A day of awesome

Some days are just extra-awesome.  Yesterday was one of them for me.

My son made breakfast for the two of us.  He had offered the previous evening but I wasn’t sure that he’d remember or that the offer would still stand.  Well, he was still game so we had fried eggs and toast (as a sandwich, which I haven’t done in a long time!).  I was impressed that he had learned how to fry eggs the way we both like – hard and no runny stuff for me and perfectly “leaky” for him (ewwww).  :-)

After breakfast, we headed to church where there was a really great message on Adoption, Liberation, and Formation.  If I go into all of that right now, this will be a very long post so maybe another time!

After church, I really needed some coffee (I was completely out at home) so I stopped to get a specialty coffee – not something I do often but I needed to keep myself occupied for what was coming next…  Driving practice!!  Haha, my son had no idea that I had that in mind.

We went to a fairly empty parking lot near a restaurant where we would be joining a large group of friends for lunch.  We drove around and around, not just in circles but following different paths throughout the lot.  He did pretty good and I wasn’t quite as scared as I expected.  (It helped that we weren’t dealing with any moving traffic this time, haha.)

Then it was time to join a group of friends at a Thai & Sushi restaurant.  Mmmmm!  I do love Thai food but I hadn’t had sushi in I-don’t-know-how-long!  So sushi it was for me (and a few bites of my son’s Pad Thai – also delicious!) and good times catching up with people I hadn’t seen in a long time.

After a leisure lunch, my son and I enjoyed a few more hours together before I had to drop him off.  And then I went for a run!  My longest and farthest run so far.  Slower than I’d like but maybe that’s what happens when barbershop quartet songs somehow find their way into the music playlist….  (I bet no one else on the trails had a playlist even close to mine!).  I won’t let the speed (or lack thereof) get me down because I can always work on that and right now I’m still exploring this whole running thing!!

Oh, even better, I found an app that donates to charities that you select according to the distance you walk, run, or bike!  So the run I was going to do anyway ALSO benefited Habitat for Humanity!  Win-win!!

Then shower, dinner, and SLEEPY TIME!  All in all, a day of awesome.  :-) 

What happens when you try

I haven’t written about my dreams in a while.

The one I had last night had to do with a race with various obstacles.  The interesting thing is that it wasn’t so much a matter of time but a matter of completion.

I only remember one obstacle in the dream and this is the one that mattered.  This obstacle could only be attempted by one person at a time and the activity was kept hidden from other participants.

The race thus far had been physically challenging but nothing I couldn’t overcome.  But I could tell that there were other participants much more fit than myself who couldn’t pass this next obstacle and had to give up the race.  I wondered what the obstacle was but no communication or hints were allowed.

My turn came.  I went through the door, down some steps, and came into a room with a small tight window.  I had to somehow get through that window to continue the course.  It didn’t look possible.  Even if I got my upper body through the opening there was no way my hips would fit.  I would be absolutely stuck.  Even a child wouldn’t make it through that little window.  It looked like a set-up to me.

But I wasn’t ready to give in just yet.  At each obstacle, there was a race official monitoring progress (or lack of progress).  They weren’t allowed to help or offer suggestions.  I knew this and wasn’t going to ask.  But I decided to ask this official if he had completed this race himself before.  He nodded his head and then waited to see what I would do.

I looked at him and I looked at the window.  He was bigger than me but still managed to get through??  How did he force himself through when he got stuck?  Crazy upper body strength?  If the extra-fit people ahead of me couldn’t do it, how could I?  I stared at the window wondering if there was an angle that could work.  I couldn’t see a solution.

I approached the window and felt the wooden edges.  I was just going to have to try.  If I got stuck, well that would be embarrassing but it was better than not trying at all.  I put my head and shoulders through and then turned carefully so I could get better push leverage than trying to pull myself through.  I could already feel the edges of the window around my body and my hips were next.

This was going to be the tough part.  I was kinda sitting on the ledge and began to push against the window and wall to force myself through.  I felt myself getting stuck.  I pushed harder.  And then I felt the window giving way and retreating INTO the walls!  There really WAS more room!  It was a trick window and required just enough pressure to release the barriers within the wall.

I was astonished.  This window was no problem after all!  But why didn’t so many other participants get through?  Then the race official smiled and nodded.  “The others didn’t even try.  They thought they were going to get stuck and they weren’t willing to take the chance.  They gave up when all they had to do was try.”

That’s it.  Just TRYING made all the difference.

Today is a new day

I am brand new to running.

I take that back.  I have logs from when I tried various running programs back in 2002, 2006, and 2011.  Those attempts didn’t exactly stick – maybe I never figured out how to push myself, maybe I didn’t want it bad enough at the time.

