Running love

Totally unedited selfie of me after running. Like those blotches? That's what happens to us vampires when we run. More on this in a second, but first: OH MY GOODNESS SORRY I AM A TERRIBLE BLOGGER. Seriously. It's just, my life! It's so busy and really not that interesting. But I PROMISE I am doing (relatively) exciting things in the near future and I will TRY to document and share. For the four of you that care.

Anyways, back to that ridiculously large photo of me. No matter what Anastasia Steele does, don't run in pigtail braids. They will beat your shoulders, arms, chest, and even your face. So stupid. Anyway, running! It's a damn addiction. But the good kind. We have been running our BUTTS off. Like four times a week, at least. And holy hell have we (I) made progress. For a while it was just running the same 5k route and always stopping to walk a bit. Then one day I ran the whole thing. And then I stopped having to walk at all. And then we added more miles. And then more. And then the other day I ran six miles, which is the farthest I've run, ever. To you pros, that's nothing. But to the girl that couldn't run an entire 5k at the beginning of the year, this is exciting. A half marathon seemed impossible a couple months ago, but now I think it's totally attainable and something I am working toward. I'm still really slow pace-wise, but I don't care. As long as I'm running, I'm happy. I just love it. I love the way you feel afterwards, although during sometimes I feel like I am going to DIE. And I love that I'm almost always sore and can feel my legs getting stronger. I can't see it (no visible muscle growth... yet!), but I can feel it when I run or stretch. Also my skinny jeans have a rougher time getting over my calves these days. Ha.

We've got two races coming up, a 5k at the end of the month and an 8k at the end of May. I haven't run a race since the Trail of Lights 5k and I'm excited to pin on that number again now that I've made the progress I have. And there's just something so awesome about races. So much positive energy and just generally good vibes. Man, I love good vibes. Also there's snacks.

And speaking of good vibes, everyone seems to be feeling and sharing the running love lately! We've got a few of us at work that are on that running game, and as silly as this sounds, the online love has been so good. Thank you Facebook friends for putting up with and supporting all my running posts, seriously. It's so awesome to share this new found love with others and talk about motivation! It's like we've got a little support group going on! Keep on running, y'all. You da best.

So that's what I've been doing. Running, running, running. And working of course. I'm a little concerned about what will happen this summer when it gets real hot. I run in the afternoons and evenings because, duh, working at a coffee shop means no morning runs. When you get to work at 5:30am, running before work is out of the question. When it's 101 degrees out, afternoons and evenings are going to be challenging to say the least. But I'm hoping we can keep up the frequency and progress. Running in the heat can do nothing but make me stronger! Or kill me via heat exhaustion. Hopefully the former.