That Felt GREAT.

I set out for an easy 5-miler today and I intentionally ran really easy. I felt sluggish at a slow pace for 2 miles but then something amazing happened… I felt GOOD. Really good. So I just kept going, holding my pace steady. And for being Garmin-less, GUESS WHAT I ran EXACTLY an 8:30 pace. So Eric… I met your challenge, actually I think I passed it with FLYING COLORS!

Eric’s Challenge:

I had challenge for you run slow on your easy day and your long run
let 8:30 mile pace let see if you can do it jajaja

----

Ok there are many tools to pace your self a simple method is go to map my run .com make a course your self and print it with the mile marker from there you know when you hit each place you check your watch and the pace you are doing if you don’t want run with sheet write the intersection # near the markers and then you know around what pace you are going. simple way concentrate on going slow to 1 point and come back fast negative splits by low is slow ..

Hahaha… he really knows what to say to get me on board. It might have been that jajaja in there. THANKS ERIC for staying on my back about the easy pace. I’m going to see how I feel for my next long run, but I’m planning on doing at least the first half of it at an 8:30 pace and then maybe I can pick it up for the last half. I have a 15-miler coming up next week, yay- I can’t wait! I need to get some GU ROCTANE. Note to self: Check Marathon Sports and stop by Dick’s Sporting Goods in Keene.

FRI EASY RUN!

Scheduled: 5 mi easy

Distance: 5.7 mi

Time: 49 minutes exactly

Pace: 8:30 min/mi exactly JAJAJA! :)

Notes: Like I said I felt a little blah for a mile or two but then I felt GREAT and for the rest of the run I felt really good.

 

Elliot and I are going to Marathon Sports in a little bit to pick out some presents for his Mom’s Birthday on Sunday! She’s a runner (has been doing Marathons for years). We want to get her THE STICK, some cool socks, and then once we roll into Keene we are going to get here a cool fish for her garden fountain-pond.

 

Tomorrow I have 3x1600 on the schedule. Gotta get PUMPED!

 

HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEKEND!

Easy Run, Hard Run, and a Mid-Week Mini Vacation!

Hi everyone! I took a mini-vacation yesterday with Elliot. We both took the day off from work! Before I recap, let’s reeeeeeeeeewind to Tuesday.

 

TUES Easy Run!

Scheduled: 5 mi easy

Distance: 5.7 miles

Time: 45:15

Pace: 7:50

Notes: I should’ve gone even slower, but what else is new. The sun came out and I ran a new little loop in some pretty neighborhoods near my house.

 

 

And to start our mini-vacation yesterday Elliot and I got up and hit the road for a hard run. We split a banana pre-run.

 

WEDS Tempo Run!

Scheduled: 15 min warm-up, 30 min HMP tempo, 15 min cool-down

Distance: Total 7.5 miles , 4.4 miles at tempo pace

Tempo Time: 30 min

Tempo Pace: 6:48 min/mi

Notes: Elliot and I set out together, but after the warm-up we ran our own paces for the remainder of the run. I had my ipod on and I turned it up and zoned in on just GOING, focus entirely inward. For the entire 30-min tempo run I listened to one song on repeat: Bleed It Out by Linkin’ Park.

Route: I had mapped out a 4.5 mile loop as a tentative distance for the tempo (I really really really just can’t run to a non-finish… I have some sort of tempo disorder, lol). That was based on a hopeful 6:36 min/mi pace. I told myself just go for it and see where you end up. I was pretty close! I was just a couple of streets away from my pre-planned finish street. Not bad!

How I felt after: My cool down run was the slowest of slow runs I have ever run. I could NOT go any faster, I felt like someone had tied one of those harness things around my waist and was digging their heels in behind me…

Feeling slow for the cool-down was fine with me- I was just happy to have done the tempo run at an similar pace and improved distance from last time. Seriously these are so hard for me! I have to try every trick in the book—the ipod with a repeating song, a set distance, self talk. Whew. Well. GTJD.

 

Elliot ran strides at the track and I ran strides drove to Starbucks to pick up two recovery Vivannos!

Did you know there’s a new flavor?! Strawberry-Banana!

