Throughout the month of December (not), I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 31 – At the end:
What’s next for you?
I think I'm going to like 2014. I expect the most exciting part of the year will be our big vacation. I am insanely excited about the idea of seeing the Taj Mahal. I don't think we'll nail down our exact plan in terms of flights and countries until April or May, but I am certain it will be an interesting and memorable adventure. For me, the ideal plan will be to go straight to India, then go to Nepal, then spend a few days in the Maldives, then end the trip with a couple days in Dubai. India is the only certain stop on the plan, so the rest is subject to change, but it all sounds so fascinating.
I'm also going home more in 2014, which was something I wished I'd done more of in 2013. Right now, the plan is to go for the Fourth of July for sure, and then likely also for Mother's Day weekend and the first weekend in October. Plus, this year they're coming to visit me! My folks weren't here at all in 2013 due to a combination of them choosing to visit my brother who moved to San Fran in 2012 and my grandpa having a stroke. We've also got a trip on the books in June already to see hubby's parents for a family wedding, and it wouldn't surprise me if we add in another trip to see them.
I feel like I'm not running well right now, but a down cycle is a down cycle. My goal is going to be to take it for what it is and have fun. Even if 2014 isn't the year of the PR for me, I think I have some fun races planned. I've done two so far this year, and I expect I'll be around my average of about 16-20 races for the year. I'm most excited about going back to the Bataan Memorial Death March (but only doing the half and not wearing a military weight pack this year!) and my fall marathon (wherever that may be, likely Milwaukee). And locally, I'll enjoy my standard favorites -- the St. Pat's and Thanksgiving races, and probably the mid-summer "too hot to handle" race. The big question for me will be whether I skip San Antonio this year, as the date is being moved to December (when weekends are quite precious).
Friday, January 31, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
#Reverb13, Day 30: Relationships
Throughout the month of December, I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 30 – Relationships
Did you find a new best friend? Delve deeper into an existing relationship? Break up? Get back together?
Honestly, I have to say "not so much" to all of those questions.
I've got two female friends with whom I usually apply the "best friend" title -- one local, one who has moved away. And I have about 5 other women in my life who could just as easily use that title, plus of course women who were my best friends at different times in my life but whom I keep up with far too infrequently now, but love just the same. Of course my true best friend is my husband, but he has that husband title, so I usually use the best friend title with others.
As for delving deeper into existing relationships, not in any notable way. I mean, time and experiences always seem to solidify relationships with people that you're in frequent contact with. But nothing notable from 2013 strikes me as delving deeper. I feel like I try to be a good friend to my friends, and that definitely deepens relationships.
As for breaking up and getting back together, thank God, no! I actually feel like I worried more about that during the time we were dating obviously and the first few years of marriage. But now things just seem more settled. Events, arguments, problems, things that just a few years ago now could have seemed like "the end of our marriage" was next, are now just things that I know we'll get through. (As a side note, I'm kind of glad hubby was already married and divorced once, it gave him a much better sense of perspective than I had, so he would say things like, "I know you're upset, and you want to walk away because you don't see how you can fathom a lifetime of closing the cabinet doors behind me, but we will find a way together to overcome this hurdle.") We're coming up on our fifth anniversary this year, and it will also be nine years together, and honestly, it seems like now we could even handle some of the biggest obstacles -- a job loss, death of a family member, an unwanted pregnancy, a move, an accident or disability, a lawsuit, whatever.
Lucky, lucky, lucky...
Day 30 – Relationships
Did you find a new best friend? Delve deeper into an existing relationship? Break up? Get back together?
Honestly, I have to say "not so much" to all of those questions.
I've got two female friends with whom I usually apply the "best friend" title -- one local, one who has moved away. And I have about 5 other women in my life who could just as easily use that title, plus of course women who were my best friends at different times in my life but whom I keep up with far too infrequently now, but love just the same. Of course my true best friend is my husband, but he has that husband title, so I usually use the best friend title with others.
As for delving deeper into existing relationships, not in any notable way. I mean, time and experiences always seem to solidify relationships with people that you're in frequent contact with. But nothing notable from 2013 strikes me as delving deeper. I feel like I try to be a good friend to my friends, and that definitely deepens relationships.
