Decluttering, Simplifying, and Operation Hot Body

Now that the Seaside Half Marathon is behind me (amazing weekend, 1:48:52 finish, wonderful family time, my girl loves the beach, etc.), I am ready for the next thing and that is what I have (somewhat jokingly) named Operation Hot Body.  What that means is I'm going to quit being a mileage junkie.  It is time to improve my fitness by doing other things.  And this time I'm serious.  Seriously serious.

I had a conversation with myself the other day.  I asked myself, "What do you REALLY WANT out of all this?"  So I thought about it.  And here is the honest truth.  I like running. In fact, I love it.  But more than a personal record in some distance, more than winning my age group, more than running another ultra, I want to FEEL GOOD and LOOK GOOD.  That's it.  Being a mom and homemaker and wife is what I'm in to these days. I want to feel good enough to crawl around on the floor, wrestle and tickle my baby girl, hunt for toys under the furniture, keep a clean house (more on that in a sec), read 25 books in a row, play in the backyard for hours, chase butterflies and baby bunnies, and do yard work.  Sure, running gives me energy for all those things, but on days when I am stiff and sore and creaky I have to ask myself if it is giving me what I REALLY WANT? 

So I'm going after what I really want, which is a hot and happy body.

Now for the decluttering.  I'm going to try this thing I saw on the White House, Black Shutters blog.  It is called 40 Bags in 40 Days and it is a way to declutter (my spell check says that is not a word) and simplify one's home.  I don't think mine is super out of hand, but that doesn't mean it couldn't use this treatment.  And I probably won't take pictures every day and document everything like the blogger who came up with it, but I want to give the 40 day challenge a shot.  Want to join me?  I'll try to status here how its going.

And now to the simplifying. I haven't given this much thought, but then again I have.  Today my last active client with Running Start, LLC finished her training. She's working with a personal trainer and wants to continue that route.  And I must admit, getting to workout and train with someone in person is probably better than what I'm currently offering.

When I started my business, I was working full time and I wasn't a mom. I didn't want to sit behind a desk anymore, I wanted to work in the fitness industry.  Now that I am a full time mom, it has at times been hard to be there for my clients in the way I wanted to be.  I also continue to doubt my knowledge, to change my mind, to experiment with running and training theories and what I think about it... and I'm not sure that makes for a good coach. Seems like most of the coaches I know, know where they stand on all (or most) things running and coach accordingly. I just feel I still have so much left to learn.

I would consider my coaching a success in that all the runners I trained who followed their plans achieved their goals and then some.  They continue to run and they love it.  That was my purpose.  Those who didn't try or who quit were frustrating to me and I felt I had somehow failed them.  I just couldn't figure out what more I could have done, but thankfully there weren't very many of those.

All that said, I'm pretty sure I've decided to dissolve Running Start.  I'm a little sad about that, but not much.  Maybe one day when my kids are grown I can return to it, but now is not that time.  I want to focus on my family and growing it.  I want to focus on my own running and fitness.  I want to continue to learn about it, and experiment.  In the mean time, I am still teaching the Walk/Jog/Run course at UAH which I LOVE, and I think I will work on my ACE certifications so maybe I can teach a few classes at the local YMCA.

Once I acknowledged the desire to dissolve, I felt content with it.  This is all from today, so I haven't taken any action yet, but I'm pretty sure I will.  I like the thought of simplifying my life a little, taking out what doesn't fit right now and keeping all the things that do.  I have tried to take the words "Know thyself" seriously the past few years and to let myself be who I really am.  To let myself like what I like, to let myself do what I love and to really acknowledge what that is.  I'd like to let God do His thing too.  I have a feeling I've been in the way of that as well.  But enough for now.  I've got to go fill my 1st bag.