Why I run (other than candy)

I always find it interesting to hear how people get started on their hobbies so I thought I'd share what got me started running.

Growing up, I was never athletic. I was generally pretty happy to play video games and spend hours and hours on the internet (and still am a lot of the time).

In 8th grade, a teacher I never even had a class with started talking to me about joining the cross country team when I got into high school. I don't even remember how Coach Weller convinced me, but that fall I got my mom to buy me some running shoes and I started going to cross country practice.

Look at little freshman year me!

I wasn't fast. In fact, I was usually one of the last people to cross the finish line. But Coach Weller was always positive and helped me focus on being my own competition and not worrying about other people.

I have run on and off ever since then but it wasn't until I scored a couple of free training sessions at my gym a few years ago that I ran with any focus. My trainer pushed me to set a goal (my first half marathon) and since then I've run two more halfs (I just signed up for my 4th!) and a few 5k and 10k races.

At the finish line of my first half marathon

I will never be the fastest (I can still get faster!), but I really enjoy running and racing. I keep all of my race bibs (numbers) and love my finisher medals. Nothing is better than beating a personal best time. So thank you to Coach Weller for convincing me to get up off the couch!

Responsible adulthood: round two

With all the proper documentation, I headed back to the DMV this morning. My line pass was only good for the first line, where they make sure you have all the paperwork you're supposed to have, so I still had to deal with line two. After a very long wait (the place was full of people and they only had two of 14 windows open) and an excessive amount of money, I now have a temporary license and new plates for my car.

I think it's kind of funny that in every other state I've lived in they just hand you your license right then and there. Apparently here they will mail me one in two weeks. But since they took my Alaska license I guess I'll be carrying my passport for a while so I have some photo ID.

Buddy was enjoying the sunshine in the living room this afternoon.

And then he convinced me to go for a walk.

How could I say no to that face?

Guilty solo run

I felt a little guilty, but I went for a run by myself this afternoon. It was too cold for Buddy and I wanted to be able to do more mileage without worrying if it was too much for him.

You don't have to tell me how super speedy ridiculous my running sunglasses look - I know.

 I was actually dressed in a weather appropriate fashion (Mom, you would have suffocated). My jacket is awesome - even if people call it my space jacket, it's kind of shiny. It keeps me warm and it's lightweight, which it needs to be because otherwise I would never wear it. (I'm kind of sad to see the new version comes in purple - I would never have gotten pink if purple was an option!)

It was really chilly, but this is why it's totally worth it to bundle up and get out on days like this:

I made baked Chinese Lemon Chicken (and roasted broccoli - I'm addicted) for dinner tonight. I found the recipe here a while ago and it has never come up in a search ever since so I have no idea how I found it in the first place. Thankfully I have it saved on my phone because I always forget to bookmark it.

 Yum.

Being a responsible adult is hard

It's pretty chilly today. Buddy has been shivering next to me on the couch. I'm usually against animals in clothes, but if it gets too cold this winter we may have to make an exception to the rule and get this poor guy a coat!

I was trying to be a responsible adult today and finally go to the DMV to switch over my license and car title and naively thought that I had everything I needed. Apparently, in addition to my current license and passport, I needed to have my social security card - which I didn't. So no license today.

But I could still register my car, right? Wrong. My middle initial is apparently missing from my insurance card and therefore doesn't match any of my other paperwork. Fine then. Guess I'll be heading back tomorrow. On the bright side, everyone was very nice and the lady at the counter gave me a "skip the line" pass for when I go back.

The exciting things I did today

Tom and I are ready to go back to being "retired." This whole waking up early and doing things is not very fun. I don't have to work the rest of this week, but I start full time on Monday.

It was snowing this morning. It didn't stick or anything, but it was still pretty - big fluffy flurries (those blurry white streaks in the picture).

Buddy and I ignored the fact that it had just snowed and drove over to the park for a short run. It was shorter than I planned because it was WAY colder than I thought it was going to be and Buddy has like 0% body fat. He also really wanted to chase these fluffy tailed deer.

I learned today that the grocery store by our house only takes certain beer bottles in the recycling area, even though I'm pretty sure we bought most of the beer there. Does that make any sense to you? So now there are a bunch of bottles in my car because I'm too lazy to bring them back into the house.

Oh and I also discovered that there is mold in the trunk of my car. Somehow. I should probably do something about that so it doesn't turn into a moldmobile.

Instead of doing anything productive I decided that it was a good day to bake a pie. The snow made it seem festive. And, honestly, I really just wanted pie.

Work! Sort of...

I had my first day at work today. Sort of. It was a staff development (training) day, which was nice because it gave me a chance to meet some of my new co-workers without all the kiddos around. Everyone was really nice and I'm looking forward to meeting the kids next week.

My class is going to be about half toddlers from another classroom and half kids who have never been in a daycare setting before (all around 2 years old). Next week I'm going to be spending some time in another classroom so I can get to know the kids who are already at the center and get to know a little more about the general day-to-day routine.

I'm also going to be arranging (and decorating!) my classroom. There are boxes full of new toys just waiting for me to open and organize them and bulletin boards in desperate need of some butcher paper. I have done classroom setup and such before, but it's been a while.

My class doesn't officially start until the beginning of December so that should be enough time to get everything sorted out and feel (mostly) prepared. Now I just have to work on my confident teacher persona for when I meet all the parents!

Unrelated: last night I had pumpkin pie with pumpkin pie ice cream. It was a good decision. 

Pile on the Miles

I love running, I really do. Except when I don't.

New trail running shoes!

Motivation is really tough some days (like when the weather sucks or days when the couch is just SO comfortable). That's why I always grab any extra motivation that comes along. Last year I participated in a holiday running streak, running at least one mile every day from Thanksgiving to New Years. So when I read about Pile on the Miles on one of my favorite running blogs (Run Eat Repeat) I signed right up.

My goal for the month is 50 miles. I'm a little behind where I wanted to be at this point, but it's still early in the month.

Our run today was not the best ever. My Garmin couldn't find me for a while, so I just started running and have no record of the first half mile or so (and I love all the graphs and numbers my Garmin gives me). Buddy decided that he wanted to stop and smell everything and I kept having to slow down so I didn't die on the rocks and tree roots along the trail.

On the bright side, my new trail running shoes are awesome and we still got a couple of miles in. As I sometimes have to remind myself, even one or two miles is better than none.

I'll leave you with this picture of Buddy being thoughtful.