Author Archives: Jen Thompson

Having Some Troubles…

I am lonely. That is weird to say to the world on a blog, but it is true. About 8 months ago, I decided to leave a job where my colleagues were my friends. Not only did I hang out with them at work, but after work too. I had an identity there. I had my own house there. I had a fence and a yard. I had friends, and people I considered family there. And I left. For a guy.

Now, I am getting my Master’s degree, working over 75 hours a week, and questioning everything about my life. In October, this guy, who I still love dearly, got a DUI. I’ve never been ok with his drinking. He’s a very social guy. I understand that, but drinking has never been a part of my life. After the DUI, I was a mess. Since that happened, I have been struggling to pay my bills, and keep my head above water. He took some alcohol classes, with the last one being 2 nights ago. I thought we were in the clear.

Last night, I got home from class at 8 pm. He told me he was going to a coach’s meeting… at a brewery. I had fixed dinner right before I went to class, so when I got home, I was expecting the food to be put away, the kitchen to be cleaned up, and the dogs to be fed. None of this had happened, so I was already mad that I had to do it all myself. I went to bed.

At 2 am, I awoke to the TV in the bedroom, coming on, blaring. I was mad. He told me he wouldn’t be out late. He told me he wouldn’t drink, and now I was awake.

When I went out to get ready for work, my kitchen was a disaster. My front door was open. His car was not in the drive way. I don’t know whether to be happy because he didn’t drive and no one broke into our house, or mad because he is falling into the same behavior that had gotten us in this mess in the first place.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t have friends here to lean on. I don’t have family here either. I feel very lost.

Making Even a Small Amount of Progress is Still Progress

I haven’t made any huge strides in my fight to be fit since the last time I posted. I have made what I consider a small amount of progress though. Tuesday night I did a Nike Training Club workout, or most of it anyway. I was sweating, and the next morning my calves were very sore.

Yesterday and today I took the dogs for a nice walk. It may not seem like a lot, but I haven’t done that much recently, so a good mile walk or so feels very good.

The point is that exercise doesn’t have to be crazy. Doing something is doing something, or something like that. I have done housework all day, and done quite a bit of moving around, so the walk was a great end to the day.

Tomorrow is something new. I can’t wait to see what it brings…

New Year, New Me

Wow… I failed miserably at the 2011 Running Year. It lasted a whole 22 days into the new year. Well it is January 3rd, and I am gonna try it again. 2011 was a very hard year for me. I faced many challenges, and I realized who I am and how strong I can be. Life throws you things that you don’t expect sometimes, and after going almost a whole year with not enough exercise, I am excited to get back into my formerly healthy ways. So here is how the year is going so far.

I have decided to take it slow. No sense jumping into this at 1,000,000 miles an hour if that is not going to help me stick to it. On January 1st, I took Lucy on a run, only about a mile, but it felt good. Today I did a Nike workout, and I am planning a run for tomorrow.

You have to start somewhere, and I am doing ok… I’ll keep ya updated.

Day 10: And so it goes…

Holy Weather Day! Lots of snow and ice today in the midwest. I had an awful nice last night. A good friend of mine really let me down and made me feel very worthless last night. I am so disappointed, and I have had a bad day because of it.

I played fetch with Lucy, but the bitter cold kept me from running. I am going to try on Day 11 to run, but it supposed to be freezing again… SUCK IT UP JENNIFER! Real athletes brave any weather!

Day 9: The Disappointment of Failure

I’m really disappointed today.  A year ago today I ran my very first marathon. At almost 6 hours, it was one of the best experiences of my life. What a rewarding day!

I am so sad that I couldn’t live up to my expectation of being able to run it again this year, faster, stronger and better than last. Over the last year I let my running life go. That obviously is the reason that I started this blog: to keep myself on track. I had a great 2010, one of the best years of my life! I am so thankful for everything I accomplished and all the good that came into my life. I am not gonna let this sour too much though. I have to Keep Moving Forward and go on to the next challenge. I got a good dose of motivation today, and I took it with me on a 3 mile run.

