My daily gratitude

I've enjoyed so many people posting each day of November what they are thankful for on Facebook although it kind of makes me smile that the first 10 days or so are things like "my parents", "my health", "my house" and then by the 26th day, it's things like "the wine store down the street that sells huge vats of cheap wine that help me cope with the weather in November". Hey, whatever works for you!

I've been trying to list the things I'm grateful for every day of the year - Tom and I actually do it each night before dinner.  I guess it's our sort of grace before supper.  And in a year when it's easy to say how much a lot of the situations that we have faced have sucked, our list of things we are grateful for each day is quite long and impressive.

We have an amazing marriage, build from a friendship, surrounded by love and trust.  We fight, we disagree, we get angry at each other, but we always talk through things and we never go to bed mad.  We get each other and know that everything we do is way more fun with the other one next to us. We laugh, a lot, usually at the other person and that's fine.  We're a team in every aspect of our lives.


We have the most spectacular little girl in our life.  Never in a million years did either of us think that a little girl could bring us so much happiness.  And each day she gets more and more fun.  She's learning something new around the clock and her personality is starting to shine through.  She smiles and giggles, she plays with toys and pets the dog. She grabs your nose and blows raspberries with a mouth full of carrots.  She's awesome.


We have a dog who I swear is getting younger every day.  We laughed the other day while running her when someone stopped and said "what a cute puppy.  She's going to be a big one".  We went on to tell them that she's 9.5 years old and then smiled the rest of the run wondering if there's a big 10 year growth spurt that we should be concerned with.  She's so patient with Abby, and we keep telling her that someday soon they will be the best of friends, probably when Abby starts feeding herself!

Our family is a blessing to us.  They support us in so many ways and encourage us to put ourselves out there and take risks.  They teach us the value of love and that it's totally unconditional.

We have friends and neighbors that have become like family to us, especially when our "blood" family is so far away.  They are people that we can truly count on for anything.  It's important to have people like that in your life.

We have a beautiful house that's safe and keeps us warm.  We have food on our table each day to keep us fat full.  We have the ability and desire to exercise which keeps us healthy and sane.

Tom has started a new career and through his patience and determination, has been able to teach himself a trade, pass a test and get licensed in the state of Georgia to do something that he's truly excited about in less than a month.  And he has a company willing to mentor him to help him achieve his goals and to learn everything he can possibly learn to be the best.

Seriously, we are lucky people.  We have a great life.  We have so many things to be thankful for 365 days a year.  I challenge you to take a few minutes every day... not just in November... and think about all of the things that are blessings in your life.  I bet the list is longer than you think!!!

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Okay so a few more things.  Black Friday - aka total chaos in stores for things that inevitably will be that cheap again in about two weeks without the crazies.  I try to avoid it if at all possible (I have gone out at the wee hours of the morning just to experience it and it was fun.  Once.  Now my warm bed is WAY more exciting).  And don't get me started on the stores that are open on Thanksgiving.  Ahhhhh... there are a ton of online sales though that are pretty awesome and I totally cool with that.  As a Zensah Ambassador, I'm sharing this one with you because it's a really great deal.  They socks are awesome (well everything about their stuff is awesome, but their socks are really awesome).  This is a good deal people.  Trust me!

It's also Beat M*ch*gan week.  That could possibly be more important to a lot of people than Thanksgiving.  Tom and I have been proudly flying our Ohio State flag all week and Saturday we'll plop our butts on the couch with some yummy snacks and cheer our Buckeyes onto a win.  I'm not a die-hard OSU fan or anything, but it's funny how easy it is to meet someone from M*ch*gan and simply say "I'm sorry". :)  O-H

I'm testing some Mizuno WaveRider 17's right now thanks to FitFluential and really loving them.  Will post a review about them soon.  Here's a sneak peak at them though...

RnR Savannah - the race that never happened

Before Abby was born, I was given the opportunity to get an entry for Rock-n-Roll Savannah marathon.  At the time, I thought that 5 months would be plenty of time to train for a full marathon, with a baby, while nursing.  I mean, really, what could possibly derail my training for a full marathon? 

It sounded like a good goal at the time.

