The Quest for a Mile

Where have I been?

I don't know.

I've been here, but I haven't *been* here. Does that make sense?

The horrible meetings that I mentioned in my last post didn't go nearly as bad as I thought they would have gone. Both meetings dumped a crazy large amount of work on me that is due by Thanksgiving break. Why is it that they assume since I'm young and try to remain positive that I am invincible?? A Superwoman, if you will?? Cuz I sure enough AIN'T. 'Nuff said.

Tired of waking up extra-early (try 4:30) to get to work early (try 5:30 or 6:00) so that I can work on my paperwork, and I'm also tired of staying late (try getting home Monday night at 6:00) after a long day. Is it ever gonna get done? Oh, come on, Thanksgiving break!! I come home, make supper, and crash. Last night, I was seriously fighting falling asleep during Biggest Loser ... and then Abby left ... and I sobbed from sadness and exhaustion. Then it was off to bed for me!

So I've been dealing with the extra work, and denying my new mantra of exercise. Oh, the shame. I have avoided y'all because I feared 'fessing up. But here I am. And denying it isn't going to make it any better.

This is the strawberry roan mare...

... and here is the chestnut gelding.

Posted in: dieting, horses, letting myself down on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at at 3:40 PM 11 comments  

So, today, I got home from a very long day, wary of the even longer day that I know I'm going to have to have tomorrow, and I was feeling sorry for myself in general. (Tomorrow is going to be one grueling meeting after another, most of which seem to revolve around either my incompetence as a teacher since I can't seem to satisfy this insurmountable workload, or committees which will be discussing eliminating my job altogether. I have a bad feeling that I will be lucky to get through the day tomorrow without crying ... and I can't tell you how much I dread that.) So I got dressed in my workout clothes with all the speediness of a snail, and lowered my treadmill to the ground, and stared at it.

Nope. How can you run with a dead battery? No. I wussed out.

So I took Lola for a walk, with my tail between my legs. I had some thinking to do.

With the autumn breeze blowing, and walking out in the fields with my wiggly little black lab puppy, I had this following thought:

How can I be Jogging Auburn if I don't jog?

Does that just make me Auburn?

Is being Just Auburn working for me? .... no.

So, then, I'm a hypocrite. Not living up to my name. The name I gave myself for this moment, to remind myself that that is who I want to be, even if it is not who I am.

How can I continue to blog about the Quest for a Mile if I'm scared to jog? If I'm too drained to jog?

So I got home, and decided that I needed to jog again. But I also knew in my heart of hearts that I am starting off with a battery that is much more drained than back in the summer, which I enjoyed the delicacy of regular sleeping habits and lack of stress.

And I also remembered that I promised myself back in the day that I would not make myself jog at a pace that seemed unattainable, that was not fun, that was too hard. And I simply knew that I could not jog for one minute increments.

And then I briefly felt disgusted.

And then I picked myself back up again and thought, "Well, what CAN you do? Can you jog for 30 second increments?"

And I decided that surely I could jog for thirty seconds at a time.

And I thought that I need to pursue that Quest again. I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RUN A MILE! So, I am going to jog every day, at what I can do that day, until I can jog for 2 minute increments. Then I will begin to add in cross-training.

So, I jogged tonight. Jogged for 30 seconds, walked for 2 minutes. I only was able to go a little over thirty minutes before I got dizzy enough that I almost fell off the treadmill, and I remembered that I wouldn't push myself beyond what was safe/attainable, so I gave it a rest.

It is a Start. It is a Renewal. It is a Beginning. It is the Quest.

And I can do this. One step at a time.

With y'all's help, of course. :)

Posted in: discouragement, dog walking, jogging on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at at 8:52 PM 7 comments  

Whew! I'm back! Fall break was wonderful ... I got to catch up on some much-needed sleep, everyday was wonderful and exciting and new, and I was good. Watched what I ate, exercised when I could ... all in all, very good. :)

I found that since I was so busy, I seemed to eat a lot less than I normally would have (sometimes I accidentally skipped meals without even realizing it, which is very unlike me), and I have noticed that this week so far, even though I'm back to the ole grindstone, I am not as hungry. I hope that this is a trend that will stay!!

Incidentally, when Phil and I went to the log home company to talk about our house plans, we had a little excitement over the fireplace. We had noticed that our fireplace had been deleted in our last revision, and we thought it was just an oversight. Turns out, it was NOT an oversight: fireplaces do not come with the package. So we asked how much a wood-burning fireplace would cost to add ... the answer? "Oh, you're lookin' at probably between $25,000-$30,000." WHAT?!?! Does it really cost that much?! How does ANYONE have a fireplace if that's what they cost?!?

