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Clare Smith

Training Body & Soul

Last minute gifts for the fitness lover in your life!

December 21, 2011

First off, I am NOT getting paid to endorse any of these products or compensated in any way. I either have found them personally to be awesome, or have heard they rock! 🙂

These are fast, easy to find gifts or they are unique and *new*! Oh–you like what you see? Be sure to send this page around to your friends and family with a big *hint* attached to it! 🙂 (I linked to as many as I could to make shopping easier!)

♦♦♦

The Gift of Music

♦ iTunes gift card. {Who doesn’t need a refresh on their library?}

♦♦♦

The Gift of Motivation

You can get any of these as a real book, ebook, or audio book!! What a great option while you are sweating it out in January!

♦ “Reshaping it All” by Candace Cameron Bure and Darlene Schacht

♦ “Every Body Matters” by Gary Thomas

♦ “Made to Crave” by Lysa Terkeurst

♦♦♦

The Gift of Sweat

♦ NEW DVDs from Michelle Dozois.

Purchase both DVDs by the end of the month and get 10% and free shipping! {Go to site to see a clip of each dvd!} This was an early Christmas gift to me!

♦ Online Pilates classes! Pilates Anytime Gift Certificate

♦♦♦

The Gift of Cute

♦ Functional hairbands and ties

♦ Zip up jacket

♦♦♦

The Gift of Running

♦ Running socks {One of those gifts you never want to purchase for yourself, but need!}

♦ SPIbelt {I own one and LOVE it!}

♦♦♦

The Gift of “Ahhhh”

♦ Gift certificate for a massage or pedicure {Need I say more?}

♦ Foam Roller {Probably my most favorite purchase over the past 2 months}

What do you have on your Christmas list?

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Filed Under: Featured, Fitness, Tips 7 Comments

About Clare

Comments

  1. Jenny says

    December 21, 2011 at 8:44 am

    I’ve seen you and Michelle mentioning a foam roller… how do you use that? And what’s a SPIbelt? I love the phrase “the gift of sweat”… ha ha… you don’t hear that much! 🙂

    Reply
    • Clare@peak313 says

      December 21, 2011 at 8:47 am

      Well–it’s probably best to google “foam roller exercises” but generally you are using it on your side to roll out your “IT Band”. You can also use it in various other parts of the body. I am probably going to do a blog post about it in the new year 🙂

      SPIbelt is that pink thing in the pictures. It buckles around your waist and you can store keys, phone, energy chews etc for your run. It’s perfect for a shorter run since you don’t need to wear a water belt. I love being hands free when I run! (It’s washable too!)

      Reply
  2. brooke says

    December 21, 2011 at 9:17 am

    foam roller and compression socks are on my list this year. last year was arm sleeves to help carry my summer running wardrobe into the cooler months.

    Reply
  3. Sharon says

    December 21, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    Thank you for the list. And esp for the explanation of the SPIbelt in the comments. I had no idea what it was, but now that I know, it’s the perfect gift for my husband! I hate that he never takes his phone with him when he goes for a run. Now he’ll have no excuse not to! Merry Christmas, Clare!

    Reply
    • Clare@peak313 says

      December 22, 2011 at 9:08 am

      Awesome, Sharon!

      Reply
  4. Vitamin Berry says

    October 13, 2014 at 4:28 am

    As per me the best gift will be itunes or music player they require it more and thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  5. Health Mall says

    October 29, 2014 at 2:17 am

    If we are gifting for an fitness minded person then a music player, headphones will be the right cause while doing the workouts they might need this badly.

