So my last post was in May 9th... Seems like forever in blog time :)
What have I been up to since then?
- Its getting close to the end of the school year, lots of testing and grading, conferences with parents who can't understand why their child is failing...
- The weather has been crud so it makes for less than inspiring ideas for posts.
- I've been working hard on getting a plan together for finishing grad school. Looks like things are finally coming together but it may put a BIG speed bump in the marathon training.
- Hubs took a 4 day fishing trip to Canada. Solo parenting makes me not a good blogger.
- Little Man popped another tooth through. It's not the one I expected to come through so it was sort of a surprise.
- I've been running in my vibrams... more posts on that to come.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Negative self-talk...
One thing I've learned as an athlete and as a mommy is that negative self-talk gets you nowhere fast! I think we all suffer from it just a little bit but the key to reaching your potential and seeing yourself as a success is silencing that nagging little voice with nothing good to say.
My dad was always the first to tell my sisters (there's 3 of us girls in the family) that "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all!"
I think these words apply to being a mommy and a runner. It's so easy to get down on yourself about things, I could go right to town starting with all the bad feelings I have about letting someone else watch my baby so I can have a career. Then I can round it out with feelings of inadequacy about my less than adequate house-keeping skills and to top it all off - I have a bad habit of letting myself walk when there's no running buddy along with me.
But what does this get me?
Nothing but feeling bad about myself.
I've found that the best thing I can do for myself is focus on the good I do - I work to provide a good life for my child, I will teach him a great work ethic, my house-keeping may suck (and it really does) but my baby has more attention than he knows what to do with (and I happen to think that's a good thing!) and I might walk a little but I'm out there putting in the miles. I try damn hard to be better than I was yesterday.
You know, I actually used that line in a job interview once and I meant it! The interviewer asked "What sets you apart from the other canidates we are interviewing?" My response was this, "What you get today is not as good as what you will have tomorrow! I am always trying to better myself."
So if you walked on your run today, walk a little less tomorrow.
And don't forget to tell yourself about all of the good things you do!
My dad was always the first to tell my sisters (there's 3 of us girls in the family) that "if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all!"
I think these words apply to being a mommy and a runner. It's so easy to get down on yourself about things, I could go right to town starting with all the bad feelings I have about letting someone else watch my baby so I can have a career. Then I can round it out with feelings of inadequacy about my less than adequate house-keeping skills and to top it all off - I have a bad habit of letting myself walk when there's no running buddy along with me.
But what does this get me?
Nothing but feeling bad about myself.
I've found that the best thing I can do for myself is focus on the good I do - I work to provide a good life for my child, I will teach him a great work ethic, my house-keeping may suck (and it really does) but my baby has more attention than he knows what to do with (and I happen to think that's a good thing!) and I might walk a little but I'm out there putting in the miles. I try damn hard to be better than I was yesterday.
You know, I actually used that line in a job interview once and I meant it! The interviewer asked "What sets you apart from the other canidates we are interviewing?" My response was this, "What you get today is not as good as what you will have tomorrow! I am always trying to better myself."
So if you walked on your run today, walk a little less tomorrow.
And don't forget to tell yourself about all of the good things you do!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Becoming a runner
This all happened sort of accidentally for me. To be quite honest I hated running for the majority of my life so far.
I was athletic in high school - played soccer and volleyball and was generally in good shape all the time. I remember back in those days looking at the cross country runners and thinking how completely crazy they were! Sports were one thing, I saw the objective and knew what I had to do to score. But running? For the fun of it?!
Flash forward to September of last year. I was coming up on the big 6 week check-up post giving birth appointment and no feeling so hot in my new mommy bod. Lets add into that equation the exhaustion from caring for an infant, breastfeeding around the clock, adjusting to what life as a mommy and wife means, and preparing to return to work. It's a crazy time!
I guess I figured I would try to gain control of my life again somehow. I had to go back to work, the baby needs to eat, and I couldn't make him go to sleep. ;) The flab, however, seemed manageable. Exercise was on the menu.
A workout video? Nah, too easy to drop and no one would notice. (I'm not very good at holding myself accountable)
A volleyball league? I'm not sure they even exist in my area.
Gym membership? Ha!
The only thing that seemed to make sense was running. I talked my mom into training for a 5k using the Couch to 5k plan. Her ultimate goal was to run a 15k and isn't a great self motivator either so the plan worked out well for us both.
