Hello, Stranger

No one is complaining, but I thought I'd interrupt the parade of "Monday Marios" (yes, I realize I missed this week's) for a quick update.

Running:  Yes, I'm running!  I'm running a lot.  My next goal marathon is Two Cities in November.  I logged more miles in July than any other month of my entire running life.  233 miles to be exact.  August is already shaping up to rival July.  I'm using the same training plan I used for Modesto but this time I started from week 1 and followed the plan from the beginning.  For Modesto I jumped in at week 5ish.  I had to cut out a run or two a week at first in order to make allowances for that and the fact I had previously been used to running only 4 times a week.

I decided not to do a weekly training recap this time around.  I was hoping to write about specific runs every now and then but haven't been so great with that.  A brief summary thus far would be:  I'm running faster than I was at the end of my Modesto training cycle for specific-pace runs.  I'm also running slower than I was at the end of my Modesto training cycle when I'm not purposefully running a certain pace.  I'm trying hard not to overextend myself on easy days so I can continue to run high quality runs on days which call for that.  It is a fine line between doing that and not feeling like I'm just slowing down on easy days because I'm running myself into the ground.  We'll see how things hold up.

In order to support such a high level of running for myself, I've instituted a few changes to my life.  One I'll share for now is that I'm trying to refuel with carbs/protein after every run.  Lots of times I simply eat a meal when I get home.  But some days I'm headed straight to work after a run.  Boyfriend has really stepped up and makes me a smoothie a few times a week.  Do you know what it is like to come home from an early morning double-digit hard run and find one of these in the fridge?

Incidentally, everything is more fun when you're drinking from a straw.

Heaven.  The other weekend I got home from an early morning hard run.  Boyfriend was still sleeping when I got home and I didn't expect a smoothie that day.  Boyfriend must have heard me get home.  I didn't even ask and he got up from bed, made me a smoothie while I was stretching, and then got back into bed for a few more minutes.  And you wonder why I'm marrying him.

Yoga:  On that note, I have been really good the last few months at attending Bikram yoga three times a week.  I've decided three times a week is the sweet spot where I can see improvements in my practice.  I really believe it has helped to keep me relatively injury free the last year.  If it has been a few days since my last class I can feel my ganky left hip flexors tightening up and one yoga class puts it back into place.  Lots of people do 30 or 60 day challenges so this won't seem so colossal, but I will be celebrating my 120th Bikram yoga class tomorrow.  It is hard for me to get there most days, but on the note of making some changes, I've made it a priority to keep me running healthy.

Knitting:  I never shared some projects I had hinted at in a previous post. No great photos of those at the ready, but I do have pictures of some recent hats I made for a friend's baby.  I love making baby hats because they are a fairly quick project and there are lots of ways to make them cute and fun.

After spending what seemed like years of my life creating a baby blanket on SIZE 4 needles (never, ever again) these hats were fun, sanity restoring projects.

Horse:  I'm still visiting Rowdy once a week.  I'll brush him out and we go for a long walk around the ranch.  I get my horse fix and surprisingly I have no desire to start riding again.  I've gotten to know his personal quirks and I know he recognizes me when I arrive.  It is nice to think something I loved so much in my younger days is still a part of my life.

The Wedding:  Our countdown timer is about to dip below 100 days.  Aaah!!  Enough said.

Lots more to discuss about all the quick bullet points above but this brings things up to speed a bit.  I'm going to try hard to get up a second non-"Monday Mario" post every week.  Wish me luck.