Happy Thoughts

The mind is an amazing thing. You can be focused on what's in front of you while your brain is ruminating on something else entirely.  Your characters can be plotting and developing in the recesses of your mind, for example. Or a conversation you had could be replaying in your head. Lyrics to your favorite song could be on repeat.

Often you don't even realize it until you have that "ah ha" breakthrough moment, or when you catch yourself humming or singing.

Peter Pan had it right. With a happy though you can fly!

My favorite people are my happy thoughts and they're always on my mind. First thing in the morning; last thing at night. Not in an obsessive, stalkerish sort of way, but they're always there, in the recesses of my mind. My happy place.

They're just there, making me smile. My mind touches on thoughts of them throughout the day. Those that I'm closest too are never far from my heart and my immediate thoughts. Usually that thought inspires a quick text just because or a funny tweet or sometimes an email or a *gasp* hand-written note. Sometimes the thought makes me do something crazy, like send flowers, a silly gift, or have Chinese food delivered.

When my kids are at school, I sometimes note the time and think, "oh they're at lunch" or "I hope my son's test went well."  My BFF is a long distance away from me and no day feels complete without at least a good morning and good night text. 

When I haven't heard from them I have this emptiness, a distinct feeling that something is missing. My happy is missing a key component.

If there is a good reason for the lack of connection, my mind lingers on them and while I miss them, I mostly think how lucky I am to have such great people in my life.  However, when there is no plausible explanation, I find it hard to focus on anything but the missing component.

How about you? What are your happy thoughts? What do you do when they go missing? What have you done lately to show the people you love how much you appreciate them?

Trail Running

Today I went running in the woods with a bunch of kids.

It was super fun.  It was drizzly and cool, but all of that was forgotten as we ran through the woods on trails softened with fallen pine needles.

Then the boys (fifteen year olds) decided it would be even more fun to reenact the Hunger Games.

There were arrows flying all over the place! Stealth and evasion were instituted. I believe there was even a hatchet blow to the head!

The funniest part was when my son went turbo sprint into a corner and lost traction tumbling into a triple barrel roll.  Of course, being a good mom I withheld my laughter until after I made sure he was uninjured. ;)

I'm hoping to make this part of my normal workout routine. After all, laughter is good medicine!

What fun activities do you like to include in your workout?

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Love to Hate You

Technology.

The word alone sparks love and hatred.

Right now, hatred.

I hate my smartphone. Which is all the more frustrating because I need my smartphone.

I don't have a land line. My smartphone is my link to the world. I get both work and personal emails there. I tweet. Then there are blog and Facebook updates (both reading and making them). Most importantly, text messages are my link to the most important people in my life. I also have a game or two that entertain me. Of least importance, is the fact that it is a phone.

However, my Verizon Droid Incredible, is an incredible piece of crap. For some time I've been getting these "low storage space" messages.  Googling has revealed that it is some sort of internal cache that is sized very, very small. How to fix it? No way that I can tell.  Why? Most of the solutions I've found suggest rooting your phone to rid yourself of the phone bloating applications Verizon forces on you like MyVerizon, Skype, Slacker, etc.

I'd love to root my phone.  In fact, I asked my resident tech guru expert at work to do exactly that.  After all, he rooted my boss's phone in less than 5 minutes.

What happened?

He messed with mine for over thirty minutes before giving up. The Droid Incredible, bless its little robotic heart (that's southern for 'fucking piece of shit' btw according to my friend @evinschmevin), can't be rooted if its been updated to a certain OS/hardware update/something.

So, I'm stuck with this anger inducing phone for the next ten months.

Somehow, a few minutes ago, I managed to make the low space message go away.  However, along with it went my contacts, my text messages and my emails. It's rebooting while I write this and resist the urge to take a freaking sledgehammer to it.

What piece of technology do you love to hate?

Much Like Suffocating

I have an issue when I run.

I get out of breath too quickly. My body doesn't hurt. I feel like I could keep going. Except I can't breathe.

I've read some articles on exercised induced asthma, but I don't think that's what it is. I just feel like I'm not breathing effectively.

I also tend to get side aches.

I've read they may be caused by dehydration. So, I try to drink water all day on my run days. That hasn't seemed to help much.  Maybe I'm not drinking enough water?

Or, maybe the internet is rife with mediocre advice, because I also found this article. I found it to be more believable and have followed some of its advice in an attempt to breath more deeply.  However, then I really feel like I'm drowning or suffocating.  I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth.  After a few moments however, my nose burns like I jumped into the deep end of the pool and got chlorine up my nose.

Also, it takes every bit of my focus to breathe. Forcing myself to breathe in through my nose feels like trying to stay underwater for a couple more seconds when your lungs are screaming for air. It's unnatural to me.

"Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out," is my running mantra...along with "you can make it to the next mailbox" or "keep going until that curve" thrown in.

I started running because I wanted to get healthier and drop a few pounds. Now, I've got these challenges coming up.  I never figured I'd say this, but I enjoy running. I just can't seem to get over this hurdle to make it enjoy-able. Any advice for this aspiring athlete?

Run, KK, Run

I've taken on some challenges this year. 

Mostly they're all leading up to a single challenge.

I want to complete a GRC.

What is it?  Honestly, that's a really good question.  It's a team event, not a race.Eight to ten hours, fifteen to twenty miles, and offers to under promise, over deliver. You can learn more about it here.  Watch one of the videos. I'll wait.

Intense, right?

I want to be one of those smiling people at the end. Exhausted, but rewarded. There's something that drives me that is difficult to express. It demands I be one of those people.

So, how do you get ready for this event that offers sketchy details at best?

For me, I'm weight lifting three times per week, doing my darnedest to increase my stamina, and taking on some other challenges along the way.

May - Capital City Marathon: Nothing too big here...a little 5 mile race. I'll be happy to just finish.

June - Goldsborough Creek Run: 7 miles. Just hope to have a faster time than the CCM.

June - Spartan Sprint:  If you've never heard of a Spartan Race, check this out!  For this one, I just hope to come out alive.

September - Tough Mudder: Assuming the Spartan Sprint doesn't break me, bring on the mud! Tough Mudder is almost four times as long as the SS with many more obstacles. Wanna peek? Click here.

And finally...

December - GoRuck Challenge: The pinnacle event of the year!

You may have noticed some time gaps there. I'm hoping to fill July, August, October and November with a race or challenge of some kind. 

I'll keep y'all posted!

Where Have I Been?

Excellent question.

Not writing, that's for sure.

Mostly, I've been dealing with some personal challenges. 

And I went on vacation.

Vacation was nice.

I'll probably share later.

In the meantime, I hope you'll enjoy a semi-regular return to the random thoughts of KK Sierra.