Time to Start Over

This week began with numerous challenges that continued throughout the week. It took a lot to stay positive and a lot of crying was done.

I always love Monday, but the 6th was an exception. I was house/pet sitting and the dog barked during the night and again in the early morning hours when the trash truck came. The dog was just doing what dogs do alerting the neighborhood that hey did you hear that noise oh well what about my barking I know you hear my barking. I remedied it with a beach run later that evening and the following day with soup bones to keep him occupied. Now I'm sure the dog whisperer has a better solution, but that seemed to work for the dog and I the best.

I then received an email where I was asked about the small number of responses that I was able to get at an event I was at where I wanted to promote OCR. My spirits were dampened, but I decided some response was better than none at all.

I continued my day doing my job. The relief manager I overlap with two days a week was out due to a loss in the family. I sure value her and even more when she has a day off.

The morning was tough and I called my mom. She simply said,"just start over."

The next message I got was a friend who shares my desire to stay positive and I've come to value him a lot. He was saying good morning and sharing news of a job interview later that day. This gave me a chance to redirect focus from myself and wish him good luck.

The day went on and without going into too much detail I received a return phone call from my doctor in Santa Barbara. I am so grateful for her kindness and soft spoken reassuring words. She left me with a referral and I recognized the name of the doctor. I remember him treating my Godsons aunt and as I called her I broke down crying. She invited me to dinner as she shared the news that she's moved close to where I live. 

I finished my work day and headed to workout. I had taken a couple weeks off and I made the mistake of thinking I could jump right back instead of easing in. My body let me know back squats hurt and the workout of the day left me sore the following two days. My dear friend Terri was there and I shared news of my rough day with her and she simply said tomorrow is another day. She sure is awesome!

I had some equipment I'd borrowed from my Spartner Seth that I needed to return to him. His work was close to where I was house/pet sitting. I was grateful he was around to talk to and he could multitask and work like a busy bee as we chatted a few minutes.

Tuesday went much better and Wednesday I received a call from my friend Erik asking if I remembered what day it was. I took a lucky guess it was full moon hiking night. He said we were making pizza at Paul's Place after. I said I'd try to make it and I forgot about my sore legs. The hike was great until I had to go down cardiac hill my legs hurt so I crab walked my way down it. Paul made amazing thin pizza crusts and we each made our own for him to cook in his outdoor stone oven. I met a great girl Nicole who I got to share my pizza with and she talked about her line of work with me and I knew right then that God puts the right people in our life's at the right time.

Late Thursday night my friends returned home from their honeymoon and I told them my gift to them was no charge for house/dog sitting. I thought it was the least I could do since Arlene gave me such inexpensive rent the year I lived in the guest house there. They brought me back the sweetest little surprise from Hawaii. A great bag for race gear or groceries and an anklet with my favorite color aqua beads.

Friday I followed up with my doctors advice and went in for a minor medical test. I'm not good at reaching out or expressing my needs, but I really value the beautiful people in my Tuesday running group and I just asked for positive thoughts and prayers. I reached out to some close girlfriends as well and the kind words of love and support from so many of them was really touching.

I signed up to run a half marathon. Today it started at 7:00 am. Marci from my Tuesday running group saw me and asked about how things went and if it was okay to ask. We talked and once again I was shown how God puts the right people in our path at the right time.

The race started and I knew I was going out quicker than usual, but I wanted to PR so I stayed along with Marci for the first two miles. Her son was running in Chicago today hoping to have a qualifying olympic time.  I saw my friends Jadd and Alejandra and they cheered me along. I dropped back as Marci continued her sub 10 minute pace. I saw my friends husband who I'd just finished house sitting for. He was doing his job as a deputy in the traffic division and was at an intersection. I thanked him for his time. The next friend I saw was my favorite local race photographer Kaori. I had talked to her last night and shared a race photo from my first half marathon with her and asked if she might get another so I could do a side by side. I saw her and yelled out to ask if she was running her own race today. She grabbed her camera and snapped some shots. At that moment I felt a surge of adrenaline and may have paced a way to fast time for 20 seconds. We would later joke that she should race alongside me throughout the course. The hills were fun the aid along the course was great being passed by friends was encouraging and I made it to the finish line and achieved the one goal I set of a PR and beating my time from 5 years ago. I also completed some of the Strava challenges and benchmarks that I wanted to. http://raceresults.eternaltiming.com/index.cfm/20141012_City_to_the_Sea_Half_Marathon_and_5k.htm?Fuseaction=Results&Bib=154&Firstname=&Lastname=

Although my week was challenging I am grateful for running therapy and this is the way I get to start a new week over.