For the month of December, I'm working on doing the daily series of Reverb prompts to help me reflect on the prior year and hope/plan for the upcoming year. If you're interested, join in; I found this to be a very useful exercise when I did it two years ago.
#reverb12 Day 8: Your most important relationship?
Considering the idea that nothing lasts forever: what was the most important relationship that you fostered in 2012?
How will you continue to nurture it in 2013?
Now I'm kind of regretting that yesterday morning I got caught up on the #reverb posts, because yesterday's prompt was about what you most want to take with you into 2013. I chose my happy marriage. And of course now, it seems like today's post is almost a dupe of what I wrote about yesterday. It's funny that for me, I've now had two topics repeat -- travel (for the last year of my life, and for a dream destination), and the husband (for taking with me and the most important relationship).
Now that the record is clear that I'd consider my most important relationship to be that with my husband, I feel like I'm free to devote this post to other important relationships.
This year, one of my resolutions was to spend more time with my two best girlfriends, one who is local, one who is in Charlottesville, VA.
I'm going to have to do an official resolutions-check-in at the end of Dec. or in early January, but this one went well overall, though of course more would have been better.
My bestie in town has had a busy year largely due to a job change/promotion. She's basically on call all the time (it's a very busy spokesperson job for the Dallas part of a very well known and busy entity that is frequently in the news). The best part of the year with her was probably spending at least three days together in other cities in Texas. For Memorial Day, we went to her parents' house about an hour from Dallas. We ran a half marathon and spent a day by the pool. In mid-June, we went to Nacogdoches, where her sister's widow and daughter live. We spent a night on the town and then a day at the blueberry festival. And finally, right around her bday, we drove to San Antonio together and ran the first 10 miles of the race there together -- then she peeled off for the half and I went on for the full. There were other good times in Dallas, particularly a Bon Jovi tribute band concert, and our rehearsal dinner anniversary party. But given that we used to run together at least three days a week, I miss her a lot and still feel like I didn't get enough "us" time in 2012. The very exciting thing though is what's on the calendar for 2013 -- she is going to run Berlin too! That means fun together in Berlin and likely a few days in Munich at Oktoberfest afterward! And even fun planning the trip before we go, and maybe some training miles together!
My bestie in Virginia sadly I sometimes go an entire calendar year without seeing each other. She doesn't have much disposable income to travel (plus twins, which are expensive and time-consuming), and I don't have any vacation time not spent on the annual vacation extravaganza with hubby. But we should still spend a lot more time on the phone even on years with no visit. But 2012 held a lot more time together than in recent years. Two separate visits! She and her family have always gone to Mardi Gras in Alabama (Mobile), and now she brings her husband and kids too. Hubby doesn't particularly enjoy it (he thinks it's a little cheesy, a little racist, and a little elitist), but we make an effort to go most years. In 2012, it was particularly easy because we went to Birmingham before Mobile to spend a couple night with one of hubby's best friends, then we went down to Mobile for a couple nights there with my best friend. But we don't always get tons of time together there. She has her kids, which take up a lot of time, and we always feel pulled in a lot of different directions, so this year, it was particularly wonderful that she and her husband came to visit for 5 days near Labor Day. They stayed with us and didn't bring their kids so it was totally awesome. We went out to eat at all our old favorite places (she lived here from 2001 - 2006, and her husband was here about 2002 or 2003-2006). We just got to spend tons of time hanging out, which was so nice. And in 2013, I think I've convinced hubby to do Mardi Gras again, so if I add in some regular phone calls, that relationship will be nurtured as well in 2013.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
#Reverb12 Day 7: Taking with You
For the month of December, I'm working on doing the daily series of Reverb prompts to help me reflect on the prior year and hope/plan for the upcoming year. If you're interested, join in; I found this to be a very useful exercise when I did it two years ago.
#reverb12 Day 7: What will you take with you?
What's the one thing you want to take with you into 2013?
Umm, lots of stuff. Pretty much everything. My whole life. My happy marriage. My awesome job. My healthy family.
I don't love this prompt and am not sure what it means.
I guess if I hae to think about what's most important to me, I'd say the happy marriage bit. I want to carry my present level of closeness to and affection for my sweet hubby into 2013. He's such a trooper to put up with me sometimes. I'm not exactly easy to live with, I'm sure.
