2014 Finally in the Rear View Mirror: Some Hard Lessons to Take into 2015

I hope you all had a great Christmas and are ready to have a great new year!  I for one am so glad to be wrapping up 2014.  This is where I would usually check over my 2014 goals and see how I did.  I can tell you life got in the way of goals.  I will say the entire year did push me out of my comfort zone and that was one goal.  I will also say that many of the things we went through made me grateful for the people and good things in my life.  Other than that this year was not really about goals.

You may ask what have I been doing with my time off the last week or so.  I would like to say we have been off everyday having adventures.  We have done some of that, but we have also spent some needed time helping my mother and more needed time just getting over this year by watching movies, spending time together, and cuddling kitties.  Of course their has been running.  In fact lots of running.  As 2015 bore down on hubby and I, we realized we were far from our 1,000 miles for the year.  Catching up by running in a bunch of different places we don't get to very often has been very therapeutic.  I hit my 1,003 today and he is at 999.  The odometer will turn over on tomorrow's run.  We start the new year with ATC 2015 Resolution Run on New Years Day.

As we wrap up the year what are the big plans for 2015?  This year I have only one plan.  I will be present.  I will be present where I am when I am there and I will be grateful to be there.  I have no performance goals and no lofty career goals.  I just plan to be there and bring my whole self to the table whether a family event, caregiver responsibility, work, or fitness.  I think if I can do that 2015 will be a departure from 2014.

Grateful to be able to look ahead instead of back.  Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy New Year in 2015.

When Consistency Pays Off

Happy Holidays or better known as, seriously you expect me to: clean the house, shop for your mother's boss's daughter's third cousin, bake a Yule Log from scratch, make the cookies for the entire family, make authentic Latkes for your Jewish half-brother, find the perfect gift for my brother-in-law, and get my run and workouts in?  Sound familiar?  Can you hear the sounds of "I Wish you a Merry Christmas" Hyphen Satisfying Solstice, Rockin' Ramadan, Quirky Kwanzaa, and a Happy Hanukkah.  All of this is to say December is the ultimate fitness roadblock.  Not only do you have all of this going on around you to fill all that free time you normally sit around wondering how to fill; every single person you know, and even some random strangers who don't know what else to do, are trying to feed you cookies, cupcakes, cider, hot chocolate, and candy.  Really at this point I would give my Kingdom, not much per say, to anyone who said "I made a salad for us all to celebrate the holidays."

All of that reminds me to be grateful to the trait I must often have a love hate relationship with my regimented nature.  This is where all that lack of spontaneity really starts to pay out like Vegas.  I love routine.  In fact were I not happily married I might consider having a pretty steamy affair with it.  I am not what you might call whimsical.  I am sure people wake up ad think, "today is a blank slate.  I have no idea what I plan to do.  Wonder where the wind will take me."  I am breaking out in a cold sweat just typing that.  I always know what I will be doing.  I don't leave things up to happenstance.  In fact me and happenstance are complete strangers.

With all of that said what does that have to do with fitness, running and the holidays.  I have a sound routine of running and strength training.  It is after 3 years an ingrained part of my day and my life.  When all the craziness that is December rolls around; I am able to fit the crazy into a schedule that already tees off with my exercise routine.  Because I know I have to run, I am less likely to end up so wasted at the office Christmas Party so I have to avoid direct eye contact until the desperate single girl begins weeping over the Valentine's cupcakes and my drunken Karaoke version of" Blue Christmas" is long forgotten.  See during this season of limited time and excess everything else it is "All about that Base."  You are welcome that that has now replaced "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" as the annoying soundtrack in your head! This is where the base of your decisions if they start with fitness will lead to your next good decision, no diving head first into a cheese ball.  As I said this where my fixation with the routine of running and working out really pays off.  That good decision leads to self-control and other good decisions.

Hey if you already jumped off the fitness bandwagon in pursuit of holiday happiness there is always New Years.  Hope you are having a healthy holiday season!

