Quirky.

Last night I had a spectacular 9 mile run.  Unfortunately, my legs refuse to ever be okay after running anything over 6 but whatever. Lots of heat and ice and elevation for me today. I've got enough problems with IT band on my other leg, so you better get your shit together Achilles tendon...

Anyway, post run, I was soaking in my bathtub (Epsom salts FTW !), eating some yogurt, watching Netflix, and texting Alyssa.  Thankfully this girl just gets me because anyone else would have totally thought doing all of those things concurrently would classify me as certifiable.

On Sunday, B and I watched Good Will Hunting.  After the whole thing was over, he told me that HE'D NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE !  I felt like a moron because I kept making comments about different scenes (again, operating under the assumption that he had seen one of the best movies ever created).  One of my favorite scenes is when Sean talks about his wife.



[Random fact: the camera shakes because the camera operator couldn't hold it still from laughing so hard - Robin improvised that scene]

Why did I tell you about my post run soak and Good Will Hunting ? Because it got me thinking about weird things people do that sometimes seem completely ridiculous to some but totally normal to others. So, I now share with you some weird idiosyncrasies I have which are totally normal to me:

• I can go run for 90 minutes without any music but need to have my phone, food, and a movie playing in order to sit still in a bath for 20 minutes. 
• I won't open a can without tap tapping the top of the can, knowing full well it doesn't do anything. 
• I won't leave my apartment without saying "Be good monsters, Mommy loves you" to the dogs. 
• When I'm at work, if I have Spotify playing in the background, no work gets done but put on a TV show from Netflix on and holy crap you wouldn't believe the amount of work that gets done. 
• I eat Smarties 3 at a time.  For some reason 2 is too little and trying to eat more than 3 at a time just doesn't work.
• When I don't have my rings on, my thumb still goes to each finger and tries to spin them even though they're not there.
• If I run in the morning, I can't have coffee before but fiend for it by the time i'm done; if I run at night, drinking anything other than water after makes me want to kill myself.
• I try to limit the amount of times I check my phone but when I do, I have 4 apps in the bottom corner that if I check one, I'm checking them all.
• If I'm the only one in my car, things have to be in a certain place so I can get them whenever I need to without taking my eyes off the road.  If someone else is in the car, they get a purse on their lap and the phrase "Can you get me my..." happens about every 5 minutes. 
• I can recite pretty much entire movies, TV series, discographies, but ask me something like "Is today Tuesday ?" and I'm all "I dunno".

So there's that. Completely random, useless, not remotely related to anything things that you didn't need to know but things that make me, me !  But I'm super nosy...what are your peccadilloes ? Tell me, tell me, tell me !

Have a good Tuesday friends :)

Exhausted !

I just fell asleep at my desk. Oops ! That's what I get for not being able to fall asleep last night. My legs feel really good today but adamantly REFUSED to stop throbbing last night from about 1AM until about 5AM.  It didn't help that the dogs kept flopping on them every time I tried to move into a comfortable position. I even took it easy during spin class to make sure I didn't aggravate my IT bands AND sat in the hot tub.  Oh well. Today is a rest day so I'm not too concerned.  At least all the awake time let me update my "About Me" section - go check it out ! In other news, hooray for giant cups of coffee !

Since I'm useless currently, enjoy some fun quotes I've collected that make me feel better about running and training.

(My favorite is the "special kind of idiot".  I want that on a shirt for when I run my first half !)

(Sometimes this is the only thought that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other)

Since that will only keep you amused for about .7 seconds, here are some links I like !

• 36 Things Only Runners Understand
• Buzzfeed's 28 Problems Every Runner Will Understand
• 22 Unexpected Things When You Run Your First Half Marathon
• 5 Common Mistakes Newbies Make

Enjoy while I try and function as a human being !

Off Days

I know they should be called "rest days" but I call them off days because I feel off.  It's all because I feel like I haven't been working hard enough to have a rest day. Normally I just sit around and be lazy and feel super unproductive and well,

However, I also know that there are SERIOUS advantages to taking a day off to recoup, even if it feels like I don't need to.  My biggest concern is making sure I don't overdo it too quickly and hurt myself again. Which is why, against my better judgement, I finished my book last night instead of a short 2 mile run.

As much as I want to do this all on my own, I fully believe that I need a coach.

Not like Coach, but someone to help me get my act together and have a set plan on what to do and how to do it. Because unlike almost all the runners I know, I haven't been running since high school or college, never had a coach to help me and can use all the help I can get.  Ideally I would love it if someone would tell me: This is what you run for the week, how many days, how many miles, how fast, etc. until I can start to come up with my own plan. Or at least just run with me once a week to say "Hey, if you do this, or focus on this, it may help."

The biggest reason I haven't asked for help before is because I don't want to feel like I'm bothering someone or that I'm slowing them down or cutting into their own training.

That being said, another personal goal this week is to stop being so self conscious and ask for help. The worst thing that happens is people say "no" and that's okay !

I have my personal trainer at the gym tonight who will probably make me do planks again, wait about 30 seconds, and try and make me laugh hysterically and yell at me if I break...because everyone wants to throw up while doing planks, right ?!

Before I go I just want to say:  To everyone who reads what I post here, YOU GUYS ARE ROCKSTARS !  I can't say thank you enough for making my heart so happy :)