Retraining the brain

It’s so amazing what you can get done in a day – well, a weekend day that is.  During the work week, I continue to struggle (like many) with wishing my way to the weekend.  I’m aware of how negative this thought process is, so I’m trying to retrain my brain to think differently.  This past weekend, I got SO.MUCH.DONE!  And it wasn’t all of the need-to-do’s either; many of them were the want-to-do’s.

Saturday

• I drove to Meaghan’s and shared a great 10 mile run with her.  Long overdue!
• Lucky to score an unplanned visit with Mom.
• Primed some trim in a room we’re working on in the house.  2 coats.
• Dropped by Carrie’s house to wish her ‘see ya later’ as she prepares to relocate to Arizona. 
• Wrote a blog post after a long hiatus.

Sunday

• Enjoyed a 5 mile trail run with Scott and Bella.  Great start to any day!
• Painted the trim that I primed Saturday.
• Because the paint & brushes were out, decided to touch up some other areas.  White trim paint = Addictive!
• Cut the lawn.  We have a decent yard; we're talking hours!
• Planted tomatoes, peppers, and something in the squash family.  Thanks to Andy for the plants.
• Planted flowers.
• Did some laundry.
• Wrote another blog post.  Whoa, look at me!

By Sunday night, I was exhausted.  But it was a good exhaustion.  The kind of tired that says, I can’t lift another thing but then adds, …and I’ve never felt better!  I love days where you know you’ve squeezed every bit of life out of the day.  And I love days where you go to sleep excited to begin again.  As I write this on a Monday, I can tell you I need some work in the ‘retrain my brain’ area on the non-weekend days….

All in this together

This is what you call having the right dog for your personality/lifestyle.

This morning, Scott, Bella, and I took off for a jaunt in the woods.  A gorgeous morning, we were all excited to get out and run some trails.  No one was more excited than Bella!

Dirt, mud, snakes, frogs……all of Bella’s favorite things.  We ran 5 miles; Bella probably doubled that with all of her little switchbacks.  She slogged through the muddy areas, waded through some deeper areas, and then raced to catch up with us.  

She’s such a happy girl and a perfect part of our little family.   A little rest time and she'll be ready and rearing to go again!

The power of missing the run

Pineland Farms was back on May 24^th.  50K is no joke and Pineland Farms is a pretty solid, hilly course.  I had a great day and enjoyed my adventure.  But since that race, I just haven't had much desire to run.  So I haven’t.  Until today.

I jumped at the text invite to run with Meaghan.  I was excited to venture into her “new” town (not so new anymore to her, but to me it is), try out her roads, and catch up.  She took me on a great course, filled with steady rollers, covering a couple of towns.  We also tried some new areas (for her), now that she had a guinea pig along for the exploration.  With almost two weeks off from running, running/chatting/laughing our way through 10.3 miles was just what I needed.  Guess I just need a little time to miss it.   Simple as that.

And I'm already looking forward to running tomorrow!

How do you get out of a running funk or return from a break?

Lemme catch you up!

Can’t think of a better way to catch up over the last month-plus than to barrage you with photos!  Here’s what’s been going on….

I spent just about every weekend of May in different parts of Maine.  First stop, Kennebunk for the Maine Coast 39.3 Challenge.  Ran the half on Saturday; the full on Sunday.  Lots-o-bling!

Next stop was York for Kristin and Alex’s wedding.  She’s the first niece out of the gate into marriage…..where does the time go??

No rest for the weary!  Following weekend was spent in the New Gloucester/Freeport area to run Pineland Farms 50K!  A number of us were there to run a variety of distances.  Fun race, great friends, and another cowbell to add to my collection!

Most recently, we were willing participants in Rusty’s (Scott’s cousin) surprise 50^th birthday party….fun cousin time for all!

And just the other evening after returning home from work, Bella alerted me to an uninvited guest.  INSIDE our bedroom.  The little chipmunk was trying so hard to escape, but couldn’t (screen).  Didn’t catch up with him until the next morning, when he greeted Scott on the couch, as if to say, “When you're done with your coffee, can you let me out?”

So, you’re now officially caught up!  What have YOU been up to?

JogBra...who knew?!

Today, one of our Board members came to speak at our facility.  At first, I thought “ho hum”, until I received the invitation that included some detail on who exactly Hinda Miller is…

Business?  Meh.  JogBra?  Now THAT sounds interesting!  She even brought a prop to demonstrate where the idea for JogBra came from.  She had me at ‘jock strap’! 

Hinda is a very interesting woman who seems to have seen and done it all.  She nicely wove the story of her personal and professional life into her presentation to us and then punctuated it with a connection to our company’s mission and values.  I’ve included this link in case you’d like to read more about, but here’s what I got out of the presentation:

• Embrace YOU; be genuine; be true to yourself
• Anyone can be an entrepreneur – having family and friends to support “crazy” ideas (and money never hurts) is essential
• Have your list of traits that your partner in life must have – go after it.  You’ll need him/her and vice versa
• Women are strong and belong
• Smile, laugh, stretch

That last bullet?  We did a lot of that at her presentation!  

Thanks for asking!

I was fortunate enough to run Boston three years in a row:  2010, 2011, and the heat-fest of 2012.  But I haven’t run it since then.  Without fail, friends and coworkers start asking me a couple weeks before marathon day if I’m running the marathon.  Since my answer of late has been, “not this year, I’m running a different marathon”, I consistently receive the next question, “Oh, how many miles is THAT one?”.   

I could roll my eyes and I could act all important (don’t you know who I am?!?), but frankly, I’m just glad they ask!

I love when people ask about running.  Even if running is something they’ll never contemplate, I love that they’re interested enough to ask.  I remember being in such awe of runners and, as Boston Marathon time would approach each year, having such a desire to be THAT runner who could run such a phenomenal race.  Decades later, I am that runner who has run Boston, many other marathons, and even ultras.  Never thought that could be me.  Never say never.

So as I enjoy all of the pre-Boston Marathon news coverage and let myself feed off of all the social media excitement by those running Boston this year, I’m thankful to be part of this community of runners and also thankful for the non-runners interested enough to ask about the sport we love.

Soak it all in runners…..enjoy Boston 2015!

Ability to be grateful at all times

Grateful that I got through 14 miles of this last weekend without slipping and sliding –

Grateful for this gem that made me smile in the midst of the snow and rain on that run –

Grateful for a friend who asks, “Wanna run 17-18 with me at the beach” and runs 20 with me instead -

Grateful for cool scenes on a 20 mile run (more snow falling; snow where there should be sand) –

Grateful for an opportunity to stretch out my hamstrings post-20 miler (no choice here….beach house still plowed in) –

I won’t pretend to have enjoyed all aspects of this winter’s training, but as long as I stay open to the good things that are happening around me, I am grateful.

I’m even more grateful that it is officially Spring.  Now, go away snow.  My gratitude for you is on thin ice.  No pun intended.