Welcome back to my journey to 13.1 miles… the countdown has begun. We’re now T minus ten days til the Rock n Roll Half Marathon!
Today’s post isn’t going to be quite as technical as past posts, with details about my training and gear, etc., but rather a post that talks about what running can do for your psyche, your mind, your soul.
Today is the twelfth anniversary of my mom’s death; to say my heart is heavy is certainly an understatement. And while I feel the void of this loss many times throughout the year, the anniversary date always gets to me. Memories of that day rise up like a phoenix from the ashes to remind me once again of the pain of her slipping away. I know many of you are thinking… geez. It’s been twelve years. Isn’t it time to get over it?
No, it’s not.
Losing my mom is something I’ll never get over.
Living through this altered the timeline of my life and changed my reality. So no, I can’t get over it because it changed the very core of my being.
And today as I drove home from work, crying as I sang along with a sad song and feeling the lump form in my throat… I knew what I needed: a good run.
So I ran…
and ran…
and ran… all the while thinking of the many memories I have of my mom, and then when my legs could carry me no further and my mind was clear, I stopped.
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
Tears dried… lump in throat gone…
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
One step, one mile, one day, one year at a time.
This past summer, I took on a commissioned furniture restoration that would later be known as: "the coffee table project from hell”. This evening, three months after I brought the piece to my garage workspace, the finished project made its way back home…
Whew. Glad that is over.
I thought I’d share my experience with you in case you’re thinking of picking up some commissioned work for a little extra moolah, considering what I learned in this process.
Mind you, this was not my first furniture rodeo. I’ve redone quite a bit of furniture over the last year or so… but I don’t know that I was quite ready to take on a project of this magnitude. I’ll start by saying this is not your ordinary coffee table. It’s a very large piece, measuring almost five feet in length with a beautiful parquet top (translated: wood grain in many different directions). Oy.
I wayyyyyy underbid this project, both in terms of cost and time. I had to apply four coats of stripper to completely remove years and layers of varnish, and it took a lot of scrubbing to get everything out of those grooves. All of the edging had to be hand-sanded because the curves of the piece would have been ruined by an orbital sander. And all of that pretty parquet meant a lot of time applying stain to the varying directions of wood grain.
I also waaaaaaaay underestimated the amount of time it would take to complete this project, which lead to not only a frustrated customer, but a frustrated customer’s sister-in-law. Besides this being a bigger project than I anticipated, I also started on it during the hottest part of the summer and when you live in Texas and your workshop is your 120 degree garage, it’s next to impossible to work on this without having a heat stroke. Luckily, the customer was understanding, but it set me back about a month and a half. Unluckily, aforementioned relative did not know the project was delayed and gave me a nice “talking-to” via Facebook messaging. *sigh*
After I got my butt chewed about the time delay, I made sure to remind said butt-chewer that I’m a full-time working mom with obligations to my family and children and church and that furniture restoration was not my full-time job, but rather a side business, so turnaround is not quick. I should have reminded myself of this too, because there are sometimes 4-5 days in a row that my husband is gone working and I’m too exhausted at the end of the day to work on furniture (in my Africa-like garage). When a piece is commissioned, there’s a deadline, whereas a piece I pick up, redo, and then sell has no set date to be completed. Boy, is the difference amazing.
Although this project did turn out to be somewhat of a nightmare, the bottom line is I do love restoring furniture. It was painstaking but also gratifying to take this tired, worn coffee table through the stages of restoration. Removing years of old finish and revealing the beautiful underlying wood… sanding the wood smooth… applying stain and removing until the perfect color emerges… and finally adding the protective glossy coat until smooth as glass… each step of the process is oddly fulfilling to a quirky gal like me.
While I can’t say that I’ll take on a wood furniture restoration project any time soon… I also can’t rule it out completely. You just never know when I might get the itch to do this again.
Until then… I’ll rest easier knowing the coffee table is no longer in my possession.
Welcome back to 13.1 Thursdays! I totally forgot to post last week – I was at home with a case of pinkeye and it threw my game off a little bit.
This past week was exciting because I achieved a personal record for length of run… NINE miles! Woohoo! Considering I ran the first 3.5 in the rain (thanks to an earlier than forecasted rain cloud) and ran the rest of it in sopping wet shoes, it was quite an accomplishment for me.
I find these long runs are so good for my running confidence. I don’t know if it’s just me, but the thought of running 13.1 miles is terrifying… what if I crash and burn? What if I don’t finish? What if??? Now that I know I can at least run nine miles, well over half of the race distance, I’m not as scared anymore. Maybe I can do this and survive!
I’m planning on 8-10 this weekend – we’ll see just how far I decide to go. Another mom and I are going to start trading out childcare so each of us can exercise – this is a godsend as I’ve had trouble getting my long runs in on weekends when my husband is working. Now there’s no excuse!
Wednesday: Three miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest (Date Night won out over running)
Saturday: Rest (for shame!)
Sunday: Nine miles!!!
Monday: Rest (late gymnastics night)
Tuesday: Rest (I suck)
Wednesday: Four Miles
Thursday: Cross Train
Lots of rest days so not a very balanced training week, but I’m working on getting back on track.
Neck Cooler from Comfy Creations – a friend had one of these and swore by it, so I bought one and I have to agree. I’m one of those hot, red-faced, sweaty runners… not a Rachel runner, if you’re a Friends aficionado. This neck cooler helps turn down the heat and at a price of $8.95, it’s a steal.
Diamonds: Rihanna
Die Young: Kesha
Don’t Wake Me Up: Chris Brown
It feels good to be back in my routine again for running… now just gotta hang in there.
24 days to 13.1!
