I've been thinking since New Year's Day about my first blog entry of the new year and the new decade. It's hard to believe it's 2010. Twenty-ten. Life has changed enormously for me in the past decade. So much so that I hardly recognize the person I was 10 years ago.
I have a picture taken of me on New Year's Eve 1999 in front of the TV when the Times Square ball had just come down. When the clock turned 12 midnight & the millennium began in the year 2000, I was overweight & stressed to the max in a job that produced enormous anxiety and insomnia, ruining many nights' sleep. I was trying to complete my doctoral research, my dissertation nowhere near started. I was eating badly, eating too much, eating in front of the computer, and eating for many of the wrong reasons. I was yo-yo dieting, going from the South Beach Diet to Weight Watchers to whatever diet was on the cover of the latest women's magazine. And I got absolutely no exercise. My cholesterol climbed to almost 300. My youngest son had moved out of state with our 5 year old granddaughter and I missed them very very much. By 2008 I knew I had to change my behavioral patterns or they'd change me. I went back to Weight Watchers, followed the program and lost 17 lbs. I was doing better handling my life, but I couldn't handle stress well at all.
By the end of the decade, I'd completed my dissertation & graduated, left the killer job, opened & closed a business (a great experience but 'way too much work for the long term), and was offered & accepted the job of my dreams. On the plus side, our oldest son's two daughters were born, my youngest son & granddaughter moved closer to home and he married the love of his life - our wonderful marathoner daughter-in-law. The New England Patriots won 3 Super Bowls and the Boston Red Sox won 2 World Series, I got a new kitchen & bath, and, oh yes, best of all - I got married. I guess the decade wasn't all bad :D
But other family dramas and the passing of my parents sapped me of a happy outlook on life and grief was frequently my daily companion.
Then late in 2008 I started running. Since those first few days on my treadmill running with a tentative plan in mind to try to become a runner, I've run and completed a half-marathon plus many other 5Ks & 10Ks. I became a vegetarian & my cholesterol is below 200. I now know how to handle stress in healthy appropriate ways (I blog & I run!). I'm down 2 sizes and my energy levels are off the charts. I love my iPod Nano and my Nike+ chip. Terms I had never heard of or never noticed on December 31, 1999 are now part of my lexicon: "wicking fabric", "orthotics" "over-pronation" "iTunes store", "Killer-manjaro" "runner gal-pal" and of course the Falmouth Road Race.
How times have changed. Fast forward ten years to New Year's Day 2010. Old eating habits are a thing of the past. I finally learned to eat to nourish my body and to be able to run. Yes I do still love sweets but I now eat them in moderation; one does not need dessert after every meal. Yes I gained weight over the holidays - a whopping 2 lbs. I do yoga now to center myself and to stretch & strengthen my core muscles. And I run. I'm not fast but I'm faster than when I started. My form isn't pretty but it's better than at the beginning. But I run & I finish.
And I have gratitude, true & immense gratitude, to my wonderful wife, family and friends who entered and/or remained in my life and gave me their unconditional love.
So here are my running goals for 2010:
1. Continue to run!
2. Increase my monthly mileage. My best month was 98.5 miles. Can I do 100? I'm going to try!
3. Run intelligently - don't take chances but challenge myself to run better and longer.
4. Avoid injury (note to self: don't even think of bowling!)
5. Run a few more 5K & 10Ks
6. Train for and run another half marathon in May.
7. Join the gym at the college where I work (it's too inexpensive to pass up) and strengthen my core.
8. Train for my first marathon. I don't have to run it this year, but I think I'll at least train for one.
9. Put my name in the lottery for the 2010 Falmouth Road Race and cross all fingers & toes that I get in again.
10. Have fun - I'm going to be a grandmother again!
11. Oh yes - one more thing......run Boston in 2011!
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