It's been a while...

Hey there strangers...

My tracks through the dusting of snow.

December & January have been so extremely busy. In the past 2 years I've acquired the job description of "Event Planner" in addition to office manager for Pierce County EDC, which can be really stressful, but also exciting as well. A challenge to memory, multi-tasking, etc. It kind of takes over every day of my life & I feel like all I do is check my phone for the latest emails from guests, updates from the printers, award creators, keynote speakers, etc. I think I'm at the point now though where I'm ready for this one, which is good because the event is TONIGHT. Ha.

hamster wheel

The training has been going fine, despite the cold. Many people have been asking me a lot about the cold training, so I thought I should just send a note out into the world. I have been forced indoors with the plunge in temperatures & biting windchill. Saturday & Sunday, whichever seems to work out with our schedule are my long run days.
This past Sunday I had to run my first long run at the gym. Two hours on the hamster wheel, I hadn't prior ran farther than 6 miles on the treadmill. Its just a struggle the whole time, I cannot distract myself with television or music, I just keep counting mph and tenths of miles until I reach the next mile. I turned on Mad Men, which seemed to help a little bit; thank you Jon Hamm for being such a beautiful man. At 10 miles in I was at 85:20, then I think at 99:59 I was close to 11.9, but I'm not certain. The machine shut off & I had to restart to finish up the last 20 minutes. This threw me off, I don't like to stop once I've started, it stings.

I ended up getting a severe tummy cramp for the first time in a long while. So...I learned I'll have to construct a plan, if I need to run over 14 miles on the treadmill from here on out.

Yesterday, I got home early from work. It was 22 degrees outside, which just the day before, when I left for work it was -17 at the end of our road. What a change this was; an instant smile-maker. I had to hit the pavement, after being cooped up in the gym all week. I smiled & felt very fast & light as I ran. It just was such a blessing to get back outside of the stagnant gym walls. I'm definitely an outdoor runner. That's the entire draw for me, seeing nature, quiet peace, not the pounding of my shoes on a rubber pad rotating; how dreadful. But, I gotta' keep going, so when the weather doesn't work, I'll be there on Saturday/Sunday, training.

This weekend will NOT be one of those indoor weekends however, 37 degrees on Saturday! BLESSED! I think I'll wear shorts, and a Tu-Tu to express my elation over the heatwave. If you see a crazy girl, running around Ellsworth, in rainbow colors, throwing glitter & twirling, that will be me. Maybe we'll even smoke some meat, open the shed, listen to a little Rodney James Dio, & pretend its summertime. 

I cannot wait to hit the pavement for my long run this weekend. Thanks to everyone who's cared, asked and listened to my ramblings about running. I know it gets boring to those who aren't actually training, but that you care means a lot to me.