It\u2019s a good thing the sun finally came out this week because it seemed to me as if Snowpocolipse 2014 was beginning to affect everyone\u2019s ability to be rational.\u00a0 Lately I\u2019ve been surrounded by so much drama.\u00a0 People being mean and people throwing pity parties.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got enough issues of my own.\u00a0 Don\u2019t invite me to your pity party, I don\u2019t have time for that.<\/p>\n
This time of year\u00a0can be\u00a0hard, regardless.\u00a0 The days are shorter, the sky is gray-er, we see a lot less of the sun and it begins to affect our attitudes.\u00a0 Add in the polar vortex and you\u2019ve got the makings of disaster as it becomes increasingly\u00a0more difficult to get a healthy daily dose of endorphins.<\/p>\n
This year didn\u2019t start off as I had hoped in terms of training.\u00a0 With a blizzard, followed by a deep freeze, followed by several days of school cancellations, it made it pretty challenging for a single mom to get out on a bike or over to a pool or even out on the road for a run.\u00a0 Thus, I was primarily relegated to the likes of a treadmill.\u00a0 Yuck.<\/p>\n
What is it about a treadmill that feels so torturous?\u00a0 I think for me, it\u2019s the notion that I\u2019m running, but I\u2019m really not going anywhere.\u00a0 I\u2019m not making any forward progress.\u00a0 I\u2019m still staring at that same sign on the wall that lists the rules of the Lake Chesterfield Clubhouse.\u00a0 I\u2019m watching Dr. Phil on the TV, I can see his mouth moving but I\u2019m listening to Beyonce sing about being a survivor. The background music from my ipod continues to play on, but the scenery never changes. \u00a0I\u2019m staring at the little red numbers in front of me that are ticking away the time ever so slowly. I\u2019m expending all this energy but I just feel trapped in the same place.\u00a0 Stuck at Point A.<\/p>\n
And now, thanks to my friend Mike King, I have a bike trainer, so that my bike is securely located, stationary, in my living room.\u00a0 Pedal as I may, the bike isn\u2019t going anywhere either.\u00a0 Progress?\u00a0 What progress?<\/p>\n
So, finally, this week the temperature warmed up and the kids went back to school.\u00a0 I\u2019m finally able to get outside again.\u00a0\u00a0Cue Mel Gibson as William Wallace, “Freeeeeeeedoooooom!”<\/p>\n
On Sunday, I got in a solid 6 miler before heading off to work.\u00a0 It took me a while to get going, but by the second half I felt really good.\u00a0 Maybe, at least in part, because I spotted a couple of girls jump on the path about a quarter mile ahead of me.\u00a0 Funny that they were both wearing black tights and a pink top, just like I was.\u00a0 I started chasing them down.\u00a0 I wanted to catch them.\u00a0 I felt my pace pick up and I started reeling them in.\u00a0 At times my progress seemed almost non-existent.\u00a0 They were still just as far ahead as they were when I first saw them, or so I thought, but were they really?\u00a0 Maybe I was gaining some ground.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure.\u00a0 I put my head down and ran.\u00a0 Step after step.\u00a0 I pushed my pace.\u00a0 And just as I crested the hill to turn right over the bridge back to my house, I looked up to see them go straight.\u00a0 Only about 10 steps ahead of me.\u00a0 I never technically caught them but I gained a lot of ground, even when it didn\u2019t seem like I was. \u00a0And ultimately it wasn\u2019t really about beating them, it was about seeing what I could do.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, I went out for a run again. After my boxing class, I went over to Castlewood.\u00a0 I knew my legs would be fatigued from kick boxing, and I knew it would be a tough with the mud and the ice still on the trail, but it was too nice a day not to at least grab a few miles while I had the chance.<\/p>\n
It was tough.\u00a0 I had to walk a little more than usual, but when I did walk, I looked up at the woods around me, where I have run so many times, usually with friends, but sometimes on my own.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t feel lost, I just enjoyed my surroundings. The sun was shining.\u00a0 There were birds chirping and the melting snow was making the dripping sound.\u00a0 I splashed through mud puddles and I tip-toed across icy spots.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t notice a branch that was shooting across the path and I ended up with a scrape across my shin.\u00a0 I ran with reckless abandon down a hill that I had run up with the Fleet Feet training team just a week before while I listened to Mandisa sing at me that I\u2019m an Overcomer.<\/p>\n