    Reply

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Let your complicated, challenging, nuanced situati Let your complicated, challenging, nuanced situation(s) be what forms you. Let it build you into the person God is bringing you to be. It’s not the ability to live life unscathed and perfect that creates a beautiful soul. It’s the ability to feel the heat and pain and come out more tender, authentic, and loving that makes you a person who is set apart for use. A person like this is refreshing and that person absolutely is you. #abeautifulpurpose

(Quote not my own)
I’ll keep this short because I want you to read I’ll keep this short because I want you to read the poem. We can bring our burdens many places nowadays- friends, Instagram, Facebook, text, to gym, to work, to sleep.. you get the point. But let’s make sure we bring our burdens first to Jesus. After the week.. month.. year.. many of us are having, there’s no better time to do this than now. #sweetunfailingrefuge

(I found this tucked in an old book at my family’s 100 year old farmhouse that we were selling this summer 🤍)
•My house was a mess with everyone being home to •My house was a mess with everyone being home today
• I only had ingredients for one batch of soup
• I don’t drink alcohol on Mondays
• Hubs had the sink totally apart in the middle of a project
• The kids were in and out of our deep conversation

Sometimes the quick stop to say hello turns into a therapy session with dinner and wine. Everything was stacked against me – so I thought- but the mayhem is often beauty and normalcy to the person’s life who is spinning. Sometimes “the plan” goes off track... but it’s not off track in God’s eyes.

Living life knowing that the minutes of your day are not yours but for God to use to encourage and be there for people who are hurting changes everything. It changes who you marry. It changes how you spend your money. It changes what you do with your time. Dinner portions may not be what you planned but God always finds enough to fill those who come to His table to be loved on and heard.

If I know one thing – it’s this. People are hurting right now. Some things are private and some are public. What would it look like if our homes became safe places for people to land? For our hearts to enter in the pain? For our embrace to provide the temporary relief needed? We can be people who talk about bringing the kingdom here on earth or we can be people who do what we can with the little we have to be the hands and feet of Jesus. 🤍
I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the I’ve been on a “physical” comeback over the past few weeks. Between an insane December, Covid recovery, Ohio winters, and the mere fact I don’t have the bounce back that I used to (#thisis40) it’s been a slow go for me to get to feeling where I feel best physically. It’s been discouraging to say the least and I feel like I just turned a corner last week. 

While a lot truly was physical exhaustion, it was more of a mind game I was playing. I had to be my own #hypeman and tell myself to keep chipping away at the goal. I had to tell myself that the only way to the end was through it…no shortcuts. Just time and steady work. I often dismissed the small wins I had because I hadn’t hit the finish line. Well that thinking wasn’t helping me and one day had the “aha”that while I wasn’t yet at the goal, I was BETTER.

Each of us have something in our lives where it’s not what we want. We are on the path to achievement but it sure ain’t there yet. It can be with some of the obvious things such a health or financial goals but I see this often with people regarding relationships. The marriage, friendship, child or community in which we live falls just short of “perfection” and so we just settle instead of putting in consistent, hopeful work, which allows room for the Holy Spirit to work. 

I just want to encourage you to keep chipping away because while things may not be what you want, they can be better. In fact the way we reach what we want is not by snapping our fingers and it magically appearing but by a process or journey which involves ups and downs, straight stretches of boredom, and then finally a renewed energy as you see the end in sight.

What have you given up on achieving because it hasn’t come to fruition in the time you wanted? Remember… things can be BETTER. And that counts for something. 🤍
I was recently telling someone my journey or where I was recently telling someone my journey or where I am today in regards to what I do for a living... the crazy road I’ve travelled over the last 10 years to get me here. It’s changed a lot and if you’ve been here online with me, you have seen it! If you would have asked 18 year old Clare what she saw herself filling her days with at 40 years old, it would be about 5% of what I’m doing. Goodness...none of this was even around when I was 18!

I look back and see all the twists and turns. All these tiny moments and conversations. Many open and closed doors. Things that I thought were just random or not a big deal, but in hindsight, they were a huge deal. I appear to be a very type a “has her stuff together and a plan” type girl but the truth is, I am (was) taking everything day by day.

All I know is that everything I stepped into prepared me for the next thing. Many times I didn’t even know it! But I look back often and am like, “ohhh, God, I see what ya did there!” 

