simplerich

Mary Poppins said when they were cleaning the kids’ room, “Once begun is half done!” That’s true of more than just cleaning rooms.

I quit smoking for five years. Got some personal catastrophe that was pretty life changing and thought to myself, “You know what? A cigarette won’t change a thing but I want one right now and I’ve been quit so long I’ll smoke a pack just to get through this without driving into a bridge abutment.” So, I bought a pack… Nine months later I was still looking for the perfect time to quit smoking. I’d wait until this pack was over… then I’d wait until inventory was over, but then oh wait… not this weekend, gotta busy one. I’ll just… finally I bought some patches and lozenges and armored up… I wore the patch for a couple of days and used the lozenges for a couple of days (not at same time as the patch.) And then I quit. No nicotine substitutes, not cigarettes, no patches, no lozenges. It wasn’t exactly cold turkey but it wasn’t the way those nico-replacements say to do it either. The thing that was important was to quit waiting for the right time and just quit already.

A couple of days ago it was 95 degrees. I was going for a walk. I’d been working my way up to running again but haven’t yet. You know… needed the perfect time to start. So, here I am on the nature trail, walking in jeans and a t-shirt and it’s 95 and humid as hell and I realize… I feel pretty good. I feel like a quick jog. So, I ran some intervals. I haven’t run since July of last year, not really. So intervals seemed like a good start. The part where I was in jeans drew some looks but hey… why not? If I had a lion chasing me I’d run in jeans and not stop to change into running shorts. Today I ran again… twice. Once in the morning on purpose and once in the evening by accident. I don’t have my stamina yet, but I can feel it. I’m better than I was the first time I started running. I didn’t need to way for the perfect time to start. I started while wearing jeans and it was 95 degrees.

My point is what are you waiting on? What are you waiting for the right time to do? I wasted a lot of time waiting for the right time to do both of those things when I could really have just done them and gotten it over with. Talking to my room mate’s mom today at dinner and she said something similar, “I like to go for a walk, but that first five minutes is the hardest. Once I get started I’m good. But it’s the getting started that’s tough.” She’s right.

I’m glad I’m not smoking again (this quit was easier than my first quit because I knew the craves would go away… when I was craving one I knew it wouldn’t last forever and it would get better. The first time I quit smoking I assumed it would always suck. It doesn’t.). I’m also glad to be running again. I can’t wait to get my legs back. I was pleasantly surprised to have not lost my wind.

Today while I was hiking I was listening to Mur Lafferty‘s Podcast “I Should Be Writing” today and she talked about how odd it is to hear adults say, “I want to bake a cake” (or whatever) but they don’t actually bake the cake. Why not? They’re adults. If they want to do something there’s nobody telling them they can’t. It’s not like they’re 6 and want to bake a cake and need help or permission. I’m an adult. I didn’t have to wait for permission to run or quit smoking. When I would say, “I want to quit smoking” but then didn’t actually go about QUITTING I was saying, “I want to say I want to quit… if I actually wanted to quit I’d work on quitting and not on talking about it.” I’d say, “I want to run” but I wouldn’t run. So what I meant was, “I want to say I want to run.” If I’d wanted to run… I’d have run. I wanted to watch Survivor and I watched that. I wanted to eat and I ate. I wanted coffee in the morning and I got that… those things I really want… I do. So next time you hear someone say, “I want to…” Push them. Find out why they’re not doing it right now? What’s stopping them? Do they really want to? Or do they just want to appear to want to? If they want to why not do it right now? Once begun is, after all, half done!

Mary Poppins wouldn’t lie to us. “Once begun IS half done.” So, get busy getting started and once you’re off your butt and doing that thing you’ve been putting off you’ll be half done! There’s probably nobody stopping you but you!

