Here Comes Hurricane Irene

It's hard to believe that we are batting down the hatches up here in New England to brace for Hurricane Irene. This is what the sky looks like at the moment: beautiful. Supposedly, the hurricane is on track to overwhelm us on Sunday. The Olympic distance triathlon that is part of the series I am participating in tomorrow has already been canceled for tomorrow. No fear, I still get to do the sprint distance race early, early in the morning Saturday.  Church has already sent out an email to prepare for disaster and cancellation. Rumor has it that a state of emergency has already been declared. The meteorologist says that the storm is on track to follow a very similar path to Hurricane Gloria, which I remember from when I was 6 years old and my parents wouldn't let me stand on the front porch to watch the storm because they thought I would blow away. A friend left work early to get batteries and has since proclaimed that there are no D batteries in all of Metrowest County. That's really too bad for me because, although I have enough cereal and even powdered milk to keep me going for a couple weeks, I don't have any batteries and I am not sure if I have a working flashlight. Woops. For now, it's hard to worry when the sky looks so lovely.

Home Sweet Home with a Case of the Mondays

So many of my posts over the last six months have somehow related to travel. Neighbors and people at church have begun frequently commenting on my adventures and I'm happy and proud to have another activity with which to identify.
For the past few years, doing triathlons has been a big part of my identity and a source of pride. It's funny how quickly things can flip upside down as this year, without the aid of a team to train with, I feel woefully unprepared for the one sprint race I registered for. It's this Saturday and I have had a stomach ache all day in anticipation. 4 more days of this feeling??! Somehow, I need to convince myself to not worry about the numbers and just enjoy the event. We use to placate ourselves with thoughts of it being more than most people do but it's still hard not to make comparisons, if only with your former self.
Identifying with travel as my hobby of choice slightly softens the blow of not being proud of myself for triathlons this season. At least I have something else exciting to fill the void, right?
That was all a tangent, though. My main focus when I started writing this blog hours ago before I got sidetracked about 419 times was to write about the mixed blessing of coming home again. After another week away, I really wanted to be at home.
Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to spend 4 days at a friend's beach house on the Maine coast followed by 3 days at a different friend's Cape Cod house. Both were relaxing, filled with good company and conversation, and wonderful venues to follow my own volition; to choose how I wanted to fill my time instead of sticking to frantic schedule that is my normal routine. With one night at home in between, I found it hard to leave again. I wanted to spend time with Hubby, to pet the cats, to clean the house!
When I finally arrived home last night, it was welcomed as I enjoyed my familiar surroundings, my own comfortable couch and bed, the TV shows I had recorded, the husband and the cats. However, it also brought a to-do list both at home and, today, at work as long as the neck of a giraffe. After a week of ignoring responsibilities, it feels like they have reproduced Gremlin-style, seemingly exponential in growth.
This post isn't profound or even amusing but it was really cathartic for me. I just needed to "say" that I'm glad to be home and glad to have a break before my next extended stay away from home but also that this kind of stress that I'm returning to is exactly what makes me want to drop it all again and lay in the sun without a deep thought in my head.

