The Week I Didn't Run + What I've Been Doing Instead (We're Moving!)

Sometimes life is just too much to have any motivation to do anything else but exist. That was me this past week. A couple weeks ago Brett and I came to the decision that it was definitely time for us to move out into our own place. This is something we've been thinking about for a while and a direction that we wanted to move in for a really long time. We haven't had a place to ourselves since 2013, and even then we were living on a college campus, where we both worked, so it still didn't feel like we were truly on our own. We've been together for 7 years now and it's finally time that we found a place that belongs to just us. No roommates. No work obligations. Just us.

The next few days after deciding it was time, we reached out to a few different apartments to set up viewings. I gotta say - it's weird apartment hunting when there's a global pandemic going on. It's a risk interacting with new folks while maintaining social distancing and a risk looking at new places that aren't your own. Luckily, this apartment hunt did not take us too long. The process to find the apartment we ended up going with went like this:

Tuesday → Contact the landlord to express interest

Wednesday → View the apartment

Thursday → Submit an application, get approved, sign a lease

And boom, we had a new apartment.

Though the process was quick (it was only about a week of searching), it was stressful and sadly, without going into detail, we're moving again because of a not-great living situation. This is twice in a row that we've felt we had to move quickly because of our living situation being negative, and it's always stressful. Because of this, my motivation to do anything outside of the minimum was at a zero. Add in the fact that it was gray and rainy everyday last week, I had absolutely no desire to go running or exercise.

So, I didn't run last week and I don't really have a training update for you for this week. 

BUT!

Now that our new lease is signed and we have plans to start moving in to our new space next Monday (!!!). Brett and I are both feeling so much better and are truly excited to start this new chapter in our lives together. Physically moving into our space will, of course, be taxing, and it will take a while to get used to, but we're ultimately so thrilled to finally have a space of our own. 

I'm also excited to get back to training this week! Now that this part of my life is figured out and we have some next steps in mind, I'm feeling like I have the mental capacity to get back to my training plan. Rock n' Roll just postponed their San Diego race weekend which happens to be the weekend before Seattle, so I'm really not feeling confident that Seattle will be happening as scheduled. 

With that in mind, I'm going to be tweaking my training plan based on how I'm feeling. With the stress of the COVID-19 outbreak and the additional stress of needing to move, I feel like I've fallen a bit behind what my usual marathon training schedule would look like. That would typically stress me out, but because I'm fairly certain that Rock n' Roll Seattle will be postponed, I'm feeling like running the mileage that feels good to me while still working in my usual 2 mid-distance, 1 short, 1 long run schedule and keeping up my general fitness will be the best for my mental and physical health. I'll keep you posted with my actual runs on a weekly basis!

Here's what I've been doing *instead* of running:

Reading up a storm! As you know I'm participating in the OWLs readathon this month and it's been great to make time for reading each day! This isn't part of my OWLs TBR, but I have a collection of Flannery O'Connor stories that I've been trying to read from every morning when I wake up. It's kind of nice to start the day with a short story and I'm excited to continue reading this. My goal is to read a story each morning until I finish the whole collection. It's been sitting on my "Currently Reading" shelf since last march so it's about time it gets the attention it deserves!

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Geocaching! This is something that I've been wanting to try for ages and over the weekend I finally tried it out. It is SO much fun! I found two things on my first hunt and I can't wait to go on even more hunts as the weather starts to warm up. I'll be sure to update you on my geocaching adventures on my socials, and probably right here on the blog as well!

Following CDC recommendations :P I barely leave the house these days except to go to to grocery store (which I try to limit to once a week) or to run/walk outside. This weekend I had to go to laundry and since the CDC recommends wearing a mask in public places to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (this is more so in the event I have it and I don't know it, I won't accidentally spread it to someone else, and not to prevent myself from getting it) I wore a buff to the laundromat. I felt like a huge weirdo because no one else was wearing one, but I want to do my part as much as possible!

All in all, I'm thankful that Brett and I have our health and we have each other in this time. Moving is going to be a huge time commitment and I'm sure it will bring its own set of stressors, but we're excited to finally be in our own space together and I'm sure there are many happy memories in our new home to come. 💙 Updates will of course be shared so soon! 😊