Stress Relief

I started running for two reasons: 1)I was 60 pounds heavier than I was my Senior year in high school and 2)my firm was participating in a 5k as a team and I wanted to participate. Before this I had always thought of running as punishment. Having played baseball since I was six and football in high school, running was issued out for messing up either on or off the field. Because of this I had a very hard time running and definitely didn’t enjoy it.

Fast forward eight years. (Wow, I can’t believe I’ve been running that long.) I have now ran several 5k races, 1 10k, 2 half marathons (now training for my 3^rd), and earlier this summer I completed my first triathlon with a second to hopefully be completed on Saturday. If asked, I would definitely consider myself a runner.

Back in the days when I first started, I hated it! A guy I worked with would always talk about how he got stress relief from running. He even said that while studying for the CPA exam he would take a break and go for a run. I used to tell him “No thanks! I feel like I get more stressed out during and after a run. I have definitely come to understand what he was talking about. The longer I run, the more I want to run. During the house selling/buying process I have definitely found myself more stressed out than normal. In the times that I feel the most stressed I also find myself looking for the next opportunity to exercise. Whether it’s a 3 mile run, a 10 mile bike, swimming a few laps, or simply working out in the gym, I have come to use exercise as a stress reliever. Anytime I feel stressed and have a chance to exercise I feel an immediate sense of relief. It may not last too long, but it definitely gets me back on the right track.

I know this isn’t a scientific experiment, but exercising definitely reduces my stress level. What do you do to reduce or relieve stress?

House Hunting

I guess this subject is as good as any to break my 3 month blogging hiatus.

Allison and I put our house on the market back in the middle of June. Exactly 8 weeks later we had a contract on our house, which in this market was definitely a blessing. As people learned that we had sold our house we started hearing things like, "you're in the driver's seat now," and "oh, now comes the fun part," and the one I have heard for months "this is a buyers market." Well let me say, this has not been fun at all for me. And because it hasn't been fun, and actually has been extremely stressful for me, it has caused extra stress on Allison.

Apparently what I consider a buyer's market and what others think is a buyer's market are not the same thing. My thought of a buyer's market is that people do not list their houses for more than they are worth, and if they do, they don't expect to sell them for more than they are worth. This also hasn't been our experience. We have made offers on three houses and have not gotten any of them. The first was listed far less that it was worth and we weren't the best offer. Fair enough. The other two offers we made, however, were fair offers. Apparently these sellers just weren't ready to sell their houses.

Oh well. A place for us to live is out there. It may just be in Heather and Derrick's garage for the time being.