7 Things

Technically it’s my weekend now, but I’ll bring you an update from the past few days since I’ve been working so much lately (7 days with only one day off). Very grateful to have had a bit of time with this little one lately.

Once in awhile, we splurge and get bagels at the grocery store. Cream cheese & ‘everything but the’ is one of my favorites.

14 miles on the treadmill last week and still LOVING it. Alex has been on it almost everyday (he’s really been enjoying the iFit hikes that they have). We also invested in the mat that goes underneath the treadmill-> it’s SO QUIET NOW! 🎉

We got a crazy heat-wave the past few days and it felt SO WEIRD to be wearing shorts & a t-shirt in November?!?!

I’ve been working both days & nights, so my body is all sorts of confused. It felt really weird to be eating soup for my ‘dinner’ at 8:30 in the morning. I guess that’s the Nurse-life though!

Since I’ve got a longer commute to work (while we save to buy a home), I’ve been staying in Air BnB’s / hotels in the surrounding areas. While it certainly keeps things interesting, it’s also been so much fun to explore new areas by running!

I ‘ran’ the first part of the Boston Marathon with my treadmill (iFit) feature last week during my long run and WOW did it inspire me to keep chasing that Unicorn Dream even more?!? Cue: dreaming of all the potential Marathons in my future. 🤩

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-What’s the next race you’re looking to doing?
-If you could only run one race again, what would it be?

-Favorite type of bagel and cream cheese?

7 Things

Happy Monday! I am FINALLY done with school and just have one more ‘big test’ left until I can officially put those two-little-letters (RN) after my name -> our Nursing Board exam. I’m still waiting for my school to send in the necessary paperwork for me to sign-up to take my exam, but I’ve started studying (& purchased a million different study programs too… ha). Hoping to take it sometime at the beginning of October!

It feels so relieving to not have to study/ do work/ be on a million zoom calls/ commute everywhere every day now. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this relaxed?!? Also- I think staying at a family friends cabin this past weekend helped a whole lot 💕

We also bought hot cocoas from Dunkin before heading to the lake & that was 1000% the best decision 🙌🏻It was chilly this weekend, but with a warm drink and some warm blankets -> it was really nice.

I was also reminded this weekend that running in the rain is still my favorite thing. I’ll take untangling my hair from a rainy braid anyday over a sweaty ponytail.

Also started planning for our Mini-moon at the end of September to Acadia (!!) and am so excited. We booked a cute little Air BnB right in the park (yay for cooking our own food & sleeping in a nice bed) and will definitely be taking our road bikes. Anyone have any good Acadia suggestions for us? I’ve been once and Alex hasn’t been at all.

Some of you probably saw, but we lost our sweet Stella last weekend. It’s still been really hard to remember she isn’t with us (I keep thinking that it was just a dream), but she lived a very full and spoiled 12 years. I think the cats are missing her too. Woke up to Brady laying on one of her old beds the other morning.

Don’t mind our rug - this is certainly a well-loved Animal playplace around here 😅It’s started to get down into the 40s here at night and those morning runs are feeling pretty GREAT now 🤩I’ve been running less (4 times a week), but biking (2 times a week) & strength training/yoga (5 times a week) more and have had my fastest times on the track yet. Excited to continue to train with our Brooks Run Happy Team for the Twin Cities in Motion 5k! The virtual race will take place the first weekend of October.

Loving that the sunrise is a bit later these days, so we can see it. We got up early Sunday morning to watch the sunrise & it was so peaceful. Definitely putting owning a lake house on my bucket list.

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—Ocean, lake, or Mountain Views?

-Starting to feel like Fall where you are?

-Running in the rain- yay or nay?

Training Tuesday: ALL THINGS FUEL!

Trying to compose this post about race fueling strategy and I keep getting distracted by this photo 🤣 I’m already looking forward to ice cream next summer

ANYWAYS! Let’s dive into some things that I’ve learned about fueling before/ during/ after the race. I just want to preface this post by saying that what works for some runners may NOT work for you! For example- some runners love peanut butter before a race and I’ve found it doesn’t work for me.

