Snot Head

I am way behind on updates on this. First of all, the first race of the year did not happen. I went to bed with a migraine, I woke up with a migraine and a cold and even after a 6am run to the pharmacy, I just did not think a 2 mile run was worth making myself more miserable for. So, the first race of the year has been postponed for a few weeks until there is another one locally. It is probably a good thing as this stupid cold is never going away and I will forever be a snot head. Well, even more of one than I was before I got the cold.

Swim lessons are still going well and I really feel like I am learning so much and I really look forward to them. My bike needs to go to the shop for a tune up and for some random sounds it is making that I cannot seem to fix.

On a very exciting and non-exercise related note, I get to go to Chicago and D.C. to visit a friend and help her move in March. I will be so happy to get out of town for a few days and go somewhere different. There is actually a St. Patrick's Day race in D.C. while I am there that I am thinking about doing just for something in a different climate and area. I am not sure if I have enough enough cold weather running clothes to layer on to be able to run outside in DC in March coming for Texas, but I am willing to try! I think most of all, the idea of seeing an old friend and just getting away from it all will really help get me through the next two months of winter blahs!

Focusing on the Positive

After my last hopeful happy post, the universe has decided that it is a bird and I am a statue. This has not been my week. And now this morning, after a mostly sleepless night, I woke up to Ann Coulter. Now, politically speaking, I am really pretty easy going. I see both sides a lot of times and don’t get overly worked up about a lot of things, however, SHE drives me insane. I know she goes to the extreme to get press and to sell books, but UGH!

Instead of going into other whiney details though (and trust me, I had a long list of them), I am going to focus on the positive which is that my new bike shoes are going to be delivered today! Which means my bike is going to go to the shop to get tuned up, get its new pedals on, and have all of the new cleats and adaptors put on that make this whole set up work. Hopefully they can get it all done so I can take it out this weekend.

I have my first race this weekend too. It is just a little two mile run but it is a nice way to start out the year. I am not expecting any great feats since I have had a yucky cold for the last week and have basically been a bum, but I am still looking forward to going. And I bet I still have a better time per mile from my last race! That is one of the nice things about being super slow; it is always easy to improve!

New Year!

I kept thinking I would get around to writing something meaningful about the end of the year and the beginning of the new one. Since nothing brilliant and inspiring has come to mind I thought I should list some of the things I accomplished last year and then go on to goals for next year.

Accomplishments:
1.Starting a blog and actually keeping with it. This was not my first blogging attempt. There were many others that were abandoned very quickly. This one stuck!

2.I finished my first sprint triathlon! I honestly thought the whole time that it would be something I thought about, discussed with some people, and then back out of right before. Actually, I thought that I would back out all the way up to standing on the edge of the pool waiting to go it.

3.Rode my fastest time ever biking 100K. I had to be done by a certain time to get to another event and apparently that was enough motivation for me to really put the pedal to the….well pedal.

4.I was happier. This should have been #1 but I just realized it. Sure, there were ups and downs but as I look back over the year, it really was great. I did several of the things I set out to do, I had fun doing everything, and overall was just happy. Yeah, the economy sucks, but it will all be ok in the long run. My job is good, my friends are great, and I am very blessed.


Ok, I am sure there were several more things that I accomplished, but you get the picture. Now for goals:

1.Continuing running and swimming to get faster and be more confident.

2.Do all of the local sprint triathlons and consider the local half.

3.Be a better friend. I love all of my friends but I am guilty of putting them off to do other things because I know that they will forgive me if I blow them off. I am going to try to realize that they are as important as gym time and horse time and make an extra effort to balance better.

4.Continue on with that happiness thing. I think that works well for me.

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful New Years! I am looking forward to reading about everyone’s accomplishments this year! I am going to leave you with a portion of an email I got this morning about stress that really made me stop and think.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?'
Answers called out ranged from 8oz. To 20oz.

The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.'

'If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.

If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.'

'In each case it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued, 'And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.'

'As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. '

'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.'

'Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested.

Life is short. Enjoy !'