On Saturday, May 15, 2010 I ran my first race ever. I’ve been running since September 12, 2009. I started running then doing the Couch to 5k (C25k) program on my sister’s suggestion. I started the running with the goal to not only complete the C25k program, but when spring got here to run a 5k race in under half an hour. That was my goal. Short term, complete C25k, mid-range goal, complete a 5k race in under half an hour. On Saturday I completed my first 5k race, a Charity race for the Des Moines, IA Ronald McDonald House, the Run for Ronald 2010 5k/10k race in 29:00 minutes.

On the right you see me in my running outfit minus my hat. I also wore my Memphis Riverkings hat. That hat means something to me because I got it when a season ticket holder for the Memphis Riverkings. I had a lot of fun going to those games. (The hat shows up in the second picture, below) It was a good time of my life. The red shirt here, that’s Honda red for a friend of mine who wears red a lot more than I do. You see the giant Garmin watch there? That was a Christmas gift from my best friend of the past 20 years. I wear it whenever I run outside. The ring I’m wearing on my left hand, that’s for luck and it’s in my pocket but there. The bib number, great first racing bib number, 88… that’s the year I went into the Navy. That was a pretty significant year for me in a lot of ways.

This race was, for me, the completion of 8 months of work. No, it wasn’t a marathon. But it was me setting a goal and sticking to it. I wound up running the race by myself, my friends weren’t able to be there and that was, at that point, just the icing on the cake. The part where I ran the race I’d set myself up to run was good. That was the cake right there. I ran the whole thing with a slight smile. Not just because the weather was perfect and the atmosphere of the race itself was fun, but because I was doing something I’d worked for and that I loved.

Doing something like that for myself, that much work, time, and sticking to it… that meant a lot to me. It does today, 2 days later. I’ve been trying to think of what is next, and I think right now next is to keep running and maybe do some more 5k’s. Summer’s coming, and it’s hot in the summer, and I’ve already noticed how much harder it is to run in the summers. I’m not done running. I love it. But this first race, this first goal that I set 8 months ago, and completed, for that I’m proud of myself. To those of you who supported me, put up with my running breaks, or my being late to places because I was running. To you, thank you.

Specific thanks to specific sites and online tools that I’ve used:
Couch to 5k, already mentioned, but a great training program.
5k101 has some great podcasts for running and training for a 5k. I still use them.
Active.com is full of tips for runners and is how I found which race I’d run first.
Twitter – I had lots of support from friends on twitter as I’d post my running times and progress.
SparkPeople – Great weight loss and fitness site that kept me focused on my diet while I learned how to eat while running.
DailyMile – this is where I log my runs. It’s a great site and I recommend it to anybody who exercises (Running, Biking, Swimming, Walking specifically)

Specific thanks to specific people:
My parents for being supportive, and teaching me that I could do what I wanted to do. The idea that I could do whatever I set my mind to if I just worked at it really impacts me in every way almost every day. I really don’t meet that many things that I think I can’t do. My confidence comes from them and that and I appreciate it and how much it’s impacted my life. I may be scared to try sometimes because I’m scared of not getting it right the first time, but I never believe I CAN’T do something if I work at it. That feeling is, as I meet more people, something a lot of people don’t have. A lot of folks out there don’t believe they can do much of anything and they limit themselves. You hear people say “My parents said I could be anything…” but I don’t remember my parents saying that. I don’t actually believe that either. I remember them teaching us that we could DO anything we were willing to work at. That’s an important difference. (I say that and internally flinch at what they went through when I made up my mind to be bad at math ugh, another story for another time.)

Kit, my roommate, best friend, and friend I’ve had the longest. I know you thought running was a ridiculous thing to do and that the times I was late to friends’ soccer games or parties or family events because I was running you made my explanations for me. You taught me to ride a motorcycle (something I was afraid of doing because I thought I’d crash and/or die), and always push me to do things even if I may not do them right the first time. You’re good at holding my feet to the fire and expecting more out of me even when I’m being stubborn. I said once that I like who I am better when you’re around than when you’re not and I mean it. I like who I’ve become by being your friend. Thank you.

