Tag Archives: sun

Check In

Hello friends! Long time no chat. How’s everyone doing?

It feels a little like summer vacation recently, which is part of the reason I’ve been MIA from my little blog. Lots of activity going on, lots of plans, and generally lots of fun. I feel like I’ve been busier with social “obligations” than I have been since college, and it’s been great. I blame the sun—it turns everyone into butterflies who flutter toward each other.

#proof that I wore fake eyelashses and glitter in honor of Pride.

So, while I’ve been staying out later and swapping second runs for happy hours, there’s still been plenty of race prep going on. And by “race,” I should say “races” because right now I’m in trifecta mode—trying to improve my fitness for three different types of events coming up in the next few months. It’s been…interesting. So let’s recap those sweaty and non-sweaty endeavors shall we?

Tri-Specific Training

I haven’t necessarily been doing more or less in regard to triathlon training. Honestly, I would run every day if I could, but since I can’t I’m trying to tuck swimming and biking/spinning in once or twice a week. It’s not that I don’t like either of these activities (although swimming can be boring…) it’s just that in the summer I want to be running outside.

However, I’m really starting to like biking. In a new-crush, giddy kind of way. I always loved the idea of being a biking person, and now that I have a good bike, good weather, and good company—it seems the stars are aligning. Super bike pro Lindsay invited my slow self last weekend for a Burke-Gilman ride (34 miles!), and I really enjoyed myself. It feels really good to shake it up, and I actually like feeling like a beginner at something, strangely enough. It’s also really nice to have another option besides running where I can be outside, go for a long time, and all the while not worry so much about the impact. I’m hoping by the end of the summer to have a few extra-long rides under my belt.

And all this bike love is definitely a good thing—because when it comes to the triathlon disciplines, it’s definitely the one I need the most work on.

Ultra-Relay Training

This is how I feel about running 35 miles in 24 hours. Also how I feel about how neon has taken over my life. Neon bra is showing THROUGH neon shirt. WTF.

This is how I feel about running 35 miles in 24 hours. Also how I feel about how neon has taken over my life. Neon bra is showing THROUGH the neon shirt. WTF.

I was initially feeling really good about this training. I was logging at least once-a-week double run days, and my training felt pretty specific to ultra-relay conditions. However, ever since life started getting busy and the first ultra race started to get closer, I’ve been feeling a little more apprehensive about my prep. However, I did run 12 miles at 7 am Sunday morning after being out really late the night before (see eyelash photo above), which I decided was good Ragnar simulation. Right? Right.

I’m running 35 miles at Ragnar in 24 hours, which is A LOT. It was always going to be a lot, no matter how well trained I was, but it’s getting to be intimidating in a scary kind of way. I’ve been averaging between 40-45 miles a week lately, which is good—but compared to what I’ll be doing at Ragnar, it seems measly.

That doesn’t mean I’m not excited though, because I really can’t wait. And despite the high mileage, I’m feeling good about my projected running times. According to our pace calculators, I should be running around sunset, sunrise, and then late in the afternoon (I’m the last runner). So, although I’ll be waking up in the 4 o’clock hour to run 15+ miles, I’m hoping I’ll get a sunrise out of it 🙂 Can’t complain, it’s all part of the adventure—I just hope my legs hold up.

And, if I do horribly, the good (?) news is that I get to try again a month later at Spokane to Sandpoint. I know, I don’t know who I am either.

Goal Half-Marathon Training

Meh. That’s all I have to say about this one. With nearly three months until my big scary goal race, I’ve been a little lackluster about my speed-dedicated workouts. I did 7 x 800 last week and it was HARD. Please, don’t let me postpone a speed workout until the afternoon ever again. It was hot, my stomach hated me, and it was harder than it should have been. I ran each 800 at 6:55 pace, and I could feel every one of them. Two bathroom stops too, fun times.

So, for right now I’m focusing on one speed workout a week, which will pick up after Ragnar. I also have the See Jane Run half coming up in two weeks, and while I don’t expect anything spectacular—I’d like to use it as a bit of a check in. It’s a flat course, and presuming it will be somewhat shaded, I think it will be a good opportunity for a “test run.”

