Mission Accomplished

It's been a while since I last wrote in here, about a year I think.  I guess I haven't written because I haven't felt very motivated to write.  Today I feel motivated.  I accomplished a huge goal I set out to reach and felt like I needed to write about this journey and how I got here.

Yesterday I completed my first half marathon.  I say "first" because I don't anticipate it to by my last, in fact my actual goal is the ING NYC marathon.  I intend to keep up with the half marathons for the next year and then start training for a full marathon.  I'm not going to lie as I was finishing this half marathon, about to pass out and collapse to the ground once I crossed the finish line, I thought to myself... a FULL marathon!!  Am I crazy?  That is actually impossible to do!  As they day went on and instead of being excited that I actually finished my half marathon I started to feel upset that my actual goal of completing the NYC marathon would never actually come.  It was then that I realized I also once said a half marathon would be impossible, and in reality it was after completing a 5K that I once said to myself, I could NEVER run more than a 5K, that would be impossible!!  Looking back now its funny to think about since I run more than a 5K every single morning.

So how did I get here?  I set this goal for myself last fall.  It is something I've always wanted to do and one of those things you tend to constantly put off to anther day.  I finally decided that it was time, that if I ever wanted to run a full marathon I needed to start now.  So, in January I started running every day.  I started out slow doing small runs in the morning and continually started in increase my distance.  I ran long runs on the weekends and shorter runs during the week before work.  I can't say it wasn't challenging, besides waking up every morning at 5am to run, and besides having that long run hanging over my head every weekend we had a lot going on.  I was planning Jimmy's big 30th birthday, we were moving apartments, packing and unpacking and not to mention the disastrous first month of living here.  I was stressed out to the max and some days the runs helped relieve stress, but some days it made it worse.  Regardless of all of it I'm proud of myself for making it this far.  I have this tendency to get into things for only short periods of time.  I have to admit I really didn't think that I had the attention span to train for this long and there were definitely times when I wanted to stop, but in the end I stuck with it.

Running that race, crossing that finish line was an incredible feeling.  I can't wait to do it again!!  I honestly can't describe in words what it felt like, to work that hard for something for so long, it motivates me even more to get to that full marathon that I set out to run.

Things to change for next time:

I definitely wish I did more strength training and interval training.  I pretty much stuck to getting myself up to run every day and that was about it.  My next goal is to improve my time.  I going to try to keep up the long runs this time.  Even though I did several long runs before this race, it still felt hard towards the end.  I want to eliminate that feeling where I feel like I'm going to die and not make it at around mile 10.   I think my next half marathon is going to be in February in Walt Disney World.  A few of my girlfriends who I signed up for this race with are going to do it with me.  I'm excited to start training again!!

Spring Has Sprung... Almost

The weather is getting much warmer and I am certainly looking forward to all that summer will bring. Right now I have a lot and nothing going on at the same time. We went on vacation a few weeks ago. A cruise to Mexico with Sara and Jon. It was amazing. We had a wonderful time, Jon and Jimmy got along great which was awesome and I had so much fun spending a week with my best friend before she heads off to the Peace Corps for two years. Her and Jon don't know where they will live when they get back, so it was especially important for me to get to spend time with her before this huge change. I plan on visiting them in Tanzania next July, now I'm faced with thinking ahead and saving up for the trip now since I have over a year to save.

Other than that things are pretty boring. Work is incredibly slow with half my team out of the office. I started a GMAT prep course which I'm half regretting, but half realizing that I have lost a lot of knowledge since leaving school. If going back to grad school is something that I am seriously going to consider then I need to really buckle down and put a lot of time and effort into this. That is something I'm not sure I'll be able to do.

I guess that is all for now. Nothing too exciting here, but I felt like writing anyways. Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to talk about in a few weeks!

How to Top 2010...

2010. It sure has been quite a year thats for sure. So much happened that it is difficult to wrap my brain around it. Shortly before 2010 began I was going through what I like to call a "quarter life crisis." I turned 25, I had recently broken up with my boyfriend, which in turn force me to question everything I had been doing with my life up until that moment. I began to question what I was actually trying to get out of life, where my life was going, and if after slowing down for a minute and looking around for a while, was it going in the direction I truly wanted? I decided that I needed to make some major changes and major changes are exactly what I accomplished. 2010 was an incredible year. I took chances and tried new things. I may still not know exactly what I want out of life, but I know that what I'm doing now is working for me. So, here is a list of what 2010 brought to my life and why it was one hell of a year:

1. Tried new things: Snowboarding, Fishing, Shot a gun.
2. Moved to a new place: New York City.
3. Changed careers: Undertone
4. Met new and amazing friends.
5. Picked up an old but loved hobby: photography.
6. Took chances.
7. Started writing again.

There are probably more that I can't think of, but looking back this year has definitely seemed to fly by. I'm looking forward to what 2011 will bring to me. I'm looking forward to continue to try new things, meet new people, step outside of my comfort zone and not be afraid to take chances. I'm looking forward to getting more aquatinted with this city and my new job. I'm looking forward to networking more and hopefully finding out what it is exactly that I want to be "when I grow up." I'm sure I'll find out one of these days. Until then, I am happy where I am and am happy learning more and more each day.

Family, Friends, & Holiday Cheer!