My sister, Leigh. I’ve already done a whole blog post on how much I appreciate her and what she means to me. I’m not going to duplicate it here but I’d have been remiss if I’d not mentioned her here.

(This post is a double post, being posted to my simplerich.com blog as well as my running blog.)

I said to my parents once that if I won the lottery I would quit work and become a professional student and attend University. Talking to Rosa Say over on Talking Story about learning she talked about her love of learning and how that had led to the creation of her community “Joyful Jubilant Learning.” The conversation went on to possibilities of a future book she may be writing or starting… not sure if it’s a follow up to her Managing With Aloha or if it will be something different or along the same vein but for a different audience yet… it’s still too soon to tell.

The excitement is palpable though and the possibilities whip about like leaves in a gale.

Here’s the thing… what am I doing? Why do I not have that level of excitement and possibilities for myself and for what I’m doing? That seems like I’m doing something wrong here. Where’s my passion for what I’m doing? (Other than running and that’s sort of stalled right now because a) I’m ill and b) the treadmill that I have access to is nick-named “shin-killer.”)

So… my goal between now and Valentine’s Day is to find something I’m passionate about and start it. (Other than running… my next race is soon…  2/16/2010 (Fat Tuesday! WOOT!) I’ll keep you posted.

It may be online classes. I’ve thought about that recently and decided it may be a great option for someone who travels as much as I do.

It may be a sports car and a girlfriend half my age… OK. That’s not actually very likely come to think of it.

So… no pressure… what am I going to do with myself that I’m as excited about as I am about what other people are doing? Seems like I’m wasting the only life I have if I’m not excited about my own life as often as possible.

I have two sisters, both younger than I am. I am the oldest, most attractive, most intelligent, and most superlative son of the three of us. There are no other sons so there is very little competition in that regard which works out well for me if I do say so myself.

This isn’t about me really, but it’s going to start out that way just bear with me OK? I was book smart. I skipped second grade (Not a good idea by the way in my opinion. These days they don’t fail people because socially it’d be a bad idea… Yeah, I sort of wish they had thought that when I was skipped. I was socially way out of my league and it took me a while to not feel out of sorts, but that’s not the point.) The point is school stuff came really easy to me. I thought it came easy to everybody. I remember a conversation in High School with my Mom where I was saying that everybody should be required to take Algebra. I’d probably just heard Jubal Harshaw say it. I was easily impressed. (Moment of silence for The Grand Master please…) I know now that I was an idiot. But it was something that I thought was a gift, only instead of being grateful for it or humble for having received it, or recognizing it may have a downside. I was an elitist ass. I eventually grew out of that, but in the meantime my sister Leigh got to bear the brunt of the annoying part about my being book smart.

The thing with being a kid is that the metrics used for a REALLY long time are metrics like… school work or grades. An area in which I did pretty OK with very little effort (with the exception of math which my grade skipping didn’t help me on at all). Later, we’re skipping a lot of years here, I went to college and hit a wall. There were a LOT of people around me as casually intelligent as I was, and the spoon feeding of the high-school classes wasn’t cutting it. Suddenly school was hard. My sister meanwhile, graduated high school early, by working hard, studying hard, and applying herself. She didn’t skate through it. She worked at it. And finished early.

I was in college and needed to study for the first time ever. I didn’t have a clue how. I’d never needed to before. I failed a class. No kidding. Failed it bigger than life. The one thing I’d always done OK in without really trying was something I was screwing up and had failed at. So. I took the class again and had the highest average in the class (I have jokingly said that I beat an Asian girl in math as my highest achievement but I feel bad because when she saw she was second in class she cried. I pointed out I had the advantage of having taken the class before but it didn’t seem to help.) I worked hard on it that year. I learned to study and I studied and it wasn’t easy. I did, for one semester, in one class what my sister had done for longer and I hated it. I liked the class. I didn’t like that I had to work at it.

