I finally have internet access! Jeremy and I had been in the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee in a chalet with his family since last week, so there was no internet, and I have lots to catch up on now that we’re in the real world again. We stayed with our good friends in Atlanta last night and will head to Athens later today to celebrate New Year’s Eve with more dear friends. It is SO nice to be back in the south, the only other place I’ve called home. The weather’s been fairly chilly, which is actually a nice change from Southern California (I do have to admit that I already miss Santa Barbara though… I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live too far away from it again in my life). I’m STILL having sleeping issues; it seems like I’m bordering on insomnia lately, which is really not cool. I’ve got to figure it out.

I’ve managed to keep up with my running while here, which I’m really proud of. It’s hard to fit in runs when you’re traveling (especially with a bunch of other people), but I’ve found that if I tell everyone what my plans are, it helps me stick to it, and it helps everyone know how to plan around it. I ran 9.36 miles when we were in Tennessee on Saturday morning, and it felt SO good. I feel like I dressed appropriately for the weather, I bought a dinky hand-held water bottle at Walmart the day before so I used that for the first time, and I ate a GU for the first time (I’ve always just had Clif Shot Blocks), and it was much better than I was expecting. It helped that it was the Salted Caramel flavor, and basically tasted like icing. My legs felt so good even by the end of the run, and my whole body felt great, even in the much colder temperature than I’m used to, and the higher altitude. I ended up doing a five-mile walk through the woods with Jeremy’s family later in the day as well. I brought my travel Trigger Point foam roller and used it later in the day, and wore compression socks for the next two days, and felt great.

Oh and I have been using my brand new Garmin 220 (!!!, thanks Jeremy!) and my new Nike jacket my in-laws got me. Now I can actually see what pace I’m running at WHILE I’m running! Who would’ve thunk.

Photo dump time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation has been real fun so far, and next up, a review of 2013.

So I totally forgot to post a picture that I dug up of me on the scooter I won in 2009. I entered a raffle and when the guy called me, I just kept yelling profanities at him until I believed him. I had to sell the scooter when I moved to California, and it definitely had some technical difficulties during the time i had it, but it was always fun to ride, and my friend took this picture when I was wearing all black and white, matching the scooter. So that was definitely the best thing I’ve ever won.

I’m dealing with sleep deprivation (again), which is no fun, especially when you have to be at the office from 9am-9pm. I’m hoping that once this final push is over and we leave for Georgia, it will get better.

My week of workouts went well, and I’m really glad I got my long run done yesterday; I can barely open my eyes today because they’re burning so much from being sleep deprived, so I definitely would not be able to run today. I did 8 miles yesterday, and I really focused on doing them slowly. I noticed I’d been trying to push myself a little too much on long runs, and getting a little worn out near the end. I made sure I could comfortably have a conversation if I needed to, never letting my breath get heavy. It was really pleasant this way. I’m also quasi following the Runner’s World Break 2:00 Half Marathon Plan and it recommends what pace to run at, which is really nice. Breaking two hours is my goal for the Mermaid Series Half Marathon in San Diego on February 8.  I’ve been trying to research good areas to run in Gatlinburg, Tennessee (where we’ll be next weekend) when I’d like to run 9 miles, but it’s proving a little difficult. I might have to push it until we get to Atlanta the following Monday. Last week in review:

Monday – bootcamp, 3 miles

Tuesday – 6 miles

Wednesday – bootcamp, 2.5 miles

Thursday – 5 miles

Friday – rest

Saturday – 8 miles

Sunday – rest

 

 

The last few days have been filled with long hours at the office, and the days ahead (until Monday night) will be more of the same. Christmas Eve and our Georgia trip can’t come soon enough! It’s hard to even think about the trip when there’s so much work to do before then. I work with my family, and we don’t even know when we’ll be able to fit in exchanging gifts before we leave! Jeremy and I are really looking forward to our trip and seeing all our old friends. Not to mention eating delicious Southern food.

