I was too busy listening...

Last week I had dinner with a friend. At one point during our conversation she expressed her frustration with a coworker. The woman has a tendency to offer quotes to her students. It isn’t the idea that the woman shares these words that annoys my friend, it is that she has not lived them.  
 

I was too busy listening to reply. It seemed like that was what you needed at the time. Now, I have had some time to think about it. 

Maybe those words resonate with your coworker, not because she has lived them, but because they are what she strives to become. 
 

"The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply." - Stephen R. Covey

we are family

Thelma is one on my clients. I use the term “client” loosely because she is eighty years old and on a fixed income. Twice a week she will hop in on someone’s session. On Monday she came to the gym and put her jacket in a locker (unlocked). When she got home she discovered that her driver’s license and money were missing from the jacket. It could have been stolen, but it just as easily could have fallen out of her pocket somewhere. That is not the point. 

The incident was brought to my attention on Tuesday morning. My first reaction was to reach out to all of my clients. If we each chipped in $5 we could give Thelma a gift card to ShopRite, which is where she intended on spending the money that day. The response was overwhelming. I have collected double the amount that she lost. 

For the past two months, I have struggled greatly with the concept of family. On Tuesday, the way in which I define that word became abundantly clear.

flashes of something...

My long term memory has always been poor. Occasionally I'll recall random things without prompting. 

Today, The Hazelnator and I were on our afternoon walk and I remembered that I had an unused tampon collection in my high school gym locker. Not only did I have this collection, I also had taken a picture of it and had wallet size copies produced for my friends. Thankfully, I was able to find the photo to share. 

There will never be a need to defend the degree of awkwardness I possessed in high school.

lessons from my little brother

It’s been two months...

I’m trying not to be angry with the people who have not been here with me. I know that you would tell me that life is too short to hold on to things. The moon was amazing last night. I thought of you during my evening walk...and it’s totally cliche, but not a day passes without a thought of you.

Thank you for teaching me...to take the day off when the weather is nice...to drive a few more miles for a good milkshake(and to not feel guilty about having it)...to live life unfiltered.

Lately I have been feeling a little bit sorry for myself because there are so many things that I want to do, but don’t have anyone to share those experiences with...and I wish you were here to offer me some advice, even though I am pretty sure I know what you would say.

We are having an Indian Summer. Luckily, I haven’t put the top back on the Jeep. I went for a ride today to check out a local brewery and ended up at the beach. This summer was so hectic, I didn’t make it down there. It’s one of those places I’ve been meaning to go. Thanks for taking the drive with me.

CRCX 2016

I found myself in “winter mode” sooner than expected...maybe it was the Wawa Gobbler I had last week that prompted it.

Sunrise has gotten later which has prevented me from riding my bike to work. This week I have run more miles than I’ve ridden. I am feeling pretty good about the change and have already dropped a couple pounds.

Cooper River Cross is the closest race to home, which is why I didn’t hesitate to register...only to find myself having second thoughts on Friday night (while consuming a delicious vanilla milkshake). 

On Saturday morning I packed a gym bag, a bike bag and a cooler, then drove to the gym (bike in tow) for a session on the stair-mill. Five minutes into it, my decision was made. 

Unfortunately, racing this season has been nothing but paying for a workout and if I want to work out I can do it for free. Maybe next year will be different...I can only hope. It is unfortunate that something which once brought me so much happiness no longer makes me smile.

Of course that did not stop me from having pancakes at Amy’s Omelette House. I’ve had the French Toast many times and it is delicious, but the pancakes were just average.

Caffeinated CX 2016

After two solid efforts at Hippo CX, I arrived home a little after 6pm still needing to eat, walk the dog, shower and do yoga...then, wake up at 5AM, stand at registration for six hours and race my bike around Noon.

The guys on the team know I hate this course. I swear they make it more technical every year just to piss me off. There were steps, logs, a run up, sand and barriers which meant I was off my bike more than I was on it.

It was a well played weekend on my part. I knew that Sunday was going to be a long day so I did my “work” on Saturday. This allowed me to relax and even have a little bit of fun at my team’s race.

Post race pancakes were a short stack of buttermilk from Harrison House Diner. This place has been on my list for a couple years now and they did not disappoint.


Thanks to everyone who came out to either race or spectate. The team puts a lot of hard working into putting on this event. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Hippo CX 2016

Disclaimer: My success at this race is attributed to the vanilla milkshake (with extra whipped cream) that I had at Shake Shack on Friday afternoon.

The first thing I thought of when I realized my race was so late in the day was “Cool, I can do two workouts today.”  My plan was to get a run in early, then head to Lambertville. Racing twice has never been an option, but this year NJ added a Master Women 40+ Category which meant that I could race at 12:30pm and then again at 2:30pm. I decided to ditch the run and race twice.

I arrived in time to get a lap in before my first race. The course was short and fun. There were sections where you could really drill it with power as well as some punchy climbs on the back end. After winning the Masters Race, I quickly had Robin pin my number for the Women A Race before I changed my mind.

There was a little over an hour between races. I did my best to stay loose, knowing that the field would be competitive and I had never attempted a double. One thing I will say is that the first race was a good opportunity to experiment with different lines and gearing, which helped immensely because I get by on fitness not technique. After a brief battle for third place I pulled away and stayed there. It was nice to share the podium with so many talented ladies.

On the way home I stopped at It's Nutts only to discover that they did not serve breakfast all day. As a result, I continued south to a local diner for an order of chocolate chip pancakes to go. Unfortunately, they were just average, but I will say that the last one made for quite a delicious snack at 2AM.