Slower than normal, colder than normal, quieter than normal.

One of my favorite 5-milers, ever.

It’s been a crazy few months since December. But now, I’m back online with one house sold, another house purchased we have months of looking at houses, cleaning houses and fixing up houses behind us. And, we’re finally getting settled in.

The name of the blog has changed, but the game is the same. This will be running stories, fitness tips I find and probably a bit more house-fixing-up stuff now that our time is getting taken up by projects.

Some quick catch-ups since the last blog post:

– The running streak was JUST NEARLY completed! I successfully ran at least on mile a day from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day, with the one day exception being on December 26th, a blizzard, and the day that the city (including my gyms) shut down. Reason #1 I need a treadmill, but that’s a post for another day.

– Hubs and I bought a new house, our first together, and ended up moving from SoBro to the ‘burbs. We didn’t expect to end up here, but we’re walking distance from a small, quaint downtown which happens to feature our favorite FroYo place. The neighborhood is perfect, the neighbors are all very nice and we’re settling in to our new digs and enjoying the peace and quiet in our new place.

– Work is busy as ever, but Jerrod and I have a little vacation planned soon so we’re looking forward to getting away and relaxing for a few days.

– Jada is enjoying her new space and plethora of windows to sit in. She loves the screened in porch at the new place and is a very cranky cat when we don’t let her out there. She also developed quite the set of cahones the other night as I had a chef salad sitting out on the counter which she apparently thought was hers.  Like a squirrel in the park hoarding for winter, she hopped right up on the counter and started collecting piles of ham to bring down to the floor. She was caught red-pawed and I’d like to say she learned her lesson… but I caught her on the counter again 30 minutes later. She owes me $6 for that salad that would have fed me for 3 days…

– On the running front I’ve kept up my race-a-month schedule and I am currently training for the Indianapolis Half Marathon in October. It’s going to be a rough stretch to get in shape, but I’m hoping I’m up to the challenge!

The rest of life is business as usual. Not enough time in the day, not enough days in the week, but we’re moving full speed ahead with all of our projects and plans!

“It’s not you, it’s me.”
“I just need to focus on me right now.”
“I just don’t feel the same way any more.”
“We want other things.”

Pick the cliche and run with it, because this is a breakup post.

Before you spit out your coffee/beer/water… this is not a breakup from my wonderful husband, but rather from my life-encompassing job of the past 4.5 years.

I gave notice about 3 weeks ago and wrapped up my work at the place that has been my second home (and sometimes, my first home) since college.  It wasn’t the first job I quit, but it was the first full-time job I left.

I know, unequivocally, that I made the absolute correct decision.  I’m excited for the future and know that I left not a moment too soon.

I know the following to be truth:
I’m going to do big things with my career.
I am smart.
I am creative.
I am a hard worker.
And, I am damn good at what I do.

I leave with the confidence of those statements, listed above, along with the excitement of getting to learn every day in my new position and new role.

I will always keep learning and growing, both personally and professionally, and I am at peace with the fact that when the learning stops, it’s time to move on.

I’ll sleep well at night knowing that as I enter my new career phase, I’ll keep learning and growing in the future with my integrity and confidence in tow.

One of my favorite things about yoga is when you thank yourself for giving yourself time and giving back to yourself.

Saturday’s race, my “January” race, was the the running equivalent.

Some of the battles I’ve been fighting lately have nearly wiped me out.  I’ve let training runs slip by the wayside as temps dropped outside and stress built up inside.  Having the race on the calendar this month was a big  motivator to get out of bed and really push myself.  My husband even went the extra mile and even signed up to run with me. I had a wonderful friend and her husband sign up to run, too, and it was all the more motivation to hold my resolution.

It was cold on Saturday morning when we woke up, and the wind was biting.  We headed down to Tech High School to pick up our packets and get ready to race.  I got to test out my fancy new GPS watch and heart rate monitor during the race, which was a fun addition.

We started off and I wasn’t sure what kind of intervals I wanted to do during the race.  I hadn’t been training well enough to race the whole time, so I was planning on just enjoying the race, the scenery and the cheering.  I was excited to have the time to spend running, the time to spend on myself.

At right around mile one I picked up a 3-1 interval, and my friend along the way.  We ran a 3-1 the rest of the way to average a 12:34 pace.  It was windy, but it was a good solid January race, considering I ran it without much of any training.  I’m excited to push forward in the next races and fast forward that pace after some real training.

The race was good, but what made it the best was spending time with friends and family.

January Race
3.1 Miles
12:34 pace
39:05 total time

2011 was the year that I became a runner.  It was a resolution and a task all about me and giving back to myself.

I took on the challenge December 17, 2010, but the bulk of the challenge was in keeping it going in 2011.  Though injuries, pain and determination, I came across the other side down 15 pounds and at least 2 inches per area measured, with more areas down even more inches.

2011 was the first time in my life I proclaimed myself, “a runner.”

Calling yourself a runner is a big step in taking up the sport/hobby/sanity-keeping-system.  Especially for those of us who grew up hating running and being the slowest on in gym class or on the team. I always thought being a runner is something you were born with: long legs, long stride, thin as a rail body-type.

Running started as an experiment to learn to love what I’ve always hated.  In this past year I’ve learned not only about the joys of running, but also that you really can do anything you set your mind to.  If you take the thing you’ve always hated most, something you convinced yourself you just weren’t born to do, you can learn not only to do that thing, but also to love it.

