Balancing work/weddings/running/fundraising/relaxation: what gives?

   I can honestly say that the theme for my life for the past 5 months has been "stress". I know, I know, it is really unhealthy to be stressed all the time and not allow downtime for yourself and relaxation....but, I haven't had the time to figure out how to add those two into my life. Though our wedding is still 158 days away, we are definitely in the thick of it all right now. Lately, I have been trying to figure out the music situation for the ceremony. Let's just say that professional musicians (especially the ones that you are friends with) have a really hard time with follow through and leave it at that. Also, we are trying to get things organized to figure out the events on the day of the wedding so that we can make a timeline and devise a plan to the professionals that we have to hire. As much as I love that email exists, it certainly makes planning more challenging because there is an insane amount of waiting that goes with it.

  Amidst the planning for the wedding, I've been trying to build up my voice studio as well. I have found that I could fit just a few more students into my schedule and still be able to do the other things that I like to do, so I'm trying to get the word out there a little more through advertising online and with flyer's. Also, the spring is the 'other' busy season for singing aside from Christmas, so I've had a few extra commitments there to deal with.

 The difficult part of maintaining a life as a professional musician, besides making enough money, is trying to find time to spend with the people that you love and attend the parties/events that they are having. It always seems like they collide with each other. One case in my current situation is that one of my best friends from childhood is getting married in May. I am a bridesmaid in her wedding and have been working on my part with that title. I am so regretful that, instead of attending her bachelorette party, I have to sing somewhere.

 Just reading this, I fully admit to myself that I am insane to have taken on marathon training and fundraising during this time. I think I have finally reached the point in my life where I can officially say, "I am not lazy". A trait that was assigned to me while younger, and perhaps one of the reasons that I fight so hard to be constantly busy and perfect, is now irrelevant to my personality. Other things that I was called as a young child that are no longer relevant in my life are: messy, quiet, abrupt, and awkward. While there may be times that those things creep back into my consciousness, I have worked very hard and managed to let go of them.

  Anyway, I think the combination of the workout schedule/fundraising $2,000 with emails, facebook, letters and fundraisers/planning a recital/singing gigs/maintaining a private voice studio/looking for an additional job/planning a wedding/being an attendant in a wedding/trying to build my relationship with Alec/managing gull bladder disease and running injuries/daily house, dog, and car maintenance/errands/my church job/ have driven me almost absolutely to the edge of sanity quite a few times in the past month. I am just infinitely grateful that I have friends and family who support me in my ventures, and support the Crohn's and Colitis foundation with their donations! The task of raising another $800 seems scary and unrealistic, but I know that if I am persistent I can do it. Or at least I can convince myself that it eventually will come through.

  This past weekend, we ran at the Ma&Pa trail in Fallston. While it was a nice trail for the 4 mile run, I must say that it wasn't my favorite for 7 miles. It probably doesn't help that it was only 32 degrees again when we arrives and that the coaches were 30 minutes late with announcements as well! I started off behind everyone because I was having some technical issues with my antique ipod (the screen broke so I can't see what I am doing and have to rely primarily on listening to the clicks to get to "Shuffle Songs"), and so I started with a slow pace until I could get it playing right.

  After a few minutes, I caught up with everyone and even passed a big group of people. I suppose it helps that at the beginning of the trail, the hill goes straight down :) So, I set my pace right around the end of mile one, and only managed to pass 2 more people maintaining around an 11:30 minute mile. To get back to the reasoning behind me saying that it isn't my favorite trail... Around mile 1.5 you come to a pond, and from that point almost to the turnaround there is really no consistency in the terrain. The hills are very steep and the ground is constantly changing from gravel-  pavement- torn-up pavement- mud. And, to add to the mix, some of you may have seen in the last post that I tweaked my ankle at the NCR trail last week. Well, the combination of uneven terrain+irritated ankle= annoying run.

  I made it to the halfway point and had a Gu that I brought with me. I was relieved that I decided to take one with me, because the coaches brought some with them and they all had caffeine in them. Caffeine is something that I have to avoid in my life because not only is it bad for gull bladder disease, and reflux,  but it also makes my anxiety go haywire. So, if you ever see me at Starbucks, you can rest assured that I am drinking an iced decaf. Man, I am tangent happy today, huh? This is where I'm supposed to insert one of those witty "let's go ride bikes" comments that everyone loves to post on their facebook.

  After the halfway point, I did get an energy boost from the Gu and I would say that I had a very strong finish to the very end. The most challenging part of the entire run was trying to get through the ankle pain while still keeping my normal gait AND making it up the last hill. I'm pretty sure there were quite a few times on that last hill when I came close to slowing down to a very very slow jog. But, I kept looking forward and thinking about how good it would feel if I finished strong and I added one last little sprint to the very end.

  When it was all over, I immediately felt that my ankle had worsened from it's prior state and the first thought that came to mind was that I was going to have to take more time off due to an injury. However, when one of the coaches completed her run, I asked her what she would do and she suggested buying a slip on ankle brace for support and wearing for a few days until it felt better. That and icing it. So, here I am with my ankle propped up and on ice writing you this blog. It is a really great feeling knowing that I am almost caught up with my daily runs. Ideally, I will get another blog written in the next few days and be able to start doing shorter entries about the day-to-day. That really was my initial intention in writing this....

Next up: Am I losing weight?/Running on ankles/Vibrams/Schedule for June 3-4th/the most recent runs....

XO