Tough Mudder? Hell yeah!

Well...I was going to blog about my birthday, but I think Chad has that pretty well covered. Instead, I would like to talk about something different. For instance, the fact that Chad and I have decided to participate in the Tough Mudder in Virginia this October. It's a 10-mile race with obstacles designed by the British Special Forces. Despite the fact that I will have to crawl through tubes full of muddy water, run through fire, and get shocked with 10,000 volts of electricity, the thing I'm dreading the most is running.

You may think I'm crazy for saying that, but it's the truth. I hate running. And when I say I hate it, I mean I despise it with every fiber of my being. It makes me feel terrible. I ran two (non-consecutive) miles with Chad today. When it was over, I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was about to cry and/or puke. Chad says that's normal. I'm sure it is. I do not relish that feeling. While we're running, Chad tries to tell me encouraging things and I end up hating him just because he can run faster than I can and even talk while he does it, while I'm over there wheezing and about to fall over dead. If I could punch him in the face while running, I would.

I have until October to achieve the minimum running requirement for the Tough Mudder. That requirement is to simply be able to run 5 miles in less than an hour. Right now I can't even fathom running five miles in a row without stopping. I'll get there. It'll be a long, hard road but I will get there. I need to get in good running shape by August so that I can do Insanity: The Asylum in conjunction with running. The reason I want to do The Asylum is to build my upper body strength so I can do the climbing obstacles and monkey bars and what-not.

So, the content of my blog is probably going to have a lot to do with my preparation for the Tough Mudder for a while. Sorry if you get sick of hearing it.

What are you training for? What do you want to eventually train for if you aren't right now?

Learning About Goal-Setting

I'm trying to set some clear, achievable goals in my life right now. I've learned that writing your goals down on paper and continually revising them and taking steps toward them is the only way to actually attain them. I haven't been very good at doing that lately. I think the reason I don't do it is because the only times I was taught to do it was when I was running direct marketing businesses (yes, I've tried more than one). I never thought to apply them to any area in my life besides business.

I've lately become a bit of a Chalene Johnson fan. In my last post I mentioned that I started her 30 Day Challenge. It's all about setting and achieving goals. I feel like maybe if I follow this I can learn to attain my goals faster than I have been. Most of these goals are financial. We're honestly doing pretty well at paying off our debt. I think we're going it faster than most people do. But I want to put it on a fast track. A student loan is a lot of money, but if I expect it to take a really long time then it's going to take a really long time. If I plan for it to not take a really long time, it might take a little less time than originally planned for. Right?

Chalene says to make a to do list every day and tackle it first thing. I haven't done that yet because I'm only on day 4 of the challenge and she hasn't taught about the to do list yet. I'd rather wait until I know exactly how to do it. I'm very good at learning things. I can do anything if you can just teach me how. I've always prided myself on that. There's virtually nothing I can't learn to do. This is just another thing that I need to be taught.

I'm a big believer in self improvement. I used to think all those self-help books were a sham...until I read one. Then I thought, "hey, I really could be better!". I've changed a lot over the past few years and a lot of it is thanks to the last business I was involved in. They encouraged self improvement and reading every day. Once I started that, I felt like I suddenly blossomed into the person I always wanted to be. Granted, I still have plenty of work left but I'm still better than I used to be. I'm healthy, I'm in good shape, and I'm more confident than I've ever been. Now all I have to do is apply what I learned to all other aspects of my life. Be gone, debt!

How do you set and achieve your goals? Have you read any good self improvement books lately?

Secrets of a Happy Home

Right now it's 12:00 in the afternoon. I've been up since 6:30am. I have no appointments at work until 1:30pm and haven't been called in early. For the past few days I've spent some time catching up on what I call my "Flylday chores". Click on the link there if you want to know more about Flylady. In general, she teaches people like me how to be organized and keep their home in order. So, each day I have less and less to do. So can you guess what I've been doing for the past six hours? If I had the camera at home, I would show you. But I suppose I can illustrate with words.

There weren't very many dishes to do and I finished them off. I ate breakfast, did my housework assigned for the day, ate some more while watching Medium on Netflix, and then I think I just spent the last two or so hours reading The Girl who Played with Fire. I honestly got through about a quarter of it. It's probably safe to say I'll have it done in time for the next book club. Oh yeah, and I also did Day 2 of Chalene Johnson's 30 Day Challenge. It's nice to feel so accomplished at only noon. The only thing I haven't done yet is my 15 minute declutter (another Flylady thing). Obviously, though, that only takes 15 minutes.

I'm beginning to relish these mornings alone. Yes, I admit, it's kind of boring but it's a nice time to get things done and reflect. Plus, my marriage reaps the benefit of all I get done in these mornings. When the apartment is in order, it feels peaceful. Chad can come home and not feel like he needs to clean the kitchen before he can cook, thus hampering his creativity. Then, when I get home from work, we can eat dinner together in our peaceful space and not feel guilty for watching a movie instead of cleaning. From there it becomes somewhat of a beautiful cycle. He feels happy that all this work is done and will do nice things for me (get your minds out of the gutter, readers, I'm talking about dinner, flowers, wine, etc). When I'm showered with affections, I'm more inclined to continue the work I've been doing. And on and on it goes.

