Rain, Rain Go Away

Last night I was over it. It had been raining non-stop the past two days so I sucked it up and ran on the dreaded treadmill. 

It really wasn't that bad in all honesty. I just prefer to be outside, not wedged between the wall and our white leather couch in the frog running on an endless rotating belt. 

But luckily, all was made much more bearable by watching season one of Gossip Girl. Since the newest season starts in just a few days, I can't seem to get enough of watching these crazy Upper East Siders. (Maybe because I'm about to be a part of the UES myself in just a few days? Granted, I won't have the million-dollar apartments on Park Avenue, a driver at my every whim, or hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend on clothing and champagne... but hey, at least I'll be in the same zip code.)

I ran for the entirety of the pilot episode, just about 3.5 miles, mixing in some walking and incline shifts. It felt pretty good to be running again, as the trip to LexVegas to visit my brother at VMI did not include any time to workout. His school is kept on such a rigid schedule that it felt like they were pushing the families to do the same. On Saturday we tailgated, went to the game, and got to get our "keydet" (VMI's nickname given to them because that's how you pronounce cadet with a southern drawl, love it) at 5 PM. We did get to watch him on the football field of course earlier in the day, but he had to be back at barracks by 10 PM, so we only had a few hours to get him dinner and let him relax out of his uniform. 

Similarly, on Sunday there was a big Civil War reenactment about an hour away from the college that all the new cadets participate in with their companies called the Battle of New Market. Then all the companies paraded down Main Street in the town of New Market, signifying that they survived Hell Week and truly are VMI Keydets. 

Side note: I cheered for Adam when his company marched past us and he smiled. I don't know if that was legal or not, but he said that he didn't think anyone even knew his first name so it didn't matter. I mean, my kid brother just survived one of the most grueling nine days of his life, all just to do well in college, so I figured he deserved a cheer or two during the parade.

Then by the time we got back Monday, it was pouring a ridiculous amount and I was topped off by last night from not running. Luckily, I'm back on track with my training program. Tonight is supposed to be a nice night and it's not too hot. That will call for a nice little run before dinner.

Just a few days until I'm making my daily runs through Central Park...

Life Changes = Running Delays

So I'm going to cut myself a little bit of slack here. It is week 4 and I haven't kept up with the running program, but that might be because I've just made one of the biggest life changing decisions EVER.

Next weekend I will be moving to New York City. That's right, the Big Apple. The Business Capital of the World. The City That Never Sleeps. The Empire City. The Financial Hub. The Mighty Manhattan... and I'm going to be in the center of it.

I've been working for a few months to secure a position in the city. After being abroad earlier in the summer, I realized that I really did want to experience big city life for a while and see how far I could push myself with my career in public relations. I couldn't be happier to say that I've secured a position for the fall with a phenomenal firm in Union Square! 

Now the tricky part is finding the place to live. Luckily I have a few couches I can crash on for a while and then it's time to sublet somewhere. I've been networking like crazy to find a location but that really doesn't work that well being all the way down here in Virginia Beach. I don't want to say yes to living with some creeper. Woof.

That being said, my mind has been on overdrive and I've been doing pretty much nothing besides figuring out my new life and trying to do well closing out work here at home. It's also been raining here at home daily and I hate the treadmill. The idea of seeing other people (or at least houses for goodness sakes) makes the runs more exciting for me. Staring at the wall in our frog (finished room over garage, in case y'all didn't know that term) or watching a tv show while running just really isn't ideal.

It does look like the rain might hold out today, though, so I plan on going on a 3-miler today when I get home. I will be pretty tired this evening I will imagine. I finally get to see my kid brother tomorrow at VMI- excitement! I can't let him know how much I've been slacking since he's been on workout overdrive since he arrived in LexVegas almost two weeks ago (even though he reads this blog... oh well). 

Guess I'd better start downloading Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" for my running list on my iPod!

Week Three Slump?

Not gonna lie, I haven't gone on a run since last Thursday. That was seven days ago. Uh oh.

It seemed like every day this past week I have had something going on from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep, all while having a horrendous summer cold. Plus, I just seriously lacked motivation the past couple days. 

I'm worried since I'm only on Week 3 of my training program...

Maybe it's good I had this slump at the beginning of the training so I can learn how to overcome some of these issues. I googled ways to overcome this issue and found a brief blog from the Health section of the NYT that talked about running slumps for NY Marathon runners. One of the main points it talked about was how right now it is just important to get yourself out the door and run, while not worrying about your pace or overall performance. 

I think that part of me is just over this dreadful heat here at the beach and I just don't want to head outside and get drenched for a 20-minute run. Ugh- that just sounds lame. I had been running as soon as I woke up before showering for work, which fit in nicely to my schedule. I just need to get myself back into that routine. 

That will be slightly difficult over the next few days, as I will be heading to the Big Apple for my last hoorah of the summer. I'm beyond excited and have been planning the trip for over six weeks now. From interviews to Yankees games to reuniting with friends to finally getting to go to the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, I'm pretty sure I've got a lot in store for me over the next few days. One thing I know that I am going to really push on myself, though, is to get out there and run. 

