One Word

The blog I have probably read for the longest amount of the time and the most consistently is Bella's, and she recently started posting on the daily topics suggested by Reverb10 for the month of December, which are designed to encourage reflection on the year, etc. 

The December 1 prompt seemed really interesting.  I don't think I'll fare as well with December 2's prompt, and am not sure how well I'll keep up with all of them, but here goes nothing...

December 1 One Word.

Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? (Author: Gwen Bell)

BOSTON is my 2010 word and it jumped to mind immediately -- and even upon further reflection, there's no better single word for me to describe this year.  Qualifying for the Boston Marathon has been a dream (can't really say goal because I honestly didn't even think it was possible for a long time) pretty much since I started running several years ago.  I would get Runner's World magazine in the mail and would read about the legendary course, the "fast" runners who ran it, the infamous winners' stories, and the dream of qualifying to run it was always out there.  To qualify, women ages 18-34 need to run the marathon 26.2 miles in 3:40:59, which is an average pace per mile of 8:25.  Then you get an additional five minutes about every five years, though it varies. 

In my first "serious" marathon (technically not my first), my time goal was 4:59:59, which is an average pace per mile of 11:26.  The idea of going about 3 minutes faster per mile for an entire marathon was inconceivable to me, so part of me never thought I'd run it.  It should be noted that you can run the marathon without qualifying (there are a small number of spaces reserved for charity runners, which means you commit to raising a certain amount of money for a charity and then can run without needing to be qualified), however, while the charitable entry is certainly important for the charities they support, that wouldn't capture the allure for me (or for pretty much any other runner I know).  Runners dream of qualifying because it is such a recognized badge of honor.  When I qualified, one of my best friends sent me a sweet congratulatory email and said something to the effect that I could no longer be considered a corporate athlete because I'd officially transitioned to true athlete status.  Anyway, given the long-standing allure/dream/goal of Boston-qualifying, that's definitely my word for 2010.

TRIAL will hopefully be my word for 2011.  I have a lot of career-related goals I'd like to accomplish next year, including some major in-court time (and corresponding victories).  I love researching and writing motions and briefs, and I think I do well at it, but I do believe it's best to expand your skills and work outside your comfort zone sometimes.  I need to push myself to do that more and I'd like to focus on that next year.  Other words that will hopefully be runners-up will be Organized and Flosser (to give you a preview of one of my likely resolutions at which I failed miserably this year (and the resolution wasn't even daily flossing, it was "week-daily" flossing)). 

And just for fun, I read parts of Bella's two word choices to my husband and asked him what his words were.  For 2010, his word was "Running!"  He is getting so excited about his half this weekend and is a champion!  For 2011, his word was "Alive!" (and yes, the exclamation point after each is necessary to reflect how he shouted each word).  I asked more about what he meant by "alive," thinking it might be really profound, and it turns out he just meant not dead.  Such a funny guy! 
Now, on to today's prompt.

December 2 Writing.


What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?  (Author: Leo Babauta)

Hmm, this one is significantly harder for me.  I guess work is probably the number one thing that gets in the way of my writing.  Since things like sleep, runnning, travel and relationships provide things about which I can write, but I don't write about work, work is probably the main thing draws away from writing. 
 
Plus, spending more time on the computer during the day makes me want to spend less time on it at night or on weekends. 
 
But no, I can't really eliminate it.  As I think I put in my personal description, I'd love to be a professional runner (and I'd surely have time to write if I did that), but right now being a lawyer is what pays the bills...