A Furry Tale/Tail

Life moves quickly and sometimes it leaves us looking back and wondering why we did not enjoy those precious moments when we had the chance.  A lot of times I am looking to the next best thing to find fulfillment; turning to my yoga mat to try to make this not so.  As of lately, it has not helped.  Time has been flying by and I have forgotten to take a good look at the beautiful life that surrounds me.  Perhaps that is part of the holiday season madness that ensues the normal household, or maybe not.  Regardless, I know it is not the way that I want to live my life.  Presence of the mind and presence in the heart are the key to living a life full of true presents.  Deep stuff.

Since it is the holiday season, I have been thinking a lot about the traditional gifts that come with this time of year.  Of course they are all wonderful, but a week after they are opened the novelty of them has worn off and we are left searching.  Continuously.

This new year, my resolutions will include nothing but learning how to let the endless searching go.  More on that in a few short weeks.

Until then, I am turning to my pets to clue me on what is special in my life.  Yes, this is actually a post about the importance of them.  “Them” does mean two, which means that we have a new furry addition to our family.   We adopted a four-year old fluffy 47 pound chow mix (mixed with what, we do not know) from the Denver Dumb Friends League on Friday afternoon.  She was named Jill by her previous owners, but we had to change the name.  Our seven-year old cat named Jack  would not approve of the nursery rhyme themed pet household.  We settled on the name, “Journey,” instead.

Why Journey?  We are her third owners in four years.  She was in an abusive household for the first few years of her life and then spent the following years as an outdoor dog to a family that decided they no longer had time for her.  The light name of Jill did not seem to suit a dog that has been treated so poorly, she deserved a name that shows her strength and the determination that she showed to find herself a better life.  Now her real journey begins with a family that showers her with belly rubs, walks, treats and occasional loving head bumps from a confused cat.

Yesterday I walked her for thirty minutes and watched her stop every so often to sniff her new surroundings and take what seemed like deep sighs.  When we got home I did some Christmas present wrapping on the floor and she came over and laid in my lap and licked my hand.  I am pretty sure she was telling me this new life is okay, she’s happy here.  She’s enjoying the new moments as they come, at the same time, she is slowly teaching me to do the same.

The real beauty of pets that are well-loved is that they pull us out of ourselves a bit and challenge us to slow down and experience life with them.   So pet owners out there, give some extra attention to your furry friend this season and slow down.  Look at the life around you, it’s beautiful.  Fur balls and all.

Days 278 & 279: Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Day 278:  When I woke up on Saturday morning every single cell in my body was telling me to take a break from working out.  I could actually hear my thighs saying, “come on Betsy, it’s been 277 days without a proper day of rest.  You can skip today.”  It’s a good thing my mind was somewhere else, otherwise this blog would have been a thing of the past.

Instead of partaking in a heart pounding, sweat blinding cardio class I coaxed myself into a nice easy bike ride on my hybrid (despite years of trying, I unabashedly, admit that I still cannot change a tire on my road bike- hence why I take my hybrid when riding alone).  I actually believed myself at first.  I hopped on my bike, went nice and easy down to the Cherry Creek Trail and then turned on Pandora and tore away for 35 minutes out.  I found groups of road bikers and tried to stay at their pace, raced to mile markers and drenched my shirt in sweat.  Then I turned around and rode back in for 40 more minutes.  I think I used most of my energy on my way out because I was exhausted on my way home.

When I got home, I showered and fell asleep on the couch for 20 minutes before hopping back on my bike and heading into work.  It really amazed me how a little bit of a mind games really turned my workout from a “slacker day” to one of my favorite solo rides.

Day 279:  Today I was feeling a little uninspired in life.  Do you ever have those days?  I have no idea why, I just was.  I decided to go to church and follow it up with a Core Power Sculpt class; hoping that the combination of the two would make me feel better.  The pastor’s message was about drawing strength from your faith and those around you.  He shared this video from the 1976 Olympics that filled me up with inspiration and strength.  I left church feeling renewed and I headed to class.  The instructor opened up class with a song that my Mom used to play for me every morning on my Fisher Price record player, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”  At first the song made me laugh and then it brought tears to my eyes during a minute long plank (at least I think it was the song and not the plank!).

