Week 5 was the toughest week yet on this Challenge – on any of the Challenges I have participated in, really. I have used all my mulligans. I have not recorded my score for two days. I got an email encouraging me to stay in the game. I did not eat any Halloween candy, but still lost points. I took two full days off of working out. I am not sure why my best intentions and will took a nose dive this week other than I am tired. I am tired and every decision – good or bad – seems heavy. So I reach the last week at a decision point.

5 Things I Learned Week 5 of the Whole Life Challenge

Death By Weekend

Weekends are rough. Weekends are when I notice myself falling into the “whatever goes” abyss. I know consistency is key to habit forming and progress takes time, but I continually want to throw up my hands, take a seat and have a glass of wine. Throwing it all away on the weekend is the antithesis of the Whole Life lesson of small steps, daily, is the game.

Finding calm in a storm is a choice

The last few months have been hard to keep my center. From the political chaos that can rattle my brain, to the fires that churn and burn inside when I am on my yoga mat, to my scattered thoughts in bubble bath and tears, my mind has stayed pretty noisy. The Challenge has forced me to consider my options for finding calm.

My Big Goals are not that far away

I have two big races scheduled for beginning of 2019. The Miami Half in January, and the Kentucky Derby Mini-marathon in April. Between now and then I have a lot of work to do. I will treat those goals seriously not only during this last push of the current Challenge, but every day going forward.

I don’t want to have to write that I quit

I got an email from Challenge organizers asking me to not quit the Challenge. I had used my Mulligans (the 3 days you are forgiven for not recording your daily Challenge score in the system) and had not recorded my daily score for two days. Because of that, I got an invitation to encourage me to continue. I thought for about ten seconds and resolved to continue. I thought about what makes me continue to try. I thought about why I just don’t drop out. Despite the struggle, I will not quit.

Thoughts while running on Sand

On Saturday I finished a 5k on a mostly soft sand course. (If you have ever run on sand, you know how much fun that is.) About a mile in, my feet were hurting, my legs were heavy and cramped, and my head was cussing my heart out.  I had forgotten my headphones and Garmin. I decided I want to stop fighting and enjoy the race. I started to walk. The course ran alongside the ocean and it was possible to hear the waves crash if you listened closely. I started walking with an injured high school cross country runner who had hurt her knee when she crashed training on hurdles. We talked and walked. She pointed out the wild flowers. She is graduating in June and leaving to go to college in Madrid. I had studied in Spain when I was in high school. She was from South Florida. South Florida is home to her. I just celebrated three years living here. South Florida is not really home to me. We walked steadily and talked about the things there are to love about being here. (I seem to always be searching for reasons to love it here.) As we walked, I realized what a gift it was that I embraced the moment and was present to the sand, the waves, the flowers, and a new friend.