The sling is officially off and I now have (semi) full use of my right arm again!!! The past few weeks since I got my sling off have been very eventful and exciting. I started my photography class, which so far I am definitely enjoying. I have to come up with a theme for the class because at the end we have an exhibition. I'm still trying to decide what it will be but so far I'm thinking of a theme around time and clocks. I had a few cool ideas, not totally in love with it, but its all I came up with so far. I wanted something a little more original because when I looked at the website to see past themes for the exhibitions, they all seemed generally the same with a few exceptions. I have 3 more weeks to come up with another idea, and if not I'm excited to start with this theme. This class will definitely take up a lot of my time over the next couple of months. Since it is a beginners class we have to use natural daylight and as we all know, it's pretty scarce in the wintertime, especially when you go to work and come home in the dark!! Oh well, looks like I'll be making a few trips into Manhattan on the weekends!

I plan to start going to the gym in January. Since my company offers a $900 gym reimbursement it only makes sense to make use of it! Other than that, I went to Detroit for work last week and had a great time! I brought Jimmy to meet my favorite cousins this past weekend and was more than excited that they like him and that he liked them! We had a really good time with their friends and catching up with my cousins! I have the most adorable godson in the entire world!!! I'm so sad that I only get to see him once or twice a year, because I think they he is possibly the cutest kid in the world!! I forgot to take pictures this weekend, otherwise I would post a picture so you can all see how cute he is!! Next time!!

Well, that about wraps everything up. I'm excited that this is a short week for work and that I'll be going home for 9 days!! I'll miss Jimmy so much, but it will be great to sleep in my nice house again and have time to spend with friends and my mom.

Autumn in a city is not autumn in the country

We'll see how this goes with my one handed (left handed) typing. I had surgery on my shoulder last week and I'm already incredibly frustrated trying to live my life one handed. I feel like I can't do anything and even though Jimmy is a huge help I can't help but be frustrated in this situation. I feel like I'm already counting down the days until I get my life back.

November 1st already and I feel like my favorite season is slipping away from me without even being able to really experience it. I went on zero hikes when I normally try to go every weekend. I guess not having a car + no friends= no hiking. I also didn't get to partake in any halloween festivities, which is another of my favorite things to do... No hay rides, no haunted houses, no corn mazes, no apple picking, no carving pumpkins and worst of all no halloween party and no costume. I didn't even realize when I scheduled my surgery that it was 5 days before halloween!! I also haven't seen any fall colors, no adirondacks in the city. I do have to add that we went on a camping trip for my birthday and even though it rained the whole time, I had a lot of fun being outdoors again!

Okay, enough complaining. My plans for post-surgery/ sling are very exciting I can hardly wait. I signed up for a 9 week photography course that starts the week I get to take my sling off!! I'm most excited about this. I'm hoping through this class I'll perfect my favorite hobby and meet new people while enjoying time by myself. I also plan on taking the follow up courses when this one is over. This class takes place once a week. I decided I should also take advantage of my companies $900 gym reimbursement (it sounds like a lot but gyms in nyc are about $80/month). My goal is to work out 3 times a week. I will also be very busy with physical therapy for a while, so hopefully by our cruise in April, I'll look amazing! I'm hoping by the end of February/early March I'll be well enough to snowboard and get a few run in this year. I'm going to start cooking more, my goal is twice a week to cook dinner. I can't wait to start everything and get out of this house!! It's been a rough fall, I'm trying my best to adjust and hopefully things will get better soon.

Summer in the City

Life changes. I strived to get them and here I am. Happy? I guess you could say I'm not "unhappy". Since I made the decision to change my life and move to NYC it has been a constant struggle to adjust to this new life. I spent my summer in Manhattan and definitely enjoyed it while I was there, but I'm just not sure I was there long enough to get the full "experience" I wanted to get. Living in Long Island is not exactly what I call ideal. But living with my boyfriend helps to make the situation much more enjoyable. The only issue I struggle with now, is finding a balance between my own life and my life with him. I moved in here before I was settled into my new life and I now struggle to find myself in this city while trying to live a life with him. I never got the chance to really find my own place here. I missed out on the opportunity to explore and challenge myself to new adventures. I can't say I regret anything, its more about learning to make myself happy first without having to rely on someone else for happiness.

At the end of the day with all of the struggles I face with a new job, new friends, new environment. I know that I ultimately made the right decision. I left because I NEEDED a change. I needed something challenging and different in order to experience life. I needed to have this so that I could one day wake up and KNOW that I took a chance even though I was scared and made things happen when I wasn't sure that I could. At the end of the day I know that my life here will be okay. It's going to take time and its going to take adjustments, but just like I always do, I'll make things work here.

Autumn Ending Fast...

Eventually, all of the pieces will fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment, and know that everything happens for a reason. I've been living by this quote the past several months. I feel like summer just ended yesterday. How is it that the summer seemed to have lasted FOREVER and Fall feels like it just started and is now over? I'm definitely feeling more at ease these days. After a hectic/chaotic summer I needed a break. I had to stop and breathe. I had to take some time to catch my breath. That is exactly what I have been doing. So far, so good. Still waiting for those pieces to fall into place, but I'm definitely in no hurry at all.

I've been living in the moment and trying my best to enjoy each day as it comes to me. I've been very busy this fall, traveling a lot. Seeing my friends and keeping out of trouble for sure. Working hard and trying to refocus and get organized. I'm getting a new roommate and couldn't be more excited. I'm hoping to pay off lots of debt and begin to save money for my next adventure. What exactly is that next adventure? Who knows. So many options, so many choices. All that can be decided when the time is right.