My encouragement to you is this- no matter what age you are- trust the path you are on. Let peace be your guide... not some assumed plan an “expert” or author told you. Sure- be wise with your time. Put in the work with diligence wherever your feet may have you, but be open to the nudges of where to go.

Maybe I’m crazy but living a life of faith in God is one of the most exciting and fulfilling things. I don’t know what He has for me in 5 years let alone 1...and for whatever reason, that thought alone gets me up and helps me live with a holy anticipation. I trust Him.  I live less with resistance to the unexpected now. God is indeed preparing you for what he has prepared for you. What a loving Father!
We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Rem We all know this but it’s so easy to forget. Remember that seeds are buried and “in the dark” before anything springs forth. Our journeys in life can often feel like that. Do the daily work. Tend your “heart garden.” Time is on your side. And when it’s time...it’s time. 🤍

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” Galatians‬ ‭6:9‬
A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s A few years ago I was the speaker for a women’s retreat in the Chicago area. I just finished a session & a lady ran up to me asking if she could ask me a few questions. She was early 50’s, striking in appearance… fit & confident. She started telling me that she resonated with my health/fitness message & wanted some encouragement on starting “this late in life”, but as we continued talking, her demeanor changed & tears started to fill her eyes.

She told me that was she was struggling with something that had been weighing on her since she was 18…the decision to have an abortion. The tears were streaming down her face, the clear guilt she carried from it weighing heavy on every part of her beautiful stature. Not many knew about it. Her current husband did not…many friends did not. She felt it was keeping her from this life she saw that was just within reach. The more she sat in silence, the heavier the chains felt. She needed to speak and I watched the tears fall like visible chains.

We chatted a little longer, prayed & hugged, & as I walked away I couldn’t help but think of many women I’ve encountered with this same story but I would’ve never known. Walking through life seemingly fine, yet carrying a deep wound inside, questioning every bit of her worth and ability to make a difference. Heartbreaking. 

If you relate to that woman, I want you to know that you are loved & seen. Your past, as hard as it has been, has formed & shaped you into the woman you are today, & a woman that God greatly desires to use. He wants your broken, fragile heart. He will bind it up and heal it. He will walk with you in the shadows. He will lead you beside still and soul-quenching waters. There may be many words you can attach to your situation but there is one more powerful than all that I want you to keep remembering…RESTORATION. Jesus is renewing and reviving something within you that will bring light to yourself & others.

For the rest of us who may not have this as a part of our story, let’s remember that we are walking amongst those who have & that we are to be healing arms, not ones of judgement & legalism...but ones of compassion & grace. 🤍 DM me if you need prayer!
This came up on my Facebook memories and I just fe This came up on my Facebook memories and I just feel it’s always applicable! There is always something in our lives that if we could just “get our hands on” would work to our favor. We dream about what it would be like if we got that thing/person etc. We think about the 2 tweaks that need to happen for it to occur. We pray about it. Perhaps obsess over it.. sound familiar?

But we also start to resent our current lives. We stop living in what God has fully given us. We live everywhere but the here and now and alongside that dream of yours comes a side dish of anxiety and sadness. So then we get our hands in it, perhaps without God’s “OK” and then we see a mess unfold. We’ve all been there. If only we had waited. 

This is the grind of living in reality. We are pulled from living what is before us into living into a dream we have deep within. Here’s the cool thing. We don’t have to choose.. reality or dream. It’s not an either/or but both/and. We can live fully here while also giving energy to our hopes. The difference is how tightly we hold into those things and how much they get elevated in our hearts.

If you are here this morning I just want to encourage you that you aren’t alone! I truly believe with everything I am, that God works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28) I believe in His sovereign timing. I believe that the work He started in you (and everyone else in your life) will be completed. (Phil1:6) Keep praying, stay faithful to where you are now, walk in the “peace path” and hold onto Jesus. He will lead you. 🙏🏻
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