Example. Last night I ran home from work. Unfortunately, there was no cold Gatorade in the fridge. I was pissed. Especially since twice I'd thought to myself to put some in the fridge -- once the night before when I'd drank the last cold bottle, and once that morning, when I saw the empty space where Gatorade usually is in our fridge. So I was sulking during dinner and drinking water. Hubby hasn't been feeling great, so he'd already eaten and gone to bed but he came back downstairs when I got home to keep me company. I told him that I was mad that "someone drank the last cold Gatorade and didn't put more in the fridge." And it was funny how swiftly he denied being that someone -- I knew full well it was my fault, but it's abundantly clear that I frequently falsely accuse him. Haha. That's one of the bonuses to having a roommate, you always have someone to blame when things get lost. Even if it's something like my favorite pink skirt -- I know full well he didn't wear it or move it, but if it's lost, in my mind, sometimes it's easier to just assume he did something with it. Then when it turns out to be in my dry cleaning pile and I later find it, I know it was just me forgetting I wore it. But in the moment, at least for me, I like shifting blame. How in the world does he put up with that? Haha.
He's a good influence on me in many ways:
He's very nice to people, including strangers who would otherwise scare or irritate me.
That ties into the fact that he's endless patient (contrast with me, one of the 20 most impatient people in the world I believe).
He's easy-going in general.
He's good at recognizing what matters, which ties into being easy-going. If I want to do something and he doesn't, if I indicate I really, really want us to do it, he'll generally give in. He never argues over something silly, or just for the sake of arguing (which is definitely something I and many other lawyers have been known to do... occupational hazard!).
He's almost always in a good mood, and that rubs off on me.
He's very affectionate, at least at home, so I get lots of hugs and kisses.
He's dedicated to getting up on time in the morning to work out, and that definitely rubs off on me.
He's a healthy guy, which is lucky for me, since he does the grocery shopping.
He's very funny, so he will try to make me laugh when I'm in a bad mood.
He's generous with his time, love and affection (and he's not materialistic, and is on the same page as me for the most part when it comes to spending money).
He's adventurous; if I can win the battle to do SOMEthing, he's ready for ANYthing.
He's so sweet to me. He makes such an effort to make me happy. From unloading the dishwasher when he's home sick, to remembering my favorite frozen meals to get me for lunch. I feel like the overriding thing I notice sometimes is how hard he works to keep me happy. I don't deserve him but I'm lucky.
So now that I've declared our relationship is what I want most to take into 2013, watch, this will be the week I find out he has a crack whore on the side... Haha! I should have listed that he's eminently trust-worthy, which is good for me as it squelches any jealous tendencies.
#reverb12 Day 7: What will you take with you?
What's the one thing you want to take with you into 2013?
Umm, lots of stuff. Pretty much everything. My whole life. My happy marriage. My awesome job. My healthy family.
I don't love this prompt and am not sure what it means.
I guess if I hae to think about what's most important to me, I'd say the happy marriage bit. I want to carry my present level of closeness to and affection for my sweet hubby into 2013. He's such a trooper to put up with me sometimes. I'm not exactly easy to live with, I'm sure.
Example. Last night I ran home from work. Unfortunately, there was no cold Gatorade in the fridge. I was pissed. Especially since twice I'd thought to myself to put some in the fridge -- once the night before when I'd drank the last cold bottle, and once that morning, when I saw the empty space where Gatorade usually is in our fridge. So I was sulking during dinner and drinking water. Hubby hasn't been feeling great, so he'd already eaten and gone to bed but he came back downstairs when I got home to keep me company. I told him that I was mad that "someone drank the last cold Gatorade and didn't put more in the fridge." And it was funny how swiftly he denied being that someone -- I knew full well it was my fault, but it's abundantly clear that I frequently falsely accuse him. Haha. That's one of the bonuses to having a roommate, you always have someone to blame when things get lost. Even if it's something like my favorite pink skirt -- I know full well he didn't wear it or move it, but if it's lost, in my mind, sometimes it's easier to just assume he did something with it. Then when it turns out to be in my dry cleaning pile and I later find it, I know it was just me forgetting I wore it. But in the moment, at least for me, I like shifting blame. How in the world does he put up with that? Haha.
He's a good influence on me in many ways:
He's very nice to people, including strangers who would otherwise scare or irritate me.
That ties into the fact that he's endless patient (contrast with me, one of the 20 most impatient people in the world I believe).
He's easy-going in general.
He's good at recognizing what matters, which ties into being easy-going. If I want to do something and he doesn't, if I indicate I really, really want us to do it, he'll generally give in. He never argues over something silly, or just for the sake of arguing (which is definitely something I and many other lawyers have been known to do... occupational hazard!).
He's almost always in a good mood, and that rubs off on me.
He's very affectionate, at least at home, so I get lots of hugs and kisses.
He's dedicated to getting up on time in the morning to work out, and that definitely rubs off on me.
He's a healthy guy, which is lucky for me, since he does the grocery shopping.
He's very funny, so he will try to make me laugh when I'm in a bad mood.
He's generous with his time, love and affection (and he's not materialistic, and is on the same page as me for the most part when it comes to spending money).
