fun, and turned out to be great core work as I can tell today with my sore abs.

Hoover Ball!

Not Hoover Ball.

I'm Tom Cruise and I give the thumbs-up to Hoover Ball. (Silently, in Richarda's head).

While playing Hoover Ball outside as the day was just starting, it struck me how important play is, even for adults. On Thursdays, I work a 10 hour day, and being up at the Confluence in the morning of a long work day felt like my recess. My time to get my body moving, get a workout in, but most importantly, my time to play. I know I went into the game a bit begrudgingly, but a mere 2 minutes into it the power of play was not lost on me. The ball was slippery and it was a challenge to catch, but we were all diving, tossing and catching as if we were on an elementary school playground. There was a lot of laughing going on. It was a total bonus that we were getting a good workout in at the same time, and also a bonus that this was playing in my head. If you clicked on the link, #yourewelcome #imsorry. 

And, then, there was the Workout of the Day (WOD). It was a 15 minute as many rounds as possible (AMRAP), of 8 Atlas stone lifts, 8 barrier hops, and 8 toes to bar. The Atlas stone lifts involved lifting these stone balls to your shoulder (sounds easier than it is!):

The barrier hops involved hoisting yourself up and over these barriers. I dubbed this the "heimlich," not silently to myself. I'll be all set if I want to snack on grapes and hot dogs near one of these:

And, the toes to bars were exactly that, swing your toes up to the bar using one of these bars on the pull up shrine:

Like Hoover Ball, this workout was challenging but was pure play for me. Given my soreness today, I know I worked my muscles hard, but I smiled my way through it. Thank you, Confluence, for reminding me how much fun exercise can be. 

And, yeah, we all got pretty dirty out there. You know how all the advertisements for "adventure races" or "muddy races" show pictures of mud-smeared, laughing people, having so much fun? That's because it is fun to play and get muddy, even when you're pushing 40! My friend and I tried to capture the dirt in this picture, but it doesn't really show the full effect (nor does it remotely resemble the stylishly dirty people in the aforementioned ads):

Thanks, Confluence, for reminding me to PLAY! Time to get outside in the dirt again...

Week in Review: My Boys Say it Best

Sometimes my boys say it best. I dug through some old (and some recent) pictures of my boys to best summarize my workouts this past week:

Sunday: 8.5 mile run, including some good hills. Ran with 2 crossfit friends:

Warm day, great company, beautiful scenery. Joy.

Monday: Track workout: 1 mile warm-up, 8 x 400 meter repeats with 200 meter recovery between, 1 mile cool down.

While I do usually love track workouts, this morning I was the kid on the right. It just wasn't my morning. 

Tuesday: WOD (workout of the day) at The Confluence. Lots of mobility work, followed by power cleans and the WOD which I modified a bit to avoid burpees, so it was 7 rounds of ski erg 3-4 calories, 7 power cleans. So. Much. Fun.

I still am going light with the weights, but power cleaning 80 lbs felt so awesome. I felt like a strong ninja-running mama. Watch out!

Wednesday: 1.5 mile warm-up, 2 miles at 5k race pace with 2 min recovery between miles, 1.5 mile cool-down.

It was only Wednesday- but it had been a busy week already. Whooped!

Thursday: WOD at The Confluence: lots of mobility work, strength work was deadlifts. I was nervous about the deadlifts, having not really worked on them since I hurt my back. So, I decided to go light again, but felt great lifting 105 lbs. In the crossfit world, this is not much, but in my world it was awesome.

Errr, deadlifts? How do you do deadlifts again?

The workout was 4 rounds of 2 minutes, row 16 calories, and complete as many double unders (jumping rope with the rope going under you twice in one jump) as you can in the remaining time. I wasn't sure I'd be able to complete any double unders at all, but ended up with 47!

47 double unders- super psyched!!

Friday: Met up with friends and kids on the State House lawn for a fun workout including lunges, weighted squats, stair jumps, push-ups, dips, and lots of cardio in there. I have been leading these workouts since the fall with friends. They are casual, and we bring our kids (I have Griffin with me on Fridays), and they are always a great time to catch up, kids get to play, and the moms get a workout in. Win-win. Recently a friend dubbed these "Ri-Cardio" workouts. I love it!

Friday Mom's & Kid's workout: best time of the week!!

Saturday: Early morning 8 mile run in beautiful Calais. The weather was cool, the grass and trees had that early spring vibrant green, made only more brilliant with a blue sky backdrop. Despite all the hard work I put in this week, my knee felt good. The mobility work and strengthening from crossfit is paying off. Week two: success.

Being outside with good friends to share the journey. That's pretty much why I run. 

A Little Help From My Friends

Sometimes you need a little help from your friends, especially in running. I am fortunate to have some pretty darn amazing running friends. They are the reason it's not so bad getting up at 5:00 am to do a track workout or hill repeats. My running friends keep the conversations going when the terrain gets tough, they share my pre-race jitters, encourage me, motivate me, and keep running fun. It is incredible to think about the community that surrounds a sport that is solitary by nature. On race day, each individual that lines up has no doubt been carried to the line by several, if not dozens, of running friends. Friends they covered hundreds of miles with, while they shared training plans, goals, gave each other advice, and most likely talked about everything outside of running, too.

And then there are the friendships and relationships that carry me to the starting line that extend beyond running. The support, encouragement, and advice I receive from outside my running circles also keeps me going. I'm feeling especially grateful for the help from my friends at Green Mountain Crossfit at The Confluence. I'm one week into my 8 week training program for the mile, a plan they have carefully helped me create and fine-tune, and I'm already feeling the benefits of their knowledge in building strong bodies capable of performing functional movements at high intensity.

After a one-hour mobility session with Tyler at The Confluence last week, I felt enlightened about the way my body works and I gained critical awareness about what I need to do to continue to heal my knee injury and prevent further injuries from happening. At first I thought he was getting all Mr. Miyagi on me- trying to make a point in humility as he encouraged me to wedge my body in strange contortions in the name of "hip opening."

I love that by using this example, I'm Ralph Macchio. Kind of fulfilling a childhood dream.
What? I just really relate to Danielson. 

But when Tyler had me test my mobility by reaching for my toes before and after doing one such stretch- I saw the results were remarkable! When I hinged at my hips and reached my fingers down, I could actually reach several inches past where I did before the stretch. Duly noted, mobility work is key for me.

I also made another early morning WOD last week, where the camaraderie was just as great as the workout itself. I have to admit 3 days later I'm still a little sore from the pull-ups I did. I'm excited for more, and already I feel like I'm running smarter and more aware of my body. Next up is a weightlifting session with Nick. Will he Mr. Miyagi me? I'll keep you posted.

I'll leave you all with these two images of crossfit workouts. I'm in one of the pictures. I know it's hard to figure out which one, but give it a try: