June Highlights

June was embarrassing in terms of fitness, less than 30 miles for the month- crazy pitiful.

This pretty much sums it up--- lots of time off

There was quite a bit going on with moving homes and work that I knew this would be my last 'lazy month'  before picking back up the running to be prepared for Hood to Coast in August.  I also feel that since June is "officially" summer, there are more activities always going on that I feel I "have to" take part in so I don't miss out- thus resulting in always being on the go and too tired to workout first thing in morning or end of day.

So what did happen?

Living

I said goodbye to apartment living and the best roommate to date

And hello to a 3 story townhome with double the space and then some from compared to what I'm used to

Who knew how much time could be spent decorating, gardening, and trying to make the space my own?  I have to keep reminding myself that because I'm still renting, I'll have to move everything AGAIN into my own place when that time comes, so to not go overboard--- both with practicality and my check book. 

The second floor is pretty much where I spend all my time and I have lots still to do, but its been fun along the way.  I still have a bonus room off the kitchen I haven't done anything with, along with the entire back room on the first floor that is empty #toomuchspaceproblems

Family

Typically I see my family (siblings) 3x a year- Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter and my parents come down 1x a year to see my in Nashville.  June was a treat because I got some bonus quality time.

Mom came down 2 days after moving in to help me decorate,organize, and pick out some new furnishings. She got the ball rolling, but lots more has been done since then and I'll be excited for her (and dad) to see the transformation when they come down in less than 1 month. 

After her short 3 day stint here, we headed up to Indianapolis for my cousin's wedding reception- love being able to reconnect  with the extended family

My brothers and I- we're a tall bunch

Some of the cousins

Having play time with one of my nephews (my other 2 didn't make the trip) 

And getting to dance with dad

Fun

With all the purchasing of home goods, June's entertainment month was all about embracing what is free!!

Art and Wine Crawl in downtown Franklin

Outdoor Free concerts every Saturday in East Nashville 

And I even managed to score free tix to our company box for Katy Perry tickets 

I know I typically blog about the good things because who wants to be a debbie downer, but June also had a few road bumps as well:

• Roommate I had selected to move in & split the cost of town home with disappeared and never returned any of my messages- leaving me with another month's rent to pay for solo. Normally not a big deal, but 2 months rent  now when I'm covering everything  would actually get me 4.3 month's rent compared to what I've been paying the last 4 years. 
• Piggy backing on the roommate situation, this month was the FIRST time I haven't had a roommate since I was 18. The past 11/12 years there has always been someone around, so the first few weeks by myself was a huge shock and adjustment. I got extremely lonely and would avoid coming home to an empty house. This  meant 1 of 2 things---constantly finding things to do with friends so I wouldn't be at home by myself, or immersing myself in settings where even if I wasn't talking to people I was still surrounded by them (shopping, going out to eat, staying at work later etc) Both scenarios resulted in unnecessary spending. On the upside, I did also start and finish both seasons of "Orange is the new Black", so now I know what the heck everyone else around me is talking about. 
• Work picked up and naturally I acquired more additional responsibilities with nothing coming off my plate to accommodate. Initially I was told I would help out temporarily, but then it changed to assist till the end of the year. On one hand its job security, on the other hand I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my job so it increases the unnecessary stress I put on myself. 
• I realized the guy I had been seeing for 2 months was a complete immature pervert and we were NOT on the same page when it comes to relationships. I often find myself wondering what happened to the good men out there that know how to treat, and most importantly, talk to a lady. I ended things in not the nicest of ways so at least I got that satisfaction of controlling the situation. Next please. 
• Lastly, coming to terms with this being my last full month being in my 20s... enough said. (2 days till dirty 30) 

Overall June was just a very busy month. It was hard to find balance with all the changes, but I feel like I've finally found my groove. July's focus is all about getting back into swing of things and shifting my focus from "if I don't feel like doing it I won't" into a more disciplined schedule when it comes to workouts. So far I've already ran more miles in July than June (not that it was too difficult to do) so off to a great start. 

How as your June?

Anything exciting / noteworthy you experienced?

Five for Friday!

1.  FRIENDS One of the great benefits of racing the states is the opportunity to catch up with friends. Unfortunately I don't really have any friends in the states that I have left (minus Minnesota) so last weekend after finishing my Maryland  race I still had some weekend left so I hopped on a plane back to Nashville then immediately drove the 2.5/ 3 hours to Louisville to catch up with 2 of my FAVORITE ladies who are near and dear to my heart.

Natalie helped me out in a very crucial time in my life and we shared a 1 bedroom apt for 4 months while I was transitioning and found my job in Nashville. 

Jenna helps keep me sane. We lived together for a total of 3 years (combined in Ohio and Louisville) and tell each other EVERYTHING. She is probably my absolute best friend and if I EVER get married, I'm confident she'll be the maid of honor. 

2. Derby Horses I LOVE to take photos with random statues / objects. If you've ever been to Louisville you may have noticed they have Derby horses all around town with different decorations and such. Jenna and I would make it a point to see how many we could find and get photo with each one. I have a whole album on facebook devoted to these gems and when my family came down for my 25th birthday they got in on the action too. As I was driving up to meet Jenna last week I saw one on the side of the photo (last photo bottom right) so I pulled over and took a self portrait. The first photo in collage is what started the obsession at Thunder Over Louisville back in 2009, and the rest are just some of my faves.

Am I the only one, or do others like to take photos like this as well?

3. Wyoming: This weekend I'm crossing off State #41, "The Cowboy / Equality State" ,also known as Wyoming. This will also be the big # 50 in terms of lifetime halves run... damn.  Although it's a girls weekend and I'm looking forward to seeing L and Kim (and of course B is tagging along but I see her everyday at work so its not the same) , what I'm not looking forward to is the elevation and altitude. I'm not going to lie- Miles 1-5 will be fun and excellent downhill training for SD's all downhill course, but 5- 13.1 are going to suck. Let's just say there are ZERO time goals involved.

4. Bootcamp It's no secret I'm not the best with an exact training plan so a lot of people have asked me how I've gotten faster. CROSS TRAINING hands down. For the last 1.5 years I've been going to bootcamp pretty consistently 1-2x week, kettle bells a few times a month (and I have my own at home), and most recently yoga 1-2x week. Everything I do is offered at work which is why its easy for me to be consistent. With bootcamp you get out of it what you put into it, but I've noticed a HUGE increase in strength and endurance from this.

That's me in the bright yellow shirt

Probably the sexiest photo of myself I've ever posted (trying to listen to instructions while sticking out my stomach)

On Wed there was a challenge out there to get 100 colleagues to attend, I believe we ended up just shy of 120!

This is reason #14343232 on why I truly absolutely LOVE the company I work for!

5. Moving Update: Finally found out I get to move in to new apt June 1. Currently my stuff is residing in the living room piled up- mattress, dressers, clothes tables EVERYTHING is in that 10.x10 space... that's talent. 

In the mean time I spent a week crashing at my friend Ts and starting today I'll be crashing at Bs and taking care of her cat since she will stay out West for a week after our Wyoming race. It's so frustrating trying to find things since most of it is in new apt, so I constantly have been feeling like a mooch having to borrow something pretty much every day from some one.  June 1 can't come soon enough! 

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?