10k

This weekend I ran my first 10k race and it was awesome! It was the farthest I have ever run in my life and it felt so empowering to face some fears and push myself physically beyond what I've ever done before.

I have run for exercise pretty regularly for a long time, but never more than 2 or 3 miles. In college I ran 5 miles once, and that is as far as I had EVER run before training for this race. Pushing past that 5 miles feels like a major accomplishment, and running a marathon has long been a life goal of mine. Now I know how to get there.

In a way this makes me feel like anything is possible. Seriously. All it took was setting a goal. I have put this off for years and then just decided to sign up for it. Having a goal, especially a public goal, made me stick with it. I never considered not following through with it, even after I injured my hand and was in a cast and brace for 12 weeks. Major bummer, by the way.

Running 6.2 miles may not seem like a big scary endeavor, but it certainly was a stepping outside of my comfort zone. And I was rewarded in many ways. I'm a bit braver now, and more willing to try new things. I'm also in better shape, and I have developed a stronger friendship with my running partner, Jodi. She was the key to making this training great. We started doing long runs together on the weekends, and we would get so engaged in conversation that the miles would just fly by. I've never had a running partner like that and I love it. We ran the entire race together too, and that made it all the more fun.

The highlight of the race was seeing these guys cheering me on with one mile to go. Love them and their sweet little signs!

I'm hooked. Maybe a half marathon next?

creating a clearing

For the past several weeks I have been on an organizing spree. I have been organizing our paper files, the stuff in our basement, and even our finances. I have planned our vacation days for the coming year, and have been organizing our weeks so they run smoothly with a balanced combination of errands, work, play dates, and quiet time at home. We also have been getting a lot of yard work done and have prepped our bedroom to paint. You could definitely say that the theme of my spring has been nesting and getting organized, and oddly enough, I'm getting a lot of satisfaction out of it.

Part of this is certainly just the spring cleaning urge that comes this time of year. There is also the fact that we moved into our house less than a year ago and we slowly (having two little "helpers" at every turn) have been making it the way we want it. But it is also more than that. I have felt a strong pull to get everything in order, and that the disorder in my life was standing in the way of my work and my dreams. I felt the need to cross off the long list of basic life-maintenence things on my to-do list before I can get to the bigger picture. After all, I need to take care of my family and run my household before I can move beyond that and figure out how to enrich my life with more. Specifically, I would like to write more, to start giving back to my community, and to build a close circle of friends in our new community.

It dawned on me today that what I am actually doing is making a clearing. By this I mean I have had to make space in my life for the things that I want to come into it.

I first became aware of this concept last year during the Mondo Beyondo workshop about following your dreams. One of the main steps towards realizing your dreams is to create a clearing in your life. This can be clearing more time in your schedule or literally clearing space and organizing your living space, whatever it is that you think you need. The idea is that making this clearing frees up your energy and declutters your mind to allow something new to emerge. New opportunities, new space for doing art, or whatever it is that you need in your life will now have room to live in that space.

So through all of this organizing and planning, I am actually freeing up my time and energy and space in my home so I can focus on new things. It is hard to sit down to write, for example, when my office is a minefield of unpacked boxes. It is hard to feel like I have the extra time and energy to move towards my dreams when I have so many things that I need to do to take care of my family and my self.

Realizing that I've been making a clearing is liberating. Instead of feeling like this organizing obsession is keeping my from focusing on being creative (and being horrified that I suddenly enjoy planning and cleaning so much), I now realize that creating a clearing is part of the creative process. Now I can just allow myself to focus on and even enjoy this organizing spree, and trust that it will bring new good things to my life.

How do you create clearings in your life?

birthday

Birthday lunch with Batman and sleepyhead

For my birthday, I'm gifting myself this blog. A place to document my life and the lives of my ever-changing young boys, because the details of our sweet days together escape me so quickly.

I am also giving myself this space to write. To write whatever I want to write, just to create and give voice to the thoughts and stories and ideas that increasingly float around my head while I am jogging and in the shower and cooking dinner.

I tend to think that a blog about me and my life is kind of self-indulgent, but that's what birthdays are all about. Right?