I got the Strawberry Banana Vivanno with Matcha (green tea powder) for Elliot, and of course I had to try it to see if it beat out my tried-and-true Chocolate Banana. It was GOOD but very very sweet. I think I still prefer Chocolate Banana. That’s what I got, with Espresso.

We had our Vivannos, stretched, rolled, sticked, and showered, and had some banana oatmeal, too!

In all the above- BANANA TALLY: FOUR!

LOL> It’s like Where’s Waldo, but in this blog it is Banana Counts. You will have to do your own detective work to add them up.

 

 

 

Hooray for a MINI-VACATION!

After running and refueling we were ready for the rest of the day. Seriously, taking a random Wednesday off from work was the BEST idea EVER.

 

Here are the highlights…

 

Downtown: Lunch at Viga

I got  The Vegetariano

Grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, sprouts and fresh spinach with a roasted garlic mayonnaise guacamole.

It came on this deeeeeeeeeelicious flat-ish whole wheat bread that was just a little salty. SO GOOD.

 

Shear Madness!

Has anyone seen this play?

The description is: America's favorite comedy, the uproarious whodunit where the audience gets to solve the crime.

It is worth seeing! I’ve seen it three times so far in my life. Once on our 8th grade Washington D.C. class trip, once with my family in Boston, and again in Boston yesterday at the Charles Playhouse.

This is one of my Dad’s all-time favorite shows. He was an 8th grade math teacher at Keene Middle School for 33 years and I’m not exactly sure how many years he went on the DC trip as a chaperone, but it has to be close to 20 if not more. And on ALL of those trips he saw Shear Madness. Not only is he not sick of it, but he was hoping to see it again with us yesterday! He’s the one who found Boston’s special deal for July 1st ($10 tickets!). Unfortunately he and my mom couldn’t come down, but Elliot and I went!

You really just have to see it!

 

Dinner and Drinks at The Sunset Grill and Tap

If you remember, I went here recently with my friend Sara for dinner and margaritas. This place never disappoints… and it’s never quiet! It was Wednesday and the place was PACKED.

Elliot and I went with his roommates to get dinner and drinks. It’s so funny how taking a day off can really put you in insta-vacation mode. I got a margarita… not surprising as of lately.

The group decided to throw an impromptu game night (I might have been a key player in that decision,… as in “WHO WANTS TO PLAY A GAME?!”… LOL). We almost went to a trivia night, but the game had started 30 minutes before we finished dinner.

So instead we went back to the boys’ apartment to play…

 

SCATTERGORIES!

 

This is one of my favorite word games.

My sister Kari and I used to play Scattergories Junior every single Christmas morning at the break of dawn while we waited for our parents to wake up. Haha. We had the routine down: wake up at some early hour, tiptoe to see the cookie crumbs left by Santa, the bulges in our stockings, and the stacks of presents under the tree! And then run really really excitedly back to Kari’s room to contain ourselves and play Scattergories until it was finally time for Christmas.

Last summer I found the original version of Scattergories at a “FREE” side of the curb pile. Of course I stopped immediately and snatched away my very own box of Scattergories! WOO HOO! It now resides at Elliot’s apartment so we can all play on nights like last night.

 

I have to say one of my favorite moments was when in the “B” round (all answers have to start with B) I had to name a character in the Bible and I wrote down BABY JESUS and every single person voted my answer INADMISSABLE. Excuse me?! They said that’s not his name, and it would be like answering BABY ABRAHAM. Oh my goodness that is so not true. Who’s with me?! Hahaha… I got over it… Eventually.

 

And so that ends our Mini Vacation.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I’m back to work today! But the beauty of that is that the weekend starts tomorrow. Hooray! How’s everyone doing? I need to CATCH UP with everyone like WHOAAAA, it’s amazing how far behind I feel after being away for just one day.

Have a great day!!!

Lacey In Real Life.

