"C'est la vie" say the old folks It goes to show you never can tell

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

If your aren't familiar with the song my title references, it's a story song about a teenage couple who marry and as the title (refrain) indicates...just because they're very young...you never can tell.

This song kept playing on a loop in my mind yesterday...you know how often that happens with me.

I had a run scheduled and since the weather predicted storms starting sometime after noon, I didn't want to waste any time getting out there. An early run of course being cooler, another reason to lace up early. Now, I got up, had a pre run snack and logged on to my desktop so that it would be ready to receive my data when I returned. This is the new desktop and I was being reminded that I had not yet burned recovery discs. Ok, husband is still sleeping and my 20 oz. of water and the requisite morning coffee need to be given a bit of time to do what they do.

I burned the recovery discs and had more coffee, sparked a bit and gathered all my gear to be ready.

Now sometime last week, I got myself a huge blister on the heel of my left foot. I had been wearing no show socks on a walk and must of gotten some sand in there...never felt it though until I got home and removed my shoes and socks. It amazingly, had not created problems for my walks and runs since I had good cover and with the right socks some additional cushioning, but now, the skin over the blister was gone and the new skin now exposed is fairly tender. This might not be good.

And just to make things more interesting, I was raking weeds in the shallows the day before and dumb dumb dumb, I actually stepped on my rake....I was using a thatching rake and it cut right into the great toe of my left foot. Sheesh!

Walking back and forth to check my disc project process, I discovered a small stone in my left shoe...nice...glad this showed up here. Since I needed to remove the shoe anyway, I grabbed another bandaid and covered that heel.

About the time my recovery discs were done, I felt the need to use the facilities. Good...perfect timing so I'll be set for my run without issues.

Sorry, this falls into the category of TMI...but I must have really been full of it. I needed to make 3 trips to the necessary room...Ugh....this may not be a great run! This is totally out of character for my GI tract.

Finally, I get out for my run. It's nice and cool. During my warm up walk, my gut feels a little twitchy. There can't be anything left in there!

When I start to run, things are starting to feel a bit better. As a matter of fact it seems like a charmed run with my breathing and pace just naturally finding the sweet spot. My heel feels good. The great toe isn't bad either. And the gut....well that seems to be settling down too.

And at about 1/2 mile, I glance down and see a nickel...woo hoo! I NEVER find money on my runs. Maybe this won't be a bad run after all!

As you can imagine, the entire run was charmed. I don't know why this run turned out to be so lovely. There certainly were plenty of possible alternative scenarios. But it turned out to be a great run.

"C'est la vie" say the old folks It goes to show you never can tell

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YOU SPENT HOW MUCH ON WHAT?!!

Thursday, June 13, 2013

My dad was a bit of a gambler. Nothing big time but he played cards at the local "smokers", he bought raffle tickets & pull tabs (those tickets like scratch offs but you actually pull the paper tabs to expose the winning numbers or symbols beneath). And dad was always winning things, sets of golf clubs, a briefcase, money, bottles of libations and numerous other things. He seemed to be charmed, but don't ask how much he spent on all of these things over the years. It's not that he wanted to keep it a secret, he just wouldn't know cause he was doing this all the time. Dad knew that the odds were that he had paid for all the prizes he won. It just didn't matter to him, he did it for fun.

I am a lot like my father in many ways, but I'm not a gambler. My friends know I'm Miss frugal. Gambling makes me uncomfortable and of course the times when I buy raffle tickets in support of some cause or other, I know I have just made a charitable donation with no chance of coming home with a prize. LOL

Now, I'm frugal, not cheap. My frugality means I like to find bargains and it also means I feel the need to justify purchases. It does NOT mean that I don't spend money.

Yesterday I FINALLY got the shipping e-mail that the fitbit flex that I ordered is on it's way.
This morning when my husband checked e-mails, he saw this one and asked the title question. No, he doesn't question every purchase I make...remember, he doesn't have to, I'm Miss frugal. LOL I did a lot of consideration before I placed the order in the first place and I did tell him about it but of course this was a long time ago and he hasn't been thinking about it every day like my sparkfriends and I have. So, I had to try to explain this purchase...hmm...kind of a pedometer...a bit pricey if that's all it is...communicates with the computer...better...even tracks sleep patterns...hmmm. LOL

While out on my run this morning my mind went over the many things I have bought in the last few years in support of my fit lifestyle as well as rewards for same. In fact, most of the personal spending I have done in the last few years is on this list. Like my dad and his petty gambling, I couldn't tally how much I have spent on these things but I can tell you that I use and enjoy them!

I was sitting in the office downloading today's run when my husband came in and looked over my shoulder. The other day I had been having issues doing this. Turns out there was an update for the garmin training center that I needed to do...HA! no more troubles. LOL I know he had been wondering the other day if that somewhat pricey item was already shot. I knew it was going to be something simple....frustrating maybe...but simple. Glad it was.

