Healthy Reminders

After celebrating my half marathon PR with all the easter candy I could get my hands on and several pints of Ben and Jerry's, it's time to settle back into normalcy. I always crave sweets: ice cream, brownies, donuts, mini reese's peanut butter cups, chocolate in general. I don't have the salty/crunchy urges like a lot of people I work with; I'll happily walk right past the open bag of potato chips, I'm headed for the candy bowl. But it becomes a real problem around 2:30 in the afternoon when the Kit Kats seems far more enticing that my cucumbers and hummus. Eat the damn cucumbers, Andrea, geez!

So recently I've been bookmarking a few healthy tumblr pages that I can pull up as needed, when I feel the urge to grab a handful of reese's.

Fitivate

A Runner's Realm

Girl in Training

I'm 90% sure that all healthy tumblrs are written by pin-thin 22 year olds, but whatever. I just want to look at their pretty pictures and little motivational quotes. It's basically like looking at somebody's Pinterest board, except for some reason I feel dirty looking at Pinterest at work (so many thing to distract me!). These sites are just quick little hit of healthy motivation.

Last night was pancakes and turkey bacon for dinner with the boyfriend, and upon further examination of my fridge I realized I had a ton of fruit on hand. We're going to be out of town this weekend, and nothing makes me sadder than coming home to rotted strawberries in the fridge (they're not cheap, people!). The answer, giant fruit salad! Don't the colors just make you smile. I love summer fruits. I could eat these all day, everyday.

This upcoming three day weekend in Milwaukee will bring lots of grilled meats, frozen custard, and delicious beer. Not the picture of healthy eating, but in the end it all balances out. Happy Thursday!

My First CrossFit Workout, and My Subsequent Full Body Pain.

Yesterday afternoon I went to Ballston CrossFit in Arlington to participate in Potomac River Running's "Crossfit for Runners" free workout promotion. I've heard of Crossfit and read a couple of blogs written by rabid CrossFitters, but I had never seen or participated in a workout before, but I know it's part of the latest high intensity workout craze (among the likes of Insanity and a lot of the Jillian Michaels DVDs). A couple running buddies and I arrived to the gym yesterday at 3:00 partially excited, partially terrified. The first thing I noticed...there's not a lot of equipment in the facility (some medicine balls, bars for chin ups, a some rowing machines), meaning it's likely a lot of body weight exercises (which in my opinion can be a lot harder than using weights or equipment.) The second thing I noticed...the 2:00 group who was just finishing their workout, and they looked really sweaty and pretty miserable. F*uck. What have I gotten myself into. Alright, so let the fun begin.

(via) This is NOT the gym I visited, but similar is sparcity and set up.

After a short warm up run (where my buddies and I were last in the pack by about a block, par for the course, I always assume I'm going to be the least athletic person of the group), the two coaches (I can't remember their names, but they looked roughly like this) gave us a quick tour of the gym and we began our introduction to CrossFit. The basis for a lot of the moves we'd be doing that day was the squat, so they had us spend about 10 minutes making sure our feet, knees, back, chest were all aligned. Let me tell you, doing a squat correctly is way harder than just squatting down however your body wants to. Weight in your heels, butt out, knees wide, chest up, back straight. We'd do sets of 10; the first 5 regular, the next 5 we'd pause at the bottom and wiggle our toes to make sure we're keeping the weight in our heels.

CrossFit is circuit-style, team based training, so they split us into teams of 5, and walked us through the 5 stations.

1) Run. About 200 yards around the tennis court outside the gym. This stage would pace the whole team. When the runner was back they'd tag the next stage, and everyone would move to the next station.
2) Burpees. Plank to push up, jump up to standing, jump clap, and do it all over again.
3) Sit ups. All the way up, touch your shoes, and back down again. Repeat.
4) Box jumps. Two box options (the girls were basically fighting each other over the shorter boxes), and it's exactly what you'd imagine it would be. You jump up. Stand up straight. Jump back down. Repeat.
5) Wall Ball. A 4/10/12 lb medicine ball and a wall is all you need for this one. Stand upright and position your feet for squats. Go down into a squat position, and on your way back up, you throw the ball about 10 feet up the wall (like you'd set a volleyball at the nat), catch the ball, and go back down into a squat. All one fluid motion.

For stages 2,3,4, & 5 you do as many reps as you can in the time it takes your teammate to run Stage 1. So if you've got a fast runner out there, that means less time at that station. If you've got a slow runner out there, well then you'll be doing burpees until your arms fall limp at your sides.