(I'm sort of worried about running through Central Park though- Google genius Sasha Blair-Goldensohn was hit by a rotting branch last month on his morning commute to work. I'm not so sure I want to get attacked by falling branches while trying to get a quick 3-miler in.)

Alas, I will be attempting to get myself back into the swing of my running routine. Disappointingly I haven't kept up with it, but I mean, everyone has those off-weeks, right?

Only 65 more days till the Wicked 10k... Good gracious where has all the time gone?

It's In the Air

This morning was the first time I have felt that "autumn breeze." You know, that feeling in the air where you can just tell the next season is coming around the corner. I have already professed my love for fall, so I won't go over that again, but the steady breeze this morning with just a hint of cool-ness to it as I was running just a bit before 6:30 this morning was perfect. 

That being said, today is supposed to be blazing of course, well into the 90s. I think there are some thunderstorm predictions, so that could help bring down the temps just a bit. 

It surprised me that I actually saw only one person walking their dog when I was out running. No other life forms existed down the long stretch of road outside my neighborhood. Luckily the pleasant air kept me excited enough to keep running even though I wasn't distracted by watching other people or waving to them as I ran by. 

I've been stretching in the morning too. I found a pretty good (I think?) guide on Runner's World for stretching. I'm about as flexible as a brick so it's unbearably painful for me, but I'm getting better due to yoga and running. Success!

I keep writing about the distraught nature I am in every time I go for a run or have to work out, which is extremely lame since my younger brother is leaving for the physically grueling collegiate experience at Virginia Military Academy on Saturday. His life is going to consist of "sweat parties" at midnight, marching for hours on end around the Drillfield, getting his head banged in playing football, and oh yeah, studying so he survives being a pre-med student. Poor kid- let's hope he survives. Just kidding, he's going to be fantastic.  My parents and I are really excited for him but he is going to be exhausted. It's sure as heck going to be a far cry from the college life I had at Virginia Tech, that's for sure.

Welp, 74 days till the race- Lord help me.

Crazy Days

The past few days have been a whirlwind of activity, all while having a seriously sore throat. From where that stemmed, I have no clue. 

Well, yes I might have some inkling... I was in the Nation's Capital this past weekend celebrating one of my best friend's last weekends here in the United States before she leaves for 27 months to serve in Nicaragua as a member of the Peace Corps. It was a crazy weekend filled with lots of wine, a dueling piano bar in the National Harbor, and an unlimited supply of margaritas at her going-away party Saturday night. Down here where I work five days a week and am trying to stick to my running schedule, let's just say those kinds of nights don't happen. I think all the running around and late nights just got to me. It was too much fun and I'm so proud to send her off in style with a great final weekend! Congrats, Jamie!

Well, since I was up in Cap City on Saturday, which was a "long run" day, I flip-flopped the days. I ran as soon as I got home after the grueling five-hour drive (I thought the traffic was supposed to be going north on Sundays, not south?). The weather was painful and I was drenched with sweat (yum) by the time I even left my neighborhood. A ton of people were out Sunday night though, so that was interesting. On my last few minutes of my run I saw a little girl throwing the football with her dad, bringing a smile to my face and making me reminisce of the days when my dad first taught me how to throw a spiral. (P.S. Favre to the Vikings... disgraceful.)

Anyways, yesterday I slept through my alarm so I didn't get to my run before work. It actually worked out well though because I had been wanting to run down on the boardwalk to give myself a little variety. I work only four streets up from the beach so that makes post-work beach time happen with ease. Love it!

Breakdown: Found parking quickly (+1). Had to wait to cross three crosswalks and saw my life flash before my eyes as I almost got run over by a jacked up truck (-3). Nice breeze (+2). Got to see beach goers and decided I would have to go after my run was over (+1). Saw a 14 year-old kid get arrested on 12th Street (-1). Finished and made it back to my car right around the time a woman started cursing out her husband for leaving her on the other side of Pacific Avenue (+10). So all in all, a positive, eventful work out.

Lastly, big news. I officially signed up for the race today. Yes, I have had my doubts. I was worried I wouldn't really be able to run the 10k on Halloween. I still don't really know what I'm thinking. But I did it. I registered. It's only 74 days from today- gah!

If you're looking for where to sign up, visit www.wicked10k.com. The more runners the merrier! Plus we get Blue Moon at the end of the race. Is that a good idea? Not sure, but I'm in.

Side note... the registration page asked me what estimated finishing time was. I said under one hour for 6.4 miles. That sounds awful; I'll be training for less. 

Also, I no longer want to slam my head on my desk every five seconds from massive migraines! Big bonus points for this former caffeine addict! 

Flooding in Southeastern VA!

Holy buckets of rain. Before I even get into discussing my J&A Racing prescribed 15-minute run this morning, let's review the events of last night. Leave the office around 3:30 PM--sunny. Drive to see grandmother at Lake Taylor--relatively heavy raining begins. Leave Lake Taylor roughly an hour later to head to downtown Norfolk--TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR. Not only did I have to take off my shoes to run through the flood plains of the parking lot where water was already above headlights of cars parked along the side of the road, I legitimately could not see anything except the heaviest raindrops in existence (I'm talking potential 2003 Isabel-status here). Luckily, I was able to sail out of the parking lot like Noah and the ark, making it to the next parking lot: I-264. 

