Conundrum

The weeks keep hurling themselves forward. It doesn't seem I get a chance to catch up when I'm already running behind again. I have these thoughts that pass through my head thinking I thought I would have gotten that done by now, or I thought this would be finished, or I need to do this or that and it doesn't ever seem to get done.

I think I need to stop that thinking. If I'm busy, I'm busy and time isn't going to slow down to make things convenient for me. I have the time but I'm the one deciding how to use it. It obviously isn't being used by the things I keep thinking about. That could be the only reason I keep thinking about them. I mean, if I had finished them I wouldn't be thinking about it any more, now would I?

It isn't a fast or slow time conundrum. It's what am I choosing to do with the time I have. I'm so glad I figured that all out. Now, is it spring or still winter? We have these beautiful days only for it to change and become cold and rainy again. I have these thoughts that pass through my head thinking it's warming up and all the cold weather is gone by now, or it should all be finished, or it starts out and I need to...
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Simply Perfect

Is there such a thing as a perfect day?

Yes.

Perfection is a perception. Was today perfect. Yes.

I think I have two grandsons that would agree. If I described the day we had together, I think others would agree. I think. No. I know they would agree. It wasn't even all that. We did some things together. We didn't fuss. We did. We made some rice krispie nests and we colored Easter eggs. We went for a walk in the neighborhood and we had lunch. It was simply grilled cheese sandwiches but we added some pickles. And we had vegetarian vegetable soup with the sandwiches that is really alphabet soup. I call it that, not vegetarian vegetable, even though that is what is on the label. It has pasta in it that is in the shapes of the alphabet. It's fun to eat because a four year old can dip this Doritos into it and pick up an S. Or a J or an A.

We watched a Netflick animated movie of Chicken Little. We were all together and it was simply a good time. Cool. Perfect.

Yes. Perfection is what it was, in my perception and theirs.
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Fun day

I am off work today. I am ready to hit the gym and get a few miles put away before the boys arrive at 7:30a.m. The big boy and Mr. L have the day off, too, and they will be spending it here at my house. I have a few things in mind to do that will keep their attention and a couple of regular chores that might bored them terribly. Either way, it's all things that need to be done and the special stuff will make up for any regular stuff. Sounds like a fun day!
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Truly amazing

"What an amazing experience!"

That's a direct quote from Carly, Dante's girlfriend. This entire long weekend could be summed up with that one sentence. We kidded about the major bullet points we could list of things that would be too unbelievable to have actually happened but they did. Maybe I can give a stab at a few.

• The entire family made the trip 
• Four of us ran the race
• All four of us placed
• All four of us placed first in each of our age categories
• We all had a great time celebrating

I knew this race at my personal paradise was coming up. The first time I ran this race was my first 10K in 2009 and I came in third that year. It blew me away. I've let many years go by thinking about running it again but the weather and circumstances always got in my way. This year, about a month and a half ago, I decided I wanted to run this race again. I knew it would be tough for Jay to close the shop so I called Dante. "Do you want to go?" He and Carly were in. Then Jay wanted to go and made arrangements for someone to open the shop for him. Then Sonny, Selma, and the boys were able to go, too!

Dante had been secretly working out for the race. He had major knee surgery about two years ago to repair completely torn ACL, LCL, meniscus with a scar this long. He had signed up for the 5K and was putting in some miles and had his eye on trying for a prize. I went out there to just enjoy my 10K run and finish. I was also secretly rooting for Dante. Carly and Nancy were also running the 5K which rounded out our band of merry runners and made it all that much more fun.

Saturday morning came around and with much excitement we went out and all ran our races. After we all finished, Dante took me over to the score board postings. I was anxious to see how he did so we searched the categories and found his name at the top of his group! There he was, first in his age group and it made my day! But he wanted to point out mine and, wait, there I was at the top. No way! Both of us in first. It was too good to be true. 

How did Carly do? We looked at another area, back and forth, through all the posted pages. There! On top of the group, again. And then we had one more name to look for. Our index fingers poised in mid-air moving ever so slightly as our eyes searched for Selma. No way! Our fingers stopped right under her name. On top! All four of us winning first place?! 

The answer is yes. Somehow, someway, we all took 1st place medals home. We were our own cheering section as they gave out the awards. We blasted, "We are the Champions" from the car stereo as we made our way back to the hotel. We were giddy and happy and still taken aback that it really happened. But it did. I have proof.

Yes. Four first place medals! Truly amazing!

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About that time

It's the morning to leave. I've already showered, had coffee, folded laundry, and Jay and I will be leaving around 10:00am this morning. I still need to pack a few things but when the major decision is should I take an extra pair of shorts there isn't much to worry about. It's time to get ready, to get going, and I'm so looking forward to all this. Time to enjoy the moment!
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Smooth sailing ahead

It's only a day away from heading out. Vacation days and a destination run with a 10K for me and a 5K for Dante, his girlfriend and Selma. The weather, of course, has been scrutinized as if it would have any bearing on anything. The fact of the matter is I decided to do this excursion with or without good weather. It was time. If I'm naming facts, the weather actually looks pretty good for our destination and it looks like we will be leaving the bulk of the bad, cold, rainy weather behind us. Believe me, I've looked at these forecasts and it all looks like smooth sailing ahead.

One more day at the office for today. Tomorrow morning it will be hit the road, Jack! You can call me Jack or I'll call you Jack. I'm jacked.
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Time to countdown

I guess today I am starting my countdown race to my vacation/destination long weekend. Friday morning Jay and I will head out to my personal paradise by the coast. Dante and his girlfriend will follow when she gets out of work half a day and then Sonny, Selma and the boys will follow at the end of the day. We are all going to be out there Friday, Saturday, Sunday and return Monday. A nice long weekend with the entire bunch of us! It's only a few days away.

