Thursday, July 25, 2013

This Week's New Things

Good morning!

Feels like fall out there, which gets me really excited. I love summer though I have to say, right around the middle of it every year I get a little wishful about fall. This year, summer has been one of three things for the most part: extremely hot, extremely humid, or extremely wet.

These past couple of morning have been cool. Great mornings to run...if I had gone out. I've had a couple of 'later' nights (for me, 'later' means bed after 10:00) which don't typically equal a morning run the next day. I am a sucker for enough sleep! Considering I often put in 9-10 hour work days, sleep is important to me and I'll take it when I need it and schedule any running accordingly :)

I did run on Tuesday morning, and hit a couple of PR's:


The last half mile is pretty much downhill; the half mile before that is a slow, gradual, killer hill up a long, straight road. I find it my least favorite part of my morning run and definitely the biggest challenge, because by that time I'm tired and the straightaway seems never ending...

Monday morning (I know, I'm going back in time slightly; forgive my out-of-orderness) we moved into our new office! I actually really like it, though it's definitely an adjustment. The space itself is professional, updated, and has a neat, clean look: a few things our old office was getting away from. Lots to learn in this new space...new amenities, tons of security; on Tuesday night I had to call security so I could get OUT of the elevator bank and into the parking garage to my car! I felt pretty cool.

Here's a picture of my row:


My desk is on the right, where that orange purse sits :) And no, I don't work in a call center.
We also have a lovely terrace to the right of this picture with teak wood tables and a nice view of the surrounding area. Had lunch out there yesterday! Note to self: bring sunglasses! (And a sweater; the air conditioning definitely works).

My sister gave me something new last night, too - I'll post a picture of it later.
Right now, I'm off to get my day started - SO excited that it's Thursday and the weekend is creeping up!
Bye!

Monday, July 22, 2013

Monday Morning (Let's Do This!)

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend?
Mine was looonnng, as we had a half day on Friday to accommodate our move to a new office (today!)

B and I spent most of the weekend casually running errands and enjoying ourselves with Saturday afternoon coffees and beloved grocery store outings (I swear, that's our preferred regular entertainment). 
I ran Thursday, Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. On Saturday, I hit my weekly goal mileage of 15 miles with a 4.5 mile run (unplanned; I was feeling GREAT). So, that was awesome!
This is what I looked like after:
 


Yesterday I felt a little blah. It was my planned rest day, but after blahing around (and working) a while, B suggested maybe I try a little jog...just maybe it would make me feel better? So...I ditched the resting (oops) and went out for an experimental 'easy' 2 mile jog in great weather. It actually turned out to be a bit harder than I expected; in fact, my lungs were burning so much up my usual hill that I stopped to walk for a few seconds at the top, which helped. It was also later in the day than I prefer; I am definitely a morning running-on-an-empty-stomach kind of person, so running at 5pm was a new experience. I took a minute on my way back to appreciate this:



Today I am resting (well, and working).

My newest obsession and running dream is to do the Hood to Coast relay next year...which is a 197 mile relay race in Oregon, from Mount Hood to the ocean. The race (two days) has 36 legs and each team has 8 to 12 members, which means that each member runs multiple legs. The legs vary from 3 to 8 miles. I watched a documentary on the race on Saturday night and of course got hooked; I think I'd have to register (with a team) by this Fall. Anyway, I was thinking about that on my jog yesterday, because during the relay, running takes place at ALL times of the day and night, literally...3:30 am and you're going out for a 6 miler. So, I'd have to train to run at any time of day, not just mornings!

So cool though. Looks like an amazing experience. I need a team! I've got the motivation :)

I'm off to my new office this morning; 16 miles closer than my 'old' office, which makes me happy, and makes my gas-sipping car even happier. 

Our new workstations are of the 'long table' variety (with half walls between me and the person across from me/no partition between me and the person next to me)...which will be an adjustment from what we're used to: typical cubes with high enough walls that you have a bit of privacy. I guess this is the new world of the workplace; we'll see what it's like. I am excited about the fact that there's a cafeteria AND a coffee shop on site, too :)

Oh and included with our move was the choice of membership to the on-location gym. I'm looking forward to checking that out and hopefully using it this winter if it gets too cold or snowy.

Better keep moving so I can get out the door on time...
40 sleeps until vacation!!


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Insert Your Own Creative Title Here...

...because I got nothin'.

This morning's run fueled by cake, oh yeah.

We had a fun birthday party for my bf last night at my Dad's house! The whole family was there.
We hung around and chatted, then ate a tasty dinner of fish, homemade macaroni and cheese (what! I must make this instantly), salad, green beans, giant cherries and my boyfriend's favorite cake: the 7 pound chocolate cake from Costco! I didn't get a picture of it, but if you have a Costco near you, go buy one and eat it instantly. It's not expensive and it's seriously huge and delicious.

This morning I went for a 3 miler. It was tough! This week I've been tired when it comes to getting out there and running, and I'm directly linking it to (see previous post) the fact that I have been going to bed past my typical bedtime the past couple of nights. Tonight won't be much different, as I am showing my rental to two potential renters after work. Fingers crossed one of them is a great fit, loves it/must have it and throws a bunch of money at me.

