Boston Road Running Adventures

Peace Out Work

My last day of work was yesterday. I've been crazy busy trying to prepare. I feel a million times better now that I'm out - although it was hard to leave, but I know I'll stay in touch with the people who mean the most to me. I've been bad about running, but I've stopped beating myself up over it.
I haven't been able to relax too much, I now have to deal with moving from the city to the suburbs (where I'll be for about a month). I am stressing - to the point that I woke up at 5 this morning and started more packing around 6. Ahhhh. When this is over I deserve an amazing night's sleep!
I'm heading to Miami tomorrow afternoon for a condo association interview - yes, I'm serious. Then I'll be back to deal with the rest of the move.

My Running Is Not Like Whoa

I would say running has been pretty uneventful. And I've essentially lost my way to the pool. I'm not beating myself up over this. I'm still running, but most runs seem to be between 3-5 miles. I just can't be bothered to swim these days. Time is being taken up by meeting up with friends who I have a limited time left with. This weekend is going to be my apartment's party, which I am pretty excited for. It will mostly likely be mainly girls, which is more fun anyway. I had an ex- encounter last night that was exceptionally strange, but I don't think I ought to blog about it. Tonight I met up with the same friends I hung out with Saturday night. Our plan was to try to get eye makeup lessons at a local makeup store, but you have to make appointments (which we did for the weekend) so we basically just met up for drinks and dinner. Tomorrow night I'm meeting up with another old friend - who I just told about law school - actually she learned through the evite we sent out. Oops. I have to dedicate a lot of this weekend to packing. Oh and Father's day is Sunday - must buy present!
My grammar in this posting is exceptionally disgusting.

My weekend was fun but rather uneventful. Friday afternoon I took advantage of the half-day summer special provided at work (the company I work for does half day Fridays all summer long - one of the very few perks of working in publishing). I met up with my parents and we at lunch at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the new ICA. The building is beautiful yet strange. I wish it had been warmer because the outdoor seating is right on the water, but we sat behind some glass and still enjoyed the view. We then went on to the Philip-Lorca DiCorcia exhibit that is there at the moment. It was an interesting photography exhibit which I enjoyed since I just finished up a digital photography class. (I actually bought a tripod tonight which has made me very excited - I love night photos and this will make it that much easier to snap them). I was particularly fascinated by the images of the male prostitutes that DiCorcia captured - they were intriguing and depressing all at the same time. Saturday I spent most of the day reading and doing odd jobs around the apartment. Saturday night I met up with some old friends for dinner in the North End and then went on to drinks in Beacon Hill. It was fun to catch up with these friends - and it was just like old times. I had so much fun just laughing and being silly. It again made me sad that I'm going to have to say goodbye so soon. Sunday I spent the afternoon with my parents and my cousin and his new wife. They were showing us their photos from their recent honeymoon in Africa. The images were amazing - I can't believe how close the animals come when you're on safari (I'm talking lions, zebras, wildabeasts, etc.) I was pretty insanely jealous.
Friday I ran about 3.30, Saturday: 4.25, Sunday: 4.25, today 5.20. My legs felt really tired today, but once I had gone about 2 miles I started to feel good. It was HOT so I ended up running shirtless for a large portion to maximize tanning potential :) But I made sure to put the shirt back on before I reached the street I work on - that could be pretty awkward.
I have so much packing to do, it isn't even funny.

My life is boring when I don't think about the future...

I'm in complete denial about the fact that my world is about to change. In the matter of two months I will be: leaving my current job (I've been with the same company for almost four years, since my college graduation), leaving the city I've grown up in (minus the college years and when my parents were living in London), moving to a place where I know no one save my aunt and uncle, and beginning a new phase of life as a student. I'm so excited, but at the same time, I feel like I'm denying the fact that all of this stuff is even happening. I think things will start to sink in quickly when I finish work in two weeks and one day and even more when I move from my apartment to my parents' house (we haven't lived together since I was in high school - this should be interesting). Fortunately I still have a little under two months to spend with my friends and say my goodbyes and check off things on my "Things to Do Before I Leave Boston" list. In my mind, I think I'm under the impression I still have about six months, but here's to continuing the delusion.
Went back to running on Tuesday - 4.35 miles, 4.25 yesterday, 3.75 today. Felt fine during all three.
I think I'm going to hit up the new ICA (one of the things on my list) tomorrow after work and maybe try to make it to the Franklin Park Zoo and Arnold Arboretum for picture taking bliss this weekend.

Short, but Chlorinated

My stomach has been driving me crazy since the race. Perhaps I will think next time before I abuse my body to run in a race (abuse is definitely an exaggeration). I ate white rice and chicken on Sunday in the hopes that this would help make me feel a bit more normal. It did, but then I think it was countered by the chocolate chip cookies I baked (and ate). I took the day off from exercise on Sunday - it helped that I spent a large part of the day in Rhode Island at the beach and the rest was spent in Boston with crummy weather. Yesterday I told myself to wait until after work to decide whether or not to run. I decided not to run when my stomach was still bothering me at the end of the day, but as I got more antsy I decided to go swim. I swam a little over a mile, doing it almost continuously. 250 to warm up, then 1750. It felt good to get back in the water - it's been a while. It took me the first 250 to get back into the breathing pattern, but then I was fine. I really love being in the pool - I really don't love smelling like the pool after leaving though.

Beer - the new thirst quencher?

