Yes, You Can.

But in this case, you probably shouldn't.  (Unless you are a little bit more ready than I was.)  You can do nearly anything you set your mind to, and this past weekend, despite not having run probably even one time all winter, and also despite never having run longer than about 3.5 miles ever, I ran in a 5 mile race.  And hardly walked at all.  And finished.  And didn't die.  And liked it.  A lot.

But I paid like hell for it later.  Running 5 miles is no joke.  It's longer than I've ever run before, a distance that's longer enough than 5K (which is 3.2 miles) to sound more daunting.  But I had to do it, for a number of reasons.  One, I intended to run in a marathon this spring, which I decided on and registered for before well before we decided to sell our house and move, which caused me to basically abandon doing anything healthy for myself all winter.  Even when I knew I didn't have enough time left to train for the marathon, I cut it down to the 10 mile option, but then we were in the midst of the move and I still didn't run.  This would at least give me a chance to kick my own ass into gear and recapture the fitness bug.  The second reason I couldn't help myself?  It was right in our neighborhood!  The start/finish was a short, easy walk from my house, and the #3 mile marker was practically in front of my house.  Luckily I didn't choose to bail at that point and stop, but it certainly was an option.

Repercussions of my quasi-success?  One, I could barely walk for the next two days.  Two, I finally got sick of being in the "back of the pack".  This is by no means the first time I've entered a fitness event from a position of being undertrained, and I have a history of BOP finishes.  It finally got to me this time, I'm finally over it.  I'm desperate now to find a way to return to some kind of a regular workout regime, and to be much better prepared for my next events.  Because since I sure do love 'em, I might as well do better!

Thought Soup

As I tend to use that title with some frequency, I should probably make it a more regular feature.  Basically it’s when I have a whole bunch of crap to talk about, and I mash it all into one, long post. 

On Our New House

We’ve finally moved!  We sold our older, serviceable and fairly cute but way, WAY too small for us townhouse and moved into a dreamy, nicer, newer, way, WAY bigger, doesn’t-feel-like-a-townhouse townhouse in the very same neighborhood we so dearly love.  Still having so much to unpack sucks royally, but we are on our own schedule for it now and are free from the vast majority of the stress that had enveloped us throughout the moving process.  My 5 year old son keeps telling me how much he loves it, and occasionally my husband and I pinch ourselves in disbelief and wonder how we got so lucky.  

Oh, and have you heard?  I live in a spa resort.  At least, it feels like I do.  Our new place is super quiet, it is nice and large, it is all tricked out with nifty upgraded features that make us feel spoiled, we have a huge, comfy new king-sized bed, and did I mention how quiet it is?  Ahhhhh…

On being a “Pole Master”

This is one of the most fun things I have ever accomplished, hands down.  After a couple of years and an injury stop-restart, I completed 6 levels of pole dance instruction and spent 8 more weeks prepping to put on a graduation show.  What a freaking blast!  The music is great, the ladies are even better, and it’s still the very best workout I have ever had.  So much more I want to continue to do and learn with it, and I can’t wait to get another chance to perform.  I loved it, and I loved getting to show off to my friends, family, and even total strangers!

On Having Hawaii-Bound Friends

Exiting my life are two of my best friends and their two kids, who are some of my kid’s best friends.  I am so, so happy and excited for them, yet so so SO terribly sad to lose our proximity to them.  It is hard to find people in life that you have so much in common with, are so compatible with, have kids your kids’ age, have been in your life for a bunch of years, and that also happen to live just a few seconds down the road, but we were lucky enough to have had that with them, for a good while now.  Now they are embarking on their own fantasy life’s adventure by up and moving to Hawaii.  Who could blame them?  I can’t wait to hear about their adventures.

On the Fitness Horizon

The marathon I signed up for before we decided to sell our house and move over the winter didn’t happen.  The 10 miler I cut it down to when I knew the marathon was out of the question isn’t going to happen, it being in 11 days.  I am going to enter a 5 miler in my neighborhood this Saturday, which is going to kick off my return to fitness, but which is also going to HURT.

After that, Sprint Tri in my backyard, the same one I’ve done the last two years, except this time I will do it in both June and August.  And then in September, my boss, who is in the process of kicking breast cancer’s ass, has asked me to do a 3-Day (60 mile) fundraising walk with her, and I was honored so I accepted.  (Marathon Plan 2.0 will be for next year…)

On What’s Next?

