Word Play

2023. Somehow this is where we’re at. Don’t blink! As I’m not into resolutions – hello, failure! – I prefer to focus on a word or phrase. 2022 was Praise. This year, I think it’s Strengthen.

I want to be strong in faith. Strong in body. Strong in dedication to my education. Side note: is that a song title? Dedication to education. haHa Focus, Kel. Strong in presence.

Interestingly, running isn’t exactly on this list. Well, it is, but not what it has looked like the past 5 years. Wow. I raced for 5 years. Or maybe just 4. I didn’t run a single race in 2022. Perhaps this explains the body differences. My weight is up, things fit a little differently now. But it’s just a season. And most of the time I remember to strengthen (there’s that word again) my stupid meniscus with all the cool things I learned in physical therapy. Spiky donut, anyone?!

Not bad, if I do say so myself

I want to refocus on some smaller things in order to be stronger at the big things. Like my career. Walking back into the gym felt like being home again. Natural rhythms resumed, the excitement of supervising personnel, being a catalyst for change: those things make me feel strong inside. So now it’s time to be just as strong on the outside as I am on the inside.

Pause.

In related news, maybe if I had Moonwalkers then I could really accomplish something! Check out this article on the latest development to help people get where they need to be faster: Moonwalker Article.

And, if there’s one thing I want to accomplish this year, it’s this: I want to be able to do unassisted pullups again. Like my mini proudly says – welcome to the gun show!

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I ask you –

What is your word or phrase or even resolution for 2023?

How many miles did you run the past year?

On a scale of 1 to spaghetti arms, how likely am I to reach my goal? 8!

(The post Word Play first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Christmas Catch Up

Some Christmas magic happening in N Texas!

This mini of mine is so joyous. Her love of Christmas lights, fashion, and those lovely glasses of hers just make me smile. The world needs more mini!

You know what else it needs? More tea! I found this orange tea – so amazing! Granted, it’s not coffee. Because it’s tea! But it gets me through a long night of writing and researching.

Christmas candy is a tradition in my household and our extended family. Oreo truffles, Dr. Pepper truffles, and rum balls are my favorites. Others like coconut balls and peanut butter balls. Also good but not my favorite. It’s almost cathartic to roll the mixture into a small shape then carefully dip each one into melted chocolate. I like making extra to freeze so I can enjoy them all year long. Although they don’t usually last that long. To gift or to eat by myself – that’s a different story!

Whilest waiting for mini to finish dance practice the other night, I went to the local florist to peruse. Ta-da! I’ve become a collector of Cat-decorated items. For obvious reasons but also a bit of a private story. Anyway, anything related to Cat is the equivalent of a dad joke to me. My forever mom joke, if you will. Mini doesn’t think it’s as funny as me but I persevere! Hence, this pen is perfection!

Even the title of this post is symbolic. I bet you didn’t “catch” it.

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I ask you –

Do you drink tea?

Do you have any great mom or dad jokes?!

Tell me of a tradition in your life!

(The post Christmas Catch Up first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

I Have No Catchy Title

Thankfully, I don’t do a lot of driving anymore but occasionally I see funny things when I’m out and about. Like a car with the license plate MY TOY. It was a Hyundai. To each his own.

My sister is my nail girl.

Costco is selling caskets now. For the low low price of about $700, you can purchase your very own bulk-discounted sleeping vessel. Why not. P.S. I tried to use a stock photo of a casket as my post image but there was nothing funny about any of them so I decided against it lest my loyal followers think something terrible happened to me.

For the church Christmas skit, my sister and I were recorded for our parts. Riot. We had too much fun laughing. However, we each got it on the first try! I know, it’s hard to imagine.

One run last week. That’s all I had (made) time for. Truth be told, I was super sore after it, too. Which reminds me to input a training plan for the next 4 weeks until class starts again. But I did do some form of intentional exercise each day – yoga, pilates, taking a walk…something was done!

Finally hit week 8 of the course from hell, aka Advanced Finance and Budgeting. This class was rough. But you don’t want to hear anymore complaining, I’m sure. Just wait. I’m taking two 8-week courses simultaneously in the Spring. Not sure what I was thinking. Sorry in advance.

As usual, thank you for coming to my ramblings. I’ll be back next week with more of the same.

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I ask you –

Do you own anything you consider your “toy”?

Would you purchase a Costco casket? Yes. A bargain is a bargain!

On a scale of 1 to send help, how are your holidays going so far?

(The post I Have No Catchy Title first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Running and How I Haven’t Been, a short story

6 weeks after I paused my half marathon training plan, I realized it’s probably time just to cancel it. Whoopsies. Seeing as how I haven’t run one day since the pause – again, whoops. School is kicking my arse. Correction: this one particular class is the problem. You can bet the end of course survey is going to be as long as some of these papers. From unclear instructions to lack of response to everything in between, I’m so done.

As usual, I digress. My sister and I have a plan to work out together once she officially starts her job at marketing…next week. Perhaps we can motivate each other to get our lives together. Unlikely but we’ll try! She says no running. Maybe I can convince her though.