He's adventurous; if I can win the battle to do SOMEthing, he's ready for ANYthing.
He's so sweet to me. He makes such an effort to make me happy. From unloading the dishwasher when he's home sick, to remembering my favorite frozen meals to get me for lunch. I feel like the overriding thing I notice sometimes is how hard he works to keep me happy. I don't deserve him but I'm lucky.
So now that I've declared our relationship is what I want most to take into 2013, watch, this will be the week I find out he has a crack whore on the side... Haha! I should have listed that he's eminently trust-worthy, which is good for me as it squelches any jealous tendencies.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
#Reverb12 Day 6: Learning
For the month of December, I'm working on doing the daily series of Reverb prompts to help me reflect on the prior year and hope/plan for the upcoming year. If you're interested, join in; I found this to be a very useful exercise when I did it two years ago.
#reverb12 Day 6: What did you learn?
Compare the “you” from the beginning of 2012 to the “you” that you are now. What new skills or talents have you learned or discovered this year?
The biggest thing I learned in 2012 is not really described as a skill or a talent.
You may have seen some articles months ago about a guy who plans to set a world record marathon by carrying weight while running in training (and training full time and believing in himself). His thought is that when he later runs without the extra weight, he will go faster.
I completely understand this thought process. And maybe with the right amount of weight and/or the right athlete, it may be true. He plans to wear a 40 pound weight vest.
I also trained for months for a marathon while wearing at least 35 pounds of weight (actual vest weight was close to 40, but it always contained 35 pounds of weights).
But I can definitively say that it did not make me run faster when I finally took off the weight.
Unlike Mr. Call, I did wear the weight for my marathon (the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon), but like Mr. Call, I believed with all my heart that as soon as I ran without that weight, I would be flying. I expected I would be significantly faster than I had been before I began wearing the weight vest.
I was so wrong.
Well, partially wrong I suppose.
I took off the weight vest and I was flying. I could feel how fast I was running and I was in awe. All my thoughts about training with the vest had proven true. While I ran more slowly with the vest, now that it was gone, I was running so fast.
Then I looked at my watch.
That only killed it for a minute. I was sure my watch was wrong. But then I got mile split after mile split and it was plainly evident that I FELT like I was flying, but in reality my pace was significantly slower than it had been before I started the whole endeavor. I had lost a lot of cardio strength and my legs had become accustomed to a different stride with the vest.
I'm not going to say that it won't be different for Mr. Call. He plans to train to be able to run one mile with the vest at the pace necessary for his goal (which happens to be 4:34 per mile, or something equally crazy!). And then he plans to build his miles from there.
That's not exactly what I did. I didn't have a goal pace, I just wanted to run hard wearing the vest and be able to finish the race. That hard effort pace was slower than my no-weight-vest pace. But yes, I was able to run one mile with the vest significantly faster than I ran 26.2 miles with the weight. Maybe if I'd pushed myself for months? years? to get to the point where my weight vest pace matched my pre-weight-vest pace, it would have been true. Maybe if I'd worn the weight vest only for a couple months instead of 4 months, it would have been true (but actually, I doubt that, it would take much longer than a couple months to get to run a pre-weight-vest pace with a vest).
But the biggest thing I learned in 2012 was that training for 4 months with a weight vest did not allow for a speedy return to my original pace when I took off the vest. In fact, it was a long and painful process to get back to my original pace -- and now a year after I first started running with a vest, I'm still hovering around my original pace and I have not yet gotten any faster. It took me a full 6 months without the vest to get back to my pre-vest pace.
A kind of disappointing thing to learn in 2012, but of course I wouldn't trade it.
I had fun running with new people at a slower pace when I wore the vest. The running program that I use has people at all different paces and I have yet to find a group I didn't like (well, that's not entirely true, one year I had a "coach" who wasn't much of a coach (had never run a full) and she wasn't much of a conversationalist either, that year hurt, but all others have been great). So I got to meet new people. I got to challenge my body in a different way. I ended up having a great marathon result. I learned that an endurance kind of event like that is something I enjoy and am pretty good at. And losing a year of improvement isn't the end of the world. I just need to work hard to get faster, and 2013 will be the year, I'm determined!
#reverb12 Day 6: What did you learn?
Compare the “you” from the beginning of 2012 to the “you” that you are now. What new skills or talents have you learned or discovered this year?
The biggest thing I learned in 2012 is not really described as a skill or a talent.
You may have seen some articles months ago about a guy who plans to set a world record marathon by carrying weight while running in training (and training full time and believing in himself). His thought is that when he later runs without the extra weight, he will go faster.
I completely understand this thought process. And maybe with the right amount of weight and/or the right athlete, it may be true. He plans to wear a 40 pound weight vest.
I also trained for months for a marathon while wearing at least 35 pounds of weight (actual vest weight was close to 40, but it always contained 35 pounds of weights).
