Sorry if I sound a bit preachy. However, these words seem so appropriate for where I was this past week. It’s been a bumpy ride this year as far as training goes. So, I was seeking a second successful week of training in a row after last week. However, that didn’t happen. What’s odd to me about it as I’ve thought about it all is that I feel like this was the week I needed. As you all know, there are three life situations for which I have no control over but all of which are very hard to deal with. The weight of all that came crushing down on me and wiped me out on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let me step back, though and recap this week day by day…

The week started out good. Monday was Memorial Day and I began the day with taking in X Men: Days of Future Past. Just to show that Disney movies aren’t the only ones I watch and love, I really loved this movie. Okay, it’s a Marvel movie. However, it’s also a Marvel franchise that Disney doesn’t own the rights to use in movies. That aside, I loved this film! All of the X Men films have been awesome and this one fit right in with the rest. Although, so much happens in the movie, that I may need to find a time to see it again. Additionally, I really wished that I’d watched previous X Men movies prior as there were references to previous movies. Even without seeing the previous movies recently, it was still an enjoyable film. I give the movie two thumbs up! My only problem with Monday was the timing of the movie in relation to the other things I needed to do that day. So, the day wasn’t as relaxing as it could have been. However, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Brooke and I ended the day with a bar-b-que at her parents house and got to relax in the spa for a while! So, even though I didn’t get everything done that I wanted, it wasn’t a bad day at all!

Tuesday and Wednesday are where the wheels fell off for my week. In the morning….

there was exciting news from runDisney. Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend in January 2015! I was pretty giddy with excitement over this announcement! By the afternoon, after the excitement started fading a little, the burdens that I have to deal with daily started creeping into my thoughts. By the time I drove home, I was feeling very overwhelmed. Tuesday was a bad day…the worst of the week. I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t eat dinner. That kind of thing never happens. One of the great lies that gets told of Christians is that we never have problems. That idea is completely unbiblical. As the verse I quoted in the photo above demonstrates, we have problems like the rest of the world. What we do have is a God who will be present.

Wednesday, was better. I tried to take the focus off what I was feeling the previous day. While the weight of those problems didn’t overwhelm me as much, I skipped another opportunity to work out or run because I was nowhere near ready mentally. By the end of Wednesday night, I went online to look and see if my church had posted the message from the previous Sunday. It was a good message on the presence of God. As our pastor said, in good times and in bad, God is here. We so often forget when life is going good that the source of the goodness is God. So, when troubles come, we feel like God has abandoned us and blame him for everything that is going wrong. When we ask where God is, he says, “I am here.” As I got to my church website, they were live streaming their mid-week service. I caught it just as the music was finishing and listened to the message. That’s when I got over the hump of a bad week. The words of the preacher were exactly what I needed to hear!

Thursday gave me another opportunity to run. However, with that message from my church, I started thinking about and processing this idea…right now, in my life there are 3 situations where I have no control over at all. They are hard. It sucks that I have to deal with them. However, I can’t make them go away. These 3 situations can be solved in time and I probably will just have to wait them out. Any of these three situations are so burdensome that they could sink anyone. I have all three to deal with. In spite of this, there are other things in my life that I do have control over. Letting these 3 situations that are out of my control to dominate my life will make those other situations, where I have some measure of control, worse and get out of control. So, I made the decision to take control over what I can and leave the rest to God.

Friday was another day without a workout and/or run. However, it was a day where I was working on more things that I had some measure of control over. One of those things is getting our apartment ready to welcome a little human whenever we get selected to be adoptive parents. So, I did some of the things that my wife and I have talked about. I may have no control over when that new life is placed in our home. However, I do have some control over what that environment will be like. On Friday evening, I tackled some of those home projects. It felt good to be productive!

Saturday, I fully intended to get up early, run 6.5 miles and then head down to Disneyland. However, I couldn’t get out of bed early enough. Part of the reason? I was just too excited about going to my favorite place in the entire world to be…Disneyland! So, it took longer than it should have to get my mind to shut off long enough to get to sleep.

Brooke and I started our day at Disney California Adventure.

We saw Ariel with here new, non-plastic hair!

We played Toy Story Midway Mania!

We saw Lightning McQueen on Route 66 (aka Cars Land)!

We cooled off in the Animation Building. I seriously wish I could own this room!

We talked with Crush.

Then, we headed to Disneyland! Oh how I’ve missed this place!

Boy was I ever ready to do just this!

We saw Mickey on parade…

and in Mickey and the Magical Lamp!

We got to meet Captain America!

We saw the Iron Man suits!

I even got to go to my happiest of happy places…Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland! I don’t know what it is about this attraction, but it just makes me happy being there!

Until the next time…Brooke and I had a blast at the Disneyland Resort! When life gets too difficult, it’s nice to have somewhere to go where you can just forget about your troubles. Even if it’s just for a day. I so needed a day like this!

Sunday was chore day. It was also partial recovery day after around 12 hours of Disney theme park fun! This could have been a gym or run day. However, there was entirely too much to accomplish for me to make it. I’m trying to be a little more intentional with my food choices. So, grocery shopping took a little more effort. I’ve tried a couple new recipes this week. With all I had to cook on meal preparation day, I was surprised how quickly some of the cooking actually took. Lately, I’ve been getting bored with a few meals I’ve been repeating. So, I’ve gone out and found some new ways of preparing foods I like. Hopefully, it will all turn out good.

This week, it’s time to be about it! Zero workouts and Zero runs are not what I need every week. Even though I needed it this week, Week 6 needs to be a bounce back kind of week and it will. I will be posting a full Disneyland trip report later this week. While I was in the theme parks, I was working on some ideas I have for future blog posts. So, those of you who are getting ready for the Dumbo Double Dare, Disneyland Half Marathon, and/or Disneyland 10K, be on the look out. I’ve a few posts in the coming weeks that will help you out.

Question of the week…how do you build mental toughness?