Happiness

I am still suffering from a mild case of writer block, but I am anticipating an end to that block once races start coming up. Until then though, I am going to give you a cheerful list!
Reasons to be happy today:


1. The weather lately has been gorgeous. And I am not just talking spring-like gorgeous….we are talking SUMMER gorgeous. It was in the mid 80’s the last two days and it has completely changed my attitude about everything. I sat on my horse last night, outside, in LIGHT and just relished everything. I think I laughed and had more fun just being last night than I have in ages.
2. I love swimming. Not only do I love swimming, but I am getting faster and don’t get tired like I used to. After doing drills for 30 minutes, I used to have to drag myself out of the pool. Now, I am whining for more and want to stay after to get more laps in.
3. Did I mention I love swimming? I just need to talk for a minute about that first glide into the water and how wonderful and cool it feels and just for that moment…I actually feel graceful! (that is not a common occurrence in my life)
4. I started to reach for a mid morning snack this morning and actually stopped to ask myself if I was actually hungry or just snacky. It is silly but a nice breakthrough to have every once in awhile. It is hard working in an office where you sit all day and there is always food available in within reach. I know that when it comes time to run though, I am going to feel every single pound so that is motivation to watch it!
5. I rode my bike to work and it was beautiful! And riding in the mornings always puts me in best mood for the day. Unless someone tries to run me over. Then I get a little grumpy. Most of the time people are really respectful though.
6. I am going skiing this weekend! I may be skiing on ice instead of snow, but I am going to have fun. If I do happen to break something I will be sure to have my camera so I can take some good pictures to post. Knowing me, I will at the very least have some good bruises to show off. Assuming of course, they are in a location that I can show off which is not very likely now that I think about this a little more.
7. The demon kitten went back home to live with her father. Not that I do not love her, but I am very happy to be in a two cat household again. Three is just too many and I get way too many crazy cat lady comments. Now my BF can deal with her weirdness and her incessant desire to lick your lips in the middle of the night. If you ever need an exfoliator for your lips, I will express mail her to you.


Demon kitten on the left. Yes, I know she looks sweet. Demons lie though. Especially when they are sleeping.

Happy Valentines!

If you love Valentines or hate it, I hope everyone had a wonderful day today! Personally, it is pretty commercial, but I have to say I love the red everywhere. I love walking into the stores and being visually assaulted with red everywhere. It may be a silly reason to like a holiday, but it works for me!
I ran a 4 mile relay race with a friend this morning and while I was dreading it simply because I had not run in forever, I had a blast. I was really thinking that I would end up having to walk just because of the whole not running since.....December....wow.....but anyways, I did it. And not only did I run the whole time, (ok there was those 10 steps, but I quickly got back on track) but I had a blast! Isn't is funny how a race can totally put you in a good mood and motivate you to do even more? Love those endorphins! Have a great day everyone!

Sign Up Time

I have been working on a post for forever and while I have not scrapped it yet, it just does not work for me yet. I feel like it is something that could be funny and insightful and it just sounding dumb right now. But, just so you guys don't think I have fallen off a cliff, here I am.
I have started signing up for my races this year and I have to say that it has really helped with motivation. The first one is not even long enough to be a sprint, but it is put on by a small town YMCA and looks like it could be a lot of fun. The race director has promised that if it goes well, he will put on a full length one so I want to support it. I also signed up my roommate for it. I was nice enough to even tell her about it after I forged her signature and sent it off. I knew if I asked she would say no but if I went ahead and did it she would go along with it. Knowing her she will probably end up beating me!
My next tri will be a sprint and my first lake swim. I am a little nervous about that, but as soon as I get my wetsuit (sleeves? no sleeves? Opinions?) I am going to go practice since it is local. I also have until May to get comfortable in the lake so that is nice but I am sure the time will pass by quickly. This race is the day before my birthday so I am sure that is a sign that I will do really well and have a blast.
I have a 4 mile relay run this weekend that I am doing with a friend that I am determined to do no matter how cold and slow I know I am going to be. In the long run, all that matters is that I finish, no matter how long it may take me!

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 !'

Personal Saddle Warmer

So even though I am not riding my bicycles very much right due to the cold, it is very sweet of the demon kitty to keep the seats warm for me in case I do decide to brave the cold! This is one of her favorite places to sleep and hang out and I think it is funny to walk in and see her stretched between the two bicycle seats!