hi. it’s me.

it’s been a million years since i’ve blogged. or at least since july. oops.

much has changed. shall we catch up?

in august i unexpectedly quit my job after problems with my management team. i was ‘funemployed’ for a day before starting a new position managing a dental office. it’s totally different and, while it’s really hard and uncertain at times, i really enjoy it. additionally, the hours are pretty awesome as my new work schedule is monday through thursday, 10 hour shifts. it’s been awesome having a three day weekend but difficult balancing out running and wellness with a long work day coupled with a sometimes gnarly commute. 

during this transition time, i ran ragnar with a local run club. @runningmyownrace championed the process and it was a blast. unfortunately, i haven’t made it to any additional run clubs as i’ve been battling a pretty painful foot injury that seems to have resulted from ragnar. milage has been minimal (i may not have even run in september? no, we ran a few 5ks - one local that supported the k9 unit where i got to pet the police dog!) at best and i’m bummed that i’ve lost a huge chunk of fitness.

so, no twin cities marathon for me this year. i did go with jesse to the expo today and showed off my shirt to the eau claire marathon peeps to get a free pair of socks. we also checked out some potential spring races and my brain has been furiously thinking about what next year might look like.

eau claire marathon? half? grandma’s half? grandma’s is the weekend before our wedding so i feel like that might not be the best right now. hot dash in march? securian winter run in january?

here are my questions for you guys:

hey. long time no talk.

let’s catch up, shall we?

i’m currently in the process of culling down and editing photographs for my work. it’s super cool that my work has wanted to utilize my photography skills and i’m hopeful that this sort of work will continue to flow in. i’ve enjoyed stretching my creativity and have considered finding new work that would allow me to dive deeper into art. 

work currently is kicking my butt. i’m having some challenges with feeling comfortable with my team and am concerned that as of late i’ve been bringing home feelings of stress and unease due to communication issues and overall feelings of inadequacy within my role. i’m hopeful that this will smooth over but have also began a quest to seek out other options for employment. man, sometimes being an adult is hard. if only staying home and hanging out with my cat paid well (or paid at all).

running has been okay. i’ve missed a few weeks with my marathon group but will be back at it this week. jesse and i ran the lakes this morning and i thoroughly had my butt kicked with the humidity. i feel like i’m overall getting stronger, which is awesome, and kind of weird. after eau claire marathon and grandma’s marathon running was pretty much a suckfest so it seems weird to be not feeling super slow all of the time. i also tried a new flavor of hammer gel and almost puked. and i may or may not have played pokemon go during my last mile of my long run today. 

hmm.... good questions, @walking-with-iphone. 

i don’t really drink and have never used drugs so i can’t really think of a “best experience.” when jesse defended his thesis for his ph.d we celebrated at his advisor’s house with a big party and lots of wine. i learned a lot about different types of wine, which was pretty cool. 

my worst experience with alcohol revolved around learning that my partner at the time was an alcoholic and was in the process of losing his job because he had been inappropriate with some of his students (he taught high school). that was an ordeal. it also seems like a million years ago so it’s kind of weird to think about.

4.0 // ~40:16 // 10:04

last weekend i ran a few times, mainly friday through sunday. then i completely ignored running until today.

four beautiful (and stupidly fast) miles around the lakes with the hundreds of other minnesotans that were also walking/strolling/meandering/texting/selfie-ing around calhoun. thankfully lake of the isles was less busy and running on the bike path (sorry, bikers) helped. 

3.0 // 36:27 // 12:09 pace goal: 12:05-12:55

quick run before work even though i really didn’t want to do it. laundry, lunch, and budgeting happened before i managed to drag myself on the treadmill.

work is still hard but less hard than last week, if that makes sense. my location is severely understaffed and corporate seems unconcerned about the struggle of being on the desk, doing the manager stuff, and working 50 hours a week to get it all done.

4.0 // 48:47 // 12:12 pace goal: 12:05-12:55

real talk time.

january running kind of sucked. sure, i got out there more than i ran in november and december combined, but it wasn’t a much. 

january totals: 13 hours // 63 miles 

clearly, marathon training is taking a back seat to everything else. this needs to change. work right now is pretty up and down and coupled with some wild personal stuff has me feeling out of control.