The Daily Marathon

My work wrapped up another successful legislative conference today, and my feet hurt. A lot. I was on the road Monday to west Michigan, two days at a conference, on the road to west Michigan tomorrow. I'm only in the office one day next week and am traveling the rest of the days. I set my own schedule...there's only one person to blame. There are so many meetings to be had in so little time! It's busy right now.

This week every day feels like I'm running a marathon. My feet are killing me. I imagine tomorrow putting on heels will feel like walking over hot coals. I'm still going to do it, but it's not going to be pretty.  My entire body hurts like I just finished running 10 miles - back, hips, shoulders, everything. 

I have no business running the Ann Arbor Half Marathon on Sunday. I haven't trained. My body is exhausted. It's not going to be pretty. Last year I ran two half marathons in under two hours. My goal on Sunday is 2:10. I'm not in half marathon shape, but I'm running it more for the mental motivation I'm hoping it'll spur. 

I have set a lot of lofty running, personal and professional goals for 2015. Some weeks it feels like they're unattainable. Part of running the race on Sunday is getting back into that focused mental place. Until then I'll just concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other...in cute shoes of course.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tell me About Your Third Nipple

Image
Last summer I had a friend describe me to a new acquaintance as such: he referenced a James Bond movie where Bond is impersonating someone who has a third nipple. Everyone who knew this person well knew about the third nipple, so he had to wear a prosthesis and pull it off. He finished the analogy by saying, "Samantha knows everybody's third nipple." It was one of the best compliments I've received in a while. Maybe ever. My entire life I've prided myself on sincere and purposeful interactions and relationships both in my personal and professional life. Have I always gotten it right? Absolutely not. But I put a lot of work into how I interact with humans. It's the reason I have solid groups of friends and acquaintances. It's the reason I've been able to build a successful consulting business. I put a lot of time and intention into people, and it matters. How do I do it...and why? If you know me you know I don't have a third nipple or  a colon. You
Read more

Some Reasons Why Diet Culture is Garbage: I Poop a Lot and I'm Always Hungry

Image
It was the spring of 1996, and my mom and I were at the mall shopping for my senior prom dress. I had decided I was only going to eat 500 calories a day over the weekend. It was track season, so I couldn't starve myself on practice and meet days, but in my mind it seemed perfectly logical to basically starve my healthy, 17-year-old body on less physical days. I was in the fitting room trying on dresses, and I heard the sales person say to my mom, "Your daughter is so tiny!" I was light headed and nauseous from not eating, but that overheard compliment made me feel like it was all worth it.  Senior Prom 1996 I've struggled with my body image since I was a pre-teen, and in the 30+ years that have passed it's still something with which I struggle daily. I spent years punishing my body so I wouldn't gain weight: eating very few calories and working out for hours, purging, taking laxatives, only drinking alcohol until I threw up so I wouldn't gain weight. It
Read more

Can we Stop with the Negative Mom Culture?

Image
  A few months ago someone brought beverages to my house called "Mom Water". I'd never heard of it, and after looking it up (because you know I did not and would not drink it) found out it is fruit infused vodka water. It sounds disgusting.  On the Mom Water website they say they're trying to celebrate moms b ut I immediately jumped to the premise that being a mom is so terrible that we have to create a gross new wine cooler in order to cope. It made me realize I'm really over the negative mom culture.  I get it: being a mom is hard work. I've had late nights and early mornings. I haven't slept through the night in years. I've been thrown up on and given every virus known to humankind (except COVID surprisingly). My son was home for 15 months without childcare during the height of the pandemic. There were some very long days, and you bet I lost my patience. Sometimes I still do.  But it feels like we're in this place where it's trendy to compla
Read more