Five

Once upon a time when I thought I was a real blogger and tried to link up with other blogs and become internet famous (not really but kind of) I used to do a "Five Things Friday" post, every Friday.

Personally now that I write whenever I want, about whatever I want, I enjoy writing much more, but I do think a Five Things Friday post is in order for today. Sound good?

1. I almost constantly have sand in my running shoes.

As my long runs are slowly becoming longer, I have been seeking out different running routes. While I love running the boardwalk along the beach, it's a stone surface and honestly I'm so paranoid about stress fractures that sometimes I think I can feel my bones screaming at me when I run on it.

So, I've slowly transitioned to throwing a few miles along the actual beach in there, on the packed down sand, just close enough to the water to feel the danger of possibly soaking my shoes with a surprise wave...

Which is awesome, but I pretty much always end up with a pile of sand in my shoes by the time I get home.

2. I have an irrational fear that a cat is going to attack me.  They are everywhere, always. Sometimes I'll look up and there will be one sitting on a wall, glaring down at me.  I just have this ingrained image of a cat randomly jumping at my head and going apeshit.

There is absolutely no reason to be sharing this but I just had to put it out there.

3.  My Our car is here!  It arrived in Israel about ten days ago, but the process of actually getting it to Tel Aviv and getting it registered and all that crap is taking forever.  Fingers crossed we can drive her by next week...

4.  I'm less paleo than I used to be.

This is random, but I've realized over the last month or so that I need a little more grain in my life than I've allowed in the past. I used to be pretty aggressively paleo during the week, yet now I'm much more prone to adding brown rice/quinoa to dinner, having some oatmeal with my breakfast, eating five pitas while out to dinner etc.  I think it's a good balance that my body needs, especially as my running mileage continues to go up.

5.  I think our dog is getting more Christmas gifts than me.

Which is fine, because some of her gifts benefit me :)  At the top of the list that Amazon is throwing our way is a running leash that will go around my waist. I've heard running further distances with dogs while holding onto a leash can mess up your gait (probably doesn't help if your dog psychotically chases pigeons) and so I'm interested to see if this leash helps us become better running buddies.

For the record, this is not Kai.  This is a random meme.

I'll report back on that one.

Anyways, there's your mindless Friday read if you were looking for one.  Have a fabulous weekend.

Cheers - 

Kait

Crow

It's that time of week again - when the sun shines a little brighter, and the commute seems just a little bit shorter...

Hopefully?

Happy Friday! This morning I decided to link up with one of my fellow Baltimore Bloggers, Kerry, and participate in Five Things Friday...

from The Adventures of Z & K

Ready?

1. I'm very excited about this. Yesterday at yoga, for the first time ever, I managed to hold crow pose!

Oops - wrong picture...

Unfortunately, it wasn't in a cool shirt like hers....

For any of you who know what my flexibility is like as well as my general yoga abilities, this is a big deal. Feel free to leave gushing praise in the comments below.

2. I'm seeking running shoe advice. I'm serious - brands, models, anything. Help me out runner friends, give me some thoughts.

3. My girl Beth and I have been doing a lot of rides together the past few weeks. One of our favorite things to do lately is to head down to Fells Point for yoga a couple times a week. I've found that since I don't have to worry about parking with her, it actually takes less time than if I were to drive.

Beth's parking spot in my room.

4. Last night I was craving a treat after my tilapia dinner, so I threw together this bad boy:

A banana, fried in coconut oil, with a dash of unsweetened cocoa powder mixed in. Coconut sprinkled on top, 100% 21-Day Detox approved.

It was good - seriously, try it.

5. This weekend I'm pup-sitting one of my coworker's furry friends.

We have plans for long walks, movies of her choice, and cooking meals that she can smell and I can enjoy.

That's all over here folks, I'm off to work. Hope your day is marvelous-

Cheers!

Normal

I’m ready for normal to return, aren’t you?

I’m ready for politics to die down. I’m ready for people to stop screaming at one another over their opinions, and I’m ready to turn on the news and see a happy, encouraging story instead of a vicious, biased one.

Seemed like the right picture to put here?

I’m ready for my Iliotibial Band to get better, and for my left leg to stop hating me. I’m ready to stop scheduling my days around going to the gym, and to once again have the option to just simply get home from work and go for a run.

The day is drawing near, I can feel it.

Much thanks to some very close friends of mine who have been helping me get better...

Mr. Foam Roller, whom I chat with over coffee twice a day.

we have a love hate relationship.

Mr. Bridge, whom is slowly strengthening my glutes so that they are no longer jello.

Aaaand Mr. Sean, a literal human-being AKA my physical therapist, who requested not to be pictured.

I actually don't have a picture because that would be creepy.

This past weekend, a few interesting things occurred…

1.  The New York Marathon was cancelled … but we already know that.
2. Andrew and I visited the pet store for no specific reason. We spent a good 10 minutes staring at the hamsters/gerbils/mice. When he was a wee little boy, Andrew had a gerbil that escaped its cage and died... and almost 20 years later I’m unsure if he has gotten over the experience. 
3. I managed to run about 4 miles; the furthest in over a month. 

Since my IT Band issues started up about 5-6 weeks ago, 2 miles has been my ‘trouble spot.’ It would always be right around 2 miles/15 minutes that the IT band would start ‘rubbing’ over my knee, causing the pain that would lead to me having to stop. After a frustrating PT appointment on Thursday evening, Sean recommended that I try a run over the weekend in my old Asics shoes; a much more ‘padded’ shoe that I have been running in recently.

At the end of the 32 minutes, I may or may not have been a little teary eyed from my joy.

Sunday I ran the same distance, this time on the treadmill. I covered up the stats with a towel so that the crazy voice in my head wouldn’t freak out when nearing the two mile mark. It was once again, a successful run.

don't mind me, just snapping pics of my treadmill 

Ultimately, any progress is good progress in my book, especially in my current state. Just wanted to share the updates, I know you've all been wondering.

How was your weekend? Did you make progress on anything in particular?

Cheers!

Confessions

It's been a hard week.

I had every intention to write a post today about general updates. About the new shoes I've been slowly transitioning into running in, about the beautiful wedding I was part of this past weekend, and about the crazy fartlek run I did earlier this week.

the run actually required two watches.

Possibly even something about the new Taylor Swift song that I love.

Lucky for you guys, I'm pretty adamant about being honest on here. So I will confess....

Today was shit. One of the worst days I've had for quite awhile. It was a combination of a lot of things really, most that I don't even feel like reflecting upon.

For one, I hit a pretty yellow bird with my car, that's currently still stuck under the hood, feathers sticking out.

I feel so thrown off that I don't even feel like going for a run. In attempt to cheer myself up, I stopped at Target on the way home from work and bought a few necessities, along with some fall things to make me happy:

I somehow refrained from buying this:

I'll say it again; it's been a hard week. I haven't felt great physically, work has been insane and in general I just feel incredibly lonely.

So there's some truth for all of you. I just wanted to keep you all in the loop as to why I've been on the quiet(er) side. Hoping to bounce back and have a great weekend, tomorrow is Friday after all.

Cheers!