Down With Treadmills

Thursday Run
Distance: 7 miles
Time: liiiiiike...an hour aaaand...fifteeeeeeen minutes?
Pace: Oh crap, I have no idea
Most Challenging Moment: TREADMILL
Most Inspiring Moment: Good book!

Friday Run
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: something like 35ish minutes
Pace: yeah no
Most Challenging Moment: no time!
Most Inspiring Moment: No more treadmills (maybe)


With the snow still on the ground, I'm still at the gym, and it's as terrible as ever.

Are there people who actually have to train for marathons at gyms? Like, is that even possible? (Google says: yes) Shudder to think.

I went back to the gym Thursday night for my 7-miler, feeling...unenthused... Not only was I running at the end of a long day (due to schedules, babies, puppies, etc etc), but since I could barely make it through Wednesday's 4-miler, almost double that distance had me feeling very :(

This time, though, I came prepared with a full bottle of water and a copy of The Magicians on my Nook.

How is it? Okay! So far. I think Quentin has a little Holden Caulfield thing going for him (not a compliment) and I'm struggling to see why this isn't technically YA, even with the drugs, sex, language, but sure, it distracted me from my run, and that's all I could ask for.

During my longer run I discovered that the treadmill shuts off after an hour (embarrassing) and guys apparently really like to grunt while they run. I'd be trotting along when the dude next to me would just let out a HNNNGGGDDDDHHH!!!! and then the guy on the other side would go UUUUNNNNNGGGGTTTTT!!!! I asked Dave about it later, but he had no explanation. Guys.

I also got blisters! Blisters! After all these weeks! Unpleasant.

When I left the gym, I looked at the clock and realized I was going to have to be back there in 12 hours, and I felt a crushing sadness that nearly brought me to my knees right in the middle of Boston Sports Club.

Maybe that was the reason why I slept in this morning and had to run to the gym (ironic). I was so late that I didn't even get my full workout in and met Dave and the baby in the lobby so Dave could rush off to work. And I'm still exhausted! Stupid treadmill!

I would love to say that I'm done with gyms and treadmills and back out in the wild elements for this weekend's long run (14 miles), but Dave and I are actually heading out skiing this weekend, and who knows what that means for the run. Do I skip it? Do I substitute skiing for running (a 1-to-1 calorie ratio!)? Or do I, ugh, try to run 14 miles on the hotel treadmill?

Who knows! Tune in next week for the answer, and in the meantime, look at my kid being adorable:

Oh, Hey, It's Snowing

Distance: 4..ish miles
Time: 40...something... minutes
Pace: sometimes 13:20 min/mil, sometimes 10:00 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: I hate treadmills
Most Inspiring Moment: Not cold?

You may have heard that there was snow in Boston and your first thought was probably, "How will Kendall get her runs in this week?" This is correct, because this is what the sidewalk outside my house looks like:

So, I'm not one that scares easy when it comes to snow. I've lived in Boston for 5 years, Chicago for 3, grew up in New Jersey--snow doesn't really bother me. But when I go to Star Market and this is what the checkout lines look like...

...I pay attention. That right there is a shopping cart full of several cases of water. That's some next-level apocalypse stuff. I saw a girl on the floor, her whole upper body stretched into a shelf, searching for the last of the packets of ramen. God help you if you wanted a box of spaghetti. (did you know Boston is a college town?) At one point, while waiting in line, a toddler let out a wail of exhaustion and desperation and the woman standing behind me looked at him longingly.

"Don't you wish it was okay to start crying like that in public?" she asked. The despair was palpable.

But! We made it home and waited out the storm (some of us better than others)

and when I woke up today to a fresh three inches on top of the 23 we got yesterday, I suspected that perhaps I would not be making it outside for my run.

So, I went to the gym.

Dave works out at the Boston Sports Club in the Prudential Center, and I've long known about their 1-week free trial memberships. I've been waiting until the weather got truly horrendous to use it, and this was the lucky week!

