Tag Archives: weekend

Friday Favorites: Nuun and ‘Nsync

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Good Morning and welcome to Friday!

I’m currently posting from my bed, which feels both awesome and ironic for a running blog. I got to sleep in until the very late hour of 7 am, so that was a treat. My hammies are hating me for the hills yesterday, but they better shape up their attitude because tomorrow is scheduled with a big scary 20 miler. I’m considering scooting down to Tacoma to do some of the marathon course, which while I think will be helpful I also feel like it might play some mental games. We’ll see.

However, that is not what today is about. Today is about Favorite Things and resting. If you’re new to this blog, every Friday I pay homage to some of my favorite things in life…of which there are many, which is a good thing or else this whole game would have died a long time ago.

Just when I think I’m running out of the little things in life to be appreciative for, something new pops its head around the corner and adds even more joy to the sometimes mundane nature of regular routines. And let’s face it…for someone who gets a major kick out of things like Safeway Club Card deals and little children dressed in cute outfits, it’s not hard to conglomerate a weekly list.

So let’s move onto this week’s Friday Favorites!

Cherry Blossom Trees

These bountiful beauties are in full bloom here in Seattle—and throughout the entire country it seems like. They can make even the most homely, industrial, sketchball-filled neighborhood (Read: Tacoma, Washington) seem like an A-Okay place to be. They bring a smile to my face whenever I drive by them, and I always want to pull over and sit underneath their lovely branches and sing songs about what a wonderful world we live in. But I’m already weird enough, so instead I just take trying-to-be-artistic photos of them.

These blooms don’t last too long, which I suppose is one of the reasons they are so gosh darn lovely.

Nuun

So, because this is a blog about running and sweating and all that (at least most of the time) I think it’s appropriate to mention some exercise-related favorite things, right?

That said, let me introduce you to my newest addiction/fascination, Nuun. If you’re a seasoned runner or endurance athlete, you have undoubtedly heard of this new electrolyte-replenishment supplement—as they’ve been at tons of race expos and running stores all over the country. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a huge fan of Gels, Gatorade, Gus, etc., etc. Basically, most of this stuff kind of hurts my stomach and I naively just rely on water and sometimes Sport Beans.

In comes Nuun, and I’m a convert.

I’ve only been using this magical little caplet in my water in the afternoons after morning runs, not mid-run, but I’m completely hooked. You know the commercials for 5 Hour Energy? How they turn the “2 pm slump” into a hugely productive and happy-go-lucky party? Well, that is exactly what Nuun in the afternuun does for me. {What I did there…you saw it didn’t you?} It’s sort of like when you drink a cup of coffee after not having caffeine for three weeks—lots of giggling and tingly goodness. I don’t know if it’s a placebo effect or not, but I can actually feel my low electrolyte levels getting filled, and my entire body feels refreshed and ready to go swim the English Channel.

Needless to say, PSYCHED to try this crack fuel mid-run.

13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day

Sorry, I’m going to redirect you to this link, but trust me…it will be worth your while. Click it!

 

Done? Okay great.

I find this article HILARIOUS, and I’ve laughed, literally L-O-L, every time I’ve read it. My favorite section is Step 8, “Be happy you are not one of these people”—particularly the baby with the scary self-portrait taking mom and the Chris Kirkpatrick reference. Poor Chris, Justin got all the girls and the long career, JC got Justin’s leftovers and a dance show judging gig, Joey got to be in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Lance got all the Outer Space and coming-out-of-the-closet attention, and what did you get? Well, I don’t even know…which I suppose is the point. Sorry buddy, I still love your very-backup vocals.

And for the record, ‘Nsync was, is, and will always be better than BSB. Don’t agree? Please go away. No, you can stay, but I propose a street fight to the tune of “It’s Gonna Be Me” and “Tearin’ Up My Heart.” Cough Leanne cough.

Drive By, Train

I have always and will always love Train. Somehow, I’ve actually seen them twice in concert, and they put on a great show and are super personable and funny. I think they’re underrated in the pop-music industry, especially since so many of their songs go viral and no one seems to give them much credit after everyone’s moved onto the next Katy Perry or Pitbull song. Love you Katy, but I gotta give this one to the boys.

This song is so catchy, and it’s been on repeat one too many times in the past few weeks. Overplaying songs? Who me? I only do this with EVERY song I start to love, but after a break of two or so days I can jump right back into them. This song is just so happy and has all the right uplifting chords. Good job Train…download now if you’re interested. Or, you know, just listen to the YouTube video over and over again if you’re like me.

This Kitty

He's in there I promise...right by the steps to the porch.

Okay, I realize this picture isn’t entirely ideal, but because this isn’t my kitty the only way to photograph him is by luck and quick phone camera skills. BF took this, by the way, because he knows how I adore this little cat. And that is reason 34566 why I love him.