Follow up on the Stress Less Initiative

I wanted to update you on the state of my Stress Less Initiative. Returned from my first trip to mainland Europe and deeply impacted by the cultural emphasis on enjoying life instead of rushing through it, as the focus seems to be in the States, I made a vow of sorts. Instead of "Vacation Maureen" making an appearance slightly before, during, and as long as possible after my trip, I would strive to incorporate some of her better attributes into my "real life".
While there are days that are setbacks, overall, I think I have been pretty successful in making a shift. Similar to the philosophy that it takes 21 days of a behavior to make it a habit, I have been hanging on to a more laid back take on life for over two months now!
Here's what's helping and working:
1. It's still summer. I love the sun, the pool, the beach and all other things summery. Even though I haven't had a full summer vacation since I was in high school, there is something magical about the months that schools are not in session. Traffic on my commute is lighter. My actual work load tends to be lighter. Summer week days and weekend days seem to have blurrier lines than other times of year.
2. I have been immersing myself in travel daydreams. One of my best friends, with whom I most recently traveled, is also obsessed with exploring new destinations and is committed to planning future trips. In addition to having two trips planned for September and one in November, I have a week off this month for some beach time. When I am not actually going somewhere or planning to go somewhere, I read about other people going somewhere and get excited.
3. There are lots of fun things on the social calendar to look forward to. Leaving home isn't the only way to have fun! The Boston area hosts restaurant week in August and I have some great dinner plans on the agenda. It's also triathlon season and my race date is speeding toward me far faster than I will be speeding across the finish line. There are pool parties to attend and weekend adventures to embark on. Life doesn't feel stagnant at all.
4. I'm listening to myself more. You know that part in Eat, Pray, Love in Italy when they are talking about the pleasure of doing nothing? Americans don't even have a word for it! I have been trying to pay attention both to the little things that bring me pleasure and doing them more often and also paying attention to when my mind and body need to slow down. I have broken plans because I needed a day of nothingness. I have resisted booking up all my free time so that I can decide what I really am in the mood for when the free time comes. I snuck in some sleeping late, a nap, and good reads. Sometimes I eat toast with nutella on it for dinner because I would rather eat that than chicken. This is just a small way I can bring the cultural component from Europe that I so appreciated home to my daily life.
What is not working?
1. I'm not getting enough workouts.  In summers past, I have trained for my triathlons with a group, which was a huge motivation for me. This year, there were not enough people to form a training team. About once a week I get together with some tri friends from the past and we do a group bike ride and I love it. I also have a class at the gym once a week that I am very dedicated to; the teacher is wonderful and it's a great workout. Beyond that, though, in following what I really want to do, it's often more about laying by the pool with a book than it is about going for a run. I'm getting so good at indulging myself, in fact, that when I went for a run over the weekend, after 2.75 miles of dripping sweat I decided I really didn't like running and, even though I was still 2 miles from home, I chose to walk instead!
2. I play on the weeknights and am tired for work. In pursuit of the things that bring me pleasure, I have met up with friends frequently on week nights. We have had some amazing times!!! Until the alarm goes off the next morning and I have to go to work.....Yawn!
3. I can't seem to let go of the stress that housework creates. I'm learning to take work in stride much more but house work? Not so much. I could go on and on about this one but, for your sanity and my own, I will leave it at that.
So, overall, I feel like Vacation Maureen is a much larger presence in everyday life. Do I need a new name? If she is here so often, does Vacation Maureen even make sense anymore?
And yet, I am still fearful that as school starts again work will get busy and as fall descends and the days get shorter, life will feel less like a vacation and it's still possible that I may lose my grasp on the Stress Less Initiative.

Blogger Identity Crisis

The blog has been quiet for a few days because I'm having a blogger identity crisis.

Do I write about whatever I want to on a given day or do I need more of a theme? Is there anyone out there who would be interested in the same things I am? At the moment, I'm addicted to reading other people's travel blogs but I don't think I travel enough yet to warrant that being my only focus. (I'm working on it, though!) A couple months ago, I was all about home decorating blogs (but then I ran out of rooms to keep playing with).

A friend who runs a writing group told me that some of the unique categories I fit into would be interesting fodder for a blog: domestic violence victim advocate, religious minority, triathlete. But here are some problems with that:
1. I am pretty sure I am the only not-great-at-practicing Mormon who is passionate about social justice and is a mediocre multi sport athlete.
2. Which gets to my next problem of not being great or conventional at most of those unique categories.... Religiously, I practice in a way most others don't and hold some beliefs and behaviors that are clearly outside the norm. Athletically, while I love to swim, and like to bike, I don't have very warm feelings or strong skill sets around running and am only doing one race this summer.
3. On the work front, I usually can't write about specifics because of confidentiality and safety and, let's be honest, it's not what I look forward to coming home and expounding on after a long, hard day.

So the point is that I don't know what my point is. Most days I want to write about what I am most excited about, which, at the moment is traveling. But some days I just want to write about the wacky story in the news, a good book I read, a great movie I saw, or the fun I have found in every day life that week. Most of my friends write Mommy Blogs so may not have run into this existential crisis:)
I am open to ideas, here, folks!

Hostel or Hostile?

I learned something very important this weekend. Hostel hopping would never have suited me. In fact, it made me quite cranky.

