I'm avoiding vacuuming

I'm just past mile 6 of my 16.7 miler today when I recall a former co-worker who told me she ran the uphills really slowly and the downhills as fast as she could. She'd get annoyed running with her husband because he would do the opposite.

This popped into my brain as I was charging up the one itty-bitty hill on the Greenway path. I like running UP the hills hard, but like to take it easy going down. In my brain, it's a reward for making it to the top. I also like to run in the sun fast, but I take it easy in the shady spots. At the time, I was trying to figure out how this related as a life metaphor, but the thought got lost in the scatterbrain of the long run.

I feel kind of scatterbrained lately. Too many hands in the different pots.

Hood to Coast prep (good). Jackson Hole training (good). Work--a straightforward affair most of the time, but weathering a bit of a storm currently (eh...). Halfmarathons.net stuff (good).

I should vacuum my house this month, but the dirt will still be there tomorrow.

I am headed out in 3 short weeks to Portland for this HTC adventure. I'm runner #6.

We begin at 1:45 p.m. and our projected time is 27 hours. So we'll be in Seaside, Oregon around late afternoon. I am most stoked about the shenanigans (muhahaha!) and least stoked about the possibility of no sleep/navigating a car full of Loopsters. Is it strange to say that the running feels almost secondary with this group? I have an tiny iota of concern about trashing my quads on the downhills, but only because I'll be running a marathon a week later.

My training for that has been well, weird. Hitting my long runs, enjoying some weirdly cooler summer weather, and avoiding true speed work. I've done some tempo runs, but nothing shorter or faster. My right quad/hip has been feeling an off and on dull ache for a few weeks. Tight in the morning, noticeable after work, but doesn't really bother me while running. We recently switched from gross tile to painted concrete floors at work and I think my legs actually miss the gross tile.  It's been a long time since my feet and legs ached from just working, but I experienced it twice last week. 2 11-hour days probably didn't help the situation. I've decided that extending that hip/quad area with speed work isn't wise for right now. I want race well, but I also want to keep running after said race.

Today was good for me.

After this past Sunday, I was feeling better about easing up a bit:

Last week was so hectic with work that I fell prey to dinners like this every night:

So I tried to get back on track this week. A little more veggies:

A little more nutritional choices:

And despite all the kookiness going on with work and running, I've managed to find not-so-exhausting solutions to avoiding the vacuum.

*Adam took me to two movies last week. Sex Tape (2 stars, all the funny parts in the beginning/in the commercials) and Lucy (2 stars, great first 1/2, dumb second half). 

*I started reading an awesome book in preparation to revisit Yellowstone. Don't judge a book by it's cover--it is extraordinarily fascinating.

*Buying stuff for the impeding trip. A new running skirt, a 4-port car charger, Balega socks, GUs, etc.

*Making an itinerary for the impending trip.

*Hanging out with the BTs while I watch the Braves and read bloops (okay, that's like, every week...):