Going Away Parties

Above is just a few of my incredible new coworkers who are re-motivating me to get back to what I love. Working in a gym really leaves no room for excuses not to use the facility. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this, I will have worked out twice this week. Even put my bag in my car so I’ll have clothes. Really it’s just making time for what I love to do instead of stressing a schedule and the to-do list that grows while I sleep. Somehow it always does that.

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I ask you –

Have you been keeping up with your fitness or exercise goals?

Does your to-do list grow while you’re sleeping, too?

Any advice?

(The post Running and How I Haven’t Been, a short story first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

It Might Be Time –

– to let some things fall off my plate. I was late to something 4x last week. That’s a 400% increase in my forever record. No one cared but still.

– to take myself on a date. Books and coffee sound marvelous right now.

– to really heed that 2pm alarm where previously I would take a break, take a walk, generally just escape for even 10 mins. Surely haven’t been doing that.

– to plan a getaway for the month break I have around Christmas before I embark on 2 courses during the same 8 week period.

– to forgive myself for not “having it together”. Because no one does.

– to really make a conscious effort to slow down.

Surely there’s at least a hundred other things to add to this list but it’s definitely time for me to…find something else, something more positive to write about.

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I ask you –

What are some things you need to make time to do?

Which of these resonates most with you?

Tell me how often you make lists!

(The post It Might Be Time – first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Calculating

As I’m in the bowels of finance and budgeting, let’s look at how much time I spend working on schoolwork. Approximately 3 hrs per day, 5 days a week. Substantially more on weekends, totalling about 10 hours, 15 if there’s a holiday from work. For fun, we’ll say 1 holiday per month. Where was I? Ok, 15 hrs per work week, add 10 equals 25 hours per week. I’m not good at this. 25 hours times 4 weeks per month is 100 hours. Now the holiday. If it’s a workweek holiday, then the difference is an additional 2 hours. I believe I’m at 102 hours +/- 2 hours. Right?

My point is there was a time, recently in fact, I couldn’t comprehend how many hours per week I spent training for a race. Big reveal. It could have been no more than 5 hours/week. Max. A whole 20 hours each month. It really puts it into perspective.

Also, I bought a new book I must make time to read. Along with the other 2 on the shelf. Probably should have waited to purchase it but I was overcome with joy at the new release section.

You know what was not overjoying? Finding out the professor uploaded the wrong spreadsheets, instructions, and information to complete an assignment. I spent the week begging other people to help me with creating some bar charts and pie graphs because I couldn’t get them to compute properly. Gee, wonder why. So I had 11 pages of useless words. Here’s hoping I can reuse the writing in a different assignment. But probably not because that’s how my luck works.

At least I’m not as dumb as I thought I was to be completely inept at Excel. This time it really wasn’t my fault.

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I ask you –

How many hours do you spend doing discretionary things?

Read any good books lately?

On a scale of 1 to I-really-want-to-yell, how angry do you think I am? Answer: sometimes I add to the list of people I wish I could run over.

(The post Calculating first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

I’m Moving!

Buildings. I’m moving buildings. But I have a great reason!

I guess the powers that be in a lovely organization with the ability to make or break one’s career opportunities finally came around to my brand of willpower. More drama. In other words, I got the job.

Donuts and fitness. You know the joke .

I’m leaving the command team to go supervise a gym. Again. Sure, this gym is a federal entity but beyond not having to sell memberships it really is the same as other gyms I’ve managed… if you count hundreds of uniform-clad people parading in and out on their quest to become powerlifters. I swear it’s not a prison. Nonetheless, this process to further my career and pay grade has taken over 2 1/2 years, but I’m thankful someone took a chance on me in the beginning. Fully realizing my leadership style is not for everyone, I do want to see our fitness centers succeed and grow. There will be growing pains. There will be some frustrations. But I’m nothing if not up for a challenge.

By the time I move positions, I should have just returned from my out of state trip which is still useful in my new position because resiliency is necessary everywhere. And I sincerely want to teach these concepts to my employees. Hopefully there will be some fitness expo trips in the near future to enhance my understanding.

Sure, there’s a lot on my plate right now but this has been a long time coming. Here we go again!

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I ask you –

Do you want to take a donut tour in New Orleans with me?

What are my chances of being back in the gym and finding my running motivation again?

Tell me how full your plate is. Let me commiserate with you!

(The post I’m Moving! first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Anatomy of Paper Writing

As this week has been the most stressful thus far, I’m offering some insight into the reasons why I don’t answer my phone, text back in a timely manner, attend social events, or do anything else really. Besides the fact I’m lazy. Here’s a typical day in the life of a doctoral student. Or maybe it’s just me.

