Weekend of Friends

Okay so... I had three (yes, THREE) visitors in town for the weekend - my sister, her friend Sarah, and my running buddy Catie.  What did we do, you ask?  We ate.  We shopped.  We listened to live music. We ate. Oh, and then we ate more.  This is totally fine though, because now that I've found my inner runner it's called "carbo-loading" and it makes life so much sweeter.  Run a ton & eat more... it's just a package deal.


We had so much fun this weekend and I already want them all to come back!  Especially Catie because training is so much more fun in groups!

Oh and how could I forget.  We did this...

We started at Bongo Java, ran down Belmont Blvd, turned around at Belmont Blvd. & Woodmont and ran back to Bongo Java for a grand total of roughly 2.6 miles.  It was the first time I ran without listening to music and I wasn't a fan.  It was also the first time I ran before enjoying a cup of morning coffee so by the time we were finished I thought "to hell with stretching" and bee-lined it straight into Bongo Java for my usual drug of choice, a Medium Double Mocha.

Above: 1. Brunch at the Loveless Cafe  2. Matthew Mayfield at Third & Lindsley  3. Shopping on Broadway  4. Pancakes at the Pfunky Griddle

Breakthrough

I'm sitting here at my desk, waiting for my sister to pick me up from work (she's visiting for the week and we have one car), and my mind started to wander.  I just caught myself thinking, "Man, I wish I had more time this week so I can get a least one run in."  This is worthy of a blog post.  Two months ago I dreaded the one-miler... now I'm looking forward to running?!  This is what we call a breakthrough, people.

Too Cold

Being a native New Yorker, I shouldn't be complaining.  But it is getting wayyy too cold.  On the upside, I'm working from home today in my pajamas and it looks like a winter wonderland outside (see above).  But on the downside, I'm a baby and can't get myself to run outside in this weather... and to top it all off, the treadmill is getting really boring.  I've planned so many road routes that I'm really excited to try but I've just decided to place them on the back burner until springtime.  Okay end rant.

I plan on running 3 miles at the gym today.  My little legs are getting sore and they need a break.

It's going to be a great week!

New print that I can't wait to frame and hang up in my house.  My bank account hates Etsy.

Saturday morning I ran 4 miles and finished in 39:35.  That's pretty darn good for me, I must say.  In total, I ran 11 miles this week.  Again, pretty darn good.


It's going to be a challenge getting a run in this week because my sister and her friend are coming to town for the week!  I'll try but I'll be lucky if I run 3 miles in total.  But that'll be fine because I'll surely get at least one run in when my running buddy comes to visit on Saturday!  It's going to be such an amazing week!!

New Years Resolutions

• Run the Portland Marathon. Also run as many 5Ks as I can, starting with the Nashville Zoo Zoo Run.
• Remove the word "no" from my vocabulary.  It's a stupid word.  And in almost every instance that it's used, I end up regretting saying it afterwards.
• Create more often.
• Explore.
• Fold my laundry the very minute it comes out of the dryer so it's not laying around for 3 extra days (okay that's a conservative number).

So the entire night after my four mile run on Monday, I felt really sick to my stomach.  It's probably because I ate a big bowl of pasta about a half hour before I ran.  I do know better than to do that but I was really really hungry when I got home from work AND I wasn't planning on running.  But I did, and I don't regret it because it was a great lesson learned.

I ran 3 miles on Wednesday and felt really good.  I didn't run yesterday (I needed a tiny break from my crazy schedule) but I'm planning on running four miles tonight.

Day 27, you are great because...

Catie told me today that she booked a flight to come visit me in 2 weeks!

Oh, and...

I ran 4 miles!

2011 - Year of the Marathon!

It's 2011, which means this year I'm running a marathon.  Wow.


Alright let us recap the last 3 days...

On Wednesday I ran a fast 2 miles and strength trained.  I was weight lifting next to a guy and when I looked at him in the mirror, he was looking and pointing at my reflection.  I then turned to him and smiled because I was wearing my Marist College t-shirt and he was wearing a Vassar College sweatshirt.  In his words, "we just had a weird Poughkeepsie moment."

I rested on Thursday.

Yesterday (Friday) was the first time I ran 3 miles outside.  I ran from Belmont (starting right across the street from PM) then down Music Row to Demonbreum and back up Music Row.  It was 3.2 miles exactly.  I definitely could have pushed for 4 miles.  But I didn't.  Next time.  After the run, I looked at my cool free pedometer I got from work and it read 1.5 miles... which was obviously wrong.  This means either it's broken (a good chance since it was a free pedometer) or that I accidentally reset it halfway through the run.  Which also means that there's a 50/50 chance that when I ran with my sister in Florida we ran much farther than she bargained for (this would explain the excessive complaints).