In other news, by way of exercise, I thought I'd let y'all know that last Friday I fulfilled a childhood dream of mine and went horseback riding for the first time (that really counts). I went with a couple of friends of mine named Catherine and Kristen. Catherine brought three of her own horses (but Kristen also has her own horses, incidentally). We took a five-mile trail in a local park, and even though it was drizzly and cold and my pony was pokey and liked to graze ... I still had the BEST time!! I was so, so happy to actually be horseback riding -- I thought my heart would burst from the pure joy of it. After it was over, Catherine let me brush the three horses down, and while she and Kristen were getting the brushes, I petted the horse I had ridden and found that I couldn't keep the tears at bay. I had wanted that moment my whole life, and it finally happened. I didn't want the trail to end! I didn't want that afternoon to ever be over, even though I couldn't feel my toes and my nose.

Catherine and Kristen were pleased that I enjoyed myself so much. Kristen even said that she's considering getting one of her horses broke so that we can ride together (only one of her horses is broken). I would love this more than words!

And GEEZ, was I SORE the next day!! I thought I wouldn't be able to sit down comfortably for a week!! What a workout, though! And it was so much fun!

Well, I've gotta be going. Got a parent-teacher meeting to attend (fun!). If all goes well, I hope to run this afternoon -- the Quest is Back ON!!

Posted in: fall break, horseback riding on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at at 12:17 PM 6 comments  

Something weird happened to me last night. I have no explanation for it. It kind of scared me. But then again, I'm not that worried about it. Funny how you can feel both at the same time...

Well, I decided to try out the Deck of Cards workout. If you are not familiar with this workout, it goes like this: assign each suit an exercise task (last night I had hearts = jumping jacks, diamonds = squats, spades = sit-ups and clubs = push-ups), and shuffle the deck, placing it facedown. Whatever number is on the card is the number of reps you must do of that activity. (Incidentally, I made Aces a one-minute rest, and Jokers were a one-minute wall-sit).

Well, I wasn't feeling spot-on when I was getting ready to do this workout, but I thought, "No, you've just been sitting around all day, you need to get your butt in gear and burn some calories."

After I started working out, I had periods where I felt okay, and then periods where I got a little dizzy ... and then I started having what I could only describe as mini-blackouts. The entire "blackout" lasted for about a second: it started with a ringing in the ears, and it felt like the insides of my head dropped, and I lost vision for a fraction of a second, and then it was gone and I felt fine. (Remember, all that happened in a second's time.) It was so fast, I could be in the middle of my reps, and I didn't even have to stop. Part of me was thinking, "Hey, maybe you *should* stop," but other than those "pauses" I felt fine.

After the workout was over, those "blackouts" kept happening: when I was sitting down, when I was in the shower, when I was laying down. I didn't know what to do to make it stop. Phil got me a big glass of gatorade and I downed the whole thing -- didn't even know I was thirsty! -- and after that, they stopped. So, for now, I'm going with the theory that I was either dehydrated or my electrolytes were imbalanced, or both.

So, lesson of the day: Always Drink Your Water, Kids.

Today's lesson was brought to you by the letters H and O, and the number 2.

And as for now, I've gotta run. So many errands! But I hope y'all are taking care of yourselves, and drinking your water!!

Posted in: blackouts, water on Thursday, October 15, 2009 at at 9:54 AM 5 comments  

One of the perks of being a teacher is getting random, yet LONG breaks, and this week is fall break. Yippee!

Posted in: fall break on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at at 7:46 AM 5 comments  

After I posted yesterday, and I was consumed with longing for my children and my future, I strangly felt better. It was as if I remembered the person that I want to be, instead of floundering around in a daze. So, I jumped on that treadmill, and I was back to jogging. Ohhh, yeeahh! It felt so good! I am embarrassed to admit the tiny incriment that I was running (*coughcoughranfor50secondswalkedfor2minutescoughcough*), but you know what? It was HARD. And today, I am SORE. And yesterday, it was ALL I COULD DO ... so at the same time, I feel ashamed that I couldn't do more, but I am proud that I got it done, and I did it well.

Now, for a potporri of thoughts, to let you in on a few more things...

~ The last couple of days have really, truly, been terrible. My dad was let go from his job due to financial issues, and my parents are really scared about the future. The sad thing is, this is the second time this year; he was let go from another company due to finances back at the beginning of February.

~ On a slightly lighter note but still adding to the mess, I've been emailing back and forth with my uncle whom I barely know, wanting to get to know him better, and he was really rude and hurt my feelings. So much for admiring him my entire life.

~ I can't get Esther the pony. The man who bought her at the stockyard said she is not for sale, and he finally took her to his home, so I can't even visit her. I miss her, but I hope that she's happy.