YESTERDAY…

• Woke up at Elliot’s- went to work.
• Worked all day- left work really tired.
• Went home and sort-of napped for an hour.
• Went to the gym to lift (Scheduled: Rest Day).
• Biked easy for 20 minutes with Women’s Health Magazine, sweated way more than the workout justified, then lifted, then showered.
• Went to the grocery store for a quick stop to pick up a few things to make Elliot and myself dinner.
• Left the grocery store and realized I had forgotten egg whites- a key component to oatmeal pancakes.
• Went back to the grocery store. Secured egg whites. Also grabbed Stacey’s Parmesan Garlic Pita Chips which I had passed up the first run through, but they were on sale and I knew Elliot would want something more than dinner to snack on. I also wanted to try them.
• Came home, brought groceries inside, realized wallet was in grocery bags, thought “oops” I’ll put it in my work bag and bring it with me tomorrow morning.
• Made dinner:
• banana-pumpkin oatmeal pancakes
• strawberries
• veggie+cilantro filled omelets
• Got a call that Elliot was arriving at the bus stop.
• Got in my car to go pick him up.
• STOPPED at the stop sign down the road from my house, BUT…
• GOT PULLED OVER by a cop sitting in his car next to the stop sign. He claimed I rolled through. He’s wrong.
• Cried.
• Got a warning only for the stop sign (um, hello, I STOPPED), BUT…
• Got a $35 ticket for not having my license in the car.
• Kept crying.
• Police officer said, “Now don’t get all choked up just because of me…” and then said, “Make sure you appeal this- just tell them you were making a quick trip to the bus stop.” WHY did you give me a ticket then if you’re going to tell me to just appeal it?!
• Kept crying- I get really upset when stupid and unnecessary things happen.
• Picked up Elliot.
• Elliot gave me $25 to stop crying, “Honey now your ticket only costs $10!”
• Stopped crying.
• Ate dinner.
• Watched Firefly.
• Couldn’t fall asleep- neighbors driveway light stayed on all night?!- Fell asleep eventually.

 

Please notice that Morning Core is ABSENT from my morning routine. As soon as I started morning running last week my mini morning core challenge went right out the window!!! I was too pressed for time with stretching and rolling. But I am determined to get back into it, and I’ll be sure to report daily.

Falling Down and Cranking It Up.

Before I say anything else I should say I am really glad I signed up for this trail racing series. It’s a little bit crazy but toward the FUN end of the crazy spectrum.

Having said that… it’s SO NOT my thing. It’s hard, I’ve had to walk in both races I’ve done, and my times are so much slower than my easy-run road paces. But! It’s gotta be doing me some good, right? I’m sure I’ll have a well-formed pluses and minuses list for you by the end of the series.

Here’s where the ALL OUT TRAIL RUN race started… in the middle of the woods! We arrived at beautiful Moody Park in Claremont, NH. WOODS, WOODS, and more WOODS.

There were little tents set up with plenty of food for both before and after the race: bananas, bagels, peanut butter, and coolers of water and Powerade. They even played music!

 

So how was the race?

We started in the clearing you can see above, and ran right into the woods. There were some winding flats and uphills-downhills through the first two miles.

THE FALL: Right before the second mile mark I absolutely wiped out, stubbing my toe on a root or something and face planting into the ground! It happened so fast I didn’t go down gracefully at all. But I popped right back up. Luckily I had fallen just on the dirt and pine needles, so I just had some scrapes on my knees and hip. My toe actually hurts to the touch but I think it’s just bruised.

It has been raining  for weeks now, so I wasn’t at all surprised to see mud pits all along the trail. Seriously, there was no getting around them. We had to just plow through them, landing feet deep in this mushy mud.

After a relatively low-key two miles we hit the major course surprise. Last race it was a set of steep stairs. Well this race we ran through this v-shaped pit called GRAVITY CAVITY.

GRAVITY CAVITY: It is seriously v-shaped. Steep dirt slope down to the bottom and then steep dirt slope right back up to the top.

I got to the edge of Gravity Cavity and I literally stopped, I didn’t know how to go down!!!! I wanted to sit on my butt and scoot down the slope, but I opted to run a little zig zag until I was close enough to the bottom to just let go. On the climb out of Gravity Cavity I started at a run and ended up in a hunched over walk just trying to keep my footing and get back to the top!

