Lessons Learned from The Office

Good morning! 

Today is the start of the Portland Rock and Roll Expo and I am so excited!  A lot of the races I do are smaller hometown races (which I love!) so there isn't usually much of an expo.  This Expo should be pretty large and have some fun vendors and SAMPLES!  Katie told me she wants to run the half with me so we should try and get into the same corral.  I just think she wants to use me to make her race pics better, I am on to her!

Last night was the series finale of The Office and since I don't have a DVR I sat down and watched it LIVE last night.  Does anyone else still watch live TV or am I the only one left?  It was a 2 hour block of TV so I really only sat down to watch the final hour the first hour was flash backs.  I remember when The Office premiered and I was hooked, who doesn't love the Jim and Pam love story?!  I really like the way they did the final episode and some of the life lessons the characters shared with the audience.  

Darryl talked to the camera about how he would come to work all these years and couldn't wait to get out of there.  Now he is looking back he realizes that those were the good ol' days, he thinks why can't we realize we are in those days at the time?  Do you find yourself doing that too?  When he said that line it struck a chord with me, I know so many people who live in their past and feel that was the good ol'days.  I personally feel really grateful for the ability to recognize that THIS time right now is my good ol'days.  

I use to be a person who was always living in the past annoyed with how things were and wishing for the future. I never allowed myself to live in the present and appreciate all that was around me.  After I lost Jenny last year it was as if my entire world was turned on its axis.  Jenny was everything to me and my family and always will be, her presence is huge.  I never thought I would lose her because it never dawned on me that I could ever suffer that kind of loss.  Since she has been gone my life has been changed drastically because I now make every effort to live in the moment.  

I can honestly say that right now in this moment I am living my good ol'days.  I am going to look back at this time in my life with pure joy and happiness.  Being able to spend every day with my girls, get up and run in the morning and have my husband home every night is simple and wonderful.  I use to suffer from a lot of anxiety and worry because I was constantly fast forwarding to the future and its scary possibilities.  I couldn't fully feel grateful or fulfilled because of that constant worry about the future and I have finally just let it go.  Yes I still have to make plans and be organized and realistic but I also don't let it consume me anymore and I can step out of it.  I can't help but think Jenny has given me the gift of the present and it is the best gift I've ever been given.  

I have taken this approach with my running also.  I use to feel that if I didn't get fast (relative term) then I wasn't a "real" runner.  Why I felt that way I couldn't tell you because I don't feel that way about any of my running friends, so why was I holding myself to such a standard?  I couldn't enjoy my runs or my races because I wasn't really in them I was too consumed with the future of my running.  Well not anymore!  I am honestly just happy to get out there in the morning and have such a supportive network.  I am literally surrounded by people who love me and who I love right back twice as hard.  

At the Run for Boston last weekend one of the speakers told the crowd that we shouldn't wait for big moments to tell the people we care about how much we love them.  I hope I live in a way so that all of those who I love know how much I love them.  I've always worn my heart on my sleeve but I can get better at expressing just how important my loved ones are to me.  Take time every day to show gratitude to someone because it is those smalls acts that make a big difference in someone's life.  We are all a work in progress in so many areas but don't let it take away from the RIGHT NOW!  Enjoy this moment you are in.  

Pam's final words on The Office last night were simple but exact: 

There's a lot of beauty in ordinary things, isn't that the point?

Did you watch The Office?  

Have you ever ran a Rock and Roll race, any advice? 

What are you grateful for right now in this moment?!  

- Watching the girls build "a house" on my couch and hear them make plans for it