Motivational Monday

Have I used this before? Maybe. But, it's true. I am thinking more and more that I need to focus on things that make me happy and less on what I think I should be doing.

Case in point - I love riding my bike. Two years ago hubby and I would ride almost every Sunday afternoon for miles. We had a blast, saw some pretty sites, participated in some trail rides with the city, and burned lots of calories. Then winter came and it was too cold. No biggie.

The following year I bought a new hybrid bike. It's pretty spiffy and I was excited to ride it since my other bike was 20+ years old and heavy. Then...we didn't ride. The bike sat in the basement all summer. I wanted to ride it, but we never did.

This year we got the bikes out and have started riding again. We had a fantastic ride yesterday going south on the local Rail Trail to areas we'd never been before. They were gorgeous areas with streams and flowers.

Riding this path is so peaceful.

Why did I not ride my bike at all last summer? I love it. I think it's fun. It makes me happy. Sadly, I didn't get the bike out once. This summer the bikes have been out twice and I'm happier. I'm looking forward to my next ride. I want to find ways to sneak in bike rides in between the weekend ones we plan.

I need to take this one example of happiness and bike riding and write it large. I need to continue doing the things that make me happy, not just what I think I need to do. I need to change my mindset that doing the things that make me happy is permissible and desirable. It's not just something you get to do because you earned it, but you get to do because you are you.

Losing weight makes me happy. Which means I need to eat better and workout.

Learning makes me happy. Which means I need to dedicate time to research.

Writing makes me happy. Which means I need to spend time writing and finding an outlet for it.

Photographing makes me happy. Which means I need to take photos, share them, engage others in them, print them.

Traveling makes me happy. Which means we need to go out into the world, even if it's just day trips exploring the areas around us.

Supporting local businesses makes make happy. Which means I need to buy local more and concentrate on local restaurants and stores.

These are just some things that make me happy and are easy to do. They are not things that I need special skills or lots of money to do. I can do these things everyday or at least every week. They make me happy and that is the goal - to find what makes me happy and concentrate on that. 

What do you do that makes you happy? How often do you do it? Are you actively trying to find ways to incorporate into your life?

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Sunday Walk

For the past five years, today's post would have been about running the Baltimore Women's Classic 5k. I have run this race every year since 2009 and I love it. Sadly, I missed it this morning. I photographed my friend's wedding reception yesterday and was too exhausted today to get up before sun-up to get down to Baltimore.

So, instead hubby and I decided we would go for a bike ride. We haven't done this is years and I've been itching to get out there and ride. We slept in, then started gathering the bikes and such. Sadly, it seems that the tire pump we have does not work on my bike tire. I purchased a hybrid bike a couple years ago and this is the first time we tried putting air in the tires. Then while hubby was putting air in his bike, we heard a loud pop. No idea what happened, but we decided to take the bikes to the bike shop to have them looked at.

Now that the bikes were out of the question, we decided to go on a walk. We got ourselves together and went up to the local park and aimed for two miles. This is the first intentional exercise hubby went out for since his surgery and we didn't want to go too crazy. Here are some photos from today's walk.

You can't see it, but this is the t-shirt from my very first Baltimore Women's Classic 5k in 2009. 

View from the path. Not bad, huh?

Follow the street to the plum of smoke. Know what that is? Three Mile Island. Yea...

Pretty flowers on the side of the road

We walked to the rail road tracks. At night we can hear the horn, usually around 12:30 a.m. I like the sound.

Yea...we had to walk back up there. The area we live in is fairly hilly.

I just love these pillars! How do you do that???

Half mile back to the car. Even the park is hilly!

Did you get out today? Did you race, run, bike? Hope you had a chance to do something!
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Equipment fail = exercise fail

Oh this is true. So very true.

Friday night my right calf was hurting. I chalked it down to work. I had a rough day physically and I had a feeling that being on my feet 6 hours either walking or standing may have caused it. I tend to have pain in my legs/feet throughout the week due to work and by the next day it's gone. I figured that would be the case Saturday morning.

Nope. I woke up late, but my right calf was still unhappy. It hurt. I decided to put off the 5 miles until Sunday. Why not? Doesn't matter which day I get it in, right? I did foam roll the thickest part of my calf. It worked well. There was some pain still at the bottom near the ankle, but I wasn't sure if foam rolling was a good idea. I asked my running guru Kim and she said yes. The stick could just be too harsh, go foam roller. So, I did. I used the foam roller towards the bottom of my calf and it did help. Didn't make it go away completely, but it was better.

This morning I woke up and anticipated a quick foam roll and off I would go. Uhhh, no. Didn't work that way. I still have a bit of pain so I decided I would skip the run (ugh) and go for a bike ride. So, I went to the basement and grabbed the bike. Took it to the bike rack and attempted to put it on. I say attempted because the screw holding it together had rusted and I couldn't undo it. Then I took the bike on a quick ride on the driveway...front tire flat. Seriously??????

So, equipment fail to the extreme. Sorta frustrating. No run and no bike. And honestly, the ultimate goal had been a 5 mile run and a 10 mile bike ride. Instead, I turned on the t.v. and did a 20 minute kickboxing routine, a 20 minute yoga/stretching routine, and a 5 minute core routine. Not what I wanted, but better than nothing.

And the positive is I found there are all sorts of fun things on the t.v. for me to do if I can't do my normal stuff. They have cardio, kickboxing, yoga, pilates, walking, etc. At least I learned something...


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