VEGAS, BABY!!  Mid-April.  Suite with a view of the strip, pool weather, The Little White Wedding Chapel, dear friends, swanky food, and a crapload of fun.  ‘Nuf said.

I'm 40!!

I've done it, I've turned 40 and I didn't implode.  I did it in style, too, within the course of a week we closed on our house sale and purchase, moved, had the birthday, then had my graduation "poleformance" attended by friends and family.  I'd say that's a pretty successful and fun way to start a new decade.

The funny thing is, I freaked out for about a year and a half about turning 40, and the morning of my birthday (which is the very same as the FABULOUS Dr. Seuss, I might add) as I was driving to work, I realized that it was just another day.  A simple but significant epiphany.  So, just like that, for now, the mid life crisis has been thwarted.

HOWEVER, this blog still lives on because I still have a lot going on, a lot to talk about, and a lot more to accomplish...

Underwear is Fun to Wear!

So, today I participated in the "Cupid's Undies Run" in DC.  It's a charity benefit, and as evident in the title, people run a little over a mile in mostly only their underwear.  In public.  In February.

So, picture hanging out in a bar with 500 people you mostly don't know, about equally men and women, all decked out in the scantiest, wackiest and/or most attention-getting garb they could come up with.  There were tons of women in pink, red, and heart laden undies, some even with wings.  There were boys with body hugging superhero underwear, hearts carved into their chest hair, etc.  It was awesome.  And to be honest, with that many people standing around in their underwear, it didn't feel nearly as awkward as I expected to take off my pants, put them in a bag, and give them to the coat check guy.  Even though the bar was stuffed with underwear clad people wall-to-wall, at times having to push past each other, it was all cool.

I was there with a team of ladies from the DivaFit studio, and we all wore pink feather boas to supplement our Divalicious wardrobes.  It was sunny but still fairly winter-breezy out, and I had on knee high socks, and another pair that I cut the feet out of as arm warmers.

The short run took us by the Supreme Court and the Capitol, with loads of spectators along the way, and it was an exercise in fun, taking pictures, laughing at ourselves and other people, and major camaraderie.  When it was time to reclaim our stuff and put pants back on after having them off for a couple of hours, THAT almost felt weird.  I think my husband thought I was completely out of my mind for doing this, but I couldn't be more pleased with the experience!  We're already plotting next year's team attire...

Inspired.

One of the most inspirational people in my life (other than my mother) is my dear friend, "W", who I have known since we were sorority sisters in college.  As college kids we shared a lot of the same plights: wanting to meet boys, wanting to fit in, wanting to figure out a path in life, wanting to attain a better figure, etc.  While I gradually found my way post-school into my career in Planning/Zoning and eventually met my husband and settled down, it took her a little longer to find herself and be happy.

Fast forward to the last few years, and she has turned into the most incredibly amazing woman.  She is an FBI agent, and is part of a very exclusive "team" therein which I will not specify out of her need for anonymity, she had the sense to request assignment to sunny Florida, met and married her wonderful sweet husband, has a beautiful house with an amazing backyard pool "oasis" in a fabulous neighborhood, and they now have two absolutely priceless twin baby boys in their lives.  

She has always been the pinnacle of organization.  When we shared an apartment for a year after college, her area was always spotless and just so, and I used to drive her literally UP THE WALL with my much sloppier habits in comparison, especially when it came to leaving dirty dishes around.  Later, after the birth of my son she came to visit and she and my mom spent an entire afternoon trying to organize my house with all the new baby stuff and getting the nursery set up while I napped off my stressed out and sleep deprived haze.  The things she/they did definitely helped get a better handle on things, too.  About a year later when she again came to visit we had just gotten through some really rough family-wise illness in the middle of the winter, and it was so tough on us we were in a bit of a funk.  She pulled me together and suggested that no matter what kind of chaos I was undergoing and trying or not able to keep up with, that if I would just make the bed every morning and keep the bedroom tidy, at least that would be one restful spot on the house and it would gradually spread.  Organization is key to mental restfulness.  Do you know that to this day 4 or so years later I have made my bed every day since?  And gradually, as we've gotten a better handle on things, and especially as our house is in currently in "showing" condition, it truly is a reality that tidiness=peacefulness.

