Reflections

I found my new favorite place to run.  It's the second treadmill on the right.  There's nothing fancy about, or really anything different at all compared to the other 20 treadmills I could run on.

The only special thing is that I can see the reflection of my feet in the window.  Right.  Left.  Right.  Left.  I never would have imagined that's where I would find running inspiration, in a window reflection.  It has been such a push for me the last few weeks though, watching myself just put one foot in front of the other.  When I finish a mile I can look at my reflection and know that those feet can take me one more.

I was walking on clouds after today's run.  I'm not a strong psychological runner; my head convinces me I need a break long before my body really needs it.  Not today.  Today I cranked out 6 miles at a good (for me) pace, and it felt incredible.  No tv and little people-watching, just watching the reflection of my feet in the window for an hour.  And I loved every second of it.

I think my print screen skills need some help

Question of the Day: Where have  you found unexpected inspiration and motivation?  To run, or for anything else?

Settled

I think I've finally started to settle into my post-graduate life.  With a school-based position, it has been a hectic and fast adjustment to the new job with the start of a new school year.  We are starting into the 4th week of school already though, and it's going so fast!

While getting summers and school holidays off is the obvious perk to working for a school.  I'm finding new perks on a daily basis..

- I drive by Costco on my way home every day.  The nearest of our dearest Costco's is 30 minutes away, but now conveniently on the drive home.  Clearly a weekly stop is necessary.  Now all I need is a conveyor belt to move my purchases from car to kitchen.  I hate carrying groceries...

What I drool over before heading for the fresh fruit and veggies.

- My butt is out the door at work at 3:30 every day.  It's like I've discovered the holy grail of extra time, extra hours magically appearing every day.  It is such an incredible change from getting off at 7pm!

- I work 5 minutes from a lovely and spacious YMCA.  It's busy enough to give me good people watching while I run, but it's quiet enough that there are always plenty of open treadmills.

- When it cools off a little more, I can also use the cute town I work in to take after-work runs.  It boasts a major piece that my own neighborhood lacks... sidewalks!  Oh, and the best frozen custard ever.

- The frozen custard joint next to the YMCA also serves Mexican food.  Mexican+Custard = Heaven.  Don't doubt it until you try it!  I've successfully resisted stopping here for 3 weeks, but I imagine one day I'll just really need it and it will be there to save the day.

- The hubs bought me a cute new messenger bag for me to carry back and forth to work (that matches my gym bag), and I treated myself to a new lunchbox.  With breakfast and coffee in hand, I feel like I am moving when I leave my house every morning.

6am move out every morning

Question of the Day: What are your work hours?  Pre or post work workouts?

I work 7:30-3:30.  With an hour long commute, I can pretty much guarantee that morning workouts will never, ever happen.

Color Me Rad(dest)

Last weekend I met up with a long-time friend for the Color Me Rad race in Pittsburgh.  For the record, packet pick up was at a hotel 5 minutes from my house, and there's hard to find a negative in that set up.  Free parking, no wait time, and super friendly people.  The shirts are cotton but a female fit and impressively cute.  

I was running, and the hubs tagged along to document the mess.  The morning started early and was kicked off with 2.5 hours of traffic including closed ramps, closed roads, and the hubs requesting that I please do not yell out the window to tell the state trooper just how stupid he was.  We finally made it there 45 minutes after my wave time... that's 15 minutes after the last wave was supposed to start.  It was a whole super annoying ordeal just getting to the location, which unfortunately was at a remote fairground instead of the actual city, after it had originally been planned for downtown.

The good news?  The people at Color Me Rad are pretty much, apparently, just flat out awesome.  They kept sending out wave after wave of runners long past when it was supposed to have ended.  And the finish line party was still rocking even when we left.  The Color Me Rad group later said the city of Pittsburgh had rescinded the permit they had originally granted, so not entirely their fault that logistics were rough.  They also seemed to be super generous with anyone that complained or ended up missing out.

The bottom line of this "race"?  It's pretty much the most fun you'll ever have in 5 kilometers.  We walked the course for various reasons and found most people were walking or leisurely jogging at best.  There were people complaining about it being too hard to run and whining about PRs.  They should have realized they were in the wrong place.  This "race" is all about the fun.  There were also all age groups, kiddos in strollers, etc.  There is also no timing, but there were cute little mini bottled waters around halfway.

The group at the finish line.  Why do I look so much radder messier than everyone else?

Who wants a high five?  Hug?

Suz and I

Socks and shoes are no match for blue corn starch.  This also happened to  be the hardest spot to get clean!

Having a blast at the finish line!

Custom color shoes come as a free bonus... those were once the same color.  When I went shopping for new running shoes this week (and brought my old pair with me like any good little runner should do), the friendly workers were briefly confused.  They were sure they'd never seen a pair of Wave Riders in that color before.

Thank you, again

I talked here about my antisocial gym habits and complained about people that try to strike up gym conversations even when I have my earbuds in.  In light of that, I think it's only fair to share the much different experience that I had on Tuesday afternoon.  Giving some credit where it's due.

I officially started my half-marathon training on Monday; day two called for 3 miles.  Since there's no way I can spend such little time at the gym once I'm there, I followed my run with a 45 minute upper body and core strength session.

After I finished up my sweat session, I was sitting up front changing out my shoes, and I had already taken my buds out.  A guy walking by gave an approving nod and simply said "You were killing it!"  A second guy nearby threw in a, "Yeah, most women won't even touch real weights.  That's awesome to see."

And that was it.  I walked out of the gym with my head held a little higher.  I told both of them thank you, but I felt like I should go tell them again.  Thank you for respecting women in the gym, for what they can do and not what they look like.  For saying only things that should be said.  For knowing when to make conversation, when to give a compliment, and when to keep your mouth shut.  Gentlemen, take note.

Future planning

I've been planning for the future.  It has come with hours of internet research, dozens of calendar revisions, and a few dollars spent.  I finally have a solid plan, and I couldn't be more excited.  The future plans?  They're for my next race!

After finishing the hot Pittsburgh Marathon in May, I was itching to sign up for another race immediately.  Knowing my heat tolerance though, I knew waiting for fall was the best choice.  Unfortunately Fortunately, we have a calendar full of exciting weekend events this fall.  This includes 5 weddings and all of the showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, rehearsal dinners, and out of town trips that go with them.  Super-busy-Fall-season.

Every marathon or half I found landed on the morning of or following a wedding.  Though I could have done this, I really didn't want to rush things.  I like to enjoy that getting ready and everything that comes along with weddings, and I want to enjoy race day without rushing off to another event.

I finally found the holy grail in a half marathon just north of home.  Miraculously, it falls on a rare, completely free weekend!  So I am signed up and ready to start training for the Buffalo Creek Half Marathon.

First Half Marathon = guaranteed PR. Hello downhill; it will be nice to see you!

Now to get my training started now that I'm almost back to normal post-wisdom teeth removal!