One step at a time, 14,000 times

I ran today.

For people who know me as a runner that might solicit a reaction of "of course, that's what runners/triathletes do!" The rub is that I haven't run at all for several months as I have struggled with more fundamental tasks such as breathing and sleeping. I went out on a group run today with the Boston Triathlon Team and hung out for some socializing later. So, this was a significant event and it bears repeating.

I RAN TODAY!!!

One step at a time. I ran 14,000 steps (about seven miles) along the Charles River. Although it was much slower than usual and not as long as normal, it was amazing that I was able to do it and I feel so fortunate to have completed the run and to be part of supportive communities of athletes with both the Boston Triathlon Team and the Cambridge Sports Union (my running club).

I have never taken my running for granted. I have always rejoiced in every run I take, realizing what a gift it was to be able to be doing it. That appreciation and joy is on a whole new level now. I am moving forward with my life and am on a path towards complete recovery and towards continued improvement as an athlete.

I can accomplish much when I try to control little, all the while working hard.

It's so easy to take life for granted

Nothing like not being able to breathe to put life into perspective.

I had a good life going and was on a path of continued improvement and happiness, or so I thought.
A variety of circumstances combined to cause a significant deterioration in my health. I thought it was rapid since I had a huge asthmatic attack in the middle of the night(first time ever for that type of thing) but I now think that it had been building-up over time. That was seriously scary. I'd never had trouble breathing before and here I was being awoken and not being able to get a breath. I thought I was going to die.

After the asthmatic attack, my health deteriorated quickly. I was soon waking-up 3 - 8 times per night for periods of 10 - 60 minutes each time. I was getting less-and-less sleep and I started getting sick frequently. I was sometimes too weak to go to work. Other times, I was disoriented and confused from the lack of sleep. Running and other exercise was out-of-the-question. I had to withdraw from being on the board of several nonprofits as I was barely able to function.

In just a few short months, my life had changed completely. I had lost most of the things that were important to me and that defined my life. I was miserable. I didn't know what was going on and neither did the doctors. They thought it was severe allergies but were puzzled by the extreme nature of the problem. They gave me more and more medications to deal with it but I experienced almost no relief.

It wasn't until I went to OHI that I began to experience significant relief. I know that they provide a unique, and cleansing, environment that probably helped me in multiple ways. I now think that much of my distress was caused when I stopped being vegan. I've now regained my wits and my internal compass so I'm going back to being vegan - more on that in another post though!

SNL parody on media's treatment of Obama and Clinton

You Tube and NBC both removed this footage but the internet gives power to the people - kind of like democracy is supposed to!

My Oh My, OHI

I recently spent two weeks at the Optimum Health Institute in San Diego in a quest to improve my mental, physical and spiritual health. It was a wonderful experience and I wrote a poem about it while I was there.

I came searching for help with a problem
and I found oh so much more

Although I had heard tell of what was done here
I had but an inkling of what lay in store

In just days a transformation began to take root
and hope sprouted from within me

I had arrived but a shell of my former self
and found help here, Yippee!!!

Here wheatgrass is Queen and it goes everywhere
sometimes an enema precedes it, but let's not go there

The people here; I love them!
What a grand lot

The classes were all awesome
even when I wasn't feeling so hot

Can't leave out exercise and stretch
for they helped build the new me

And let's not forget circle
where love and good vibes flow free

Yes, yes...the food. What can I say about that?
Let's say "I loved what it did for me." and we'll just leave it at that!

OHI gave me the space and tools to begin a transformation
I'm sad to be going but I'll leave you with this proclomation

Together we have change
Taken steps towards optimum health

Together we have done
What alone we could not

Let's do our best to take some OHI magic
And spread it from sea to shining sea

Through the power of example
We can show everyone how wonderful our lives can be!

"Dear Mr President" - a letter from a 4 year old

The following letter to the President was dictated by my niece to her mom. It's amazing to see this combination of awareness and action in a child!

Dear Mr. President:

My name is Rachelle and I have a plan to save the
world from global warming. My plan is to stop driving cars, and stop using
water, people who are being violent should go to Montessori schools that only
allow nice people so they can learn how to be nice. And there should be more and
more markets around, and there should be parades that celebrate Presidents' Day.
And you should talk with all the other presidents about my questions and talk
about it with the people who come to hear what the president has to say. You
should stop using the stick pads for diapers - instead use safety pins. We
should put more schools instead of co-ops for little kids. And we should
celebrate for all my messages and I should get the biggest, fattest trophy in
the world. Thank you for receiving my message.

Bye Mr. President.
-Rachelle Evelyn Yombo
4 years old

We shall not regret the size of our email inbox nor wish to shut the door on it.

I use Outlook at home and at work. At home I pull my 3 gmail accounts and my consciousconsuming.org email into Outlook. At work, I pull those same accounts into Outlook, which also handles my work email. This is very efficient - on the face of it. The reality is that, despite checking my email multiple times per day, I had over 2,500 emails in my work inbox and 1,500 emails in my home inbox. That doesn't count the many folders and subfolders with a few thousand more emails. That was 2 days ago.

I now have no email in my inbox at work or home and 3 folders in each account. I cleared them both in only 24 hours. It's a miracle. My email life is now so mangeable. I know a new freedom and a new happiness. I now intuitively know how to handle emails which used to baffle me. The empty inbox is not a theory.

Although I deleted most of the email that had just been sitting around, this is what I did with the rest.
Action Needed folder - these are emails that require less than 5 minutes of action and need to be responded to within the week.
Action Pending folder - these emails will need something in the near future but will require more information or a bigger chunk of time down the road.
Archives folder - email I want to save but don't have any plans for

I also set-up rules so that list serves, newsletters and other announcement emails go directly to archive but are automatically categorized with the apporopriate label(newsletter, list serve, etc) so that I can pull them up and read them in one structured piece of time.

It works, it really does.

Life is good. Email is manageable. Thanks 43 Folders!

Marty's Movie Madness

Wednesday V for Vendetta*
Thursday Live Free or Die Hard
Friday The Simpsons
Saturday Bourne Identity**
Sunday Bourne Identity**
Monday Sicko
*own movie, viewed at home
**rental, viewed at home

I usually watch one movie per month in the theater and two a month at home so the last few days have been quite the movie-watching experience for me! I've mentioned V for Vendetta before, I blogged about it the night I saw it in the theater. It's a great movie and it inspires me everytime I watch it! Live Free or Die Hard is the fourth Die Hard movie and it was mediocre, or maybe decent - but not better. The Simpsons was classic Simpsons but could wait for video release. Bourne Identity is a good movie. I was watching it prior to viewing the 3rd Bourne movie in the theater(Bourne Ultimatum) but I haven't been able to rent the 2nd movie yet(Bourne Superemacy).

And then there's Sicko. I'm not a Michael Moore fan. Although I'm reasonably aligned with much of the content, I generally haven't cared for his delivery and some other aspects of many of his movies. Sicko is different. Sicko delivers solid information. Sicko doesn't hound people. Sicko sticks to the point(except for one out-of-place Iraq reference). Sicko is educational and provided me with a new perspective on our health care system in a similar way that The Corporation helped me better understand corporations. I highly recommend it.

One last thing.... my home movie system is great. I finally turned it up to movie-watching volume and got the surround settings adjusted. It brings movie watching to another level! It's not enough to keep me home but I anticipate watching a movie or two every week depending how busy I am.