Right after traversing Gravity Cavity, we hit a looooooong ascent. THIS WAS A KILLER HILL. I had to power walk part of it, I just could not get my legs to keep moving up-up-up as it was as steep as it was LONG. Once we finally reached the top we ran across a really pretty meadow, and then we wound our way down through the woods BACK to Gravity Cavity.

YEP that’s right, we had to go BACK through Gravity Cavity to finish the race. Essentially as soon as you heaved yourself out of the pit, you had a 100-yard dash to the finish. Gosh.

I flung myself down the first leg of the V this time, and then tried to jog up the second leg of the V, but resorted to a jumping sort of walk for most of it. I was able to get my footing enough to run the last bit to the top of the pit and then dashed away to the finish.

WHEW!!!!

My friend Rob beat me this race. GO ROB! He had a great race and he powered through that big hill. If there was one thing I could do over it would have been to NOT walk on that hill. It will probably haunt me for the rest of the summer. Hopefully I will see some improvement in my trail-running stamina over the course of the series!

Here are the results for my age group. I came in fifth:

GRAVES
SARA
0:36:58.9

ZUMMO
LYNNE
0:37:46.0

OSCADAL
KATHLEEN
0:39:09.3

BRAUCH
MARINA
0:39:56.3

HEBERT
LACEY
0:42:15.5

• Distance: 4.85 miles
• Pace: 8:27 min/mile

LYNAUGH
HEATHER
0:45:26.7

 

At the first race a couple of weeks ago, the top 3 in each age group won maple syrup! Well guess what they got this time??

…A POUND OF BACON or SAUSAGE.

HILARIOUS! Here’s one winner pretty psyched about his raw meat:

All the participants got a t-shirt and a cool red lunch-bag with the race’s name on it. I guess the insulated lunch bag was a good idea since they were awarding raw meat to the winners! LOL!!!

Two races down, five to go! The next trail race is FRENZY IN THE FOREST on July 11th. I don’t know about you but I’m PRETTY pumped! In all seriousness the race is in Sunapee, NH which is well-known for its ski areas and lake parks. I’m sure the course will be beautiful!

 

I didn’t realize it, but this race took SO MUCH out of me. After I had showered and eaten I fell asleep for THREE HOURS. I felt like I’d been drugged! It was that HEAVY sleep. Oh but it felt so good!

That was the best part about Saturday, post-race. ULTIMATE RELAXATION. I just snoozed all afternoon and read all evening. SIGH.

I spent all day Sunday lounging around in NH. I visited my Grammy and watched most of the US-Brazil soccer game. I finally headed back to Boston, arriving around 6pm.

I had checked my training schedule before leaving, and I knew that Sunday should be a 12-miler. I reasoned I had rested really well after the race and all day so far.

I told myself: NOW is the time.

You need to start CRANKING IT UP if you want to improve. GO GET ‘EM!

I opted to run my favorite 3-mile loop FOUR TIMES. There is something so reassuring, knowing the path so well, and breaking the run into laps. It felt more manageable. And- I ROCKED IT!

SUN LONG RUN!

Scheduled: 10-12 miles

Distance: 12.4 miles

Time: 1:34:09

Pace: 7:30 min/mi

Notes: It was NOT raining, which was awesome, since it is supposed to rain again ALL WEEK. It wasn’t dark out yet, but it was overcast. I was warm in a t-shirt and shorts, but the air was starting to cool down. I used my FASTDRAW water-bottle for the first time! I LOVED having water with me. I didn’t use it until the last half of the run, but being able to take a few sips of water here and there WHILE running was AWESOME. I got the same water-bottle that BOBBI recommended. Here is the link to it. I also tried a new GU, taken at mile 10. I was just starting to feel heavy-legged and crampy and truly fatigued. Well after I took the Gu and had some water with it, I was able to bust out the last two miles and finish strong. I loved the flavor, I loved the energy components,- this might be my new favorite gel.

GU ROCTANE: Orange Vanilla Flavor.

