Runners and Non-Runners Should Read This Book!

I just finished reading Kristin Armstrong's book, Mile Markers, and I loved it. It was funny, uplifting, and inspiring. I kind of want to read it again now. It's due back at the library next week, but I'll share a few snippets of her writing here before I turn it in. I'm also going to add her blog to my blogroll. (She keeps a weekly blog on Runner's World called Mile Markers.)

I Get To:

One of my favorite chapters in her book was the one on gratitude. In one of her posts titled "I Get To," she talked about her ultramarathon running friend who was recently diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease.) One day as she was trudging through a hard workout, trying to make it up a big hill, she caught herself thinking in terms of have to's. I have to make it up this hill, I have to finish this loop, I have to, I have to....Then she remembered her friend whose life was recently turned upside down by his disease and started thinking, No, I don't have to. I want to. I get to. I get to charge up this hill. I get to hit the gym after work. I get to make dinner for my children. I get to pick my kids up from school etc etc.  She ended this post with, "Think about it--If you stopped yourself every singel time you were about to say I have to and changed it to I get to, it might change your entire experience."

There's a little taste of her motivational and inspiring side. It's really does change my attitude towards anything when I think of it in terms of get to instead of have to!  My new goal is to think in terms of get to the next time I'm doing something I don't particularly enjoy. 

Here's a little taste of her funny side:

She was giving a speech on Spring Cleaning, not the house kind, the inside kind where you let go of unnecessary things you're holding on to. She brought some metaphorical visual aids with her that she dug out of her closet. All of them made me laugh, but I'll share this one: "Skinny jeans. Small enough that my daughter Grace could probably wear them, and she's 8. This is proof that I am unable to let go of my skinny-as-a-rail era. I keep the jeans around in case I ever get that skinny again, which hasn't happened yet. I have to be truly miserable to stop eating, and I haven't been that miserable since, well, back when I wore those jeans. Meanwhile, whenever I feel fit and fabulous, I try them on just in case, and all this does is to limit the amount of time I feel fit and fabulous. They need to go, but I keep them. This is proof that no matter how much I think I have evolved and made peace with my body, I can still manage to torment myself. 

I think a lot of girls can relate to this, including myself. :) That's why I found it so funny

There were so many other favorite parts in this book that were inspiring and funny. I wish I could have read it with a highlighter, but since it's a library book I couldn't. That makes it a little hard to go back through and find my favorite parts, but you'll just have to go read it for yourself now and find your own favorite parts! I know runners will love this book, but I also think non-runners would love it too because she uses running mostly as a metaphor to relate to all kinds of things in life that we all go through. 

What's the last get-to thing you did today? 

I got to put away my little boy's laundry. It's so funny what an effect one little word can have on my attitude. When I get to put away laundry instead of have to, suddenly I feel so lucky that I (1.) Have a little boy to put laundry away for,  (2.) Have a washing machine, and (3.) Have laundry period. 

Anyone holding onto anything in their closets/attics that should probably go? 

Living in an apartment the past year and a half has definitely helped me get rid of things that need to go pretty fast, so nothing is coming to mind right away, but I know there is some stuff lurking and hiding in there that could go! Going through our storage closet has been on my to-do list for two weeks now.