I’ve also found that meat & potatoes the night before a race work really well for me. Pasta- does NOT. Also a race that ends with a thanksgiving dinner is the BEST 🙌🏻

I’ve really been loving making my own homemade gel and separating it into personal serving ziploc bags. I found the recipe in the cookbook, Run Fast Cook Fast Eat Slow

Post long run I love to get in fuel right away and avocado toast with a smoothie is perfect 👌🏻

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do you have a favorite fueling strategy?

Checking In: Keeping Track of My Mileage, Currently Obsessed Over, This Was Nice

HI! I’m HERE! Things have finally FINALLY settled down a bit, but WOW am I surprised at how crazy-busy life has been lately. Between moving things in, having our first guests visit (Alex’s parents), two exams in one week, and running less-than-ever, I have really had NO free time. Any free time that I have had, I’ve been trying to fit in a run or maybe maybe five spare minutes to read before falling asleep.

As I’m typing this, I was questioning whether I even wrote my 50 miler race recap. Oy. I’m tired. I did, however, run one of my fastest 5ks ever!

We also made it on our first hike last weekend! Up Black Cap mountain and it was so nice. Hoping to get in another good hike this next weekend. I just really loving being in the mountains here whenever possible.

I also did a WHOLE LOT of studying last week. Probably way more time than I should have, but I’ve been loving all of my classes lately!

Gilmore Girls- always applicable in everyday life. Also, my view almost everyday:

I’m hoping to do a full recap of how the first 6 weeks of Nursing School has gone- so look for that at the end of the week. I certainly won’t be holding anything back or sugar-coating it all (if you were wondering). I’ve also been obsessing over ice cream stands and twists in a cone again. Soooo good.

I’ve also been skipping some runs lately. Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE to run, but I’m also really enjoying this new season in my life where I’m trying out other activities (hiking, cycling, strength training) and just generally enjoying the perks of not being in serious training mode. So, my sneakers may be in my car waiting for that run that I just never got to that day and I’m not worried.

"Disclaimer: I received an Strava Summit Membership to review as part of being a BibRave Pro. Learn more about becoming a BibRave Pro (ambassador), and check out BibRave.com to review find and write race reviews!"

Since I’ve basically put all of my personal life stuff on hold lately, I’m also REALLY thankful for Strava to keep track of my weekly mileage.

Also, how cool is it that they partnered with my last race and the photos directly linked with my Strava account? I also really love how you can track so many activities (including YOGA!), it can keep track of your elevation gain (so awesome when you do races like Mt. Washington!), and get kudos from your friends after your activity (important when you run solo most of the time like me to still feel like you’re part of a community)!

I will have my Mt. Washington Road Race recap up for you tomorrow (look at me all organized again!) and hopefully my nursing school first 6-weeks experience and what it’s been like to leave a full-time salaried job to go back to school on Friday.

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How do you keep track of your running mileage?

Favorite thing about Summer?

Ice cream- soft or hard serve?!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! And This Or That

Happy Thursday! We’re off on our yurt trip and I’ll recap it tomorrow, but just wanted to share some exciting news with you. I’m officially a Bib Rave Pro!

I am SO EXCITED to join this amazing community of other runners, rate and review races, test out new brands, and learn from others along the way. I’ve always felt so isolated when living in a small Colorado Mountain Town, but this is just one of the organizations that I’m a part of that I know will help me feel ‘connected’ with other runners! Whether it’s communicating with them via social media, hearing their thoughts on products/races, and meetups during races! I can’t wait.

I also thought it would be fun to know your thoughts on the following below:

SO THIS OR THAT

Long run OR Speed Work

5k OR Marathon

Destination OR Hometown Race

Big OR Small Race

Solo OR Group Run

Headphones OR No-Headphones

Podcast OR Music

Beach OR Mountain Run

Trails OR Roads