I started on the burpees because I wanted to get it out of the way (I didn't even consider that we'd be going thru the cycle multiple times, so in the end it didn't matter). Least favorite thing ever. Burpees. Damn. They're exhausting. And I seriously lack the agility to jump back up to my feet like that. Sit ups weren't that bad. I could do sit ups all day long. That's an exaggeration. But compared to the burpees it seemed like a break. Box jumps were not my specialty. I don't have much of a vertical jump, so the fact that I could land on top of the short box a couple of time was a miracle. Then my legs got tired so it became more of a step than a jump. Wall ball was my favorite. Mainly because the coaches kept telling that my squats looked great (yay I'm doing something right!) and I picked the 4 lb medicine ball because my arms were already exhausted. Final stage for me was the run. I thought it'd be easy but my whole body felt like motionless jello. I did my lap, and came back to the gym to find that we were only halfway thru the workout. They run a clock for 15 minutes (yes, the whole thing is only 15 minutes long), and you just keep going thru the circuit as many times are you can. We had 8 minutes left. In my mind , I hadn't even considered the fact that we'd do it more than once. But ok. Burpees again. Etc.

The clock ran out just as I got back from my 2nd run. Thank god I didn't have to do burpees again. We'd completed the circuit 2 full times in the 15 minutes. And I wanted to die. I was out of breath, my muscles were totally useless at this point. It was only 15 minutes! I've run 3 half marathon and wasn't nearly as tired during those races as I was during this workout. Now I understand why the coaches look like they're sculpted out of rock. That is a serious workout.

After some freebies and some group photos we were on our way. They didn't try to get us to sign up, they didn't try to sell us anything. They mentioned their free classes on Saturday afternoons, and said if anyone is interested in trying out CrossFit again to stop by.

When I got home, I did a little research to see what their rates/membership pricing was like. It was a great workout, and I would consider adding it to my routine. But their tagline of "elite fitness" really carries over to their pricing. Their membership pricing ranges from $170-$250 per month. Plus another $8 per class you want to attend. $250 per month for a gym membership?! They have this whole manifesto on their website about the quality of the workout and the results, "If you want to look and perform like $64.95 a month…well, then head down the street." Wow. Ok. Anyone else think that $64.95 a month is still a little much for a gym membership? I know that many people think I'm crazy for paying upwards of $100 for a race, so I should be quick to judge what people will spend on their fitness habit, but geez. That's $3,000+ a year on fitness. There's no way I spend that on races and running gear. Kuddos to you if you've got that kind of money to throw around on membership rates, but I don't. I would consider going to their free Saturday sessions, but how many of those can you go to when you never intend on signing up for a paid class?

Today, my quads are really sore from all those squats. Back and shoulders a little too. All signs of an excellent workout, which I still can't believe was only 15 minutes.

Have you done CrossFit before? Would you consider adding it, or something like it to your workout schedule? How much is too much to pay for fitness?

This is exactly how I feel today.

Since my half marathon, I haven't done much. A few runs and one weekend yoga session, but that's about it. Nowhere near the milage I reaching before, and nowhere near the amount of cross training. Rest after a race, that's what you're supposed to do, right? Well after two weeks it just feels like lazy.

Yesterday I finally cashed in my free(!) Gold's Gym membership that I won in the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler Virtual Goodie Bag. There's a Gold's about a mile from my office, which makes it about 4 miles from my house. Perfect. So I filled out my paperwork, got a tour of the place, and got changed for class. First on the docket? Body Pump, a barbel class that focuses on low/medium/howevermuchyouwant weight and high reps. In 55 minutes we worked every major muscle group. I loved it! I took it easy, knowing I hadn't seriously lifted weights in a while and I didn't want to burn out in the first 20 minutes of class. I'll definetly be adding that class to my weekly rotation.

Today, I am a bit sore. And by "a bit" I mean it hurts to move. My shoulders (chest press and push ups) and inner thighs (squats and lunges) are the worst. So, despite the fact that I'm in workout clothes, I barely want to walk to my kitchen, much less run 3+ miles. I made a nice healthy red pepper 3-egg omelet  which is being followed up by too many Cadbury mini eggs. I couldn't resist, and I blame Ange for not eating them all when she was in town last weekend.

Happy Wednesday. I'm couch bound. 

Active recovery is for losers who don't have Netflix and leftover Easter candy.

Nike Women Half Marathon - My Third Half Marathon

Bam! 

