run much?

After my post this morning about running outside, I thought I’d throw this one (which has been sitting in my queue) up next.

I started a new pair of running shoes today. (The pink and black ones, below.)

From left: green and gray, dated 4 July (2011), gray and light teal, Jan (2012) and the current pinks ones, Feb (2013.) Above are my trail-runners, outfitted with YakTrax.

I haven’t been running as much (sad), so my pair from last year ended up lasting the whole year. Good for our bank account, bad for me. Resolution #8 (or am I on 9?): run more this semester.

(So far this week, I’ve run a whopping THREE times, so I’m off to a good start!)

i miss running

And, apparently, running misses me, too.

I got this in my inbox the other day:

It’s from MapMyRun, and they miss me. The last run I tracked was back in April. APRIL. (Now, I don’t track every run–really, I haven’t been running regularly since school started, but holy cow–has it really been that long since I mapped a new route??)

As I said in this recent post, exercise hasn’t been a big part of my life lately. Sad. Very sad. The saddest part? The increasing tightness of my jeans…

The other day, I really thought that to myself–that I did, in fact, miss running. And working out in general, but mostly running. We had a wonderful fall day earlier this week when I had a chance to run outside and enjoy the weather, but I didn’t.

It’s like I have a block or something. I think my brain just cannot take a single additional thing to think about; between school, swimming, scheduling, cleaning, cooking, homework, house-planning and projecting, I just can’t squeeze anything else in there. Now that the laundry room is done, I already a feel a little relief, but I’m not ready to jump into a rigorous gym schedule like I did so easily last semester.

And the good news is that, after two months of beating myself up over it, I’m giving myself permission to NOT work out right now. I think my body, my sanity, my marriage needs it, heck–I KNOW my brain needs it right now. I’m swimming twice a week now, and have high hopes I’ll get back to my punk rope class at the gym Saturday morning, but other than that, I’m not stressing. Or at least trying not to.

I’ll hit the road again soon.

**Edited to add: I wrote this post a few days ago and have been saving it in my queue until I had a chance to post it. I’m actually going running in about an hour! It’s 6:50 on Sunday morning and a friend/acquaintance (OK, it’s one of my professors who lives in Orchard Park…how does one refer to them?) invited me yesterday to meet her at a local park. AND I made it to punk rope yesterday. AND I’m back to calorie-counting; those pesky SEVEN (thank goodness it’s not more!) pounds have nothing on me! The light at the end of the tunnel is shining down on me RIGHT NOW.

one happy (valley) girl

Well, where did I leave off? (I realize I’m two days behind… I’ve been a busy, traveling girl!)

When I woke up Sunday morning, this is what was waiting for me on the table:

Awwwww 🙂 When Adam had asked me what I ate pre-race, I mentioned toast, peanut butter and banana. And he got organic–double awwwww 🙂 🙂

Here we are, before:

I got the tank to match the neon pink trim on my shorts!

And can I just say that it was like 90% humidity and that State College has WAY MORE HILLS than I remembered? Like, a ton. It was as I was rounding the golf course hill that it all came back to me…

(Check out the building behind me in the above picture–that totally was not there when we went to school!)

And here we are, after:

Adam was DRENCHED and I was pretty sweaty, too. Hot and steamy, it was!

And guess who WON her age group? YOURS’ TRULY! A 10k in 46:56. Not too shabby.

I’d love to say I was shocked, but I wasn’t. Perhaps surprised is more accurate. I definitely wasn’t feeling fast that morning and was, as usual, intimidated by the field. I have to admit; all this winning is still really new to me (let’s just say running wasn’t my sport of choice for, like, my entire life), but I’ve placed in my age group enough now that I feel like I can’t leave a race until they’ve posted the results. It’s weird. Awesome, but weird. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. I mean, I don’t even really look like a runner. At least not the fast ones.

And I have a theory: I’m in what I’m calling a “sweet spot” right now. I’m in the 20-30, or sometimes 25-29, age group, which is just older than the super skinny, super fast high school/college ‘elite’ runners, but I’m younger than the ‘been-running-for-twenty-years-post-kids-competitive’ group. More times than not, I’ve noticed that the ladies finishing just ahead of me are older, but don’t win THEIR age groups.

Apparently, my 15 minutes of fame is limited. Or I’ll just have to get faster. (I think I’ll take the latter.)

And the perfect end to a fantastic weekend, a great run and a win? The Waffle Shop!

It’s a State College mainstay and super famous. It now has three locations–the original being right on College Ave.–and always has a line around the building on weekends. I’ll admit that Andrew and I weren’t regulars here while we were students, but it is the first place I had chocolate chip pancakes, and for that I will be forever thankful.

Adam, Andrew and I met up with Abigail and waited outside as the temps started rising. We made it into the air conditioning just in time!

I ordered the “mini platter” and was able to request chocolate chip pancakes instead of plain. Thank goodness for substitution-friendly establishments!

After our delicious and very traditional PSU breakfast, we all parted ways and I headed toward Philadelphia, while Andrew and Abigail went north back to New York. I’ll be on the road through Thursday–more photos and updates on my travels soon!