Thanks Guys!

Thanks for the running suggestions. Unfortunately it is raining/sleeting/snowing today but I might have to make it to the gym later to at least give the interval one a try. I would still love more ideas but I am going to try these so far:

1. Intervals one day a week...I will do 10mins/1min. I think that will be plenty and eventually I would like to work up to 20/1 because most races have water stops every mile to every 2 miles. I think that it is beneficial to walk through the water stops so you can get more water in...I have learned that I need to drink early because by the time I am thirsty, it is too late. I think that I might try the intervals on my long runs.

2. I will pick a couple landmarks around my routes that are the only places I will be allowed to check my watch. I think that this might still cause me to fall into the pitfall of getting down if I am not faster but I am going to try to not let that happen by picking places that are well past when I normally start to feel the urge to walk.

3. I also read somewhere else that this guy used to slow down to a VERY slow run and see if he could maintain it instead of walking. He said that he would concentrate on trying to run slow and then his body would recover and he would be back at his normal pace. I think that would work for me because running slow is still way faster than walking.

If you guys think of anything else, let me know.

Running Mind Games

So, I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about my running. The p90x has definitely made me stronger and physically I am definitely able to run longer, harder, and with less tiredness. Now my problem seems to be my mind. I tried to explain this to Craig the other night (and I think that I might have even talked about it here at one time or another)...I have a mental roadblock that I am not sure how to get over. It is a roadblock that seems to tell me that if I am getting the least bit tired, I should stop and walk and I hate it. I went for a fairly short run the other day (outside) and it happened about a mile in. I stopped and walked...then I asked myself why I was walking and started running again. I don't know where the mental block comes from and I don't know how to fix it. C's answer was just to not walk. Yep, I get that but how do I "just not walk" when my mind tells me that I should. How do I make it be quiet? I think that it is hard for someone who doesn't have this issue to understand. Some people can just decide not to do something and they won't. C is that type of person and always has been. I am not. I think that this is evidenced by my need to have a race to train for in order to regularly run or p90x to regularly do toning/weight lifting and by the fact that I know I shouldn't snack but still do. Just saying I won't do it doesn't work for me. I need another plan. I looked up mind games and running and found that I am not alone in this little problem. One person described the feeling so perfectly that I felt like they were inside my own head. They talked about the logic mind and how it knows that you can logically and physically do the run. I KNOW that. I KNOW that I can run 13 or even 26 miles. I have done it no less than 6 times (13 miles) and 3 times (26 miles). It isn't as though I can't do it. They also talked about how the emotional mind is always trying to argue with the logical mind (you should slow down because you will get worn out, is that my knee hurting, am I breathing right, am I sluggish, did I drink enough water today, etc). My biggest trigger/obstacle is time. I am not sure I can adequately explain this because C certainly didn't seem to get it the other night. I can't NOT look at my time. I can't run without knowing how far I went and how long it took me. I also can't seem to stop looing down at the ipod (and Nike+) to see what my time is as I go...this causes me to figure out my pace an whether it will be possible to "do well" that day or not. I get so distracted by it that I think I end up doing worse. I think that I look at it before I have really warmed up and get disappointed and then sort of give up before I have really gotten a chance to get a good run in. I have tried to tell myself that I can't look at it until a certain point (5 songs in, etc) but it just doesn't work. I cheated the other day and looked at it 3 songs in and was a little disappointed. If I don't take it at all, I will not have the motivation because I will not know if I am improving. C and I decided that I should put a piece of tape over the display where the time will show up. Then I can know how far I have gone but I can't know my time. If I don't know my time then I will maybe try to push to get the best time that I can because if I feel good, I will assume I am doing well.

I know you guys probably think I am insane after writing all of this and I know that some of you are naturally good runners and fall into the "just do it" category but for those of you who don't. What sorts of mind games do you play with yourself while running (or exercise in general) that help you to check out so you don't focus on the fact that you are running? I am thinking that I might try to get some new music and focus on that but it doesn't come naturally to me. Music to me is the soundtrack of my life. Even though I might be singing along, I can rarely tell you what song I just sang. It isn't a conscience thing that I focus on like a lot of people. I think that a running partner would help a lot of this but I am too much slower than Ali and Mel so I can't run with them...they win our age category in races for goodness sake. I might try to find someone else but not sure who. I did join the running club so maybe I will find someone that way. I need someone a little faster than me but not so much faster that I can't keep up. One other idea that I read was as simple as starting to count your steps. The author said that by counting the steps they stopped focusing on the running and by the time they knew it their run was over. That sounds like something that might work for me...funny.

It is currently sleeting here but if that lets up I might try out one of my new theories later today. If not, I think the weather should be better tomorrow. Would love any suggestions that you have!

Updates

I am finally starting to see light at the end of the tunnel and I have feel like I have had a couple "wins" lately.

- The weather got into the 60s yesterday and today...and there are no 30s in the 10 day forecast. This might not seem like much but my yard has been a solid white since Dec 1st minus two days. I am ready for spring. I am ready to run outside and I feel like I can finally see the light at the end of the winter tunnel.

