Happy

I recently came across the #100happydays project. I know I'm a little late to the game, but it's never too late to try to be happier. The gist of the project is this: you submit a photo to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or other social media feed with the tag #100happydays. The photo is supposed to represent something that made you happy that day. It can be anything. The creators of the challenge believe the more you take notice of the things that make you happy, the happier you'll be. Sounds like common sense, right? Well, oftentimes we think we're too busy to stop and and take notice of the random beauty of our lives. And taking part in this project will force you to do so. Supposedly you can receive a photo book of your 100 photos to remind you of what made you happy but I'm not entirely sure how that works.

I'll be posting my photos through my Twitter account. You can follow along daily. I'll also post them here in weekly blogs.

Without further ado, here are the first 10 days of my #100happydays. The subject matter shouldn't be surprising :)

Day 1
4/5/14

I completed my first West Coast/Mountain ultra marathon: the Oriflamme 50K. It was probably the hardest race I've ever done. We started in the mountains, about 5000 elevation. It was sleeting at the start. We descended through the Oriflamme Canyon into the Borrego desert, about 10 miles, and then ran about 5 miles out and back. Then we ascended back into the canyon and up to the mountains. Elevation gain of about 4700 feet. It was rocky and insane but so very much fun.

Day 2
4/6/14

The half-way point for the 11-mile run for my half marathon group was the Dog Beach in Del Mar. It's pretty much impossible not to be happy when at Dog Beach.

Day 3
4/7/14

We were supposed to go out and do lots of things on this Monday but we stayed in and cuddled instead :)

Day 4
4/8/14

Keller had just woken up and came downstairs to start his day. Yogi was laying on the floor next to him. It was just a simple moment, but really sweet to see my boy and his dog.

Day 5
4/9/14

The girls absolutely love taking pictures of themselves and then looking at them. I can't say I blame them. They're pretty cute :)

Day 6
4/10/14

There were a couple of things that made me happy today. Granted there are several things that make me happy and I'm only supposed to choose one. But I couldn't choose today. I had the best strawberries with my breakfast. They're from my CSA, Be Wish Ranch. Really. THE best strawberries.

This is an empty bag of Marcona almonds from Trader Joe's. A happier picture would have been a full, unopened bag but they don't last long around me. This is such a yummy snack. I am so glad my BFF Lynne introduced them to me.

Day 7
4/11/14

A couple of friends told me about this mom and pop health food store in Oceanside, Cream of the Crop. I knew it would be good, but I'm really excited to have found this gem. I would much rather support a small grocer than the big guys like Whole Foods. The prices are more reasonable and they're a local, small business. Win-win for everyone.

Day 8
4/12/14

Just a silly Saturday morning with the family :) The look on Brenna's face as she watches John swing Ellen is just priceless to me.

Had to have two photos today. We went to Native Foods Cafe to try their avocado crunch wrap with sweet potato fries. It was yummy goodness and worthy of a #100happydays.

Day 9
4/13/14

There are a bunch of photos for today. Some girlfriends and I had a total spa day. It was amazing. I have never done this before and figured we deserved a treat and a day to spend together and relax. We went to La Costa resort and they treated us like queens. Really, a day I won't soon forget. Great day with great friends.

Our beautiful lunch table.

Cheers! Delicious bellinis!

Day 10
4/14/14

When we found out we were having girls, a friend of mine said I'd spend all my money on hair ties. I didn't really know what she meant and I certainly didn't believe her. Well, 3 years later and we're spending all our money on hair ties. Here, Brenna is using them as her bracelets.

I just had to include this photo of the girls adoring a snail in the driveway. They thought it was so cute. It kind of was.

Best Friend

As many of you know, I am a person of obsessions. I glom onto something and literally become obsessed with it and think, eat, sleep, dream about this one particular thing. I have written about my various obsessions before. They are numerous and varied, encompassing many ranges of interests. Just thinking about them all makes me laugh.

Anyway, my current obsession is Twitter. I have been a Tweeter or a Tweep for a long time. I have two personas: Coach_Jenn which is generally where I discuss running-related issues and promote my articles and other items of interest to other runners and endurance athletes. For those of you that go to my actual blog page (jennifergill.blogspot.com), you can read my Coach_Jenn tweets. My other persona is simply JennGill where I'm, well, me. I haven't tweeted (i.e. posted) in a while as JennGill because I always was Coach_Jenn. And it's confusing. But over the weekend, I was sick with a yucky stomach ailment (to be polite) and I went to my JennGill page on Twitter to see what was going on. I decided to follow all celebrities using my JennGill persona. You'd be amazed at how many celebrities there are on Twitter. I now know a lot of what these famous people are doing throughout the day and I have to say it's quite fascinating. For example:

• Mark Hoppas (Blink-182 band member) does not sleep well and wakes up very early in the morning.
• Margaret Cho (comedian) really really loves animals and has a dog named Ralph whom she took to the vet this morning to have a lump looked at (it's nothing).
• Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster) had a business meeting this morning and asked what to wear: jeans or a dress (I responded to her and told her to wear a nice, but not-too-nice, dress).
• MC Hammer (sort of rapper, wearer of very baggy pants) had a birthday yesterday.
• Perez Hilton (gossip monger) loves Cadbury Eggs (as do I).
• Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore are currently in the South of France (how horrible for them).
• P.Diddy calls himself Ptwitty (ha!).
• Snoop Dog only "tweezles" after 11 AM.
• Rainn Wilson (Dwight from The Office) thinks he's developing man boobs. And they are an A cup.