1 packet (32g/1.1oz)

Total Carb. 25g- 8%

Sugars 5g

Sodium 125mg- 5%

Potassium 55mg- 2%

Calcium- 2%

Roctane Amino
Blend 1220mg
Histidine†
Leucine†
Valine†
Isoleucine†

Ornithine Alpha-
ketoglutarate†
480mg

Caffeine†
35mg

From their website, here is a little background on the ingredients and benefits:

Roctane takes athletes' top choice for an energy gel, GU, amplifies the original recipe and then adds new ingredients to boost performance in sustained, high-intensity efforts. Here's how it's done:
We start with original GU's superior mix of complex and simple carbohydrates that provide quick and sustained energy, electrolytes for replenishment and caffeine to tap more power and diminish pain.
From there we increase the amount of histidine, an essential amino acid, to act as a buffer and slow the energy-sapping lactic acid build-up in muscles.
We mix in higher levels of citrates (potassium citrate, sodium citrate, and citric acid) to help speed the conversion of carbohydrates into energy molecules and, like histidine, help mitigate acid build-up.
We also add more of the branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, valine and isoleucine to serve as another fuel source, aid in recovery and help maintain mental focus and reduce fatigue by limiting the central nervous system's production of serotonin.
Finally, we add a new ingredient, the amino acid complex Ornithine Alpha-Ketoglutarate (OKG) which limits the body's tendency to break down muscle protein tissue during extremely hard training and racing days. OKG keeps you going longer and promotes a speedier recovery.

 

I took my Gu at 1 hour and 17 minutes and my run ended at 1 hour and 34 minutes. I could have taken it earlier, but I never take energy gels for runs less than 13 miles. I think this gel not only helped me finish strong, but helped my recovery, too. That’s just my personal opinion.

It looks like there is one other Gu Roctane flavor: Blueberry Pomegranate. I got my Vanilla Orange in a freebie-package somewhere along the way and it has been hiding in my running box for a little while. I’m so glad I tried it out! You can buy them online, but I am going to look around a little bit and see if they are sold in stores nearby.

 

WOW this has been a monster post. THANKS FOR READING!

Oh, and if you didn’t read Elliot’s post yesterday with his roomie Alex, you really should! It is hilarious.

Today is a REST DAY on my schedule but I think I’m going to go to the gym and LIFT! Now’s the time everyone. Let’s CRANK IT UP!

Alex and Elliot: Inane gchatting on Sunday morning

Alex and I have rooms next to each other. We are approximately 10 feet away however we often communicate via gchat or, if it's important, cell phone. 

 

alexander: what are you doing?

me: this conversation is already over

11:43 AM alexander: the podcast i'm listening to kind of sucks

me: is this a new conversation?

alexander: some woman is talking about creams and cancer and stuff

no...we're continuing the previous conversation

me: that one ended

alexander: not on this side

---

20 minutes

12:04 PM me: unless you have objections you are included on comcast bill for choke and death race

alexander: i don't object

me: who ordered synodoche or someting like that

i don't know what that is

12:05 PM me: synechdoche

alexander: i still don'tknow

12:06 PM me: you are a failure

alexander: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0383028/

me: did you watch pineapple express with me

alexander: no

me: i wonder who did

cory perhaps

alexander: it wasn't me

12:07 PM me: you made that clear earlier

alexander: i wanted to reiterate that point

12:08 PM me: i have no intention of clicking your above link

alexander: you should

12:09 PM me: i know where its going to go and it will not benefit my life

---

16 minutes

12:25 PM me: Biking is boring

 

12:26 PM alexander: you are an idiot

me: so you agree biking is boring

alexander: you only say that because you don't have a bike

no...i disagree

me: i had a bike and i rode it twice

both rides were interrupted by flat tires

alexander: flat tires are exhilerating

me: you know how many flat tires i have had running?

