My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style. – Maya Angelou
I’m a mom, wife, coach, writer, entrepreneur, chauffeur for my younger daughter…the list goes on. Needless to say, like many of you, I wear many hats and serve many roles each day. From the moment my alarm goes off (or Ginger jumps on me, whichever comes first) to the moment my head hits the pillow at night I am moving (I do find pockets of time to rest a little between all the doing and some days this is easier than others). I am often training for something. Right now, while trying to get my body optimal again I am also training for the Marine Corp Marathon on October 22nd. Each day I try to creatively plan my day to fit everything in, not only training but everything, including like Maya Angelou says, “some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.” Some days the humor is lost on me, other days I have to just laugh.
Most nights over dinner, my husband will ask, “What did you do today?” My first response is, “Do you really want to know everything?” I’ll usually talk about what training I did, talk about Thor and Ginger etc. Sometimes I sit there and think, “What the heck did I do today?” So for fun, I kept a journal for a couple days so I could see what I do, what I eat (FYI…I’m plant based) and why sometimes I don’t get to work on the things I really want. Plus find some of that humor.
Here is a snapshot of one of my days last week: Wednesday, July 26, 2017.
- 6:30am – Alarm and Ginger jumping on me. Sometimes I have to get up at 5:30am but not today. I lay there for a minute (read as long as Ginger lets me) and then I get up. I head downstairs and have water with NUUN Hydration and of course I make a cup of decaf coffee with an almond milk creamer I really like from Whole Foods.
- 7:30 – 7:45am – Make myself an Energy Bar bagel (I get these from a local bagel shop, they are whole grain with nuts and berries, so good) with almond butter. Continue drinking my water with NUUN. Meditate to my Headspace app for 10 minutes while both Ginger and Thor keep coming over for me to pet them.
- 8:00am – Leave to drive my younger daughter Anna to Theater/Art Camp. Takes 30 minutes.
- 8:45am – 10:00am – Run for 45 minutes near where I drop off for camp. I love running here. It gives me a break from my normal running routes. Can do both road and trail. Training right now includes me running while staying in a HR of 135-150. After running I drive home and then jump rope. 2x: 25x single leg, 50x both legs. Had a great run. Weather for running has been beautiful.
- 10:00am – Have a banana.
- 10:30 – 11:00am – Take Ginger to the vet. She has to give blood before she has surgery on the 15th. Take my water with NUUN with me. Ginger doesn’t like the vet. Thor loves the vet, Ginger does not. Once she sees where we are she doesn’t want to get out of the car. So I carry her. She weighs almost 40 pounds. 39.5 to be exact (they weighed her). On way home from vet she poops in the car. Like I said, the vet scares her. Get home, clean car and use half a bottle of Febreze.
- 11:15 – 11:45am – Pool run for 15 minutes and then core work. Thinking about when I am going to have time to work on my blog while also trying to stay in the present.
- 12:00pm – Made my favorite Green Smoothie: almond milk, 1/2 banana, frozen spinach, frozen pineapple, Garden of Life Vegan Vanilla Protein Powder & blackstrap molasses.
- 12:15 – 1:00pm – Call with my nutritionist. She is helping me make sure I am getting what I need, that I’m eating enough with all the training and the fact I am iron deficient. She has been really helpful. Learning a lot. Needed an objective point of view.
- 1:15 – 1:45pm – PT exercises. They usually take me about 30 minutes.
- 2:00pm – Lunch, finally. Thanks to a simple recipe from my coaches at Yogi Triathlete. White bean, tomato & basil salad mixed with olive oil and apple cider vinegar + I added a piece of leftover tempeh from dinner the night before. Drank a large glass of water.
- 2:00 – 3:20pm – Sat down and worked on blog and coaching spreadsheets.
- 3:20 – 4:45pm – Left to pick up my Anna from camp & run some errands
- 5:00pm – Picky Bar (yum) with water. Brought water to Emma (older daughter) since she will be heading to her XC Captain’s practice. She FacedTimed me from her room for the water, I had to laugh.
- 5:00 – 6:00pm – Sat down to work on blog and completed invoice for one of my Quickbooks clients.
- 6:00 – 7:30pm – Dropped Anna back at theater camp to watch a play. Came home and made leftovers. Veggie burgers (recipe Scott Jurek), sweet potato fries (recipe from Run Fast Eat Slow) and kale salad. More water.
- 7:30 – 10:00pm – Time to relax a little. Wrote in my journal. Read. Watched a little TV. Had a glass of white wine (sauvignon blanc White Haven is one of my favs) and then finally BED!
This day definitely had passion, compassion, humor and maybe some style. Well at least I know there was some Oiselle #flystyle in there. Hope you find some of this in your daily life too.