“Things are looking up my dear” 

-Seema Chowdhury

Soooo in case you hadn’t guessed, tonight I am pretty darn excited… about a few things actually.

For starters I had an awesome run this morning!  I did 6.4 miles of killer hills with my hydration pack and didn’t stop to walk at all.  Even more thrilling, I felt strong pretty much the whole way which is a stark comparison to how I have been feeling (training wise) the past few weeks.  I followed that with an awesome workout with the twelve year old trainer… did I mention I my run was to the training session?

We did some heavy lifting, and that always makes me happy.  It’s not something we normally do, but I had mentioned to the trainer that I haven’t been feeling like I’ve made that much progress based on the amount we’ve been training. I think his plan was to show me just how strong I am at this point.  I’m pretty sure I even surprised him (in addition to myself) because it took me forever to max out on a lot of our pyramids.  In fact, our session ended up running over because it was taking so long for me to fail before 10 reps.  lol

Next awesome thing- I made dinner for my family today.  As it happened, my mom’s favorite type of steak was on sale at the grocery store AND it was unseasonable cool out. So I decided I would invite my parents and sister over and make them some grilled steak and stuffed shells.  I even bought some cake and ice cream for dessert!  My mom was super thrilled, and I think Adam was glad to have a home cooked meal as well.  It was definitely a nice pick me up to get to spend some time with them and do something nice for them at the same time- especially since it’s something I used to do more regularly before my life got crazy with wedding planning and expenses.  It’s been my small way of helping my parents out at the end of the month when they are short on groceries (due to a fixed income).  It feels really good to get back into doing it for them.

As if that weren’t enough awesomeness for one day, after they left I found a 50K Ultra I think I want to do this fall called Bimbler’s Bluff.  Even the name sounds fun, right?  Plus it’s a bargain at $50.  It’s only a little over a dollar per mile! lol  The best part is they have a 10 hr time cut off, which means I can basically walk the course and still be counted as an official finisher.  This is totally my speed. 🙂

Then all that thinking about running and long distance running made me think about whether or not I should do the Hartford Marathon.  I know I had wanted to focus on biking, buuuuuuutttttttt I just can’t leave the running alone.  So that made me hop on over to the Everyday Warrior’s Blog because I remembered she had a post about personalized running shoe recommendations from Optimal Run.

By the way, if you have never been to her blog, you should definitely check it out 1) Because she is totally awesome.  If it were possible to have a blogging BFF, she would be it for me, seriously.  In fact, I think it may be possible that we were separated at birth.  So if you find this blog at all entertaining you will probably love her too.  2) Because the information she provides is actually useful, and let’s be honest- we could all use another badass woman in our lives.

Anyway, I took her advice and answered all their running related questions.  Now I just need to anxiously wait like a child before Christmas for my video recommendation to arrive in my email.   If all goes well, I will hopefully find a new road running shoe that I will love as much as my innov 8 x talon 190s…. and I’ll get to keep the rest of my toe nails! 🙂

Oh and the last thing that I am actually quite stoked about is that I finally got a chance to test out my newly fitted bike… which I am actually convinced is now a death trap with those fancy new clip in pedals on it.  I have already taken two good falls (and have the scrapes and bruises to prove it!); but I have managed to get the hang of starting, stopping, and clipping in and out… at least on flat surfaces anyway.  I am hoping if I can get more comfortable in the next couple weeks that I can do either the short loop (32 miles) of the Two Ferries Ride or the 30 mile route at the Folks on Spokes.  Both rides are the same day, but the Two Ferries one is a little cheaper AND you get to ride a Ferry! How cool is that?

Overall, I am just thrilled to be out of my training slum and looking forward to bigger and brighter things. Getting to spend time with my family was an added bonus. 🙂

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