To make up for the fact that I skipped the past couple of races I was supposed to run in, I decided I would finally stick to one I signed up for again. Yesterday I made my way over to South Boston for the 6th Annual Harpoon Brewery 5-miler. It was hot. It was humid. It was overcast until 5 minutes before the race began, at which point the sun came out to make it that much hotter. I went out way too fast. I paid in the middle. And I gave my beer tickets away but made out with several free Vitamin Waters. 5 miles: 7:16 / 7:07 / 7:33 / 7:58 / 7:41. Total time: 37:36. Place overall: 124 out of 1409. Division: 18/718. By the middle I was literally thinking "just finish the race, just finish the race - slow down as much as you want..." At certain points I was desperate to walk. I was throwing lots of water on myself. When the woman yelled "you're getting close to the beer" with one mile left, I wanted to boot. When I crossed the finish line, the guy in front of me actually projectile vomited. I then proceeded to dry heave. My body had some other strange reactions. I was supposed to spend most of yesterday at a beer-b-que, instead I spent a majority of it curled in the fetal position on my sofa. Not the best day.

Why do I/you run?

This morning, a new coworker asked me why I run so much. This got me to thinking...why do I run? Here's what I've come up with:

1 - It makes me feel healthy.
2 - It gives me time to think.
3 - It gives me a sense of accomplishment.
4 - It brings me new places.
5 - It helps me prioritize.
6 - I like the lifestyle that goes along with it.
7 - It allows me to eat just about whatever I want.
8 - I get that empowered feeling from the endorphins.

I'm sure there are many more.
What are your reasons for running?

Good Morning, Sunshine-ish

I met up with a friend from college who I hadn't seen in about a year. It was great to catch up with her and see her before she went to live in Spain for the summer and then head out west to teach. I love the sort of friends you can fall out of touch with but when you see them things are just like old times. That's how it is with this friend - so we had a blast catching up and laughing about the dumb things we used to do. After dinner I went home and watched what I thought to be an absolutely amazing movie - The Freedom Writers. I can't believe how well this movie was made and, what's more, that this is a true story. In the fall, my aunt (who works in admin in the special ed department of a high school in Illinois) wrote to our family about seeing the teacher featured in the movie, Erin Gruwell, speak. She said the woman's words were powerful and inspiring and she immediately went out to buy the book. I never got the chance to read the book (although now I will have to), but I literally started crying within 15 minutes of starting this movie, and didn't really stop until the end. I love movies about the underdog coming out on top or people overcoming adversity, and this is one of the best of this genre. I read a book similar to this this past fall which I would recommend Small Victories. It's interesting to see the struggles these teachers face in order to provide more opportunities for their students and all that they are willing to sacrifice.
On a lighter note - I woke up this morning to run before work and was faced with a lot of rain and thunder. Eventually, by the time I needed to head out, the storm had passed. J was really confused when I tried to wake her up because we needed to get outside - she thought the storm was still going on and we would call off the run. It was a good run - until the end when suddenly my stomach decided we needed to get home immediately. It was really muggy, but not bad. It's fun to have someone to run with in the morning - especially when it's your good friend who is better than you at talking while running. This morning J entertained me with a story about her college boyfriend keeping a pet squirrel...and then we laughed about how chinchillas roll themselves in the dirt. Lovely.
Finally, I think my back/shoulder skin has almost finished falling off. My DNA is now sufficiently scattered throughout our office and my apartment.

Another DNS

So, about that race on Sunday...I spent Saturday night at a local Wellfleet bar with friends and when I woke up at 6:30 on Sunday morning I made the executive decision that the race was not going to happen. I actually wasn't that hungover, I was more exhausted, hadn't really prepared my stomach for the race, and my skin was VERY burned. I wasn't beating myself up over it too much, until I looked at the results and realized I would have most likely finished in the top 10 for women - bummer. Oh well - it was a small race, so no big deal.
The weekend was very lazy in terms of exercising. I didn't run on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Finally, when I got home from the 3+ hour drive, I decided it was time to start again. I went for a 4+ miler along the Charles and enjoyed some early evening heat. Yesterday I ran about 5 miles at lunch and the skin on my back did that wonderful bubbly thing. Today I did a little over 5 miles again at lunch and my skin was even more bubbly (this time I was wearing a tank top, so everyone got to bear witness). You'd think I'd try to cover up my burn, but I can't resist the desire to get more sun all of the time!
Not too much else to report at the moment. Senioritis at work has taken hold and I can't concentrate on anything - blogging included!

Gearing Up

This long weekend can't come soon enough! I dropped the bomb at work about my pending departure this week (about a month away) and since I've been suffering from a serious case of senioritis. I've actually been doing work, but with many, many breaks thrown in. I can't concentrate at all. I'm also starting to freak out about how little time I have until I move and how much I want to do before that time. Who's idea was it to schedule a family reunion across the country the week before I move? Why does my doctor not have availability until November and the nurse practitioner until the end of July? Do I have any time to take golf lessons? Go sailing? Say goodbye to my friends and spend sufficient time with them that they won't hate me when I'm bad at keeping in touch as I struggle through the first six months of school? Aaaaaahhhhh! My head is literally spinning. I plan to think about none of that this weekend and just have fun with some friends (hopefully with a lot of time spent on the beach). My only *slight* stress of the weekend is the 10K scheduled for Sunday morning. I did the race last year - my only goal is to beat my time, which shouldn't be too difficult, unless my stomach has its way.
Ran 8 miles on Tuesday. Took yesterday off (strange). Ran about 4.35 miles today. It's "taper" time. My legs were feeling a little dead today. Can't decide whether to go for a quick run tomorrow night or not. I guess that will be determined by the way things go over drinks tonight. Yeah, since when did I start this casual drinking thing again? Can you tell it's summer?