This weekend I hiked Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts with some friends that I normally train for triathlons with in the summer. At the summit, there is a lodge. Bascom lodge, to be exact. We had a bunk room reserved for Saturday night so we could hike up, sleep, then hike down. Somehow I missed the detail about all of us sleeping in one room in the first place, though I did come prepared with my handy travel sound machine. Apparently, when my friend made the reservation she was told that our group of 8 would have the room that could accommodate 10 booked just for us. When we arrived, though, we had two strangers in our room. This meant the sound machine was no longer an option. Additionally, in trying to be considerate of them, we went to bed on their schedule, which was way too early for this night owl.

Trying to get any sleep through the night turned out to be the biggest adventure of the weekend! Without the sound machine, I used my Ipod to listen to ocean waves but when the track ended each hour, it went right into Hawthorne Heights and woke me up. Every hour! There was also a baby (who brings a baby to a hikers lodge??) who cried in the middle of the night in the next room. Plus, with 10 women in bunk beds in one room, every toss and turn came with the requisite creaks, there were lots of bathroom visits through the night and we found out at least two ladies snore and one was rather chatty in her sleep.

Being the light sleeper that I am, this whole scenario did not bode well for me. When I got home last night, I legitimately passed out, face down, on the couch. An hour and a half later, when my phone rang, it was tragically difficult to even lift my head to find it to make it stop. Fast forward to Monday morning, where I now sit on my couch in a zombified state while I should be at work. I feel like I got hit by a bus. (Had to pause to yawn). I think I will go crawl back in bed now.

Health and Fitness: Splurge or Save?

I come from big people. My family is intimately knowledgeable about procedures such as gastric bypass. I'm not a hater but it's definitely something I have to be aware of for myself.
I was not an athletic kid. I didn't do much by way of teams in high school. I have what famous female triathlete Sally Edwards coined "adult onset athleticism". I have had very positive experiences training for things with groups. First, I raised funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and hiked in the Grand Canyon (I'm strongly considering fundraising and hiking with them again). I met great friends that I still see frequently five years later. The best thing about those friends is that we share an interest in hiking so we can get together on the trails instead of just going out to dinner.
Right on the tails of that experience, I signed up for a training group for my first triathlon. I paid for the training group, which I attended twice a week. I went the all women route for comfort for my first race and I loved it and was totally hooked. I have been a volunteer workout leader with the same coach every summer since then. Again, I have made a wonderful group of friends who I can meet up with swims, bikes, and runs, as well as a few dinners.
Through my experiences, I came up with a little list of things I think are worth splurging on and other things I think you can save your money on.
Splurge:

• Gym membership. I currently have two. One I love for it's classes. I, myself, am more motivated to get to the gym if there's a specific time I have to be there. The other gym I go to for it's total convenience. There are no classes but it's open 24 hours a day and I can walk from my house. Of course, you can totally do amazing workouts without a gym but I think if you are just starting out, a little structure can help.
• Healthy foods. Produce can get pricey but if you love strawberries so much and you know you will eat them, they are worth buying even if they are not on sale. Since for me the alternative would be snacking on something that will make me need to go to the gym for, it's better to just spend the extra dollar or two.
• Fitness magazines. I get three of these sent to my house. The articles and tips give me new ideas and help get me back on focus. Just seeing the cover of my Runner's magazine reminds me that I need to schedule a run.
• Proper footwear. I get fitted for my sneakers to make sure I am buying the kind that best suit my run/walk. Knock on wood, I have never had a foot/knee/leg injury thus far from running.
• Music. I get excited to workout if I have new songs to listen to on my Ipod.
• Race entry to an event you really want to complete. Having a day on a calendar that you have to work up to is extremely motivating. Don't set an unrealistic goal; start small. But it's doable!! Races can be expensive so don't go overboard and sign up for a ton. Pick wisely-read up on what kind of goodies you get, look at pictures to get a sense of the race environment and pick something that fits your style. I think women's races are super supportive and I try not to do a race that doesn't have a shirt I want:)

Save: 