But I can definitively say that it did not make me run faster when I finally took off the weight.
Unlike Mr. Call, I did wear the weight for my marathon (the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon), but like Mr. Call, I believed with all my heart that as soon as I ran without that weight, I would be flying. I expected I would be significantly faster than I had been before I began wearing the weight vest.
I was so wrong.
Well, partially wrong I suppose.
I took off the weight vest and I was flying. I could feel how fast I was running and I was in awe. All my thoughts about training with the vest had proven true. While I ran more slowly with the vest, now that it was gone, I was running so fast.
Then I looked at my watch.
That only killed it for a minute. I was sure my watch was wrong. But then I got mile split after mile split and it was plainly evident that I FELT like I was flying, but in reality my pace was significantly slower than it had been before I started the whole endeavor. I had lost a lot of cardio strength and my legs had become accustomed to a different stride with the vest.
I'm not going to say that it won't be different for Mr. Call. He plans to train to be able to run one mile with the vest at the pace necessary for his goal (which happens to be 4:34 per mile, or something equally crazy!). And then he plans to build his miles from there.
That's not exactly what I did. I didn't have a goal pace, I just wanted to run hard wearing the vest and be able to finish the race. That hard effort pace was slower than my no-weight-vest pace. But yes, I was able to run one mile with the vest significantly faster than I ran 26.2 miles with the weight. Maybe if I'd pushed myself for months? years? to get to the point where my weight vest pace matched my pre-weight-vest pace, it would have been true. Maybe if I'd worn the weight vest only for a couple months instead of 4 months, it would have been true (but actually, I doubt that, it would take much longer than a couple months to get to run a pre-weight-vest pace with a vest).
But the biggest thing I learned in 2012 was that training for 4 months with a weight vest did not allow for a speedy return to my original pace when I took off the vest. In fact, it was a long and painful process to get back to my original pace -- and now a year after I first started running with a vest, I'm still hovering around my original pace and I have not yet gotten any faster. It took me a full 6 months without the vest to get back to my pre-vest pace.
A kind of disappointing thing to learn in 2012, but of course I wouldn't trade it.
I had fun running with new people at a slower pace when I wore the vest. The running program that I use has people at all different paces and I have yet to find a group I didn't like (well, that's not entirely true, one year I had a "coach" who wasn't much of a coach (had never run a full) and she wasn't much of a conversationalist either, that year hurt, but all others have been great). So I got to meet new people. I got to challenge my body in a different way. I ended up having a great marathon result. I learned that an endurance kind of event like that is something I enjoy and am pretty good at. And losing a year of improvement isn't the end of the world. I just need to work hard to get faster, and 2013 will be the year, I'm determined!
#Reverb12 Day 5: Dream Destination
For the month of December, I'm working on doing the daily series of Reverb prompts to help me reflect on the prior year and hope/plan for the upcoming year. If you're interested, join in; I found this to be a very useful exercise when I did it two years ago.
#reverb12 Day 5: What was your dream destination?
What was your dream destination in 2012 and why?
It can be a town, city, country or region -- real or imaginary -- and doesn't matter if you actually got there or not!
My dream destination was absolutely China and I am happy to say I went there -- for nearly three weeks in October and the beginning of November. I think I have wanted to go to China since junior high, if not earlier. It always sounded so different, so foreign, so strange, so interesting. It lived up to all of those expectations!
I'm promising myself that I'll do some trip recap posts. But if I had to choose a single photo to sum up why China was my dream destination, here it is.
The Great Wall. Something I'd heard about from the time I was about 5? 8? 10? Either way, very young. Sounded so mystical and strange. And I went there. I walked on it. I ran on it. I climbed on it. I ate lunch on it. I will never forget it. I loved it!
For anyone sharing China as a dream destination, the photo below was taken at Mutianyu in October 2012.
#reverb12 Day 5: What was your dream destination?
What was your dream destination in 2012 and why?
It can be a town, city, country or region -- real or imaginary -- and doesn't matter if you actually got there or not!
My dream destination was absolutely China and I am happy to say I went there -- for nearly three weeks in October and the beginning of November. I think I have wanted to go to China since junior high, if not earlier. It always sounded so different, so foreign, so strange, so interesting. It lived up to all of those expectations!
I'm promising myself that I'll do some trip recap posts. But if I had to choose a single photo to sum up why China was my dream destination, here it is.
The Great Wall. Something I'd heard about from the time I was about 5? 8? 10? Either way, very young. Sounded so mystical and strange. And I went there. I walked on it. I ran on it. I climbed on it. I ate lunch on it. I will never forget it. I loved it!
For anyone sharing China as a dream destination, the photo below was taken at Mutianyu in October 2012.
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