“Shift your focus”

Shift your focus.

Sage words from my friend Steph as I was sharing with her and my sis my thoughts on this very blog post, as I start to slide into a bit of ‘dread mode’ heading into traveling (again) next week to California. As I’ve said many times before, these trips always take a lot out of me, from the cross-country travel, to the adjustment (or lack thereof!) to the 3-hour time difference, which not only messes with my sleep pattern but most importantly (lol) my eating patterns (since I feel hungry allthedamntime, hungry when I wake up, hungry when I get to work, hungry all afternoon, given my meals are at such different times there vs. here. The time difference just sucks, plain and simple, for eating!). And don’t even get me started on how much it messes with my beloved routine. 😉

But I am going to try something new this time. I am going to shift my focus. Focus on where I am, not where I am not.

Rather than look at the 7-day forecast (which we all know will change, anyway!) and seeing 82 degrees on the day I fly out and already wishing I wasn’t going to miss such beautiful weather, I’ll look at the 7-day forecast for Costa Mesa and realize that hey, it’s warm there *too*. Score.

Rather than be missing the rundates and the barre dates and the barre n9ne classes I won’t be teaching (or taking), I’ll focus on the classes I am taking in California, adjusting to the style of classes I may take, and experimenting with my very first outdoor run near my hotel (it’s always been uber dark in the morning when I’ve traveled there the last handful of times, but no more!), and a long-awaited dinner date with this awesome chick.

Rather than stressing about each and every meal and disliking that I am eating out more than I’d like, I’ll embrace the new places I plan to try, and request a mini-fridge in my hotel room and stock up on a few things at Trader Joe’s. And I’ll make every effort to make the best damn mock oatmeal bowl of goodness that I possibly can. Perhaps the best ‘mock’ bowl ever (next to homemade!).  Shifting my focus on adjusting to my environment, rather than wishing I was elsewhere.

Rather than missing M like whoa…well, I guess this one just won’t change, because let’s face it, I know I will miss him like whoa, but the goodbyes are the worst part and the welcome back hug and kiss are by far the best part, right up there with getting into bed, snuggling close, placing my face into the crook of his neck, where it fits just ever so perfectly, and falling to sleep smiling, happy to be home, but also happy to have focused on the here and now, not the there and future. 

 

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Friday Random Travelin’ Facts

It’s Friiiiidaayyyyyy!!!! <—-who’s excited, raise your hand?!

Anytime I travel, Friday is just that much sweeter, I have to say. As much I as try my best to embrace work travel, as I said yesterday, it is just so damn tiring, no matter what. So I figured I’d share some fun random travelin’ facts for today, some funny, some learnings and such 😉

I never feel settled until I unpack, start a load of laundry, clean up a little (this depends on if M ‘tidies up’ for me before my arrival heehee), no matter what time I get home. Last night, I scored an earlier flight so I was home around 9 and did all of the aforementioned in 20 minutes. I don’t eff around, yo 😉

I always go into OATT planning my workouts, my meals and of course, my outfits. And I always bring too many outfits (but usually almost always use a backup outfit I packed, for the record!) and enough snacks to feed an army (but you never know when you might be caught without a meal and have to rely on snacks, right?!).

I’m a nervous nellie traveler. And not in the fear of flying way. My worst fear is missing a flight or being late to board without a coffee, water, or meal (depending on how long the flight is, if I buy a meal or rely on aforementioned snacks!). I also fear layovers in ‘red flag’ snow/delay zones in the winter like Chicago, Minneapolis, Denver and avoid them (and layovers) at all costs. Sometimes it is inevitable, but my second worst fear is sleeping in the airport 😉

I love exploring new barre studios, gyms, and running routes when I travel. I’m always excited when the hotel offers a running route or map and I always scope out the hotel gym the night before. If there are two treadmills in the whole gym, you better be damned I’m getting one 😉 If I can find a barre studio to try out, I will, and have found a few cool ones in areas that I travel to frequently. Double score, right? (though my heart belongs to barre n9ne, of course).

