On the 4th of July I ran my first 5K since the last race I ran as a college athlete. I was surprisingly not too nervous and actually met all the goals I set for myself. I guess the best adjective to describe my feelings about it would be 'satisfied'. There were over 2000 runners and I got a cheesy trophy for being one of the top 100 finishers so that made me happy. I honestly can't believe that I ran the race in the total time I wanted to and that my splits were exactly as I had planned. It was exciting to be in that racing environment again and I remembered why I love competing so much. Little did I know that the last half mile of the course was uphill! I felt like my legs were going to fall off but I kept on passing people so that kept me going.
All in all, I have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning and an even harder time walking down the stairs. I am so sore!! I can't say weather or not I'll do another one anytime soon, but I do have a renewed faith in my body and the satisfaction of doing just what I wanted to.
I didn't tell too many people that I was going to race again (sorry Dad) because I really wanted to do this for me. It's been so long and I didn't want to talk about it and get my hopes up and not deliver. It turns out that keeping it mostly to myself ended up being a great thing...I didn't have anyone to prove anything to but myself, and I used to always worry about disappointing someone back in my college running days. There was so much pressure and expectation on me that it resulted in a lack of motivation on my part and I'm just now beginning to realize that. It's not the easiest thing for me to be self-motivated and it's something I struggle with every single day. Sometimes I can't envision what the next 30 minutes holds and that really frustrates me. I know that in order to get where I need and want to be in life I need to work on my motivation and follow-through so I'm definitely open to any tips anyone has! It's been one of the hardest things to attempt to overcome and I'm nowhere near overcoming myself. Maybe I'll never be able to feel like I truly can. But I know I can try and it's times like last weekend that help me realize that there is a payoff to powering through the struggle.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
I Fixed It Myself!!
After visiting my cousin Cheryl's blog I was reminded of a HUGE accomplishment I just have to share:
I fixed my lawnmower myself!
It's true, I mow the lawn. Last summer my sweet boyfriend hired someone to do it and once I found out I told him that I was just going to buy a mower and do it myself. I love to mow, I love seeing the change and feeling great about meeting a goal. He told me no, he'd already committed to having the guy do it and he was counting on our contract. So this year I decided to do it myself. I brought the mower from HS to LR (the HS house has a garden crew) and began the chore! As the days went on, it got hotter and hotter. I wondered to myself if I was going to have to call Gregg the yard guy to take over when it's just too much for me. Then I had an epiphany: if I can run with a heat index of 110 degrees, I can mow the yard. So last Monday I put on my gloves (my hands sweat a lot when I'm mowing) and got to work!
Somehow, since the Monday before, a large piece of metal had been placed in the yard in an area I've mowed several times. I don't know how that happened, it's a mystery to me. I ran over it and the mower stopped and the sound scared me like crazy! I'm always afraid of hitting something and it shooting out and smashing my leg bones. So I flipped the mower over and compared the piece of metal to see if it could have come from the machine. It did not and I was sure of it. So I flipped it back over and it wouldn't start! I was pretty sure I had flooded it so I left it for about an hour and went back out and when it started it just puttered along and blew tons of white smoke out of the smoke-discharge place. I don't know what it's called.
What did I do? I got upset! I just knew it was broken and I'd have to buy a new one. So I started to take it apart. If you know anything about me, you know I do not mess with machines when they go wrong. I do not attempt to fix things because I am incapable of doing so. I'm not sure what got into me but I took it apart and saw that the filter (which I didn't even know lawnmowers had) was drenched in gas and oil and the oil reservoir was totally empty. I filled up the oil, washed out the filter, tried to remember where all the pieces went and put it back together. IT WORKS! I totally fixed it all by myself (I did get some advice but all the actual work was done by me) and I felt so excited when I started it up and it sounded just like it's supposed to.
I'm well aware that this may not be a big deal for most of you, but it is for me! I feel so good about it and am even looking forward to mowing with my fixed-by-me mower! Side note: my yard looks very nice and simple to the average eye, but when you're behind a push mower you realize that there are tons of hills and it is an amazing workout! I actually do not work out on days that I mow because it's that strenuous. If I was a mower by trade, I'd never have to exercise. If this whole finance career doesn't work out for me I know what I'll do next!
I fixed my lawnmower myself!
It's true, I mow the lawn. Last summer my sweet boyfriend hired someone to do it and once I found out I told him that I was just going to buy a mower and do it myself. I love to mow, I love seeing the change and feeling great about meeting a goal. He told me no, he'd already committed to having the guy do it and he was counting on our contract. So this year I decided to do it myself. I brought the mower from HS to LR (the HS house has a garden crew) and began the chore! As the days went on, it got hotter and hotter. I wondered to myself if I was going to have to call Gregg the yard guy to take over when it's just too much for me. Then I had an epiphany: if I can run with a heat index of 110 degrees, I can mow the yard. So last Monday I put on my gloves (my hands sweat a lot when I'm mowing) and got to work!
Somehow, since the Monday before, a large piece of metal had been placed in the yard in an area I've mowed several times. I don't know how that happened, it's a mystery to me. I ran over it and the mower stopped and the sound scared me like crazy! I'm always afraid of hitting something and it shooting out and smashing my leg bones. So I flipped the mower over and compared the piece of metal to see if it could have come from the machine. It did not and I was sure of it. So I flipped it back over and it wouldn't start! I was pretty sure I had flooded it so I left it for about an hour and went back out and when it started it just puttered along and blew tons of white smoke out of the smoke-discharge place. I don't know what it's called.
What did I do? I got upset! I just knew it was broken and I'd have to buy a new one. So I started to take it apart. If you know anything about me, you know I do not mess with machines when they go wrong. I do not attempt to fix things because I am incapable of doing so. I'm not sure what got into me but I took it apart and saw that the filter (which I didn't even know lawnmowers had) was drenched in gas and oil and the oil reservoir was totally empty. I filled up the oil, washed out the filter, tried to remember where all the pieces went and put it back together. IT WORKS! I totally fixed it all by myself (I did get some advice but all the actual work was done by me) and I felt so excited when I started it up and it sounded just like it's supposed to.
I'm well aware that this may not be a big deal for most of you, but it is for me! I feel so good about it and am even looking forward to mowing with my fixed-by-me mower! Side note: my yard looks very nice and simple to the average eye, but when you're behind a push mower you realize that there are tons of hills and it is an amazing workout! I actually do not work out on days that I mow because it's that strenuous. If I was a mower by trade, I'd never have to exercise. If this whole finance career doesn't work out for me I know what I'll do next!
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