We lost our friend Lyla, to cancer this week. She passed very early in the morning on Christmas Day. It’s been hard the past few days. Hard to get going and to think clearly. We are leaving for the runDisney races in a week. But the kids don’t know about it yet.
We have been going through the steps of grief. Our children have never gone through this before. Especially with a friend of theirs. She was too young. It’s been hard to keep my thoughts straight and to motivate myself to work out and get in my miles.
But I dug down deep and found strength yesterday to do something for myself. And I did the same today. I wasn’t sure I had the strength to run a few days ago. But today, despite the rain, I laced up my shoes, plugged in my headphones and hit the road.
It was a peaceful run in the rain and I used that time to meditate and refocus my motivation. I thought of all the hard things Lyla endured and reminded myself that running is a gift.
Many of us got together Tuesday night to make bows for people in town to hang on their mailboxes or on their telephone poles. It was nice to commune with others and share this love for the family.
As I prepare to pack for the races I wanted to do something to honor Lyla while I was running. So I am going to wear her picture on my shirts for all 4 races to help raise awareness for rhabdomyosarcoma.
We will always love you Lyla. As we go through these next few days I will be relying on her strength to help me get through and help the kids understand that we will still love her always.
Every year for the New Year I choose a word that has meaning for me. In 2016 my word was Joy. I wanted to find more Joy in my life. I did so by ensuring that everything I did with my family, friends and work had an element of fun. I was able to find joy in a new career change, in my exercise regimen, in my family life and with my friends. I even got back my joy of running again.
This year the word Strength presented itself to me when I was out on a casual run. Over the summer I began strength training with weights again, and found a new love with it. I used to do it all the time 20 years ago. But once I began running more seriously, my weight training took a back burner. This summer I found that balance again, and the weight training has been helpful with my running.
But the word strength doesn’t just mean the physical strength I want to gain. I also want to be a stronger person emotionally. I want to feel more confident and I want my kids to see that in me. My daughter has been struggling with her confidence this past fall, and quite honestly, I feel that I may have been as well. I started a new job in July which did bring me great joy; but it also brought me new challenges. I am working for a company that I really wanted to work for and I am doing things I have never done before. I am on that edge of discomfort because I am learning while doing; but don’t always feel like my knowledge is up to par with my peers. I am always comparing myself to others, and that is not always recommended because there are things that I can bring to the table that they may not be able to.
I have also been challenged with a very difficult emotional experience recently. My son’s best friend, and a friend to everyone in our small community has been fighting cancer since she was around 2 years old.
We met her when she and Kevin were in kindergarten together. They were in the same class up until 3rd grade but they were fast friends.
She went in for surgery just before Thanksgiving and just came home Monday to be with her family and pets. She came home because she is not doing well. Her father has told us the news, and now I have to find the strength to hold our family together during this very, very difficult emotional time. It will be a first time my children are going to go through an experience like this; and of course for us as well, given that she is just 9 years old.
If anyone has been an example of someone who is strong it is our friend Lyla. She has been through so much and always has a smile on her face and never lets it crush her spirit. She is someone I want to aspire to be like.
Sometimes I run because I need to for my training plan. Sometimes I run because I just feel like it. When I run sometimes I laugh. When I run I think. When I run, sometimes I don’t think. I run to solve coding problems in my head. I run when I am frustrated. When I run, sometimes I cry. When I run, sometimes I heal. When I run I realize my blessings. But running is really therapy for me.
I needed to get out for a run this past weekend despite the weather. It snowed on Saturday and it was colder; but I enjoy running during or just after it snows. There is a special peace in the air. I needed to release stress and take a load off of my chest. Feeling the cold air in my lungs and the crunchy snow under my feet was the perfect prescription for me.
Here are pictures from my run over the weekend right after it snowed.
It’s that time of year…no, not the holiday season, it’s taper time for the WDW marathon weekend! What does that mean? It means it’s time to do something with your crazy mind which is missing putting in the miles and use that energy to start designing your costumes if you haven’t done so already. This year my children, husband and parents are joining me for the 5K. Last year my mother and I did the 5K together as it was her first runDisney race.
So far I have three out of four of my costumes designed for the 2017 Dopey Challenge. For the 5K the entire family will be wearing costumes representing the Mickey Mouse Club. For the half marathon, I am recycling my Donald Duck costume from last year with some enhancements since it is the 20th anniversary of the half marathon. My friend PK, who ran with me in the 10K last year, is running his first full marathon. So I am going to support him and wear Patriots apparel. I have one more costume to work on for the 10K but I have a few ideas in my head for it.
