Liza Howard

Liza Howard

Liza Howard is a long-time is a longtime ultrarunner who lives in San Antonio, Texas. She teaches for NOLS Wilderness Medicine, coaches, directs the non-profit Band of Runners, and drives her kids around in a minivan.

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Resolutions 2011: March update

LizaLiza

Asa almost ascended bodily into heaven yesterday.

This is the only picture in which his mouth is not hanging open in awe.  We walked over to Station 34 hoping to take a quick, up-close look at their engine and ladder truck.  Instead, we were given an impromptu 30 minute tour — hoses, Hurst tools, axes, kitchen… the whole nine yards.  The word hero is overused and misused, but I believe giving a 3 year-old admirer a detailed tour of your fire station on a Saturday morning is part of the definition.  Station 34 will be drowning in thank you cookies this week.

OK, the Happiness Resolution Update.  Here’s the original (wildly entertaining) post for those of you who are not up on the sports bra challenge, Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project and my New Year’s Resolutions magnum opus.

Ms. Rubin started out in January with a focus on feeling more energetic.  Her rationale was that more energy would help her accomplish her other resolutions.  I decided this was a great place to start for me too because I usually feel like I’ve been run over by a Mack truck at some point during the day.  In February I focused on friendship.  Right, and I told you all about these resolutions for some accountability.

So February (and some of March) in review:

1.Plan for 8 hours of sleep a night with a weekly schedule.

Um, I did not write out a plan in February.  Back to the drawing board.  I’m just going to go ahead and post the hours on the blog daily.  ( I imagine this will make it almost impossible for  you to wait to read the next day’s post.)  More than happiness, I need eight hours of sleep if I’m going train hard.  Rubin makes a nice point about sleep in a recent post. “You forget how far off your best you are” when you’re sleep deprived.

2. Swear off food that makes me feel lethargic.  (Goodbye tortilla chips and alcohol.)

and

3. Swear off eating habits that leave me feeling lethargic or grumpy.  (Goodbye caffeine crashes.  Only one cup of caffeine in the morning.  And goodbye meals fit for a giant.)

Success.  Posting the food log daily has been wildly helpful.  Thanks.

4.  Drink some water on the hour.  (I hate drinking water.  I’m chronically dehydrated.  This is dumb.)

I’m modifying this resolution.  It’s just too ambitious for a dedicated water-hater.  Instead I’ve been filling up four water bottles in the morning and setting them on the counter.

(How’s that for product placement?)  They have to be gone by the end of the day.  So far, so good.  (Though there has been some ugly and useless guzzling at the end of a few days.)  And, of course, I run a lot better when I’m hydrated.

5.  Maintain my current weight.  (Like most everyone, I gain weight and then spend energy losing it again and again — and again.  It tires me out.  It tires the people around me out.  I’m taking the year off.  This will be a hard habit to break, so, to help myself, I told Eliot that 2011 was the “Year of the Exposed Belly.” Time to invest in some pretty sports bras.

Yeah, I did well with this one.  I highly recommend the sports bra challenge if you’re vain — and the public food log.

6. Write one letter a week to either K., Mom K., or K.

Done and done and done.  Twice.

So more energy as a result of all the January resolutions?  Yes and no.  I don’t feel more peppy or animated or vivacious day-to-day.  But I do feel like I have more reserves to draw on to prevent melancholy.  I credit the balanced food intake more than anything.

Greater happiness?  Not from the January resolutions.  But keeping in touch with my three friends/mentors has provided many moments of happiness throughout the month.

Which brings us to March.  Money and happiness.  More on that tomorrow though.  I hear the little guy stirring and I’ve got to hide his morning vitamin.  What, no Vitamin Fairy in your house?

Food log:

Comments 11
  • marianne
    Posted on

    marianne marianne

    Reply Author

    love your successes! congrats!


    • lizahoward
      Posted on

      lizahoward lizahoward

      Reply Author

      Thanks Marianne! ‘A’ for effort anyway.


  • Tika
    Posted on

    Tika Tika

    Reply Author

    Is it a gummy vitamin fairy?


    • lizahoward
      Posted on

      lizahoward lizahoward

      Reply Author

      No, chewable — which means the fairy has to his/her work in the morning before Asa gets up, or the vitamin kinds of melts with the humidity. Yuck. Eliot finds the whole thing kind of stressful.


  • Paige T.
    Posted on

    Paige T. Paige T.

    Reply Author

    Ooo, a vitamin fairy, what fun! 🙂 My dad always lined us up in the morning (I’m one of 8 kids) and would have us recite either the alphabet, the name of the president on the $1, $5, $10, etc. bill, or some other factoid depending on our age at the time, before we could have our tasty chewable vitamin. And now that I’m re-reading that, I’m noticing how weird that must sound, heh! But it was totally noram for us growing up 🙂

    Great job on the resolutions, and I love your water idea. I guzzle a water bottle like one of those as soon as I get up in the morning, then drink three more Nalgene bottles’ worth of water throughout the day. Been doing that since Jan. 1 and it’s made a huge difference in all things, so keep at it!

    The fireman picture is adorable, BTW!


    • lizahoward
      Posted on

      lizahoward lizahoward

      Reply Author

      Your dad sounds great. I’ve got this book with 365 “daily lessons from the seven fields of knowledge” that I’m trying to make 3 year-old appropriate. Joyce’s Ulysses was a bit hard this morning, so we skipped right to pictures of cyclops (cyclopi) from the Odyssey on the computer. And good job on the water to you!


  • Yukun
    Posted on

    Yukun Yukun

    Reply Author

    I thought caffeine good for delay running “pain” on legs/body, based on RW’ article. Isn’t it?


  • Trimble
    Posted on

    Trimble Trimble

    Reply Author

    I love hearing about you Liza. Inspiring me on the water.
    BTW: I think Asa should have his own blog… I’m just sayin’…


    • lizahoward
      Posted on

      lizahoward lizahoward

      Reply Author

      I don’t think children should blog until they’re four. 😉
      He’s too busy standing on the small ladder we have in the backyard spraying the garden hose at imaginary fires to spend time figuring out the difference between Rs and Ks anyway. (They both look like they’re kicking something, but only one is wearing a hat…)


  • Brent Godfrey
    Posted on

    Brent Godfrey Brent Godfrey

    Reply Author

    Trips to the local firehouse are the gateway drug…

    If you let it become a routine part of his childhood, he might end up squandering (investing!) his Ivy League education in a life in the fire service and being one of those bizarre people that actually becomes the thing he dreamed about when he was little kid.

    In other news, I just paid down the balance of my Alaska IC and my WUMP and bought loads of books from the IC reading list and I am BEYOND thrilled!

    I’ll keep you posted on how everyone unfolds re: my life in NOLS.


    • lizahoward
      Posted on

      lizahoward lizahoward

      Reply Author

      Yeah!!!! I’m so happy for you Brent! When/where is the WUMP?


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