Strung Out

Since the marathon, I've only run a few times (3, 7, and 4 milers), and I felt a little bit lethargic and unenthusiastic. But on my run tonight I was finally back in the zone and had one of those fantastic runs that happen just every once in a while, and leave you with a completely awesome state of mind. It reminded me why I love running, and made me much more excited to begin my next stint of training.

I don't ever run with my iPod, but after discovering Vitamin String Quartet (via Chic Runner), a group of musicians who do amazing string quartet covers of well-known songs, I went nuts downloading a bunch of their songs and couldn't resist listening to them on my run. I started out listening to their cover of Coldplay's "Yellow" and felt completely liberated and energized as I began running. I kept up an amazing pace for my 4 mile run (9:35 min/mi) and felt fabulous afterward! Seriously check them out on iTunes asap, you'll LOVE them!!

Now I have some sad news. Well, sad for me. After my run, my iPod's battery was low so I plugged it into my wall charger. Immediately, the screen went black and refused to turn back on! Then, within a few minutes, it got super hot! I was afraid it was going to blow up or something, but luckily it didn't...however it's still dead and nothing I do will make it turn back on!! I'm super bummed, especially because I JUST downloaded a bunch of new music : ( Oh well, I guess it's just one more thing to add to my Christmas list?

In other (non-running) news, Wednesday was my birthday (22, or as I like to say, twenty whoo!), so Tom arranged a wonderful dinner with some friends and running buddies. Channeling our inner youth, for dessert we had smores! It was a pretty low-key day but I had a great time nonetheless. Since the quarter at UCSB ended last weekend, almost everyone went home for break, leaving me alone in Santa Barbara for the past week thanks to work. Isla Vista, normally full of people, seems like a ghost town. Luckily I got some work off so I'm heading home Sunday for a week for the holidays. I'm hoping to get some running in while in Sacramento, but mostly I just want to enjoy my time with family and friends. Happy holidays!

p.s. review of my Garmin Forerunner 405 is in progress...should be up in a day or two!