FT's lycopene cured my funk

Last night, after staying at work a lot later than I had wanted, I felt very 'blah' towards running.  I was tired from 10 hours on my feet, tired from managing the store practically by myself the whole day, and just not feeling excited about doing anything other than relaxing on the sofa in front of the Braves game.

So I texted FlyingTomato and he so nicely agreed to run with me this morning.  He was apologetic about not feeling 100% after being sick and I was just elated that he got me out of bed and out of my funk.  I would have probably complained my way through 7 boring miles on the treadmill this morning and felt miserable.  BUT, Loopsters rock and I was soooooooo glad that we ran together.

As I've stated before, it is so cool to get to know someone this way.  Like a strange platonic date for happily married people, we can talk about running, work, his kids, my dogs, and everything in between.  I feel like I can just be myself and be honest.  I like it.  Making friends this way is pretty OSOM. 

Oh yeah, we ran some miles.  7 miles.  I didn't even look at my Garmin until we were done.  I was just enjoying blabbing FlyingTomato's ear off and running through the woods.  Ha!  The running thing was entirely secondary today.  Woot!

Now I really should be getting on with my day.  I worked on the crossword, had some more coffee, made a TON of LinkedIn connections (come find me @ Carissa Liebowitz!!) and will head to work in a little while.  My head feels a little clearer now--I intend to rise above all this mess and try to keep moving forward.  Goodbye funk, don't come 'round here no more!!!

Southern nights A: pick-up trucks & barbecue

I've been a bit out of the Loop.  Running, working, and impromptu weekend fun has taken me out of the blog world for a few days.  Besides, I've been trying to get some other stuff done in my time off.  And I am trying really hard not to put my work emotions in my blogs which means that I needed a few days to cool off.

Every run for the past couple of weeks has been very status quo for me.  I've had some better ones and some downright terrible ones.  I ride the wave of endorphins and then crash out.  I've been trying to sort out my head which involves a lot of heavy foot pounding and grunting in the process.  Good thing most of my runs have been on the dreadmill lately.  I cannot muster getting up early and we've been in the 90's over the weekend.  Air-conditioning wins. 

On a happier note, I had a full and productive weekend (minus the day I spent at work).  My Saturday consisted of: running, writing articles, making and drinking frozen margaritas, a few hours poolside, impromptu get-together at the house with steak & shrimp kabobs, lighting fireworks, more margaritas, riding around in the back of a pick-up truck to go back to the pool, and having an adult sleepover for everyone's safety. 

Sunday I worked.  Boo!

Today was for Adam & I to get some stuff done for and around the house.  After I ran, I mowed the lawn while he edged.  Eventually he took the mower while I took care of some spring foliage that was beyond blooming.  We rinsed off the air filters for the air-conditioners and then got ready to do our errands.  Dog food, a trip to BJ's for dumb stuff like floss & aspirin, and to Home Depot to get a key made.  Our sweet reward was lunch at 'Cue, a delicious barbecue spot near our house.  They have THE BEST homemade buns for barbecue sandwiches.  OMG, I'm obsessed.

I have one more day tomorrow to do some more hunting before I go back to the insanity.  Ugh.   

At least my garden loves me....

I hadn't planned to do too much with my day, but that changed when I got another assignment for Halfmarathons.net.  It has been a few weeks since I have done any writing for the website, so I was happy to get some more work after a bit of a break.  I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon working on assignments! The nerd in me is way too excited about this.

I am so happy I decided to run today instead of yesterday.  My body was much less angry today and my mind was full of emotional fire.  All this equaled an awesome, fist-pumping, take-out-the-aggression kind of run.  I let the time melt away and concentrated on trying to sort out my thoughts.  This might make me sound crazier than I already am, but I think I was making some sort of breakthrough when I was punching the air with both fists at one point.  Good thing no one was around to view this spectacle of human oddballedness.

7.5 miles was a nice way to start out my running week.  I have been contemplating trying to nail down something more solid for the fall, but since the rest of my life is a little ambiguous at this point, I will just be maintaining mileage for awhile.  All this negativity is making my running a rollercoaster ride.  Some days it works to my advantage and I feel the need for a sweat release.  Other days, I want to just say 'F it all!!!!'  <----I realize this is not a healthy perspective and I am currently making a valiant effort to change it.

