Manifesting

Sure, I fantasize about food all of the time when I run. The further I go, the more I picture all of the foods I want to eat when I'm done (fried chicken, ramen, ice cream, cupcakes, and on and on). 

Yesterday, during my ten mile run, I must have been thinking really hard about something sweet, because I literally manifested a pie right there on my trail. Forks and all!!

Don't worry. I may have manifested this sweet treat, but I did not digest it. 

Off/On Topic

No running talk today.  Please bear with me while I go off (but, oh so on) topic.

 

Our country (the world, for that matter) seems to be in the middle of a whole array of social crises (racial profiling, domestic violence, marriage inequality, domestic violence, just to name a few).  What I keep hearing over and over on both sides of the conversations is the idea of "them" and "us" and "they" and "we."

 

But, here is the thing we are missing.  Here is the thing that we must grasp.  Here is the thing that without, we have no hope of leaving this place any better than we found it.  Here is THE thing:

 

THEY ARE US.  WE ARE THEM.

 

We are so focused on our perceived differences, we are missing the most important fact of it all: we are all the same.  We were created as ONE MANKIND.  And, sure, that one mankind comes in all kinds of shapes and sizes and colors and religions and sexual preferences.  But those variations don't compare to, compete with, or diminish our overall sameness.  No matter what color, sex, nationality.  No matter if we are gay, straight, Christian, or Muslim.  We are first and foremost, human beings.  We have all of the same hopes, dreams, and fears.  If we stopped for one second to see the sameness in us all, the differences might not look so big.

 

When one of us is hurting, instead of judging or feeling judged, what if we asked what we could do to help?  What if we decided to truly listen to each other instead of speaking over one another until there is nothing but screaming and noise?  What if we realized that in taking care of each other, we also take care of and better ourselves?  What if we accepted that when one of us is raised up, we are all raised up?  When one of us hurts, all of us are lessened. 

 

They are us and we are them. 

 

 

Thanksrunning

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Today is all about one of my very favorite things: gratitude. I can't tell you how much gratitude means to me.  Life is hard and exhausting, but it is, more than anything, breathtakingly beautiful. Recognizing all that is good in this world is the key to overcoming all that isn't.  I have said it before, but it is with saying again, it is impossible for depression and gratitude to exist together. 

Let me expand on that.  There, literally, is not enough room in your head for depression and gratitude. You can have one emotion or the other, but not both. The beauty is, you get to choose which emotion exists in there. You can choose to be grateful.  I have to admit, this concept is much easier for me to grasp, than to put into actual practice. But I'm working on it. I recently started a gratitude journal to help me acknowledge all of the blessings I am given each and every day. 

A few of the things I was grateful for on my pre-turkey run today:

1.  Fall. Yes, I realize it's winter in most of the country, but it's looking like fall in Houston. And, fall isn't something Houston sees very often. Here the trees usually go from full green to immediately bare. It's wonderful seeing the trees with some color. 

2.  Running into girlfriends on the trail who you can scream, "happy Thanksgiving," to as you pass by. On a side note, Ashley and I must be on the exact same running schedule (which is to say, no schedule at all). I swear I see her every time I hit the trail. Now I just expect it and look forward to it. 

3.  Pandora One. No commercials!!  

 

 

On that note, 90's Pop Radio is NOT a good running station. Were we really that melancholy and whiny in the 90's?!?

4. Now that the weather is cold, Kleenex. You other runners will know what I'm talking about.  For the rest of you:

5. People who want to spread the good word. 

As you know, I come across all kinds of greats signs while I run, and I promise you, I never take one of them for granted. Every single time I come across something like this, it's not just the message displayed (in this case: "give thanks" and "enjoy family") that I appreciate, it's the person behind the message and their intention that really touches me. When I see that someone out there has taken their time to send a message to me, I can't help but think, "people are GOOD," and " the whole world is good."  Please know, I am so, so thankful for all of you word spreaders. 

Lonely

This was the gym when I walked in this morning:

 

Okay, I know I go pretty early, but it wasn't that early.  I mean, this is just plain old creepy, scary movie type stuff.  You know, if there had ever in the history of man been a scary movie set in a gym (there hasn't been.  I googled it.  Well, except 'Carrie.'  But, that was a different type of gym).  So setting aside the creep factor, what's up with the empty gy?   Has the holiday slacking really begun?

 

Do you suffer from holiday slacking?  Do you stop getting in your usual workouts during November and December only to start back fresh in January?  If so, and judging from the gym today, you aren't alone. 

 

Personally, I don't have this problem.  The holidays are usually right around the time I'm stepping up my workouts.  This is for two reasons: 1) I'm usually training for a marathon/half marathon.  The Houston Full/Half Marathon, which I have run 3 of the last 4 years, is in January, so November and December usually find me really getting into the long runs; and 2) Two words: calorie + deficits.  I LOVE eating holiday foods.  I can't imagine passing up the mashed potatoes and gravy, and you know I'm not passing up the Christmas cookies (or the wine).  Here is the thing, I'm just not that into feeling guilty about food.  I enjoy eating.  I enjoy eating big meals with family.  I enjoy eating cookies pretty much all day, every day.  Getting in good runs beforehand helps me feel good about myself and skip all of the guilt.  

 

PS -- Even if you don't get in good workouts, please skip the guilt.  We have so many more things to worry about in this world than how much we eat during the holidays.