Once I got back to the parking lot, after a rough 4 miles, I took off my muddy shoes and I drove home.\u00a0 In my socks.<\/p>\n
In the time between my run and work, I was standing in my kitchen eating a piece of cold, leftover pizza and drinking a Diet Coke.\u00a0 I was just standing there, doing ordinary things, on an ordinary day after an average run.\u00a0 And then, something hit me.\u00a0 I am happy.\u00a0 I am genuinely content.\u00a0 For the first time ever in my life that I can remember, I am not waiting for the next big thing to happen.\u00a0 \u00a0Sometimes life is just ordinary.\u00a0 We do laundry.\u00a0 And eat cold pizza.\u00a0 And go to work.\u00a0 And that\u2019s ok.<\/p>\n
Not every day is hugely significant. \u00a0Not every race is a marathon.\u00a0 You can\u2019t climb mountains all the time, eventually you get to the top and have to head back down.\u00a0 Some days nothing monumental happens.\u00a0 Some days just\u2026are.\u00a0 From beginning to end, some days you just live to stay alive and you keep doing the things you normally do. \u00a0But what matters on those days is attitude.\u00a0 Finding contentment and joy, even in the average, ordinary, and mundane.<\/p>\n
If you had told me a year ago about all the progress I would make in the almost 12 months since I became Rambling Runner Girl, I\u2019m not sure I would have believed you.\u00a0 I knew I was at Point A, Ground Zero if you will, when my marriage failed miserably a couple years ago.\u00a0 But I didn\u2019t even know where Point B was.\u00a0 I had no idea where I was headed or what it would look like when I got there.<\/p>\n
Yesterday as I stood in my kitchen, I felt the need to stick a flag in the top of the mountain I climbed to get here as a monument to recognize the person I have become.\u00a0 I have finally arrived.\u00a0 My life has been patiently waiting for me to catch up and get to where I am now, in a state of contentment like I have never truly known before.\u00a0 \u00a0Our course isn\u2019t always clear cut, sometimes we have to find it as we make our way through it.\u00a0 Sometimes it gets messy, and treacherous, and demands more from us than we really believe we are capable of.\u00a0 But here\u2019s how I know I\u2019ve arrived.\u00a0 I\u2019m not afraid of the mess.\u00a0 I\u2019m not afraid of the risk. \u00a0I\u2019m not afraid to fall down and say Ouch and then get back up and try again. I\u2019m not afraid of not knowing where I\u2019m going or what effort it will require.\u00a0 I\u2019m not afraid of feeling a little stuck sometimes.\u00a0 And I\u2019m not afraid of going slow or even back-tracking.\u00a0 Because those are the times that progress is really happening.\u00a0 \u00a0And I\u2019m not waiting for the next big thing.\u00a0 I\u2019m just here.\u00a0 And here is good place to be.<\/p>\n
Progress.\u00a0 We want to get from Point A to Point B. \u00a0Typically we want to rush through it as fast as possible.\u00a0 But when we\u2019re running in place, there is no visible point B.\u00a0 Some days we see the progress happening before our very eyes, but it\u2019s almost imperceptible.\u00a0 Try as we might, it just isn\u2019t happening fast enough. \u00a0Sometimes we wonder if it\u2019s happening at all. Other days, the obstacles are plentiful, seemingly thwarting our progress altogether.\u00a0 But we press on and eventually one day we wake up and we are rewarded for our efforts when we realize we made it.\u00a0 Progress was happening all along, even in the moments that we felt like we were only spinning our wheels, because those are the times that make us stronger.<\/p>\n
It took me a while to figure all that out, but it doesn\u2019t really matter how long it took, the important thing is that I did.\u00a0 I finally realized that life is made up of big and small alike. I got here.\u00a0 But instead of Point B, I\u2019m calling it Point A+, because I\u2019m not done moving and who knows where I\u2019ll go from here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a good thing the sun finally came out this week because it seemed to me as if Snowpocolipse 2014 was beginning to affect everyone\u2019s ability to be rational.\u00a0 Lately I\u2019ve been surrounded by so much drama.\u00a0 People being mean and people throwing pity parties.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got enough issues of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-9o","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":583,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}