So here it is. An obnoxiously long recap of my best race yet. Everything went so swimingly, it must be documented for future races. Sort version: The weather was perfect, I got a PR by 13 minutes, they gave out necklaces, and I had BBQ for my victory meal. The end.

It's all about prep and pep.

In hindsight, that sort of looks like it says 1:00 am, but trust me the race stated at 7:00 am. I like lists and  I like white boards. #nerdalert I needed to remember a few key things (beyond, ya know, my running shoes) so they went on the board with my race bib and pace corral wrist band. I got a solid night's sleep on Saturday night, ready for my alarm to go off bright and early....

Goooooood morning! It's race day.

I actually woke up an full hour earlier than this. Not on purpose. It just happened. Finally got out of bed around 5:15 and got ready in a jiff because I had everything laid out ahead of time. All I really needed to do was make my breakfast and fill up my waterbottle before heading out the door to catch the metro.

 Blue wrist band was to identify the corral I was in (10:00-11:59/mile). Green wrist band was their #werundc propaganda that I totally bought into. Sue me. Nike knows how to market, and it was in my colors. This time around I went with my favorite running outfit, knowing it'd be warm enough for my short short and a t-shirt, no jacket. Same running hat as usual. It looks very white in the picture, but really it needs a good wash. #overshare

This is my "it's 5:45 am" smile.

 And here we go.....

Metro sunrise shot. Not bad, DC, not bad.

 After waiting for an anxious lifetime, I got on a yellow train headed for Archives/Navy Memorial stop. Arrived downtown around 6:30 and headed a few blocks east towards the start/finish area. The weather was perfect. By the start of the race, it was in the high 50s/low60s and the sun was just coming up over the buildings. Couldn't ask for better race day weather.

The start/finish archway on Pennsylvania Ave.

The start/finish was on Pennsylvania Ave right infront of the Old Post Office Pavilion (which Trump just recently bought to turn into a hotel, but the tower will remain US Park property. Best views in the city. Check it out.) The corrals were PACKED by the time I got there, so I lingered on the perimeter until they started moving people across the start line.  It was at this point that I gave up my plan of running with the pace group. They were about 400 yards and 3,000 people away from me; I knew there was no hope of catching up to them before or during the race. I was going to just do my own thing, and I'd be fine. We were separated into corrals, but they didn't stagger the start, so I was across the finish line about 5 minutes after the official start. I loathe waiting around before races, so I was quite happy about that.

Lots of ladies, and a few men actually, headed toward the starting line.

Race Recap

Mile 1/2: I barely noticed these mile markers. We were just getting started. Because of the lack of staggered corral start, EVERYONE started within moments of each other. Including the walkers, so there was a lot of bobbing and weaving around people which irritated the hell out of me. To be frank about it, if you're going to walk in the first couple of miles, get off to the side. That's great that the race welcomed all fitness levels, but seriously, walkers should start in the back.

Mile 3/4: This section involved the very familiar Memorial Bridge and Georgetown turnaround. The exact same stretches are part of the Cherry Blossom 10-miler. The course was still very dense, a lot of people, but less walkers to fight off. #zombiereference

Mile 5/6: These miles brought us out of Georgetown, back towards the mall, and headed towards Hains Point. Around Mile 5 I checked my phone and I had a text from my bf saying he's be near the bridge before Hains Point, near the baseball diamond. Perfect motivation. I was still feeling great and we were just getting to my favorite part of the course. A lot of people have qualms with Hains Point, but I love it. It's beautiful, flat, and I've run it so many times I know the landmarks by heart. 

Mile 7/8: Heading down the first side of the peninsula and into my personal milage trouble zone. I've always struggled between mile 7 and 10, so I knew I needed to get over this hurdle. For several other long runs I had been training with dried apricots instead of energy gels or chews. They have just as much sugar and carbs, and aren't full of all kinds of crazy chemicals. At the start of mile 7 I stopped for a quick walk break and to get my apricots out. I ate one, and by the time it hit my stomach I regretted it. Immediate stomach cramps. Not the best feeling when you've just barely pased your halfway point. It was obviously less than an ideal reaction by my body, but I picked up my pace and kept going. The mistake I made last in my previous two half marathons was getting too comfortable walking. In Philly I walked ALL OF MILE 7. For shame. This time around I would walk for 30-60 seconds, and pick a landmark (a lamppost or tree) in the distance and use that as my new starting point. I did this for 7/8/9/and 10.

