Make It So

My mantra for 2015 is “Make It So”. For all the non-Trek fans out there, this saying originates with Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The past couple years, I’ve tried the Nike motto, “Just Do It”, but it didn’t always work. In the past three days though, when I feel like I don’t want to do something, I hear Patrick Stewart’s voice saying, “Make it so.” And then I do what needs to be done. Granted, we’re only three days into the new year, but I can tell a difference.

So, what am I making so for 2015?

1. Races. Here are the races I want to run for 2015: Disney Glass Slipper Challenge, New River Half Marathon, High Country Half Marathon, Chasing Snakes 10K, Peachtree 10K, Run with the Cows 10K, Spooky Duke 10K, The Cub 7-Miler, Turkey Trot 5K, Mayview Madness 5K, and Geek Girls Run at Dragon*Con.
2. Reading. I’ve taken the Goodreads 2015 goal, and I have 15 books listed to read. They vary from science-fiction to business to memoir to the required summer reading selection for my first year seminar to classic literature that I missed during my schooling.
3. Writing. My goal is to post at least three times a week here in the blog. I’ve had this blog up for about two and half years, and I really haven’t had good consistency. To succeed in anything (running, blogging, or otherwise), I need consistency. But I also need to be realistic. I can do three times a week.
4. Strength. I mean this in both the literal and figurative ways. I can run forever, but ask me to lift something heavy, and I turn into the damsel in distress. So, I’ve added the Bullworker to my exercise routine.  But I also need my mental strength, so I’m adding in daily meditation and breathing exercises.
5. Healthy Habits. This runs the gamut from better bedtime habits to shorter showers to juicing every day to composting the remnants of the juicing for a butterfly garden to a daily meditation practice.
6. Clean the Clutter. I love a clean and organized space, but finding the time in the midst for work, training, and life in general has been hard. So, this year, I’m re-framing my thoughts on cleaning, and I’m counting it as a second workout, especially vacuuming. I’m hoping this will motivate me to do more. I’m also breaking it down, instead of piling it all up for the weekend. Sunday – laundry; Monday – bathroom; Tuesday – kitchen; Wednesday – grocery store; Thursday – living room; Friday – guest room; and Saturday – my room.

Happy New Year!

What’s Cooking?

Yesterday, a mistake I made in the kitchen turned into at a dinner party. For about two years now, I have been trying to go gluten-free, organic, non-toxic, etc. We were invited to watch “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”. I volunteered to make a dirt/bug cake in honor of the scene with all the creepy crawlies and poor Kate Capshaw having to put her hand in the hole to pull the lever to release the door.

I found about 20 different variations on the dirt cake from the simple instant pudding, crushed Oreos, and gummy worms to recipes that called for the cook to bake the cookies, create pudding from chia seeds, and use some weird ingredient for making the gummy worms.

I did find one variation that used cookies-n-cream ice cream instead of pudding. I thought that would be a good idea for an homage to the “chilled monkey brains” dish.

Here’s what I did: I bought gluten-free Oreo type cookies, organic cookies-n-cream ice cream, Yummy Good Earth gummy worms, and organic pudding. I laid a base of the cookies at the bottom, then dished the ice cream in, letting it melt a bit so I could pack it in, and the put it in the freezer.

I then attempted to make the pudding. Key word here is “attempted”. Because it called for whole milk, and to bring said concoction to a boil, I was very terrified of scorching the milk. After what I thought was plenty of time (even more than what the directions called for), I poured the “pudding” into a bowl and set it in the refrigerator for 90 minutes (per instructions). Almost twenty-four hours later, the concoction is still liquid, in essence, not pudding.

So, last night, I had to put the pudding aside, crumble more cookies for the top, and place the worms all over. Everyone loved it. In fact, most said they liked this version better than the pudding version.

The past few weeks, I have been exploring my fear of failure. If there is anything that holds me back, I am afraid to fail. My husband tells me I should have missed some homework assignments in school just so I could know what it is like, and that it’s not the end of the world. With my running, I’m afraid of bad races, bad workouts, not performing to the expectations of others…and maybe this is why I took a hiatus for about seven years. I didn’t want to fail, so I didn’t even try.

I recognize that not every failure will turn into wonderful ice cream dirt cake instead of pudding dirt cake, but I am grateful that I had this minor (and yes, I also recognize that in the greater scheme of things, this is a minor, minor, minor failure) failure to know that, it’s okay.

Give me a break

During my many years of running, I always make sure I give myself a break. In middle school, high school, and college, I always took about a two week break after cross-country and track season. Now that I’m a bit older, I try to take a week off after each race. So this past week has been my break week…although I did attend my yoga class on Monday and Wednesday because this was the last guided practice class for the summer until the academic year begins in August. I am grateful for these breaks because it reminds me of why I love to run and why I need running in my life. Plus this time allows me to figure out my next races. My next race is September 20th, Run with the Cows.

This break also allows me a chance to review some of my habits and determine what needs improvement, as well as what needs to plain go. Right now, I’m continuing my juicing and efforts of a gluten free/plant-based diet, but I do want to go back to using My Fitness Pal to track what’s coming in. I’ve caught myself doing quite a bit of nervous eating in the past six months. With the break in the guided yoga practice, I’m going to start my own home practice.

Day Seventy-Two Training

I’m back from a bit of a hiatus – both running and blogging. I was at Disney for Thanksgiving, but my plans to scope out the course were foiled by the crowds. I did get in a run while at my parents’ in St. Augustine. I felt great. I could tell that I had been doing some elevation training.

My left shin had been giving me some problems, so I decided to take a week off. I also switched to my new shoes with the alternating schedule. This seems to have helped it quite a bit.

The race is less than three months away. The registration is full! I’m feeling a bit nervous, even twelve weeks out. I just want to make sure I stay healthy.

Yesterday I started back with Pilates at noon and a two mile run in the evening. Today I did four miles pretty hard – came in at 34:42.

I have contacted a former student of mine to see about changing up some of my diet. My blood sugar still keeps feeling wonky, and through the magic of self-diagnosing on the internet, I may have the beginnings of chronic fatigue syndrome.

The countdown has truly begun, and I’m going to “Just Do It”!