As we are getting closer to the race weekend I had to start preparing these costumes in secret because my children don’t know we are going to Florida. I was hiding in my closet ironing our names on our shirts for the Mickey Mouse Club costumes. As I was putting the feathers on my Donald costume, leaving feathers all over the house, I told the kids I was going to be running a race dressed up like snow.
I now have to start secretly stealing their warm weather clothes from their rooms and making piles to begin packing without them knowing. This is going to require me to start making some lists. It’s a busy time of year with the holidays and lists for the gifts, lists for the hosting we are doing at our house and now the packing list for the trip. I love podcasts, and Chalene Johnson had a good podcast to discuss how to travel stress free. Check out the podcast episode and templates of her packing list to use for your packing needs. Do you use lists for your packing?
When I pack for the races I use zip lock bags to organize each race costume in its own bag so when we arrive to Florida I have everything already organize and I can quickly pull them out each night before the race. I also include these items in my carry-on bag so if anything were to happen with my luggage I have it all with me. Do you have any special travel and packing tips to share?
I really don’t like this time of year. I enjoy the holiday spirit this time of year brings. But it also brings with it darkness and cold. I don’t like when it is dark and cold. It makes me feel lazy, tired and depressed.
I try not to use that as and excuse to not work out and I usually do get my workouts done regardless. But with work lately I haven’t been home in time to get in a run during daylight hours. And I haven’t been working from home where I could go for a lunch run.
So I took some time off of work to get my Dopey Challenge long run done during the day so I could participate in the holiday activities with the kids during the weekend.
I was planning on doing 18 miles, but with my late start I had to drop it down to 13. I was on the road just before 2:00 and returned just before 5:00.
I hadn’t had the chance to run all week because I had food poisoning over the weekend. It took me a while to feel normal again. I did work out with weights on Wednesday; so I was running on legs that hadn’t run in over a week. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Not running was making me crabby however.
I ran using my 30/30 intervals and picked a newer route to help pass the time. I was able to maintain a consistent pace per mile and got home a little after sunset. Even though I didn’t go as far as I would have liked, I am happy that I got the miles under my feet and a half marathon distance at minimum to count towards my Dopey Challenge training.
It also helped my mood to get some time out on the road. It also eases my mind to know I can get the distance done.
Lately my daughter has been struggling with separation anxiety, especially after long weekends. To help her get through these times I have been applying essential oils to her prior to breakfast to ease her butterflies so she can eat.
She had separation anxiety when she was in preschool. I would drop her off in the morning and my father would pick her up. There were a lot of tears, but my dad really helped her work through this challenging time. He taught her that after sad comes happy. She outgrew this phase and went off to kindergarten and first grade with no issues. I was so excited. But then something happened this year. One morning I had to go into work earlier and I couldn’t be there to put her on the bus myself. This change set her off on a tailspin. I got a call later that day from the school psychologist. She told me Adrienne was in tears. I spoke to Adrienne on the phone and helped calm her down. But this started a new case of anxiety for her for the past few weeks any time there is a change or she needs to leave me.
However, there is good news. Now that we know how this anxiety affected her in the past and what tools I have to work with; we have a plan. I am also armed with essential oils that have also been a big help during these times for both me and her. To begin her day we start with some grounding oils and uplifting oils such as Balance and Citrus Bliss, along with a little snuggle time in bed before she has her breakfast. This puts her in a better mood which enables her to eat breakfast. When she doesn’t eat her breakfast, that sets her up for a more difficult day.
After she eats and gets dressed I help her with her hair and then I have found that giving her a scarf of mine with a little perfume on it has been helpful. This allows her to smell it during the day and helps her to relax. I also gave her a bracelet to wear so that when she looks down on her arm she is reminded of me and it can give her the peace of mind she needs.
When she is at school she knows that she has plenty of resources there to help her. Her teacher has been tremendous in keeping me in the loop and the school psychologist is also a great place for her to go should she need to talk about her feelings. When my son had trouble with this in kindergarten, the school psychologist helped us teach him how to express himself by drawing out his feelings.
For Adrienne, it’s Mondays and any days following a long break from school that she had the hardest time with. When Sunday evening rolls around and she starts to complain that the weekend is ending, I immediately try to refocus her onto another topic or begin working towards finding a positive element to the next day. We start out with choosing an outfit for the next day or maybe a new pair of earrings. It also helps her to draw pictures of what she did on the weekend to help her shift her attention from the negative and move toward the positive. We all go through the same thing as adults and I told her that I also feel the same way she does because we are a very close family and to be honest, we do lots of fun things most of the time!
One of my favorite podcasts had a great episode about essential oils If you want to learn more about them and the different types that are available check it out!
