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I finally did my first run nine days after my bike accident!

I planned to do it on Monday, but both Monday and Tuesday kept me busy with job-hunting/interviewing stuff and I was just too lazy to run.

I spent Wednesday with my dad — we took advantage of the sunny weather by having lunch in downtown Seattle and riding the new ferris wheel on the waterfront.

Note the stubborn bruise on my arm. (Also, completely unrelated: My Jewelry By Cari necklace features a little dog tag that has “Devon” stamped on one side and “Aaron” on the other — a gift from Aaron’s mom. So sweet!)

My initial urge was to post other reasons why I didn’t run until today, but laziness is the real reason, so I’ll stick with that.

Since my Garmin Forerunner 305 was tragically crushed in the accident, I ran with my phone and used the stopwatch feature to time my laps around a relatively flat one-mile loop in my mom’s very hilly neighborhood. (How crazy is it that I have a perfect one-mile loop to run?? Yay for Map My Run!)

My starting point was someone’s garbage bin in front of their house, and I hit the lap button every time I passed the bin for a total of three laps/miles.

Mile 1: 9:44
Mile 2: 10:21
Mile 3: 10:21

The running itself felt fine, except for some tenderness in the bruises I still have on my legs, but I really misjudged the mid-September heat. I failed to bring water with me and realized too late that I really needed it. At one point, when I had to walk after running up an incline, I felt like I was going to puke! That never happens to me, unless I’m:

a) racing.
b) running with a hangover, in which case the puking feeling is entirely expected and deserved.
c) dehydrated, like in the last few miles of my marathon.

Lesson learned. I should start using my hydration belt again to get used to it before the 5K. If I remember correctly, this is a race with no water stops and, judging by today, I’ll definitely need at least a few sips to make it through!

When I don’t really have anything to share, I just don’t post. I guess I’d rather be absent from Tumblr than super boring.

But here’s an update on my bike-accident recovery: I saw my chiropractor, Dr. Formo, yesterday and she worked MIRACLES on my neck, which had been very stiff and painful since the crash. She cracked everything back into place and I woke up this morning feeling fantastic!

Dr. Formo is a 3:15 marathoner, so I obviously do everything she says, and she recommended I continue resting this weekend and start running again on Monday.

My bruises continue to develop into more delightful and robust colors, and I still have a swollen/partially numb bump on my left leg, so she said it would be best to let my body focus on healing. That leaves me with just under two weeks to prepare for the 5K on Sept. 23, which I’m totally fine with.

Fun fact: Strangers are not shy about asking, “Sooo… what happened?” when you walk around looking like you got the shit kicked out of you. Luckily I have the chain scrape to prove it was just a bike accident!

It has been great to relax this week and focus on looking for a job. For weeks, I’ve browsed jobs and been too afraid to apply for some of the ones that I’m technically unqualified for. I don’t know what I thought would happen… like I would get emails back saying, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah, right.” Silly.

This week, I just set aside my fears and sent out resumes like crazy, and what do you know? My phone started ringing.

Now I just have to get these bruises healed before in-person interviews next week!

My “long” runs for 5K training are only four and five miles. Today I meant to do an easy four, but ended up pushing my pace again and completed a really sweaty and satisfying run.

The 0.80 mile to Green Lake is mostly downhill, so it’s easy to run a little faster than usual for the first mile. Once I reached GL today, I just couldn’t slow down! I tried… I failed… and I thought, “Well, what’s wrong with running at this pace if it feels good?”

Ain’t nothing wrong.

I also lifted weights back at home. The White Stripes station on Pandora is excellent background music for this, by the way.

My whole body is tired in a good way. Tomorrow is technically a rest day, but Aaron and I are going to bust out a bike ride. I’m excited to break in my new gear!

Aaron is alive! He texted me that his ride went well and he’s at his mom’s house now. Whew.

Meanwhile, I had a GREAT three-mile run down to Green Lake and back.

My 5K training plan called for an easy three, but I pushed my pace a little because I was feeling so good. It was a beautiful morning and I felt like flying. Negative splits!

