Runspiration
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Scary New Happenings
This is what I did today. One of my very dearest friends works at Adobe and invited me to their crazy Halloween party. There were hundreds of people there and the line to get into their haunted offices was more than an hour long wait. But that was ok - they had snakes.Yikes.
But the scariest part was this: about half way through our haunted journey (that included everything from zombies and a gory haunted Olympics to Neverland, Lord of the Rings, and Hunger Games) I got an email. It was from the March of Dimes. After my phone interview on Friday, they have officially invited me to come out to San Jose for a second interview. They said they wouldn't be contacting me until the end of the week...I was excited and scared and scared all at the same time.
I am going to go. For heaven's sake, 7 months into unemployment you start feeling a lot better about taking risks. Who knows what will happen, but no matter what, I am in for a big adventure. Cost effective means I will drive out there this coming Monday. I will interview, maybe see some sights in my old hometown, hopefully spend a couple of days with some really big redwood trees, and then I will come home. And then maybe my life will change. Drastically. Or it will stay the same, and that is ok, too.
All we can do is wait and see.
Scary. :)
Monday, October 29, 2012
Tready Class - Both a Failure and a Success
So, I am not ashamed to say that 2 weeks after having run my 4th half marathon of the year, I was more than a little nervous to think about showing up at a treadmill class. Luckily, I recently made my Mom read The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Bown and just the other day we talked about leaning into the discomfort of vulnerability. This treadmill class seemed like a perfect opportunity to lean into some discomfort. So, I faced my vulnerability and decided to run with it - literally.
I showed up and class and most of the treadmills were full. There were some running rock stars on the front row, and a couple of normal people on the row behind. I am so grateful for those normal people who made me feel a little better. CLASS. WAS. AWESOME. We warmed up and then our teacher decided that torture was a fun way to pass the time in class. We were going to skip. On our treadmills. At an incline of 10, 12, and 15. Have you ever skipped on a treadmill at maximum incline? It is ape crazy, I tell you. We did some other drills and then kept coming back to the skipping. It may not sound super intense, but please believe me when I tell you that it was. It was so intense that I actually pooped out of class 35 minutes into it - 20 minutes early.
Usually that would mean that I would leave class with my tail between my legs and go home to sit in a tragic ball of shame, vowing to never show that kind of weakness in public again. But it wasn't like that. I hit my limit, left and vowed to go back on Wednesday. I really did enjoy the class, I am just not used to it. AND THAT IT OK. While it can be incredibly difficult to try something new, I will never grow if I am never willing to work for it. I left class, came home, and found a 20 minute abs and arms workout on fitsugar and counted that as the end of my class.
And next time, I will stay a little longer, grow a little stronger, and soon, I will be kicking that tready's trash...even if it continues to kick mine :)
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
I'M BACK IN THE GAME!
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Three Things Thursday
Thing Two: It is like Christmas when books that I have on hold at the library finally come in. This one is Wild by Cheryl Strayed. Several years after losing her mother to cancer, Cheryl walked the Pacific Crest Trail on her own. This her story of how she found herself again on that trail. One of the reviews reads,
“A big, brave, break-your-heart-and-put-it-back-together-again kind of book. Strayed is a courageous, gritty, and deceptively elegant writer. She walked the Pacific Crest Trail to find forgiveness, came back with generosity—and now she shares her reward with us. I snorted with laughter, I wept uncontrollably . . . A beautifully made, utterly realized book.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted
I love adventure stories, I love memoirs, I especially love stories that combine the two. I can't wait to read this book. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thing Three: Thai Pumpkin Curry is incredible! Remember how much I love autumn? Well, if I can combine my love of autumn with
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Debates!
I watched most of the presidential debate at the gym tonight. I got there a little late, but put in a good 4 miles on the treadmill. I haven't run inside in such a long time! I don't mind it, but the transition is always a little rough. And while the debate was interesting, it wasn't really the kind of tv that keeps me moving.
When things got slow, I tried to help myself forget that I was on a tread by mill by trying to predict what SNL will parody from the debate this weekend. I think they will feature a lot of made up numbers, Romney interrupting everyone, Big Bird showing up to defend his honor, Obama looking anywhere but at his opponent, and Jim Leher throwing his hands up and giving up all together on moderating. It should be a good show!
Monday, October 1, 2012
First Day of the Best Month of the Year!
October is here! October is BY FAR my favorite month of the year. In fact, this year I have been getting all kinds of emotional about it. Not sure where that is coming from, but I kind of feel like Kristen Bell when she had a sloth come to visit. I just get so excited when I think about autumn, Halloween, crunchy leaves, cooler weather, pumpkin bread, cider, warm soup, cozy sweaters, fall colors in the canyon, carving pumpkins, and all of the other wonderful things about this time of year.
Today I celebrated the first of October at a local farm with my mum, brother-in-law, and my niece and nephew. We went on a trick-or-treat hayride, practiced our lassoing skills (see above), got lost in a corn maze, and took a little visit to the pumpkin patch. I got my very own pumpkin! And yes, I walked out of there just as proudly as all of the six year olds who had picked their perfect pumpkins!
After partying with my favorite munchkins, I went to my dear friend Kathryn's house for pumpkin bread and cider. It is an annual tradition on October 1st and I have been counting down the days with all kinds of anticipation! It was everything I had hoped for; good friends, cozy food, and the official arrival of my favorite time of year!
And, to make everything better, I actually started this morning off by going for a massage. My mum had gotten me a groupon for a 60 minute massage for me to use after the Disneyland Half, it has been almost a month, but I finally got around to using it. It was heaven. The only bad thing about going for massages is that it reminds me how tragic it is that I don't get them more often. Today I was dreaming about how awesome it would be to have my own personal masseuse who would work on me after every long run.
Ah, a girl can dream, can't she?
Today was an incredible way to begin the month and I am so excited to see what this October holds in store for me!