As with any cycle, it's occasionally broken, but I always take care to get it going again. It's so worth it and it frustrates me that I ever let it slide. It's such an easy way to feel peace in my home and encourage growth in my marriage. Chad and I have a wonderful marriage anyway, but (as everyone knows) effort is required to keep it that way. You can't let a beautiful flower wither from lack of attention.

I suppose that's enough soul-baring from me today. I hope you found some encouragement here. If someone like me can learn to keep her home in order and her marriage flourishing, anyone can. :-)

A Lovely Walk

I promised you pretty pictures of our walk today. It took us three hours to walk to the end and back, for a total of 6 1/2 miles. I think my legs are going to be pretty sore. Here are some of the highlights:

Stairs to Nowhere

The roof of some building.

Whatever this is.

Yes! Made it to the end! (Or beginning.)

Mile 0

They smell soooo good!

Cool old building.

I have a thing for cool doors.

Well, that about sums up most of my day. We had a lovely dinner with a good friend and watched Megamind. Funny movie. Will Ferrel, love him or hate him, is pretty hilarious.

Did you get out in the sunshine today?

Clothes Hunting and HIIT

Well, remember how I went on a cleaning rampage and cleaned the entire apartment? Chad was so happy to come home to a clean apartment that when we went back out to the store he came home with flowers and champagne and coconut ice cream! He also made a delicious spicy black bean soup! It was so nice!

When I got off of work today, I went to a little consignment store on the search for a new skirt. I didn't find one that I liked but I bought two brand name shirts for a total of $8. Then I went to T.J. Max to continue my search for a skirt and struck out there too. But Chad found a dress that he thought would look good on me so I tried it on and ended up buying it. How do I manage to go to two stores looking for a new skirt and end up with two shirts and a dress? Oh well. The search will continue.

Tomorrow is the last day of recovery week for Turbo Fire and then it's back to HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts. I'm sort of excited about it and sort of not. HIIT workouts are great because they're so effective but they wear you out so fast! At least it will be a change of pace and I only have a month left before I'm done with Turbo Fire. This November there will be a Turbo Kick instructor training in Richmond, VA and I intend to go. It's more up my alley than Zumba and it's going to be a ton of fun!

I think we'll go for a nice long walk again tomorrow so I'll have some more pretty pictures for you!

Cleaning Rampage!

Sorry, my blog is going to be a little short tonight. I had a pretty short day at work, but I have a long one coming up tomorrow so I'm going to try to get to bed at a decent time tonight. I didn't have to go to work until 2:30, so I got a lot done around the house. Here is what I ate for breakfast:

mmmm oatmeal

And then the nasty part:

With a side of...vinegar?

Yup. I'm doing an experiment. I've been told that drinking vinegar every day can help burn core fat and balance PH levels. I need to do more research on it, but that's what I've been told. The person who told me this was a 50-year-old man who looked 30. So, I figured I'd take his word on it. Here's the nasty concoction up close:

Also my nasty fingernails.

After filling half a jigger with organic apple cider vinegar, I filled the other half with water to dilute it so I don't end up burning my esophagus or something. It's terrible. It makes my eyes water and I cough for about a minute. But, I'm dedicated to seeing how it works.

After my nasty vinegar and lovely breakfast, my friend came over and we did our Turbo Fire workout. Then I got to cleaning. I didn't document the whole process, but I got some pictures of the kitchen because that was the worst part. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture before I started, but here are some mid-cleaning and end results:

A shiny sink! Flylady would be so proud!

A somewhat tidy counter.

A clean table, but before sweeping and mopping.

Swept and mopped! So pretty!

After my cleaning rampage, I read a little, watched some Medium, and then went to work. I had a pretty nice day at work; worked on some good people. It's so nice to have a client at the very beginning of their problem and be able to see all the progress you make each session. It's so rewarding! I'm so glad I got back into my chosen field.

Do you love your work? Are you good at keeping your home clean and organized?

Lazy Blogging

Well, my work day was pretty lame today. I only had four appointments and they were so spread out I spent a lot of time being productive doing absolutely nothing. However, I did have some good snackage.

I promise there's yogurt under there!

See? Yogurt.

After work, we decided to visit a local eatery. It's located in an old Jr. High where Chad went to school. It was...ok. I think it's what they call "home style country cooking". It was good, but nothing better than I could make in my own kitchen. However, I did get some pictures anyway. I had lasagna.

It came with a side of mashed potatoes.

Also in the building is a coffee shop/book store called Coffee Beans and Books. It was pretty sweet.

Very cozy.

Yeah, I dunno what I was looking at.

I also found the next book for my book club. We're currently into the Stieg Larsson trilogy. Last month we read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and for June we're reading The Girl who Played with Fire. So excited for it!

I'm kind of lazy blogging right now. Modern Family came on and it's kind of irresistible. And can I just say that I'm really sick of seeing The Bachelorette? I don't watch it and I don't even want to see the commercials. Bah.

What TV show can make you lazy blog? What's your favorite book?