Marathon Daze - Obsessing Mindfully

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. ~George S. Patton

One of the main tenets behind MindfulEats is moderation. Moderation in what you eat and drink, and moderation in your habits. 

However, I am spending six weeks obsessed with the marathon. I'm training for NYC, and the countdown has started. So now I'm either running or worrying about not running. When I'm not stressing about training, I worry about staying healthy, how painful the race will be, and if I'll have a meltdown during the race, in addition to a whole slew of other running-related issues. 

I have no doubt that I'm not going to win (or even be in the top 10,000), but I'd like to do well for me. Last year I got hit with a huge wave of nausea at mile 16 which never let up, and it killed my performance. So now I have to run it again this year.  

The marathon obsession is taking a big toll in other areas of my life. When I trained for it last year, I became very resentful of the time it took. I often had to skip out on fun evenings so I could get up early to go for a run. (Right now it's Saturday evening, and I'm staying in so I can get up to run 20 miles at 7.) It seemed unfair and I whined a lot about it, but then a wise friend asked me if I wanted to go through life without ever sacrificing to accomplish anything. I paraphrase poorly, but you get the gist.

Mindful obsessions and passions are what life is about, as long as they are healthy.

What to do - Be Mindful About Your Obsessions

1. Is your obsession hurting you or anyone else?
2. Does your obsession prevent you from enjoying other priorities? (Can you still balance other people and fun things?)
3. Are you shirking your responsibilities for your obsession? (e.g. work, kids, exercise, cleaning, your health, etc.)
4. Is your obsession the only thing you talk about?
5. Is there a finite time box for your obsession - when will it be over? If not, figure out how to work it into the rest of your life without having it take over.

If you answer yes to any of the first 4 questions, your obsession is unhealthy. Figure out what you need to do to make it work. Talk to a trusted confidante or a professional.

As for me, I can't wait until November 1. There's a huge list of things I've been waiting to do:

1. Have a party  
2. Go on vacation
3. Clean my apartment
4. Get a hair cut
5. Go to the dry cleaner
6. Revamp MindfulEats
7. Write overdue letters
8. Catch up on the Economist
9. Find another obsession

What are you obsessed with? Another obsession I have is the book I'm reading: The Blind Side by Michael Lewis. I can't stop reading it and don't want it to end. It's inspiring, thought-provoking and fun.

What I ate: 1 hard boiled egg, 1 latte, 1 banana, goat cheese, 10 macadamia nuts, pear cider, dried mango slices, seaweed rice ball, miso soup + tofu + seaweed, 1 clementine, rotisserie chicken, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's Siciliana + parmesan cheese + spinach, GT's Kombucha, hot chocolate, water

Exercise: jogged 4 miles, 30 minutes lifting, 70 min. yoga