Athletic-induced Endorphins Gives You the Power

A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions, helps you be at peace with yourself, and offsets stress.

~ Lululemon

Me at the top of Single Cone Mtn - December 27/11

New Year. New goals. New cat. New post. or at least that is how it feels anyway... that and I am a bit late at getting this whole "new post" thing done. Amazing how time slips through the fingers. Already the middle of January... or at least almost there - Friday the 13th it is. Spooky.


The first couple weeks of this new year of 2012 have started with a bang for me. Or technically speaking - not so much of a bang for me as I spent New Year's Eve curled up with a good book and ended up asleep by 8pm. So much for staying awake to bring in the New Year. Not that it mattered - the New Year came just the same (as it does every year) and I haven't quite figured out what the big deal is with the New Year representing new beginnings and such. The whole resolutions thing I haven't really bought into. I mean... by all means - if having a specific date each year to encourage people to reflect about their lives and put together a list of randomly vague goals to hopefully accomplish (and most don't) by the turn of the next year is what is needed to get people to improve upon themselves... then go for it. 


As far as I'm concerned - each and every day is an opportunity to better myself and create reachable goals for both the near and distant future. Such as running. Last time I wrote I talked of wanting to do a marathon (the person I was a year ago is still putting up a bit of a protest as to why I would want to do something so incredibly insane) and I am still working towards that goal. So much, in fact, that I have done some research for some races coming up and have found one for the beginning of May - t42 (http://www.t42.co.nz/). Taking on the form of New Zealand's iconic 42 Traverse track, racers will come to either run or bike the route. 


The 42 Traverse is part of the Te Araroa Trail, only this race will go from South to North as opposed to the other way that TAT takes trampers. As it happened when Alex and I were walking TAT, we ended up avoiding the 42 Traverse section and following the road. Partly because we were behind schedule. Partly because we wanted to get to Tongariro for Christmas. But mostly because we had had one of our worst weeks of bush walking in the rain and were a bit tired of it all. 


When I heard of the opportunity to go and run this section - I knew that was it. This is the marathon I am meant to do. Had my name written all over it. One of my co-workers heard of what I was aiming to do and she had a bit of a laugh at me and commented that it was a bit ridiculous that I don't just try to do a marathon - I pick one of the more difficult races to do. But hey - the way I see it - I got 4 more months of training and that is a hell of a lot more than what I gave myself to walk the length of New Zealand... and I still did that right? How hard could - 4-6hrs of running up and down mountain trails be? 


Anyway - my days have been filled with early morning run - watching the sun rise as I huff and puff my way through hill training or interval training or strength training. All the while my mind is more focused on the end result than it ever has been at anything else in my lifetime. I have never trained for anything before. I don't think practices for team sports back in High School quite make the cut. I figure if I have done all I have done in my lifetime, I can do this. And I will. I'm completely and utterly stoked. 


And so I broke through the New Year by falling asleep at 8pm only to wake just after 5am and crawl out of bed for a run. The air was so fresh and not a soul to be seen on the trails that day. It was a perfect way to start the New Year. 


A couple days later it was the same story, only as I was running along the road, I could hear a cat mewing from a tree. I didn't want to stop then as I had just begun my run, so I made the mental note to check it out on my way back if I still heard the noise. I did. I followed the noise to the tree only to find myself face-to-face with a blackish kitten that had clearly gotten itself stuck too high to jump back down. With no firemen to help me in sight, I stood at the bottom and tried to coax it down. Eventually it made the move and jumped into my outstretched arms and immediately began purring. I was hooked. 

As we were essentially in the middle of nowhere, there was no possible home nearby to take the kitten, so I took it to mine. And it hasn't left since. I have named her Lucy and haven't quite figured out how committed I am to keeping her as keeping her surely would mean long term responsibility -- something of which I am just not convinced I am ready to have. But in the meantime she stays. 


And so that is the extent of 2012 for me as of this date. Not much has happened outside of my daily runs and cat feeding. Work is as usual - work, but I am still loving it. Summer has finally decided to come around and I only hope that with it it will bring so much more adventure.