Balance

Balance

(n): physical equilibrium; mental and emotional steadiness

(v): to bring to harmony or proportion; to arrange so that one set of elements exactly equals the other

I had intended to write about “who” today but decided a prose on balance should be the topic.

All of us, no matter what we do with our lives, are always seeking the holy grail of balance.  All of us are on a teeter-totter trying to balance family, work, health, nutrition and training.  Often that teeter-totter rocks more to one side than another and it some cases we are sitting on the ground. Doesn’t it seem when one wave rocks the boat a few more come along just for fun?

The past two weeks have been physically and mentally challenging.  I’ll blame the change of gravity from the full moon on the 7^th for missing a couple of days of training that week.  (That’s for you Dad if you are reading) For some reason I was physically and mentally exhausted and missed checking off four of my check marks on the training calendar but I did make it to Saturday spin.  As you know out of the three disciplines I love to cycle the most. The joy of training returned and I thought I was back on track for my 24K run on Sunday.   Next wave the huge blister on the bottom of my foot.   I was angry at myself because I did not wear the proper socks and did not put tri-glide on the bottom of my feet for my Thursday night 10K run.   Had to stop after 12K.

This week started with the teeter-totter being a little more balanced and then work interfered.  How many of us would like to win the lottery so we can retire?  I know it’s the busy time of year in my work life thus a few added hours resulted in missing a few check marks on my training calendar.  The next wave was bad news from home as an unexpected death in my extended family occurred.  My heart and prayers go out to them. 

Today saw me back in spin class and as a result my mind is focused and I’m feeling more balanced.  It was a small class today but we knew Coach Paul was thinking of us, from the Sunny South, when Clint confirmed today’s class was a repeat of Oatmeal.  The goal of the oatmeal ride is to have the participants’ legs feeling like oatmeal when we get off the bikes two hours later.  The class involves lots of long steady rides in the lower gears thus it is like going up a long hill for the whole class.  I wonder if Coach Paul was trying to give us a taste of the hill he mentioned in his blog the other day.  If we can’t join him at the training camp he’ll give us a similar feeling to it.  Tomorrow is a 26K run and hoping the snow lets up so I can see the sidewalks while running.  I don’t want to tumble like my friend Lisa last week.  She’s fine but I hear the roll, jump up and immediately running again was a sight to see.  For some reason it makes me think of stop, drop and roll but in this case maybe it should be drop, roll and stop.  Too bad Susan wasn’t quick enough with the camera.

While cycling this morning and enjoying Oatmeal I realized that I am very lucky.  Yes the balancing act can be a challenge and as an “A” personality I beat myself up over the lost training days however I am lucky that I have the opportunity to juggle all the things I do.  Not everyone is as lucky as their health and financial situations do not allow them to have the same opportunities as many of us do.  As coach says always do our best.  I feel like I did my best this week and that is all I can ever ask of myself.  It is not about how well we did in the race.  It is about the journey getting there that counts.  

To my friends who listened the last few weeks thank you.  I can’t say I’m 100% back on track but I am feeling the equilibrium is coming back.