Hump Day

Happy hump day! This week is flying by and that means I am about to have a glorious 4 day much needed weekend. I’ve worked pretty much every weekend over the last month and a half and it’s been rough. Oh, the life of retail.

In between working, I’ve managed to get in a really good amount of running! I have wanted to get a steady 20 miles per week going for awhile and then keep increasing my mileage, but pain kept me from really doing anything above 4 miles 3 times per week. Adding in a longer, slow run on the weekends has really helped me more than I thought possible! This past weekend, I did my 1st long run by myself, 8.25 miles. It was pouring rain and felt absolutely amazing. I stretched and foam rolled the crap out of my legs, and by Monday I was fine to do an early morning spin class and a FAST 3 miles! I think 1 day of shorter distance speed (3 miles), 1 medium-long run in the middle of the week (5-ish miles), another easy 4 miler and then a long run is what will keep me injury free. I can really focus on my form during a longer slow run and that has been helping a lot. Not to mention I just received my newest pair of running sneakers and took them out for a test run last night!

Well, the run itself sucked. I am just not a night runner at least at the moment. The last time I tried it went a lot better, but it’s hard for me to run with anything in my stomach. I have a totally messed up digestive system and have my entire life, so I honestly can’t ever judge what food or running will do to me. 2 miles into this run I got nauseous. I was aiming for 6, talked myself down to 5, but had to stop and walk/run at 4 miles. That last .80 is only because I needed to get back to my gym. Besides my stomach though my legs felt great and I really loved my first run in my new, and first pair, of Mizuno’s! These are the Wave Elixir 7′s and not the color I wanted. The pair I have seen are the gray and purple ones but Zappo’s was sold out of my size. I stay pretty true to Zappo’s because they have literally the best customer service of any company ever. And I know customer service, because I have worked in it for the last 8 years! They just sent me a handwritten note after this purchase! After I exchanged two other pairs because I am crazy indecisive and they gave me no attitude at all. Free overnight shipping, in fact, in lieu of attitude. I love them.

I’ll give a more extensive review after I get a few more runs in them, but I think I might be in love.

I also recently fell in love with a man named Justin.

Honestly, I have tried a few other of his products and wasn’t sure what the hype was. Admittedly I am not an almond butter fan because obviously peanut butter will always have my heart. But I saw that Lauren was in love with the vanilla flavor and I can always trust her taste in food! She was right, as usual. I absolutely love this and actually kind of love that it’s so different from peanut butter (shhh don’t tell PB). I bought it on Sunday and smothered it on a scone from Whole Foods and forgot all about the sucky-ness of having to work on a Sunday. Now I’m thinking I’ll have to retry the other flavors and give them a second chance.

The weekend was concluded with a long walk and 16 Handles cheat day date with Brenda. It was even better than usual because they had 3 of my 4 favorite flavors- graham cracker, salted caramel, and dulce de leche- and CRUSHED WHOPPERS as a new-to-me topping. Also topped with mini peanut butter cups, yogurt chips, crushed graham cracker, and other various sugary items.

i love you, Sundays.

Deeeelish. I’ve had a bad stomach ache since last nights run that had me so sick I couldn’t eat dinner last night. I felt off all day today, but pushed through a little upper body weight circuit and an hour long spin class, felt a little better but now am feeling kinda sick again. My stomach really hates me and even though I have dealt with stomach/GI/digestive system issues my entire life, it seems like it never gets easier. Hopefully a good night of sleep will have me feeling brand new!