chocolate-covered cherries

I felt like having oatmeal this morning.

I should have photographed it BEFORE I mixed it all up, but I hadn’t been planning on blogging about it until Andrew urged me to. So, instead of being pretty, it looks like brown mush. But it was good!

I used instant oats (I know, I know, not my favorite, but I have a bag of them here in the hotel and I want to use them up!), half a banana, a few frozen cherries, 1 tbsp chocolate chips, 1/2 tbsp flaxseed meal, slivered almonds and a splash of milk.

I knew I was going to swim today, so I wanted something that would fill me up, and I just wasn’t in the mood for a smoothie and toast.

For my first time back in the pool, I did a simple “build” workout: a 100, 200, 300, 400 and then a 500-yd swim. That adds up to 1,500 yds, which is just shy of a 1-mile swim. I took it nice and slowly; it took about a half-hour. It was nice to be back in the pool; there is just something about putting on goggles and blocking out the rest of the world for awhile. I feel good and am looking forward to future pool workouts.

Happy Monday everyone!

it’s a jungle in there

Laundry day. Here, it was yesterday.

I’ve been doing laundry about once a week since we’ve been here, which means I have about two bins full of dirty clothes between the two of us. I shouldn’t complain; the laundry room is just down the hall and free to use. All I need to do is provide soap, time and elbow grease.

However, there is a little wrinkle (haha, no pun intended) in my laundry routine. I hang all, and I mean ALL, my workout clothes to dry. The high heat from the dryer breaks down the elastic–I read that somewhere. I did this at home, too, but I always did smaller loads throughout the week, so I never had more than about seven or eight items to hang at any one time.

Well. This laundry-once-a-week-thing transforms my bathroom into what looks like a cramped running goods store. Or a jungle of brightly colored dry-fit wear.

Twenty-five items total hung in my bathroom yesterday.

Sports bras: 8

Shorts: 6

Shirts: 6

Long-sleeve shirts: 2

Yoga shorts: 2

Running capris: 1

ONE of the above items was a “regular” article of clothing; a part-cashmere top I wore to church last weekend. (I have a phobia of drying ANYTHING that might ruin, shrink or otherwise become less nice because of the dryer. I will say, however, now that I’ve lost a few pounds, I’ve been throwing things in the dryer right and left! It’s so freeing…)

On a side note, I didn’t actually wear eight sports bras in one week; I picked up a few more the other day since the last couple times I had to do laundry out of necessity (as in I had nothing left to wear for my workouts)!

I ended up scoring some great deals at Marshalls–two sports bras, a pair of Nike running capri pants for fall and a pair of New Balance yoga shorts for $60! The running capris at Dick’s are typically $60 alone, so I was pretty stoked.

ANYWAY…

…it really was pretty jungle-like in there for awhile! And that didn’t include any of Andrew’s shorts (he’s started running again in the mornings), which I hung up in his bathroom. I guess I should be thankful he hasn’t hung up any of his clothes in his closet (they remain in the Rubbermaid tub and duffle they arrived in) so I have thirty-odd extra hangers at any given time…

finally, a runner

I went for a run yesterday in Carmel on the Monon trail in my new, expensive shoes (see yesterday’s post). I had anticipated doing about five or six miles and waved goodbye to grandma at 7:40 saying I’d be back in less than hour.

…Ten and a half miles later…

I just didn’t want to stop! This has never happened to me before. I mean, I’ve really grown to love running and I’ve had my share of great runs, but I’ve never, EVER, just ‘kept going’ against my better judgement (hello Holly? you’re wearing brand-new shoes…) for such a distance. But this was EUPHORIC. Seriously. Despite my still paltry amount of sleep, I felt well rested and the weather was beautiful. The shoes on my feet felt like pillows and I had all sorts of energy.

The Monon trail is about 1.25 miles from grandma and grandpa’s house, so by the time I got there and had done just a couple miles, it would have been time to turn around again. But it was just so beautiful! The trees provided almost complete shade, there were tons of people out running and biking and walking their dogs. I even saw a girl wearing the same purple top as me–I called out “nice shirt” as I went by. I also started paying attention to the mile markers that were counting down to the start of the Monon. It was only a couple miles away. I quickly did the mental math and figured out it would be about 10 if I made it to “0.0.” So, the competitive side of me came out and I surged ahead, all the while feeling the most amazing runner’s high I’ve ever felt.

And the run just went so fast! It was a combination of my actual speed and comfort (about 9-minute miles, I think–a pretty easy pace for me) and being so distracted by everything around me. The quarter-mile markers just whizzed by. This was especially nice on the way back, as I was starting to get a little antsy that the rest of my family might be worried I was taking so long, or (gasp!) up and breakfasting without me! I was back to Main Street in Carmel before I knew it, and just had to chug back to the house. I’ll be honest, the rising temperature and sun coupled with the very slight incline up the road to grandma’s house was enough to slow my pace a little on the last mile, but I still felt drugged I was so happy. And God must have been smiling on me yesterday, since all I ended up with after a 10-plus mile run in BRAND NEW SHOES was a slight rub under one toe–praise God!

I have considered myself a runner for awhile now. I started running in high school for fitness, then in college for ROTC, but never more than three miles or so. My friend, Betsy, and now-husband, Andrew, introduced me to long-distance running and I challenged myself to do more. Both of them had run cross-country in high school (I hadn’t even known it existed…) and continued running in college. Before long I could do six miles slowly. Despite completing a marathon (VERY slowly) my senior year of college, I still didn’t fee like a true runner. It was still a chore. Something to check off.

Fast-forward four years: I’ve upped my running, gotten a bit faster and completed another marathon. I gladly ran at PT before work in the mornings and maybe some Saturdays as well, but I still didn’t LOVE it.

It wasn’t until I got out of the military and met Susy at the gym that I truly began to ‘find myself’ in my running. She challenged me to go faster and longer than I ever had. She is the most dedicated runner I’ve ever met. She faithfully runs six or more miles every day but Saturday, her rest day. Not that everyone has to follow her formula; I find running every other day works better for me. She did the math the other day and figured out we’d run more than 2,000 miles together in the last two years…TWO THOUSAND! Holy cow! I just wonder how many words that was…

Both becoming a runner and feeling like a runner has been a struggle for me. I’d been putting in the miles for years, but I hadn’t yet found any joy in it. Part of that probably has to do with how “easy” running is at any point. Part of it was my body. I was a bit of a chubby kid and I’ve never really “looked” like a runner. Even my dad said so once… that’ll scar you for life. And no, do I look like the skeletal, fat-less, boob-less (well, that part might be true), muscle-less women in tiny tops and running underwear competing on tracks all over the country? Not in the least. But am I a runner? Yes.