I know it's a tiny bit early to head out to the coast. The weather can be unpredictable with possibility of cooler temperatures and rain. I've seen it happen year after year. I decided the heck with it this year and plan to go. There is a 5K/10K that happens Saturday. This particular race was the first 10K I ever ran and every year I think about it and decide the weather isn't going to work out so I pass. Not this year. I managed to wrangle the entire group to go.

I will be participating in the 10K on Saturday morning. Then I started receiving texts 2 weeks ago that Dante had been honing his skills and signed up for the 5K. This is the same guy that totally had complete knee surgery on every major meniscus and other ligaments on that knee. He put forth some effort to get it going and I have the texts that prove he is ready. I got a text from his girlfriend last night to get the name of the race because she has now signed up for the 5K. Selma said she was going to run the 5K also. That makes 4 out of 6 adults running. If I could only convince Jay, Sonny, and the two little boys to walk the 1 miler we would have the entire family out at that event. I won't hold my breath on the entire deal.

Afterward, I am looking forward to cleaning up and relaxing with some fresh oysters on the half shell. The good part about this time of year is it's still oyster season. We should be able to get dozens! I'm looking forward to the race, the oysters, and the entire weekend.

It's countdown time.
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Still at it

I've decided to pull back a little on my training. It's really more of a pull back on the aggressiveness of how quickly I was trying to get longer distances while adding back a few more lower mileage runs. It's the idea of getting consistent again. It was too hard to get some of the really long runs that were planned into a regular week so I was skipping all runs during the week and killing myself on weekends to run longer than I should. In any case, it wasn't working out.

I ran two shorter runs this weekend with a 5 miler on Saturday and a 6 miler on Sunday. It's still a good distance and I felt stronger than I have in a long time. I think I was training a little too aggressively and it was backfiring. I know better which is why I'm resetting some of these plans. At least it didn't take months, or a year to figure out the plan wasn't working and to have it instead of throwing in the towel and deciding I just can't do it. I'm still at it. Still feeling good about it.

You have to get past the bumps.
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Everything else

Saturday - So much to do my head is already swirling. No matter. I already got a 5 miler done and now everything else is gravy.

I can't even begin to give you a rundown of all the things I need to get done today. I know when I woke up this morning it was making me a little anxious. There were more than a few questions about how and when I was going to get started. Do I do this now and then that after? Then later I can do the other thing and then...

I shut myself down and went to run. Nothing too long, nothing too fast. It felt good the entire way and now that it is all done, the day can start off again. The right way. No crazy thoughts of all the other stuff that will get done when it's time. Now for that gravy.
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All talk

I've been doing my fair share of talking about getting myself to pause long enough to regroup. Unfortunately, the only real thing I've done about figuring out my next step is talk about it. In fact, I've digressed from the plan. At this moment there is no plan. There is no next step. I don't have an idea of what the next step to do is so it's turned into a do-nothing situation.

Obviously, I know I need to figure it out which is why I'm talking about it. You know what? That isn't getting it done. It isn't doing it. It really isn't doing anything. It's an excuse to wile away the hours doing, well, nothing. At least nothing good that will put me back on the path I should be moving along.

I have appointments this week. The car needed an oil change yesterday. I have a dental cleaning this afternoon. It's almost Friday already and these are all excuses. Because I have no plan.
Stop talking.
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Time and Whine

I got up early enough this morning to spend some time getting my focus back. It has taken me a while to try and settle my mind from scampering off in different directions. It wants to keep in constant motion that has become the norm lately. There is always one thing after another keeping me from pausing long enough to figure out if the task at hand is what needs to be done at the moment. I haven't had time to mentally categorize the things I planned to do with all the other things I've taken action on getting in the way. I knew this was coming.

So it's taken me a while to pause, now that I have the a few moments. Sitting at my desk is the best way for me to give myself a few minutes to think. Then, of course, I have my index cards filled with reminders and lists and motivations. I guess in a way they are my mantra's. They are the way to suspend the chaos and get into that mental center. Breathe out, breathe in slowly. It doesn't have to be that dramatic but that's the idea. I did find a list of 10 items on one card that had short, easy items to remember for the things that are important.

The first item on that list of 10 was: Make the time.

How simple and true. If it's important, don't wait for the time to be right. Don't wait for the perfect alignment. Just go do it. If you have 2 minutes get started.  It makes perfect sense, right? Make the time.

The last item on that list of 10 was: Don't complain.

If it's something you want to do why are you thinking of the negative. Stop that voice. Why are you whining? It won't get you any closer to what you want to do. It won't get anyone listening to help get you there, either.  Don't complain.

I'm not sure I've straightened everything I want to get straight in these few minutes. I do know it has helped to take this break and know 2 more minutes can make a difference. If I need to find another 2 minutes later to sit again, I'll make the time. And I won't whine about when that will be.
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Pause and focus

I just pulled the top page off my calendar. We got that extra day last month but now it's time to start March of this new year 2016. What's the plan now compared to January 1st of this same year?

I think now might be a good time to take a look at what the focus and purpose was for any plans I set up. Are they still viable. Are they still workable. Are they still somewhere in place and if they are the things that I want to do and accomplish then now would be a good time to re-assess how far I've gotten and how to proceed from here.

It's good to be able to pull a page away and stop to reevaluate. Now I have to find the time before the entire month has slipped away.
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