This little Kitty, which we’ve learned is named Socks (c’mon, how cute is that?), roams around our street and frequently sits atop the hood of cars for warmth. He greets me very frequently when I arrive home, and I think he would agree that we are BFF at this point.

Anyways, I would generally consider myself a dog person—which you could have probably guessed based on my frequent ranting about golden doodles and puppies—but I do have a place in my heart for cats. Yea yea I know…tons of people hate cats, which is justifiable, but I so happen to have owned THE best cat, named Jack, for the majority of my childhood, therefore cats are good in my book. Poor Jackie went to kitty heaven last year, and although I miss him a lot, I like to think that Socks is his reincarnation; they look SO much alike, same coloring and everything, and they have the same “I am way too cool for school but I’ll still let you adore me” attitude about them.

Maybe someday he’ll “forget” to go to his real home and decide to run inside and snuggle with me forever. That’s okay, right BF? Your allergies are probably gone by now, I’m sure.

_______

I hope you have a great weekend!

What are some of your favorite things right now? What are your plans for the weekend? Are you going to go YouTube every ‘Nsync song you can possibly remember for the rest of the workday just like I am as soon as I’m done writing this post? If you do, let’s compare memories/favorite songs.

Warning: Sparkly Excitement Ahead

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You know how you secretly hate those people who are all “Happy Monday!” “Welcome to the week!” “I love life!”? Seriously, pretty much everyone is merely trying to get through this first day of the week, why do you need to shove it in our faces that you are hyped on Prozac and caffeine and unicorns all the time?

Yea, well…today, I am one of those people. So, if you aren’t feeling exclamation points and glass-over-flowing-with-excitement optimism this afternoon, go ahead and quietly scroll your arrow to the little “x” box at the top right corner of your screen and pretend like you were never here. No hard feelings.

Still with me? Sweet! Now let’s make some sweet sweet rainbows and sunshine together.

On Friday, I posted a bit about my hopefulness and hesitation for the fate of my spring marathon aspirations. Due to my knee being a huge a-hole and my training getting thwarted for two weeks, I was coming to terms with the fact that things may not pan out as I’d hoped.

And I was okay with it…I really was.

Then came yesterday’s run. Oh dear, sweet yesterday’s run.

After very grudgingly getting out of bed for an attempted “long run,” I decided that I would be shooting for 16 miles. That was the ideal, and if I had to cut it short, I would accept it. Because that’s the Smart Runner Bird I’m trying to be, remember?

So then, I started to run. And I felt fantastic. And I kept running…and I still felt fantastic.

Call it cortisone, call it rest, call it luck, call it the Aleve I took literally 3 minutes before walking out the door, but no matter what it was…it worked. I kept running, waiting for my bursa sack to inflame and immobilize the rest of my leg the way it had been for the past two weeks.

NADA. NOTHING.

I stopped halfway through to stretch a bit, and while my knee tingled a bit, there was no indication that running was irritating or bothering it in any way. As I started off on the last half, you could not get the smile off my face. It was ridiculous and reminiscent of an elementary school “You Can Do It!” motivational poster…but I just couldn’t help it. The thought, “I’m back!” kept reverberating in my brain, and I relished every moment. It also didn’t hurt that despite a forecast of rain and wind, there was sunshine and {some} wind instead.

So proud of you Seattle, so proud of you knee.

I even threw in a mile long hill at the end of it all with a 300 ft. elevation gain for some added grunt, and the knee seemed to take it all in stride. I felt as if my knee was like, “Okay Robyn, since you actually did the right thing and laid off me I’ll suck it up and get better. You win.”

Total mileage? 17.22

SO PSYCHED. This was super encouraging, as I’ll {hopefully} still be able to get in two, 20+ milers before taper.

Please excuse my overly enthusiastic Tweet yesterday in which I had miscalculated my mileage before mapping it.

awkward.

No problem. 18 would have been great, but 17 is great too.

Side note: I have this weird thing about running distances that are odd numbers. As in, I am really uncomfortable with it, and I almost always try and run even numbers of miles. Half Marathons are great, but 13.1 is scary numerically to me. Fun Fact Monday. Well, maybe not fun, but maybe it helps make you feel more normal?

I even foam rolled afterwards and stretched! Improvements!

I would like to say this face was exaggerated, but that would be a lie. Self portrait attempts + quad mutilation via hunk of foam + face caked in salt= the essence of beauty.

And if I hadn’t already basked in pain-free running glory enough, I decided to do the wise injury-prevention thing and go to yoga yesterday afternoon. It was definitely not my best performance, and I stuck to all the easier versions of the poses, but my calves and hammies were very happy with all the stretchy attention the got. I think I fell asleep for a minute in savasana also, but that must mean I was really meditative and Zen. Right? Good.

