One month life makeover:
Part 1: 24 Day diet challenge
Part 2: Better use of free time starting with a week of no TV
Part 3: Getting the landscaping done at our house

When it was time to shop for a house, I imagined myself living in a white house with dark trim and a brick red roof. The layout would be open with high ceilings and lots of windows. I would have a patio area that was like a little mountain oasis with a tiny pond and a waterfall. But I never bothered to imagine what the rest of the landscaping would look like. Almost 8 years in my house and everything outside the patio area looks like nobody lives there. Dirt, mulch, a few rocks, a few trees. That’s it.

It is hard to separate the quality of your life from the environment you live in. So part 3 of this month’s makeover is a small step towards improving my immediate surroundings. We met with a landscape design lady today. I can’t wait to fix this mess!

I got some good advice today. Somebody told me ‘just be hurt for right now’. I have not been very graceful about it. But between my shoulder issues, the tendonitis in my elbow, and my back, hip, and knee pain trying to go all out is like trying to build a house of cards on a bent foundation. Better to do whatever I can do on a given day, concentrate on repairing the foundation, and stop crying about it. I may lose a step or two but I’ll be better off in the long run. The Advocare challenge still going strong on day 3 but I am heading out of town tomorrow. I suppose that will make the no TV part of this week pretty easy but eating out with friends for four days will really put me to the test.

I guess my 2nd cousin has been on a real rollercoaster since his car accident last week. One minute he stops breathing and the next minute he is awake and can recognize people. He definitely has a few more weeks of surgery left. I still haven’t heard the details of the crash but I haven’t really been asking. I am more just concerned about whether he’ll be okay.

As for me, being off the junk food hasn’t been hard yet. It was harder to drink all 100oz of water. That was a lot but I am already starting to feel better. I did go to CrossFit this morning for the first time in 10 days. All I can do is light rehab on my leg.  It is really frustrating to feel motivated to go all out not be able to. Well… I could. But I did that before and that is how I ended up hurt in the first place. We are always motivated to suck it up and push through the pain and all that. Some pain brings more strength, more flexibility, and can actually be very healing. The question is, how do you tell the difference between that and doing damage before you end up more seriously injured. In the long term I know I will be better off making sure this thing is in good shape before I really push it but in the short term this really sucks. I am not sure how long I can hold back.

When I feel like I am having a life crisis I start to crave change in a major way. A vacation, a change of scenery, a new experience. Even something as simple as a haircut might make me feel better. But sometimes I need more. So its time to make changes and set some goals for myself again.

The first thing to fall apart when I am frustrated, anxious, sad, even just bored is my diet. I become fueled entirely by junk food and Diet Coke. Today I am starting a 24 day diet challenge. 10 days to cut the crap. 14 days to figure out how to keep going once it is over.

It is a good place to start but diet and fitness are not life. They are a path to better living. There is a lot more to life that I don’t take advantage of. When I am tired, bored, or my mind races I flip on the tube and veg. The TV is like my OFF button. I can block out the guilt of not being productive with car chases and gunfire.

Just like food, it is okay to enjoy TV but not good to abuse it. So for the next 6 days there will be no TV, no movies, no YouTube videos. I think I can be productive and yet still have more time to relax if I keep focused and clear. The goal is not to fill up every spare minute with productivity but to use my free time to enhance my quality of life a little. To remind myself how to slow down and relax without shutting down completely.

My flight was delayed late into the night due to hail damage on the planes in Denver. Frontier had 20 of 59 planes out of commission. 8 hours of hanging out at the airport and a total of 12 hours of travel time finally put me at home around 2:00 in the morning. I am wiped out. Today will be a good day to lay low, reset, and hang out with my man.

(Photos from CBS.com)

I forgot to mention the bird outside my hotel room. Four days of relentless screeching like a cricket into a microphone. All morning and night it chirps without a break. This would be a good torture tactic.

"… Leave my loneliness unbroken!— quit the bust above my door!
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!
…And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting…”

Last day in San Francisco. The trip went well. I met my team. It was totally worthwhile to come. But somehow the week was also a total disaster. I was already having crisis-of-life feelings with the anniversary of my mom’s death approaching when I found out my 2nd cousin had been crushed in a terrible car accident. He is in a coma with more surgeries pending. Unbelievably, as I typed those words at that moment my dad called to tell me that my aunt’s father passed away this morning. Sigh.

My normal coping mechanism (besides chocolate and TV) is a great workout. But I am hurt. Not just hurting but hurt. Can’t really go hard with a twisted hip and knee. CrossFit might be out. Pick up volleyball, mountain biking in Crested Butte, the sprint triathlon – all might be out. I tried to workout at the gym but after being used to all that other stuff a regular workout in a gym by myself is like an hour and a half of warming up.

Unlike any other time I have ever travelled in my life  I had absolutely no ambition this week to do anything fun. No sightseeing, exploring, or exciting adventures of any kind. I could barely drag my butt down to the pool to sit in the hot tub. Not having Todd here made it worse. And feeling stressed and sorry for myself, I ate like complete crap which just compounded everything.

Enough! What a total waste of time and energy. It is not helping anybody to barely be functional. Not my mom, not my 2nd cousin, my family, Todd, and certainly not me. Time for a change…

I was in no shape to run with my triathlon relay team today but I found a perfect sub.

My cousin Anne did the 800m swim and was probably one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) swimmers there.

My sister Kim did the 10 mile bike ride. Suddenly out of nowhere a few years back she signed up for a half marathon just for the fun of it. And now she wants to experience a tri. What a stud! (I have yet to do either).

My other cousin Andrea stepped in to handle the 5k with less than 24 hours notice. She had no idea if she could finish a 5k without having to stop but sailed through it with no problem. Good for her!

Family came out to watch.

The team did a great job – 3rd place of 7 relay teams. Great job guys!

Lately I have been spending mornings outside on the patio watering the flowers, hiking, biking, or going to the gym instead of bothering to write about anything.

But now that I can barely walk around I will have more time. Sigh. My IT band has been really tight for the past couple months and this week it got worse fast. At some point during GHD sit ups I heard my hip pop a little but didn’t think much of it and pushed right through into workouts the next day.

Basically I did to my hip the equivalent of twisting your own ankle for a week until it is sprained. I am functional and actually I can walk just fine. But if I turn just slightly the wrong way, pain pierces through my leg and lower back like a migraine headache. Bad timing too. I am supposed to run a 5k tomorrow with my sister, Kim, and cousin Anne. I still have hopes that it is just a mild sprain and I will be fine in a couple days but this time I will have to let my body decide instead of my head.

Oww. I played volleyball Tuesday and everybody went for the same shot. I got there first, obviously. My foot ended up on the bottom. At first I thought it was just a scrape but after running yesterday it started swelling and throbbing on both the top and the bottom. Bruised bone maybe? Ouch! I want my skin back!

Pay no attention to the sand scrapped nails. Todd got me a Groupon for a pedicure and I get to use it today!