12:27 PM alexander: how many

me: only a biker would ask that

alexander: you've probably had more than you think

me: thats absurd

alexander: biking in the city it kind of scary and anything but boring

12:28 PM me: thats true when i worked in brookline i used to bike to work, that was fun

alexander: and it's fast...much faster than running and therefore much more exciting than running

me: i maintain that fitness biking is boring, unnatural and inconvenient

12:29 PM alexander: on a stationary bike?

me: anything with bike in the word

or bicycle for that matter

alexander: running on a treadmill is boring

me: thats true

alexander: what about bicycle race? that's not boring

12:30 PM me: probably not but fitness/hobby biking does not take place on city streets nor at races usually

me: they wander off down long country highways or some equally idyllic setting

alexander: i fitness bike in the city

12:31 PM alexander: i ride into boston and go up and down beacon hill

you're stereotyping elliot

alexander: stop being a bicycle bigot

me: regardless that doesn't address the other problems

alexander: what other problems

me: the fact is it lacks the attractive simplicity of other forms of exercise

12:32 PM alexander: i disagree

me: thats because you are a moron

alexander: i'm sorry that bicycle is too complex for you

me: a bike is an arbitrary traveling device actually made to simply be efficient

12:33 PM alexander: it's an improvement on running

me: as far as getting somewhere, yes

alexander: and it's lower impact

me: and i have nothing against the occasional communal bike ride

12:34 PM alexander: communal?

me: i didnt want to say family because thats exclusive

alexander: with a community?

me: kyle goes with his apt building around nyc

as a matter of fact

alexander: that's cute

me: agreed

12:35 PM that is still not regular fitness biking

alexander: anyway...i'm not arguing that running is bad...i like running more than cycling

but cycling is not boring

me: i have also added unnatural

and unwieldy, im going to look that word up

12:36 PM not readily handled or managed in use or action, as from size, shape, or weight; awkward; ungainly.

alexander: that's a very good description of you actually

12:37 PM me: agreed

alexander: how is biking unnatural? does it go against gods wishes

me: running, swimming, or even the organized sports like basketball and football have a raw physicality that is simply lacking

alexander: are you bitter because you can't ride a bike?

12:38 PM me: no i have been able to ride a bike in the past and have not

i have in fact used bikes for transportation

more evidence to how much of a pain in the ass bikes are, my coworker received a ticket for running a red light

on his way to work

12:40 PM alexander: have you heard of jaywalking

me: i have never heard of anyone getting a jaywalking ticket no

alexander: maybe not around here

me: also pants always get stuck in the thing and torn

alexander: not if you roll up the leg

me: then it falls down again

alexander: you're just incompetent and can't roll right

12:41 PM me: allston sucks because the residents treat it like (edited for language)

 

 

12:42 PM alexander: you are wrong

it has a transient feel that is exciting

i prefer it

me: thats because you are a poor resident

12:43 PM alexander: do you hate poor people?

me: how is people throwing trash everywhere exciting?

alexander: you never know what's going to happen

someone could throw trash at you

12:44 PM me: i was sitting on our deck and somoene throw a pizza box at a bmw for no apparent reason

alexander: yeah i was there

me: did you do it?

alexander: there was plenty of good reasons for me to do that

the guy in the bmw was smug

he was asking for it

12:45 PM me: actually hewas more of a wimp then smug

alexander: he was smug and then became a wimp*

12:46 PM me: allston is hip though

alexander: this is the most interesting conversation ever..

me: im trying

you are a terrible conversationalist

12:47 PM alexander: there are a lot of cool places...

lots

me: this is a failure

12:48 PM alexander: when i'm typing email i write "got it" a lot. i almost type "go tit" all the thime

me: do you think its possible to find a neighborhood that has allstons excitement but also residents that actually care about the place they live

alexander: no...it's impossible

12:49 PM me: that is a terrible answer from a terrible person

alexander: i hate you

12:50 PM me: if you werent such a useless person you would have had more of a comment

alexander: the conversation is over

me: your life is over

alexander: is that a threat?

i can hear you laughing

me: i am a prophet

i was crying

mourning you

alexander: you're an awful person

me: i don't see how that's relevant

12:51 PM alexander: hold on a second

 

Alex has taken to saying this and then hanging up. Apparently he has taken this phone etiquette to the chat world.

Confirmed: I’m an Afternoon Runner.

Yesterday was epic. Or dare I say… LEGENDARY???  LOL. (How I Met Your Mother dominates my life! Hehe). Let me start at the beginning.

Where I last left off with you I was at work.