Basically, I could be doing better with speed-specific work, but with the heat it’s not necessarily the best time to push the envelope every day. However, I do trust heat training to have rewarding benefits once the fall comes around. Oh dear, sweet fall running…I’m excited for you.

Other things

I haven’t been photographing much that’s been going on (per usual), however I do have some photos to marginally depict my life as of late:

Seattle sunset by the Seattle Big Wheel. I can’t stop photographing the sky. And because I’m now obligated to say it, #nofilter.

I look like a child at Disneyland. Except I’m surrounded by drag queens and nearly naked men.

And speaking of…

Yes, he is one of my best friends. No, he doesn’t go to the gym very much. Yes, you are allowed to hate him.

You’re welcome/I’m sorry.

Yesterday morning at 5 am. This is the view from my house, i don’t hate it.

Reading at the park, one of our new favorite activities.

So there’s my training and life check in. I’ve been orchestrating a bigger balancing act between the two than I have in a while, and to tell you the truth—it feels really good. Besides the apprehension about my preparedness for upcoming events, I am really liking the shift in prioritization that’s been happening. Like I said, it feels like summer break—and in that sense, it shouldn’t be all about the miles. And while it may seem like I’ve bitten off more than I can chew with all my upcoming races and goals, it’s all in the name of having fun and trying new things—and I actually wouldn’t have it any other way.

And on one final note…CONGRATULATIONS to Miss Nicole “Ricole Runs” on her beautiful new baby boy!!!!! I think he came early because I wants you to run a PR in every distance sooner 🙂

Take a Little, Give a Little

1 Reply

…or something like that.

Happy Friday peeps! I wont’ even begin to apologize for all the showboating that’s been going on in the PNW regarding our weather. You better believe that once that big shiny star comes out to play, we’ll be talking about it. And it doesn’t look like it’s leaving anytime soon. Bragging continues!

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my last post, via Twitter, Facebook, texts, telepathy, etc. I put everything I had into my Eugene training cycle and into that race, and while I had hoped it wouldn’t be as painful as it was, I am always comforted knowing that there wasn’t much more I could do.

I do feel like I have a better time in me, if we’re being honest. A better time that also feels a lot stronger, smoother, etc, but that’s a topic for a different day.

Right now, I’m not really thinking about any races in the near future. Running slow and running with friends is sounding a lot more enticing to me right now 🙂

This weekend will mark the one year anniversary of my second full marathon, also known as the Tacoma City Marathon, also known as “The time I unknowingly had a 105 degree fever and was too bullheaded to stop running.” If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that Tacoma sucked the life out of me (also the function of my IT band), and it scarred me a bit in terms of the dangers of the marathon.

Obviously, times have changed since then, and it’s hard to believe that it was only one year ago that I was a very different runner. Well, I suppose not that different, but I do feel much smarter and stronger since that incident. Silver lining I suppose.

Anyway, when I collapsed in Tacoma and spent a lot of time in the medical tent, I was surrounded by the most helpful and supportive volunteers. They did everything from carrying me from the finish line, squeezing my cramping muscles, ice-bathing me, and, um, “checking” my temperature. Actually no, I’m not thankful for that part. Besides the point.

The point is that those volunteers made all the difference in the world for me after that race. They cooled me down, put me back together, and saved me from what was a very bad situation. I felt such a debt of gratitude at the time, in fact I almost felt guilty. But that’s what they were there for, and as they said, “It’s our job.”

I wanted to do something to give back a bit to that race. To this day I remain incredibly grateful for those people that helped me, and I decided that I should try and return the favor. No, I am not an EMT and barely remember proper CPR protocol from my days as a lifeguard, but every race needs volunteers.

So I signed up! This will be my first race volunteering, and I’m so glad that I’ll finally be able to provide a service that I’ve used myself in so many races.

I ran the idea by Nicole, as I knew she volunteered last year, and she was in. Becky decided to join in on the fun as well, and after an email to the volunteer coordinator—the three of us will not only be stationed together, we’ll be MEDALING the half-marathon finishers!

I’m so ridiculously excited for this. There are few happier moments than when you receive your race medal at the end of a hard effort, and I love that we get to be the people that drape all those sweaty runners with their award. Nicole already dibsed the winner, but I get the female winner 🙂

Part of me wanted to be handing out water to potentially help another over-heated victim such as myself, but there will be others out there for that.

