Trading One Marathon for Another

Lil Zoe taking a snooze on Sunday afternoon <3

This last week has been actually insane! That seems to have been the running theme since the spring. There's been very little time to breathe over these last few months and the last 7 days have been no different. We can start right off with Wednesday night when Brett broke his nose.

Yup. That's a thing that happened! I left the gym Wednesday night after putting in an hour on the treadmill and feeling super good about myself, and I texted Brett to let him know to let him know I was on my way home. He called me right back and let me know that during football practice that day, one of the players accidentally knocked him in the face when he was demonstrating a drill and broke his nose. :( Poor Brett! I immediately scooped him up and brought him to the emergency room where we hung out for a solid 5 hours and he got an x-ray and a referral to an ENT that he'll meet with later this week. WOOF! At least our new health insurance had kicked in a few days before he broke his nose! ;) On the real, he's fine and has been a trooper through this whole ordeal. I'm hoping he feels better soon!

I've been "training" (in the loosest sense of the word) for the Newport Marathon over these last few months, but honestly I have not made training a priority at all. Between the intensity of my job search, the business of a new academic year, and the stress of starting a new job and getting used to a new routine, training has fallen to the bottom of my list and there were many weeks where I got *maybe* one run in, and never my long run. It's been shit, to be frank, and in the past I've been able to get away with it and still manage to finish 26.2, but this time around it's just felt different.

I scheduled myself a long run for this past Saturday, knowing that the marathon was right around the corner. I originally intended to go out for 15 miles, kind of realizing that this was my last chance to run double-digit miles before race day. The first 8 miles were fine, but quickly my stomach started having issues, my legs cramped up, and I got VERY dizzy. I managed to walk/slowly jog 4 more miles before calling it quits, and I realized that Newport, unfortunately, could not happen. There was no way I was going to be ready to run 26.2 in two weeks time, having such a terrible training cycle and awful last run. Newport wasn't going to be even a little bit fun. So I decided to defer my registration to next year.

I won't lie, I was really disappointed with myself directly after finishing my run on Saturday. I felt really bad that I wasn't able to push myself physically or mentally the same way I have in past training cycles. The stars were just not aligning this time around and I felt really bummed. But after a pep talk from Brett I started to feel better, and honestly more relieved than anything that I would not have to try to fake my way through a marathon and probably feel really awful throughout the process. 

I still wanted to fit in another race before the end of the year, however, and complete one more state toward my 50 Marathons in 50 States goal! After some hemming and hawing, comparing prices of flights and registrations, and making sure I can take time off of work, I landed on choosing to run the Richmond Marathon in Richmond, VA!

This will be a fun little weekend trip to Virginia in November and I honestly think it's going to be so much fun. Runner's World has named it "America's Friendliest Marathon" which I am all about, and you get some UNBELIEVEABLE swag for finishing the race, including a medal, a hat, a blanket, and a jacket! The majority of the course is nice and flat, there's plenty of course support (including party stations!) and I've heard nothing but positive things about the crowd. I'm hoping the next few weeks I can get serious about my training, actually put some miles in, and have a successful race. I've already bought my flights, so no turning back now! :P

Saturday night Brett and I headed into Boston for his cousin's wedding reception. We had to miss the ceremony because Brett had a game (which they won - wooo!) but we were glad we were able to celebrate Mike & Angela in the Boston Seaport which was SO beautiful. We danced the night away and had such a fun time hanging out with family.

With the Bride and Groom!

This week has been a really great week. Monday we surprised my boss with a post-work get together to celebrate his upcoming wedding. It was so fun to have a couple drinks and apps with my new staff and get to know them a bit better outside of the office. I'm glad I've found myself on a staff where I get along with everyone really well. It honestly makes the day to day so much easier! I also got to meet his fiancee who is so nice and we bonded over working at Seven Sisters institutions (he works at Wellesley!). I'm looking forward to more chances to bond with my colleagues outside of the office!

Last night Rob and I went to go see Aziz Ansari in Providence! He was doing a few pop up shows around the country to test out his new show, and I saw the announcement on Instagram last week and knew I had to try and go. I thought Rob would be down for a random adventure, and he was! So we bought the tickets and went last night. I've been dying to see Aziz live for years now and I'm so happy I got the chance. It was an interesting show because it was all new material that he was testing out, but I was in stitches literally the entire time and I'm excited to see what the final product will be when he releases his special!

I only have Saturday off this weekend, which will likely entail a long run, a bunch of reading for the Read Your Face Off buddy read (Beartown by Fredrik Backman - I'm really enjoying it so far!) and some video recording (#BorrowAThon announcements, anyone?) so while it may not be super relaxing, I'm hoping it's at least productive! :) I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of their week and I will check in again soon! <3