I hate my routine being out of whack, so I try to mimic my week as much as I can (at least when I travel to California to the office). I plan my workouts (aforementioned barre studios!), I try and determine my meals for the week, bring lots of snacks and try to mirror my beloved oatmeal if I can. It just makes me feel more ‘at home’ than winging it. It’s again, the way I roll 😉

As much as I dread the goodbyes, that’s almost always the worst part. There’s never a trip where I don’t learn something about myself, experience something new, or in the case of this week, meet friends!

Okay, so nothing overly weird, but as I am a year and a half into a job that requires a fair bit of travel, I’ve been thinking of my traveling evolution and how much preparedness comes into play for me to have a solid trip that doesn’t make me feel lacking in any way. And allows for a fair bit of exploring and meeting new people. With another work trip (California, this time) 10 days away, I’m rounding out a busy 6 weeks of traveling on-and-off, and am going to try and embrace it as much as I can. Because I know it all goes back to unseating comfort zones and growing.

But I hope you’ll ‘scuse me as I gallivant off towards enjoying the weekend which includes M’s graduation tomorrow. I couldn’t be more proud and cannot wait to see him walk across that stage. Cheers friends!

Fun-lanta!

Though it’s only been a few days since I left for Atlanta, no matter what, traveling always takes such a toll on me. Routine is outta whack, food options limited and different, lack of water at the ready (This is a huge one for me! I always have water practically surgically attached to my hand!) and I am a homebody at heart, so naturally, I just *love* being home.

So when I arrived in Atlanta and got smacked in the face with a huge wave of homesickness, while  I was surprised (given brevity of trip and fun to be had), I tried to take it in stride and just get ‘er done.

Preamble aside…now that I’m en route home from Atlanta and the Digital Summit, I have a chance to recap the best part about the trip…and while the conference itself was great (actually a little better than the one in Chicago, which I was surprised at!)…the best part about the last three days? 

The girls that put ‘fun’ in Atlanta (Fun-lanta! Sorta punny, no? LOL) – Lee and Tina!!

I seriously loved meeting these girls and spending a glorious time at dinner catching up as if we’ve been friends for years. And given we’ve been connecting on our blogs for the last few years, that’s not too far off from the truth! Tina wrote up an awesome post on our evening, you can read it here, but I was just struck by how real, normal, fun, and so ‘like me’ in so many ways. It’s yet another reason why I love this community of friends I’ve met through my blog, these are some of the people that ‘get’ me most and it feels like such an opportunity to meet them for real and just talk. (And to spend almost two days with Lee, given she was at the conference with me, so we could even ‘talk shop’ hehe!)

So, I figured I would just include a few pics from our evening, which ended with a (not pictured here, but Tina snapped some!) de-lish frozen yogurt! And since I was foiled with pinkberry last weekend, I just about dove into my bowl of deliciousness!) Ladies, you’re awesome,  and really made this trip so much better than it ever would be otherwise 🙂

Me and Tina!

Lee and me!

Group pic!

A riff on the Friday Five!

I have a shitton of things swirling in my brain today for a post but as it’s been sort of a crazy day, and some of these aforementioned things swirling in my brain are half-baked, I thought I’d share a few musings for the day, a la a riff from the Friday Five, something I love reading from Live for the Run!

1. I think I’ve had my epiphany about what to do with my running conundrum that I wrote about earlier this week. This is one of those half-baked thoughts in my head for a post, so I’ll share more later, but I think my #1 problem is running on tired legs. I have a rejigger to my schedule next week to best accommodate for solid runs, and I’m excited to see how it goes. After this morning’s awesome run with my sis and a fellow barre n9ne instructor, Julianna, it was the proof I needed that running fresh is what I need.

