1200 Miles — Woo-Hoo?

Yesterday I crossed the finish line of my January “Someday”: running and/or walking 1200 workout miles during the calendar year.  I put in miles on the treadmill last winter and early spring and again late this fall when the weather turned bad.  I put in miles in snow, rain, and heat.  I put in miles in Central Oregon, Southern Oregon, Portland, Seattle, The Redwoods, Las Vegas, the Oregon and Washington Coasts, Los Angeles, New York, Rome, Cortona, and Venice.  My monthly mileage has been right around 100 miles except for October when we were in Italy much of the month.  I quietly finished yesterday with three miles on the treadmill before dawn and then a three mile walk on our snowy paths.  There was no finisher’s metal, no finish line crowds; in fact, my husband is the only one who knows right now that I made it to my goal.

So where’s the woo-hoo? Surprisingly, I feel a little ambivalent about completing this year-long quest.  I did it.  I’m glad I did it, but I don’t think I’m taking away from the experience the excitement and enthusiasm I expected.  The reality is, I did this as a physical challenge, but my physical condition is worse than when I started.  I weigh more and my flexibility and strength have declined due to decreased stretching and weight lifting as I’ve dedicated more of my workout time to running and walking.  I’m actually relieved to be done so I can go back to a more rounded workout routine.  I’ll still be on the treadmill or the paths almost daily, but without the need to maintain a 4-mile per day average, six days a week and I’ll also be able to add in more varied workout activities.  So, woo-hoo for me!  I completed my goal.  Maybe sometimes an achieved “Someday” isn’t all we expect it to be.  Maybe it’s true you can’t do it all and a commitment to one thing means you can’t do something else.  As time goes on, I think I will be more proud and more gratified of doing something healthful not many people have matched.  For now I am going to take the best of this – the motivation to be healthy – and apply it to 2017 and the rest of my life!

December’s Someday: Embrace the Crazy!

New month, new Someday!  I’m late getting this written, but I’ve started working on my December Someday:  getting my website up and running.

It all started a few years ago when my oldest daughter’s boyfriend was trying to plan an event to use as the backdrop for his marriage proposal.  Plans were secretly made, but my daughter kept changing her own plans not realizing she was creating havoc for her poor boyfriend who had to keep changing his plans.  At one point, knowing my daughter as I do, I said to him, “You better learn how to embrace the crazy!”  Embrace the Crazy quickly became a catchphrase in our family.  For Christmas that year my husband even began the process of trademarking the phrase.  My second son then developed a logo for us, I set up a website, we purchased some starter Embrace the Crazy items, and then….  Well, the website is still in the development stage, up until yesterday the items we’d purchased were still in their boxes stored in our garage, and my other ideas for ETC are still just ideas.

This month, that will change.  I’ve already brought the boxes out of storage, I’m researching packing boxes and mailing options, and I’m working on the website.  My plan is to have it ready to launch by January 1^st.

I hesitated to take on this Someday this month when life is already so busy because of the holidays, but, what the heck, I’ll just Embrace the Crazy!

Getting Started Counts

Here it is the first of December and I haven’t finished my knitting project from last month.  Last night, as I was adding a couple more inches to my project and mentally beating myself up for not having completed it, I realized I was being too harsh with myself.  After all, my Someday for November was to learn to knit and there I was knitting!  The project I’m working on is from a starter kit I purchased at least five years ago.  It’s been sitting in the closet ever since waiting for me to get around to learning to knit.  Well, it’s not in the closet anymore; it’s sitting beside my chair with several inches completed.  Sure, I have a lot to learn about other stitches, adding and decreasing (I’m not even sure that’s the right terminology), but the point is – I’m knitting!  Getting started does count!