My day started off feeling blah and by noon I was filled with motivation and reminiscent love.  It catapulted the rest of my day into helping me add new elements to my bride diet/healthy life.  Disclaimer:  I’m not on a real diet, I am trying to make my life healthier and the wedding has helped me make these changes.  I went to the store and (finally) bought Chia Seeds, Probiotics and a food journal.  Here are two links that describe what I am working on and what the heck Chia Seeds are:

Chia Seeds

10 Tips to Get a Bitchin’ Bod (not really the title, but I like it better)

What motivates you when you’re feeling a little blah?  How do you get unstuck when you’re convinced you can’t move?   Besides the obvious 80s songs by Bobby McFerrin, of course.

Days 257-262: Listen Up, You Have The Answer

First off, I apologize for the lack of posts that I have had lately.  If you have ever planned a wedding and decided to build a house at the same time, then you understand!  I just got back from a week-long trip of wedding planning and shower having in Columbus, Ohio and have been really spent.  My body is telling me to slow down before I launch into the six-week before our wedding/work your ass off workout/diet plan.  So, here is my easy breezy last week of sweating.

Day 257:   Saturday was the day of my bridal shower and I was STOKED!  I went down to the trusty hotel gym treadmill and went to town.  I ran four miles in 35 minutes (which is fast for this tortoise).  I quickly went back to the room to prep for the family fun that was about to happen.

Day 258:  Saturday night two of my bridesmaids went to the Counting Crows concert with me in downtown Columbus.  We eventually met up with my cousins and stayed out until 2 a.m.  It made me realize that I am so happy to be growing up and crossing over into the married world/leaving the bar world behind.  Staying out late really took it out of me.  After some sleeping in, my friend Sara and I walked around downtown for 30 minutes before heading back to the hotel.  Next, my Mom and I went out for some retail therapy.  We walked up and down Polaris Mall for an hour.   I am counting these walks as my sweating.  Totally acceptable after showers and concerts 🙂

Day 259:  Monday afternoon I had my final dress fitting and met with the caterer/wedding coordinator to get all of our ducks in a row.  After that, I came home and hit the treadmill for an hour.  I walked/ran and talked on my phone.  I tried to make it as enjoyable as possible since the heat outside was making it next to impossible to run outdoors.

Day 260:  I got home in the late afternoon on Tuesday and setup my home yoga flow station.  It was very much-needed.

Day 261:  Yesterday I went for three different 30-45 minute walks while catching up on emails and work.  I could feel my body telling me to relax and it’s the only thing that sounded okay.

Day 262:  Today is the last day I am giving myself the permission to rest from intense workouts.  Tomorrow the bridal ramp up is on!   If you know of a great workout in Denver that I have not tried, please send it my way and I’ll try it out. So what did I do on my last day of easiness?  I walked again for an hour.  I truly believe that if you learn how to listen to your body, it will give you all the answers that you need.  Craving protein?  Eat eggs.  Need a break?  Take a walk.  Listen, listen, listen.  Your body will thank you and work better than ever.

 

Days 178-180: Colorado Family

Today is the Colorado Rockies opening day and I have been waiting for this day for five years!   Umm hmm, five years.  I worked in the HR department the year that they made it to the World Series and then took a break from baseball life and went back to work at Fenway for the 2009 season.  Unfortunately if you work at a stadium, then you work all the games.  This is my first year back in Colorado since I left the HR world and my best friend/former boss, Amber (from Coors Field and Fenway) is also in town to help celebrate the big day.  So why the heck is this event so important to the blog?   Two reasons:  1.  I need to blog about my last few days workouts and I cannot focus on writing because I’m so excited about today and 2.  Because it’s Rockie’s Opening Day, who in Denver is not excited about this!? *

Day 178: 10 mile bike ride.  5 of the miles felt like I was riding towards a tornado headed my way.

Day 179: I walked for an hour while catching up with my childhood best friend, Jill.  We chatted about anything and everything.  It made me remember why I love walking as a form of commuting.  Sometimes it’s hard to find time in the day for keeping up with long-distance friends, but when I blend my workout/commuting/phone time, it is the best use of time I could really think of.

Day 180:  Happy Hippity Hoppity! Like most of my friends in Denver, my family is located elsewhere in the US.  My friends have become my family here.  I spent the morning with some of my favorite people in the world and the afternoon with my newest friend, Jenny.  We walked in Washington Park for almost 90 minutes and reminisced on past family holidays and what it means to be away from our loved ones.   It was the perfect non-family holiday and it made me so happy to know how quickly Denver has become our home.