So, now that she is a new mother of twins, I had told her I would visit her as soon as she wanted/needed me to pay back the love and support she had given me as a new mother.  She's sounded pretty together this whole time on the phone, even with the boys being born early and spending a month in the hospital.  So, here I am to visit, and I am stunned:  even with having two new babies in the house, in addition to 4 cats and a husband, she has it completely together.  And I mean, COMPLETELY.  There is not one speck of dirt and not one thing out of place.  The kids rooms are organized, the play areas are organized, the kitchen is tidy and immaculate, and even though she and her husband are juggling the pair of them and frequent feedings, etc., she absolutely puts every single thing in its exact rightful place the second she is done with it.  Their house looks like it could go on the market with 15 minutes' notice, no exaggeration!!  In addition, she has lost enough of her baby weight that if I hadn't seen pictures I'd never believe she had given birth recently, never mind that they were twins.  She is completely put together, too, with cute hair and makeup.  The house in in perfect shape, as well, no projects "waiting to be done", she does all that kind of stuff immediately, and she knows how to fix everything from plumbing to electrical work to carpentry to cars.  I am totally in awe.  She is relaxed, happy, and efficient.  It truly makes me want to better myself as a person and live my life like that, with a perpetually organized and efficient life.  At a healthy weight.  Something to strive for, with an example of how seemingly easy it can be!

A Nine Hour Weekend

Well, ok, nine hours on Sunday plus an evening with friends on Saturday, but truly it only felt like the weekend started at 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. Hence why I am awake in the wee hours of the morning Monday, because I just couldn't bear to have it be any shorter than necessary.  We had our house shown a bunch of times on Saturday and an then an open house on Sunday.  Well attended for a change, thankfully.  And I'm just now getting through all the laundry and stuff for the week as a result.  Missed most of the football games, just caught the highlights.  Have a four day workweek coming up, which normally would sound like a good thing, but I'm a little busy/behind in my work right now, am fighting off a sinus infection for which I need to visit my doc, and it's supposed to snow on Tuesday, all of which could disrupt the week into being even a little bit shorter.  And the added stress of still having the house stuff up in the air and stealing our relaxing at home time that we badly needed is driving me/us to the crack point.  I guess the good thing is that I will not be home this weekend, so although I won't be home I will get some time to relax, to myself, in a warmer place...

A Different Kind of New Year

Every single year since I can remember, I have made New Years' Resolutions.  Sometimes they are broad, like "Take Better Care of Myself" and sometimes they are more specific, like "Lose X Pounds by X Date".  But I have always been motivated by a chance for a fresh start, a new Monday, a new month, and the first Monday following New Year's has always been the mother load.

This year is different.  I have three resolutions, of sorts.  The first two are rather concrete, and a little bit of a departure for me.  The first is "Get an in person sight/smell of the ocean at least once a month." Why?  Because it is my happy place, my zen core, and I feel healed and renewed every time I encounter it.  I have a concrete and realistic plan for this, with a little help from my parents' beach house and a friend in FL.  The second Resolution is also quite concrete- "Run or compete in at least one physical event per month."  I also have a plan for achieving this for most of the months, although January is going to be a little dicey.  There's only one event I'm interested in and I'm not sure yet if I'll be free.  But I'm registered for events in February and March, and have plenty of planned options for April and beyond.

The third is kind of my usual deal, but is already shaping up differently.  I want to take better care of myself, like I often aspire to, and part of that is achieving my weight loss and fitness/health goals.  This is especially important to me in this year of turning the big 4-0.  But even before the new year turned over I was already resigned to a couple of things on this front.  One, I am mentally not in a place to be trying hard-core diet programs right now.  Our house is on the market, and adding that to my already full plate of mommyhood, work being fairly busy, etc. has me maxed out mentally.  Two, every year this "all or nothing with a deadline" approach has consistently and reliably failed.

So, I am actively pursuing the first two concrete resolutions.  And the third?  Well, I am thinking about ways to take better care of myself, and I am working up to the kind of healthy eating I want to be doing. I am trying to reduce any unnecessary obligations, and focus my time on the stuff and people that are important to me.  I do hope that I will be able to make some progress before all of the milestones I have coming up, and it would help a whole freaking lot if we could sell our house and get to buy and move into the one we want and be done with it.  But mentally I am in a whole different place than usual, and maybe being forced to sneak up on this goal gradually instead of boxing myself into a "diet" plan and schedule will actually help, for a change.