As for breaking up and getting back together, thank God, no! I actually feel like I worried more about that during the time we were dating obviously and the first few years of marriage. But now things just seem more settled. Events, arguments, problems, things that just a few years ago now could have seemed like "the end of our marriage" was next, are now just things that I know we'll get through. (As a side note, I'm kind of glad hubby was already married and divorced once, it gave him a much better sense of perspective than I had, so he would say things like, "I know you're upset, and you want to walk away because you don't see how you can fathom a lifetime of closing the cabinet doors behind me, but we will find a way together to overcome this hurdle.") We're coming up on our fifth anniversary this year, and it will also be nine years together, and honestly, it seems like now we could even handle some of the biggest obstacles -- a job loss, death of a family member, an unwanted pregnancy, a move, an accident or disability, a lawsuit, whatever.
Lucky, lucky, lucky...
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
#Reverb13, Day 29: List it
Throughout the month of December (or January, but I am determined to finish this month), I’ll be participating in #reverb13: Reverb is a way to reflect on the past year and project into the next year with a prompt a day for 31 days.
Day 29 – List it
List posts are everywhere. Top 10 Ways to be Happier Today. Three Tips for More Energy. Seven Ideas to Stay Focused. Give us a list.
My Five Tips to PR at a Distance You've Raced Repeatedly
1. Have a training plan that you follow faithfully, ideally 4-6 days of running per week.
2. Do strength training at least twice a week.
3. Include tempo and race pace miles in your schedule.
4. Have a faster experienced friend who can be trusted to hold steady goal pace run the race with you.
5. Know exactly what your plan is for the race -- getting there, warming up, fueling if necessary, mile splits, total time that you have to beat.
It's hard to even tell you how long it has taken me to learn each of those tips. Especially the last one. I'd get to a race too late to warm up. Or I would forget the exact time that was my current PR and had to be beat. Or I wouldn't be able to figure out exactly what my per mile pace needed to be.
And since I'm feeling wild and crazy (and need to do it anyway)...
My Five Things that Should be Accomplished on Saturday
1. Donate things. 2014 is a new tax year. Donate the old Christmas tree and all the clothes and shoes that have been moved to the garage for that purpose. Photograph it all for tax records before donating. Decide if we're donating our old Mac and if so, figure out how to wipe data off.
2. Complete our Global Entry applications so we will be able to use the expedited lines at customs when we come back from vacation for the next several years.
3. Go to the mall to see a movie and shop for shampoo (Sephora and L'Occitane).
4. Deep clean kitchen (hubby) and upstairs bathroom (me).
5. Make breakfast for my local bestie and exchange Christmas gifts with her after the local five mile race, which we may or may not also run with her, depending on how late the basketball game Friday night goes and how much we drink there...
Day 29 – List it
List posts are everywhere. Top 10 Ways to be Happier Today. Three Tips for More Energy. Seven Ideas to Stay Focused. Give us a list.
My Five Tips to PR at a Distance You've Raced Repeatedly
1. Have a training plan that you follow faithfully, ideally 4-6 days of running per week.
2. Do strength training at least twice a week.
3. Include tempo and race pace miles in your schedule.
4. Have a faster experienced friend who can be trusted to hold steady goal pace run the race with you.
5. Know exactly what your plan is for the race -- getting there, warming up, fueling if necessary, mile splits, total time that you have to beat.
It's hard to even tell you how long it has taken me to learn each of those tips. Especially the last one. I'd get to a race too late to warm up. Or I would forget the exact time that was my current PR and had to be beat. Or I wouldn't be able to figure out exactly what my per mile pace needed to be.
And since I'm feeling wild and crazy (and need to do it anyway)...
My Five Things that Should be Accomplished on Saturday
1. Donate things. 2014 is a new tax year. Donate the old Christmas tree and all the clothes and shoes that have been moved to the garage for that purpose. Photograph it all for tax records before donating. Decide if we're donating our old Mac and if so, figure out how to wipe data off.
2. Complete our Global Entry applications so we will be able to use the expedited lines at customs when we come back from vacation for the next several years.
3. Go to the mall to see a movie and shop for shampoo (Sephora and L'Occitane).
4. Deep clean kitchen (hubby) and upstairs bathroom (me).
5. Make breakfast for my local bestie and exchange Christmas gifts with her after the local five mile race, which we may or may not also run with her, depending on how late the basketball game Friday night goes and how much we drink there...
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Requisite weather complaint
I know, I know, it's much colder in many places, but the bottom line is that when I chose to move to Dallas (and it was a choice), I didn't sign on for this kind of weather.