On Friday, I will find out the results of our Road Trip Challenge.  We were super late to enter and there were teams with much more professionally edited videos than ours.  BUT, I will never say never and regardless of the outcome, I had a blast dreaming. 

And finally, I may not be feeling the love everywhere I go, but at least my garden loves me. 

Today's haul:

I pretend to not like House, but I'm nostalgic already

One for today...one for tomorrow (95% chance).

Today is about the 11-hours-at-work, no run, I am just going to drink wine on the sofa and watch the final episode of House kind of evening.  I was never a super avid viewer, but I live with a TV addict.  So I have seen a lot of episodes.  And even though TV rots your mind, it's a good show.  I am going to cry.  It's guaranteed as all final episodes make me cry.

BUT, small victories...I did manage to run 8 miles on Saturday and it didn't suck.  I've had too many bad runs lately.  I channeled all that bad energy and kicked it into high gear after I worked on Saturday. 

Temps were lovely, I was feeling angry, and I was rocking some 8 minute miles.  But then my Garmin died about mile 5 and so I have no idea how I finished. 

Had it been in the morning, I am fairly certain I would have been about 10-15 seconds faster.  I just could sleep on Friday night and so I decided to run after work since I got about 4 hours of sleep.  Yuck.
I plan to get my run in at a decent hour tomorrow.  After I do some serious sleeping.  There isn't too much on my 'to do' list at home so I can't procrastinate too long.

More updates tomorrow when my mind and body are fresh.

The Whining Sessions Continue

Monday was indeed the icing on the cake for me.  Let's just say that professionally, I have never felt so disrespected.  It made me feel that all my loyalty and devotion is/was for nothing.  And that's a stinky way to feel.  But, chin up, I am plodding through it all.  Hopefully, I will turn something fantastic up.  I'm so over my sad-face blogs!! Boo.

At least I have running.  It's funny to me that some weeks when I am so focused on other things that I just keep going through the motions with running.  Like brushing my teeth or taking a shower, I keep lacing up my shoes.

I fought tooth and nail not to go out Monday evening--I was so angry that I probably would have laid down some serious speedwork.  But I knew it would do me no good to run tired and angry.

Free Thursday mornings have meant running with Flying Tomato, but I felt so overwhelmed by the time I got home from work last night, I just needed a run to get lost in my own thoughts.  And thankfully it has taken some of the edge off--I'm feeling much more optimistic than I did even 24 hours ago.

I settled into my 7 miler and just let my feet carry me.  I honestly don't even remember too much about either the run or what was going through my mind.  And that's probably a good thing on both accounts.  I work all weekend so I am going to have to get creative in how I squeeze my running in over the next few days.

Back to searching fruitlessly.

I've been blooping more about life than running.  Today is no exception.  I promise to return to running bloops after this plea.

Pretty please, with a cherry on top?!

Could you spare a 43 seconds today today to vote for my team?

For the copy pasters: www.bestoftheroad.com/team.do?$=148

No registration is required if you have a social media (Facebook, Twitter), just click the right side of the page to link yourself.

I feel like a dirty politician garnering votes on the Loop.  Please forgive me.

If I am part of 1 of the 5 teams chosen, I will have some fabulous running stories to tell as I road trip across America for a month. 

Hey, I might even stop in YOUR town.  And I will definitely go for a run with anyone who lets me!!!!

The Ultimate Mother's Day Menu

I'm taking a short break in my meal preparations for Mother's Day.  Mom & her boyfriend, my sister & her boyfriend, and my brother are all coming over for dinner in less than an hour. 

Tonight's Menu:
Baby back ribs (dry rubbed for 1.5 days and slow cooked, then grilled)
Grilled white corn
Purple potato salad with bacon and hard-cooked eggs
Watermelon
Watergate Salad (we love our Jell-o salads!!)
Sundae bar with homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream
Sweet traditional tea
Unsweetened jasmine papaya white tea
Copious amounts of wine

Did your invitation get lost in the mail?

I ran yesterday morning while it rained off and outside.  I am really getting into Downton Abbey so I was kind of okay to be on the dreadmill.  I was trying to get some stuff done early for today so I almost didn't do my 7 miler.  But I was glad I ran for nearly an hour as it took off some of the edge before I got to work.

