Gratitude | outrunningthefork

Tag Archives: Gratitude

And Now, The Resolutions :)

Last year I had two big resolutions and managed to stick to one of them completely and the other…well, kind of haphazardly

Training was my biggest goal. And while I didn’t stick 100% to my plan, I did a lot more training that I would normally have done. The other resolution? Every time I went to a store and took a cart (carriage for those of you in New England!) out to my car, I would return it either to the front of the store, or the cart corral.

For 2015, I think I’ll set my sights a little higher!!

RUNNING– Currently my big goal race for the year is the Paris Marathon in April. I’m hoping to get into the Marine Corps Marathon again though so I’m going to pretend I’m in!
1. Have a goal. Usually I just run what I run (or don’t). Towards the end of last year I started setting monthly goals, with a running group I’m part of. This year I’ll go ahead and post them here and we can all see how I do! (FYI, my January Mileage Goal is 100 miles)
2. Be consistent. Enough said.
3. No negative talk. If you read here, you’re aware that I often use the words “Lazy” and “slacker” to describe my running life. No more! If I’m getting out there I’m not slacking and I’m not lazy!!
4. Not just running. This week I re-started my Bikram practice. My goal for Bikram is at least 4 days a week. Plus I’ll be adding back in some of my home weight workouts.

HEALTH – In 2014 I took better control of my diabetes and saw my A1C start to come back down to ‘normal’ levels. This year I plan to work even harder at it.
1. Meals. I need to focus more on the FORK side of this blog. This means I need to get back to cooking regular meals and stop considering a bowl of cereal to be a good dinner.
2. Blood Sugar. I definitely need to monitor this more closely all day long. One step I’ll take towards that is hopefully getting a Continuous Glucose Monitor and an Insulin Pump – more on this after my next doctor appointment in a couple weeks.
3. Weight – I ended the year at about the same weight I started. Losing only 5% of my current weight will help manage my diabetes a little better so…

EVERYTHING ELSE! –
1. Get out more! There’s a lot to do within a short drive from my house and I need to start doing them!!
2. Spend more time with friends I got to spend time with a few of my friends this year and had an amazing time – so need more of that!!
3. Get Organized!! Yeah, this will be a year long process! But, baby steps….
4. This Blog 🙂 – improve my consistency, maybe have some friends add their thoughts and share posts!
4. Be nice. I’m not always nice. 🙂 This year I’ll definitely do more thinking before speaking. Following through on things I say/promise (I have some years old promises I need to fulfill in the next month!!) This includes promises I make to myself – see about re: running and Bikram…and eating right. Not so much grumpy whining and complaining. Which leads to the most important resolution for me this year

EXPRESS GRATITUDE There is something to be grateful for every day – and sometimes we forget. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or the last thing at night, I will be sure to set my attitude in a positive direction

So, what have you resolved to do this year? Big changes or little changes?

Tags: Gratitude, Health, New Year, resolutions, running

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Categories Uncategorized

Thank You Twitter

27 Apr

Sometimes I feel like I live in a vacuum. Not because everything sucks, no!! That’s not it at all (cause really, things are pretty darn good). But a lot of times I’ll throw stuff out on the internet just to get it off my chest – not thinking that anyone is really reading it or paying attention. I mean, *you’re* reading this now…but…Facebook and Twitter… you know how it is. Maybe

Anyway, last night I learned that there are some pretty amazing people hiding out here in my computer! And I’m going to tell you about them. But of course there’s some background first 🙂

As you know, I’m diabetic. I’ve been on insulin now for about 9 years. I take an injection at night before bed (in addition to some new ones at meal times – but yesterday was actually a really good day – sugar-level-wise) and generally go to what passes for sleep these days and wake up and re-start my day!