*This paragraph literally might be the most pointless paragraph I have written in 180 days.  My excited nerves apologize.  They wrote that, not Betsy.*

Days 167-169: Happy Sweats

Day 167:  In 2008 I went to my first yoga class with a new friend, Katie.  I have a memory of us at the studio in Pura Vida, trying desperately to complete crow pose and both of us falling on our faces.  Four and a half years later we had the chance to practice together again at Karma Yoga.  Katie is now an instructor whose practice I couldn’t take my eyes off of and who I am guessing, can complete a strong crow without any head bangups.

During our 75 minute class I was reminded of how far I have come in the past few years of consistent practice.  Four years ago I was terrified of yoga and what I thought it represented.  During class the instructor, Katrina, said hundreds of insightful things that I loved in the moment.  Three days later, I am at a loss for what she said, but am reminded of how looking fear square in the face is the best way to conquer it.  What’s the worst that can happen?  Falling out of crow? Finding a new passion?   Making a lifelong friend while laughing over a face plant?  Same thing goes with your biggest fears.  No matter how big the fear, it’s just a feeling of being scared.   Test them out, thank yourself later.

Day 168:   Yesterday my brother, sister-in-law and fiance went to Ft. Collins for a tour of New Belgium Brewing Company.   The tour lasted 90 minutes and they gave out six samples of their delicious beers.  If you live anywhere near Ft. Collins and haven’t been to the brewery, then I highly suggest checking it out:  www.newbelgium.com    After our tour we wandered around the city for about an hour to let the beer run its course in our bodies and then made our way back to Denver.

Despite our headaches from day beers, we decided to go on a group ride to REI and back.  Afterwards, we all downed our water bottles and collectively felt better after a 10 mile sweat session.

Day 169: 45 minute TRX workout at home….while watching the season premiere of Mad Men.  That really tested my multi-tasking abilities.

Days 163-166: Yellow Deli Adventure w/ Friends

Day 163:  In the last five years I could probably count how many times I have been sick on one hand.  Unfortunately, that is not true of the past six months.  My body has become more of a petri dish for bacteria and I have had to try to fight off one bug after another.  On Wednesday night I either had my first round of food poisoning in my life or a 48 hour flu.  My Dr. brother said it could have been either and it doesn’t really matter what it was.  It exited my body as quickly as it came and luckily, it did the same to Mike.

Considering the fact that a walk from the couch to the bathroom had me in sweats, I had no clue how I was going to manage a real workout today.  I had to work at my part-time job and sticking through my shift was how I worked out.  Standing, walking, talking and being social while my insides felt like they were slowly dying was harder than any workout I have done in the past 166 days.  I counted it, I had no other choice!

Day 164:  On Thursday my ragged body was sporting a 101 degree fever.  Although I loved how the extra heat my face light up, I was praying with everything in me that this was going to break before my brother and sister-in-law came to town from Boston.   I slept all day and managed to get out for a 25 minute walk…..an….incredibly….slow….walk.   It hurt and I had to rest afterwards, but I did it.  As I was laying on the couch feeling bad about my lack of hard workouts I had to think about how I would tell my clients to treat themselves on their off days, “with nothing but love and gentleness.  Listen to what your body needs and do just that.”  So I did and I healed.

Day 165:  My oldest brother Matt and his wife, Erika have made it to Denver!   The four of us went over to Wash Park for an early morning run.  I am by far the slowest runner of the bunch, so I trucked along beside them and made barely audible noises whenever I was asked a question.  Mike and I barely made it three miles before we both needed to rest our freshly recovered flu poisoned bodies.  Then we walked together around the lake, while petting every dog that came near us* until the other two finished their run for the day.   *We really are crazy animal people.  I apologize if I have ever chased after you and your dog to give your pup some love.

Day 166:  Today one of my favorite friends, Katie, wanted to go hiking in Boulder.  What a wonderful way to show my out of town guests how beautiful Colorado can be!  Matt, Erika, Katie and I hiked the Royal Arch at Chautauqua Park and then walked around Pearl Street for a dose of small town glory.

We went to Yellow Deli for lunch and were immediately at a loss of words when we saw the group of people behind the counter.  I actually can’t describe to you what this was like (without fear of offending someone), so please checkout their website for yourself http://yellowdeli.com/our-history-vista   When we walked out of the restaurant someone on a nearby patio said, “what happened in there?”  I could barely answer his question, because I still had no idea.   The sandwiches were good though and at least we didn’t ask about the “spirit of the fruit.”  Confused yet?   We were too.

