Last week was spring break. As a 40+ year old that works full time and goes to school on the side, spring break has a whole different meaning compared to the spring breaks from high school and my undergrad. How did I spend my week? Well I felt the need to do something for myself so I took 3 days off from work. To kick off my 40+ yr old break, I had a total play date! It included lunch, spa and several glasses of wine at a near-by restaurant with my good friend Julie. Then the rest of the time was filled with…wait for it and brace yourself for the excitement…sleeping, chores and homework.

I seriously think I slept for half of my time off! I just needed that time to re-charge. Even last night I was determined to finish putting up the laundry so I could start off the week with a completely clean and put together house. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been getting dressed in the kitchen every morning because that is where all my clothes are. I take them out of the dryer, fold them and place them in piles on the kitchen table. Assuming I’ll put them up when all the laundry is done. I’m one person and the laundry is never done?? Point is, last night at the end of the night, I still had so much I wanted to get done. I was simply out of time. I didn’t even get my Sunday evening post out.
Even though this morning I was energized that I now felt back to my old self and had the “I’m going to attack the day” mindset to get everything done, I was still a bit frustrated. I had five, yes five days off and what did I have to show for it?
Thanks to the Today show and Natalie Morales I got a good kick in the butt of “perspective.” There was a segment on a woman, Julie Weiss. Yesterday she ran her last marathon of her 52-marathons-in-52-weeks goal. She set her goal to honor her father who lost his life to pancreatic cancer, as well as raise hope, money and awareness for those that have been affected by the disease.
She works a full time job and has 2 children. Most Fridays she would leave her job and family to get on a plane for some destination in the US or Canada. She’d run her 26.2 miles on Sunday, then fly home and start the work week again on Monday.
About the time that segment came on, I was just thinking about my own race coming up this Sunday, a half marathon. I was disappointed that my training had gotten away from me. I was on track to get a personal best but the stress from school and work got the better of me over the past 4 weeks.
I’m no longer frustrated with the loss of what could have been a great race and just happy that I’ll be running and finishing my race number 5 out of my goal for 13 races in 2013. (My races can be any length – so a 5K counts the same as a half marathon…whew!) I’m also not as frustrated with what is left on my to-do list and just happy for what I did get done and organizing my week so I can keep on track.
So thank you Julie, for a very clear and timely message this morning and Congratulations on meeting your goal. From every Finish picture I saw – you were smiling; it was very inspiring!

If interested in finding out more about Julie’s marathon of marathons or how you can support her cause – go to Marathon Goddess.
Have a great week!
-B
Like this:
Like Loading...