And then I had the baby.  I had a cesarean which required a little more healing time.  And when I started back to running, it was slow going - not just the pace, but well, all of it.  Running 4-5 miles was a HUGE success by about 2 months out.  There was no way that I was going to be able to build to a full marathon in such a short amount of time.  I focused on my training for the half in October in Ohio, thinking that I would keep re-evaluating as my training went on.  When I maxed out at 10 miles and couldn't walk comfortably for two days, I threw in the towel. 

I had heard from so many people different opinions of me thinking of a full marathon five months after delivering.  The majority of people gawked when I mentioned it and told me I was crazy.  There were a few who said I could do it with no problem.  In the end it bummed me out to set a goal that I couldn't achieve.  Could I have worked harder for it?  Probably.  But when it comes down to it, I needed to listen to my body and the reality was that my body was saying "whoa... not yet momma". 

I've heard it can take up to a year to feel 100% after a c-section.  I'm not there yet.  I'm not in pain that could cause medical help, but things aren't 100% yet. 4-5 miles are still fairly average runs for me these days.  This winter I'm focusing on some core work which will hopefully help with the longer runs and maybe next year I can have a second chance at the full in Savannah.

Dreams

It's been 500 days.  That's a long time.  500 days since I toed the line for a triathlon.  I can barely call myself a triathlete if it's been over a year since I did one.  Do I get my triathlete card revoked (don't get me started on my USAT card... that's long expired)?  I used to race 5,6,7 times a year.  I yearned for the competition, the long brick workouts, the tight spandex... oh wait, I never liked that part of triathlon.  And yet as another "season" comes to a close (you know, because doing one half marathon this year is totally a season people, get with it), I think about next year and what my goals are.  Tom asked me to tell him what my "dream" year looked like and in a all-too-common-lately moody response I said "I don't want to even talk about dreaming... I've done that too much and I just get burned".

It's been an amazing year, but a rough one too.  Tom's been out of a job for a while now and worked incredibly hard on a prospect that was right at his fingertips and then ultimately fell through.  We spent so many hours dreaming of how this was going to change our lives... and it did, but not in the amazing way we thought.  That seems to be the story of our life.  So between that roller coaster, and a lot of quite frankly shitty things, I sometimes find it hard to dream about next year.  Yes, I have an amazing family (my daughter is my world), a beautiful home, food on the table, my health, I'm married to my best friend, etc, but I guess I fear disappointing myself, my family, etc by dreaming about what life can be like.  But no one ever got anywhere without dreaming.

So... I apologized to Tom for my crappy attitude, like I always do, I pulled up my big girl panties, and I started to dream.  I see so much for us.  Tom will have a new career.  My company will be flourishing.  Abby is going to turn one and will be walking and talking and be this amazing little person (I mean, she already is, but even MORE amazing).  I dream of financial stability, and good health.  I dream of flourishing friendships and new ones to come.

And then there's my athletic self.  I know she doesn't really exist right now, but  I want to get back to it.  I want to get back to it good.  I put it out there that I want to win a 70.3.  Most likely my loftiest dream of 2014.  But I have one in mind and I'm going to have to work my tail off to get there (it's a small race and it's not totally unachievable, but it ain't gonna be easy).  There's a half marathon that I ran maybe four years ago in 1:48.  I want to go 1:47. I want to be that person that people look at and say "wow... she brought it AND has a life outside of the sport" (you know, because in said dream I'll look cute when I cross the finish line and my little girl will come running at me with her little bow legs and piggy tails.  Everyone will simultaneously stop what they are doing and "ahhh" together in unison at what an amazing mom I am and how adorable it is that my little girl loves me so much.  This is my dream people... let me have my moment).  It probably won't play out that way, but whatevs...

I will look cute though when I cross the finish line. Okay, reality check... I'll still be a sausage stuffed into it's casing - ain't nothing changing that, but at least the casing will look super cute.  I'm racing in this amazing kit this year and representing the Swim Bike Mom Army. 



After all, no matter how hard this year has been, I became a mom.  My dream came true.  

I have 327 days until possibly my next tri (hopefully I find one before that that suits my fancy).  In the meantime, I'm going to be busy.  I have lots of dreams to chase...