Ladybug and Angelfish are back to school and I am back to healthy eating and workouts. I cannot say i hit every day of December of working out. I did walk Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, another day in there too, And New Year's eve. then it was january. I took the girls to the beach one day last week and we not only walked more than a mile but also did some speed training (aka "I'll race you!"), and did an hour of yoga Thursday, and I am pretty sure that our day at the science museum was about a mile of walking, although I am not sure that counts. (Ladybug was mad that I wouldn't stop as soon as she got up so I explained to her the importance of exercise while finishing and then sent her off to draw a picture.
With New Year's just passing I am sure there are a lot of resolutions floating around. I personally hate resolutions. You make a list of things that you are going to stop or start and put all this pressure on yourself and go back to your old ways by March if not before.
So this year, I sat down with myself and was honest. I am seeking something in my life. I know I want to help others in a meaningful, life impacting way and I know I am passionate about some things that I think all people are by nature of their humanity have a right to: food, shelter, and health. I've decided to keep looking for the opportunity to work in this arena, preferably in a paid position, but I will continue volunteering and my Boards while that may arise. I am contemplating getting a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Rollins as well to help make it clear that I understand how my transferable skills from practicing law work work favorably in the nonprofit sector. I have accepted too the fact that food, while always there, is not a friend to rely on other than to make my waistline expand (as it unfortunately has from stress eating followed by holiday eating - entitlement to cookies, candies & cake because I want it, I realize is some inner child of mine who needs to be tamed... I have to say after denying myself of sweets and bread for so long and so strictly, it was a ticking time bomb of overeating ready to explode. I am now tweaking...). So I am working on a new attitude towards food. I am seeking God more closely too. I won't talk much about that on the blog as I find that to be more personal and not something I necessarily want to put here, but what I will say is that my choice to leave the law and go to the nonprofit sector and things I want differently in my life feel in my heart to be something that God has been calling me to for years, and somehow over the past year I finally started really listening & not trying to talk myself out of doing. So I am traveling that road.
Do I see these as New Year's Resolutions? No. I see them as an extension of last year and the journey of my life as a work in progress, striving to go the distance to be the person I am meant to be...even if I am not sure exactly what that means.
Which leads me to my 4 mile walk this morning. Despite the house needing a nice cleaning, groceries to do, laundry, job searching, and oversleeping (shocking to think that going to be at midnight makes it difficult to get up a 5:30, right?), not to mention the car needing fixing a/c went out as my Xmas present from the car plus it needs regular maintenance & an oil change), I decided to put myself first and get my much needed 4 mile Monday walk in. So I dropped the ladies off at school, came home, grabbed the cellphone and hit the road. It is cold here by Florida standards - 56! In my running shorts and t-shirt, the 1st 3/4 mile was rather chilly and I told myself if I was still cold by the 1.5 mile turn I'd call it a day. Well, for walking I was booking it today! I was nice and warm & sweating by 1.5 miles and declared I was headed for the full 4. And the little competitor in my head made a reappearance as I turned the corner to start mile 3... There was a guy in a sweatsuit walking a good bit of the way up the road. Probably around 1/2 mile up.I decided to pass him. My legs were a movin', I was sweating and all I could do is pay attention to how I was gaining on him. Yup, I passed him at about the 3/4 mile point. And when I got home (the loops I do end in my driveway), I had walked 4 miles in right under 52 minutes... Which is about a 13 minute mile pace. The irony? That is slightly faster than what was once my RUNNING pace. And I was tempted to keep going another mile, until I saw the dog through the window (whose hip popped out of socket when Ladybug accidentally dropped her on the 30th, almost one year to the day of her being hit by a car and having the same injury) was so excited I was home that she was bouncing up & down. Tomorrow will either be a 1 mile walk and 1 hour of yoga or 2 miles and weight training.
Oh and my 5K. I haven't mentioned it because I am not really looking at it as a race because 1) I am not sure how much of it I will actually run; 2) I haven't "trained" for it like I used to train for a race; and 3) saying it out loud (or in blog land) holds me accountable, and only now (under 1 week away from race day) was I ready for that.
So January 13th, I will be doing the Color Run here in Orlando. First race of any sort since my last triathlon, and I haven't decided whether I will run, walk or do a mix of the two. I am definitely in a different fitness level since the last one, despite knowing that the best thing for you is to never get out of shape in the first place. Yet with the schedule I used to keep, I probably would have imploded if I squeezed in exercise too ....I should have kept it as a priority, but life shifts and we learn, right?
I don't know that I'll do a race report, but who knows! The thing I do know is I am trying to be gentle with myself about the whole experience because I tend to have high expectations sometimes even in spite of reality.
Hope your year is starting off right!
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