So I quit. I dropped out of college and entered the Navy as a Nuke. Supposedly you have to be smart to be a Nuke. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I met people in there in the school who hated me, got so mad at me that they couldn’t stand it or even talk to me because again… I was getting it and they weren’t. Only now I knew how to study so I wasn’t just getting it and getting by. I was doing really well. I wish I’d learned to study sooner. I’d have done better when I was in high school.

My sister DID study. She worked and got done with High School ahead of schedule and joined the Marines… holy crap! I’d talked to the Marine recruiter, but as soon as he said how long his boot camp was I was done. No chance in hell of me surviving a 12 week boot camp. She did it though. I had joined the Navy and started running before I went in to get into better shape. I’d run and do push-ups and sit-ups and whatever else I thought I’d need to get through the 8 weeks of Navy boot camp. She’d done it harder though… again.

I never told her in all that time how proud I was of her for what she’d done. I got skipped in 2nd grade. I didn’t do anything to deserve that except know how to read. She’d taken time off the back end of her education… the hard years, and she’d earned it. She’d set a goal and done it, the hard way. Then she’d joined the Marines and did that too. I bragged about her to everybody who would listen. She wasn’t “in the service.” She was a MARINE. That’s not like other branches. I don’t care what branch you’re in… Marines are tougher. (OK. Navy Seals are excluded here, they eat Marines for breakfast with milk and sugar sprinkled over them. lol)

Skip forward again… she’s married with a son with a great house, she knits, she paints, she bakes and cooks and is, as far as I can see… working her butt off to be a great Mom to her son. When her husband (a Marine she met while she was a Marine) was going to be called-up and deployed and she was going to be on her own she took care of business, and didn’t fall apart or anything like that. She put on her butt kicking boots and took care of things.

When I heard she was going to do a running program called Couch to 5k I thought I’d give it a look. And I did. In management I’ve often told people I’m a sprinter, not a marathon runner. I can do anything for two weeks. No job is too hard that I can’t do it for two weeks. Need me to run 8 stores while I open a new one and train an entire crew and put in 20 hour days? No problem… two weeks, maybe three but then I’m going to need to crash.

In job negotiations with the new owner of the company I work for I didn’t talk about salary or compensation or his expectations. He talked about all that. I talked about time off and needing it. I know my limits. I learned early on that I’m BAD at working on something long term. It’s a limitation I have and I know it. This Couch to 5k thing… that’s a 9 week course… self started… got to get myself up off the couch of DOOM and do it myself. I have never done anything myself for that length of time. I said that if she could do all those things she’d done then surely I’d be able to do them. Once in my life I should, before it was too late, live up to the standards my sister had set for herself and surpassed over and over again in my estimation.

Last week I finished the 9 week running program in 12 weeks. I finished it because my sister who I’ve never told how proud I was of her was my inspiration. Not her finishing it. I don’t know if she has or not yet. She has no twitter feed *hint*hint*. But because of the way she’s lived her life. She’s, to my eyes, worked hard to make sure that she lives it fully. There’s an expression in racing that you run so you leave everything on the track. When you finish a race there’s nothing left in you as you cross the finish line. You couldn’t run any further because you’ve run it and run it your best and hardest without burning out too soon or crossing the finish line with any reserves meaning you didn’t run hard enough. To me she’s running the race of life that way. She doesn’t appear to be coasting through life just waiting for things to happen and I respect that and appreciate it and love her for it.

Thank you Leigh, for introducing me to the C25k and thank you for being someone I wish I were more like. You make me proud to say you’re my sister.

(This is a double blog post… if you see it on simplerich.com and my SimpleRunner blog in your newsreader it’s not stuttering. I am. She’s worth a double post to me.)

(PS: To those of you who say I’m romanticizing things and no brother sister is this lovey dovey… lol you’re right. We weren’t. I was an ass and she was too… but we were kids. We’re allowed. We both grew out of it and turned into decent people.)