You get the idea. I also follow Lance Armstrong who tweets A LOT. He's more obsessed with it than anyone, and clearly admits it. For instance, he just tweeted that he's picking up his kids from school at the moment. Such regular people!!

I highly recommend you get on the Twitter bandwagon. It's so much fun. If you do, be sure to follow me (JennGill for randomness and Coach_Jenn for running stuff)!

By the way, today's song title chosen for my blog post title is by a band named Tweet. Get the connection? Good...

Happy Twittering!

I Want to Break Free

I have not even felt like writing in my blog. Isn't that awful? I am usually never at a loss for words. But things have been hard and the one thing that has been making me the most stressed I won't talk about here. Let's just say I'm REALLY looking forward to the short work week.

So, let's talk about the weekend instead. Friday night, the girls got together over at Mary's. We hadn't all been together in quite some time. It was fun, as always.

Saturday morning started with me coaching my marathon/half marathon group. Because it's a large group, and they all run at different paces, I often ride my bike along side them. Well, that was the plan this Saturday. I started off and my hands and feet were frozen in a matter of minutes. I almost fell off a number of times because I couldn't feel my brakes. While it was a little scary for me at the time, I'm sure I was quite the sight to see me floundering around on my bike. I had my thickest gloves and socks on, so I don't think there was anything more I could do. I had to go back to my car and follow everyone around in my car. It was comical to say the least. I will have to find another solution there.

Later in the day, we went over to Eric and Isa's for an early Thanksgiving. They are traveling down to FL for the holiday, so they wanted to have friends over for an early feast. And what a feast it was. We ate like there was no tomorrow. It was a fun night with all the food, wine & champagne, and card games and Wii. Wii is a very interesting thing. I kind of really want one because it's a lot of fun, but I know that I'd play all the time and nothing would ever get done. You know, like me and Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc.

Sunday I met with a client in the morning. He's such a nice guy and he's come such a long way in his running. Then the rest of the day was lazy. Well, I shouldn't say lazy, because I spent most of the day doing laundry, folding it and putting it away. And I didn't even finish. But I definitely made a dent.

And now it's Monday. Yahoo. But what's funny is that Keller is starting pee wee soccer tonight. It should be interesting because we were talking about it yesterday and he said he doesn't want to play soccer. So, this should be fun. At least we can get a refund if he doesn't like it! And I have my 8K group tonight and that should be fun. Lately, my groups are the only things I look forward to.

Crazy

I think I'm crazy. It's been about 40 hours since my marathon ended and I'm already thinking about what crazy ass thing I can do next. Though, I'm not talking about a race this time. I'm taking the 100 push-up challenge!

This six-week program was developed by this cool dude that is kind of a machine. The guy runs, bikes, swims, does 100 push ups and will basically kick your behind if you need him to. I was "introduced" to him on Twitter and have been trying to keep up with his blog. He's an interesting fellow.

So, now that my lower half is broken from my marathon, it's time to refocus and do something that will keep me motivated. While I have my beloved yoga, I need something I can hoot and holler while doing. Yoga just isn't a hooting and hollering kind of practice. I have always been kind of lacking in the upper body strength department. Oh, I try. I do all sorts of crazy things to try and build up my strength. Crazy arm balances and plank position for days. But I think I need a more powerful intervention. We'll see if this does the trick. If not, well then, nothing will.

I did the initial test, which will determine my actual training plan. I did 9 push ups before I couldn't lift my body any more. That's not so bad, right? I will try to post my progress (or lack thereof) each of my training days. I'm a little nervous. But what the hay!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I have about an hour to get ready and get out the door. And, of course, I'm putzing around on the computer. Now I think I know why I'm late for everything. It's called Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc. Too much social networking.

I'm feeling a bit less stressed. I'm done with work for the week. And while I can check my email and stuff, I'm off duty. I totally overloaded my editor before I left, so he'll have stuff to do while I'm away (as if he didn't already). So, that's good. Sometimes it feels really good when you're really productive. I knocked so much off my to-do list. There was only one item I wasn't able to finish and that can be done on Tuesday. Woo hoo!

Keller is so excited about going to Chicago. He told all his friends and teacher at school. John got him a little camera so he could take his own pictures. He'll have the window seat on the plane and he'll be in heaven. He has a number of obsessions (wonder where he gets that from) and the sun and clouds and moon and stars are all one of them. So, he'll be ecstatic being in the sky and so close to the sun. But we borrowed Mary's portable DVD player to be on the safe side.

As far as the race goes, it is what it is. I've trained. I've prepared. I've packed for every situation. You can't cram for a race. You either have the miles or you don't. I think I have them. I certainly have more than what I did for NYC Marathon last year, and Frederick earlier this year. So, here's hoping all goes well.

I'll try to post throughout the weekend. But I'll definitely be back on Monday afternoon (or Tuesday morning).

Have a great weekend everyone!