2. Week 1 of full-on barre n9ne teaching is (almost) in the books! Teaching my fourth class of the week tomorrow morning and am STOKED that not only do I have double digit attendance, a couple of friends I haven’t seen in awhile are coming!! AND I have tested out a few alterations on some of my go-to moves this week with my smaller classes and I cannot wait to put it all together tomorrow. But dude…I am TIRED. Teaching 4 classes a week is no joke, I cannot imagine how aforementioned fabulous Julianna teaches oh, I think 11?! INSANITY! But awesome. I lovelovelove it. And the side benefit of really working the arms and abs is already paying off, I am noticing some changes that I do believe I dig 😉 (oh! and I spied my bio up on the web site and got all giddy, I didn’t notice before! Whee!)

3. I finally feel like my weekends are a little less gogogo – breathe – gogogo. This weekend? Just ONE thing planned, officially! After some jammed weekends of late, I am reveling in this! 30th birthday party tomorrow for one of my close friends and I cannot wait to celebrate! Other than that? Pretty wide open, and in dire need of downtime, organization time, and veg-time. Bring it on.

4. Proud sister alert: My sister Jen defends her dissertation on Monday and while I won’t be there cheering her on, I will be there in spirit. I am just so damn proud of her and all that she’s accomplished, while going through her pregnancy, her illness post-c-section, and raising a spunky, beautiful, adorable going-on-2 year old! Love you sis and am more proud than I could ever put into words. ❤

5. Is it wine-thirty yet? Seriously, long, busy, tiring and challenging week this week. I am pretty close to crying tears of joy into my wine glass tonight. Ever have one of those nights where you truly cannot wait for that sip of wine? Like whoa.

Happy weekend, friends!! Make it a good one, will ya? Cheers!

A simple walk.

Last night, I had this whole post written out…’where to go from here?’ because, ever since I had my runner-not-racer epiphany, I’ve been struggling.

Not with my decision. No. Because (at least for now), it is the right one for me. I’ve felt like a weight has lifted from my shoulders and I can get back to what I love about running. Just running.

But in wondering what my next step is, my next challenge, my next ‘thing.’ For those of you shaking your heads at me, wondering why I can’t just ‘be,’ well, this is how I just ‘be,’ I DO. I set goals. It keeps me balanced. And ultimately, it makes me happy.

But last night, after a frustrating day working (for no other reason than just a lot up in the air, and some wild goose chases I had to deal with), I was hopeful that barre n9ne would shake the grumpies loose. And it did, but only briefly.

I just felt pent up, angsty, stressed.

But why? I didn’t really know.

~~

This morning, I decided to take a walk. In part because my legs *still* feel like dead weight after the half and in part because it’s a gorgeous day and I should be taking more walks (it is on my summer bucket list after all).

A walk so simple in that it was head-clearing.

Walking along the route I’ve run a zillion times this summer, seeing things I hadn’t seen before because I’m usually whizzing past them or focusing too much on the actual act of running. Making me realize I need to have a ‘walker’s mindset’ when I run. Calm. Happy. Taking it all in.

Because isn’t that what running is all about for me? The enjoyment part of it? The being outside part of it? Breathing in the summer air?

And then I realized something else. I wasn’t so much stressed about packing, I’ve been mourning the end of something. Not in a bad way, but just in a omigodsomethingischanging way. (you know me, I love me a routine!) I’m moving from an area I’ve lived in since just before I got engaged. More than 5 years of my life. I haven’t really let myself feel that yet, allow myself to start saying goodbye to this area, an area that has been ‘me’ for so long.

And then I looked around. I never saw it before. Paths.

Everywhere along my route, I kept seeing paths. I am on the cusp of a new path.

A path forward with a man I was meant to meet, at that very point in my life last September. And a new path with my goals and challenges of myself, workout-wise. Running. For me. Wrapping my head around my path segmenting ever so slightly from my sister’s, in that regard.

A simple walk…was just what I needed today. Gave me the boost I needed, the perspective I was losing and the motivation to walk down that path. Whereever it leads.