Off the road again...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...and I'm having to take the one of rest and cross-training. I'm not "heeling" like I thought I was...turns out my run last Sunday made what seems to be plantar fasciitis worse this week.

I'm lucky that my massage therapist is also a runner. That way, he could tell me stories of his running buddies who refused to rest, needed surgery, and had to sit out SIX MONTHS. When you put it that way, his advice not to run for at least 4 weeks is not so bad.

I've gotten some Doc Scholl's inserts specifically for heel pain and PF that are helping a lot in my dress shoes and in my cross training. I was encouraged to keep up my walking, Wii, elliptical and weight lifting (especially since my weak calves are likely the root of all this), so that's promising.

I will admit, I was a little bummed I won't be running the Rodeo 10k (though, I might be able to walk it if I keep "heeling"). Instead, I took it as opportunity to focus on the Bayou City Classic in March. I was waffling between which race to do anyway. I know I can do a 10k with little training as I did in November, but I'd like to train for at least a week or two if I can.

If not, there are plenty more races this spring, and the goal of the 10 miler this fall. It's hard, but I have to keep the big picture in mind. In the meantime, I'm going to take this as a challenge to be active in different ways and build my muscles. It reminds me of my toe injury last summer...which forced me to appreciate being active at all.

After all, perception is reality, right?

The best laid plans...

...are usually foiled by a return to reality. Today was my first day back to work after 2 weeks off. I was a little ready to get back to some routines and interactions with the outside world, but a little nervous about my newfound resolve to improve myself. So I made a plan.

And broke it. Adam is always telling me I like to make plans "so then I can break them."

I never intend to of course...life just gets in the way. I planned to leave at 5 today to have enough time to eat and catch an 8p yoga class. I left at 6. I was winding down about 5:15 (not far off my plan for those who know me well) then got tied up on something for one of my projects this weekend, and there went the time. I then resolved to do a yoga or pilates video at home instead. About 2 hours later after decompressing from a long day, I settled on a walk. Did a little more than 1.5 miles in 25 minutes, which for me, is a really good clip. Add some ab work into that and I proud that I didn't slip completely (I decided walking is OK if it is at a level of exertion. I was puffing, plus had to ditch gloves and earmuffs due to getting warm. Yay!).

I planned to go to the gym tomorrow morning and go into work later since I am working nearly all day Saturday. I came back to an email for a 9a meeting tomorrow. My plan at this point is an exercise video at home instead since I have volunteer work tomorrow night. I may settle for a walk again. As long as I do SOMETHING, I think the plan is not a total failure. At least the thought of planning is moving me in the right direction.

What I need to plan better is road nutrition. With two mornings in a row of not going straight to the office, I haven't been able to take my lunch. I did good to avoid french fries etc. today. I'll have to try again tomorrow, perhaps for a salad instead of just a sandwich. This is probably going to be the hardest part of the 2010 Plan. I eat out a lot for work and with the volunteer schedule I have for the short-term. I have to make the best choices I can, even if they aren't always fun. 'Cause I want to be fun for a lot more years to come.

Off to redo tomorrow's to-do list and reconfigure what didn't happen today...at least today tipped towards success (albeit altered) than failure on my plan.

Plan for a New Year

New Year's is a great time to re-evaluate goals. This year, instead of calling my goals "resolutions," I am setting my 2010 Plan. Here's what I will work to achieve this year:

1. Running: Last year, I set out to run a 10k, which I did on Thanksgiving. This year, I want to run more 10ks. My ultimate goal is to run a 10 miler in 2010. I'm targeting one in Clear Lake in October. This gives me 9 months to train...which is realistic considering I will still have a full work & volunteer plate, at least for the first half of the year. I also ran my first 5k in 2008...so this is a nice increase of about 3 miles per year for racing. If this works, I'll target a half marathon for 2011.
2. Staying active: I'm going to continue the theme from 2009 of trying to be active everyday, with the 65 day off allowance for account for illness, injury or just plain crazy days. I'm going to add a caveat, however. I want to log 200 minutes of exercise a week, actual exercise I plan, not just walks to meetings across campus :) Real Age says we need to get at least 80 mins of intense exercise (cardio or weights) a week to keep visceral fat (the kind around internal organs) away. I figure to lose weight, I need to up this, and the 200 is a good almost 30 mins a day average. Days I will run or lift, I know I'll get more in, so it should work itself out.
3. Eating: I'm going to get back to writing down what I eat most days, no matter how bad it is :) I'm hopeful this will keep me more accountable.
4. Professionally: I want to become a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). The test is offered quarterly. I likely won't test until the second half of this year, but feel this would be a great time to earn certification, as I passed the 5 years consecutive fundraising experience mark in 2009 and qualify in all the other areas as well: amount raised for organizations, community service, etc. (Though I've been fundraising for more than 8 years, I did take a brief break to finish my grad coursework and went back to newspapers to do so.)

I do want to continue the other themes discussed in my 2009 review, such as balance, making time for family, etc. but these cover the major milestones I will work towards this year. So what's your 2010 Plan?? Let's share and keep each other accountable...happy new year!

