Motivational Monday

This put a lump in my throat and a smile on my face.  Enjoy.  Be inspired.

Triathlon Duo

Make Up Your Mind!

If any of you have followed my blog, you will have noticed that I've been absent from my post for quite a long time.   

I am now at that two-weeks to marathon time, and having a bit of a panic.  When I signed up for the Portland Marathon, I didn't have a full time teaching position and had a whole bunch of time to train.

Since I signed up, I got a new job. Hallelujah!  We sold our house.  Hallelujah!  And then…I simultaneously moved a home and a classroom, cleaned, painted, and nested both home and classroom, and then started teaching an eager little bunch of five-year-olds!  Again, can I get a Hallelujah up in here!  This is all tremendously great news, but it put a serious kibosh on my training. 

So – the run is in two weeks and I’ve had a lot of soul searching, and sole searching to do.  I don’t feel ready at all, but I feel obligated.  I said I would do something, and people donated to my cause – the Children’s Cancer Association – in good faith that I would do what I said I would do.  Now I’m sitting in a big old bunch of dilemma. 

I talked to the folks at CCA – and they are thrilled with me already – I have raised the most money for this event of anyone participating.  So that’s good.   They told me I could do whatever I felt necessary.  I could run, walk or drag myself as far as possible.  OR I could decide mid-run to take the turnoff for the half marathon.  OR I could be happy with my fundraising and not do the run. 

That last one doesn’t sit well with me because I have a conscience.  The reality is I may very well end up doing a half marathon instead of the full, but I also know what a stubborn person I can be when I have made up my mind to do something.  So…I may very well walk and drag myself to the finish of 26.2 miles.  I won’t know til I get there.  It will be a surprise to even me.  I know I’m leaning toward pushing through no matter what.

I have signed up for a fun run next Saturday at Portland International Raceway.  The Happiest 5-K On The Planet! We will be in town helping our daughter move, so I thought – what the heck.  I need some fun, and color in my life!  J

The weekend after will be more serious. 

What would YOU do if you were in my running shoes?

Motivational Monday - Find YOUR Greatness!

Happy Monday!
I just got in from a run - shorter than I planned...ooohhh the heat!  I let Lilly jump in the river at the park and I should've joined her!  I've been loving coming straight home and standing in the stock tank - cold water up to my thighs.  Bliss!

Have you been engrossed in the Olympics?
I wasn't at first - I find I get so annoyed at the commentary.  I wished I could have just watched the opening ceremonies like a spectator and not have to have everything spelled out for me like I'm too stupid to see what's happening!  Enough already!

I do love all the stories of triumph and hardship.  And I LOVE LOVE LOVE Oscar Pistorius, the runner with the prosthetic legs!  Oh - good for him!!  If he can be an Olympian, surely I can drag my sorry ass 26.2 miles for charity!

So - as much as I love the Olympics, I also love the ads.  I tear up everytime I hear Morgan Freeman say, "Go World!"

The Nike ads are particularly amazing this year, and speak to me so personally.  In a previous post, one of my first, I believe, I stated how average I am.  I'm just an ordinary person trying to do something big in order to raise money for the Children's Cancer Association.  These ads are two of my favorites.  Enjoy - and get out there and celebrate YOUR greatness!

The Jogger

Greatness is wherever somebody is trying to find it!

Motivational Monday: Appointments I Intend To Keep

I just read my last blog post, dated July 6.  I guess can't use the same opening line about my absenteeism. 

My summer schedule has just changed…again…and this time, I’m more determined to put myself, and my fitness FIRST.  I’ve always heard the advice that you should write your own self into your calendar or appointment book, and keep your obligations to yourself just as you would anyone else.  Good advice, but it’s so easy to fall into the trap of tending to others before yourself.  The truth is, if I am not well (mentally or physically) my care for others will not be all it can be either.

So – here’s to my first Monday on the new schedule. 

UPDATE:

1.    I am done flushing fire hydrants for the city of La Grande.  I had planned on running in the early mornings before work, but that quickly fell away after days spent in the heat and the sun.  I didn’t want any more outside.

2.    We are in the process of moving – our house closes within two weeks, our move-in house is vacant and we have keys!  We’re sort of becoming squatters (but with permission).  J 

3.    I will have new running routes to map out, and far fewer trees and shady places to run. (Note to self: get more sunscreen!)

4.    In August I will not only be nesting a new home, but a new classroom.  I have to keep these in separate mental compartments and only deal with one at a time or I will go mad!  The school is in the process of an asbestos abatement project, so it’s on lock down while all the tiles are removed – I can delete it from my brain for now, but the minute I have the go-ahead, I will go paint my classroom before new flooring is installed.  After the floors are in, I will be a flurry of teacher-crazy as I decorate and prepare for my new little flock.

5.    I spend way too much down time on Pinterest looking for house/school ideas.  I saw something at a rummage sale that was clearly a Pinterest thing that is on my list of crafty projects to make – and I resisted the urge to spend $25 to bypass the craftiness and just buy it already!

6.    I have made a new goal of spending WAY less time on the computer.  I’m even working toward Technology Free Sundays (with the exception of checking in on the Bingham Family Blog – don’t want to miss news of a heart donor for Lindsey!)

So – I ran today.  It felt good, although a bit rusty.  In the time I have been off, though, I have completely reversed the foot issue that I had been having.  (I think that may be a complete post for later).  The dog loves me again.  My muscles are thanking me, and my brain is happy.  I have made an appointment with the road again tomorrow, and it’s one I intend to keep.


QUESTION: How do you manage your fitness when everything going on in your life seems crazy?

Running On Empty

As you may (or may not) have noticed, I’ve been absent from my blog.  I’m feeling sort of absent from my life right now, as the transition from school-year work to summer-work has shaken up my schedule.  My beer-man hubs is up at the butt crack of dawn to make sure the tri-county area is able to toss back a cold one with their summer BBQ’s.  Once he’s up, I’m up – whether it’s 3:30 or 6:00.  So…the days drag on.

In our personal lives we’ve lost two friends, Riki Anderson and Chris Fox Kohl.  I have a school family whose lives are in peril – with two children in a hospital – one waiting for a heart transplant, the other on a pacemaker (Lindsey & Gage Bingham).  All their children have the same heart abnormality, and most likely all of them will require heart transplants.  I can’t imagine it, and it weighs heavily on my mind and my prayer life.

Our house sold in five days, which normally would be a really awesome thing…but now, as we search for housing closer to my work, we’re finding we don’t have much to choose from.  I keep telling myself the right thing will present itself – as it always does, but it still sort of nags at the back of my mind…Oh yeah, we may be homeless!

I know that running is a reducer of stress, but I’m not such a hard-core runner that it’s become that kind of habit.  I envy folks who run every day like clockwork.  I still have to talk myself into it every damn day – and lately, I’ve been a slacker.  I’m not worried about the upcoming marathon, although, perhaps I should be.  I know I can drag my sorry butt over the finish line if I have to, but I also know I have a few more months to prepare.  I also know that I’m gritty and stubborn and I will do it if it kills me…I just would prefer not to die from it – I have work to do! 

I know I would mentally feel better if I drug myself out every morning, but with low-grade depression it’s harder to leave the house.  My sweetie and I have been getting out in the hills, and encouraging each other to get back on track, step by painful step.

Oh – the drawing for donors has been extended.  I need MORE donors – even at a few bucks a go!  Right now, I have more prizes than donors, so I’m going figure out another way to market this thing.  You may see me outside of Safeway hawking raffle tickets, we’ll see.

So today I ran.  I’m in that sweaty afterglow that I must remember TOMORROW when it’s time to go again.