I also think wearing my compression sleeves made a big difference. My legs felt a little shin splint-y after my last run, but they felt really strong with the sleeves on. I have these ones from CEP, which seem pricey at $40, but they’ve served me well all throughout marathon training, during the marathon itself and now.

On to something more fun: HALLOWEEN!

It’s my favorite holiday by far. I was at Target last weekend and saw a whole section of Halloween greeting cards and almost had a heart attack. I’m so, so, so excited for Halloween.

My question is this: Of these animals, which should I be for Halloween? I’m leaning toward red panda or Japanese red fox. (This would also be a comfy thing to wear around the house in the winter, or to wear to the grocery store and freak people out. Heh.)

Who else is excited for Halloween?? What do you want to be?

I highly recommend this, if you want to impress people:

Did y’all know that lululemon has a women’s cycling team?

I didn’t, until I walked into Aaron’s favorite bike shop and gasped when I saw a female mannequin rocking a Specialized-lululemon jersey and helmet — the same ones worn by the cycling team members. So cute!

Aaron was amazed, too. Apparently, he’d been secretly trying to find the jersey for me for months (I’ve never found a jersey I liked enough to buy), but it was sold out at lululemon and hard to find on Ebay.

The bike shop had one jersey that was randomly returned by someone, and it was my size — clearly destined to be mine. : ) Thank you for the early Christmas present, A!!

I had to get the helmet, too, because… matching. Pretty colors. Or something. What was the question?

Cute jersey = motivation to take my bike out for a spin this weekend. Silly, I know, but I’m a girl.

Obviously you don’t need fancy clothes and accessories to cycle — I’ve ridden quite a bit in regular running tops/tanks and my old helmet from Target; here is what I do recommend you get to start cycling — but it’s fun to add new stuff to the mix once in a while.

I’ve found, in both running and cycling, that it’s better to invest in a few quality pieces that are comfortable and will last a long time rather than buy an array of cheap items that’ll fall apart/be uncomfortable/etc.

Anyway, that’s all I have. It’s a rest day. Happy Friday!

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Sorry, not that kind of exciting news. I just had to trick y’all for a second. : )

The diamonds in this ring have been passed down through my family on my mother’s side. A family friend, Mrs. Mandry, gave them to my great-grandmother in the form of earrings. The Mandrys had no children, so great-g got the bling!

She passed them on to my grandmother, who didn’t have pierced ears, so she had them set in this ring. My mother inherited it when she passed away, and it’s too big for either of us to wear/not our style, so it’s been sitting in a drawer for years.

I came across it recently and asked my mom if I could turn the diamonds into earrings again. She said yes, and Aaron has a family connection at a jewelry store (a really good connection to have, don’t you think?), so I got a great deal and a nice, shiny set of earrings!

I’ve always worn cheap, fake earrings from Claire’s that turn green and gross after awhile, so it’s really great to have some legit jewelry that also has family meaning. It has nothing to do with running, but I was excited to get them from the jeweler today and I wanted to share. : )

Now, for the running! I’ve stuck with my training plan and had a great couple of runs since I last posted.

Yesterday, speed intervals:

– 1 mile warmup
– 0.25 mile fast
– 0.12 mile walk/jog recovery (x7)
– 0.41 cool-down run home

 

I wasn’t trying to hit any particular pace for my sprints; I just tried to settle into a pace I could maintain for a quarter-mile while pushing myself. I’m happy to see that I got down to the mid 8:00 range! Haven’t been there for a whiiiile.

Tonight, a tempo run:

– 1 mile warmup
– 1 mile comfortably hard
– 1 mile cool down

I’m noticing huge improvements in my endurance. I’m now running these miles straight through and just stopping at water fountains and crosswalks. This is my first run since I sprained my ankle that’s been under a 10:00 minute/mile average pace.

Maybe that sub-30 5K really is in reach.

Legs are very tired after three straight days of running. Very excited to rest tomorrow!