Friday Five - online favorites this week

Yay for it being Friday!  This week has seemed to drag by for some reason.  And that's in spite of Monday having been a holiday for me.  But it's finally Friday and the weekend is almost here.  But first, time to link up with Mar, Cynthia, and Courtney for the Friday Five.

This week's theme is favorites so I thought I'd go ahead and share five of my favorite things I've seen on the internet this week.

1. Real Runners from Fleet Feet - This has been on my mind since one of my friends had commented she didn't feel like a real runner because of how slow she was.  But she gets out there and she's consistent, so in my mind she's totally a runner!  This was a great blog post on the topic from Fleet Feet.  And I love their last line. "But what unites all of us as real runners is a desire to participate in this process of bettering ourselves; this journey of being better today than we were yesterday. Whether you run a half mile at a time or 10 miles at a time, what matters is that you are out there."

2. 3 things to run faster - But having said that, I am still trying to get faster.  This list from Sublimely Fit provided some really good tips.

3.  Running too fast - Cowgirl Runs is a new blog I stumbled onto this week.  I love her blog and I really love this post.  I am absolutely guilty of running at kind of just one pace.  Well, I run faster during speed work on the track but I don't really have a slower than race goal pace that I deliberately use.  I think I ultimately need to get into heart rate training, maybe for my next training cycle.

Perry's version of kitty yoga

4.  Lessons runners can take from yoga - Great article from Runner's World about things that runners can learn from yoga.  I have been trying to make sure to incorporate more yoga into my routine this training cycle and I feel like it's been helpful. They talk a lot about mental things, all of which have been useful, but the breathing has definitely been the biggest thing for me.  It's weird to think we don't necessarily know how to breathe properly but I feel like concentrating on my breath in a purposeful way in yoga has helped with my running (and with stressful situations in general).

5.  Ways to give back to the running community - This was a great article on Runner's World, and even though it's from 2014 I didn't see it until this week.  I have done a couple things from this list but I really want to go through and do all of them.  I've volunteered at several races and keep planning to do that a couple times a year.  It really is a great experience, as is cheering at a race.  I enjoy both of those things and have to try the others at some point.

So those are some things I've learned from the internet this week!  Anyone else want to share ways you like to contribute to the running community or things you've been able to apply to running that you've learned from other activities?