Kim and Lauren - Post #3

Kim:
When I was a teenager, my grandmother, Florence - Gramma to me - was this tiny, soft spoken woman with an iron will and a relentlessly cheerful outlook on life. She drove me nuts finding silver linings to everything. I was a surly, cynical, pessimistic teen, and I just thought when something sucks, it sucks, and there's nothing you can do about it. But Gramma was a smart cookie, and although it didn't click at the time, she was a lot happier than I was too. Over the years I've found myself seeing the world more and more the way she did, because now I know that what you see really is what you get, so we might as well see those silver linings, instead of blocking them with polarized sunglasses.  It took me long enough, but I know she was the one who got me started in looking for the bright side. I wish I could tell her now how grateful I am.

This running thing has me perplexed. Well sort of. I'm less perplexed now than I was a week ago. Partly because my knees feel a lot better, and partly because I'm remembering to look at how my little knee problem is actually a very good thing. How can aching knees be good? Well, they're good because they slowed me down, right at the start, and refused to let me go for months with bad form, setting myself up for serious injury. They told me to take it easy, do some research, and figure out what to do before I started doing it, which is not normally how I operate. I listened, and I've been doing my homework, and now, along with being grateful to Gramma, I'm grateful to my knees. Thank you, dear knees, for showing me a better way.

Today my knees feel almost perfect. Better than they have in two weeks, and possibly even better than before I started all this half marathon madness (I mean that in a good way), and the Egoscue knee exercises (see my last post). I'm also learning a lot about walking and running form, which I never would have bothered with if my knees hadn't so eloquently pointed out that I was doing it all wrong. I'm revising my training plan, and I'm more excited than ever to do this thing. I dreamed last night that I was running, and it felt like flying... Even my subconscious is looking for the bright side. To me, running used to feel like torture. Flying is a whole lot better, and much more attainable if I look at it that way. Grandmothers and knees are so worth paying attention to.

Lauren:
Last Wednesday I planned to follow my training schedule, walk 1.5 miles, run for 10 minutes, walk for 5, run for 10, walk for 1.5 miles…. But something happened and I became intensely motivated to just run!

It wasn’t an incredibly nice day in Seattle, but it wasn’t raining. I was running with someone, a nice change of pace, and I wasn’t trying to convince him to ditch out on our run and go to happy hour instead (my usual behavior). Rather, I complied with his suggestion to run all the way around the lake… without stopping.

My brain was a mess. What if I can’t make it? What if I look stupid? What if I have an asthma attack and pass out? How embarrassing. Then all of the sudden I realized I was half way around, I was actually giving it my best shot, and maybe going to make it.

Towards the end I was picking up the pace, perfecting my form and really giving it my all, I was barely even tired. I made it! Three miles, all the way around, without stopping, my longest run yet. I was in awe, so proud of myself… then I wondered, did I do this because of the person pushing me, or did I do it because I was pushing me?

A week later I am still not entirely sure who was responsible for pushing me. I think it was probably a little of us both. At first I was averse to the thought of having someone or something motivate me through this. I am not doing this because I have a broken heart, or I need a new hobby, or I wanted to get fit. I am simply doing this because I needed to set a goal and stick with it. Whatever motivates me on the way, the guy I like, a friend, my mom, a bad day or whatever is fine with me now. I am comfortable saying I am not doing this for any other reason or person; I am doing this for me.

February Bead Giveaway Winner!

We have a winner! If this is you, please contact me with your shipping info before Sunday. On Monday I'll pick a new winner.

Karla has left a new comment on your post "Running Ahead": 

Hooray for you, and know that you are motivation for the rest of us mid-50-y.o. women. I'm trying to stay with the "Couch to 5K" website.....although I'm not really a runner. I prefer bicycling, and I've mentally committed to a long ride this summer. Training starts soon. I look forward to your dual blog. 



This will be the last of the Bead giveaways for a while. Why? Not enough of you benefit from it, and it's not giving me what I'd hoped for. Besides, it's a lot of extra work for me, and you know how I love to streamline my life wherever possible! So... onward to something new. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll surely keep you posted!

Dog Park

One thing leading to another again, as it always does - little people on beads led to little dogs on beads. I really want to show you what these look like as a whole piece, so I shot these short videos. They aren't great film making, but I think they give you a better idea of what these beads are like than a series of photos do. Unfortunately, my bead shop software will only let me use still pictures, but after seeing these, you'll sort of know better what you're looking at. And as a reminder, when I take more than one picture of a bead for the BeadShop, you'll find little arrows beneath the main image, so you can click to see them all, and click on each picture to enlarge it. I think some people don't know that. It's not all that obvious. These beads will be available in the BeadShop sometime on Friday. I'm calling them the "Dog Park" series... of course! I love my little doggies!

Kim and Lauren - Post #2

Lauren:

“There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in doing something, you do it when it’s convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results.” – Kenneth Blanchard

I found this quote on Pinterest six month ago, about the time I had learned about the Disneyland Half Marathon.  At that moment I knew I was not committed to anything besides my freedom and fly-by-the-seat of my pants demeanor. Nothing would hold me back from having an amazing summer with my friends, not even exercise.

