The Road Less Taken

I don't have much time anymore. I feel like I am doing fewer activities, but they are taking much, much longer to accomplish. Maybe I'm not actually doing fewer activities, but it seems like it!

One activity I am no longer doing is milking my mama goat. She is already pregnant again. She was milked for just over a year, which is normal if she were a cow. But goats will stay in milk for about 2 years without needing to be bred again. Thinking I would be taking her with me to New York, I wanted her to be bred so I could milk her there.

We won't be bringing my girls with us at first. We are buying a house in the heart of the big city. No room or zoning for farm animals. I have been trying to convince my husband that the goats would love to live in the basement. He's not going for it.

So, I'm not milking anymore, but I do still go out to feed the goats and the chickens, make sure everybody has clean water, and collect the eggs. Tragedy recently struck and all but two of my chickens were killed. One of the remaining hens, the old lady hen who thinks she is a rooster, started laying eggs again. The other hen, who is still very young, stopped laying. Or is hiding her eggs away where I can't find them. The first few days after the fox or coyote got the chickens, my young girl wouldn't come out of the chicken coop. I think she got chased and was a bit in shock.

What is taking up most of my day is another love of mine. Running!

Second fork. To the left is the loop home. To the right is an old, abandoned house where I once found a bunch of coffins. That's a story for another day.

I remember as a kid, I loved to run. I truly thought I had a superpower. I had an invisible button in my brain that I could mentally push and it would give me a burst of super speed. And I would run so fast. I had so much joy just running for the sake of running.

Running for joy stopped when I was around 10. Around the time I was learning how to smoke cigarettes. Coincidence? I think not.

In 2012 I had what I've been calling a dirty mammogram. It was my first ever mammogram. I was called in to do another. We had to drive all the way to Amarillo to get the second one. I had only been living in Texas, with Keith, for about 2 years. Once they analyzed the second mammogram they told me they had found something and I needed to have a biopsy. That's about all I heard. Keith tells me they went on to explain that it was likely nothing but dense breast tissue, but they needed the biopsy to be sure. I had the biopsy.

I remember this was around Christmas time, so I didn't expect to get any results until after the holidays. While I was waiting I was also freaking out. I had just gotten Keith back in my life. I didn't want to lose us this soon! I wanted very much to live a long and happy life with him. I decided, regardless of the results, I would quit smoking. And I did. The biopsy confirmed exactly what Keith and the doctors thought it would. No cancer. Dense breast tissue. But I quit smoking anyway.

I allowed myself to gain as much weight as I needed in order to quit. And gain weight I did. Over 50 pounds (23 kilos) over the next year. I weighed 200 pounds! That is over 90 kilos. I wanted to start doing some exercise that would help me lose all the weight. I remembered my joy in running when I was a kid. I read a few books about running. I went to the doctor to make sure I was actually healthy enough to do that kind of cardio. I was, so I did.

Three and a half years later I started smoking again.

Well. Last year, I set myself the goal that I would quit by Valentine's day. I didn't make that goal. But I did quit a month later. I can't even remember the date!! Oh, well. The important thing is I quit and I immediately felt better. I had more energy. I had more drive. So I went for runs (that were really walks the first few times). I thought my progress would be slow like the first time I started. Nope!

Within the first week, I was already running over 4 miles

I used to do a loop of about 7 to 10 miles almost every day. I want that back. It would take me a couple of hours because I prize distance over speed. I would love to enter a distance run. I would love to run a marathon. I've run the distance of a half-marathon (13 miles) before but never done an official half. I tried but was overwhelmed by all of the people and DNF (did not finish) which in my mind was more of a DNR (did not race).

I just want to get back to the distance running. I don't care if it is for official races.

I always promised myself that when I got those distances, I would do a race, finish the distance and get a tattoo on my calf.

I don't know if I will ever achieve those goals, but I'm having a great time trying!

This is one reason I'm pressed for time. Running takes up a lot of minutes. Which is great! But even on the days I do not run, I will look up from my task and see it is time for lunch when I'm still dressed in my bathrobe and nothing else. Or I will be dressed for a run, and look up and see it is suddenly time to cook dinner for Keith. How does this even happen???

My distance of Friday. It is blurry because I was in a hurry to get everything I had planned finished.

Another reason I'm always feeling pressed for time is the move to New York. It is suddenly already April!! How did that even happen? We are planning on moving to NY in September. We've already started packing. And though we are under contract on a house, we haven't closed, yet. So, we may not even have a place to live!!!

We decided we needed to travel to Rochester to look at more properties. We are leaving on April 14 and staying through the 21st.

Believe you me, I am bringing my running shoes!

Another reason for my busyness is a very happy reason. I seem to have landed a great editing client who pays on time and who likes my work. Steady income in a feast or famine industry such as editing is a boon, these days. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to grow with a company. But I now have deadlines. I can't just spend all day doing nothing but running, thinking about running, taking running photos, and writing about running while posting my running photos in all of my articles and all over social media.

Can I?

I found a bullet on my run the other day. I decided it was prophetic. It means I will run as fast as a bullet (in my brain, anyway).

I need to publish every day to help with the money. I need to edit to meet my deadlines. I need to write every day to meet my therapist's demands and to have something to publish. I need to pack. I need to do regular chores and I need to run. I really need to do some ab exercises and strength training, too. I've left those for a less hectic time. I also generally don't like to do strength training. It involves pushups and planks. Blech!

I see I have taken almost my full allotted hour of writing time. I have a deadline for an article (I'll publish it to read.cash as well as all of my other writing platforms and social media). I have to go get dressed in my running gear. Which basically means shoes and some sort of stretch running pants. I'll run in just about anything, though. No need for fancy (read expensive) gear.

I'll see you on the other side!

All images photos by Jonica Bradley

Oh, hey. Your sponsorship means a lot. Even if it is just a little, it helps get the bills paid and makes my life a wee bit less hectic. I like to sponsor back!