Fifteen! Shannon

Fifteen? What is fifteen? Well it depends on what the topic is. Running, money, time, dates, ......

Well I will start out with running. This weekend is our cycle down weekend before our 50k next Saturday. So we ran a total of 15 miles. 10 miles on Saturday and 5 miles on Sunday. Both days were absolutely beautiful and the runs were great. I did learn a valuable lesson on Saturday during my run.

Since we were only running 10 miles, I figured I didn't need to worry about my fuel. WRONG! Normally I eat every 4 miles. Well I did have my homemade gel at 4 miles, but I didn't have my normal 1/2 PB&J for my 8 miles. I figured, I don't need to eat at 8 miles because we'll almost be done. Only 2 miles left. Ya well lesson learned. During the 8th mile I got really hungry and started feeling the "bonk". My pace slowed and I got really tired. I survived, made it back to my truck and inhaled my banana and chocolate soy milk. I felt better. However, I did start to feel queezy about 20 minutes later and was wiped out the rest of the day. Not cool. Lesson learned! Always, always, always, follow your fueling protocol no matter the distance!!!

Today's run was nice, we started out at Karen's and took it easy running the flat stuff. Loved it. We saw a lot of fellow FTR's out there today, that was nice.

While out on our runs Pam and I have a lot of time to chat and solve problems, wether they be our own or the problems of the world. That's what we do, all trail runners, we talk and solve the problems of the world!

I mentioned to her that I was looking in my backyard this morning and told my husband we were one step up from trailer trash! Kind of harsh, I know, but that's how I felt. I told him we were lazy. He said do you mean "me" and I told him, no, both of us. Neither one of us want to deal with the "unpleasant" stuff of owning a house, a car, a boat, a pool, etc.

He and I have a problem. We're both pack rats! Growing up we were both taught that you don't throw it away if it could potentially be used SOMEDAY! Even if it's broken, you might be able to fix it. Ya, we have a lot of "broken" stuff that might some day get fixed. NOT!

I know we have this problem, but it's hard to break old habits. So anyways, I was talking to Pam about it and she too has some of the same tendancies and we both decided we would work to motivate each other to "clean up" our lives at home. We were very good at motivating each other to train for WTC and we're continuing our motivation for future runs, why not motivate each other to better our lives as well.

I told Pam about a program I used to follow that really helped me when I first moved up here, and the premise is 15 minutes! If you just spend 15 minutes a day on whatever task you have, before you know it, that overwhelming project will be done. She liked it and agreed, we can DO this.

So, feeling very motivated after our 5 mile run and solving the problems of the world talk, I came home and decided that my 15 minutes would be spent on an antique hutch I have in the kitchen that seems to be the catch all for all the junk. I manage to keep our dining room table pretty clear, but because of that, the hutch gets the brunt of the crap.

I tend to throw, kitchen related items there, but hubby likes to stash other stuff there, like the latex gloves we've been using for the hallway walls that we're still "working" on, magazines, flyers, newspapers, etc., etc., etc.

So I set my timer for 15 minutes and I dove in. I was able to toss quite a few newspapers and old flyers (Leslie's Pools mostly), old shelled walnuts, a few "broken" items waiting to be glued back together (not, tossed), but the find of all finds was this large assortment of vegetable seeds and flower seeds. HELLO, when did we get those. Cool just in time for planting that garden we MIGHT get to this season. HHHMMM

So when my timer went off, I stopped. But then I had to wipe down a few things which took me another 4 minutes. So 19 minutes total and this is what I got done!

Not too shabby. I'm more than halfway done with this section of the hutch. 19 minutes did a lot. Tomorrow I will set my timer for 15 minutes and finish the right side!

We all have areas in our lives that we close the door to, shove in a drawer, etc. We all have the "junk" drawer (which by the way ours is the middle drawer and right drawer on this hutch). Is it time for you to clean out that junk drawer, the closet, etc.? Set you timer for 15 minutes and go start, you'll be amazed at what can be accomplished in 15 minutes.

Let me know where you'll spend your 15 minutes today.