Oh lord I hate treadmills. Here's a tip: if you want to run with a giant TV one foot from your face, no airflow, and something beeping at you incessantly, you may enjoy running on a treadmill. I was always one of those people in gyms who went on the elliptical and idly flipped through US Weekly, so I wasn't looking forward to getting in 4 miles on the treadmill, but iiiiittttt waaaaaasssss hooooorrrrriibllleeeeee.

First I couldn't figure out how to get it to start and then it wouldn't stop beeping at me because it wanted my heart rate and then it refused to go any faster than 13:20 min/mil which was not going to cut it because I needed to get this exercise done in 40 minutes or I'd be late for Dave.

Also, that stupid timer is the worst. My tactic when it comes to running is to run out half the distance I need to go and then turn around and run the other half, so that on the way back, when I want to stop, I can tell myself that the faster I run, the sooner I'll be done. This does not work on a treadmill. It's too easy to stop! I would run for what felt like twenty minutes and then look down and be like "FOUR?! FOUR MINUTES?!? WHEN DO I GET TO LEEEEEEAVE?!?"

Here is when I realized I hated life and this gym and everyone in this gym:

As you can (sort of) see, the distance says 1.96 miles. For those of you paying attention, you'll know that that's less than half of what I'm supposed to run. It was unpleasant.

But just when I was ready to call it quits, I turned on Iris's Disney mix on Spotify, and what should begin to play?

Go the Distance, man.

And I did it. I hated it the whole time, but I did it. And tomorrow I have to go back and do seven miles. When I walked home, I passed armies of guys with snow shovels working on the sidewalks and I wanted to give them a hug. Shovel faster.

I'm not the only one anxious to get back outside. I caught Abby cuddling with my post-workout clothes. Someone misses running...

Sloppy Swish

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 1:45:28
Pace: 11:43 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: I fall on my butt. This turns out to be a Bad Thing
Most Inspiring Moment: That post-run shower...

Yesterday, I forgot to post this picture I took of a flock of white geese hanging out by the Charles:

I've never seen white geese in Boston before, which is why I was like "Imma take a picture of this."

Turns out those geese knew something, because this is what it looks like outside today:

It's snowing! And guess who likes snow!

With all the snow, I knew today was going to be a mess, so I figured why not throw the pup onto the mix? Her trainer turned me on to Musher's Secret, this crazy wax that's supposed to protect her from salt and snow, and it worked great! She had no trouble with the sidewalks in front of the hotels, which are usually so oversalted it's like running on gravel. Apparently it also gives her some grippiness, because she was solid as a rock!


And probably I should have put some on my sneakers, because I went down. There were some runners with their dog coming toward us on the path, and I decided to pull Abby off the path so that I could properly distract her. Turns out I did a great job distracting her, because I immediately fell on my butt and she was like "You're at my level! I WOULD LIKE TO LICK YOUR FACE NOW."

I tried to make it look like I had fallen on purpose because hey! who doesn't like hanging out in wet snow?! Finally I dragged myself to my feet and realized I had maybe...pulled something..? This was what I'd sort of been worried about for a while, and by the time I got to nine miles, I pretty much couldn't wait to stop.

This is a little worrisome, although I'm home now and feeling better. That might be because I took the most amazing shower ever or possibly because I made myself a little egg toast with salt and butter. Oh! I also discovered I am officially back to pre-baby weight, which, hey, that's cool.* And because I moved my run up a day, I have THREE! DAYS! OFF! I haven't gone that long without running for over a month.

Stay cozy out there!

Abby post-run. Also feeling pretty great.**

*I include this fact mostly to point out that there are Kardashians who claim to lose all the baby weight in six weeks, and I am literally running a marathon and it takes five months. It's a process, people. Love that post-baby body.

**I wanted to title this post "Five Now Dog Five!" but I worried only Dave would get it.

Let's Have Some Quiet, Please

Let's get the nitty-gritty out of the way first! Here are yesterday and today's stats:

Thursday Run
Distance: 6 miles
Time: 1:04:31
Pace: 10:45 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: TOO MANY BIKES ON THE RUNNING PATH
Most Inspiring Moment: I passed some people!

Friday Run
Distance: 3.03 miles
Time: 30:58

Pace: 10:12 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: hmm... I can't think of one! EVERYTHING IS AMAZING
Most Inspiring Moment: Coming home to a house of quiet...