After this past weekend of running my own race, and with a day that promises clear skies and 75+ degrees, I can’t think of any place I’d rather be than honoring runners at a finish line.

Hopefully I don’t get too much stranger-sweat on me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Don’t Worry, Be Maui

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In case you haven’t yet heard, last week BF and I jetted off to beautiful Maui. It was all kinds of perfection—relaxing, fun, rejuvenating, essentially all the things you want out of a vacation. While there were a few select activities we did, most of our days consisted of lounging in the sand, swimming in the ocean, drinking lots of fancy drinks, repeat. So, there isn’t a whole ton to report…which is why I figured pictures would paint a better picture (and be more enjoyable):

We were both up at 7 am no problem the first day, and I think we were unrolling our beach towels by 9. Don’t waste that sunshine!

BF proving his inflexibility. Also, he’s owned that swimsuit since EIGHTH GRADE. Isn’t that impressive?

This is where I tell you there’s no filter on this photo. But for real there isn’t. Also, I’ve owned this swimsuit for one whole week. We balance each other out?

Our first day, we rented snorkel gear and managed to hit two different beaches, one of which was full of sea turtles!!! It was so exciting.

Fun fact: You can in fact get horribly sunburned before 10 am even if you’re skin is under the water. It took until that first night to discover that the bottom of my back was not only red, but verging on purple-ish. Such a rookie move. But if my biggest complaint is, “Ohhh noo I got sunburned in Hawaii,” then I really have no complaints. And yes, mom, I wore sunscreen the whole trip.

Mango and passion fruit and strawberry sugary syrup, oh my!

Obviously, food was a big theme of our trip. We were on a quest to try as many fish tacos as possible, and we somehow managed to have ice cream/gelato/shave ice every. single. night. It was the best. I’ve also decided that gelato > ice cream > froyo. Yea, I SAID IT blog world. Give me my full fat, real cream goodness.

The second day, we hiked down to the “blowhole” which is a naturally occuring geiser in which the waves push through a small opening in the rocks and shoot up super high—just like a whale blowhole. It was super cool, as was the hike down/around the area. Unfortunately, those pictures are on Mr. “I’ll totally upload these photos right away” ‘s camera…so they remain a mystery.

The rest of our days were littered with various activities, including a trip to the farmer’s market, running, walking on the beach, trips to Lahaina, and finding as much fresh pineapple as possible. Otherwise, this was pretty much our lives…

I spy mai tai.

Wearing shorts over my sunburned bum. At least they’re Rogas.

We (I) probably ate the total of 3 whole pineapples while in Maui. MORE PLEASE.

Our hotel was in great proximity to good beaches and the main part of Lahaina, which is the real hub of Maui. We went there almost every day and it was so easy to find new things to see, eat, and explore.

Banyan Tree! Have you seen this tree? It’s the coolest. I also swear I wasn’t trying to flash everybody.

Okay I think we’ve had enough Banyan tree pictures.

Second night I believe. Pre-Cheeseburger in Paradise meal. I think my skin was emanating a lot of heat at this point,

Second night, pre-Cheeseburger in Paradise meal. I think my skin was emanating a lot of heat at this point,

I managed also to work my way through two books while we were there, helping in the my book-a-month resolution. I finished the Night Circus and Gone Girl, both of which I loved and recommend. Gone Girl, especially, is an excellent beach read.

On our last night, we went to a luau—just to solidify our Hawaiian tourist status. Unfortunately, the luau wasn’t exceptionally fun. It was rainy and windy (the only rain we had the whole time—of course) and it wasn’t very well organized. (Tip: Go for the Old Lahaina Luau, not the Drums of the Pacific—if you’re ever there.) Oh well, we still ate our body weight in food in order to get our money’s worth. And there was an open bar…wait, why was I complaining again?

Such good food. I’ll give you one guess as to if there was another plate.

Cheesin’ hard. Can’t help it…it’s the Maui effect.

And some more randoms, just so I can reminisce a bit longer…To recap: We layed on the beach a lot. We ate a lot of frozen desserts. We got a lot of sun. We drank a lot of tropical beverages at any and all hours of the day. We swam with huge turtles.

