New Year Resolutions: Ready for 2018
Time really flies. It’s already 13 days into 2018. Time to make New Year Resolutions.
I have had a good rest since I got back from Italy 3 weeks ago. There was not much teaching and my second semester of French classes will only start next week. It will be a hassle to wake up at 6.15am three days a week for my 8am French classes. However, I couldn’t wait for them to start so that I could save whatever French I have left. I have not been speaking French for almost a month and I can feel my French slipping away to nothingness. On the few occasions that I got to communicate in French, I felt that I was stuttering, rather than speaking!
Anyway, since it’s the first post of a new year, it’s customary to put down some new year resolutions:
Run More, Recover Better
Target Race: Albi Marathon
I rested for four months and started testing my legs in December. Now I hope I will have adequate time to train for the French Marathon Championship (Championnats de France de Marathon) at the end of April in Albi. My timing of 3:43 at the 2017 Paris Marathon qualifies me for a slot in the Championship. Admittedly, it’s not a timing to brag about, but it does allow me a slot in the age class 🙂
The Training Dilemma
First, I need to ensure that my metatarsal fracture will heal completely while I am preparing for the marathon. Then, I need to regain my previous strength and speed, and hopefully improve on them. I am not re-joining the 3-time-a-week training with the Competitive group in Orsay running club. Instead, I have decided, at least temporarily, to switch to the 2-time a week with the Leisure group.
Back with the Competitive Pack
One of the reasons (which I do say, is very valid) for the switch is that I do not want to worsen my injury with too-much, too-fast, too-soon training. Yet, deep down in my heart, I know that the crucial point is that I do not wish to subject myself to the mental stress of forever playing a game of never-be-able-to-catch-up: even if I were 20 years younger, I would never – let’s not say as fast as those long-legged (most of them) youngsters (teenagers! to a few in their early thirties), who run like antelopes – be able to narrow the gap between them and me.
Trying the Leisure Group
I have already run twice with the Leisure group. Most of them are about my age or older. Happily, I am definitely not the slowest in this group (the stress factor plunges!). The dilemma is that the Leisure group, as the name suggests, is more of a social running group. It is not training like crazy for lung-bursting, legs-burning races! There are workouts in these 2-time-a-week sections, but they are easier than the training I had before. Also, the group is not as motivated as the other one (duh! the former is not training for competition!).
If I am to better my 3:43, I need to switch back to the 3-time a week, devil training. Or if I have the discipline, stick religiously to a marathon training plan and continue with the Leisure group. I have not decided which yet…
Last, but not least, I need to lose the 2kg tyre that I gained by gorging on festive foods. In fact, the Cake of Kings (Galette des Rois), a dessert that combines buttery, puff pastry and an almond paste filling, is not helping me.
Fall for Paris, All Over Again
Why Paris Still Gets Me
During my family’s visit in Paris, my father asked me why I insist on staying in Paris. Everything looks so “old” there, lacking the modernity and comfort of home. His question kind of caught me by surprise. After two seconds of reflection, though, my answer was: it’s exactly the “oldness” of the city that attracts me. Narrow streets and tiny alleys have always attracted me (excluding, of course, the boulevards!). I also love the charming, four-to-five-storey old apartments, some lucky to have iron-wrought balconies with floor-length windows, or mansard roofs with dormer windows.
Twenty Years of Getting Lost Here
My attraction for Paris started 20 years ago, when I first moved here as an au-pair. Back then, I was living right in the centre of Paris. With only a pocket-size road directory and no GPS, I managed to find my way around this city. I often got lost in her myriad streets. Don’t people always say that the best way to get to know a city is to get lost in it? I remember that I used to visit more museums. In fact, I visited the Louvre three times by taking advantage of the free admission on every first Sunday.
So, among my New Year resolutions for 2018, I would like to get to know more about Paris. I would like to discover her obscure little corners that are unknown to the tourists, or even to the Parisians. I would also like to put the history class at Sorbonne Nouvelle into good use. Last month when I was in Paris, I came across a square called Place du 18-Juin-1940. Seeing it thrilled me, as I could proudly tell my husband the significance of that date. It’s what they called “L’appel du 18 juin 1940”, the telephone call of 18 Juin 1940. That was the day in London when General Charles de Gaulle called out to the French to resist surrendering to the Germans during the Second World War.
First Stop: Louis Vuitton Foundation
We visited Louis Vuitton Foundation in the first week of 2018, definitely a good way to jumpstart my resolution! Until March 2018, the Foundation is exhibiting 200 works from Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The exhibition presents us an opportunity to visit the Frank Gehry-designed building, which we bypassed during our Paris Marathon. At that moment, neither Silviu nor I was in a mood to appreciate even the facade of the building. In fact, we were struggling with the last 2km of the race.
Stop Losing My French
Of all my New Year resolutions, this will be a permanent one. To make it more interesting, Silviu and I have re-discovered Scrabble. That’s how we welcomed in 2018 – pitting in French Scrabble.
Worry Less, Live More
People are happier when they are content with what they have, and not dwell on what they do not have. This is something that I really have to learn, and put into use. I have to admit that I stress easily. The slightest inconvenience, discomfort or schedule hitch can rattle me. Not having prepared my English teaching lessons in advance; leaving my French homework to the very last minute; training with the Competitive running group; running with the Leisure group may not help me with my marathon training; not having a permanent, office-based job like those that I had before coming to France; worrying that not working in some higher-paid jobs in the financial industry is wasting the education that my parents provided me…la di da di da. I often tell myself that I should relax.
Giving Myself Permission to Relax
At my ripe old age, I have the prerogative not to worry about what others think of me. I have enough teaching experience and materials to teach a class without preparing it in advance. (Note: I always prepare my classes though!) So what if I miss a few of my French homework assignments? I had my share of heavy duty studying decades ago, so studying French now should be fun for me! And what if I am the slowest in the running group – I don’t aim to be a professional runner? Even if my second marathon is slower, the only side effect is to my pride as a perfectionist.
Of course, it’s always easier said than done. Is it really possible not to worry about stuff? However, I have found that just writing down my thoughts here on this blog helps me de-stress. Perhaps another of my New Year resolutions will be to write more often, and with more discipline!