pickups

At work I have been challenged to keep a lot of balls (projects) in the air simultaneously. Today, however, I have off loaded all of the balls to other team members and am waiting for them to be thrown back at me. It’s a good thing for a Friday.

At 11:30 am, I checked in with everyone prior to grabbing my workout bag. I passed Mark in the hallway and apologized for having to do a solo run. Of course he didn’t think a thing of it. He’s a good man.

The workout was a good one for today – run at easy pace and pick up the pace for 30 seconds eight times. I started out and reflected on the day, the week, the month, the year as my body warmed up. It was time for my first pickup before long. I pushed Garminia’s lap button and picked up the pace when she signaled for me to GO.

The increased running effort that this required was nice. I thought of nothing else but running during those 30 seconds. I returned to an easy pace and caught my breath. The thoughts returned to my head. I let them be there but didn’t try to solve them. I looked ahead to my path and watched the seconds tic away. It was good to know that in a matter of minutes, all of my troubles would be pushed aside to allow for me to focus on running (and nothing more) – even if it was only for 30 seconds at a time.

I realized this week that the time has come to begin bereavement support. I have contacted an agency and have an appointment next week. Unfortunately, I was not able to get anything sooner. I was, however, lucky enough to talk for over an hour this morning with my cousin-in-law. She helped me work through many of the feelings and issues that have been surfacing. Since I was unable to get an earlier appointment with the bereavement counselor, it was a great help to have a trained professional who knows me, Tom, the kids, and the extended family players. The conversation worked to pick me up on this tough week.