That was a nightmare. For about an hour I sat bumper-to-bumper in afternoon traffic, while warning messages kept coming onto the radio talking about the threat of death when it comes to flash flooding. I started to question how important the planned Hump Day celebration dinner was, but then deemed it absolutely necessary, so I kept driving on towards downtown. When I finally made it to my off-ramp, a policeman stopped the exit to City Hall Ave, explaining that all of downtown was actually flooding. Preposterous! Just two hours before, I was sweating in the afternoon heat while walking to my car. That, my friends, is truly the beginning of hurricane season for you. So, I bid farewell to my evening plans and headed on home through Chesapeake (carefully avoiding the Downtown Tunnel madness) and back to my glorious 264. 

Well, from all this rain, I figured it would put a damper on my morning workout, so I prepped the next day to run on our treadmill in the house. Luckily, when I woke up this morning, there was only the dampness left from the previous night's weather nightmare, so I was able to head outside. Sweet jezebel was it hot. I thought that it would have cooled off and the humidity would have died down, but oh no. I was sorely mistaken. (One day, I will make it through a post without talking about the insane amounts of humidity in my city, but this might not be for a while, my friends.)

The run itself was nice, taking myself throughout my neighborhood and down the main road outside of it. It felt good to be on the move, as my legs have actually been pretty sore the past few days. I've been trying to stretch more often than usual (which usual means virtually never) to eliminate some of the lactic acid build-up (I do remember some things from high school anatomy class). 

I will say though, the highlight of my run was about 0.6 seconds in, when I saw my neighbor and his 3-month old Golden Retriever puppy coming out of the house to get the newspaper. Ruger, the adorable dog's name, is being trained to fetch the paper--something my own dog would scoff at wholeheartedly, as demonstrated when 20 minutes later I took her for a walk and I had to pick the paper up myself, oh well. Ruger bypassed the newspaper when he saw me go past the driveway and jumped into my arms. (I'm officially in love.) After a few moments of saying "Hi," Ruger grabbed the paper and headed back up to the house. It was a good start to the day. 

I've decided that one of the things that gets me through the runs in the morning are the other people I see, so I'm lucky I'll be running a race with boatloads of other folks on Halloween. Their costumes will provide another distraction for me, which will be extremely enjoyable to judge on my own. But for today, the count was six walkers, two dog-walkers, one biker, and FIVE runners! Nothing like being cooped up in the house for a night to make people get out and exercise the next morning. 

Tomorrow is a rest/cross-training day. I'll keep you posted on which one I decide... 

One Word: HUMID!

Let me just start out by saying that I love summer. I think it would be sacrilegious to have virtually spent my entire life living at the beach and say that I don't. The season is filled with going to the beach obviously, the Fourth of July (my favorite holiday), traveling to see friends, Tides games, being outside all the time, and tanlines. Virginia Beach and Norfolk are always buzzing with something new to do during the summer. It's just perfect. 

That being said- I can't wait for autumn. It's my favorite season beyond all seasons. I love that it signifies (go ahead, groan all you students and teachers out there) the beginning of a new school year, leaves changing, football season, and the three big holidays of the year that fit in that glorious 8-week time span (hello Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). This year, I have another reason to love fall--it will be cool enough that I won't look like I just took a nose-dive into the pool instead of going for a 20-minute run. Which, I hate to admit, is exactly what I looked like today.

It was funny that I woke up ten minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off at 6:40 this morning, to this feeling that I needed to get up to go run. It was the absolute first thought that entered my head. I was a little caught off-guard by that, but then decided now was as good a time as any to get out of bed. I fumbled around searching for my pink and gray running shoes, forgetting that I had thoughtfully placed them right next to my bed last night. I grabbed my watch and got dressed in what somewhat resembled running clothes. Downstairs I had a glass of water then headed outside to stretch and get started on training Day #3.

A brief overview of my workout: received three darling mosquito bites while stretching in the front yard, passed a bicyclist, four dog-walkers, one regular walker (who happened to be my mother; she looked at me with pity), and one other runner! Joy! She gave me a nod in that it's-far-too-hot-and-I'm-too-tired-to-even-begin-to-smile kind of way. I was relieved because I shared her sentiments.

Despite the heat and my overwhelming exhaustion due to my nonexistent caffeine fix, my morning run was relatively enjoyable. It was great to be out seeing other people in the morning, catching up with my neighbor as he got the newspaper and taking in the feeling of being extremely productive, all before 7 AM.

Tomorrow is probably going to be another scorcher, but I feel like even after these couple days I'm starting to get the hang of it. I am already planning my morning around my run- does that mean I am already starting to become adjusted to the life of an avid runner? 

P.S. Massive headache hit around 3 PM yesterday (terrible), but it's been 48 hours since my last coke. This is groundbreaking.