See, what i’ve come to learn as a runner is that it is only a competition with myself. The rest of the world fades away and it is just me against myself… I am going to be an incredible athlete in the sport of running. I just have to take it one day at a time….

Keep Moving Forward!

Day 7 & 8: Cold and Windy

Wow, has it been cold the last 2 days! I took Lucy running with me that last 2 days, and the wind has been so terrible we have cut both runs short. I am sad to say that I have only run about 7 miles this week, but you have to start somewhere. Today makes 16 weeks until the OKC Marathon, so we are starting with high miles next week. It’s cold, but I am fortunate to be able to run, so I need to suck it up and keep going…

 

Keep Moving Forward!

Days 5 & 6: The Challenges Ahead

Well, life isn’t always as easy as it should be. For the last 2 days, I have felt overwhelmed and WAY behind. I have a free weekend coming up, so I know I can catch up, but it is still a feeling I hate!

Day 5 came and went, and I didn’t run, or blog for that matter. I taught class all day, and that was followed by basketball games. I know, sorry excuses. I should have gotten up and ran in the morning, but I didn’t. I’m not perfect, and this is great evidence of that. I will be making up the workout this weekend though, then I will feel better about it.

Today was a good day. I didn’t go into work, because my class was over, but I did do a 2.5 miler. My heart rate is getting very high on these runs, and while it recovers fairly quickly, I feel that I need to investigate Zone training and work from there. It will be fine, and I will figure it all out.

Life is never gonna make being healthy the easiest thing. I went to the grocery today and bought tons of vegan items. I am excited to try new things and find stuff I really like. I want stuff to fuel my body. I am still working on changing my lifestyle to be healthier, but that will take more than just one week….. We will get there in good time…

Day 4: The Eye Patch Workout

I think I have misled my readers (if there are any) on accident. I really did start training last September for this year’s WDW Goofy Challenge (1/2 Marathon Saturday, Full Marathon Sunday). The reason I stopped for what was supposed to be a little while was plantar fasciitis. Brutal plantar fasciitis! After stopping activity for a bit, it seemed to go away… Or so I thought.

Day 4 into the new year and running challenge and it’s back with a vengeance. So, i figured that it would be a good night to try another type of workout. Wow… All I can say is Wow!

I got on Netflix and found an ab and arm workout. It was a GREAT workout, sort of a boxers workout, but it was very weird! The head trainer on the video wore and eye patch, but not just the plain old pirate black eye patch. It was a silver fluorescent eye patch! And it was freaky!!!

Anyway, back to the running tomorrow…

Day 3: Seeing How Far Lucy Can Go

What an awesome run Lucy and I had tonight! First of all, I am so proud of her. She is doing such a great job at running, and it is so fun to have her with me. Second of all, I am proud of myself. I went and ate mexican food with my boyfriend’s parents tonight, and when I got home at 8:30, it would have been very easy for me to just call it a night. I didn’t. I went out in the freezing cold weather and ran. The distance may not have been far, but it was worth it, and it made me feel great about myself.

Another day down, and another good run…

Day 2: A Run With Lucy

Well, I decided to do an evening run today. It was close to dark and dark by the time I got home. I just wanted to do a short run, because I had been coughing a bit all day. I ran a short 1.5 mile route, then stopped at home to get Lucy. She has never run with me before. Bulldogs are traditional runners because they have bad respiratory system. They generally snore and snort, but Lucy isn’t like that. She’s got pretty long legs for an English Bulldog, and she has walked a 5k race with my mom before. I decided that I would try for a half mile jog with her, just to see how she would do.

She did AWESOME!!! We got back to the house, and she wasn’t even panting! What the heck?!?! I sure was! She did really great, and I am going to take her on a longer run next time.

Anyway, I ended up going about 2 miles total, and had a pretty good run. My left knee was still sore, but overall, no major complaints…

Until tomorrow…