What I like about this picture is that the clouds were thicker on the Boston side than the Cambridge side, so it looked like the sun was rising over Cambridge. If you had told me, six months ago, that the most interesting thing of my day would have been realizing that the clouds made it look like the sun was rising in the west, I would have laughed and laughed and laughed...

I feel like I'm wrapping up a week of pretty good runs! Of course, that might just be because Iris almost went the whole night without waking up. I sort of want to give it to her, because what happened was I woke up at 4:45, freaked out because I hadn't heard the baby, and knocked over the baby monitor in my efforts to ensure she was still alive. She was, and she did not appreciate the noise.

So, I'm feeling extra chipper today having gotten a solid SIX HOURS OF SLEEP. Oh man. It feels good just typing that.

My run today went so well that I couldn't even come up with a Most Challenging Moment. I woke up, fed the babe, got dressed, had a great run, and came home to a quiet, empty house. This is even more amazing than the sleep thing. An EMPTY HOUSE. It feels good to type that, too.

Dave had taken the pup to school and brought the baby with them, and I beat them back, giving me a good 20 minutes alone. I was giddy with freedom and possibility. I didn't even take a shower because that would be time wasted (gross). What I did do was make myself breakfast and bask in the peace and silence (btw I love my family).

And now? Dave is at work, the pup is at school, the baby coming up on hour two of her nap, and I'm feelin' fine. My biggest concern right now?

The long run might be coming a day early!

She's Back! (Again)

Distance Run: 3.13 miles
Time: 31:05
Pace: 9:56 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Abby's back!
Most Inspiring Moment: Abby's back!

After three weeks of solo runs, I decided to bring back my partner!

I'd been leaving her at home for a few reasons. First: it is cold. Despite her fur coat, Abby doesn't love negative-20-degree winds (who does?), and I have to be really careful with her when there's snow on the ground. Not only do I not enjoy running on ice while being attached to a creature who just saw a squirrel twenty yards away, but snow leads to salt which leads to hurt paws and a whimpering dog begging to be carried home (and my back isn't up for that anymore).

Secondly, Abby is not really what I would call a...focused runner. Squirrels, dogs, other runners, bits of trash--it's all worth a closer inspection. This means I also need to pay attention to anything that could possibly distract her (which is everything), which requires more mental energy than I'm willing to expend at 7AM.

So, it was not really a tough decision to head out solo.

But! I miss my pup! And she could use the exercise:

So off we went!

Oh man, we were like some poorly-assembled six-legged creature. I don't know if in her three-week vacation, Abby forgot how to run? But we were a mess out there. On the one hand, I had one of my fastest runs ever because Abby does not believe in pacing herself and I was trying to keep up with her* but I also almost stepped on her and fell on my butt, like, every other step.

I'm not even sure how the run went because the whole time I was out there I was pretty much thinking "How is the dog?" I came home sooner than expected but mentally exhausted and glad I didn't break an ankle.

Because I am officially an Old Person, I'm veeeeery nervous that I'm going to twist/sprain/break something before April and end my marathon dreams. So, Abby might be going back on hiatus until she can run on the leash a little more solidly (which won't be forever! she has a trainer. we're working on it).

Is that sad news? Let's look at something happy. Hey! Here's the baby reading a book to the puppy!

That's better.


*The pace recorded above is in no way accurate. I started it the second I left the house so it was going while Abby had her first pit stop. Given my (rudimentary and most likely incorrect) calculations, my pace was closer to 9ish minutes/mile.

So! Much! Running!

Hello!

An abnormally busy weekend means I'm posting two runs today, Friday's three-miler and Sunday's TWELVE-miler. Here they are!

Friday
Distance Run: 3.12 miles
Time: 32:30
Pace: 10:26 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: slip-n-slide
Most Inspiring Moment: ????

This run is sort of a blur. I can remember it was quick, it was cold, I still didn't have headphones, and it was the beginning of a very long, very exhausting day.