I started the Couch to 5k running training program a while back (September 12th) with a goal of finishing the program and running my first 5k race in the spring. (Hey Rich! This isn’t your running blog, wrong place! Bear with me. I’m getting to it OK?) This week I’m on the last week of the program. I had to redo a week and might have done two weeks twice. I’m not sure now. I just know that I’m a run away from completing the plan. I should add that I’m in North Dakota and today instead of eating lunch I ran, my thinking being that one pm it was as warm as it was going to get all day. It was 4° Fahrenheit (–15 C) when I went on my run today and there was a slight wind out of the north. When I finished my run, 40 minutes with the five minute cool down, it was 2°F (-16 C). It was cooling off already.

Why would ANYBODY run in those conditions? Two reasons really. 1) They’re a runner. I saw two other runners out on my run today and B) They have a goal set and they want to make it and will do whatever it takes to make that goal. I’m not always like this, but there are times when I set a goal and for some reason that particular goal sets hooks in my skin and drags me along.

I was manager of a store that made $800/day when I got the store. I was offered a promotion to Area Supervisor but I said I wasn’t ready yet. I had a goal of getting that store to $1000/day, a pretty ambitious increase of 25% (This was a monthly average obviously, a day to day thing was easy to do, weekends were always over $1k/day) A year or so later I was again offered a promotion and again I turned it down, saying, “I haven’t met my goal yet. When I have then I will promote up.” I was told at that point by the person making the offer that I would only be offered one more time. Nobody was offered a promotion 4 times. If you say “no” three times they’re done. You’ve dead-ended yourself. Agree with the policy or not I hadn’t met my goal. The third time I was offered a promotion I said I appreciated it and didn’t think that this should count as my third offer, not because they didn’t need me three times, but because they KNEW why I had said “no” the previous times and they had access to my numbers. They KNEW I wasn’t going to say “yes” yet, and if I did… then I’d have failed at my goal and they would know that and I couldn’t do that. I was offered a 4th time and I accepted. I’d gotten my sales where I wanted them and held them there while I waited for a position to open up.  I had a really good crew at the time that made all of it possible.

Today, running in the arctic air I realized I was in pursuit of another of those goals of mine. I was so close to being done with the Couch to 5k program when I came up here to North Dakota and winter hit hard but there was no way I could quit. The hotel has no treadmill, and I hate those anyway. I didn’t want to join a gym when I’m only out here a week or so. That left only two options. Don’t run and quitting now would NOT be good. It’d be too hard to start up again. Or option 2, put on a hat and get out there and put one foot in front of the other.

The importance of goals, even goals that look hard but doable, I take that back, ESPECIALLY goals that look really hard but doable are what make things interesting out there. Those victories are the great ones. Setting a goal that you can’t help but meet, that’s not a victory. That doesn’t make a difference at all. It’s a “gimme” and that’s just a waste of time. But setting those goals that you’re pretty sure you’ll be able to do but it won’t be easy. I think those are the most fun to make and meet.

Oh, and lest you think I meet all my goals. Nope. I haven’t. I don’t brag about the others much. Who would? But just because I don’t meet a goal doesn’t mean I stop. The weeks that I had to do over again on the running program weren’t weeks I was proud of. For some reason I had off weeks. I wasn’t running as good as I should have and I knew if I’d progressed it would have gotten worse and I’d have quit. So, I redid the week. I held myself back… I didn’t socially promote myself so I’d feel good about myself. I knew I didn’t have the base that I needed so I worked until I got it, even though it turned what was supposed to be a 9 week program into a 12.5 Week program doesn’t make it a real victory does it? Yes. It does because my goal was to finish. Not to finish in 9 weeks. So. Day after tomorrow, barring a blizzard I will be tying on my running shoes and pulling on my balaclava for the last run of the Couch to 5k program.

PS: Today’s run was 6.78k (4.2 Miles) I like metric for distance since it makes it look like I’ve run further lol.

PPS: To those of you who run already and laugh at my paltry accomplishment. Pththththt