And speaking of meditative and happiness and birdies, this was also a necessary end to the day:

Oh buttery, sugar-coated, pink, bird sugar cookie, I love you.

I am feeling wonderfully sore and sleepy today. After not doing a long run for a few weeks, those miles definitely wiped me out in the best possible way. I’m still on the watch for lingering injury pain, but yesterday was definitely a fat ole’ confidence boost kick-in-the-butt. {I also don’t think you can get more adjectives/descriptive nouns in one sentence. Way to go English major, way to utilize your inability to tone down your detailing.}

Nothing like a little patience to really make a run feel like solid gold.

Shake out run today, and presuming things keep going well, I’m looking forward to continuing on in this [final!] month of marathon training.

____

Now… please let me hear your lovely voices! Did you race this weekend? Long run? How’d it go? Are you as sad as I am that Alec Baldwin is engaged?

Green Positivity

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{No, this is not a post about eco-friendly things or sustainability}

Greetings friends. How were your weekends? How was Monday?

My weekend was filled to the brim with fun activities, and while I was jealous of all the people who were racing—I have to say that this was a weekend for the books. St. Patrick’s Day, particularly, was highly enjoyable—mostly due to the effort put forth by my boyfriend who, while not Irish, is a big fan of any day devoted to beer and shenanigans.

We were traditional, we were green, we were festive. Allow me to share with you our dedication to this holiday…

Green pancakes!

In keeping with his new found affection for making pancakes, BF made the decision that Saturday’s batch would celebrate St. Patty’s as well. Unfortunately, the idea only came to him with two pancakes left to make. Thought that counts though!

Green smoothie!

I had to sneak some form of health into at least one part of the day 😉

Green people!

No pinching for us! This was also taken in a bar at 4 pm. We take these holidays seriously…also, BF’s shirt is highly entertaining, if you can read it.

Another St. Patty’s treat for the day…

Spring breakers break-ing for beer.

My sister and her boyfriend Grayson stopped by on their way to California for Spring Break to celebrate some green-filled festivities. It was wonderful to see them both, and I’m excited to see them AGAIN this Thursday for more adventures. More on that later. Thanks for coming, guys!

Green eats! Well, not really...but traditional!

So I’ve never done the whole “corned beef and cabbage” thing for St. Patty’s Day (in fact I never even had heard of it), but BF has and decided to introduce me to the tradition. It was also the first time we got to use our new crock pot, which obviously was an exciting endeavor. And, you can’t eat a traditional Irish meal without…

Guinness!

Survey says? Good choice Irish peeps! I’m not a huge red meat person, but this stuff was definitely good, and even the cabbage was to my liking. BF was quite proud of his work with this meal, and rightfully so!

Needless to say, St. Patty’s Day was a win in this household. Any holiday revolving around beer I can really get behind.

Also, because this post is already super picture-happy, this is how I spent my Friday night:

Hotel room? Robes? Wine? Check, check, and quadruple check!

When it comes to celebrating a birthday, no one does lavish quite like my lovely friend Kawika. Which is why he hosted a wine tasting in a super swanky hotel room in an even swankier downtown Seattle hotel. There were reds, there were whites, there was prosecco, and there was cake. A High School Musical 3 cake. Good times were had by all, although I think it would be hard to find someone who wouldn’t enjoy themselves in such a situation.

So, as you can see, a fun weekend indeed. However, there was one glaring absence from Saturday and Sunday: running.

If you’ve read this blog for more than just this post, you know that my weekend reports are normally overwhelmed with long-run talk. Many of you are probably happy for this new change of pace, and I don’t blame you. The fact is: bad knee=no long run. In fact, no running in general—because this bursitis took over my abilities to train, and condemned my activities to spinning and swimming. Both of which felt fantastic on my inflamed knee, and they are very bonafied cross-training activities.

However, when you are supposed to be peaking in training mileage and can’t run more than a few paces without knee pain, this set-back becomes more than discouraging. Which is why, yesterday, I went to see an orthopedic doc for some answers and solutions.

Truly, I was terrified for this appointment. I was going to post yesterday, but I was too afraid that talking about the upcoming doc visit would only heighten my nerves—so I held off until I had some answers. X-rays, lots of talking(by me), and a cortisone injection later—I am feeling an enormous amount of relief.

This appointment went just about as good as I could have hoped for. X-rays showed that nothing is wrong with my knee besides this bursitis/tendonitis—which was my biggest fear. A lot of the time, bursitis is caused by another injury such as a tendon or ligament tear—which would have sidelined me much longer. Luckily, this was not the case—and the doctor only had to yell at me about stretching more. Noted doc, no problem-o. And when he said, “I see no reason why I shouldn’t give you a cortisone injection to speed up the healing process,” I had to hide my excitement—because this is what I was secretly hoping for.