Running 12 minute miles, I’m certainly not fast by any stretch of the imagination.  I’m also not ashamed of saying that’s my pace because I know what it took to get to a 12 minute mile average.  To me, that number represents strength and the future that I hold before myself.  In five years will I say I’m at 10 or 9 minute miles? I hope so, but even if I can’t say that, I know I will still be running because of all the things this past year has taught me.  It’s pushed me to open my eyes to the possibilities of sprint triathlons in the coming years, and maybe even a marathon before I’m thirty.

There are so many joys in running, but the best reward doesn’t come at the end of a race or even at the end of a good day.  The greatest reward is as I look back over the past year and see that what I’ve accomplished took the full year.  It’s not something that can be rushed, it’s changing everything at a snail’s pace.  Real change doesn’t happen overnight, real change is a lifestyle adjustment that, when made, makes it unthinkable to imagine going back to where you were before you started.

While 2011 was a year focused on myself, 2012 is a year focused on making my running more of a group activity.  I’m no longer shy about asking others if they want to run with me, or worried about not being able to keep up.  I know that my pace is my pace and having support along the trail will only get me further on my path in life.

The resolution for 2012 is to run one race per month for the entire year.  I’ve already signed up for races through May and I’m eager to accomplish the races and continue to trail all year.  I invite you to join me on the road, or the trail, as I go through 2012’s journey.

January: 5k Legacy Loop

February: 5k 500 Festival Training Race

March: 10k 500 Festival Training Race

April: 15k 500 Festival Training Race

May: 13.1 500 Festival Mini Marathon

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From our family, to yours.

This year my husband and I started a fabulous new holiday tradition.  We claimed a holiday for ourselves.

While we are happy to split Christmas between our two families, we decided Thanksgiving was going to be “our holiday.”  A lot of the other holidays during the year where people typically get long weekends, I’m working, so Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two holidays that neither of us has to work all year.  With Christmas being a holiday we think is important to spend with our parents and my siblings, Thanksgiving became the logical holiday to take for “us.”

We got the idea from some friends of ours who have done this for years.  Each Thanksgiving, rather than split it between her four siblings’ families and parents and his sibling’s family and parents, they long ago claimed the weekend to give thanks for their own family.  After giving it some thought, we decided to do the same this year and found it was a fantastic idea.

Too many people wait until they have kids to make “family traditions.”  The two of us (and the cat, but she didn’t come…) are a family, even without kids, so why not make a family tradition of our own.

We were planning on going somewhere warm, to a beach, the week of Thanksgiving and it was fate that we happened to win a 3-night, 4-day stay at the JW Marriott Cancun Resort and Spa.  We purchased an additional night, got our passports in order (mine needed a name change, and the husband need his first passport) and soon enough we were off to sunny Mexico!

The following is a rave review for the hotel.  We were not compensated for the review, but we did win 3 nights of the lodging portion of the stay.  We were overwhelmingly satisfied with the hotel’s friendly staff, lush amenities and clean outdoor areas.

We arrived in Cancun on Monday afternoon and caught our shuttle to the hotel.  Walking in, the view was stunning.  The lobby opens onto a step-down bar, which features an expansive window that showcases the beach.  Tired from our trip (we woke up at 4 a.m. that morning to catch our first flight), we went to check out the room before finding food at one of the many on-site restaurants.  The room was large for a standard room, the bed was comfortable and the bathroom was about as large as our kitchen at home! The bathroom featured 2 sinks, a stand-up shower, a bathtub and separate toilet room.

We walked onto the balcony that opened with a sliding door and our ocean/pool view was expansive and beautiful.  We could see the lagoon to our left, the ocean to our right and part of the hotel’s expansive pool before us.  We spent a lot of time on the patio that week reading, eating, drinking and watching the sun set.

We walked the beach and checked out the pool before grabbing dinner on our first night at the Beachwalk restaurant, overlooking the sand and surf.

The sun sets around 5:30 p.m. in Cancun and after eating dinner outside we went back into the hotel to explore a bit more.

The next day we upgraded to “Club 91” for the first of our remaining 3 night stays.  This upgrade allowed us each 5 meals a day and an open bar from 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. each night.  We took full advantage of the offerings and got more than our money’s worth each day.  The meals and drinks were served on the top floor of the hotel with a room that overlooked the beach.

The hotel provided beach towels at our request, which was a nice touch.  Each time we went to enjoy the water we were able to get a clean, dry towel and didn’t have to worry about drying ours or cleaning them while we were there.

Each day we started off working out in the spa’s fitness room, a favorite of mine on vacation.  The fitness room was well equipped, if not a bit hot.   Following working out, we had breakfast, lounged by the pool, grabbed lunch, lounged on the beach, had afternoon snacks and more lounging/reading.  We then got cleaned up for dinner, drinks and relaxing.  Three full days in Mexico and I finished four books, got a massage, enjoyed all three days of sunny weather and swimming – the perfect vacation, hands down.

P.S. Thanksgiving dinner itself was a sushi buffet and we loved it!

If you have the chance to get to Cancun we both highly recommend staying at the JW Cancun.  A friendly staff, top-notch amenities and a great stay for our week of rest and relaxation.