For the uninitiated, insulin smells like bandaids. Go ahead. Go open a box and take a big sniff. I’ll wait…

To continue, about a month after I started the insulin routine, I did my usual injection and almost immediately could ‘taste’ the insulin in the back of my throat. Went to bed, as usual. Unusually, about 2 hours later I woke up with my heart racing, sweating like I’d just walked to the starting corrals at Disney (haha!) and shaking. I knew something was wrong so grabbed my glucose meter. First indication that I was in trouble was that I couldn’t figure out how to use the meter. Eventually I got it together enough to test and my blood sugar had dropped to 25. Now, my doctor would get worried if I fell below 65 or so, so I KNEW this was bad. At the time I had small cans of real soda in my fridge so I drank one and waited for the magic. Then I had some milk and waited some more. I may have had some candy around at the time and had that as well. Slowly my numbers crawled back into normal ranges and I went to bed.

Since then, it hadn’t happened again. Until last night. I had that same taste in my throat as I went to bed so grabbed some leftover jellybeans from Easter. Just in case. And then a couple of hours later, it happened. I woke up, heart pounding,sweating, and shaky. This time I had more of my wits about me and tested and was low – 37.

The difference this time was social media. I made a random comment on the Twitters that my sugars were low and that I would call 911 if it didn’t come up. Then I put my phone down and started eating jelly beans. And waiting. And testing. And eating more jelly beans. And waiting. And eventually my symptoms went away and my numbers returned to low normal numbers. And I went back to sleep.

Until the door bell rang. And Phred started barking. And I looked at the clock and it was 1-ish in the am. The bell rang again. And then again. Finally I figured I should get up and see what was going on. Looked out the window and there was a Middletown police car in my driveway.

My first thought was “oh shit”. Figured either they had the wrong house or someone’s dog was out.

As I was heading downstairs, they turned their big spotlight on lighting up my whole bedroom and rang the bell again! I opened the door to a young officer. After some initial confusion we confirmed that someone from Indiana had called and they were concerned – and THEN the lightbulb went on (I’m sure the handsome young officer saw it go on!) and realized that I should probably check back in on Twitter.

Special props to Kate and Patty for getting in touch with my local police department. And Jenn for, as always, being there even from Mexico.

As soon as I realized that these fabulous women were worried I checked in.

I don’t think I can apologize enough for making them worry — and there are no words to express how thankful I am to them and how much I appreciate their concern. And can’t wait to give both of them a huge hug the next time we are running Disney together!!

Thanks so very much Kate and Patty. Ya’ll are AMAZING and I’m very lucky to have ladies like you watching my back

Tags: Gratitude, invisible friends

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Categories Diabetes, Friendship

Thankful Thursday

15 Aug

First off, imagine my surprise to learn that I was NOT the first to come up with the catchy, alliterative Thursday blog name!! Shocked I say!! 🙂

Yes, one can be sarcastic AND Thankful at the same time

Today, as I was walking my pal, Phred, I realized that I am very thankful I chose this neighborhood to live in. My neighbors are great – and not just the ones on my street (who are some of the most helpful people EVER!) but most of the people I encounter when we’re out walking – or if I’m out running.

Friendly for sure. And just nice people!

It could be such a different situation….

Hope you’re feeling thankful for something today – no matter how small!

Tags: Gratitude, Home, Neighbors

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Categories Home, Thankful

Thankful Thursday! A Brand New Feature!!!

8 Aug

I’ve been pretty frustrated the last few weeks. Mainly with my work situation. And of course when we’re frustrated we can forget the important things – like remembering to be thankful for the good things we have in our lives.

So – I bring you – Thankful Thursday. Where on Thursday (see…) I will remember at least one thing for which I am Thankful …it’s making sense now isn’t it 😉

I am quite thankful to have a job at all in this economy. Even though it’s been tough to make ends meet, I’m not flat-ass broke. I’ve learned to juggle pretty well I think. Sure, I am putting off getting some things that I’d really like to buy, but I’m not lacking anything I really need. For that, I am thankful for my wonderful Pops. And, I’m happy I did my saving last year to cover most of my runDisney events this year or it would be VERY difficult to be thankful.