I Run These Towns

The answer to my question is all of it. The word 'no' isn't in my vocabulary. This isn't because I'm a pushover or because I think I have to be everywhere. It's because I want to be everywhere, and that's maybe even harder.  For more than half of a decade I've been at a point in my life where I was first trying to have children biologically and then have been waiting for an adoption for going on three years. In my head is always the thought, "once we have kids we won't be able to do _____ (fill in the blank) as easily". So I incessantly say yes - to work, to friends, to family.  Last year I wrote a post about learning to say no, and I declared I would start with baby showers. That has actually been surprisingly easy. First off I don't have a lot of friends having their first children (most of mine are on child number 2 or 3 or more), so there are way fewer showers than there were for a while. I also think the people who know me and ...

Four months of not racing feels like an eternity for someone like me who generally has races 2-3 times a month. My last race was the Tri Goddess Tri in June, and then my life ground to a halt. I've been recovering and getting back into running, and last weekend I decided it was time to get back to racing. That meant waking up at 4:45 am on a Sunday and driving to Plymouth, Michigan for the Wicked Halloween 10k .  I ran the same race back in 2012, and I also ran the St. Patrick's Day equivalent (same race company, same course) in 2012.  I haven't found an overabundance of 10k races in mid-Michigan, so I was excited to get out there again. The 10k distance is perfect - enough to feel like I've really challenged myself yet short enough to be able to walk without pain the next day. I ran the 2012 Wicked 10k in 58:52, and the Shamrock 'n Roll earlier that year in 57:22. I've been having a fast year pre-surgeries/hospital stay, but I didn't expect to break my ...

The casualization of America is gross. Seriously. The public places of America are not your living room. For the benefit of the rest of your fellow humans, please take off the yoga pants and pajamas and wear real clothes. Once a year or so I feel this blog is important to remind people that you'll like yourself more if you look cute. Trust me. I'm an expert. I love cute clothes. And shoes. God I love shoes. I think dressing well says a lot about who you are, and you'll never (okay VERY rarely) catch me in public without real clothes. Even (especially) when I'm traveling. Sweatpants are for working out or lying on the couch clearing out the DVR. I'll wear them walking my dogs (in the dark early in the morning). But to the store? To the movies? To dinner? Never, never, never. Even when I came home from a 3-week hospital stay I asked my husband to bring me jeans and a t-shirt. Two surgeries and a blood clot? Not reasons to look like a degenerate in public.  A rar...

I love writing. It's one of my favorite things to do and one of my favorite stress relievers. Unfortunately over the last few weeks it's taken a backseat while I've been focusing on everything else - work, family, college football (you know...priorities). Both writing and running have been put on the back burner while I manage my completely insane schedule.  Last week I spent the entire week with my lover....or at least one of the many cities with whom I am in love. I headed back to Marquette, Michigan for the third time this year for my work's annual convention. I love Marquette so much I can barely stand it. Being there feels like an alternate reality. I feel more relaxed. I love everything about the city - the downtown, nature, the way the rolling hills kiss Lake Superior. I arrive in Marquette and forget that it took a nearly six hour drive through the middle of nowhere to get there. All I think about when I'm there is how much I love it, and how much I'd...

This morning I woke up early and was finishing my second cup of coffee while finally watching the season finale of Masters of Sex . I wanted this lazy morning to last forever. My bubble burst when my husband walked into the room wearing his running clothes. We're running a 10k in two weeks - his first and my first race since my hospital stay this past summer. I feel ready for it, but there's no way I was going to sit home and be lazy while he ran. So I changed into my running clothes, and we headed out. At first I felt a little resentful. It was really cozy in front of the television in my den, my Golden Retriever acting as the world's warmest and comfiest ottoman. It was cold outside - around 36 degrees. There was frost on the ground, and our breath was visible in the cold morning air. It quickly became apparent that this wouldn't be an easy run. I had side stitches early. I could hear from my husband's labored breathing beside me that he wasn't enjoying this...

I love a good bike lane. And good pedestrian spaces. And public transit. Let's be honest - I'm a fan of anything that takes lanes away from cars. Enough with all the lanes. It makes me crazy. I get it - not every place gets it right. Here in Lansing they took away a lane of the way too wide Saginaw Street for a bike lane. The lane is a touch awkward and ends a bit abruptly, but it's about 100 times better than an unnecessary traffic lane. I'd love to get rid of another lane on Saginaw and plant trees...or add on-street parking...or build out the bike lane so it's more effective. ANYTHING to reduce all these unnecessary lanes. I've heard people complain that bike lanes in Michigan are useless because it's too cold to use them much of the year. I'm calling BS. Places with cold weather - places like Minneapolis, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto - have vibrant biking cultures. When we were in Montreal, the bike lanes were legit. There were stop lights specifical...

Remember when you were a kid, and you'd just take off running? You'd run for no reason other than just because you could. It felt amazing. There is something about that childlike freedom that feels so liberating. There's no miles to be logged, no PR to set. I would run just for the sake of running.  When I started running track in high school, I recall how tedious it made running. Miles and miles of laps. Stairs. Running with parachutes. Practicing hand offs. Don't get me wrong - I LOVED being on the track team. But there's something about the tedium of logging miles and working towards a time goal that can really suck the fun out of running. My senior year track photo I started training for my first marathon more than eight years ago, and I've logged hundreds and hundreds of miles. I've done the same 3 mile and 4 mile and 5 mile and 12 mile loops over and over again. Sometimes I get done with a loop I've done countless times and actually don't...