Mile 9/10: Coming out of Hains Point was really deceiving. Having just run that stretch for the Cherry Blossom three weeks ago, my mind was ready to be done because that's the tail end of the 10-mile race. But we still had a ways to go. The short walk breaks were really helping my knees. They weren't sore, but changing my stride once in a while felt ah-mazing. Mile 10 was the only real problem I had throughout the entire race. We had to go through a tunnel to get back to the mall, under the federal buildings. The course was scattered with bands and organized cheering sections; there were two drum-type bands at either end of the tunnel. The sound was deafening. It just bounced from one wall to another, just noise, not even music much less a beat. That, and my eyes had a really hard time adjusting to the darkness right away. They got a little spotty and weird, like they would right before you'd pass out. So needless to say that freaked the shit out of me. But I wasn't going to walk in the tunnel. I needed to get out of there.

Mile 11/12: The tunnel ended right before the mile 11 marker, so I took a few seconds to let my eyes and ears readjust. Just when I looked up, I saw my bf again. I was so embarrassed he saw me walking! I was thinking, "I was running, I swear! You're not out here wasting your time!" So I picked up my pace, swung by for a high five, and kept running. Mile 11 hooked us back toward the start/finish line and towards the Hill. I had some great motivation after just seeing the bf, and knowing my friend Katie was at mile 12 to cheer me on. I popped my phone out of my arm band to snap a picture of the capitol, but it really doesn't do it justice. It was a perfect day, and that building just looks so damn beautiful sometimes. I saw Katie and Elizabeth right after mile 12; they had a sign that said "only 4x more around the track" (Katie and I do track workouts on Tuesday's after work, so it was perfect). They looked like they were having a great time, so that was a great boost of energy.

The final stretch: After looping around the capitol reflection pool thing, we headed back down Pennsylvania Ave. I could see that big green finish arch BUT IT NEVER GOT ANY CLOSER. We were heading towards the finish for the final 3/4 of a mile, and it was really deceiving. I peeked at my phone to see how long I've been running. It was around 2:31 at that point. My goal had been 2:45, but seeing how close I was, I upgraded that to 2:40. It was so hard to tell how far we really were from the finish, but I was going to finish in 2:40 if it killed me. Eventually, it felt like I was making progress towards the finish, so I tried to pick up the pace. I wasn't exhausted, but I also wasn't exactly spritly at this point, so a full on sprint wasn't going to happen. At the last minute, I saw my bf again, and then the next thing I knew I was across the finish line. 

My Cheering Section

My training buddy Katie (right) and her running buddy Elizabeth (with the sign). 

My amazing boyfriend :) He met me at mile 6 and 11, and right before the finish line.

Yay! I finished with a PR!

Official time 2:38:18

Average pace: 12:05/mile

I knocked 13 minutes off of my PR, and 20(!) minutes off of my Philly Half time from September. It felt incredible. Throughout the final few miles, all I could think about was how undertrained I was for Philly. I was in physical pain during miles 11 and 12 of that race. On Sunday, I felt fantastic during every mile. My training really made a difference this time. Having quality long runs, not forcing milage during the week, and cross training are the key to success apparently. I couldn't believe myself, but on the train home I was telling the bf how it didn't even feel that difficult. I walked when I had to, but ran over 95% of the race. My GPS was really off, so I'm not sure how consistent my pacing was, but my average mile time is about what I had anticipated it to be overall.

Happy Runner!

Race Swag!

After crossing the finish line, you headed into the "finisher's village" as Nike called it. Part of the draw for these Nike races (the half in DC and the full in San Francisco) is the swag. No medals or trophies. But we did get Tiffany necklaces handed to us by men in tuxedos. So ya know. Just your average race.

#swagbag

This is no joke. I could barely force myself to untie the ribbon. Too pretty.

They never reveal the design of the necklace before the race, so I was nervous it'd be some gaudy oversized thing, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this...

 Pardon the horrible phone pictures. I couldn't get it to focus, but you get the point. It's about 3/4 of an inch tall, and on one side it says "NWM Half Washington DC 2013"  and the other half is an illustration of a girl running (that they used on ALL their marketing materials) and presumably some cherry blossoms (?). I actually like it a lot. Silver isn't really my thing these days, but it's a beautiful necklace.

After the necklace and the bagels/bananas/water, we waited in line for our finishers t-shirts. First race ever that didn't give their shirts at the expo. The picture doens't do the colors justice; it's more teal and neon in person. I love it, and I went with my gut and got an XL because damn Nike, you run small.