Days 95 & 96: Gymmin’

Day 95:  Yesterday it was 1 degree in Columbus, OH.  To say that it was cold is an understatement.  Every single time I walked outside I annoyed myself by saying “BBBBBRRRRR, IT’S FREEZING OUT HERE.”   After nine hours of errand running all over town, that line got old quickly.  Needless to say, we would not be using the outdoors as our gym.  We started calling the local gyms to check on reasonable drop-in rates and stumbled upon the gem called the “YMCA.”  Have you heard of it?   Seriously, those places get overlooked and given a bad-wrap.

The one we went to gave us a free three-day trial, free sweat towels and an endless amount of grunting coming from the nearby highschool power lifters.  Besides the occasional startled feeling from the aforementioned grunting, it was a great experience.  I ran my first 8 minute mile (maybe ever?) and got in some lifting time.  Oh and the sweat was complimentary too!  I am a sucker for anything that’s on the house…

Day 96:  It has been snowing in Ohio for 48 hours straight with only an inch of  accumulation.  I am still confused about how that can even happen, but leave it to the high-winds in corn country to make that possible.

I have a darling cousin, Ellen, who works at a uber nice gym called Urban Active.  We dropped in for a workout today to squeeze in some family sweatin’ time.  I did about 45 minutes of mixed up cardio and ended my workout with 10 minutes of ab work.  Between the family, friends, wedding planning, moving, welcoming home and hugs, this week has proved to be the most difficult week of the challenge so far.  However, by continuing to put my health first (amidst the craziness) I have been able to calm my nerves, eat out meals with the family without stress of weight gain and carve out some me/us time.  All of which, I know I would not have done if I was not committed to this challenge.

Days 88 & 89: Livin’ It Up In The Capital

Day 88:  I apologize for the lack of daily blogs, but my life is overflowing with love, family, friends, food, wine, beaches and travels right now.  Finding the time to write has proved difficult.  Yesterday I crammed in a 53 minute worked at the Navy Fitness Center in Norfolk while Mike spent some time wrapping up his time in the Navy.  I did a sprint workout on the treadmill, weight lifting circuits with a ton of ab work crammed in between sets to make it higher intensity.  It was fun working out in a Naval facility, they have great cable.  It makes it hard to get off a cardio machine.  Seriously.

After that, we drove up to Washington, DC to spend some time with a few members of my family.  My Mom, Step-Dad and brother took us out to our favorite restaurant, Central, to celebrate Mike’s return home.   It was a nice reminder of why I workout as much as I do;  to ensure that I can continue to eat whatever I want.  Cheese puffs, mushroom risotto, lobster burger and a chocolatey desert?  Don’t mind if I do…

Day 89:  Today Michael and I ran 5.5 miles together from my parents house in Glover Park up to American University, over towards the National Cathedral, down around the Naval Observatory, through embassy row, ending in Georgetown for a brunch date with my friend Stacy.  This was our first time running together in six months and I was able to keep up with Mike a little better than I have in the past.  We stayed at a 9.15 pace for the whole time and were able to hold a conversation for the majority of the run.  It’s a good feeling to know that this challenge is paying off in numerous ways.  Building up my speed is definitely an added bonus.  And if I continue to eat the way that I did last night, there is no amount of speed or distance that can save my waistline…

Day 46: Thankful for Running

Since this is Thanksgiving, I will keep this short so that you can go back to your friends, family, laughter and third round of pie. 

 

My family is spread all over the world, luckily, I have a wonderful friend, Micha, who invited me to spend today with her big Texas family in Colorado Springs.  We started the day with a 5k Turkey Trot that overlooked the snowy mountains, while we warmed our bodies in the (almost) 70 degree weather.

Although my daily workout was running, I spent the day swimming in Texas style family love and an abundance of gratitude.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Day Fourteen: Deer and Tractors

Day fourteen started off with my Dad waking me up after coming home very late from the wedding last night and me saying, “I think I’m hungover.”  What I really meant was, “the wedding last night was fantastic and I can’t wait to go to the Anchor Bar and get buffalo wings.” 

Which it was and we did.  I ate lots of wings and am eternally grateful for Mother Teressa (the creator of the original “buffalo wing” in 1964).  After a snooze on the way home from Buffalo, I thought it would be a good time to workout.

My workout consisted of a 70 minute walk around my Dad’s beautiful town.  I got passed by a tractor carrying hay and saw four deer running around in a meadow.   It was really a beautiful day that made me reflect on how grateful I am for everything in my life.

Three weeks ago I never would have made an attempt to do anything that required moving today.  However, two weeks into the challenge and I did not even question whether or not I would get moving today.  Hopefully I will feel the same way after my wedding day in ten months.