Snowy days

Finally some real snow in New Jersey!!! Its been snowing for 24 hours, everything is buried, and I couldn't be happier. It's beautiful!!
Well, I've had a couple of rough weeks in the running sector. Joined the gym and started running on the treadmill, and immediately my ankles started bothering me. And now I can't seem to figure out how to make it go away. So my running has been only a couple days a week, and not good when I am running, especially this week. Because I've taken extra days off my ability to run the distance/time I want is way down too. Blah!
And I'm so so frustrated that all the work I've done to get here is swept under the rug so easily... I have to figure out a way to accept it though, and remember that I can work back up to it. It's winter, and if my running suffers a bit, I'll have to be okay with that for now.
I did buy myself some outdoor running clothes, which was fun. So there's that :)

Went to the Georgia O'Keefe abstract exhibit at the Whitney Museum today. So so wonderful...

My feet and legs do not feel so good though. Wore my running sneakers, but they are not the right sneakers for walking all around New York for a whole day!! So totally worth it, though. I got to see Jenn and Georgia O'Keefe and Aaron and NYC all in one lovely day.

Georgia O'Keefe's work with color and line is so breathtaking to me... Something about her work touches my soul...

Finished C25K

I finished C25K yesterday! Had a great last run... I went out not expecting to run the full 30 minutes because I hadn't run in 4 days or so. I didn't put any pressure on myself, just told myself I'd run until I wanted to stop. Well, the run felt great! I didn't feel the need to stop at all. So I went and went, and finished my 30 minutes feeling great!
Thank goodness it was such a good run. I have been feeling very unmotivated the last couple weeks, but last night got me sort of back into it! Woot!

Went to Grounds for Sculpture on Sunday. Soooo lovely! Far more amazing than I expected! The grounds and landscaping alone were just breathtaking!

www.groundsforsculpture.org

Almost ready to finish the running program and move on to the next part... but I have been a little under the weather the last few days, so my last C25K day is a bit delayed. That's okay. I will finish it very soon!

Gobble gobble!

5K run!! Hooray!
Okay, so I took 3 brief walk breaks, but I did do better than I felt I would. I had such a hard running week last week, I was sure today would be a flop. But it wasn't! I felt great after the first half, despite the walks, and I felt great after the run, which I hadn't been able to say after each run for the past week. Hooray! Finally feels like I'm back on the right track... :)
My time today was 37:05, if I remember correctly, which far exceeded my expectation of 45:00.
So my goal for the next 5K is to run the whole thing.

I'm also thinking I really want to run the Auburn Mile in the summer! I've always thought it would be a great thing to do, and really, a mile is easy for me now. By then I should be able to "sprint" it!
Okay, happy happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for all the good, love and beauty in my life.

3K run!

So, I ran my 3K yesterday!! Woohoo! It felt great to accomplish that.
I'm planning on a 5K on Thanksgiving morning :)

Woohoo!!

I am becoming a runner..... I am doing it!!!!!!!!! And it feels amazing!!!
Saturday is my 3K run in Philly. I'm going to be able to run the whole thing, 1.8 miles, when just a couple weeks ago 60 seconds of running hurt so bad. CA-RAY-ZEEE!!!
I am really feeling so so proud of this accomplishment :) :) :)

In the divorce front, I am feeling better. I talked to Elias and got some closure. He told me where he was at and what was going on. He still loves me, but he feels like he needs to be a family for his boy. And how can I argue with that? I am a child of divorce, and all through my childhood I questioned where I belonged... He doesn't want his son to feel that feeling.
It still hurts, but I know where we stand, anyway, so it is a relief.
I really feel better since then. Just more stable.
The truth is that I still love him, and I would take him back in a second. But if that chance never comes, I will also be okay.
I did send my aunt the $$ for starting the divorce, along with the first set of papers to get the divorce started. That was somewhat of a relief too.
All in all, things are going well.

So...

Its been a few days...
The running is going really well now :) My knees have been feeling great, and ChiRunning is really so helpful. I'm in the midst of my week 5, so the end of this week is a dreaded 20 minutes straight of running. YIKES!!
I've read a few books, finished book 3 of the Twilight series, also finished What is the What by Dave Eggers. So that was my education about Sudan. So sad and powerful. In general a great read...

Things with Elias... well, what things with Elias? He has been heavy on my heart lately. I heard from him that he hasn't started any divorce papers (could he be stalling too?), so I am going to start, get the paperwork my lawyer gave me all finished, and send it in when I get my next paycheck, I guess. I don't want this limbo anymore... Anyway... too heavy for my blog!