~ There was a comment left on my blog a couple of days ago that really bothered me, chastising me on my use of the word "diet." For the last few days I've been mulling this over, and I would like to say in response that I agree with what was said, and I wish that I did think that way, but I am not there yet. It is all the harder when I am surrounded by people who rather openly treat dieting as a punishment. I can't help but feel shame that I must be so careful with what I eat. And, you know, if you're stomach is growling all the time, it IS a punishment, and that is hard. Also, when you are struggling to keep self-mutilation and/or suicidal thoughts at bay, just fighting against that dark depression (which, for those of you who don't know, I have been diagnosed with depression, and that's partly why I started trying to run, to learn to cope with it and control it), slipping up a couple of times with one or two negative thoughts is a step up. I'm trying my hardest, and this blog is my safe place. Thank you for your concern, and thank you for your support, but meet me where I am and help me get to where I need to be. Fair enough? :)

Okay, I feel better now that THAT is all out in the open.

Lola and I went for a wicked long walk this afternoon. It was simply gorgeous -- 80 degrees, warm breeze, sunny skies. We took the "yellow route," and once that was over, we walked a couple of miles down the road to go admire my uncle-in-law's horses and walked back. Lola was so tired she was dragging along a little behind me, pink tongue lolling out of her mouth. She'll sleep good tonight!!

All right, I'm gonna duck out for tonight. Thank you, guys, for all of your wonderful comments and support. :)

Posted in: dieting, dog walking, jogging, rough jogs on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at at 5:48 PM 8 comments  

I wrote this a while back, and it's been on my mind a lot lately, and I thought I'd share. Kind of been having a string of bad days, and I've got to recenter myself. Sometimes, the best way to do that is to focus on your goals, and remember why you are striving so hard again.

Thanks for all the support, guys. Kind of really need it right now. Thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My husband Phil and I are wanting to build a house on our beautiful land that just so happens to be so very far away than where we currently are living. The house is the dream -- a very distant dream that sometimes seems so teasingly close that it hurts. When I close my eyes, I can see it so clearly...

When I see it in my mind, it is early morning, because when Phil and I camp on the building site, this is the time of day that I can pretend that we do, in fact, live there. A fresh sunrise coming up right over that distant hill, and cool dew is on every leaf and blade of grass. The air is fresh and wet and green, just as it should be on a country farm. And there is our house: a farm style log house, with three dormer windows and a wrap-around porch causing a sleepy-looking roof line around the front. On that wrap-around porch I can already sense the destiny of sipping ice tea on hot summer nights, watching the fireflies and slapping at mosquitoes. I can imagine frosty winter sunrises over a hot cup of coffee, and firey autumn sunsets full with the confetti of fall leaves. Outside the house crickets chirp and cattle low, and inside the house there is laughter and the sound of little feet. There are soft places to fall, hard chairs to pay bills, things to clean and things to cook, but outside of every window is the farm that God gave us, and inside every room is love. Our house is denim and sunshine, a strange mixture of reality and fantasy.

I can see Phil and the kids playing football in our front yard, with the dogs playing both referee and linebacker. I can picture yelling at the kids to not climb that tree or don't jump out of the barn, full of anger and relief and laughter all at the same time. I can see us, the whole family, walking with our fishing poles, barefoot down the stream, ready to relax next to the fishing pond and maybe grill what we catch for supper that night. I can picture playing hide-and-go-seek with the children, giggling and running and ducking behind tree trunks, and perhaps having secret locations be given away by curious kittens or calves. I can almost see the kids camped out in the treehouse, with the flashlights shining like dim light sabers, cutting through the dark summer night. I can picture myself painting in my dream studio, blaring my music and creating beauty. The kitchen is warm and blue and sparkly and smells like crescent rolls or pumpkin pie. And all the pet animals we will have! -- cats, dogs, horses, cows, donkeys, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits! It simply wouldn't be a farm without these things, and little baby animals that need bottle feeding, even on snowy mornings.

I can see all these things so clearly ... if only imagination could bring things into reality, then the house would exist. But then I open my eyes and look around at the little trailer that is so far away from the farm, a place where our stuff is but is not quite a home. It is achingly distant from the farm and the future and the kids. These days will be endearing in the years to come, and even here there is happiness and love, but it is not the dream.

If home is where the heart is, our home is on that little hill with the sunrise and the dew, even if that is all that is there right now.

Posted in: farm, home, kids, the dream on Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at at 1:03 PM 2 comments  

All rightie, as I expressed in a post about a week ago, my husband and I always eat lunch with my in-laws after church on Sundays, and this usually involves eating fast food of some kind. When I was last on my diet, I did not eat the fast food; I ate something low fat instead that I brought myself. Well, my father-in-law especially always seemed offended that I did this, and over time I eventually gave in and started eating what the family was eating again.