Post race: after sufficient stretching/foam rolling, and a shower, the bf and I lounged all day, watching baseball and eating bbq. Perfect day as I far as I'm concerned.

After 7 hours of intermittent napping, I went to bed at 9:15 and slept like a brick for 9 1/2 hours. Sooooo, I was tired apparently. Woke up this morning, only a little sore, and still on a runner's high from my PR and a beautiful race day. Half marathon's are seriously contagious.  About 4 weeks ago I signed up for another one in October, but I'm looking forward to some downtime from serious running. It'll be nice to get back to frequent cross training, and being able to live without the crippling fear of spraining my ankle. Oh, and the easter candy I've been hiding in my freezer as a reward. No promises it isn't gone by Friday.

Nike Women Half Marathon Expotique #werundc

So Friday was my big expo day! And by "day" I mean my lunch hour. I decided to head over on Friday instead of Saturday because I was hoping to beat the crowds and the out of towers. Packet pick up and the expo were on the Georgetown Waterfront, just a few blocks from the Nike Georgetown store. For those of you not familiar…Georgetown = parking nightmare. It's a very posh shopping and restaurant distract with a beautiful waterfront along the Potomac River. And no metro stop. There are a million garages that charge an arm and a leg, some street parking, and very narrow streets originally designed for horses, not cars. So my running buddy/coworker/fellow Type A-er accompanied me to the "Expotique" as Nike calls it.

Packet pick up is completely separate from the Expo, but very well organized so I had no qualms. They had at least 30 different stations with volunteers to scan your confirmation code and hand off your bib and swag bag. 

The bags had all the usual marketing/promotional pieces from the companies in the Expotique as well a large race day/starting line map. To keep all 15,000 of us starting smoothly, they have several corrals for a wave start. 

They issued colored bracelets to go along with the corral color.  

We turned the corner and headed down to the huge Expotique tent. We walked into a branding explosion. Hello Nike! 

For weeks now Nike has been promoting #werundc on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Right when you walk in they had a huge wall of screen displaying tweets and photos with the #werundc hashtag. 

My running buddy/coworker works in Communications and is obsessed with social media, so she DIED over this idea (so much so that she's already told her boss about it and we'll likely be replicating the idea at our event next year). I've got to admit, it made quite an impression when you first walked in.

Lots and lots of branding all over with the #werundc, they had a dj elevated above the fixtures keeping the tent blaring with music. One really cool element was a 3D course map of downtown DC. As a nerdy production person, all I can think of is "how do you even begin to plan this?" That's a gigantic custom piece that they had made for this event. It had a 3 day shelf life. They're basically using hundred dollar bills for toilet paper. But damn did everything look good.

This expo is not your traditional race expo; hence the "expotique" name. They have only a few vendors, and none of them were selling anything. They had samples of Nuun, Somersaults, Luna bars; and stations for Paul Mitchell Salons and Bare Minerals (they were doing demos and giving away products). Then the rest was Nike. They had a huge shoe wall where you (after waiting in the very long line) talk to a Nike shoe expert and test run a shoe. They also had a bra fitting area. I've never had good experiences with Nike shoes and bras, so I just skipped those areas. Also, being on our lunch hour, we didn't have a ton of time to doodle. 

I had a Nike gift card burning a hole in my pocket so we headed up the street to the Nike store (where they were selling all of the race merch, along with their regular Nike stuff). They had at least a dozen short sleeve, long sleeve, tank, pant, short, bag options with the race logo on it. Unfortunately, everything had a Nike price point and even with that gift card I couldn't justify spending $62 on a cotton (yes, cotton, not even tech material) long sleeve shirt. The real thing I was looking for was a gym bag (I start a new gym membership next week so I need something to haul my junk into work with). I ended up selecting this one, and I love it. Gray with neon accents, lots of pockets, and plenty of room for shoes, clothes, and anything else I need.

Along the side wall of the NIke building, they had a big listing of all the runner's names. Kind of cool? Kind of Vietnam Memorial-esque? Both. Either way, I found my name. Last name blacked out, cause, ya know, you're all a bunch of crazy identity thieves.

So. Expo? Check! Last run? Check! Saturday rest and relax day? Check! 

Here I go, off on my day of nothing. Race recaps and photos to come tomorrow afternoon. 

Follow my race day journey on instagram and twitter (@awindc)!

A Restaurant with a No Kids Allowed Policy?

