Important Life Lessons

Friday I took the day off of work, did a 14 mile run, and then headed up to Philadelphia. Sadly, we had two deaths in the family this past week, one expected and one completely unexpected. While I wasn't very close to either person, I went up to support the people in my family who were, including my grandma and my aunt. Unfortunately, I have been averaging about one piece of tragic news per week in 2012 involving people young and old which has reminded me of how important it is to live in the moment because tomorrow is never guaranteed. The person who was unexpected was only 62 (my 86 year old Grandma's cousin somehow), and is only 2 weeks older than my dad. They grew up together, even going on a double date to prom (her with her husband of 42 years). All of this bad news has got me thinking about two different things.

First, one of the main reasons I am so anal about working out and trying to stay in shape is because I am fighting against my gene pool. I would like to say that my grandma's cousin was the first person in my family taken from us too soon, but that is definitely not the case. While my mom's family tends to live into their 90's, my dad's family tends to have a shorter life span and a history of diabetes and heart trouble. While a lot of our problems have to do with diet (Philadelphia is not the best place in the world to eat healthy), I have inherited more of my dad's genes physically as well as his love of sweets and food in general. From the time I was in second grade, I have been battling weight issues. If I hadn't committed to going to the gym in the morning after my first year of work, I am positive I would be a perfect candidate for "The Biggest Loser." As much as I want to train with Bob, this weekend reminded me that it's incredibly important that I keep challenging myself physically and watch my diet to keep myself from having the same fate as a lot of my relatives. Luckily for me, my dad lost 90 pounds in high school and has let me keep signing him up for races (completing his first half marathon this year at 62!), so he has provided a good example for me to follow.

Second, it has reminded me of how important family and friends are and that I need to be careful to not let training take over my life. Even without training for a big event, I find myself just going through the motions of gym, work, sleep and all of a sudden will realize that I haven't seen some of my best friends or family in a several months. When I am training for a big event, this problem can get even worse as I will turn down social events or avoid going out of town due to long runs and bike rides. While I will have a lot on my plate training-wise this summer (an Ironman is no joke!) and it's important to put a lot of time into training, I need to be more flexible this summer and still make sure I make time for friends and family because nothing is more important to me than them. I have tons of friends who like to bike and rather than do a team Z ride one weekend, I can do my training ride with some of them. Also, every third weekend is a "recovery" weekend where the training schedule calls for a short run and bike ride (or race). I need to be aware of when these weekends are and can plan more events with friends or a trip to Philadelphia to see my family. With my grandma being 86, I want to make sure I get up there on a regular basis because who knows how many more visits I will have with her. I want to make sure we have as many conversations about the crazy Kardashian's as possible.

So please, remind me this summer to stop being a loser and to make sure I take time to come out of the Ironman bubble. Life is not worth much if you don't make time for family and friends.