Fast forward to three months ago, I re-read this quote and began to really think about it. Could I ever be committed to something? Could I ever have the drive to make anything more important than my social life? Could I ever give up my anti-scheduling attitude to finally have a set routine? Then it hit me, if I wanted some sort of commitment, something bigger in my life I would have to work for it. This is when I decided that exercising would be my passion; I was going to lose weight.

November passed, then December, I went to the gym when it was convenient. I noticed I was losing weight so I would go, but then I felt great so I would stop. Then the holidays came around and life happened. I got lazy again and figured, “this is no big deal, I do it when I feel like it and I don’t when I don’t.” That was my mistake; I obviously wasn’t taking this seriously, it was an interest, not a commitment.

Now today, after signing up for the half marathon I have made the decision to take this seriously. I have made this my commitment. And I didn’t come to this conclusion because I wanted to lose weight. I tried that and clearly it didn’t work. I made the decision to run this half marathon, to try my best and feel something bigger for life.  I made the decision to become a runner, and the minute that clicked in my brain it was like something had changed, I felt different. From that point on it was a thousand times easier to get out of the house and go for a run. I will admit I have not started my half marathon training yet. I am currently working on a 5k, which is a stepping stone in the right direction. The most important thing is that even though I may not have started the hard training yet, I have made the commitment, no excuses, I follow my current training schedule just as I should and once I start the hard stuff I have no doubt any of this will change. I am excited for what is to come. I am excited to be an active happy person and share my journey with others. I am excited to be a runner. 

Kim:

I read Lauren's entry before starting this, and what she says about commitment really rings true for me too. I've started and stopped exercise plans all my life, and have always been distracted by something else "more important" after a few days. This time around feels different.

So far there have been plenty of obstacles that could have easily made me give up. Things like snow, mean dogs, lack of time, sore muscles, a cold, and the dreaded achy knees. All of these can be dealt with though, and rather than give up, I'm dealing. And I'm learning. I had no idea when I started all this that I would care a hoot about what it takes to be a runner. And now, not only do I care, I want to be a runner. That, my friends, is a very strange thing for me to hear myself say.

The knees had me worried, but then I remembered the book, Pain Free, by Pete Egoscue. I know several people who swear by this simple method of realigning the body to work properly, not only in sports, but in everyday life. And I'm happy to say that after only 2 days of doing a few seemingly too simple exercises, my knees feel better. It makes total sense that all these years of sitting on my butt making beads have rendered me somewhat out of whack. I'm glad my knees let me know about the problem, so I can fix it. And as I put myself back in whack, I'm changing my training strategy somewhat.

I was probably a bit too gung-ho last week, and I hurt myself, but only a little bit, and only enough to remind myself to ease into this and do it right. So for now, more walking and less running. In fact, no running at all until the knees are happy again. But I'm still "all in" on this thing, and snow and dogs, and even work are not keeping me from getting out there 3 days a week, and putting in the miles.

A supportive friend pointed out that my name ties in nicely with all this running stuff. She's right. Some days I feel like I'm "Miles From Nowhere," but the truth is, I have "Miles To Go," and I know I can do it. I'm committed. I imagine there are a few people who think I should be committed... and I'm not the tiniest bit interested in what they think.

Meet SOLARIA

Taos is very different from your usual Small Town USA. We have art, among other things. Boy, do we have art. And all manner of artists who create it. Sometimes it seems like everyone who lives here, no matter what they do for money, is an artist on some level. This is a good thing, rather than a competitive thing, because it makes for a pool of creative thinkers and doers. Like anyplace, Taos has its problems, but lack of creativity is certainly not one of them.

A friend of ours bought an Earthship several years ago, and has been lovingly decorating "her" from ceiling to floor all this time. She's turned bare mud walls into glowingly layered waves of color, and shifted the interior from "Taos Hippie" to Earthship Chic. Her love of mosaic surfaces all over the "ship," adding brilliant facets of light, color and pattern, and turning the off-grid, sustainable, sensible dwelling into more of and Earthen Palace. The term "jewel box" is often used in describing beautiful homes, but has never been more appropriate than it is for the beautiful SOLARIA.

SOLARIA is the Earthship's name. And now, lucky you, you can stay there on your next visit to Taos. If you've never been here, well, I think you should consider it. We have, as I said, art and artists, great restaurants, skiing, hiking, river rafting, and all sorts of other outdoor sports. We have scenery and light that will make you want to be an artist too. And we have the strange and wonderful Earthship community out there on the mesa, just a few minutes from town, but far enough out to overlook the entire world. There are several Earthships available for vacation rentals out there, but SOLARIA is by far the most beautiful. Visit her website, see for yourself, and let me know when you're coming to Taos. You can't stay at my house, but I'll meet you in town for coffee... if you can tear yourself away from your haven on the mesa...