Sunday
Distance Run: 12:02 miles
Time: 2:05:22
Pace: 10:26 min/mil
Most Challenging/Most Inspiring Moment: Listening to the wonderful episode of the Moth from Veterans Day, which was beautiful and wonderful and got me choked up while running / discovering that choking up makes it really hard to breathe, which is essential when you want to run

After the disaster that was our Friday/Saturday, which included Dave working until 2AM and then waking up the next morning with a 100-degree fever, and us being so exhausted by dinnertime that we spent an hour and a half debating what to eat, where to order out, what to get, and then finally deciding to just get groceries at the corner store and throw together some pasta and chicken,* I wasn't sure how the 12-mile run would go.

Actually, I was really looking forward to the 12-mile run, because I knew I could count on two hours where I didn't have a sick husband to take care of, an apartment to clean, a baby to entertain, or a puppy to train (not to mention a book to write, a manuscript to edit, one thousand other small projects to take care of...). It is a sad day when 2 hours of exercise is something you're excited about.

But even if our apartment wasn't a den of chaos, I think I would have still looked forward to the run. There's something very satisfying about putting on sneakers and just going. I knew my route, I kept my pace up, and all I had to do was run. It was pretty nice! It helped also that we've started sleeping in the guest room, so our darling angel's three-AM screams aren't quite so disturbing. I got a (sort of) good night's sleep, and then I was out the door.

New headphones! The woman on the box is nuts because these headphones are so terrible the tiniest jostle causes them to fall out. Finally, I had to wedge my iPhone into my sports bra to keep the headphone jack in place. Also, I could find no information on the "lifetime warranty" advertised on the box.

I discovered this weird shoe statue while I was running, and I have no idea what it means but I thought, "hey! shoes!" and so I took a picture. Does anyone know its story? The top part of the statue just looks like one of those concrete cylinders they put along sidewalks to keep cars from coming up.

Nice. I hope these symbols don't mean anything weird.

It's always surprising to me how easy these long runs feel, considering when I started I probably couldn't even imagine running anything over five or six miles. But it's nice! Am I secretly a long-distance runner?!? (ask me April 21)

*Despite coming together in less than 20 minutes, that meal was really delicious. It is my goal as a home cook to be able to make a sophisticated, complex dinner out of things that I discover in my pantry, and I think I did pretty well: lemon and pepper marinated chicken over fettuccine and fresh tomatoes in a white wine, butter, and lemon sauce, seasoned with fresh basil, rosemary, and oregano and topped with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese. Yum.

Shorter Hair Will Make Me Run Faster

Distance Run: 6.03 miles
Time: 1:06:17
Pace: 11:00 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Still can't find my earbuds
Most Inspiring Moment: Fancy hair!

My sister-in-law likes to tell a story about how, not long after she had my nephew, she was going about her day, thinking things were pretty all right, and passed by a mirror.

What were those bags under her eyes?! What was going on with her hair?! How had she aged twelve years in five months?!?!

She immediately went out, got highlights, and bought all new make up until she felt like a normal human person again.

I think all new moms reach a point where the combined stress and sleeplessness finally catches up to them and forces them to do something about it, and this week, I hit it.

So! I cut off all my hair!

I lo-o-o-o-ove it! It's so cute and bouncy!

Plus now I know what the back of my head looks like! Here are some more pictures of me looking dumb (with awesome hair):

This was two minutes into naptime. Don't judge.

My new 'do also means that I look like Amelie when I wear my knitting hat out running and I don't have a giant hunk of hair bobbing out of my collar. I was hoping it would also make me more aerodynamic, but as you can see from today's pace, I still got a long way to go.

Is it obvious that I'm avoiding talking about today's run to instead talk about my hair? That's because it was cold, miserable, and boring. I still can't find my headphones. I almost slipped on black ice approximately one thousand times. It's too cold/there's too much salt on the streets to take Abby with me. We're in dark days, here, people.

The only positive was that as soon as I came home, the baby went down for an epic 2-hour nap, which meant I had an epic 2-hour nap.

Which is good, because I'm running out of hair to cut.

Run Right, Run, Write

Distance: 3.05 miles
Time: 29:27
Pace: 9:39 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Two layers of pants, two jackets, hat, gloves, scarf = marshmallow runner
Most Inspiring Moment: Nicest commute ever!