Days like this make me wonder if I made a mistake in ruling out California and Florida at the outset (in law school, the bar exam seems very scary and those states don't have reciprocity with others, so I worried if I had to move home for some reason, I'd have to take another bar exam, so I ruled those states out of my search).
This morning I had seven miles on the schedule -- 2 easy, 3 tough, 2 easy. But as I was going to bed last night and laying out my clothes for the morning (see how hard I'm trying to push myself? even resorting to laying out clothes to make less chance of a morning flake-out), I checked the weather as I always do from about September until May.
It said it would be 25 with 10 mph winds!
So I set out my clothes -- a pair of tights, thicker socks that come up over my ankle, a sports bra, a long sleeved running shirt and a running jacket.
And then I sent a few whiny texts to one of my running buddies, asking him if he really expected me to run in this $hit. Especially since I knew I had no plans tonight, so I could have easily done dreadmill in the morning or even after work. But he said we'd be going fast so it wouldn't feel cold, and it would be more fun to be together.
So I did it. When my alarm went off at 4:40 today, I got up, piled on the clothes and headed out. Two decisions on my way out the door were key to my happiness.
First, I went with double gloves. I've only done this once before. I hate it because it feels kind of tight over my fingers, but it's so worth it not to have cold hands. At one point today, I even considered taking off one of the pairs since my hands were so toasty.
Second, I went with my usual earband but wore it under a warm fleece hat. When I got in my car after the run and took it off, the earband was soaked -- but my head and ears had stayed nice and warm the entire time.
I did the warmup with my friends, and then managed two very hard miles tagged within a car length or two of my friends, but then I was pretty tuckered out. I fell back considerably on the final tempo mile, but then we regrouped for our two mile cool down.
This is my phone showing the weather when I got home:
And for your daily Italian vocabulary:
umidita = humidity
vento = wind
probab neve = chance of snow
temp. percepita = ??? (weather terms aren't my strength, and it's too early for wordreference, but I'd guess it means perceived temperature, or real feel or something like that)
adesso = now
alba = sunrise/dawn
So when I finished, 23 degrees with 14 mph winds.
Crazy! I can't believe I got out in this weather and did it. And I really can't believe it wasn't that bad! But I really, really hope we don't have many more days like this.
Days like this make me wonder if I made a mistake in ruling out California and Florida at the outset (in law school, the bar exam seems very scary and those states don't have reciprocity with others, so I worried if I had to move home for some reason, I'd have to take another bar exam, so I ruled those states out of my search).
This morning I had seven miles on the schedule -- 2 easy, 3 tough, 2 easy. But as I was going to bed last night and laying out my clothes for the morning (see how hard I'm trying to push myself? even resorting to laying out clothes to make less chance of a morning flake-out), I checked the weather as I always do from about September until May.
It said it would be 25 with 10 mph winds!
So I set out my clothes -- a pair of tights, thicker socks that come up over my ankle, a sports bra, a long sleeved running shirt and a running jacket.
And then I sent a few whiny texts to one of my running buddies, asking him if he really expected me to run in this $hit. Especially since I knew I had no plans tonight, so I could have easily done dreadmill in the morning or even after work. But he said we'd be going fast so it wouldn't feel cold, and it would be more fun to be together.
So I did it. When my alarm went off at 4:40 today, I got up, piled on the clothes and headed out. Two decisions on my way out the door were key to my happiness.
First, I went with double gloves. I've only done this once before. I hate it because it feels kind of tight over my fingers, but it's so worth it not to have cold hands. At one point today, I even considered taking off one of the pairs since my hands were so toasty.
Second, I went with my usual earband but wore it under a warm fleece hat. When I got in my car after the run and took it off, the earband was soaked -- but my head and ears had stayed nice and warm the entire time.
I did the warmup with my friends, and then managed two very hard miles tagged within a car length or two of my friends, but then I was pretty tuckered out. I fell back considerably on the final tempo mile, but then we regrouped for our two mile cool down.
This is my phone showing the weather when I got home:
And for your daily Italian vocabulary:
umidita = humidity
vento = wind
probab neve = chance of snow
temp. percepita = ??? (weather terms aren't my strength, and it's too early for wordreference, but I'd guess it means perceived temperature, or real feel or something like that)
adesso = now
alba = sunrise/dawn
So when I finished, 23 degrees with 14 mph winds.
Crazy! I can't believe I got out in this weather and did it. And I really can't believe it wasn't that bad! But I really, really hope we don't have many more days like this.
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