- I think that I have worked out a deal with C about his smoking. I won't go into any details but he does plan to quit by the end of the year and we have reached a compromise for the weekends and our trips (the times when I have to be around it and smell it). I am super excited about this!

- I got a new boss at work. SO.OUT.OF.THE.BLUE. Whatever. I like the guy so I am not really sad about it but I do have some concerns. The group that he is in and his peers don't really work with the field at all. There is a HUGE wall up between the field and corporate and a lot of my job is to help one side or the other scale that wall...now I am sort of scared that the task will become even harder. Also, his boss operates in what I call 'panic mode'. As in, she came by my office when I was in Atlanta two weeks ago and asked about something. I spent almost a full day during my busiest time getting it ready for her and overnighting it to her because she had to have it. I haven't heard a word since. Not good. I need you to acknowledge when you get something I worked hard on and don't act like something is a fire drill if it really isn't. I also found out that the other 7 people they were going to have report to me was a no-go because of the new group they put me in. I do get to replace the employee I lost (YAY) and some of the other things are still being decided. Craziness!!

- Week 4 of P90x ends for me today. I do not see a lick of difference in my body, the way my clothes fit or the scale. Grr. If I hadn't of read a lot about it online and saw that most women do not see anything until the second or third month, I would be extremely disappointed. Actually, I don't think that I would be THAT disappointed because I definitely saw a change in my running and I am undoubtedly stronger. I think that I just wish some of it would SHOW! Oh well, gonna stick with it. It does give me a bit of confidence at least.

- Our company did well this year so I am going to get a bonus...that makes all the travel and the hard work worth it. At least I am compensated well for the stuff I put up with. We are thinking about redoing our master bath...it really is a tiny bathroom but when C started doing some research it seemed like it was going to cost a lot more than I was hoping to spend...does anyone out there have any cheap hints or ideas? We are probably not going to have this be our forever house but the bathroom needs an upgrade if we want to get a good price when we do sell. We sort of tackle one project a year...I just don't want to put a TON into it when I know we will not be here long. It is also not big so we pretty much have to keep everything where it is (sink, toilet, shower) and just need to get new everything...I think that keeps it cheaper too. Any advice it appreciated :-)

Other than that, not much else...last week was terrible but that deadline has been met so on to better things!

First 5K of the season

Today Ali (still drunk I think from last night) and I ran our first 5K of the season. We are going to try again to run one every month. We did it last year with only skipping August, Sept (but we did the half) and December. Last year we started in March, this year Feb...maybe next year we will be brave enough to do it in Jan and Dec. It is just so cold! I found out today that she will run as long as it is above 20 and she said that with the right gear she even gets hot...I am not sure about that but I might have to give it a try. I did wear tights and a fleece and gloves and a headband today and got hot. Of course it was about 45 degrees but I still didn't think I would get hot in that temp. I felt really awesome during the run. It was extremely windy here today (as it is any time we have a big temp change...weird) so I think that was working against me. I am normally at least 2-3 mins behind Ali but today I was just a minute behind her. Not bad. My time was 30:08 but I think that the wind slowed me down...her time was about 2 minutes slower than normal so I can't help but wonder how I would have done without the wind. Starting in March we are going to try to do the same ones we did last year so I am going to try to beat my time. I think that I am slowly getting better at this whole running thing (finally huh!).

Valentine's Day

Instead of writing a post about how much my job sucks right now and how frustrated I am to be working 12hr days and how they changed their mind about a lot of the exciting things I had coming my way, I am going to write about Valentine's Day...happy day, day of love :-)

We don't really do anything major for Valentine's Day or at least it isn't a given that we will....a few years ago C did something really sweet for me and then 2 years ago he got me Chloe and I love her to pieces (and miss her right now and am really glad that cats live forever....right??). This year we have both been really stressed with work and I think that it just hasn't been great for us so I want to do something sweet even if he doesn't remember what day it is. I think that I am going to cook his favorite dinner and bake him some goodies and put together a little basket for him. I need to think of what I am going to fill the basket with though and I feel like I am at the end of my creative juices lately.

I have been keeping up with the p90x workouts. I skipped the chest one last week due to me busting it on the ice and bruising up my knee pretty good. I didn't want to spend an hour trying to do pushups on my bruised knee and I skipped Yoga on Monday because i just really don't like it. I also skipped the kenpo tonight but I am going to do it tomorrow. I wanted to run tonight. I have a 5k on Sunday (when it will hopefully be a balmy 43 as the weather predicts and not 10 like it was today). I wanted to make sure I could still run. Turns out that the p90x is helping a lot with my running so yay for that. That makes me feel good.