My mom was with us this week, which meant in addition to our apartment looking better than it has since we've moved in (seriously, our toaster shines), I had a live-in babysitter, allowing me to pack a bag and get some work done off-site.

Ever since my office got taken over by jumperoos and bassinets, I've been looking for a quiet place outside of the apartment to work, and this week, I finally joined the Writers' Room of Boston!

It's a comfy, serene, shared workspace in downtown Boston, and I already wish I could go there every single day. I started by going every day this week, and oh! It! Was! Great! I got a coffee! I didn't get thrown up on! Silence! Silence for more than 45 minutes! What luxury.

It also turns out to be just the right distance away for one of my three-mile runs, so with my mom leaving at 11:30 this morning, I headed out to get in both my morning run and a few hours of work.

My new run took me on a new route down Beacon Street, which is kuh-yoot. I think I saw six different dogs wearing sweaters. Then I ran downtown, where for a few minutes I joined the adorable Boston hustle-bustle. I got my coffee, changed into some comfy work clothes, and got to pretend I was a real person!

So weird.

Taking the Scenic Route

Distance: 11 miles
Time: 1:58:02
Pace: 11:08 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Took a wrong turn, ran a longer route than expected, instead of finishing the run at my front door, had to walk an extra mile in the freezing cold
Most Inspiring Moment: The cheerful bearded runner who high-fived every person he passed (including me!)

Eleven! Miles! Sunday's run brought us into "I have never gone this far before" territory, which makes the idea of lacing up my sneakers and running off for two hours a little daunting. I spent most of Saturday night trying to find a good GPS tracking app that would send my location to Dave in the event I got lost and ended up running six miles in the wrong direction (highly possible).

In the end, though, it wasn't too bad! Once I got over the terrifying idea that I would be exercising for multiple hours, just getting out there and going was pretty easy. I had sunshine and several hours of comedy specials on Spotify, and I was doin' fine.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures from my run, because I didn't want to mess with the fragile state of my phone in case I needed it. Which was a good thing, because when I did try to check my time at the very end of my run, it was like THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE [dies].

So you'll have to take my word for it that it was pretty! I ran along the river to Harvard, then I turned up, ran to my old dorms near Porter Square, and then back down Broadway, over the Longfellow Bridge, and home again. It went great! I finally figured out how to get voice prompts and auto pauses from my running app, so every time I slowed down at a stoplight, a pleasant, robotic female voice would say "ACTIVITY PAUSED." It was great! But a little depressing when she'd say it and I was like, "No, I'm not stopping. This is how fast I run." :(

But! I passed TWO runners! That brings the total count of runners passed up to FOUR. There are at least FOUR other runners in Boston slower than me, which, hey, feels pretty good.

When I got home, I showered (amazing), ate (amazing), and took a two-hour nap (amazing amazing). One thing I've learned about running crazy miles: laziness never felt so good.

Running in a Winter Wonderland

Distance Run: 6.19 miles
Time: 1:10:59
Pace: 11:28 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Slippy slidey
Most Inspiring Moment: Pretty pretty!

After yesterday's unanticipated day off, I was anxious to get back out there. And with the temperature hovering at a balmy 18 degrees and a blanket of snow falling, running conditions were perfect!

JK it was miserable. But pretty!

I actually don't have any pictures of when I started out, when snow was falling right into my eyeballs and I wondered why I hadn't invested in a pair of goggles. As my phone has made abundantly clear, it does not like the cold, so I kept it tucked in a pocket of one of the two jackets I was wearing (along with two pairs of pants, gloves, and a hat) and only took it out right at the end.

I left the pup at home again, as she is not terribly well-suited to cold temperatures and/or snow. Actually, it's not the snow so much as the salt on the sidewalks. Buy pet-safe salt, people! Otherwise, Abby's paws get burned and then she stops moving and looks up at me whimpering until I carry her home.

Time to put the snow tires on the dog! Here she is last winter during a play session with Tank the French bulldog, during which she flipped him on his back, pulled off his booties, and chased him around the field with them. We later found them in the spring.