Tipping into 2010

The very fact that I am writing a "year in review" type blog is one of my many tipping points this year. This time last year, I was just dipping my toes in the social media pond. I had been on Facebook about 3 days (I'd been on LinkedIn a while, and tried MySpace but never got hooked). I have really enjoyed finding friends from our time in Louisiana, college, high school and yes, even my 8th grade class. What I especially enjoy is how an update really reaches out to someone you might not expect to reply, or when someone offers a "you can do it" or "way to go" when you need it most.

2009 was a busy year in the Burns household. We FINALLY completed the Ike repairs in February. Nothing makes you appreciate your home intact more than sleeping in your living room for 5 months! I know many others had it much worse, but I'm glad that's a chapter that completed. And we upgraded some flooring in the process, so we made a positive out of it.

On the volunteer front, I was asked to serve on the board of the Junior League of Houston. It's been a lot of hard work and mornings, lunches and nights to get all the meetings/tasks in, but I have found it extremely rewarding. It's given me an opportunity to learn about all the great things our organization facilitates in our community via volunteer hours and grants. I also have gained experience and expanded my leadership skills, which has been a great learning opportunity. I also took some of this into the community and joined the Heart Association's young professionals group. As a co-chair of their service committee, we are working to establish a volunteer opportunity with heart patients at Texas Children's Hospital to kick off in early 2010.

I've been at my UH job for nearly 1.5 years now. I had a successful first year and am enjoying the experience I am getting in areas of fundraising I previously did not work in. I'm also grateful that over the past year, I went from a one-man band to having part-time and now full-time help in my office. It's cool to be a two-man shop!

I've worked hard to stay physically active this year. It started as a challenge on NYE last year to see how many days I could be active in a row (49 was the best right out of the starting gate). I switched around April to attempting only 65 days off. I ended up at 70 (well, I still have to work out today!). Not bad considering I injured my toe in July and took quite a few days off resting from that. Sure, I weigh about the same now as I did this time last year ... but I improved all my levels (cholesterol etc) and I also feel healthier between being active and eating more naturally and locally. Besides, maybe I would have gained more if I hadn't been active. Considering all that's happening in my life, that's not far-fetched.

But the tipping point that means the most is maintaining balance, and especially working hard to find time for family among it all. I feel a lot less stressed as I end this year. I'm also trying hard to make time to be the best wife I can be ... I can't always be here in person, but I try to make up when I can (like my cooking marathon over this winter break) and remember the little things can go a long way (like setting the coffee pot each morning ... sure, I benefit from that too, but I know Adam appreciates it). I am hoping my focus on this now will make me a better relative to all my family members, especially my niece who was born this year.

So what's in store for 2010? I'm still finalizing that plan (I refuse to call it resolutions as those are SURE to be broken). Sounds like I need to start 2010 with another blog entry :) Happy New Year everyone!!

My first 10k run

I am still a little in shock that I actually achieved a goal today I set out to reach on New Year's. Not that I doubted I could run 6.2 miles. (I have done runs of 4 and 5 mi before.) But looking at all that happened between January and now, I am very humbled at what I was able to do today.

I admit I haven't trained as much as I'd like this year. I think I will pay for that later today in soreness. The biggest setback was the injury to my toe in July. Nothing exciting..."Grace" dropped a pitcher on it. Since then, I've gotten runs in sporadically, but nothing super consistent.

I've walked the 10k distance before, but running it is a whole 'nother animal. Here's my recap.

Got there early enough to treat myself to Starbucks and meet up with my friends Katie (and meet all her running buds) and Joe. Saw a few other friends (Kristina and Jacquelyn) at the start line. I was pretty pumped. I was impressed I didn't oversleep, and felt ready.

I was actually able to run the first 1.5 miles or so straight in 20 minutes. I originally planned to use my Garmin for total time, and a second watch for run time (to help keep track of the walk breaks I knew I'd need). About 16 mins in, I bumped watch #2 so that was a goner. I then switched to running in even increments (10 or 5 mins), then walking 5 mins.

Somewhere between miles 2 and 3, my buddy Joe waved from the other side of the street. He got a PR today, whoo hoo! He told me later I seemed to be moving along at a good pace. Most of the race I was somewhere between 12:55 and 14:00 when actually running.

The halfway point was pretty cool, as I realized I had already done the distance of a 5k. As I turned around, "Run Rudolph Run" kicked on the iPod, a really good choice. I was pretty happy with the holiday selection and think it kept me in good spirits.

I really started to hurt around the 4.5 mile mark. My feet were pretty sore...keep in mind, I stood on them for about 4 hours yesterday handing out turkey dinners. Around 5 miles, my thighs began to ache too. There were times before those points that the cold air made it a little tough to breathe too. All I could think every time I struggled was either 1) "I can eat and drink whatever I want today if I do this, especially the pecan pie" and 2) "If the 9-11 firefighter can do a marathon, I can do this." See, the story about Matt (I think that's his name), an NYFD who survived 9-11 only to become disabled when a bus hit him years later, was on HBO's Real Sports last night. I'd read his story in Runner's World. It's quite inspiring. It was really good timing for HBO to air that last night before all the Turkey Trots today.

