Skip to main content

Tucker's Tower

Piper and Dukie
It was four weeks ago yesterday that I filled out the paperwork to adopt Piper. I went to the Pet Smart with Sue and Piper proudly followed me, on the other side of the glass wall, from one side of the cage to the other. I fell in extremely like with this cat, not wanting to fall in love because the adoption wasn't yet approved. After picking out Piper and filling out the paperwork, in true Sarah and Sue fashion, we walked around the store talking about the things we loved while picking up items for the pets we both already had at home. We came upon the cat towers to which Sue announced that Tucker (Sue's cat) would LOVE one of those. We checked out the prices and in true SARAH fashion I announced that we could easily make one of those for a fraction of the cost!!! Two hours is all it would take!!! We took a couple of pictures and headed to Home Depot.

I started building the tower that, or the next day... Can't remember which. I made a number of errors in the first cuts and construction, and ultimately had to start over.

So how does Tucker's Tower relate to my athleticism? Well, some would say that it doesn't relate at all, but in comes the metaphorical side of me...

This year, half marathon training has been a little slow going. The long runs seem REALLY long, and the short runs seem extremely difficult. This all has me reflecting on the first time I trained for a half marathon. I was kind of training alone and every run felt like the first run of my life. I made it through the training and proudly finished that race, but every time I took the first step in front of the other I felt like I was starting over. You probably know that feeling of defeat when you feel like the work that was already put in, just the day before, doesn't seem to pan out to making the next day better. But then you amazingly have the ultimate success of the finish line or completing the cat tower, proving that every ounce of work/effort put into it was worth it...

Tucker's Tower
Better picture coming soon.
Well this training cycle is proving to be the Tucker Tower and very similar to the first time I trained for a half marathon. The two hours (wink wink) that were put into the cat tower project seemed to be met with one step forward and two steps back. The short term successes were often lost on the long term planned success. And here I sit, super proud of each and every step, regardless of the direction, that led to the success of a tower, that was ultimately ignored by the cat that I made it for!

So, what is the lesson learned in all of this? I need to remember that even the short term steps backward have a purpose and are ultimately steps toward the larger accomplishment. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All in a Day's Work

I don't even know how to begin this post... Several months ago, my sister had this bright idea to do her first half iron distance triathlon. I have always wanted to do one so I told her if she did it I would do it too. Next thing I know I was clicking register now on the registration page of the Highcliff Triathlon in Wisconsin. You can read about some of the reactions I received when I announced to various friends that I was going to do this race here . Over the months my friends have taken on the challenge of being supportive and cheering me on along the way. This was no easy feat as I was on the training roller coaster. As the day approached, I thought about all of the possible things that could go wrong and right. I had visions of myself standing on the side of the bike course with a flat tire, me holding on to a lifeguard boat, dreams about wearing clown shoes for the run, and on and on... I also day dreamed about the finish line, what it might look like, who would be the...
16 comments
Read more

I Have Multiple Sclerosis

One of my favorite bike rides ever! I have debated whether I was going to make this public for quite some time, however there really aren't any significant reasons why I wouldn't share. It hasn't impacted my life dramatically, and if I'm lucky, it never will. I also don't want to be a poster child, nor do I require or want any special treatment simply because I have MS. The thing is, I know more and more people who are impacted significantly by this disease and I feel compelled to help the cause. So for one purpose only, I am outing myself. Here's the brief story. Two years ago my tongue went numb, my arm went numb and I though I slept funny or had a mini stroke. I brushed it off as sleeping funny day after day, after day. Then my eye started twitching, among other symptoms. I decided I was simply crazy... After a while all of these symptoms became so infuriating so I went to the doctor. While at the doctor, he chalked it up to stress, but after a closer ...
13 comments
Read more

Jumping the Gun!

This is a 'total' bonus post for the week. I highly recommend reading my previous post, to better understand where I am coming from. You can check it out here .  I am not going to go into details but my name and grandma have been used in a sentence TWICE the past two days. Seriously? Do I look or act that old??? I must... Perhaps it is all the pie making! I am a woman of my word (for the most part, we all falter from time to time) and I mentioned in my last post that there was a chance I was jumping the gun with my dramatic flare related to being sidelined! Well, sidelined I am, but maybe for less time than I initially anticipated. The doctor will tell me my plan in three weeks. The overarching goal? The Chicago Marathon!  While running the Columbus Marathon, last year, I was blessed with amazing spectators and also running companions during the race. One of my companions was my sister. Somewhere near mile 25 she took a picture of me STILL smiling. It isn...
8 comments
Read more