Seriously?....Again?

For those of you who are keeping track of the on/off/on/off/off/OFF situation I have with running, it's on. Again. This will be the easily the 4th or 5th time I have set out with determination to finally love running. I've signed up for a Women's Learn to Run Clinic, not at all wanting to because I do NOT enjoy starting over again. When I arrived last night there was about 15 us and of course we had to do the "tell us your name and why you're here" thing. I introduced myself, "hi my name's Cara, I have a love/hate relationship with running but I want a love/LOVE relationship with running and I'd like to accomplish a 10k without the use of a vehicle". As we went down the line, I was SO surprised to find that, I'm not alone in this. There were at least 2 others that also stated their distaste for running. One woman held no punches.. "I hate it. Like, really. HATE. it."
I think I found my new best friend.

What I loved most about last night, is we were all there. Many had never run before and were scared, some were like me, starting over and others were just trying to gain a different outlook. But we all showed up. We overcame our nerves, fears and previous discouragements.

So although last night I felt a little like this:...

I believe that by June 12 (the annual Women's 10k race) I will feel like this:....

Life Lessons from Tetris and America's Next Top Model - Part I

Yesterday was an day of unexpected revelations (although I'm not sure there are expected revelations). It started with my second favorite game in the world, the Russian building block game of Tetris.

*my first favorite game in the world is Dr. Mario and I will challenge anyone, anywhere, anytime. But beware- Mark has had to take this game away from me as I am an incredibly sore loser and an even worse winner.

If you've played Tetris before you know how it works. You try to fit all the pieces together perfectly so that they all line up and disappear. You can play with many different options but the one I NEVER mess with is the option to see the piece that's coming next. Take a look at the picture. Do you see the long orange piece in the middle of the left screen? That's the piece in play. Now notice the small, funky green piece in the top right screen. That's what's next. Being able to see what's next allows me to work, make few mistakes and secure the best possible outcome.
Here's how it went down yesterday. I'm playing my little fingers off, trying to beat my personal best of 25 lines in 1 minute and 28 seconds when all of a sudden the small box that tells me my Tetris future is empty. EMPTY!! What?! When?? How?!? The next 15 seconds were filled with rather frantic fingers and some grown-up words as I tried like mad to get my Russian crystal ball back. I later realized...That's exactly how I am with almost everything. I need to know what is about to happen before I can make a move now. I can sometimes (most times) get so focused on what's gonna happen that I miss the opportunity to enjoy what is happening. So I'm challenging myself (and you, if this is sounding a little too familiar) to have a day planned out where we're aware of nothing and have no clue about what's next. My husband, I'm sure will love this and I shall do my very best to take in everything that comes my way with joy and anticipation not caution and anxiety. I just need to know what to wear first.