Lent Update

It's Holy Week already!  Where does the time go?

This has been a less than stellar Lent for me.  It is usually a motivational time for me, but not this year.  There

are a few factors that impacted it:

• the reoccurring cold weather - I think I would have done better if had stayed cold and slowly warmed up.  The warm then cold was very demoralizing to me this year.  I'm not sure why it was worse to handle this year. 
• getting back into the swing after Texas - for whatever reason I have had a really hard time getting back into the swing of things since getting back home.   For example, the plants are still consolidated in the living room (to make it easier for my brother who was watering them), and have not made it back to their normal locations.  That makes the living room cluttered and the table unusable.  

In any case - let's review the Lent goals 

Lenten Promise #1 - run at least 1 mile for every Lent day

There are 46 days in Lent between Ash Wednesday and Holy Saturday.  Assuming my knees hold up this should be very doable, but still challenging for me, to get these miles in.  This is a new challenge; nothing like it last year.

• I totally forgot I had even made this promise.  I did run on and off this Lent, more off than on, but I didn't track my miles.  I'm sure I'm under 46.  I wish I had remembered this - I think it would have motivated me.

Lenten Promise #2 - attending or participating in 7 spiritual events this Lent

This is a repeat of last year but I'm bumping it up from 6 to 7 events - basically one per week, even the short week of Ash Wednesday.  There is such a wide variety of things to be counted - attending Stations of the Cross, Walking the Labyrinth, attending Vespers, going to confession, etc.   I hope one of my events will be the new movie Son of God, that has limited theater release.  I'm hoping to see it this weekend - either Friday night in place of Stations or else Sunday morning. Last year, my group of friends and I met up several times for Stations of the Cross.  It really added to my Lenten experience.  While we don't have anything planned yet, I do expect we will get together at least 2 or 3 times this Lent. 

• I knew I was failing at this.  This was indented for me to do something most weeks, instead almost all of it has been in the last 2 weeks of Lent

1. Attended the Acacia Theater Company 2 plays at St Dom's.  
2. Listening to the Mathew Kelly CD
3. Reading Killing Jesus book
4. Attended Elmbrook's Follow Me to the Cross: A Holy Week Experience
5. Participated in St Dom's Palm Sunday Procession 
6. Watching the Passion of the Christ movie on DVD - borrowed it from Library, still need to watch
7. TBD 

Lenten Promise #3 - consume no more than 1 bag of snack food per week.  I know what you are thinking.  For someone that is trying to lose weight and get in shape that is too much!  Last year I had a similar promise with a higher total allocation.   I do think this will be a challenge for me (and honestly that is true but sad to say and depresses me to post it publicly).

• No problem with this one.  I just haven't bought it.  If its not in the house I don't eat it ( I still want it and miss it but it's not there to eat)

Lenten Promise #4 - volunteer work

I'm not sure what to include here or how to quantify things.  I do know this is something I deeply feel I need to do.   I would really like it to be associated with feeding the hungry - and as a sign from God, this year's St Dom's Lenten Outreach program is the the "Hunger Games".   They are setting up volunteering at two different food shelters in Milwaukee.  But sadly there are not being very clear or publicly stating when these activities will take place.

• Totally blew this one.   And this may have been part of my tough Lent; I got so frustrated with St Dom's for not providing the information.   Still disappoints me.  
• So I just filled out a Hunger Task Force volunteer application.  Ever since my encounter with the Gypsy in the Rome train station I have had the hungry on my mind.  I need to take action and help. I am blessed and have acted on my opportunities, it's time to share.    

Overall this has been a less than stellar Lent given my past history Lenten experiences;  but the fact that I have Lent expectations put me on top.  It wasn't a great Lent, but at least I acknowledged Lent and did have some successes (promise 3 solid and with focus, promise 2 nearly met - and still with some time to get it, promise 4 - well it didn't happen for Lent, but I have signed up and that is a key first step).

Kick starting (again)

well hello!  it's certainly been a while since I posted.

I've had a tough time getting myself motivated to make the right long term choices.  My exercise is sporadic, my eating has been less than great, and my overall attitude could use a little work.

There are a multitude or real and fake reasons on why that was happening.   I'm not sure I'm going to go into any details - that's in the past and let's let it go!

I have a friend that is a coach for Beach Bodies and she has regularly checked in with me to see if I want to join.   Overall I think its a good program but the key thing I don't like about it is the shake replacement meal.  The shake is on an auto-renewal on your credit card -- I HATE that; it often so hard to cancel those deals.  I'm still fighting that with the old Bally's gym that was taken over by Blasts.   Anyway, the other main issue - it this is really nothing new -- I know what to do, I know what to eat and what not to eat.... but I don't do it.   That is my real problem - I know it but I don't act on it.   Yes, her coaching and being in the group would help my progress.  But is it really worth the cost?   I don't know.   If it didn't have the shake part then I would sign up, if nothing more than to support a friend.   But the shake and its auto-renewal are making me lean towards 'no' once again.  

Instead I did day one of Julian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD today.  I figure I can do my own kick start on fitness.   I realized reading my friend's post on FB that she exercises almost every day to one of her Beach Body DVD programs.   I have enough exercise DVDs, and even some in VHS format,  that I don't really need a new one from Beach Bodies - and the other side of it is I am really so out of shape that I'm not sure I could even do a Beach Bodies program any justice.  Plus our library has 100s of exercise videos that I could borrow for free.  I have less than 20 days to Crazylegs (8K run) - I'm hoping the 'shredding' helps me get going again on the running.

I know I can do the distance.  That is not my issue at all - my main concern is reaching our goal of finishing it within 1 hour.   That's really only about a 12 minute mile - which I can do no problem when I run regularly.  But this last month has been so up and down for running that on those restart days my time can be at a 13+ minute pace.   That's the opposite of motivation and causes me to lose interest.   I hoping the shred helps keep my motivation high.

Yesterday I had a bad eating day - these have lately been hitting me in the post lunch time frame.  It's like my lunch never ends and I end up snacking from lunch till dinner time.  Sometimes I skip dinner because I'm full.  But it's not healthy and needs to be reigned in.  Yesterday I could actually feel my jeans getting tighter in the thighs.   It was the saddest of feelings.

And it may have been my rock bottom.  Today I feel like I need to do something, anything.   30 Day Shred is a good start.  Although it is demotivating to see how much I had to modify the exercises just to keep moving.   But Day One is always the hardest - I know it will get better.  

The nice thing is I already have several events that I hope will help motivate me - Crazylegs on April 26, BLS fun runs start (most Wednesdays starting April 23), Ice Age Half Marathon on May 10, HB Girls weekend in Milwaukee on May 16-18, and the June Arizona hiking trip.

I know this post is all over - but it shows my mindset - I'm all over and have a hard time completing and focusing on one thing at a time.

Wish me luck on this kick start.  I need to find my true north for fitness.