Today I am grateful to have found a great surprise gift for my hubby!!

Making Adjustments

This is so appropriate for today.  I was tired today.  You know that getting in workouts, helping the family, squeezing in one last work trip, holiday shopping, and all that regular stuff you need to do to have a life is sometimes tiring.  You know when you notice that?  Around 4:15 AM when you ask yourself, "am I who gun control advocates are talking about when they say don't give guns to the mentally ill?"  I mean even the mentally ill are probably still asleep at 4:15 in the morning, two weeks before Christmas, when it is 30 degrees out.  By the way that is fact, because I was on the street at 4:15 today in 30 degree weather and I did not see anyone, mentally balanced or unbalanced.  Oh yeah except my reflections in a giant blow up snow globe.  

So not only did I not want to run today but strength training was also on tap.  I know...don't be jealous.  So this is where I tell you I blew off my RW Holiday Running Streak and ate the last of the soft batch cookies hubby bought last week.  Wrong!  This is where I mention that life is about minor adjustments that make the impossible possible.  So I thought I was going to run 3 miles.  Instead I ran 2.5.  Still one mile is the streak requirement.  How bad ass is exceeding that by 150%?.  Oh yeah don't hate my math skills.  In my next blog I will expound on Pythagorean theorem.  Not really. Not because it would bore you to death; mostly because I am pretty sure I don't have any idea what that is anymore. .  I am actually going to talk about how the simple hobby of  running quadruples your laundry.  That should be one of life's great mysteries, like how do two socks go into the dryer but only one come out.  

You may also be wondering if I completed my strength training, or maybe your not; but I am going to tell you anyway.  Know why? Because this is a running and fitness blog and that is what I talk about. I did go to the gym after work but instead of my usual 35-45 minutes, I lowered my weights and did 25 minutes with 5 minutes of stretching.  I figured it was better than not going and it seemed more doable.  Sometimes you have to adjust.  One of my favorite quotes " Don't let the perfect become the enemy of the good."  Lots of times at fail at that.  Today was not one of them.  Hope all of my friends and family appreciate the gift of my good health and continued presence in their life; because if I don't get Christmas shopping soon that is what they are getting for Christmas and it is a $%^$# to wrap.

Today I am grateful for a sense of humor.  You may disagree.   

Week in Review

This has been a pretty good week.  Today was day 23 of my RW Holiday Running Streak and hubby and I headed out for a nice 6 mile run.  I have really been enjoying my runs since I made the decision to stick with shorter races in the coming year.  I am just going to focus on consistency and health.

I am also excited that  I managed to keep my streak even though I had to fly to Denver for a quick overnight trip on Thursday.

View from my hotel Denver at Christmas

I also had a pretty fun week because I got new Sockwell Compression socks.  I don't know about you, but I love getting new running stuff.  Especially if they are cute.  And these felt great and were super cute.  I tested my new compression before heading out to Denver on Thursday with a hill run.  It went great I was much faster than I anticipated being.  I also got in two gym strength sessions and I squeezed in a quick strength session today with free weights, some planks, and push ups.  

I am going to do a little recovery run tomorrow and hit the gym after work.  I also discovered that visiting my Chiropractor before getting on my flight made a big difference.  My hip and legs did not feel nearly as tight as usual.  I will definitely try that in the future.  

Hubby and I both have two more weeks of work then two weeks off.  I always look forward to this time every year to recharge, but I must admit I am looking forward to it more this year.  

Yesterday we wrapped up the ATC season at the mile run.  Both hubby and I also collected our Bunny Awards for running every race in the Grand Prix season.  It was my second his fourth.  

I hope you had a good week and are finding a way to squeeze in exercise during the holiday season and some good nutrition among all the temptations.  

Today I am grateful that was my last trip of the year.  I am home with hubby and kitties for the rest of the year!!