Maybe I'll Just Never Move Again

Merry (belated) Christmas! I've been traveling for the holidays, finally coming to a stop in Washington state at my parents' house. I'm couch surfing so my little niece can have a room to herself. It's a good thing she's adorable. :)

I went to the gym Wednesday with my Dad and sister-in-law. I talked my sister-in-law into doing this superset workout that always, always makes me super sore. Maybe I'll rename it the super-sore workout. I knew it would be especially bad this time when my legs were already hurting as I left the gym. 

Given the large amounts of pain I've been in for the last 48 hours, I've toyed with the idea of just never moving again. I did, however, make it to the gym again today. All I could do was spend some time (~50 minutes) on the bike and the elliptical before heading over to do some half-hearted core work. I finished it off with some stretching and foam rolling. When I got to my quads, I about cried. Seriously.

So here's my question, do you always have to be sore after a workout to be improving or making progress? When I lift weights consistently there comes a point when I'm no longer sore after my workouts. I still feel like I'm working, and I'll increase my weight intermittently, but is pain the only way to know you're improving? Inquiring minds need to know...

Happy New Year! I'm thinking about my plan of attack for my resolutions!

Turkey Trottin'

Had a lovely wake-up Skype call from SeRUNity Now and Her Royal Highness as they toed the line at their local Turkey Trot this morning! It's slightly embarrassing that that was my wake-up call; it was two hours earlier for them. Sleeping in is totally justifiable on Thanksgiving though, right? Especially when you're a grad student. (At least that is what I'll tell myself.)

I was too late this year to find an official Turkey Trot to run. I didn't even think about it till earlier this week, and by then, all the ones close to "home" were already full. So I had a turkey trot of my own this morning. I hit up my favorite trail for a 6-mile trot this morning. It might be a little cliche, but I really did think about all the things I'm grateful for while I was running--not least of which was the amazing weather we're having! It was in the low 50s, sunny, and slightly breezy.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving then, here are a few of the running-related things I'm thankful for:

1. I've had some injuries in the past, but never anything that was "career-ending," if you will. And I am grateful for that. 
2. I am grateful to have a really nice trail system pretty close to where I live, and today I was especially grateful there were so many people out on the trail so I felt safe running. 
3. On a similar note, I'm grateful I've been safe over my years of running.  
4. I am grateful for Lindsey, my best running buddy! Miss you! 
5. I am grateful for fallen leaves that crunch when I run through them. 
6. I'm grateful for my family who I get to run with sometimes, and for my sister-in-law's family who has assimilated me into their super awesome annual relay adventures. 
7. Mostly, I'm just grateful to be able to run.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

You're Motorin'

Sister Christian is kind of my current favorite song. Ironic, since the song itself is not current. No idea why, other than it's awesome, and their hair is pretty rad. And by rad, I mean, perms have no business on men with mullets. Or do they...?

This Run Brought to You By

I knocked out 10 miles today. Boom. I got up later than I had planned on, but I still managed to get myself out the door and get my miles in. I ate half a Mint Chocolate Clif Bar and drank about 20 oz. of water before I left.

I ran on a treadmill this morning. There have been way too many attacks on women on trails in my area lately for me to feel comfortable running outside by myself--especially for ten miles. But I had a pretty sweet setup this morning. I downloaded Netflix onto my iPad and I was golden. Thank you Thor and Captain America for your stellar work not only saving the universe but also saving me from death by boredom on my treadmill run this morning. I had to stop for water (definitely need to find my water bottle), and I brought another Clif bar, but I ended up not needing it.

And the clincher: New. Shoes. Boom. I felt like I was running on clouds. It was magical. And the color. Love. Head nod to you, Saucony.

Oooh! Look! My socks match.

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.

Triple Tangent Tuesday

I've been entering data for HOURS today. It's one of the most tedious things I've done, and I still have HOURS more to go. So here's to taking a break and posting a few random tangents!

1. I have a love-hate relationship with Catch Phrase. I love it, because it's awesome and it's a word game. I hate it because I get seriously stressed out every time I play it. The beeping countdown makes me feel like Jack Bauer on the season finale of 24. And I have this embarrassing tendency to a) yell when I'm guessing/describing a word, b) fist pump every time my team gets a point, and c) throw the game set at the person sitting next to me when my team guesses the word instead of just handing it off like a normal person.  Like I said, it's embarrassing and strangely uncontrollable.

2. One of my favorite things to eat right now? Hummus + slices of red, yellow, and orange peppers + whole wheat wrap. Yum. The downside? Slicing the peppers. Blergh. Other than that though, it's super easy, fast, and yummy!

3. Ummmm...it would seem I have no more tangents for today. We'll call it a Two-Tangent Tuesday instead.