This was a near-perfect trip. BF and I had such a great time…and I think it’s safe to say that Maui hasn’t seen the last of us. There’s something so relaxing about the Hawaiian atmosphere and culture…no rushing, no stressing, just let it be. The mai tais help too. I can definitely say that I haven’t been this relaxed during a vacation in a very long time.

But now…it’s back to business. I’m in week one of two peak training weeks, and I’ve got some of the hardest workouts I’ve ever done coming up shortly. Never a dull moment.

Happy Wednesday!

Have you ever been to Hawaii? Maui? Do you prefer to spend vacations doing lots of things, or doing lots of nothing?

A Little Sad, but More Happy

6 Replies

Cheerio all you folks out there.

How’s it going?

I’m going to be straight and tell you I had an especially peppy and optimistic post planned for today, however that plan has derailed a bit. There will still be pep, and maybe even some pizzazz, but for now I am allowing myself 60 seconds of bitching. After that, I’ll be done…but I need to shake some anger, so be warned.

After the hardest race ever, and after VERY CAREFULLY resting and recuperating my IT band has decided to be a huge a-hole and all of a sudden develop ITBS in the form of bad knee pain. I can’t really run, I hate it, and it’s ALL I WANT TO DO. I currently want to throw rocks at everyone that can run in the perfect, ideal, OMG SO PRETTY Seattle sunshine, and I get jealous even seeing people in running clothes.

Dramatic? Yes. I know I ran a marathon only 8 days ago, and some pain may be lingering. However, I am currently void of all residual race soreness and aches, and I’m unfortunately thinking that I’ve got a pissed-off IT band that’s here to stay for a while. AND running is literally the only thing that bothers it. Spinning? No problem. Swimming? Piece of cake. But one mile into a run, I’m crippled with knee pain and I have to turn around. I’m pissed, I’m trying to be hopeful, but I would really enjoy going at least a few months without a new injury. DAMN YOU running shoes/form/gods/whatever that is ailing me with issues.

Okay, done.

Can you tell how my morning started out? Yup…a solid 18 minute run in which more than half was spent walk/running. This was the first time I’ve attempted running since last Thursday(when I first felt the pain), and until this morning I have had no knee pain whatsoever. Booooooo.

Sorry, sort of went back to bitching there. Anyways, this is definitely a marathon-ripe injury and completely new to me. Anyone have ITB syndrome issues before? Care to share on your experiences/remedies? My foam roller has been feeling some hot lovin’ these past few days, but otherwise I’m not totally sure how to tackle this.

How about some happiness now?

Great.

I spent the weekend basking in the sun. Literally, that’s about all I did…and it was splendid. My skin doesn’t necessarily agree with the whole “splendid” part, but it will get over it once it cools off and accepts its new glow as opposed to its wintertime pasty horror.

After a double-spin class(my favorite!) on Saturday morning, there were few things I did the rest of the day that did not involve drinking a cold beverage, lying on the beach, reading a book, or eating. I wore a dress and everything. Part was spent with friends, part was spent alone, it was all-around a grand ole time.

Coffee! Book! Sun! Beach! Dress! Exclamatory single-word sentences!

Also, if you weren’t aware, the Lakers beat the Nuggets in GAME 7 on Saturday night, and while BF hated me for a while during the game, it was awesome and I will be reaping the bragging benefits for an indefinite period of time.

The sweet taste of victory is even better than a HUGE scoop of ice cream, which also happened this weekend.

Sunday was also spent in the sun, on a canoe! A good friend of mine works at a sleep-away YMCA camp, and she has access to Puget Sound boating galore. In celebration of her birthday, some of us took a massive “tribal” canoe to a tiny island out in the San Juans. Porpoise and bald eagle sightings, beer-on-board, and sunshine—I was one happy camper. And not to mention the scenery was absolutely fantastic.

Mountains and sea, I love you. Yes, this photo needed to be HUGE.

The paddling was about an hour each way, and my back is feeeeeeling it today. I love doing things that are out-of-the-ordinary, and yesterday was one of my favorite days in a long time.

On my drive to the canoe ride, I was traversing along the exact path of about miles 20-24 of the marathon from last week, and just seeing the path made my shudder. I feel like I might develop some PTSD from that race—like seriously—and while I cursed every last hill and turn while running the actual race, I can’t help but want redemption.