I may have been without Abby, but I wasn't alone. There were a good four or five other runners out there today, and every time we passed each other we'd do that wave-smile-nod that said "Oh, so you're also as crazy as I am. Great!"

It was nice to get out again, despite the snow, despite the ice that made me feel like a penguin clinging to the edge of a floe. Did you know today was supposed to be a pace run? Me neither!

Three miles tomorrow, then 11 (!!!!) on Sunday!


And this week, thank you to my brother, Sloan, and brand-new sister-in-law Gah-yee for their donation! I'm telling you, that $6,000 donation goal looks a lot bigger on this side of the new year, so if you're thinking about donating, save me the extra stress and anxiety and take action today!

It Finally Happens

Well.

After ten straight weeks of not missing a single run or work out, I hit my wall. Specifically, a sneezing, sniffling, headachy, sleepless, negative-twenty-degree wall. I'd already been feeling not great, and then a scheduling problem meant I would have had to get home by 8:10, which would have me out of the house by 6:45, and then the baby (possibly with the same sniffles I have...) kept us up all night, including a one-hour scream fest starting at 4:30.

And, oh yeah, it is cold outside. Like, reeeeally cold.

All this meant when my alarm went off, I looked at Dave and broke down.

"I can't do it! It's too cold! I'm too tired!"

Because he is wonderful, he said to stop stressing about it and get some rest. And then he took the baby so I could sleep for an hour without hearing our little angel wail. Did I mention he's wonderful?

Thankfully, reinforcements will arrive tonight, and not a second too soon. My mom will be staying with us for a week, so I'll move my 6-mile pace run to tomorrow and Friday's 3-mile run to Saturday. The baby will get some grandma time, which means this mama will get some work and/or sleep time (looking mostly like sleep time...).

In the meantime, I am trying to bargain with the kid to get her to take her morning nap. Turns out four-month-olds are terrible negotiators...

So. Cold.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: ???
Pace: ???? (before it crapped out, it said 10:26 min/mil, but that can't be right)
Most Challenging Moment: COLD
Most Inspiring Moment: Didn't fall on my butt

I have to admit, I was dreading this run.

See that right there? Feels like 5 degrees? That's about 50 degrees colder than I would like. And let's not forget about the fine layer of snow and ice covering the sidewalks.

But the weather was only the beginning. I'm still sore from Monday's cross training (Cindy Whitmarsh, you chipper devil), and the baby has doubled down on her sleep strike. She's starting to do this thing where, when we put her in the crib, she lets out a noise like a dinosaur. If that sounds adorable, imagine it at chainsaw decibel levels for an hour, and you'll get an idea of what it's like to sleep in our apartment lately. She's lucky she looks like this:

So this morning, when I woke up to my alarm, exhausted, with the baby finally asleep and snuggled in beside me, our freshly-washed flannel sheets cozy and warm, running was the last thing I wanted to do. I hit snooze three times. I tried to imagine a world where I could fall back asleep. And then I threw off the covers and got dressed. Where's my medal?

Today was, theoretically, supposed to be an easy run. Three miles! It was like running through glue, if glue had the temperature of a brisk Arctic wind. Abby did not come with me because she had her first day of puppy school! Here she is, ready to head off and be a good little pup:

The one saving grace was that at least the city looked pretty. The Charles has just started to ice over, so no more crew practice:

But man it was coooold. So cold my iPhone once again called it quits, even though I was trying to be nice to it and not switch around my Spotify playlist while running. I tried to warm it up inside my jacket like it was a delicate baby bird, but no dice. I did, however, manage to snap this picture of Cambridge before it died:

Just like the baby: you get right to the point where you're ready to pull your hair out, and then you take another look at it and fall in love all over again.

Friends Come to Visit!

Distance: 6.02 miles
Time: 1:07:12
Pace: 11:09 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Six inch slush puddles that look like solid ground
Most Inspiring Moment: Running buddy!

We're coming off a weekend of all our friends coming to visit, thanks to the big economics conference that landed in Boston for the past few days. It was wonderful! We ate out, went for long walks, Iris managed to snuggle with and/or throw up on all her uncles and aunties, and Abby got hours of devoted head scratches--we were spoiled.

