100 Happy Days

Because I'm HAPPY!!!!

Whew that was fun!  I think this was playing at the finish line (or somewhere) of the New Bedford Half Marathon last weekend.  I thought it was ironic at the time, but it's been stuck in my head ever since (which makes a nice change from Frozen music).  I'm going with it.

Buoyed by my resolution against negativity, I also took the advice of my wonderfully wise PT and friend Laura and signed up for the 100 Days of Happiness Challenge.  It's simple - for 100 days you take just five minutes to appreciate and enjoy something that makes you happy.  Then ideally you take a picture of it and share it via whatever social media floats your boat.  100 days of being annoying cheerful to your friends....

But in all seriousness, it is a great idea.  When I was a kid, I also had a tendency to be pretty negative.  Not remember the good stuff.  Which, as a parent is deeply annoying when you spend all day playing with your kid and doing nice things for them only to have them throw a temper tantrum at bedtime.  So my mother started a tradition of making me tell her three nice things that happened to me during the day.  (We have also employed this parenting strategy with my daughter, who is a copy of me in all things).

When you have to deliberately find something to be happy about each day, it makes you appreciate your life more.  Because, let's face it - most of life is craziness sandwiched between responsibilities and more responsibilities.  If you don't look for them, it's easy to miss the small things that are most important.  Also by tagging all your photos, you are able to look back over the days and months and get a picture of just how nice a life you really have.  Even on days that aren't so great.  Even on Mondays <<cough>>.

This weekend kicked off my 100 Days.  It was a pretty amazing weekend.

Saturday morning the kids and I packed up early and headed to the gym.  Although my Total Immersion class is now over, I am fond of our Saturday schedule.  Plus Hummingbird is starting TI at the same time, so I wanted to be in the pool to make faces at her (which she appreciated).  I had a really nice, comfortable swim set of about 1300 meters.  It was slightly abbreviated due to child watch difficulties, but that's ok.  I got to take my class picture with Gil, and received a TI swim cap as my finishing prize.  Also bumped into (almost literally) Laura from A Fat Girl's Ironman Journey, which is the first time we've met in the real world versus online.  Yay!

Me and Gil.

Hummingbird also hopped out of the pool long enough to give me another present out of the blue - Shwings!!

All Shwinged out!

I'm not sure what possessed her, but it was really sweet.  I've wanted these for a while, just because I think they are cute.  She told me that they would help me run faster.  I guess she knew I needed a confidence boost.  I felt so very lucky to have good friends.  It takes a village to raise a triathlete.

I followed the swim set up with a spin class - something I have not done in literally months.  I had forgotten how much fun they could be!

Total mileage for Saturday: BRICK Swim 1300 meters, Spin 22.1 miles in 53:46

In the afternoon we took our kids to a local historical museum and enjoyed the temps in the 50s and the warm(ish) sunshine.  It was a perfect day.

On our run.  There's a instrument business
the next town over.
Love me some French horn!

 Sunday was cold again, and I did NOT feel like running.  Happily (there's that word!) Sheriff has told me that I can keep my long runs close to the Oly distance (6 miles) from now on.  No need for epic shenanigans in the cold for hours at a time.  I was still in bed when Hummingbird texted that she was on her way.  Shoot!  Quick breakfast and throwing on my not-yet-clean running tights and we were off!  We did a nice, slow 6ish mile loop from my house.  My hips were still just a little tight, but overall I felt really great.  So relieved to be feeling strong and well again after my tough run a few days prior.  We even ran negative splits with the last 2 miles in the 9:00s for pacing!

Total mileage for Sunday: 6.2 in 1:04:03 plus some good yoga

After lunch it was back to the Y with the kids for their swim session.  Humongous mommy brag alert:

Both kids now swim with no floaties or bubbles.

I was thrilled.  Getting my girl into the water has been a pretty big deal - she has a lot of fear to work through.  It's just a great milestone for them both.  I rewarded them with pizza and hitting the Lowe's to pick out seeds for their garden this year.

Helpers.

We rounded out the weekend with some new recipes - broccoli rabe from our organic vegetable share, and maple white chocolate brownies in honor of our visit to Maple Days at the historical museum.  One upside to scaling back the cake business is that I have the energy and inclination to bake for the family.  The kids were so happy when I answered Yes! to their question of "is that for us?" instead of telling them the treats were for customers....

Maple brownies

So now it's Monday.  I have the kids cold, so perhaps I should be grateful for modern medicine:

Or perhaps I will be grateful when I get to go home and curl up again with this one:

Cuddle me!

There is a lot to be happy and grateful for.  Even on Mondays.  Let's hear it for the next 97 days and me keeping this streak alive!!

What are you happy about today?