While driving to work this morning, I heard a segment (yes, I listen to local talk radio) about a new sushi restaurant opening in Alexandria that won't be allowing kids, anyone under the age of 18.

My first thought? Is there some sort of X-rated, adult-only entertainment element here? But no, the answer is much simpler. "We thought parents just needed a place to give it a break," restaurant owner Mike Anderson said in the Post a few weeks ago. No strollers, no crying babies, no tantrums. Sounds alright with me, I guess. 

But to be honest, I've never really noticed a huge problem with strollers or crying babies or tantrums before. Like most of the comments on the Post's article explain, Alexandria (and specifically the Del Ray neighborhood where this restaurant is being built) is a very family oriented community. It's going to be a policy that gets a lot of backlash, but I don't think it'll be one that hurts business too badly. There are enough single and child-less folks in the area who wouldn't even think twice about the policy before stopping for some sake and sashimi. And as one Alexandria resident told the Channel 9 news, "Quite honestly if you're paying $15 an hour for someone to watch your kids you won't want to listen to someone else's." Sure. Fair enough.



This policy hits close to home because I have three close friends (one here and two back home) with kids under one year old, and I'm sure they would be thrilled with this policy. And in solidarity, I'd have to say, overall I'm not either. Their kids are young but extremely well tempered (and adorable!), they should be able to enjoy a meal at a restaurant as a family. In the times I've been with them and their kids in public, if the kid gets fussy, mom or dad do their best to console the baby through a feeding, a toy, etc. As needed, they've stepped outside the restaurant until everything was back under control.

But during Christmas vacation last year, Maggie and I had a horrible experience with some snooty wait staff who were clearly adverse to children in their restaurant. I went up to La Crosse to visit Maggie, so we spent the day shopping around the downtown area, with her then six month old sleeping soundly in the stroller. We were in and out of shops with the stroller, no glaring eyes from shop owners or patrons. Then we decided to stop for lunch at local Italian restaurant that Maggie and her husband had frequently gone to. It was a slow lunch shift, with only a few other tables occupied in the large restaurant space. We made it through the double doors with the stroller, and were greeted by the hostess, "Can I help you?" Um yeah, lunch for two please. "We don't have high chairs. Is that going to be a problem?" No. He'll stay in the stroller. "Ok. Hold on." 

We got to our table and the waitress was nice enough, and the food was delicious, but I couldn't help but feel that the hostess was glaring at us the entire time. Maggie's little boy slept in the stroller literally the entire time we were in the restaurant. He didn't start to stir until after we'd paid the check. Perfect timing as far as this new mom and her friend were concerned. 

Should that restaurant have posted a no-kids/no-stroller policy if they were so adverse to us dining there? Maybe it was just a grumpy hostess, and that's not how the entire establishment feel about kids and new parents? Either way, it made me very uncomfortable, and despite the delicious food, I'll think twice before going there again with friends. Especially those friends with kids.

In this modern world we live in, we've become accustomed to "no cell phone" policies at some restaurants, so is this no-kid policy the next wave?

If you have children, are you a fan of this policy? Or does it bother you? 

If you don't have children, would you be more likely to dine at a restaurant where kids aren't allowed? Or would you want families and singles to be able to dine together?

Pre Race Paranoia

Well thanks for being so blunt about it, Nike. I mean come on. You couldn't measure that in days? I'm not sure why that would make me feel better, but it would.

So, yeah. My race is on Sunday. And just like clockwork, my mind is starting to mess with me. Woke up the past two days, took three steps from my bed to my bathroom, and I was convinced I'd sprained my ankle. Something just didn't feel right. Does it hurt when I flex it? Rotate it? Just when I walk? Should I wrap it before I leave for work? For the love of all things holy, ANDREA YOU'RE FINE. It's just pre-race jitters and the constant fear that I'll hurt myself and have to hobble 13.1 miles. Because I'm finishing that race even if I have to crawl across the finish line.

Went for a quick little two mile run after work today and my legs felt alright. Sluggish during mile one, but I picked it up on the way home. Short runs throw me off. I don't really get comfortable until mile 3 or 4, but I didn't want to run that far this close to my race. Probably would have been fine. But whatever (see the above paranoia).

Tomorrow on my lunch I'm heading to Georgetown for the Nike Expotique. I'll probably post about that over the weekend, because if you're anything like me, you're interested to see what an "expotique" is all about.

Happy Thursday friends. Enjoy this instagram picture of my running shoes and my very cartoon looking legs.