Running Into Joy

Happy Tuesday, friends! Today, I am writing about one of the things that regularly consumes chunks of my life, 10-days at a time: Racery events with my online running communities. I suspect I've mentioned the Potterhead Running Club (formerly Hogwarts Running Club) here before, but it's worth mentioning again. This community, living primarily on Facebook with a healthy dose of Charity Miles and IRL meetups, is one of the places I go to find a sense of belonging. It's also one of the ways I stay motivated to be active. Virtual races like the ones hosted by PHRC often get a bit of a head tilt when I first mention them. You sign up on line, run or walk the distance yourself, and receive a medal in the mail. It's a different sort of togetherness than the community of a real life event, but one that nevertheless can motivate you to earn your race bling. In PHRC, these medals also earn house points towards the annual House Cup competition (which my beloved Hufflepuf...

Hello, hello! Today is January 21st. It also happens to be the 20th day in Yoga With Adriene's 30 Day yoga journey for 2020, called HOME. As we are ever so slightly over halfway through the journey, quest, challenge, I've been reflecting on the experience so far. For those who don't know, Adriene Mischler is an online yoga teacher, guru, and all around amazing creator who has been bringing free yoga to YouTube for years. She's got a massive following and is truly a celebrity in her own right. She also happens to my first teacher of yoga, and still my favorite. This is my fifth year dedicating the month of January to a daily practice with Adriene. Since 2015, Adriene has created a 30-day yoga series, one new video released for every day of the month of January. And since then, I have been one of those people following along day by day. I haven't managed to stick to it every day for every year but nevertheless each year on Thanksgiving I start looking forward to...

It's been a bit, I think, since I've done a more general update type of post. This week, I'm taking a week off running and doing low impact cardio instead because I've got my first injury of the training cycle: shin splints. Is it weird that this feels like a rite of passage, like part of being a "real" runner? Anyway, the week of rest combined with the fact that my boyfriend is away on business and my closest Pittsburgh friend is traveling means I've got a lot of introvert time on my hands. As I've had more solitude than usual, I've been reflecting on what I'm enjoying right now and figured I may as well share it. Part of taking care of yourself is taking time to do what fuels you (and not try to turn everything into a "side hustle" all the time--it's okay to like things just to like them!). So, I've been: Listening... To The Glass Cannon podcast . Admittedly I did a lot of that in 2019 (like, a lot ). This week...

I write to you from the hazy fog brought on by a string of heavy symptom days with occipital neuralgia. For the last few months of 2019, I enjoyed blissfully low to no symptoms and, in truth, felt very much like I was "better." And then... the tense headache warning of what's to come. So, as much as I love a crisp new planner and the start of a new year, I'm struggling to find optimism. It's hard to feel like it's a fresh new year when I'm carrying over the same old chronic pain that met me in August of last year. In spite of this, I carry the lessons with me that going for a run will actually improve symptoms, not make them worse. And so, as the year of my half marathon (fingers crossed) begins, I'm continuing my training plan. Yesterday, I met a challenge that feels both distant and familiar. My symptoms were heavy, shocking pains coming frequently and a tell-tale tightness in my right neck muscles. I debated skipping the day's 45 minute ru...

Ahh, December. The perfect time to start reflecting on the year and thinking about what you hope to achieve in the year ahead. If 2019 has taught me anything, it's that no matter what you plan, life will surprise you. This year feels especially reflective as we come to the end of not only the past year, but the past decade. To be 27 at the end of a decade is a strange sensation. 10 years ago, I was a teenager in high school. In so many ways, that feels like a different lifetime. At 17, I was freshly out of a long, terrible, and tumultuous relationship the after effects of which I would feel well into my 20's. I was getting ready to graduate high school, with the grand adventure of college waiting out there on the horizon. At 27, things feel a bit more nebulous. I've written before about how this stage in life feels strange to me, without a clearly defined length of time in which to accomplish any sort of educational goal. On top of this general existential angst, 2019...

This week, I've been following a new training plan provided by the amazing Kelly Roberts of She Can & She Did and Run, Selfie, Repeat. I never, ever thought I'd be the kind of person to break outside my normal routine of "try to survive running a few miles" but here I am adding speed work and hill repeats. When i saw those two words "hill repeats" on my schedule for Thursday, I strongly considered setting the whole thing aside. Thursday was not a day built perfectly for a new kind of running workout. The First Year Writing class I teach starts at 8:30am, and I had plans to stay over at my boyfriend's place, which meant extra commute time. Not only that, but the forecast was 30 degrees and snowy. As a naturally clumsy person, I avoid running outside with even a hint of ice because I'm convinced I'll hurt myself, majorly. Running up and down a hill? Not a chance. I tried talking myself out of it. Amanda, you'd have to get up so so earl...

This past Thursday was Thanksgiving here in the US. The Turkey Trot race is a growing trend, where people get together to run a race before heading off to their respective holiday feasts. Bonus points seem to be awarded for turkey costumes and/or pumpkin pie shaped hats. I've wanted to do one of these races for a while now, and since I didn't have to travel this Thanksgiving holiday, it was perfect timing. I convinced Andy to race with me, signed up, and prepped for the race.  The training plan I've been following is an 8-week plan designed to work up the strength to run a full 5K. I was about half way into week 6 when race day came, but I woke up feeling strong and decided to give running the full 5K a shot. After all, I had past evidence that it was a distance I could handle, since I ran the Superhero 5K without stopping to walk.  Race morning was a little chilly, but warmer than years past for the Pittsburgh Turkey Trot, so I'm told. Andy and I stayed in the ...