Finally!

I found a good spin instructor at my new gym! I tore myself away (more like sprinted away) from grading papers yesterday around 4 p.m. to head over to my gym for a 4:30 spin class. I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time because of traffic, so I was extra glad I did when about 5 minutes into the class, I realized this spin teacher meant business. She had me sweating and working harder than any other spin class has at this location. And she had great music to boot. The only downside was that I had to leave early to give myself time to get cleaned up and make it to a meeting.

And I'm so glad I rushed away from what was probably the best spin class ever to what was definitely the worst meeting ever. There are no words to adequately describe the 63-minute Purgatory I endured. Only two things saved me from giving way to madness and running screaming from the room: the endorphin high from spin class, and the four other blessed souls who--like me--were at the mercy of one or two temporally unaware individuals. Strength in numbers, right?

On the docket today: more paper grading, some research, fact finding, and writing, a run, some strength training, and perhaps some ultimate frisbee tonight as well.

Aaaand, We're Back!

Apparently summertime means I take a long, completely unintentional hiatus from blogging. You'd think the opposite would be true, given that I actually have some free time now that I'm not in classes, but there you have it.

A brief run-down of the last few months:

• I moved out of my crappy apartment right at the end of last semester--and not a moment too soon. So, so glad to get out of there. 
• I took a trip back out West to visit friends and family and ended up running races on both weekends I was there. First was the Dirty Dash (a 5-mile mud/obstacle run), and then the Sawtooth Relay (I'm now a four-time veteran of that one). This year was crazy; it snowed. Like unto a blizzard.
• I backpacked about 25 miles of the Appalachian Trail in 2.5 days with some pretty awesome people. Awesome = crazy (i.e., they did about 70 miles in 4 or 5 days the last time they went). I was really glad we decided to be less ambitious on this adventure.
• I joined a gym. While having access to treadmills during what is one of the hottest summers I've ever experienced is definitely nice, I have been kind of disappointed with the classes they offer. I have taken one really good spin class there (and I've tried a lot of them), and I am still trying to find a good muscle pump or weight lifting class to take (last night the instructor just didn't show up--lame). I miss my old gym, and my super rad, super buff, super inspirational pump teacher back in Utah. She was, obviously, super.
• I still have to find a half marathon to run this year! The full is off the table for now, but someday I will run another full. So help me.