4:02am – Coffee

4:06am – Open approximately 23 tabs of research articles and 1 word doc

4:10am – Try to figure out what I’m doing with my life

4:13am – Start typing

4:45am – Panic because I’ve forgotten where I was going with the million words crossing my mind

4:46am – Re-read everything previously written the past 32 mins

5:01am – Silence the alarm for the time I used to wake up before I decided to go back to school

5:02am – Panic again because the realization has set in I only have 58 more mins to type before I have to wake up mini

5:18am – Close one word doc and open another because I’m an idiot with overlapping classes

5:31am – Silence the alarm for the time I used to get up, back when mini didn’t go to school and I had a conscious thought process

5:42am – Check the due dates and put my head on the desk

5:43am – Sigh loudly, drink the coffee that’s now gone cold, and rethink my life choices

5:45am – Frantically type 250 more words in order to feel good about the perception I’ve done absolutely nothing the past 2 hours

6:00am – Contemplate requesting leave for the next 3 years until school is done

P.S. something terrible happened this past weekend and a file I had been working on went corrupt…kaput…a big middle finger to hours of work. No recovery software could save it. Alas, I cried. A lot. No one warned me I would be so emotional.

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I ask you –

Sorry. I have no questions. I’m typing this at an indecent hour because I totally forgot I hadn’t edited anything for the blog this week and I would feel bad for letting my readers down if I didn’t at least try to post something. So here it is. Something. You’re welcome.

(The post Anatomy of Paper Writing first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Call Sign STUMPER

Allow me to share a story – it’s a long one. Have a seat.

In my (military, civilian, non-profit, etc) career(s), I haven’t had an opportunity to speak with anyone at the federal, national, even state level, to my knowledge. So when presented with such opportunity, I nicely jumped all over it. Some parts of this event were volun-told, but others were sheer chance alone. During a recent visit from the United States Air Force Chief of Staff, Gen CQ Brown, Jr., as hundreds of people crowded into an auditorium, I took my place about 5 rows from the front. Again, when would a visit from this official ever happen again? We were presented typical pre-speech information: don’t take selfies, turn your phone off, and (my favorite) here’s how to ask a question at the end. My friends and I made small talk, ahem, jokes. I regaled them with the story about the time I sang in front of the installation commander. Them: You can sing?! Me: Hahahaha no. On time as always the General arrived. He is a wonderful speaker, a seemingly humble individual, and a strong leader. His slides were short and his humor spot on. In many ways, he reminded me of my current squadron commander. I truly hope one day he, too, will grace stages with an entourage of security detail and big picture awareness. Approximately 30 mins later, the big QA session began. My hand went up before the words were out of the moderator’s mouth. I stood, politely introduced myself, and asked the following question: “Sir, as you have a high impact, high visibility position, what perception do you think we, as civilians and Airmen, get wrong about what you do?” Silence. Deafening silence. Suddenly I became the recipient of wild looks and laughter. The General began to pace the stage in silence. Finally, he answered. His answer was a well-rounded approach to being a father, husband, and son. He struggles with the same things we do. He worries about his children, now adults themselves. He sits around at night and can’t believe he gets to do what he does. I thanked him for his time so others could ask their questions. Fast forward to my office later – a conversation ensued between the Senior Leader and my supervisor. Cue the laughing. Unbeknownst to me, jokes of stumping the General were made on the surrey as he departed. I can only imagine my commander’s face. Kel, you need to stop speaking.

And that’s how I became known as STUMPER.

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I ask you –

Thoughts on the call sign?

Have you ever been laughed at?

Share your wild stories!

(The post Call Sign STUMPER first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)

Slow Down, Butterfly

Photo by Mathias Reding on Pexels.com

Within the past few weeks, there has been a ton of movement in my area of the governmental workplace. Not only have many chosen to retire, but there is now an ability to ramp up hiring. Truly I’m thankful my leadership understands my desire to lead and further my career goals. But I remember a time where I was hesitant to share what my actual goals were lest I seem unappreciative of the opportunity I had initially been given or it taken as a slight against their leadership. Crazy, right? Yet how often do we as employees think that way? Too many I suspect.

Sometimes I think the glass ceiling is real; other time it feels like a construct, an excuse why we don’t make changes. Hey, that’s the world we live in: every new phenomenon has a catchy name created by some whackadoo computer warrior wearing socks and sandals. No offense. As I’m always on the lookout for originality, I feel frustrated. What’s more frustrating is I totally forgot where I was going with this thought. Glass ceiling. Right. Poof. The moment has passed.

Anyway…as there’s never a right time to change jobs I hope the next few months prove fruitful for me. More responsibility, more opportunity, more people! For someone as introverted as myself, I sure do gravitate towards positions where the masses congregate. Back to my boss – he keeps me grounded (as best he can). Surely I am not the only social butterfly he’s ever lead; often he restrains me from becoming completely burnt out on how many activities I take on. It’s a full time job just dealing with me. Bless his heart.

I’ve realized there’s no true theme to this post. Typically I’m able to tie all my thoughts together at the end. Not this time. So I’ll close it with this truth – you never what someone else is going through. Be kind yet bold; be firm yet flexible; be what you are called to be. And we are all called to make a difference.

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I ask you –

What are your thoughts on the glass ceiling?

Do you usually have a post theme?

Share your favorite saying!

(The post Slow Down, Butterfly first appeared here at Running on Fumes.)