Also spoiled? Me! Because I got to take along a running buddy for my long run yesterday.

It was a slushy, rainy, cold run, and part of me felt like a bad hostess for bringing Soraya (Support Staff: Friend Level) out in the weather, especially since we got soaked from knee to toes in about eight seconds.

I tried to turn it into a tour of Boston, but after running down Comm Ave, crossing the Harvard Bridge, and turning past MIT, my tour highlights were restricted to "Oh I biked across this bridge once..." "No, I don't know where those train tracks go to..." "Yeah, so...that's the river..." 

This was also my first time going west along the river, so when we discovered this cool bridge, we stopped to take pictures!

Soraya didn't want to be featured on the blog, despite being my #1 reader, but I told her I had to get a picture of her skeleton running tights.

"I'll take a picture of you!" she said. "Look like you're running!"

(not accurate)

By the time we made it home, the icy rain had picked back up again, which bothered Soraya more than me because she needed to go to the bathroom (I feel okay writing about this on the blog because for the last 20 minutes that's all she could talk about). We stumbled home soaking wet and then spent the rest of the day swaddled in knitwear, steadily eating back all the calories we had burned off (ooooh, which reminds me: there are brownies in my bag...).

I never quite know what to expect with these long runs, but in spite of the foul weather and distance, this was so lovely! Abby is a good running companion but sort of the strong, silent type, so it was a wonderful change to chat it up while we ran.

Our friends are back in Chicago now, and we all already miss them loads. Come back soooooon!

Running Till the World Ends

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 29:37
Pace: 10:01 min/mil
Most Challenging Moment: Trying to manage my Spotify playlist while running
Most Inspiring Moment: Sunrise o'er the city

I think...I'm getting the hang of this?

When I woke up this morning, I was achy and exhausted but ready to run. Three miles? Psh. No problem. 6:45AM? Yeah, sounds good! 30 degrees? LET'S DO IT.

As much as I grub about running, I'm glad I spent those first few weeks building up a base, because now three miles is, like, my warm up. I know I'll get out, run, and get back in about half an hour. And that ain't bad, especially on days like today:

Hello pretty city.

It was around here that I got that runner's high. After fumbling around with Spotify and accidentally listening to Nicki Minaj's cover of Anaconda (NSFW/NSFL), I went back to my girl Britney and soared across the river to the beats of Till the World Ends. It was one of those moments when everything felt good, Abby was bopping along next to me, the city was lit up with the sunrise, and I was actually happy to be out of bed exercising.

And then LMFAO came on and I dropped my phone and it shut itself off. Here's a picture of it!

Thank you to Monica Cepak for donating to my CrowdRise account! It's a new year, people, and the marathon fundraising deadline looks a lot closer on this side of the calendar. Your support means so much to me and the kids of Codman Academy, so I hope you'll consider donating today!

Happy New Year!

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 51:10
Pace: 10:13
Most Challenging Moment: Needed to make an emergency stop at the park bathroom; closed for the season
Most Inspiring Moment: I trip over the curb (prompting dramatic gasps from onlookers), but just as I'm about to smash my face in, I catch myself and keep running (if you heard that loud "WOOOOOOHHHH!!!" at Bolyston around 2:30 today, that was me)

Happy New Year!

If you're wondering if I stayed up until midnight, let me remind you of this:

Yeah no, we were in bed by 10.

For today's pace run, I decided to leave Abby at home. This was the face I got when she realized she wasn't coming with me:

No offense to Abby, but today's run went great! Without the pup to distract me, I was able to just go, and with Act II of Into the Woods playing in my ears and a beautiful Boston afternoon in front of me, I had one of my fastest runs ever.

I explored a new part of the river run, heading toward the Museum of Science.

Re: my Most Inspiring Moment. I for serious thought I was going to break my face. I had to swerve at the last second to avoid some pedestrians and my toe clipped the top of the curb, sending me flying. Literally six people around me were like [GASP] and probably thought they were going to witness someone getting flattened, but then I caught myself and kept going! I was so pleased to still be alive that I started laughing hysterically, and the brush-with-death adrenaline kept me motoring through the rest of the run.