Well, a few setbacks...

I set up my desktop computer, which hasn't been used in over a year, but was only a year old before that. It doesn't work, just turns on and makes a clicking sound... :( Bad bad news for the last several items on the list. My little laptop thingy will not hold my music, and so... Boo.
Some people have said it "sounds like the motherboard." Which just ticks me off. And knowing nothing about computers, well... I can do nothing about it but wait until I can possibly afford to have it looked at.
I completed week 3 of C25K, but need to take a few days (hopefully not more than a week :( ) off because my knees are really hurting...

One good thing: I did go walking in the pine barrens this weekend past. Went to the Franklin Parker Preserve... http://www.njconservation.org/html/preserves/franklinparker.htm
Lovely!

Some day I will...

be all the things I dream of being. I'm in no hurry to get there.

C25K is going well, two weeks finished! I do feel a great sense of determination to finish it and become a runner! I don't know why, exactly, but it's important to me right now. I find that it's my lungs holding me back, but I've been doing some reading and I'm thinking heart rate has a great affect on breathing, so maybe I need to slow it down a little to keep my heart rate under control. I haven't been taking my heart rate, but I've been wanting to start. I think I'll look for a small heart monitor today when I'm out.

Having major trouble coming up with ONE last item for my list!!!! I know, crazy. I'm taking suggestions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couch-2-5-K

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml
Day one of the C25K challenge today. Feels good to have accomplished even that much, now I just have to force myself to keep at it! Running is hard... even at such a slow pace :)
It only took about 5 minutes for my chest to start burning and my legs to hurt! What a wimp!
It's okay. It will get better.

#29

Working tomorrow (Saturday)... not just regular working. I guess there is a bike tour coming through and stopping at the nursery. The boss asked me to be the person who sits at the refreshment table, answers questions about the nursery, greets people, etc. He also asked me to sell some plants, and told me I can make the profit off of them if I'd like, which is very nice of him...
The sad thing is, after I'd said yes, two people asked me to go do something I'd rather be doing (one included hiking in the Poconos). But that's okay! It'll be cool to meet some bike people. Since I'm new the the biking world and hoping to get more into it...

Another thing:the yoga class I'd planned to sign up for is full, so that stinks. I'll be looking for a new one. Tho when I went to do laundry the pther day I watched a tiny bit of a belly dancing class going on in the studio next door... Fun, and another thing to consider...

A poem (not by me)

One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

I slow Saturday...

in the best way :)
I have spent today doing very little, but it's been a good very little. Slept in today til 9 am!!! Wow! Got up, and cleaned cleaned cleaned in my apartment! Didn't make it all the way through the stupid bedroom. Can't seem to handle really organizing in there, I don't know what my deal is...
For my brunch I made soft boiled eggs, which I've never made before, so I'm counting that as a new recipe! Woot!
And now I'm making a pot of soup, another new recipe!!

I went and had dinner with Jackie and Suzanne tonight. They gave me two bags of veggies from the garden, so now I have tons of peppers, beets, a few leeks, carrots, and an eggplant to make lovely things with.
Jackie says she has a young man for me to meet, so we'll see if that ever happens! haha

Spoke to the office manager about the 401K this past week. She's going to get me the paperwork, and told me that enrollment is in November and December. I'm excited to get it set up!

#53

So, made my first little dent today, my couch came!! I've been telling people that means I'm a grown up now :)
Well, I technically bought it a few days ago, but I figured it'd be okay for me to use it here, the start of all of this. Now I just have to figure out how to make the couch work in my itsy bitsy little apartment... So far it just crowds out all my other furniture, so I need to make it all work together.
I do love it though, it's a lovely little thing.

I have the cat with me for a bit, and he likes to claw things, so I'm very nervous about his paws on my couch!! Eek!

Just an observation: I was amazed (while browsing random strangers' lists) how many people put "get a library card and use it" on their list... I thought everybody used the library! Well, GO support your library, people!!

Hello world!

Blog day baby! It will take me forever to get this thing going and organized, I think... Good thing I don't have to invite anyone to see it until I'm ready!!
Though I should get going ASAP; my life is missing stuff, and I'm going to see if aiming myself in certain directions will help me discover what's missing with me...
The whole point of this blog is to revolve around my "101 things to accomplish in 1001 days" list. See http://www.dayzeroproject.com/ for more info about that!
As of this afternoon, I've decided on 72 goals... well, 73, actually. I decided to make the first goal to finish the list!
I'm going to try to keep track of it all on here, and I'm going to realllly try to stick with it. I have a tendancy to quit things... Wish me luck!