• Fancy workout clothes. Unless buying a snazzy new outfit motivates you to go, I find I have collected a ton of wicking fabric shirts from the races I have done. You will likely find there are a few specific items you really want to purchase. For me, it was tri shorts, which are like bike shorts with a little less padding but they really help the comfort on the bike. But the first year I hiked, I didn't go out and buy fancy moisture wicking underwear and gear. I wore wool sweaters and casual swishy pants instead of the high tech zipper pants. 
• Supplements. If you do a tiny bit of research, you can find natural food sources that replenish you as well, if not better, than workout products. For example, chocolate milk after a muscle workout. I now use a powdered drink mix on my bikes and runs that I love but it took a good amount of learning about what my body needed before that was a good purchase. When you are starting out you don't need to load up on products.
• Fancy equipment. Again, don't spend a ton of money on a hobby that you aren't sure you love yet. If you start biking and love it, you can buy last year's model for a cheaper price. I started on a cheaper bike my first season and only upgraded year 2 or 3, when I knew the hobby was going to stick around.
• Name brand stuff. Kind of back to point one, you can get a good sports bra at Target for a fraction of the price you would spend at one of the specialty stores in the mall.
• Workout videos (if you don't actually use them!!). You can also try a bunch of them out on Netflix.
• Personal training. Ok, this one is controversial. I think personal training is great and motivating. I just think that you should get to the gym and try out some of the cardio machines to see if you can really roll with this environment before you spend big money on something you don't want to stick to. 
• Low fat foods/Frozen yogurt/diet products. Low fat foods tend to have more sugar than the original. Get the foods you really want, regardless of whether they are low fat or not and eat in moderation. If you deprive yourself of something entirely, you will go nuts focusing on it. And diet products are generally not healthy and are just gimmicks. I knew a woman whose sister dropped dead in her 30s from appetite suppressants. They mess with your heart. Do it the healthy way and load up on fiber and water.

I hope this helps some people who are starting out! I'd love to hear from other people about what works for them, too.

Born to Run

I'm having trouble posting from my cell today so I can't share any pictures with you but here's what I have coming up: pictures from my Etsy shopping spree and pictures of Stella the model-cat with my new curtains. If that doesn't pull you back to read my next couple of posts then I don't know what will. Haha.

So have you read Born to Run? It seems like people everywhere I go are talking to me about the book and the concepts behind it. You can learn more by clicking here. In the shortest summary ever, it's about the history and rationale of the barefoot running movement. Despite the obvious goofiness of the appearance of the five finger shoes, the movement has a lure akin to a charismatic leader (and there are other versions of shoes that don't outline your toes). My chiropractor (Dr. Chris) was one of the more recent people to talk to me about the book and he offered to let me borrow the book on CD. With a couple long car rides under my belt to visit my bestie who is in town for the week, I have gotten to the second disc in as many days. Point being, I am still a novice to the concept of barefoot running but am very interested in it.

Another thing Born to Run mentions is the benefit of chia seeds. A few of the ladies I do triathlon training with have mentioned chia seeds in the past and two of them sell Mila, a form of them which you can find here if you are so inclined. I think I am going to give this a try, as well.

The point of this post is not to bore you to tears with running theory if you are not a runner (which I can barely identify with because I am horrible at it and slow but it is part of my training when I am doing that). The point is to 1. talk about what is on my mind 2. set forth a public proclamation that I am going to get back in gear in terms of fitness and want to set the stage for me to follow up on that here 3. potentially recruit some like minded friends who would like to check in with me, too, about fitness goals and how they plan to achieve them.

From May-early October, I usually do a pretty good job of staying active. Winter in New England takes a toll on me and gets me a little too comfortable staying warm on a cushioned surface than it should. So it's that time of year to get motivated again. Who is with me???

Peeing in the Water and Blowing your nose on the Bike

http://www.cracked.com/article_19164_5-things-that-are-apparently-ok-to-do-in-name-sports.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage

I usually reserve passing along articles for things I think are though provoking but sometimes it's nice to just have the truths of the world pointed out in a humorous way. I couldn't help but want to share this article from cracked.com about how much you can get away with in the name of athleticism. My favorite was a line about peeing at a family bbq being a social taboo but peeing anywhere you want during an endurance event means you are focused and driven. Hahaha.
When I do triathlons, I try really hard not to think about how many people peed in their wetsuits in the water I am now gliding through. Runny bike noses, as mentioned in this article are so problematic to me! Even on a bike, I have the imaginary audience going on, sure that someone will see me wipe my nose on some article of clothing if i so dare. And let's face it; we all workout so we can eat, no matter which way you cut it, so the article hit that one spot on. In fact, Honey Stinger makes these fruit gels you eat on your bike/run that are so good, I sometimes go for a run just so I can have some. They are like fruit snacks on speed.
Enjoy the article! Then go for a workout so you can live how you really want to: dirty, well fed, and breaking all the rules.