Around 5.75 miles, Joe was cooling down and running back towards me. If it wasn't for him, I don't know if I would have made that last .45 or so running straight. He kept telling me once I saw the finish line I wasn't allowed to walk :) It was the extra push I needed to finish just under a 15 minute mile pace. My official time is somewhere between 90 and 91 minutes. The Garmin beeped that I was done when I had about 20 feet left to go!

It was a tough race, but a good race. It was a little easier than I thought. I estimated I may walk half the route, but I only walked 1/3. I'm pretty proud of that.

Maybe next year, I run one start to finish :)

Perspective

I've been thinking a lot about perspective lately. This blog actually started it. After the first post, a friend emailed me and gave me an alternate idea to my exercise plan...if I was aiming for 15 mins a day, why not total that up (105 mins a week) and each time I exercised, subtract from it...and then I might feel less guilt for missing days? It was a great point and I wouldn't have thought of it from where I was looking. (Of course, it got my Type A self thinking I should add up ALL my minutes for the year to get an idea how much a day I averaged to set a higher goal next year...but I digress.)

Then I posted this past weekend about my tough 3 mile walk/run, and how it was harder than the 5 mile one the weekend before. Another friend wrote to congratulate me on my distances. I think she even joked about needing to be in rollerblades herself to go that far :) (Dot, you could do it even without blades, I know it!!) So here, I was disappointed in my effort, while someone else was impressed.

It's interesting to think that while we may be so critical of ourselves, someone else may be impressed. It reminds me of a favorite quote: "To the world, you may only be one person; but to one person, you may be the world." Really drives home how differently we all see everything.

I'm sure you've sensed a common theme in the blog thus far, that I'm trying to be less critical of myself and more positive. For much of my life I've been "cautiously optimistic"...which really means I expected the worst, and if good happened, it was better than I hoped. What I think I'm learning is that our life experience is based strongly on how we see things, and the world seems easier to muddle through when you look at things with a more open mind.

Example: yesterday was day 65 of no activity. You may recall my goal to hit 300 days of activity. So am I freaking out that I've "used all my days off" or even worse, depressed? NO! I have decided to step back, and look at it in a new light. Counting today, we have 42 days left this year (wow!!). That's 6 weeks. I can be active for 6 weeks. Besides, I need it more now than ever. The party season is beginning, and dang it, I like my Christmas cookies and adult beverages. I only owe it to myself to be active and not regain the little I have lost this year.

When I make it to New Year's, I'll be one week short of my longest streak ever (49 days). January was a decently easy month to stay active last year. If it proves the same, I could potentially hit 10 weeks straight. Nice way to kick off the year right!

SO...who's in on the six week challenge with me? Because from my perspective, that's something we can all squeeze in here and there, especially with a little encouragement from each other!

P.S. I just came back from a 19 minute walk. Not much, but still more than the 15 minute minimum :)

Back on track

If there is a ball I've dropped in the past six weeks, it's been the diet/exercise one. In the quest for sanity of getting everything accomplished, I decided to push aside writing down what I gobble each day. I've still stayed semi-active, but most of my exercise has been short walks, nothing very challenging.

It's still better than zero, but I have noticed a difference in myself. Sure, I've gained a few pounds, but I try not to let the scale be the main determinant of my health success. But I have gained inches the past two months of measuring, and some clothes are not fitting the way they should...and those I do put more stock in.

So this weekend, I began the quest to get back on track. I've written down everything I've eaten since Saturday. I ate a whopping 50 Weight Watcher points that day! I probably won't hit my points target for the week, but at least I know I'm not going to a party every day of this week so I hope to control that more during the week. The win here is that I will begin being mindful of what I am eating again and being more selective to eat the smarter choices.

I've also earned 7 activity points so far, including a tough 3 mile walk/run today. It's amazing how quickly we lose the fitness we work so hard to build.

I keep thinking about something Jillian Michaels said in this month's issue of Health magazine. They asked her in terms of fitness efforts where we go wrong. While I do agree with her statement about selling ourselves short on what we are capable of, I was a little disappointed to see her come off negatively towards walking. Some days, all we can manage to get in are short walks or trips up and down the stairs. While we shouldn't settle for this on a regular basis, I'd hate to see someone read that and get discouraged that the little they may be able to get in isn't worth it. I think if it wasn't for my little walks, I might have gained even more over this time period than the 3 or so pounds I did.

But she is right, overall. If I can carve 20 or 30 minutes out to walk up and down the block, why not pop in the kickboxing DVD and actually burn off more calories? If I can stick with that mindset these last six weeks of the year, I may end the year at a loss after all.

So, 46 days left until the end of the year. I've taken 64 days off activity this year. I just might try to workout every day left in this year. I'm going to need as much of it as I can get.