Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk.

Today I am off to Boston for the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk.

I am exhausted.

I am currently on the train to Providence, where I will meet my cousin. We will then travel to Massachussetts to begin our journey. There we will be joined by several other friends.

Looking forward to this adventure. Uncertain about my right foot/ankle/heel with the drama I have been dealing with surrounding my achilles tendon and plantar fascia.

I will be taking it one step at a time! I will keep you posted on the adventure.

It's 5am and I cannot sleep

Sleep is imperative.

I need my sleep.  

It is 5am.  I have been awake since 3.30am.  I am struggling here.   I have decided to be productive hoping that I will be able to get some rest.  As I am writing this, I feel the need to relax come over me.  

What is that has you not sleeping?

Stress--- a stressful day, an argument with a loved one, challenges at school or work.

Overtired-- the inability to relax and get some rest, because the mind is too busy.

Overtraining-- when we do too much athletically, the mind is unable to rest, dragging the body along with it.

Lack of sleep negatively influences performance to do daily tasks.  We can lose our ability to concentrate, to focus and be organized.  Energy levels are decreased.  I eat way too much to compensate for the lack of sleep or drink too much coffee.

Tonight, I am facing some professional changes.  While they were predictable, the timing of these was not.  In that, I feel restless as I am trying to focus and find the answers.  

I need to sleep.  

But since sleep is eluding me temporarily, I find it is better to do something else and then permit fatigue to return so I can rest instead of looking at the clock all night long.

If I am struggling consistently, I might take a warm bath or shower at night to help me relax and wash the day away.  I might take a day off from running or write in a journal before I sleep to help prepare the mind for sleep.

Well, it is now 5.10am and I am ready to sleep.  I will be back later today to write some more.

watching the goslings grow up....

we have a pond (called the duck pond) in town.  every year, the canada geese breed.  it is fascinating to me as the canada geese mate for life.  when the goslings are born there is a tremendous sense of community in the flock.

when the goslings first appear, they are little yellow blobs of fluff.  as they grow, they start to look like grey fuzzy rats with long necks and they are the clumsiest creatures imaginable.  and the size of the grey toddler becomes larger as they mature... and little by little the clumsiness changes to the grace of their parents.  

i saw one family that i have been watching since they hatched earlier this spring.  the grey fuzzy children now look like real geese.  their feathers have filled in.  these geese are not as big as their parents and are still protected by the community to which they belong.

it reminds me of learning new things... 

and how we grow and change and become more graceful...

and well, it is cool to watch the progression of life.

Do Magazines Help or Hinder?

I have been intrigued by what is printed in magazines.

I have several floating around in the piles in my room-- Cover Headlines include: (my comment in parenthesis)  

Buff Body-- (which fit-model did they copy the program from?)

 Holy Butt! -- (we all have one... we just need to use it!)

All You can Eat Fat-Burning Diet -- (eat more veggies and fruits!) 

Get Flat Sexy Abs In Just Six Minutes -- (I WISH!!  only six minutes??  i want my money back!)

Zap Fat-- (is this  a new fad gizmo that i can just zap fat-- or do they not realize spot training doesn't happen.) 

Is Lipo for you?  -- (a fitness mag is promoting lipo-suction?  how about eating properly?)

Firm Abs Fast--  (ok, is that faster than the six minute abs in the other mag..)

And here, I am poking fun at the headlines....  There may be very good information inside the covers of these mags... i don't know, i am stuck on the headlines.  

What are women seeking?  And how is this helping or harming?  Where is and to whom is the responsibility?  After reading one of these mags, do you feel better about yourself, armed to make better choices?  or do you feel worse?

I like reading occasionally various supermarket mags for different ideas of the same.  Sometimes, as a coach, the imagination feels tapped out.  So reading something from here or the journals or someone else's blog helps turn on the light-bulb!  The problem as a coach is when we don't take the info and use it for our own needs.  We try to make the mag workout/program fit our needs... and so, then why is someone hiring a coach?

I am just curious how one feels about themselves when reading some of this literature on the shelves.  Do you feel inspired?  Do you feel ready to conquer the world?  or do you feel less of a person b/c you do not measure up to the supermarket shelves standards?