Back for 2009

Happiness is. I have taken some time to sit back over the holidays and think..probably think way too much, but all the same it is important to take time and evaluate. This forum is only for one aspect of those thoughts or I might very well be sitting here for weeks trying to display all of those thoughts. No matter, really. But what I really was able to zero in on was, what is happiness today and what is happiness tomorrow.

Happiness today...is reading stories to my 3 year old daughter and she wants to read them over and over again. It is us giggling hysterically giving eachother raspberries on each other's cheeks for 20 minutes straight. It is that unfiltered block of time where we are nothing but happy with each other. That is my happiness today. Happiness tomorrow for me will be all the things that I do today that will make her say things tomorrow. I thought about what I would want her to be able to say. I hope she will be able to say things like - "my mom was the one I wanted there when anything good or bad happened" "my mom is easy to talk to about anything in the world" " my mom taught me to think critically and question things first" "my mom showed me that I can do anything I put my mind to" " my mom taught me not to give up or to place blame, but to reach within and to succeed" "my mom is healthy and strong and we do everything together"....

Whatever it is she will be able to take from these years to come, it will all derive from our health. Our health gives us the energy, the attitude, the confidence and the drive to begin our days, our chores, our play. It might not matter if I can't take her to the grand canyon or do extravagent things...it does matter that I can go sledding with her, keep up running down the trail, have the energy to chase her down as she coasts down a hill on her bike - or just work a full day, make healthy meal choices, play games and lay in bed and read books and give raspberry kisses at the end of the night.

She is the reason sad is not an option and she is the entire reason that I have any grasp of what it means to truly understand what it is like to love someone so much you would give anything for them. I am grateful for that and I believe it makes me whole. My give back, my return of thanks, needs to be to take as good of care of myself no matter what, so that I can be there for her.

Originally I had set out to do yoga and pilates several times a week during my winter "layoff" from running. However, as good as an idea as that was, once a runner always a runner. It is my treadmill and my turbo jam workout tapes that I cannot break away from. I suppose, if it makes me feel good, I should just go with it. So, the turbo jam tapes are excellent, chalene johnson is my hero. She just knows how to do a workout and you always feel like you have done something. There is nothing more irritating to me than to spend 40 minutes on an activity and not be able to feel as though I put enough into it. I never feel that way with her workouts. So there it is, I set up a schedule on my calendar to mix those work outs up through out each week. Some use light hand weights and others are just aerobic and flexibility. Flexibility is key, especially as a runner because runners are infamous for having tighter hamstrings and muscles with less flexibility, so if I can manage to sneak in even one yoga per week it would be honorable.

The running has been just far and few between since the big race in october but the mileage will need to start increasing in february if I want training to start on the right foot. Let's hope in the mean time that muscle toning will take place.