Tuesday Tangents

What a whirlwind of the last few weeks- its funny because I feel like each week SO MUCH happens, yet I don't blog about it

• Skin Cancer- I got a lot of flack from some individuals for just  nonchalantly mentioning it in my April recap that I was having skin cancer removed.   I have 'beauty marks" EVERYWHERE, so its hard for me to keep track when I have new spots or when existing ones change.  Within the last year  a 'patch' appeared slightly above my right boob. It wasn't a freckle, but at first looked like a red zit. Over the course of a few months it changed to a scab, fell off, bled, got scaly, then just was a mark. Since this was definitely a new marking on my body,I made sure to point it out to the Dr. and sure enough after she took a biopsy it came back as basal cell cancer. For those that aren't familiar, its the least threatening of the cancers as it is the most superficial and easily treatable. I opted for the scrape and burn method vs. chemo cream due to it being summer and I didn't want to apply a cream for 6 weeks before having any resolution. Its been about a week since I had it removed and it's still healing. I have to wear a band aid with aquaphor at all times and I try to shower immediately after exercise to wash out the sweat. Once the scar is healed you can bet I will be applying mederma to help lessen the appearance. 
• New shoes: Although I do love the virattas, I know they are not shoes for running my half marathons in. I am partial to Saucony's, so I started research some of their neutral models. Although I tried the mirages 2 years ago and wasn't a big fan, I was also coming off of ITBS and had to be in stability shoe. I kept reading that the upgrades to the 3 were amazing and voted one of the best upgrades by Runner's World, so I thought, why not?

I've ran in them twice- 7 miles and 11 miles--- they are a 4mm drop so I had some slight calf tightness, but nothing major. Aside from the awesome colors, they are also super light- 7.5 oz, so I may be in love.... we'll see how they perform for my PR attempt this weekend. 

1:40 or bust: I decided to cash in on my Southwest points and go ahead and run the St. Michael's Running  Festival - elevation is non existent and I really don't have the opportunity to even attempt to break 1:40 again till probably fall due to temps and elevations of the races i have schedule, it sucks that this will be a solo race for me, but at least I get I get the big 4-0 out of the way so I can finally be in single digits!! 

Moving- This Saturday I rented a U-haul and had P come over to help me load all my belongings and carry over to the new apt. Unfortunately I am taking over for another roommate who won't be moving out till June 1st so that means all my stuff was stored in the dining 'alcove' in the corner and we piled up 7ft high... its quite comical. I'm a bad blogger and forgot to take a photo, then my phone died which is a whole different bullet, so instead just pretend this is my stuff, only taller. 

• Good bye to an era:  I'm fully convinced I repel technology. Sunday I went for my long run and my garmin was wigging out- no big deal, I know the exact route mileage so I should be good. Then I plug in my mp3 player and it immediately dies- gah 11 miles without music? I decide to take my phone with me tucked into my ifitness belt. Around mile 2.5 there is a water fountain and a bathroom so I decided to stop off, get some water, and use the potty. Midstream somehow my phone falls out of my pouch and into the toilet- I grab it, manage to pee all over it and all over the floor- very classy but this is how fast everything happened. I tried to dry it off, but the water / pee had already gotten under the screen-  sigh. I manage to run the remaining 8.5 miles music less and dreading that my phone was unsalvageable. It was. As luck would have it my contract was up, so instead of upgrading I thought long and hard and decided to just use my work phone as my personal phone since its paid for and deactivate my number. I've had my Dayton number for 10 years, freshman year of college. I guess I'm offically a Nashville girl now with just a 615 number. 
• Not a fan of the Iphone: So my work phone is an Iphone- sure there are some cool features such as I don't have the ability to text right now until work updates my plan but I can text other iphone users just fine. What I don't like is how everything is so closed on the iphone- I can't seem to get my contacts transferred from google- so basically I know NO ONE's number and its frustrating bc it looks like i might need to manually add everyone one by one :(  I can't get my itunes from computer to be recognized on my phone, There are no apps to download free music on my phone (which is what I always did w/ droid to make my playlists for running... even the facebook app is different and I can't figure out who to check in or tag people... yes i know #firstworldproblems
• I saw the Great Gatsby this weekend--- Oh emmmm geeee did I love it. I'm a big fan of  the director Baz Lurhman (he also did Romeo and Juliet) and the soundtrack did not disappoint. I really want to be able to gets some of the songs onto my running playlist- hence the frustration with the iphone. My two 'upbeat' favorites are :

Will.I.Am- Bang Bang

Fergie- A little party never killed nobody

• Testing out shoes: Last night at our fleet feet run, Nike came out and let us test out either Vomeros or Frees. Since I'm in a neutral shoe, they recommended  the vomeros. Immediately I noticed they were heavier than what I was used to with the extra cushion, but yet they felt like I was running on clouds. 

The honeymoon phase ended less than 1 mile in and my arches and lateral edges of my feet felt like they were on fire. I was so uncomfortable that I had to cut my run down from 6miles to 4. Good news is that despite feeling like I was moving in slow motion my avg pace for the run was 8:20s. Immediately when I was done running and just walking around in them, my feet were fine?!?! This is the 3rd show I've tested out on a Fleet Feet run and the 3rd shoe I hated. I guess its good to know what you don't like, just as importantly as what you do like. 

That's all the updates for now, anything exciting in your world?