I told you about my slowed-down 5-miler in the morning. Well, after 8 hours I left work and lo and behold…

… the sun had come out strong and suddenly it was was 75 degrees! And humid!! Summer is here!

 

NEXT: Make it a double.

I made a spur of the moment decision to go for a second run.

Why not? I had done such a good job of running easy in the morning that my legs were ready to roll. They WANTED to run. It was THEIR TIME.

I did a quick reality check in my mind: I had the time- the weather was beautiful- and I had a ton of energy!

I’m so glad I went. I felt SO MUCH BETTER than I did on my morning run.

I think this confirms that I’m really an afternoon runner.

Thurs AM Run!

Time: 7am

Scheduled: 5 mi easy

Distance: 5.3 miles

Time: 44:00

Pace: 8:18 min/mi

Thurs PM Run!

Time: 4:30pm

Distance: 5.5 miles

Time: 42:29

Pace: 7:36 min/mi

 

THURS TOTAL MILEAGE: 10.8 miles

 

My day wasn’t even CLOSE to done at this point.

During the 8-hour interlude between runs, our landlords had someone re-caulk our bathtub. And it had to sit water-free for 24 hours. So I had to go to the gym to take a shower. No big deal since my gym is a mile away from my house.

 

NEXT: The gym.

I decided to lift while I was there, since it should have been a lifting day anyway. I would ideally like to lift three days a week but it usually ends up being once or twice. So the more I lift, the better!

I did a quick two sets of the following:

Bicep curl-Shoulder press combo, Tricep pull down, DB Chest press, DB Row.

This is when I found out Michael Jackson had gone into cardiac arrest! Every single TV at the gym was headlining the news. It became clear almost immediately that he had died.

I ogled the news and then took a shower.

 

NEXT: New smoothie!

At home I made a shake with THIS:

Quick Review: It was pretty good! This was the Whole Food Optimizer chocolate flavor. It comes in powder form- I had picked up a single packet at Whole Foods. I blended mine with ice, milk, and a banana. My first taste interpretation: interesting and complicated. It tasted healthy, but I liked it. 110 calories, 11 grams of protein, and a whole long list of essentials and enhancers: fiber, omega 3s, chlorella, maca, probiotics, berry derived antioxidants, 100% RDA vitamins and minerals.

Dinner #1 was a salmon-veggie egg scramble with cilantro and cracked pepper. So good! I think I could eat some version of scrambled eggs every night of the week. Challenge?! Hardly. LOL. Maybe I’ll document this next week.

 

NEXT: Clery’s Bar!

I really love going out in Boston. It feels like home, but it’s big enough to be exciting. I met Elliot at his apartment (he ran home from work). We took the train to Copley and walked down Dartmouth Street to Clery’s.

We met one of my best friends Sara and her boyfriend Peter. Peter had just gotten back from 4 years in Hawaii (broken up by 15 months in Iraq). He’s in the infantry and is on leave for a few weeks before re-locating to Denver.

We also met hundreds of sweaty runners who had just finished something called the Corporate Challenge run. Apparently there are teams from all different companies in Boston who do this 3ish mile run that ENDS at Clery’s. When they arrive, all the runners schmooze in the bar. WOW it was packed. And hot. I started sweating the second I sat down. Good thing we had ice cold beverages…

…I had THREE margaritas and they were all magical! Hehehe…

 

What was dinner #2?! It was a veggie burger with swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and avocado. DELISH!

We had a great time. Toward the end of the night we had a Never Have I Ever game going around our table. Can you believe someone had never broken a bone?! I’ve broken THREE. And torn my ACL.

 

Next: A Nighttime Walk!

Elliot and I walked a solid mile from the bar to Kenmore square, before grabbing a ride to his apartment. That was my idea. I loooooooooooove walking when it’s nice outside. The air was perfect, the sky was dark, AND there was lightning over and over and over! It must have been heat lightning because there was no rain or thunder. Just the light show. Spectacular!

 

THE END!

 

Needless to say today is a REST DAY!

I’m going to buckle down at work and then hit the road. Keene, NH (and donuts!) (and trail race!) here I come.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!