i did work hard the other day to make a plan--well, i actually worked harder on making an excel spreadsheet than i did on developing the plan, but no matter! pressing on!-- to ramp me up from half-marathoner to full-marathoner by november, in time for the NEW YORK CITY MARATHON that i sure hope i get into in the lottery, but seeing as i "started" it on monday but have yet to run a step and it's now thursday i'm feeling a bit sheepish. baah. the james assures me i have plenty of time so i am trying to listen to her; i know she's right, i structured my plan to end in august so i'd have time to assess and tailor the last two months once i see where i've gotten to with it...but still. nothing like an uninspiring start to not-catapult you to greatness.
so. i shall catapult instead by stealing Thankful Things Thursday from one of my favorite bloggers, as i've been meaning to for months. (other things on my to-steal-from-blogs-i-like list: blogging on a regular basis; posting nearly as many pictures as words; actually working out so i can talk about it; the ecard meme; a great many recipes, and at least sounding like i have a positive outlook on life. if you do or have one of these things, look forward to feeling flattered when i finally get around to copying you. it's the sincerest form of flattery and also blogging. everyone's doing it.) i'm going to have to go easy tho, as i'm not used to this. snark-demon, heel!
i am thankful...that my ankle is not sprained really anymore! it's healed to the point that i often forget it's at less than 100%, and have come close to re-injuring it several times bc i forgot. things that last longer than a week = hard for me to comprehend. i literally forgot how old i was the other day and told someone the wrong number. it would be cool if there was a memento-like explanation for this that i'll later become aware of. :)
i'm thankful..that i have some interesting work. super-secrecy and pesky ethics don't allow me to divulge exactly what i'm doing, but it is worth mentioning that i'm doing some interesting technical stuff right now that stretches my brain to the limits-- i'm always happy when that happens, and when i can feel like what i do makes a difference...i learned a lot today and you would too if i could share it with you but i can't so just quit bugging me. but, you can do yourself a favor and google something that normally wouldn't hold your attention for very long, such as "how does my microwave actually work" or "where does plastic come from"- the internets have really an unbelievable amount of information now and there is no excuse for not knowing something interesting anymore! shit is fascinating!
i'll just go ahead and be grateful for the internet now too, while i'm at it. nT loves a bit by Louis CK where he talks about how amazing it is to fly *in a plane* that it's fucked up for people to be impatient about it- actually, thanks again internet!!, i'll just find it for you:
he is hilarious and it's hard not to agree, isn't it? i found myself explaining encyclopedias to my 9yo the other day, and he was looking at me like i was crazy. i also caught myself telling him "i remember this song bc it's on one of the albums i ordered from columbia house when i was in middle school..." remember columbia house?? how fucking cool was that shit-- and how much cooler is it now that we can have ten times as much stuff *instantly*. maybe in a way we had a more visceral connection to things when they were more tangible, maybe the anticipation while waiting for things made us cherish them more...but the upside is that now we can have and do so much of what we want that we don't even notice it most of the time. so, internet, i take a moment to salute you!
i'm grateful for online running advice and training plans. without them i'd probably still be color-coordinating my running calendar and making up interval workouts to try, instead of biting the bullet and actually going out there. which, as i said i haven't done yet but nevertheless, i'm closer because of you!
i'm grateful i picked an awesome yoga school that has a big language component; i didn't even realize until i started how much my life was missing another dead language! ooh sanskrit, you lull me. someone mentioned it's used, or can be used, to write machine code. that is really cool, but i'm too lazy to check le internet and find out if it's true.
i'm thankful i and mine are all healthy and whole, which makes speaking to each other or getting along really just luxuries that can be put off to another time. if anyone was sick, we'd probably feel obligated to slap on a
i'm super grateful for my sparkly vegas cup. i've managed to keep hold of it since my birthday/half marathon trip in december (see aforementioned memento-problem) and it makes drinking water so festively pleasant! i <3 you, special cup!
i'm grateful for uncharacteristic surface-of-the-sun weather, even though it looks to be mostly over. it was fun while it lasted, and i did have many moments of quiet appreciation just marvelling at the happiness of a 60* day in arizona. i'm going to see just how long i can hang onto those lovely memories. you may want to start a stopwatch.
i'm grateful for more opportunities than i can shake a stick at. the james and i have on our wishlist way more races than we can conceivably get ourselves to, i have lots of other half-baked travel plans on my mind for this year, and new things keep popping up. i tend to feel the pang of 'oh no!' when i miss something, but i'm flipping the coin over right now and realizing, having too many awesome things to do and having to prune the list is exactly the kind of problem i want to have. much better than not enough!
