Saturday, March 16, 2024

Back to Work

From California to Wisconsin, I did some traveling this week! I won't deny it--between all the activity of last week and the time change, I was exhausted most of the week. I did my best to stick to my schedule and to my surprise, my runs and CrossFit felt good. Work was really busy and I dove right back in as if I had never left. 

It's funny how that happens, isn't it?

Saturday, March 9, 2024

California Love

Long post alert!! I've been out of town all week, visiting my sister and brother-in-law in Palm Desert, California. You know how it is when you visit a beautiful place--you want to do all the things and that is what we did! By the end of the week, my feet were sore and I was tired. I'm heading home today, with one day to recover before I return to work and life on Tuesday. It should be interesting, considering the 2 hour time difference between California and Chicago plus the 1 hour time change this weekend. 

In the meantime, I've recapped this very full week here on the blog. Thanks in advance for reading!

Sunday, March 3, 2024

The Real Deal

It sure seems that the groundhog was right this year! This false spring we've been experiencing may be the real deal.  We had some really strong storms this week with multiple tornados--a real rarity in February for us--a sure sign that the weather is shifting. I've been enjoying some nice runs and even got to run in shorts this week. We were above 70F this week and we're supposed to hit that again. If this warm weather pattern is wrong, I don't want to be right. 

Saturday, March 2, 2024

Mini Book Reviews: February 2024

Disclaimer: I received copies of The Road from Belhaven, My Side of the River, and Wandering Stars from NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for my review. This post contains affiliate links.

February was a great month of reading for me. While I work on getting through all my NetGalley prereleases, I also was able to fit in a couple of books that I wanted to read. I'm happy to say that all 3 NetGalley books were great and my personal selections were too. If I were to recommend a book that everyone will like, I would pick Kristin Hannah's book, The Women. I believe this may be her best book yet. Ann Patchett's Tom Lake was my favorite, though. 

There's nothing better than a month of good books!


Saturday, February 24, 2024

Trail Time!

With no races planned right now--save for the Shamrock Shuffle 8k in March--I refocused on trail running again. Training for my half marathon was fun and all, but I sure missed my trails. Not only do I love running in nature, but I also enjoy just running for fun, with no paces to hit and no set distance to complete. With the weather improving, the timing is just perfect. I'm looking forward to watching spring arrive. My spidey senses are tingling for an early spring, as the birds have been singing and the deer are frolicking. We've been hitting record temperatures this week, with more predicted for next week. Stay tuned!

Saturday, February 17, 2024

It's All Good

On Saturday, I always sit down to finish up my weekly rundown. I write up my workouts in all week long and at the end of the week, I try to find a common theme to come up with a title for my post. This has been a pretty uneventful week and I have to admit that I was at a loss for a title! In fact, it's been all good this week. So there it is...

Saturday, February 10, 2024

Moving Forward

I runfess... I am happy to have that half marathon behind me. 

Every race teaches us something new. What will I take away from this race?

I won't play the age card or blame my struggles on RA, but long distances are definitely becoming more difficult for me. This week, it felt good to dial it back a bit--to just run and let my body recover. I'm trying to sort out what happened on the race course and why I struggled with my breathing. Did I run too fast at the start? Was I affected by the poor air quality? Was I anxious? 

For sure, I wasn't properly fueled, having forgotten my smoothie at home. My on-course fueling plan was a bust. But the other factors? 

As I put this race in the rearview mirror, I'll continue to reflect on what works and what doesn't. I'm not ready to give up on the half marathon distance!