Well, I told Phil that I simply could not do this anymore. I needed to knuckle under and eat what I *needed* to eat in order to get back on track and to get this weight off. He agreed with me, saying that he had been worried about me (I think we were both thinking of the cinnamon rolls when he said this).

Our church building is located right next door to a Kroger store, so after church let out Phil and I went to Kroger's to find me something that would be okay for me to eat. I made my selection (fat free hot dogs and fat free potato chips ... perhaps not the best of choices but I was feeling a little sorry for myself all the same and needed that comfort food). So we went over to my in-laws' house, and Phil announced that I was eating my own food today.

My mother-in-law said, "Awww ... that's very .... admirable."

I was acutely aware of the pregnant pause before the word "admirable." Made me wonder if "admirable" was code for a completely different word.

So, then, the family began to figure out what they were going to eat, and Phil suggested Pizza Hut. This was especially cruel because pizza is my favorite food. I burst out, "If y'all get Pizza Hut, I think I will just cry!" Everyone laughed, even though I was serious as a heart attack, and they finally settled on Arby's.

Now, fast food choices at their house is built around the idea that the restaurants are selected due to the coupons in that week's browser, and Phil's dad began to rifle through the drawer looking for the Arby's coupons. He did not find them. He asked Phil to look. Phil could not find them, either.

And then, in a moment when they couldn't decide what to do, Phil's dad said, quite seriously, "Well, we might have to make Auburn cry."

I felt an overwhelming feeling of despair and anger at these words. Here I am, trying so hard to be good, surrounded by people who were blessed with thin genetics and could eat solid sticks of butter for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and never gain a pound ... and they are going to torture me. And then I thought that I couldn't believe that I didn't have enough will power to fight pizza when I had perfectly fine hot dogs to eat. And then I wondered if I was really going to be able to do this every week.

And then the family decided on Taco Bell. I was relieved. Taco Bell is not a favorite choice of mine even under the best of circumstances. It would be easy-peasy to isolate myself from that.

So the family ate their Taco Bell, and I ate my food, and I feel like it was about as good as a success as I could hope for.

I long for my own house that we can go to after church services are over, and we don't have the fast food fight, and I can cook something delicious and healthy for lunch.

So there it is. I didn't analyze it, I didn't sugarcoat it, I just told it. Was it a win?

Posted in: fat free hot dogs, sunday luncheon on Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at at 11:02 AM 7 comments  

I have been blessed to have been given the Over the Top award (now displayed proudly in my sidebar), but with "the joy of obligation comes the burden of responsibility," as Hank Hill would say. So in these few minutes before I leave for class I'll try to fulfill my duties.

Here is a survey of questions that I must answer in one-word responses. This shall be extremely difficult for me, but I shall try!!

1)Where is your cell phone? charging
2)Your hair? long
3)Your mother? complicated
4)Your father? cocky
5)Your favorite food? pizza
6)Your dream last night? confusing
7)Your favorite drink? coffee
8)Your dream/goal? heaven
9)What room are you in? bedroom
10)Your hobby? painting
11)Your fear? failure
12)Where do you want to be in six years? ... motherhood?
13)Where were you last night? cleaning
14)Something that you aren't? ... short
15)Muffins? chocolate
16)Wish list item? house
17)Where did you grow up? South
18) Last thing you did? email
19) What are you wearing? sweater
20) Your TV? bulky
21)Your pets? several!
22)Friends? ... yes?
23)Your life? hiatus
24)Your mood? anxious
25)Missing someone? hubby :)
26)Vehicle? Claude
27)Something you are not wearing? shoes
28)Your favorite store? Ross
29)Your favorite color? blue
30)When was the last time you laughed? today
31)Last time you cried? Friday
32)Your best friend? Phil
33) One place I go to over and over? farm
34)One person who e-mails me regularly? ... schoolboard >:(
35)Favorite place to eat? "out"

All rightie, that was difficult! And perhaps even more difficult is that now I must pick only 6 recipients of the Over the Top award. So, here we go!

Sharon at The Incredible Shrinking Sharon
Tammy at From Fat to Fab
Amy at The Not So Secret Life of a Not So Super Together Mom
Leslie at Something Brilliant is Brewing
Tricia at Fight Fat Phobia
Lori-Ann at Amazon Runner

All rightie, thank you for the award, and enjoy the award yourself! All the blogs I read are over the top!!

And for my faithful readers, I will post this afternoon, along with a breakdown of the Dreaded Sunday Lunch with the In-Laws. Toodles!!

Posted in: Over the Top award on Monday, October 5, 2009 at at 8:46 AM 4 comments