Surround Yourself With Positive People

/

I have amazing friends. Sadly, I think I take their presence in my life for granted far too often. I forget that not everyone is surrounded by people who are supportive and encouraging. Just read interviews with famous actors, authors, or entrepreneurs. They all seem to talk about how no one thought they would make it and how they were (kindly and well-meant) told how they were just chasing a dream and ought to give it up and go live in the real word.

People, I write about cat poo for a living. If anyone should be told, "Sweetheart, it just ain't gonna happen," it's probably me. And yet I find myself in the middle of people who encourage me, are excited for me, believe in me... their presence in my life is just an incredible daily gift. I'm lucky in that on the days when I can't believe in myself, I've got 50 people waiting in line to say, "That's okay. I believe in you for you."

Read More

If It hasn't been worn in 2 years...

/

I did a major closet purge this week. Went through and pulled anything I hadn't worn in 2 years. There was a lot. The purging process gave me two insights into how I deal with clothes and, perhaps, life.  

  1. I hold on to things that I used to love wearing, even if they're now old, worn, or out of style. Seeing the items reminds me how happy I was when I used to wear it and I convince myself I'll find another use for it again.
  2. If I paid a decent amount of money for something, I'll hold on to it no matter how ugly or unbecoming in the hopes that someday it will transform into exactly the piece I need and justify my decision to have spent money on it in the first place. 
Read More

Countdown to Chicago Marathon...

/

11 days 22 hours 39 minutes 54 seconds...

I start most mornings by pulling up the official Chicago Marathon website and watching the online clock tick-tick-tick down the minutes and seconds until race day. It's almost surreal. My friend Neal, who is also running the marathon, has had the clock on his desktop since day 336. In a phone call to me the other day he said, "I'm FREAKING OUT watching this thing move closer to single digits."

I'm in my taper, which means cutting back on intensity and mileage. Some runners enjoy the taper and the break that come with it, but most dread it. I'm in the dread group. Even though logically we know that the taper is necessary for the body to recoup and repair and be ready for race day, what's going through our minds is, "I'm losing strength. I'm losing speed. It's been 3 weeks since I've done a long, hard run and my body has forgotten how. I'm not ready, I'm weak, I'm doomed..."

Read More