Epic Fail

Oh, March, what an interesting relationship we've had so far.  Part of it is my wildly inconsistent relationship with Lent, but vacation always seems to throw its own wrench into things, too.

I'm starting our Cookbook of the Month cooking this week, and will have to squish four recipes into 2.5 weeks.  Not a bad thing, considering how much we like Mexican food.  I'm hoping to find creative ways to work in a new grain this month, too - it will probably be some corn derivative, in keeping with the Mexican theme.  I also need to do this quarter's craft project, which will most likely end up being making curtains for my kitchen window and planning my indoor herb garden.

Lent...has been another story.  I've all but formally abandoned giving up swearing - for some reason, it just has not been working for me at all, and I'm not really happy about what that says about my speech patterns and habits.  Giving up Google Chat has been going well, though.  Didn't make it to mass yet this month, but I chalk that up more to my schedules and routines being all out of whack due to traveling both weekends.  Daily prayer, another thing that's been so pathetic it's almost laughable.  I don't know why I can't wrap my head around my faith this year, but it feels like more of a struggle than it's been for a long time.  I'm tired of struggling, but I can't seem to find that groove I was in last year, or back at ND when I used to pray the Rosary every day.  I suppose the only thing to do is keep searching for that "one thing" that will give me that extra push I need, because I'm starting to get despondent.

Running has been a great success - did my first nine miler yesterday, and felt great.  I'm really looking forward to my half marathon on May 2.  I may sign up for another one at Disneyland over Labor Day weekend, too, just to keep me running over the summer.  I think I'm at a point where I can say I genuinely like going for a run, and WANT to.  It wasn't a struggle at all to get my runs in on vacation, and I hopped right out of bed (late) yesterday, into my running gear, and out to the trail without even blinking.  I think I'm starting to overcome my long-held fears about not "being able" to run long distances.  I once thought I'd NEVER get past three miles, and now I barely break a sweat running that far.  Pretty exciting stuff.

I need to revisit my New Years Resolutions list at the end of this month to see how the first quarter has gone, and figure out how to tackle the second quarter.