I didn't run yesterday and worked from home; at about 2:30 I ran around the kitchen for ten minutes (which broke my calves, by the way) I used my RunKeeper app, which really doesn't work properly inside. This is what it captured of my ten minutes:


Best route ever! Looks tough to replicate :)

Anyway.

Today for lunch I will be going to the best salad place I know of for my last hurrah...must find new fabulous-salad place near the new office! On Monday I went there and I got this bowl of amazingness:


I have to go to the dentist this morning :(

Happy It's-Almost-Friday!!
Looking to log 8 more miles before Monday to make a solid 15 miles this week. 

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

This is Why I'm an Old Lady

I went to sleep at 11:00 and woke up at ten 'til 8 this morning (pressing snooze at my 5:45 wake-up-and-jog alarm). So, I skipped my jog, sad, and had just enough time for a cup of coffee before logging in to work (working from home today, the wonders of technology and the new flexible workplace). Gone are the days where I can stay up 'late' and still be a normal human in the morning...

My boyfriend has trained me well, advocating for a 9 o'clock bedtime (well at least in bed reading, not necessarily going to sleep then, though when I do, it's absolutely amazing). So now 10 o'clock is seriously pushing it for me, yikes!  Granted, on days I run, I wake up at 5:30 and then have a big long day after that, so come evening I'm definitely spent.  In general though, I just feel so much better in the morning when I go to bed early. It's one of those simple life lessons that took me a while to realize, though obviously this kind of thing changes with age so maybe it's just a matter of realizing where I am now and what my body needs. I have friends who stay up until midnight and get up at 6 in the morning; I have no idea how they function...

In running news, however, I ran four miles on Sunday (my longest run yet!) and again yesterday, taking Monday off inbetween. I didn't actually mean to run 4 miles yesterday; I was aiming for 3.5 but ended up a little farther from home than I realized. I also made it up a giant hill that I was totally going to avoid but realized it was actually the shortest way home. I'm not sure that how I got up the hill would be considered 'running' but I definitely had some sort of hop in my step and almost died at the top, which signalled to me that I must have been jogging or doing something similar.

Back to work! Family get together tonight and celebrating BF's recent birthday. Woo hoo! CAKE!
I'll have to discuss my eating habits as-of-late in another post. Since I've started running I've felt a little bit like a bottomless pit.

Have a great day!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

I lived to see the weekend...

...and yesterday I went for a Friday Victory Run.
Celebrating, of course, Friday. And celebrating that my morning jog went just the way I'd been wanting it to: wake up at 5:30, lay around for a few minutes, and then realize....I'm awake, and I'm wanting to go for a jog. This was the first morning I didn't feel like a slug having to peel myself out of bed in order to go out. That was refreshing :) Granted, my legs felt like someone tied a few pounds of bricks to each one, but I made it. Slow but steady.
And I saw four bunnies in the bunny 'hood I run through!

Since I'm newly obsessed with running, as this would be completely accurate of my personality (find a new interest and totally overload it into my system, ultimately burning out shortly thereafter, ha) I downloaded a 5K to 10K running app that a friend at work recommended. The beauty of this app, it appears, is that it sets the training schedule up, and is a gradual process, of course, over a few weeks, with three days of running per week (and the option of adding additional 'free runs' if desired). Anyway, my point is that this app may be helpful in reigning me in and keeping things at a pace at which I can actually sustain a 'love' of running over time.

Today is sort of an icky weather morning, though I'm enjoying it nonetheless since it's Saturday, my favorite morning! I've had my coffee, folded laundry, backed up my iPhone, and showered. Our plans involve heading out and just kind of seeing where the day takes us. Ah, the freedom of the weekend!

Even kitty witty is having a Saturday party:




Thursday, July 11, 2013

Out From the Woodwork

Good morning! And happy 2013...what! I had to dig around on the internet to find my blog; I guess that tells you that it's been a while. That and the fact that we're now in a whole different year. Oops! I've been enjoying some new blogs lately on account of my newfound (or again-found) slightly painful hobby of running. Reading these blogs (ChicRunner.com and HungryRunnerGirl.com) has reminded me that I used to have a blog! Look at that!

 It's been a hot, sticky summer thus far, what a great time to pick up a sport, right? It started in June with a ChallengeLoop monthly challenge of moving in some way four times a week for 30 minutes. That was a nice little jog for me, and having a community within the app to report into, I kept with it and actually started to reap the benefits of a regularly scheduled exercise routine. Now I'm a month and a half in, running four to five times a week, this week working on a 3.5 mile run. Just missed thunder and lightning this morning, too, but did manage to get in on the rain that was coming down...

 Moving our office in two weeks, cutting my commute in half, which is oh-so-amazing (really not amazing for those who will be adding minutes). Work is work but I'm finding that a heavy workload, an exercise routine, and randomly, eating breakfast before I leave for work (as opposed to at my desk at work) gears me up for a typically productive day, which feels good. Forward momentum makes me happy :)

 I'll keep this post short, as I'm just getting back into the swing of things here...oh and have to continue getting ready for work...so have a fabulous it's-almost-the-weekend day!