We were pretty busy with last minute Mother's Day shoppers.  I was glad that the time went by quickly 'cause I was ready to have a day off!! I have to be at work tomorrow at 5am which means I have to wake up at 3:30am.  Uggggggggggggh!! Gross!!  Another reason to be on the search for my dream job.  I'm over the terrible hours....  You fancy people with your M-F, 9-5--I am super jealous!

With such an early wake-up call, I have pretty low hopes of running tomorrow.  I am off on Tuesday so it probably would be better to just wait until I am better rested.  And hopefully if I get out early enough I can go for a longer run.  We'll see.  The good part about not training for anything is that I can just run whatever kind of run whenever I want.  Yay!

Thursday mornings with Flying Tomato

I'm not normally a back-to-back day poster, but then again, I don't normally run two days in a row.  With writing, it's usually because I don't have that much to blab about.  With running, it's for a few reasons.  1) I like running and I want to stay uninjured. 2) I like running days, but I also like rest days. 3) I like running and I want to keep liking running--i.e. I don't want to get burned out.

However, I ran yesterday and today.  Yesterday was a lethargic 5 miles on the treadmill.  And I say lethargic, but really it was just that I was going pretty slow for me.  I'm not training for anything, I wanted to get a few miles in, but I didn't want to overexert myself.  So I slowly hopped along while watching Downton Abbey on my Kindle and enjoyed myself.

Today, I met Flying Tomato at the Greenway for a great 8-miler.  Not too fast, not too slow.  We were chatty and the time literally flew by.  If every run was as enjoyable as they are with him, I swear no one would ever have to experience funktown! Getting to know someone through running is by far one of the most enjoyable experiences I've had in awhile.  And I'm not just saying that because I know he'll read my bloop :).  As n2runningbad (aka Dean) says, runners make the best friends. 

I only looked at my Garmin today to stop/start it at the traffic light and didn't even check my pace.  I was happily surprised we were cruising at a nice speed and that it felt pretty comfortable the whole way.  Wahoo! I suppose it didn't hurt that I had stellar company and it was in the 50's this morning....
Haven't heard too much from Adam regarding his workouts lately, but I know he has done something since I was last on the dreadmill as his user profile popped up.  I am holding out that he will want to go for a very short run by fall outside.  I know he can reach a good fitness level--it's the commitment to making it happen that's the tough part.

In non-running news, I found absolutely nothing while searching for my dream job yesterday.  However, I did begin a Pinterest board to start bringing some creative ideas out of the clouds and into visable light.  I figured if I could nail down a few concrete ideas of things I want out of my career/life, I might be able to make the next steps.  In the meantime, I have set up a Blogger account to crosspost my blogs.  Maybe I can generate a few pennies from Google AdSense.  It's all got to start somewhere right?

Somewheeeeeeere over the raaaaainbow

I've been a blog and commenter slacker lately.  And I am feeling so blah about my unhappiness at work that it is seeping into other aspects of life.  Like running.  It could just be that I've had a number of not-so-great runs lately and coupled with the increasing heat/humidity, I hate seeing my pace suffer with the same effort.  It's been a little while since I've felt euphoric about a run--I always feel better after having completed a run, but it's nice when I feel good during the run.

Monday, I was feeling a residual stiffness from Saturday's 13.5 so I decided to just do a 5 miler after work.  My legs were crawling.  I was experiencing this weird feeling that I was putting in a decent effort, but my body wasn't cooperating.  My brain was thinking one thing, but my legs were not responding in kind.  So by sheer dumb luck, my Garmin crapped out (re: I forgot to charge it fully) just past the 2 mile mark.  I was left to pace myself by comfort.  What an odd feeling after relying on my Garmin for so long.  I have no clue how fast/slow the rest of the run went, but I felt hot & tired by the time I was done.

It's raining today and I really don't want to go anywhere anyway.  So I will watch another free episode (thanks Amazon Prime!) of Downton Abbey and test out my new ear buds on the treadmill.  I'm really hoping that I stumble upon something in my searches today that will turn my frowny face upside down.

In the meantime, I'll be thinking of creative ways to get paid while sipping coffee in my pjs, snuggling with my dogs, watching Braves baseball, (severely) amateur running, and conducting extraordinary kitchen experiments.  As long as the dream is there, I'll keep believing it will come true!