Here's the thing. While he's looking over my shoulder today, my run loaded just fine and looking at my total history I see that I have logged over 850+ miles on the garmin. I would not have been able to tell you how many miles I had logged with this device. I knew I had been logging miles but that hadn't been my focus. This little factoid is pretty impressive to me....And to my husband. With this info and the way my frugal mind works, I grab the old calculator and I see that so far my forerunner has cost less than 24 cents per mile....WHAT A BARGAIN! A few more months and it will start to be paying me to run!

In my lifetime, I have spent money in many different ways in my many attempts to lose weight and get healthier. Some of those expenditures have been a total waste of money, time, and emotional investment. But others......................have turned out to be the best investments ever. Take the high cost of sparkpeople.com.....hmmm 0.00 dollars to join...investment of time to continue....and as the saying goes....the results....priceless!

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Lessons

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Yesterday had been forecast as being a hot day. The night before I told my husband I would go for an early run to beat the heat.

You have already guessed that I didn't get out early.

One thing about stating my intention to run however, to my husband and to my spark friends. I had to go didn't I?

It was a hot run. I made my goals for the run to just do at least two miles, keep my pace consistent, and my heart rate within my range.

I met...no I exceeded my goals and I also reminded myself of an important lesson.

Plans help us to achieve. Plans also help us to make things go as well as they can. Not following my plans made it much more difficult than it had to be.

I wonder if I learned the lesson this time.

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Are You A Success?-Or Should I Say.................

Monday, June 10, 2013

Do you FEEL like a success?

I was thinking about this yesterday on my run. Not to go all Negative Nellie on you, I don't always feel like a success.

I have lost weight. success

I have kept that weight off. success

I would like to lose a bit more. Not doing so well with that.

I became a runner. When I first started running I saw success every time I laced up. My improvements were very tangible evidence of success and I KNEW I was being successful.
Enter a list of issues and my self expectations don't always match my reality. When that happens, I don't feel very successful even though I know I am.

This discrepancy between our success and our feelings of success can be applied to other aspects of our life too and if we let it, it can lead to feelings of failure, helplessness and just plain frustration.

The very simplistic response is to just not allow those feelings to drive us....but that is easier said than done. My best efforts to fight this have to do with going out and defying it.

When I laced up yesterday, I knew I was not meeting my planned mileage for the week. I told myself, "Big deal, slight set back, just repeat the weeks plan in the next week and build from there." But of course my mind wasn't entirely buying it which is why these thoughts of success and failure were running through my head while my feet were running around the lake. LOL While I won't say that any run is totally bad, this one wasn't exactly pretty, there were lots of reasons for that, not the least of which the weather and my allergies.....but I went out and ran. And I thought about my successes and those things that don't feel like successes but really are.

I'm still thinking about those things.

Can I suggest you do the same? Don't dwell on just the wins. Break things down and recognize that sometimes just getting up and trying are successes in themselves. Every run is unique in some way and every day is too. Maybe we step on the scale and it doesn't say what we want to hear...but the scale isn't the only thing speaking to us...what does the mirror say?...forget about those things....what does the body say? I'm not where I was last year when it comes to running...maybe I'm smarter? After all I seem to be getting much much better at maintaining my pace and I'm still lacing up and getting out there so what's not to love?

We won't always feel entirely successful in everything we do....but we are ALWAYS successful at something.

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Hearing From GQ- LOL

Friday, June 07, 2013

That's Glutes & Quads, not Gentleman's Quarterly!

It's been one of those weeks. Rain & cold and household and office demands that kept me housebound and mostly immobile. Not good.

Today is another day, however, and yesterday it did stop raining enough for us to get our usual walk. It was cold and drizzling but not so much that it kept us inside....just enough that every joint was aching.

And.............since my rear had been glued to an office chair for days, I also had to listen to the complaints of my quads and glutes.

Now today it was cool but not raining at all and I was not going to miss another run.

I had my concerns based on how I felt yesterday and I could hear my bestest sparkfriends telling me to be careful to be smart and to not run in a foolhardy fashion......

But I just HAD to run!

Now, the smart me, listened to my friends. I am not going to make this weeks planned mileage...I can repeat this weeks plan next week. Today I took my music and determined it was just a run...no mileage goals, no pace goals....just fun.

Good news, the run showed me that I am making some progress in restoring my running fitness. Even though pace was not a goal, I kept my consistent pace even with the tunes to distract my focus. Shows that focus is stronger now too.

The GQ are right, running is better than sitting any day!

And, when I plugged my Garmin into the new desktop, the drivers loaded and with the exception of having to move the usb cord a little to get it to properly load my run data (must have a little crack or something and should check out getting a replacement cord) all of my run history is there for me and any nervousness about that dissolved into thin air.

My good friend CATANTIGO had huddled this morning to smile. At the time, it seemed too early to even think about smiling.

I'm smiling now.

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