Where I poke my head in during a busy streak

So it’s been far too long since I’ve posted – and as I’m wont to do when I try to get myself back in a writing groove, I present bullet points:

  • As soon as Duffy and the kids leave for school in the morning, Luna, my cat, likes to follow me around. Every now & then, I’ll ask her what she’s up to — and she always responds. I don’t speak cat, but I like to think she’s saying “sneaking.”
  • My schedule has been truly obscene as of late – somehow, I’ve ended up accompanying two community theatre productions (Assassins and Sister Act) simultaneously, just as Lent reaches its apex and the kids (and the me) are getting ready to test for the next karate belt.
  • Fortunately, I’ve been able to fit running into my work day regularly – if only because I’m looking at some pretty huge milestones in the near future: The Disney Dark Side Challenge1 and the Flying Pig 4-Way With Extra Cheese2 all coming within the next month. After the marathon, I may take a bit of a break for a little while.
  • Did I mention Disney? The kids are super excited. I might be, as well.
  • On the running front, I’m finding that, if I skip a few days, I run considerably faster – which certainly makes sense. If I run the day after a longer run, I run slower – again, no surprise. But, when I look at my mile-by-mile splits after one of these recovery runs, I’m always running far faster at the end of the run than the beginning. The only way I can explain this is that my legs take a very long time to warm up — troublemakers, don’t get old.
  • I can’t really deny it — I haven’t been in the best place, mentally, as of late. For whatever reason, it feels like anything I might do isn’t “good enough,” yet there is no real benchmark about what “good enough” might actually be. Simply, I feel like I’m constantly letting myself down. And therefore am letting everyone in my life down. If I knew what was wrong, I’d address it – but, well, it just feels like it’s everything. Maybe it’s the schedule that I’ve been trying to maintain. While I realize there’s a relatively simple “well, just agree to do less,” solution – if I do less, I feel like I’m letting others down, and that gnaws at me.
  • At least my diet & exercise haven’t suffered too much with this rut — I probably eat way more than I should. And I know, once I realize I’m “in for the night,” I commonly let myself drink a bit too much (or, I just fall asleep as soon as I stop moving) – but, I’ve been keeping to my diet fundamentals. And, with rare exception, I’ve been able to talk myself into working out after walking the dog & making lunches, instead of taking a little snooze.
  • I say my diet & exercise are mostly under control. While I’ve put on about 20 pounds over the past year, I constantly have to remind myself that extra weight doesn’t necessarily mean “something bad,” as my waist measurement hasn’t budged.
  • I’m making a concerted effort to get more baseball into my life this year. Come the afternoon, at work, I’ve been drowning out the world as I get deep into coding (mornings are usually far more interactive as I work through issues with my European coworkers) with Classical Music — but, now that we’re in baseball season, I’m live-streaming baseball games.
  • With regular running means I’m getting regular time to listen to audiobooks. I cannot recommend that you read/listen to The Hate U Give strongly enough. I’m now working my way through old Stephen King novels, but I think I’m going to start a string of memoirs.

1 A 10k on Saturday and a Half-Marathon on Sunday.
2 A mile on Friday afternoon, a 10k + a 5k on Saturday, and a Full Marathon on Sunday.

1 comment

  1. So good to see you writing- and running! Disney is on my bucket list too…
    I never thought of listening to audiobooks!! What an A-HA moment! Thanks for that tip.

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