100

Well friends, I've hit 100! No, I obviously didn't run 100 miles (yet), it wasn't 100 degrees, and I'm not referring to races, calories, weight, or swimming. Today I am hitting publish on my one hundredth blog post! I started make a run for it back in September 2009, a few months after completing my first marathon. I was addicted to running and one day discovered the incredible online running/fitness community and was hooked! I finally had a place where I could indulge my running obsession instead of wearing out my family and friends on the topic.

Soon enough I figured I could blog about my running, too. After all, I had blogged about my experience training for my first marathon with Team in Training and really enjoyed sharing my ups and downs of training, my milestones and accomplishments, as well as my struggles and triumphs. I also knew that I wanted to keep running, and I figured that writing a blog would be a great motivator and a way to hold me accountable. And so, make a run for it was begun : ) My running has taken off on a path I never expected back in June of last year, but it's been a fun ride, and my goals continue to get higher and challenge me. I have gained an abundant wealth of knowledge and made some wonderful friends through this fantastic community. Every day I look forward to the time I spend catching up on other blogs, reading their race reports, training recaps, product reviews, and their own struggles and triumphs. Despite the fact that everyone is scattered throughout the world, we all share a common thread: our love for running. So here's to all the other running bloggers out there and to another 100 posts!

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The past week or so I've been working looong shifts at work which has made it pretty difficult to squeeze in my runs. I ended up taking Thursday-Saturday off from running and pushed my long run back to Sunday before work at 12pm. I haven't mentioned yet, but I also work as a counselor for a youth crisis hotline where I cover the graveyard shift one week a month. It's great experience for my future psychology endeavors, but it's taken more of a toll on me than expected. I haven't slept very well because I am constantly anxious that I'm going to get a call, and then when I do, I have to immediately wake up and focus, then when the call is over it's tough to get back to sleep. Plus, the calls aren't always serious calls (read prank/obscene) which is extremely annoying in the middle of the night. So anyway, Sunday morning I had a particularly frustrating call that lasted way longer than I expected and delayed the planned start of my run. When I finally finished the call, I was ready to head out the door and grabbed my Garmin, only to find that it was frozen on 9:04pm the previous night and wasn't responding. A quick Google search told me how to restart her, which unfroze her, only to be followed by a beep signaling low battery. Wtf?! I had her plugged in all night. Being the obsessive Type A that I am, I had to wait another 45 minutes to get a partial charge.

I had planned to try out a new route for my long run around Lake Natoma which some coworkers had told me about. It was supposedly 12 miles around, and I had 12 scheduled (in taper for my marathon this coming weekend). But with the delays and later start, I had to cut back to 10 miles in order to make it to work on time. When I got to the place, I realized I had no idea where to go from the parking lot. Luckily I found a couple nice women who pointed me in the direction of a trail. So I headed out for a 5 mile out-and-back. The pathway was bustling with people running, walking, and especially, cycling! I must have passed (or more accurately, was passed by) 100+ cyclists! Now for a quick rant: cyclists are assholes. Not a single one acknowledged my smile or nod, and they weren't just distracted - I made eye contact with plenty of them and they just glared at me. And more than once I was forced off the edge of the path due to cyclists who refused to share the road. Not cool, dudes. To be fair though, even the other runners out that morning seemed to be kind of rude! I had plenty of them ignore me or give me a weird look. Maybe it was just a bad morning? Anyway, as I enter the world of cycling myself I plan to be an ambassador for runners everywhere and prove that just because you're going faster than us doesn't make you better!

Had to document my location : )

The shady parts were amazing!

Sorry for the rant, now back to my run. It was pretty warm and I felt it's effects, but I pushed the pace on the first half, partly because I was afraid my Garmin was going to die : / On the way back a I slowed a bit, but still finished with an average of 10:10 min/mi, and Juliette made it the whole way! I raced home and literally had like 25 minutes to shower, get ready, and be at work. Needless to say, I was a tad late. Later that day I told a couple of my coworkers about my run and mentioned the pathway I was on, only to find out that I went the wrong way and didn't run by Lake Natoma after all. Turns out the water I was running along was another fork of the American River. Oops : ) It was still great to run in a new place - I can't tell you how bored I am with my usual route along the river near my house. I'm hoping to get back out there in the near future and actually make it around the lake! Hope you all had a great weekend!

 Now that I look at the photo, it obviously was not a lake...

...but still pretty!

While my hotline shift ends tonight, I still have a few long workdays ahead of me. I'm hoping to get a couple short runs in this week to keep my legs loose, but otherwise I plan to relax and get as much rest as possible for my marathon this weekend. I bought a new roller from work today (review to come!) and plan on really working on my legs this week too. I also went on a short bike "ride" this evening - I'll elaborate later! Goodnight!