More Running in the Snow

Whooooooo’s at work with me today? Anyone? If you’re not, I hate you. Actually, it’s kind of alright since I haven’t been to the office since last Wednesday… thanks snow. My roommate and I were suffering from serious cabin fever on Friday afternoon, and it ended up being a pretty nice day, so we took Madison for a walk to the dog park, and she had ALL THE FUN.

Madison found all of the puddles at the dog park, and decided to completely submerge herself in them. Multiple times, and then she would look at the other dogs like “HEY, why aren’t you guys doing this too?!” She’s such a weirdo.

The dog park is actually right in the middle of my usual running route, so I knew the bike path was clear for my long run Saturday. When I woke up though, it was snowing again. Grr. Not hard enough to actually stick, but enough that I procrastinated for a good two hours before finally getting out the door.

While the bike path was nice and clear, there was a lot of hurdling over snow drifts and shuffling on some icy sidewalks until I hit the trail. It ended up being a pretty nice run though, really quiet not a lot of other people out, until mile 4 when the snow turned into a snow/sleet mix. Motivation to haul ass and get home faster. I also really need to figure out how to not end EVERY RUN with the wind in my face and running uphill. Oh well, making me stronger I guess?

February 15:
Mile 1: 9:35
Mile 2: 9:11
Mile 3: 9:07
Mile 4: 9:18
Mile 5: 9:15
Mile 6: 9:08

There’s the elevation chart, and now it makes sense why the middle miles always feel so good, haha. My calves and hips are super tight today, so I see some foam rolling and extreme stretching in my future. Happy Monday kids.

Ch, ch, cha changessss

Over the weekend I got to thinking about some things. Mostly, how it seems my birthday is suddenly one month away and I would like nothing more than to barely acknowledge the day. If you know me IRL, this is the opposite of how I normally feel about my birthday. For the previous 4 years I have spent a wild and drunken weekend at my BFF’s beach house boozing my face off.

24, 25, 26, and 27

Granted I did get dumped on the second night of last year’s trip, so that put somewhat of a damper on the weekend, but at least no one judged me when I showed up to the beach on Friday with a Nalgene full of vodka and not water. Now, since I was broken up with 6 days before my birthday last year, I could pretty much drive off a cliff, into shark infested waters, and have it be more enjoyable than whatever I was doing last year (I’m pretty sure it involved crying into vodka) but that’s not the point. I think last year just kinda ruined it for me, and that’s fine I suppose. I mean I’m well past the age where you should get excited about your birthday, but it kinda sucks too. It falls on a Thursday this year, which is my WFH day, so I’m sure I’ll be at a happy hour or something to celebrate, buy I am definitely a grumpy guss this year. Sigh. I suppose it doesn’t help that, as my mother so eloquently put it, “hunny you are almost 30!” I’m not, I will be 28 dammit. Haha.

Anyway, moving on. I also started thinking (I was alone most of the day on Saturday) about how I’ve seemed to adopt an “Out with the old, in with the new” policy in my life recently. First, I cut off about 7 inches of my hair back in March:

It’s awesome for summer, and it curls so much better, but I’m sure I’ll be sick of it once winter rolls around. Then, spurred by what can only be classified as insanity my roommate and I completely tore apart our backyard. We’re talking an entire Saturday of cutting down tree branches, pulling up weeds, raking old leaves killing the ivy that takes over. It was a mess, and now it looks awesome. We have plants, and flowers, and vegetables assuming I didn’t kill them when I planted them.

 

The interior of our house also recently got some upgrades and changes, mostly out of necessity since when our third roommate left us to go live with a BOY she took a lot of our furniture. After nearly three years of living in Virginia, we finally have a couch that didn’t also exist in 1954.

Bam!

I’m still obsessed with that rug and vacuum it weekly. Let me tell you, I’m pretty sure there’s already an ass shaped impression in that corner of the chaise. Best purchase, ever. Also, for $40 freakin bucks at Homegoods I purchased the prettiest and girliest bedding, and I love it.

And, AND WE GET AIR CONDITIONING INSTALLED STARTING TOMORROW! It’s not central air, but both upstairs bedrooms and the kitchen are having ductless units installed and I’m so happy I could cry. No more crappy window unit rattling my brains at night! I might even be able to turn my blow dryer on without blowing a fuse! Perhaps though, the biggest change coming is this sweet girl coming to live with me, Adrienne, and Pumpkin on Saturday!

I don’t think Pumpkin really understands that this is happening, and I suspect she’ll be pretty pissed for a while, but the dog needed rescuing and well we wanted a dog. It’s not technically my dog, I just get to be her cool aunt. Can’t wait to meet her on Saturday! So lots of changes going on, most not really life changing but good things nonetheless. Oh, and I have a date on Wednesday. The last date I went on there was snow on the ground, and it was so terrible I gave up dating for 4 months. Hopefully this goes better than that one :).