In due time though…all I want now is to run. Particularly, I want to do a long run; I’m already ready to rekindle my Saturday morning routine of sweaty miles, but for now…given the whole IT band asshole thing…I’ll settle for baby steps.

Drinking via your medal’s bottle opener counts for redemption, right? Or rebellion perhaps? TACOMA WHY DO YOU HATE ME?

I’m thankful that I can do the other things I enjoy in terms of exercise, and I’m certain—as always—that once this hiccup goes away it will make running all the more sweeter. Because at this point, the only thing that sounds sweeter than running is a pound or two of strawberry shortcake, which will likely happen once or ten times this week.

Now….Tell me what you did in the sun this weekend! Seattle friends, I know you all got your sun-on for sure. And if not, WHO ARE YOU?! Go away. Also, does anyone have advice for post-race IT band issues? Or just ITBS ailments in general?

“Tri” Weekend and Celebrating the Earth

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Hello!

I hope you had a great weekend and I hope your week has started off swimmingly. I could be mistaken, but it seems as if everyone is a little bit high on a “it’s getting warmer and sunnier and therefore life is good” kind of mood, meaning there is general cheer in the air. The onset of summer is always an enjoyable time of year, and when you’ve been down-trodden with rain and gloom for several months as we have in the PNW, a little dose of sunshine can go a longgg way.

Case in point: This past weekend.

I normally have a generally good time on the weekend, based on the increase in food consumption, the decrease in computer time, and the amount of running I get to do. However, I can boldly say that I don’t know if I’ve had a better time overall on the weekend as I did this last Saturday and Sunday. Everything was generally perfect, therefore I am going to tell you about it.

Exercise-wise, I was able to do a “tri-series” of sorts over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Essentially, this means lots of swimming on Friday, lots of spinning of Saturday, and lots of running on Sunday. It was highly enjoyable to mix up my workouts, and I love being able to focus a lot of energy on one solo activity at a time.

I find that when I front load a heavy-exercise weekend with some swimming, everything feels better. As you know, I believe swimming is magic, and my body always seems to enjoy the time spent in the pool.

Although, I will admit, I have a difficult time not getting a tad paranoid when I’m doing laps and the “family area” is filled with 50 toddlers learning to dog paddle. I’m not an uber germ-a-phode or a clean freak, but the thought of swimming in tons of urine is really dampering to the whole experience. I think I’m going to tell my children that if you pee in the pool it comes out bright orange and everyone can see it. This should scare them out of it, right?

Anyways, I don’t normally do a heavy spin day before a long run, but since this week’s LR was only 16 miles, I decided to go for it. And despite my quads feeling a bit tired yesterday at the end of those 16 miles, overall I felt great, and I loved spreading my sweat through tons of different activities.

Also, who am I? I just said “only 16 miles.” Okay, 16 miles is still a long run. Fact. BUT, after 22 last weekend, 16 feels a lot more accessible…particularly when it’s done in 60 degree sunny weather on an all-flat course.

Which brings me to the vitamin-D filled glory that was this weekend.

People, I know we’re not supposed to talk about weather in blogging. But when you have not one, but TWO 70 degree days in Seattle, WA it is a BIG DEAL.

I took full advantage of the splendor, and it was nothing short of fantastic.

Aside from the aforementioned endorphin filled activities, allow me to show you some more highlights.

my backyard

While BF did man things on Saturday, I decided to take full advantage of this beautiful land I live in and took myself to the beach. I spent a solid 2 hours with an ice coffee, an Anne Lamott book, and the sun basking in water-front glory. I actually fell asleep laying against some driftwood, and it was heaven. There are few things more calming to me than being by the water, and given the fact that I was already in a post-spinning/caffeinated state of elation, this whole set up was my essence of perfection.

This also happened on Saturday, which is always a party.

See that “Now Open” sign? Yes, TJ’s has come to West Seattle, a mere 7 or so minute drive from my house. Do I talk too much about grocery stores? Yes. Positively. I will own every ounce of that statement. BUT any TJ’s fan out there will agree with me on the general happiness increase that goes hand-in-hand with your proximity to a store.

I think I could get an award for my excitement for the little things in life. I’m not sure if this is a good thing, or it means that I shoot too low in terms of my expectations, but no matter. I love you Trader Joe’s and your cheap almonds and whole wheat pizza dough.

