WttMB

The Smile Project: Days 31-60

31. March 28: Sister got a big promotion at work and is moving back to Seattle!

32. March 29: Chocolate Malted Bread Pudding at Telegraph

33. March 30: I CAN RUN AGAIN!

34. March 31: Health Insurance

35. April 1: Run lululemon: Chicago has 169 likes and we haven’t even started yet #goosebumps.

36. April 2: I’m always pleasantly surprised when I call home and my 14 year old brother answers the phone. I guess I just expect my parents to but when he does and I hear his voice on the other end, I just know that my face lights up. I LOVE him.

37. April 3: 21 people

38. April 4: Yoga sculpt. (FYI this never makes me smile, today… it did)

39. April 5: Got territorial over my PT, kind of obsessed with her!!

40. April 6: “Christmas Eve”

41. April 7: The quiet of Rush St. in the early hours of Saturday morning before all the runners arrived for the first long run of the season. #thisiswhatilivefor

42. April 8: Easter pants, impromptu dinner guest, fresca, presents, random bouts of dance, visitors at work, laughing about some of said visitors, nicknames, meatings… and lack thereof.

43. April 9: The Gina & Shenna Show, Apres Recovery, Bon Iver

44. April 10: Runner’s glow and ninja kicks

45. April 11: #thatawkwardmomentwhen

46. April 12: Whole Foods, Mary & Dave, Angie & Mike, possibility, coaches, coaching, gelato

47. April 13: yogi friends

48. April 14: K&S, MC, MC, AB, Bone Marrow, Maudes, Old Town Social, Dave’s giant hugs

49. April 15: twelve foot spoons, BINGO arm, New Muffalo, Twitta.

50. April 16: Boston Marathon webcast online, reading my recap from a year ago, getting chills thinking about the work that’s paid off, the rotten heart

51. April 17: Taking on personal development, head first heart open

52. April 18: First Time Digs Re: Jessi, Beat Kitchen, quick smile-filled chat on the phone, making plans, integrity

53. April 19: #joblove, pub crawl, BEST FRIENDS

54. April 20: Instagram and photos of tulips all over this city!

55. April 21: Laura Mercier, RL, NoMi, Namaste

56. April 22: Usher “You Got it Bad” impromptu karaoke

57. April 23: Beauty Detox Solution cooking day

58. April 24: Angus Dunn and Erin Smith

59. April 25: Chase Bank customer service, Bart Yasso in the mail

60. April 26: Hillary, non-stick baking pans, margaritas, the Daily Tank, Liz Berey (<- always comes back to Liz Berey) :)

I must admit…

I’m feeling all poetic and nostalgic. It’s lovely and it’s lonely. It’s happy mixed with just enough dissatisfaction to keep the embers burning and the wheels churning. I finished a book last night that I should have read a long time ago. That said, I don’t know that this book and I were ready for each other at any other point in either of our lives until just recently. 

I didn’t run for 40 days. The details inconsequential, a minor injury sidelined me both physically and mentally and left me grasping for parts of my identity I didn’t know could slip away. In grasping, I found a book that had been collecting dust on my shelf, “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall. Two hundred eighty seven pages about the art of, love for and soul bearing beauty of running.

And in my own rebuilding I fell in love, again. 

Tomorrow I start my second season under the title of “coach”. I am honored, excited, nervous, anxious… all of those feelings that go along with my love for projects that I want to succeed. I never knew really, what my coaching philosophy was and I figured I would develop it over time. I know my own philosophy as a runner (have fun first, kick ass second) but as a coach, I felt/feel goosebumps when I read this excerpt from “Born to Run”:

I don’t want anyone to do anything except come run, party, dance, eat, and hang with us. Running isn’t about making people buy stuff. Running should be free, man. - Micah True

And how fitting that I attach myself so deeply to the words from this book that the man (Micah True) who inspired its words passed away last Saturday as he set out for a run, never to return. I kind of feel in a weird way that I owe it to this person to never forget that we, ALL of us, were born to run.

#werunchitown

Mileage Log: January 2-8, 2012

First week of 2012. Unseasonably warm, unseasonably. Head over heels in love with running on the Chicago lakefront with friends, without a watch and with little plan.

Anxiety level on a scale of 1-10 at this time last year: 12.
Anxiety level on a scale of 1-10 this year: 2.

Monday:

• HPF @ CPY, 1:00:00

Tuesday:

• 6 miles, hill repeats (1:00 at 10% incline, 1:00 recovery) x10. 0:48:00
• Bikram yoga, 1:30:00

Wednesday:

• Flywheel, 0:45:00

Thursday:

• Yoga at Exhale, 1:00:00
• Run 9 miles, insert 6x400, 400 recovery 

Friday;

• Run 6 miles easy, no watch, no music:)
• CP2 at CPY, 1:00:00

Saturday:

• HPF @ CPY 1:00:00 

Sunday:

• Run 12 miles at 7:45/mile

Total: 33 miles
5.5 Hours, Yoga 

Mileage Log: December 5-11, 2011

I am thoroughly loving this down time.  Sleeping in on Saturday, not wearing my Garmin, just getting in miles but not worrying about how fast or slow they are, drinking wine, celebrating the holidays and spending time with my bffs:)

Last week I fell in love again with running.  It’s not that I wasn’t enjoying it, but I seem to be loving it even more than usual if that’s even possible! The thing is though, I kept apologizing for it and saying things like, “I know this is weird but…” or, “this seems so silly to say…” Until a friend stopped me in my tracks and said, “Why are you putting yourself down like that? That’s not how a winner talks, you’re so much better than that.” He was right.  So in the spirit of Buddy the Elf, “I’M IN LOVE AND I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!” Let’s go for a chilly outdoor winter run!!

Monday:

• Off

Tuesday: 

• Run 9 miles at 7:49/mile
• CP2 at CorePower Yoga, 1:00:00

Wednesday:

• 6 miles, hill repeats and 400m repeats
• Hard Body Meltdown & abs @ Equinox, 1:00:00
• CP2 at CorePower Yoga, 1:00:00

Thursday:

• Bikram, 1:30:00

Friday:

• Run 6 miles with my fellow Runner’s World coach, Janet
• HPF @ CPY, 1:00:00

Saturday:

• OFF

Sunday:

• Run 10 miles @ 7:29/mile
• Yoga @ Equinox, 1:30:00

Total: 31 Miles
6 Hours Yoga

Winter running is maybe my new favorite thing.

Training for marathon #16 in Austin, TX starts today! What are you doing to achieve your goals? Get at it! #Monday

alittlechocolate asked: any tips on running during winter in chicago ? i feel very unprepared for the inevitable change in seasons, and i have a feeling that is just going to translate to months on the treadmill..

I’m not the best person to answer this, seeing as I trained for the 2011 Boston Marathon entirely on the treadmill… BUT! I do have a few tricks up my sleeve.

1. Sign up for a half marathon in the spring to keep your eye on a goal during the winter.

2. Find friends who will hold you accountable on Saturday mornings for getting in the long run.  And you will hold them accountable too!

3. Buy a new outfit (no seriously). I’m always motivated when I know I have a bright fun top to wear or new warm winter running tights.

4. Don’t kick yourself if you forgo running outside for the treadmill. Give yourself the extra challenge of always keeping the treadmill’s incline at 1%. (This will better simulate outdoor running!)

Race day outfit. The figure skater in me never dies.