We tried our hardest to make something we knew we would hate a little bit more fun. We took a trip to the city for lunch and a real fitting for sneaks and sports bras. The day I got medical clearance at my 6 week appointment was our first run.
We walked 90 seconds and ran 60 seconds over and over. My mom tried to blame herself for holding me back that day and for nearly every run after that but my new mom body isn't very tough. I was glad for a running partner to take my mind off the struggle.
We got stronger and I felt better after we ran but I still hated the act of running. About 4 weeks into our 9 week program a co-worker recommended Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. This book changed so much for me.
I learned that my body was born to run and that running was perfect opportunity to worry about nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. I recommend this book to everyone - even if you don't want to become a runner.
I started to like running. Kinda.
After 7 weeks of C25k we ran a Turkey Trot. It was tons of fun and though we finished in last place, I started to feel like the athlete I once was.
That's what running is for me now. Something I do for myself - to help me remain a reasonable human being and to feel like an athlete. For some reason that title "athlete" means a lot to me.
I was athletic in high school - played soccer and volleyball and was generally in good shape all the time. I remember back in those days looking at the cross country runners and thinking how completely crazy they were! Sports were one thing, I saw the objective and knew what I had to do to score. But running? For the fun of it?!
Flash forward to September of last year. I was coming up on the big 6 week check-up post giving birth appointment and no feeling so hot in my new mommy bod. Lets add into that equation the exhaustion from caring for an infant, breastfeeding around the clock, adjusting to what life as a mommy and wife means, and preparing to return to work. It's a crazy time!
I guess I figured I would try to gain control of my life again somehow. I had to go back to work, the baby needs to eat, and I couldn't make him go to sleep. ;) The flab, however, seemed manageable. Exercise was on the menu.
A workout video? Nah, too easy to drop and no one would notice. (I'm not very good at holding myself accountable)
A volleyball league? I'm not sure they even exist in my area.
Gym membership? Ha!
The only thing that seemed to make sense was running. I talked my mom into training for a 5k using the Couch to 5k plan. Her ultimate goal was to run a 15k and isn't a great self motivator either so the plan worked out well for us both.
We tried our hardest to make something we knew we would hate a little bit more fun. We took a trip to the city for lunch and a real fitting for sneaks and sports bras. The day I got medical clearance at my 6 week appointment was our first run.
We walked 90 seconds and ran 60 seconds over and over. My mom tried to blame herself for holding me back that day and for nearly every run after that but my new mom body isn't very tough. I was glad for a running partner to take my mind off the struggle.
We got stronger and I felt better after we ran but I still hated the act of running. About 4 weeks into our 9 week program a co-worker recommended Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. This book changed so much for me.
I learned that my body was born to run and that running was perfect opportunity to worry about nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other. I recommend this book to everyone - even if you don't want to become a runner.
I started to like running. Kinda.
After 7 weeks of C25k we ran a Turkey Trot. It was tons of fun and though we finished in last place, I started to feel like the athlete I once was.
That's what running is for me now. Something I do for myself - to help me remain a reasonable human being and to feel like an athlete. For some reason that title "athlete" means a lot to me.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Doom and gloom rainy day
Things that bug me today:
1. Messy house
2. Piles of laundry
3. Whining
4. Nasty takeout - I didn't even enjoy it!
5. Pumping
6. My book just out of arms reach when Little Man is sleeping on me.
7. People that get in my baby's face, talk in obnoxious voices then wonder why he doesn't want to go to them.
8. Today is a rest day. I want to run.
I realize that I'm being a brat and none of this is really worth complaining about but oh well!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
1. Messy house
2. Piles of laundry
3. Whining
4. Nasty takeout - I didn't even enjoy it!
5. Pumping
6. My book just out of arms reach when Little Man is sleeping on me.
7. People that get in my baby's face, talk in obnoxious voices then wonder why he doesn't want to go to them.
8. Today is a rest day. I want to run.
I realize that I'm being a brat and none of this is really worth complaining about but oh well!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
5 things I should be doing right now...
1.) Finishing up work my grad class.
2.) Planting my vegetables outside in the beautiful weather!
3.) Laundry
4.) Grading papers (projects and tests - what was I thinking?)
5.) Laundry (I get to use that twice because of the obscene amount that has piled up!)
What do you have to do but haven't found the time to?
2.) Planting my vegetables outside in the beautiful weather!
3.) Laundry
4.) Grading papers (projects and tests - what was I thinking?)
5.) Laundry (I get to use that twice because of the obscene amount that has piled up!)
What do you have to do but haven't found the time to?
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