My Mail Obssession & It's "Fix"

I love getting mail. Don't you?

When we were younger, my little sister wanted mail so badly that I would hide notes in the mailbox addressed to her from a "Secret Friend." She was too little to know that they weren't "real" letters, and she always seemed so happy to get them. I probably loved giving her those fake notes as much as she liked getting them. Mostly because I like to make my little sister happy, but also because I love mail.
 I liked mail so much that as a kid, I collected both stamps and postcards. Family would give me unsent postcards from places they had been or with pictures they knew I would like, and  I received stamps as Christmas gifts. Often, I would have pieces of my grandma's mail soaking to retrieve the stamps before she knew the mail had been delivered.

My love of mail didn't stop with stamps and postcards. I loved stationery, post-its, note cards, unique papers, weird envelopes, and oddly shaped pieces of mail. I have things like a giant foam kissing lip mailer and  plant-able notecards.

Now that I'm older, I still love sending and receiving mail. When I saw +Postcrossing, I knew I had to sign up and at least give it a shot. Not only have I had quite a bit of fun seeing sights from around the world and across the country, but Postcrossing.com has reminded me of how much I enjoyed collecting stamps and postcards.

Postcrossing is a free website that connects postcard and mail lovers from around the world. From their "About" page:
"The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world."

One of my favorite cards, from Taiwan.

I enjoy travel and would love see the world. Realistically speaking, I know that will never happen. Receiving postcards with amazing and unique sights from around the world helps soothe my wanderlust without putting my bank account in intensive care.

Postcards are easy to find, often for $.30 or so. International postage is $1.10. Because I get a card for every card I send, for $1.40 I get to see something new!

The postcards are fun and seeing all the different stamps is a treat. I also hearing from random people all over the world, even just tiny snippets of their life.

Being a numbers and lists kind of person, I really enjoy the section of Postcrossing where it tells you how far the cards have traveled. The postcard above traveled 12,593 km over the course of 10 days in order to reach me. Another card, from India, traveled 13,843 km and took 30 days to reach me.

My current goal is receive at least one postcard from each state in the United States. I have Delaware, Nebraska, California, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Florida. Some are from Fitocracy friends and some are from Postcrossing direct swaps. A direct swap is where if a person has it enabled, you can contact them to request a swap, without having to wait for the Postcrossing roulette to achieve your goal. I was recently contacted by a lady in Australia whose goal is to collect a card from every county in the U.S.!

Check out some of the postcards I have received in my postcard album on Picasa. Even if you think I'm crazy, you're likely to appreciate at least a few of the cards. If you think it sounds fun, head over to Postcrossing and sign up. Maybe our cards will cross.

Viva la Post Office!

Progress

I had one of those moments today where I was like "Wow! I've come really far!" and it wasn't just because I had ran 4.5 miles.

In Sept. 2011, I officially didn't run a lick.

In Sept. 2012, I ran 15 miles. I was getting ready for the Color Run 5K that was going to be that following November.

Sept. 2012 Smashrun Overview

 In Sept. 2013, I ran 26 miles! I'm getting ready for the Mississippi River Marathon's half marathon that's in February 2014.

Sept. 2013 Smashrun Overview

I'm super excited, not only about my progress but about training for a half marathon. I'm using Hal Higdon's half marathon Novice 1 training program. I picked it because it has 3 running days and includes cross training, strength training, and stretching.

Today I completed week 2 of the training. I changed the days to match my work schedule, so I do the Monday workouts on Friday, making my long runs on Thursday, my normal day off. For strength I've just kind of been doing random stuff. Cross training has been hiking and riding a bicycle.

I've decided I need to get a little structure for strength training. I went to the library and borrowed "Body by You" by Mark Lauren. It's a body weight training program specifically tailored for women. I've been reading it and have decided to give it a shot. Tomorrow will be the initial evaluation for me, where I see which exercises I will use to continue the program.

Even though "Body by You" is fairly anti-cardio, and it isn't really intended to be used like this, I plan to use it on days that call for strength and on the major cross training day. I've been taking measurements, but I think tomorrow I'm going to take one of those half naked "before" photos (not for sharing!) and see what happens after a couple months.

I'm a little excited about doing this combination, though "Body by You" is going to get tough.

Let's see how it goes!