I forgot to mention it, but I won a $15 gift certificate to Road ID at the race on Saturday. I hadn’t considered getting something from there before then, but now I’m sure I will. It will be nice to have some sort of identification on me for safety purposes, especially with all the traveling we’ll be doing. And then, I was notified yesterday that I won a gift basket from the Whole Foods here in town! It is filled with products from local companies, and it all looks delicious. Olives and pickled beets are among my favorite foods (not to mention coffee and really nice olive oil), and there are some caramel chai tea bags, and Cabernet Sauvignon Wine Jelly from a company called Cowboy Ike’s, which sounds delicious. There were scones and other goodies in there too! Needless to say I’m feeling very lucky right now.

On Monday, I met a friend at the beach on my lunch break, and we had a really nice time. I am so spoiled to work so close to the beach.

I didn’t run on Sunday even though I was thinking about it. But after running full-speed up and down trails at the race on Saturday and landing funny on my foot a couple times, I thought it was wiser to take a rest day. I am pretty sure I have weak ankles, and I had an injury last year that made me miss a half marathon. Ever since then it pops whenever I move it; it feels like maybe there is some buildup or something in it. I went to bootcamp Monday morning and we ran almost three miles during the hour, and did lots of full body workouts. On Tuesday, I got up and ran six miles in the morning. It was so nice. I was losing steam by the end, but I think I just need to eat a little something beforehand in the morning if I’m going to do anything longer than five miles. I usually listen to top 40 pop songs and things like that to run, but occasionally I can’t take it anymore. On Tuesday I listened to one of my favorite albums, Feels by Animal Collective, and it was nostalgic, made me happy, and kept me motivated all at the same time.

This morning I went to bootcamp and I ran two and a half miles during class. I plan on running tomorrow then going to yoga (if I can get out of the office), resting Friday, then a long run Saturday. By that time it’ll be almost Christmas Eve! Phew.

I had planned on doing a couple runs this weekend, maybe one longish run, but sometimes you have to put your plans aside and just rest. I go through a phase once a month where I get horrible sleep for about 5 days, so I’m feeling pretty rundown. Jeremy and I celebrated a friend’s 30th birthday on Friday night and got back pretty late, and that was the beginning of no-sleep week. Saturday night, we celebrated our six-month wedding anniversary with some pizza from Whole Foods and a couple huge, warm cookies dipped in milk, while watching The Sopranos. That is my ideal Saturday night. I seriously can’t believe it’s been six months since the wedding, time is flying!

Before the weekend, I was having a pretty good week of workouts:

Monday – Bootcamp

Tuesday – 5 miles, 9:37 average pace

Wednesday – Bootcamp

Thursday – Power yoga

Friday – 7 miles, 9:47 average pace

Saturday – Beach walk

Sunday – Rest

I still feel pretty slow on my runs, and hope to work on my speed in the coming months. I signed up for the Elings Terrain Festival on Saturday, which is a 5K trail race in a beautiful park with views of the ocean, so that should be fun.

I’m also going to register for the Mermaid Series Half Marathon on February 8 in San Diego. Let the training begin!

I am dealing with some lower back aches today and am feeling like I’m coming down with something (everybody is sick right now!), so I’m taking it easy again today, and hopefully will be feeling good tomorrow after a good night’s sleep (fingers crossed).

Now, a photo dump:

 

 

I’ve been really wanting to start my morning runs before sunrise so I can see it happen over the ocean. It’s basically the best thing in the entire world, and it’s been forever since I’ve done it. So this morning, that was my plan. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas, and (maybe because I was worried I’d miss my 6:13am alarm? Although that’s never happened) woke me up around 4am. I thought maybe it was time to wake up, but my heart sank a little bit when I looked at my clock. After all that, I ended up not getting out of the house until a little before 7, so I knew I’d already missed the actual sunrise. By the time I got to the beach, this was my view:

Sooo I’m not complaining. But one of these days I’ll make it before the sun actually rises.

I ran five miles, and it pretty much sucked. It’s so weird that you can feel so incredibly good running and then a couple days later feel like you can’t even pick up your feet.

My Nike+ on my iPod Nano is pretty jacked, so I’m REALLY hoping I’m getting a Garmin for Christmas. If not, I’ll be buying one with my hard-earned money anyway. Christmas is three weeks away? Weird.