I started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a week ago. I am absolutely addicted. I had to MAKE myself go to bed at 12 last night when I wanted to read more and as soon as I finish this one thing for work I am going to go back to reading it. I LOVE IT. A lot of people have had that reaction and then other people HATE it...my friend in Phoenix said she has started it 5 times. I was also told that you had to get to page 200 and I totally agree. The first 150-200 pages (of the 564 page book) is just building up all the characters. That part was sort of difficult because it is full of Swedish names, towns, streets, etc and I wouldn't have a clue how to pronounce any of them. So, if you want to skip all the character building and start on page 200, let me know and I can fill you in over a quick phone conversation :-) There are 3 books in the series so I am pretty pumped about that. I am hoping to finish the book this week so I can watch the movie this weekend (it is in Swedish so all subtitles but have heard good reviews - even from the friend that started it 5 times).

Packers!!!

To say that C was excited yesterday was a little of an understatement. He is as big of a Packers fan as I am a Georgia fan (thank goodness they have the same G). He has grown up a Packers fan and there are few times when I have seen him more excited than I did a year or so ago when we toured Lambeau Field. The end of the game last night was a little nerve racking for him to say the least. I already ordered him a champions shirt this am (a retro looking one, not one of the cheesy ones). So, we had a happy household last night (other than the kitties who didn't understand all the screaming). I will say that it is really hard to watch the Super Bowl when you want to see the game AND the commercials. I was a little disappointed in the commercials though, they just haven't been as good the last few years. What were your favs?

I had a pretty productive weekend. I made my resolution chart and started on my 2010 photo book. I got a whole trip in there! Now I only have one trip to go and it will be ready and waiting for a sale or groupon or some way that I can pay less for it. I also started on my Picaboo book. I decided to do that one for Australia. I got some other little things done and am still doing the p90x. I did my two week measurements and not much has changed. I have definitely gotten stronger because I can see that in my chart. Most of what I read says that women don't start to see results until they are about 60 days in. That seems like a really long time to wait but whatever. I will stick with it :-)

Headed to Baltimore today...it is snowing here AGAIN. I am so over all this winter weather after I busted it in my driveway on Friday and bruised up my knee (and cut it through my jeans) and hurt my wrist. I am ready for no white stuff on the ground!!! I guess at least I got to sleep until a normal time today...now to see if I can make it up the driveway with my suitcase today when the car comes to pick me up...

Hope everyone else had a good weekend!

Month 2: Organization

I do realize that if I was truly organized then I would have posted this on Feb 1st, but then there wouldn't be a reason to dedicate a whole month to getting organized if I was already there.

Anyway. Here is my list of goals for the month:
1. Go through the box of magazines and tear out workouts/recipes/patterns that I want to keep instead of keeping the whole magazine. Find a way to organize them in binders or some other fun way.
2. Clean out all the boxes in my closet (some are things that have been packed up for a while like financial items for my photography business or prior year taxes). I want to organize them.
3. Find a place for everything. Get rid of anything that doesn't have a place.
4. Put everything in its place after I use it (this will be the toughest one for me...especially if I am going to use it again the next day).
5. Put my clothes away every day...doesn't seem hard, I know.
6. Clean out email every Friday so that it is only action items left. Delete and file emails as they come in (this is tough because once I file them I can't get them on my bb and I am normally using my bb).
7. Go through mail daily (or on Fridays if it is a travel week) and set up bills to be paid. I use online banking so I can change the pay date and have them pay when it is time instead of waiting with bills sitting around.
8. Organize all negatives into slots and put all paper photos in boxes or albums.
9. Clean out all cabinets and commit to do so every 3 months.
10. Put all tasks on a to do list with due dates and complete them by their due date 80% of the time.

I think that is it right now. I bought a picaboo groupon yesterday for $35 and I get $100 worth of stuff (shipping included) so I am going to work on that this weekend. They also have a code right now for 25% off so I am thinking that I could probably get a really good deal :-) YAY!!

Other than that I will be cheering on the PACKERS!!! YAY!!

Oh yeah, and making that resolution chart that I keep forgetting to do.

Exhausted..

Like if something else occurs that I don't like today, I might cry...you know, I always laugh at kids when they cry when they are tired and I wonder why they don't just go to sleep, yet here I am!

Atlanta is draining...it is tiring! I talked to my boss today and in addition to the new project I already told you about, they want to out 7 more people under me. I am glad that they trust me but it will be quite different and will be a more management job. Now I do that plus a lot of day to day work, with 12 people it will be a full time job just to manage them. We will see where it leads. I do think that it will cut down on travel maybe so that would be good for C and I. I am not sure if it really will or not. There is just so much unknown at this point.

Anyway, with all that is going on and knowing that I will not get home tomorrow in all likelihood,I am just tired. I didn't get my resolution chart done and I didn't get the post ready today to tell you my goals for Feb. Not a great way to start off a month about being organized. I am going to try to work on it tomorrow and I have been thinking about it....hopefully I can post tomorrow.

I even chose tonight as my jigt off from p90x. It was supposed to be legs and back but I will just push everything back a day and not take the break on thursday. My sister and zach started tonight :-). My sitter is much better at the arm stuff than I am. I told her she would be from carrying those kids around :-)

Hopefully I will be more cheerful and awake tomorrow. I have a meeting in the am that I only need to pay partial attention to so I am going to make my goals list while I am not listening :-)