Month: January 2012

The lululemon fairy delivered this to my front door today!! I’m already obsessed. Thumbholes never get old for me.

I needed a lightweight, non-cotton, long-sleeved shirt for layering as I travel, and I’ve wanted this running top for a while now, so it was the perfect excuse to buy it. It’s SO comfortable, moisture-wicking and cute to boot. I be travelin’ in style!

Today was the last day of my gym membership, and I made the most of it by hitting the free weights one last time. I was so sad to say goodbye!

I highly recommend Ballard Health Club to anyone who lives or works in North Seattle. It’s a non-intimidating “regular people” gym that has great equipment, complimentary classes and personal training, and it never gets too crowded. I would definitely renew my yearlong membership if I weren’t leaving.

I also went to the doc today for my annual checkup. I got my official height (5’6") and weight (142.7 lbs. w/clothes on, including a sweatshirt… no fair). I ran my marathon at 138 lbs. Whenever I weigh less than that, I think I look kind of gangly and sick in photos, so I think it’s a good number to aim for as I get back into healthy eating and regular workouts.

Side note: I’ve weighed under 135 in the past but wore bigger jeans… because I didn’t have any muscle. I’ll take a higher weight and smaller jeans with a side of muscle, thanks!

And fun fact: I need to schedule an echocardiogram to check out my heart. I have a family history of a heart condition, and when I mentioned it, my doctor was like (exact words): “Yeah, that’s one of those things people can drop dead from. Let’s get you an echo.” Wheeeeeee!

Cross your fingers on that one.

On many runs, there comes a moment when the trail falls quiet, and only the sounds of my stride echo on the pavement. I’m alone, and it’s the perfect time to meditate, to reflect on life and perhaps to retrieve a wayward bit of spandex from where it has unfortunately crept.

No runner, male or female, is immune to this wedgtastic phenomenon. The trick lies in waiting for the perfect semi-private-while-completely-in-public moment to, eh-hem, rectify the situation.

At mile 2.5, I was blessed with an empty trail and all the freedom in the world to right this wrong. But just as soon as I’d done it, in the blink of an eye, the telltale whirring of a cyclist’s wheels rushed up behind me.

Sneaky bastard.

Otherwise, it was a good run!

I can sit outside in a tank top for a few precious minutes post-run and pretend like it’s warm outside. It’s not even close. Thank God I’m fleeing to the land of summer soon.

And every run should be followed by a delicious smoothie. Mango, pineapple, coconut milk, chia seeds and ground flaxseed. Beer not included.

Maybe next time.

There’s nothing worse than being sick when you really want to run, especially if you put on four pounds over the holidays (eh-HEM) and your jeans are super-tight. Not that I know anyone that that happened to…………….

I honestly felt way better after my 3-mile run on Friday, and I ran another 3 miles yesterday on the treadmill (28:12 — 9:24 pace) and lifted weights.

I felt even BETTER this morning — 99% recovered, I’d say — and busted out the 6 miles I had scheduled for this weekend.

Negative splits, baby.

Yachts at the Westlake Marina. Choose your fave! You can also see Gasworks Park between the two piles of money boats.

View of the Aurora Bridge and the Burke-Gilman Trail from the Fremont Bridge. I’ll miss this trail.

Post-run, just chilling on the ground with a potted plant. Typical.

I hit all my runs for this week, even though I had to switch the days due to being sick!

It feels great to be back to running. Now, if I can just get my jeans to fit again…

I present to you the contents of my workout-clothes drawer:

To be fair, this includes all the race shirts I’ve collected and the t-shirts/tanks I wear to sleep. It’s still a huge, ridiculous, excessive pile.

I spent tonight cleaning out my closet and dresser (round two of pre-travel decluttering) and came up with all this to sell/give away:

Crazy! Most of this stuff I haven’t worn in a year or more and won’t even miss. And I still have more to get rid of before I leave, but I need clothes to wear for the rest of this month, you know.

Now I’m all cozied up in bed with my Vicks vaporizer — which I conveniently found while cleaning out my closet — working its steamy magic on my sore throat. Good night!

3 miles at the gym — 9:26 pace.

Not my fastest three ever, but I enjoyed running them more than I enjoyed sitting on my butt these last two days!

And I feel better now than I did before running. Imagine that.

Meet my BFFs:

From the looks of my Tumblr dashboard, it seems like many of you are in the same unpleasant boat!

I’ve been doing great with my travel planning the last few days — I bought a one-way ticket to New Zealand!!! — but not so much with running. Post-nasal drip is the devil.

Here are my latest travel-planning posts on Answering Oliver:

Countdown to RTW: One Month! (with fun pics from indoor skydiving)

A One-Way Ticket With My Name On It

And for those of you who are trying to kick the soda/pop/Coke habit in 2012, check out this article:

What Happens To Your Body Within An Hour Of Drinking A Coke

It does some really scary stuff — even diet soda, which is probably worse because it tricks you into thinking it’s healthy-ish.

I realize it’s a full-on addiction for many people, so good luck with your efforts to quit! I promise that plain water is delicious (at least in the Pacific Northwest; California, your water SUCKS) and an addiction in its own right.

This run was tough. Seems like every other run I do kinda sucks!

But I got my four miles in, and that’s what counts. I also never walked, even though I really wanted to.

I figured that the run was still going to feel crappy whether I walked or not, and if I didn’t walk, at least I would be proud of that fact.

I feel like there has always been a part of me that wants to give up when things get tough, and that part used to be so big that I didn’t run at all.

Then, as I began to run regularly and persevered through the shitty parts, that part became smaller and smaller.

Now that part is super tiny, like a grain of sand, and it has very little power over me because I kick its ass every time it tries to tell me, “You can’t do this.”

There are people who take that as an excuse to stop at the first feeling of discomfort, even though being uncomfortable is also what makes you better.

And then there are people who simply reply, “I can’t, huh? Watch me.”

Here’s my I’m-Not-Actually-Training-For-Anything Training Plan.

It’s just a little something to keep me on track with running throughout January until I leave for my trip. I’ve missed running with a training plan since the marathon!

I put yoga or strength-training on the schedule through January 11, which is when my gym membership expires (sniff, sniff). Then I plan to swim twice a week to use up the sessions I’ve prepaid for at my community pool.

The (shots) on the schedule are not the kind featuring Lil Jon, unfortunately, but rather two more rounds of immunizations. I’ve got Hepatitis A/B and rabies (the most painful one) lined up for tomorrow. Wheeeee!

I scheduled light exercise for a few days after each round of shots since they make me feel all tired and sore. Tomorrow I’ll kick things off with a 4-miler before I head to the travel clinic for my jabs.

For now, I’m resting because of the rainy awfulness outside, and because I’ve got some incredible deliciousness to consume.

Don’t click on that if you’re trying to stick to a healthy eating resolution. Don’t say I didn’t warn you! : )