Sunday had the promise of all-day sun, and BF and I were ready to take full advantage. Oh, and take it we did. Not only did we take it, but we took every single hour of the day and squeezed as much sunshine-filled activity out of them as we possibly could.

As I stated earlier, the day started with a 16 miler, completed averaging 8:20 miles (very happy about that) and the biggest blister I’ve ever gotten in my life. With two toenails on their death bed and now this beauty covering my entire pinky toe, I think it’s safe to say I’m ready to be done with training and get this marathon show on the road. I’m in a bit of a pickle because I think my old shoes are the reason for all my foot ailments, however my new shoes make my knee hurt, so it’s really just a debacle between which pain I’d prefer.

Post runs (BF did 10 miles), we walked to our typical bagel spot. Walking in shorts and flip-flops mind you. THIS IS A BIG DEAL.

Blueberry w/cream cheese and strawberry jam. Perfection.

Bagels should be an essential food group.

Afterwards, we decided to take on an endeavor we’ve only talked about hypothetically in the past: Planting a vegetable garden.

You see, we live in a big house that was turned into 5 separate units, and with the whole “living in a real neighborhood in a real house” scenario comes a 24 sq. ft patch of garden with which we can “do whatever we want,” according to our landlord. We both liked the idea of a vegetable garden, however it required not only the soil and the plants, but we needed to remove all the weeds and various shrubbery that had taken over our plot of garden.

As you can imagine, it was easy to procrastinate taking on this activity.

But not yesterday, when being outside was required, and we had a day to do whatever we chose.

So off to the hardware store it was, and we loaded up on all the things you need to be a green-thumb person. Okay, it was actually more like this:

Me: “Oh! Spinach!”

Me: “Ohhh!! Strawberries! Kale!”

BF: “How about….”

Me: “OHH!! PRETTY FLOWERS!”

Bf: “Check this out..”

Me: “Can we get a big chocolate cookie after this?”

Eventually, we made it out with a large variety of vegetables and a few flowers to plant.

Hooray gardening!! Also, those are my running clothes I'm still wearing. It's fine.

I got my cookie too, don’t worry. So did BF.

Also, in a very “we are a semi-adult couple who lives in a semi-adult home” move, we bought PATIO FURNITURE which was on sale. Again with the little things people. Until yesterday, when BF got all handy-man and set up our new table and chairs, the sole piece of furniture on our porch was a little, lone rocking chair. Now, we can do all kinds of fun things out there, including eat dinner, play cards, and make fun of all the people of segway tours that “drive” by our house.

Seriously. WALK.

Anyways, once arriving home and setting up our new sitting area, we got to work on the garden.

You pour the soil BF, I'll document.

After some pulling, clipping, digging, and planting, we had a final product!

Gardening!! Earth Day!! Not going to Safeway for vegetables every day!!

Into the newly poured soil went: spinach, snow peas, kale, strawberries, beets, chard, mint, basil, rosemary, radishes, and flowers. I’m PSYCHED. Now, let’s just see if this actually produces anything…

To celebrate our “manual labor” we headed to the park down the street to play some catch/whiffle ball. Note: It is not easy to play whiffle ball with two people, though it is highly entertaining, and perhaps more entertaining to the people watching.

It was actually after all these activities that I realized it was Earth Day, which made everything so highly appropriate.

I love the sun. I love running. I productive days. I love convincing BF to buy cookies with me.

Did you know these things?

I’m sorry if you’re tired of reading about me getting excited over and over about the exact same things all the time, but what can I say? I’m easy to please and I know what I like.

So, that’s all for now. If you made it all this way through my weekend recap, both thank you and I hope you had a great weekend as well. Today begins the less than two week countdown to marathon day, which will be on May 6. I’ve technically begun tapering, but as you can tell by my recap of exercise this past weekend, the real tapering is yet to come. I’m probably going to turn into a crazy, “I HAVE EVERY FEELING IN THE WORLD” person, and so I can almost guarantee some frightening/entertaining posts in these next couple of weeks.

NOW YOU! Tell me about your Earth Day, your weekend, your long run, your favorite grocery store, your simple pleasures, or ALL OF THESE THINGS! I enjoy comments.

Run Birdie Run

…because it's the only way to fly.