 

PPS -- Retail chains are catching all kinds of the heat for being open on Thanksgiving.  Well, WTH 24 Hr. Fitness?!?!  Give me (and your employees) a break!!  Judging by today's day-before-Thanksgiving turnout, there is no need to be open tomorrow.

Nothing Nine

This weekend's long run was nine miles long. I wish I had a really good lesson or interesting story to report. But I've got nothing. So bear with me during this useless nine mile summary. 

I was WAY overdressed. 

It was 68 degrees when I stepped out of the car to start my run. Now, I know 68 degrees is plenty warm enough for a run, but the wind had a little nip to it and I was just way too comfortable in my jacket (and I'm a Texan, so 68 degrees is a little chilly to me). I've been a runner long enough to know better.  Even as I took off I was telling myself I would regret it. And, I was right.  I regretted it like crazy and ended up running most of the miles with a jacket tied around my waist.

I've started doing this new thing with my Garmin and I think it's really helping me on my runs. Instead of keeping it on the main/first screen where I can watch my current pace, I've started leaving the Garmin on the screen that just displays my average pace. I can't explain exactly why, but this small change has helped me with negative splits and more effective pacing SOOOO much.  I think that maybe before I was just constantly trying to keep my goal pace up the entire run. Only watching my average pace is helping me figure out how to take it easy (using that word loosely- running is never easy) in the beginning so that I can close really fast (again, using that word loosely).  I'm definitely going to employ this Garmin strategy during my next half marathon in three weeks (3 weeks?!?!). 

Even though the run was uneventful and not really blog-worthy (sorry), it was still pretty awesome. Apparently, I quickly forget how much I like long runs. Yes, they are hard. And yes, sometimes finding the time to squeeze one in is inconvenient. And yes, I envy the hell out of The Hubs as he stays snuggled up in bed while I treck out early on a Saturday. But, there is nothing like the feeling of finishing a long run. The feeling of accomplishment mixed with exhaustion is something I haven't been able to duplicate anywhere else but in the long run. 

Oh, and did I mention the feeling of hunger?  Luckily, I'm married to the world's greatest man and he had this waiting for me as soon as I walked in the door. 

Headed In A New Directioner

Y'all, I had a life changing epiphany yesterday while I was on the elliptical machine. I'm not sure I should admit to this, considering I am in my almost-mid thirties. But here goes, it turns out, I'M A DIRECTIONER!!  I had no idea but those 5 young boy band guys make me ridiculously happy!

Of course I had heard of One Direction before. To be honest, I've probably spent more time than I should admit singing along to Story of My Life. But I'd never really considered the boys behind the ballad. That is, until my time on the elliptical yesterday. 

This gym's TV choices are basically Fox News or Sports Center, so when I saw a TV in the corner with the Ellen Show on, I switched it right over and out came One Direction. 

Sorry for the picture quality, this gym doesn't allow photographs, so I have to sneak the snaps.

After a few minutes of watching, I caught myself looking like this...

Turns out, those British boys are really cute!  And when that one with the hair does the fingers through the hair thing...swoon!  

Don't judge. You have to see the hair thing for yourself. Then you'd understand. 

NaBloPoMo-Uh Oh

Do you remember this day when I told you that I was participating in the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) challenge and then vowed to write here every day for the whole month of November?  Well, do you remember those couple of days after November 14, when I didn't write to you from Mexico and then yesterday when I skipped writing again?  I thought you might.  You're hard to sneak things by.  So, I guess it's time to address the elephant in the room, or on the blog, as the case may be. 

I HAVE FAILED AT NABLOPOMO. 

                                                                                

I made it all of about 13 consecutive days and then promptly fell off the writing wagon.  I wanted to write to you every day, but I just couldn't/didn't hold up my end of the bargain.  You held up your end.  You came to read.  And I thank you for that (really, I am so thankful to you for each visit).  But, I failed.  I flat out failed. 

You know what though?  I don't really feel badly about it.  I don't really feel badly at all about it.  Maybe I should, but I don't.  I was just writing to someone the other day about not beating yourself up over taking some days off of running and it dawned on me that the same goes for just about everything in life.

We are wasting way too much time beating ourselves up over silly things like not logging that extra mile or not writing a blog or not cooking the perfect 3 course meal and instead picking up something pre-made at the deli.  There are a thousand ways in which we "fail" every day.  But, when you really look at it, all we are failing at are some preconceived notions we put on ourselves of what we "should" be doing.  I don't have to run.  I don't have to write.  And I certainly don't have to be the perfect homemaker (please, oh please tell me I don't have to be the perfect homemaker, because I am terrible at it).  I do some of these things because I want to, because I like to, and because they bring me joy.  And some of the things I do simply because we have to eat.  The problem with setting the arbitrary expectations on ourselves is that we are the only people who are being are let down.  There isn't another person in the world who is upset if I only squeeze in three runs a week instead of five.  No one knows the elaborate meal I had planned for them before I got so busy that it ended up as Chinese takeout.  Not one single other person cares if I don't lose those two pounds I've been swearing to get rid of.  We've got to stop with the beating up of ourselves by ourselves.  Come on, if the rest of the world is okay with you just as you are, what is it you're doing being so miserable?!?


***PS - This post might feel a little like my last post.  I didn't intend for it to be repetitive, but I guess the whole idea of lightening up on myself is really on my mind right now.  I'm starting to realize that I've been holding myself hostage for all of the things that I'm not, or haven't done, or still need to do for way too long.  I'm s-l-o-w-l-y learning that the only person judging me is me and that I've been sentencing myself to a ton of unnecessary misery.