So, with this fancy medicine deflating the crap out of my knee and a little more rest time—I should be good to run (hopefully!) on Friday. So very relieved, and while I’m still wary, I’m feeling positive that I’ll be able to keep training aggressively until taper time.

Also, when I rolled up my pants to show Doc my knee, he took one look at my calves and said, “Wow, you are a runner, huh?”

I blushed.

So, generally, I’m feeling positive. I know I wasn’t totally expressive about my anxiety about this minor injury, but I was feeling very apprehensive for the fate of my Eugene Marathon dreams (ask BF, he will always vouch for my freak-out modes).  The meds and the clear x-rays definitely lifted a weight off my shoulders, and I’m feeling ready to take on the rest of training. The time off also really made me anxious and excited to run, which is always refreshing.

Happy first day of spring! Race season has definitely started, and I’d like to offer a big congrats to everyone who’s either preparing, tapering, or recovering—you are a rock star!

And now…because who isn’t tired of hearing(reading) me talk…how was your St. Patrick’s Day? Weekend? Are you currently training for a spring race?

Bestie Weekend

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Hello all you beautiful people out there.

How’s it going?

I feel like most everyone is really ready to get this whole February show on the road and say “Adios!” to winter. Wait, winter’s still here for almost two more months? Dang. Well, hooray for global warming? Inappropriate?

I digress, let’s talk about running.

This past weekend, as I told you about on Friday, I went to Spokane to see my best friend Anna. We had a totally stellar time, and to paraphrase our weekend I’ll give you some buzz words:

Zumba, Nordy’s Rack, sushi, tequila, drag queens, tequila, Beauty and the Beast

If that right there doesn’t sound like a good time, then I don’t know what does. Allow me to fill you in on some details:

Saturday morning, I forced out 6.5 miles as a means of slightly remedying the fact that I would miss my long run on Sunday. Afterwards, we went to ZUMBA at Anna’s gym—and although I was slightly horrified that I would look like a flailing octopus(think about it…), it turned out to be super fun and not all that difficult. There were well over 100 people there, and as a first timer I felt like I was able to mostly keep up. Also, it was a breather! I was pretty winded fairly quickly, and it was a great workout for your shoulders and quads. The best part? Loud music + ample people watching= very fast class. The hour went by in a flash.

Highly recommended.

That night, Anna was performing with other law students in a drag show as dancers. Obviously, a good time was inevitable. And, as I stated earlier, although I’m marathon training and my weekends are normally devoted to hours of running—some priorities took over in this scenario. When your best friend is a booty shaking back-up dancer for some lovely drag queens in a gay bar, there is no question where your devotions lie. And hence…tequila. It was an awesome night, and I have a new found respect for the Spokane drag pros as well as the Gonzaga Law females. These ladies could be your attorney some day people…I, for one, look forward to it.

There's a lot of sparkles and cleavage up on that stage.

besties

Obviously, when you drink a lot of tequila, the best idea the next morning is to go watch dancing teapots and candle sticks sparkle on stage. Beauty and the Beast on Broadway it was!

Anna, who is mega awesome and knows my childhood fantasies oh-so-well, bought us tickets as an early birthday present for me. Just to fill you in, Beauty and the Beast is my all-time favorite Disney movie, and I would probably trade an arm to be a Broadway star. Therefore, BandtheB ON STAGE epitomizes entertainment.

And it did not disappoint; the show was positively fabulous—Belle was exquisite, the set was spectacular, and I can guarantee every single 23-year-old little girl in the room was more than pleased.

I might have bought a souvenir.

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend, and I wish it could have lasted longer. I left feeling very thankful to have such incredible people, like Anna, in my life and generally filled with a serene sense of being content.

 

Yesterday morning, I awoke to the sound of silence—aka no rain! Also, this:

January 30th baby!

I love when I can wear shorts without question, and temperature isn’t an issue. It was also fun to be running on a Monday; because I almost always do long runs on Sundays, Mondays are typically an off-day…and I really liked starting off the week with some dark, quiet running time. I finished 11.6 miles in 93 minutes, about 8 minute miles on the dot. Very happy about this, and I’m definitely feeling more confident in my speed.

Speaking of, I gave in and will be starting speed work…like, on a track…next week. It’s funny that this feels like a new concept for me, since I spent oh 6 years as a track runner, however something about having the marathon as the end goal as opposed of 300 meters of hurdles feels more intense.

 

‘Tis all for today! And because I really love all you readers out there…

Tell me one thing your excited for. It can be a Spring Break trip or merely the delicious lunch you packed…anything!