But today is a new day.

Recently I asked a friend why I still struggle with running since I’m definitely more fit than I used to be.  She asked if it was my legs or my lungs that were the problem.  And then I realized that it was neither.  Yes, they both feel uncomfortable at various times but the problem is mostly mental.

Guess what:  defeatist thoughts don’t help – duh!  I found a quote today that stated, “If you think you can’t run, just stop thinking.”  Ha!  So simple!  So no more negativity and so what if it didn’t work in the past.

I said, “Today is a new day!”

So I found a bunch of motivational running images and quotes for personal inspiration.  Most are saved on my own computer for future reference but I’ll post a few here in case they help anyone else.

Whatever your goal, whether running or otherwise, you’ve got to get your head in the game and it needs to be on YOUR side!

Two Roads

I remember my first encounter with Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken”.  It was an assignment in 6^th or 7^th grade and I was not impressed.  Aunt Karen (we referred to adults as aunts and uncles) was introducing me to different styles of poetry.

I expected the rhyming and flow to be different so I didn’t know how to read it.  But I loved the message and it has stuck with me for years.

We make choices throughout life that take us down different paths.  Sometimes we come full circle and get to try another option.  But even then, our experiences influence whether we take the other path or how we perceive whatever we encounter down that path.  Whether we repeat a path or take a new one, it’s not the exact same experience.

But that’s not really my point.  What I especially love about this poem is the selection of the path less frequented.  It’s taking a risk.  Volunteering for an adventure.  Not that the worn path is necessarily safe, but that taking a chance on the unknown is that much more appealing.  Worth the effort.

And THAT has made all the difference.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

ADHD/ADD awareness month

It turns out that my birthday month is also A.D.H.D./A.D.D. awareness month.  Hmmm, coincidence?  Um, ok, probably…  :-)

Personally, I love the uniqueness (some might call it randomness, etc) found in the A.D.D. people I know.  Fresh perspectives all the time (what with all the squirrel action, you know).

Seriously though, it does have its downsides, particularly if you can’t calm your mind to sleep.  I never understood the sheep counting thing.  It takes too much focus to think only about sheep which defeats the purpose of relaxing.  I could never conjure up the sheep anyway.

Regardless, I think A.D.D. is pretty awesome when you learn how to make it work for you instead of against you.  Some folks might not get it but that doesn’t change awesome!

Getting high

I got high last night and I’m still feeling it.  No, no.  Not drugs.  Workout high!!

When I first joined the gym and everything here was new, I got workout highs after most classes.  And definitely after every personal training session.  (This isn’t news to you if you’ve read some of my earlier posts.)

It is an amazing feeling!!  And I didn’t realize I had been missing it until it came back to me last night.

I stopped personal training a few months ago to cut down on expenses I didn’t think I needed.  Also the training was getting less regular since my trainer had increasing conflicts.  I shifted to workout classes only.  They were good but I know I wasn’t putting in everything I had like I used to.

Last night I picked up a personal training session with the instructor who teaches the classes I go to in the mornings.  The man is crazy (like a lot of us at the gym, haha)!  I knew whatever he would have me do would be A.D.D. appropriate, intense, and effective.  And fun.  That’s always a plus.

Oh, yes, he let me have it.  One thing I loved is that he knew what I was capable of and I was determined not to disappoint.  I pretty much collapsed when he said I was done.  But I felt amazing!

I left with shaky arms and wobbly legs.  And a grin that would have brightened the gloomiest of days!  I’m still grinning now!!

I had forgotten how awesome that felt.  And I’m not letting it go.  I told my instructor of some specific goals I have in mind.  So now it’s a matter of figuring out schedules and getting my high on.  :-)  WOOOO HOOOO!!!!!

Music in the forest??

My work schedule is changing up temporarily to gather some data in the field.  As of yesterday afternoon, I expected to work from 1-9pm today.  Since I had the morning free, I thought that would be a great opportunity for some mountain biking.

I was off!  I decided to time myself this time so I could see where I was at and have a concrete number to beat next time.

Toward the end of the trail I thought I heard music from somewhere.  I had seen five deer and numerous squirrels but music??  Where would that be coming from, or was I making it up?

I kept going.  It did occur to me that it could be the ringtone on my new phone which I had with me.  I decided to finish the course before checking since I was only a few minutes from the end.  Besides I was being timed!

It turned out that the music in the forest was indeed my phone.  I had two calls saying the field work was being postponed a day so it was a normal workday afterall.  Awww, shucks.  And I was going to repeat the trail!  Oh well, at least I cleared some cobwebs for the next riders.  And I’ll get to ride again!

Good to know I wasn’t going crazy – at least not by hearing music in the forest!