Oh hey internet!

So it's been awhile, eh? I bet y'all thought I'd quit, a'cause of the title of this blog and stuff. Faked you out pretty good, didn't I?
Okay, I jest. I was having a conversation with a friend the other night and we were talking about blogging and I said "Yeah, I used to have a blog about how I quit everything and then I quit writing in it".
Once those words came out of my mouth (and everyone laughed at them because hey, they're funny) I realized how silly that was and so here I am!
I've also been terrible about reading your blogs, but I'll try to be better about that as well. For awhile, I was really trying to avoid internetting at work but it hasn't seemed to up my productivity much, so I'm onto other avenues.

I will be honest, I did kind of quit running for a bit after Falmouth. It's dang cold here in Boston, and I am an unrepentant klutz and fall down enough just walking on ice. So I switched to primarily weightlifting, and I feel pretty darn good about it. In six weeks, I've increased my squat from 50 to 85 pounds and my deadlift from 75 to 115. I feel energized and my clothes fit better and my posture is awesome. I've been following the program from this book, and I love it. The nutrition advice, not so much, but it's really hard to eat that much and get all that protein!
However, I have been itching for another challenge, and courtesy of my friend M, I think I've found it - a wacky 12-person relay race. Timewise, it fits really well with the training plan for the Run to Remember half-marathon, which my friends J & A are planning on running. I ran it last year, and made a pretty poor showing due to major ITB, and that's not going to happen again this year.
Despite how dejected I get at my unshakable slowness, I kind of like collecting those race numbers and sticking them on my wall, dangit.

In addition to all that, I'm taking a ballet class at the L Street Gym on Tuesdays. It's been a long time since I danced, and let me tell you, you think you're in shape from doing one thing and then three minutes of tondues and bourres kick your butt. I did get upgraded from the Beginner class to the Intermediate class after my first Beginner session, but we'll see how that goes. I took ballet for over 8 years and could never figure out what to do with my arms.

My non-fitness related pursuits include banditing grad school for one more semester (11 memoirs in 12 weeks, 11 3-page papers, 1 45-minute presentation, 1 20 page research paper, 1 big "what have I gotten myself into?"), my recent guitar purchase (I used to play and then, big surprise, quit) and mandolin aquisition (it came free with the guitar), and decision to Julie & Julia my way through this cookbook.

Hope you'll join me in my quest to not quit any of these things in the coming year, or quit this blog.

Back to reality

The much-anticipated Jamaica trip zoomed by so quickly, and now I'm back to the regular grind. All-inclusive is the best thing since Guinness and cupcakes, and I spent a beautiful, sunny, relaxing five days sitting by the cliffs and soaking up the sun's rays through a thick coat of SPF 45. I stumbled back into Boston and right into visiting friends, sightseeing, and then a rather debaucherous St. Patrick's Day weekend in Southie (it's everything you'd imagine and more).
Needless to say, I didn't get much (if any) training and exercise in until yesterday, when I hit the gym with a vengeance. Half-marathon training is back on full force, and I couldn't be happier. Yesterday and did a 25 minute kettlebell circuit, and then when I got home after my evening stint at the Ronald McD House, I decided it would be the perfect bad-decision cherry on top of a bad-decision sundae to run around Southie in the dark. I'm alive, and well, and that four miles put me on top of the world.
Tonight is my first track speed workout! Hopefully I'll be able to get access to the local track. I'm looking forward to it.

Oops

Yesterday I accidentally ran almost 9 miles. Having a destination in mind makes it all the more fun for me. My friend S who is getting married next weekend needed some help putting together placetags and programs, and like all brides-to-be, I'm sure she relished the thought of some hands-on help from a sweaty, stinky running pal. Soooo, off I went to Davis Square with my carefully mapped 7.1 mile route.

My schedule said 7, and I was nervous because that would be the longest distance I'd run in training (not counting the Falmouth Road Race). My legs felt like lead and it was pouring rain, but I slogged along through Southie, through downtown, through the North End, through Beacon Hill, over the bridge into Cambridge, up over the ever-sketch McGrath Hwy bridge, and when I got under said bridge and felt too much like I was going to end up in the opening scene of an episode of CSI, I hightailed it down Somerville Ave and got lost. I just kept pathetically chugging down Mass Ave until I started to feel like maybe I was about to end up in Medford, and that was Not Good. It was a tough run, but I was not expecting to see 9.2 miles when I looked at my iPod. Luckily, I called S and she directed me down a side street and I only had to backtrack a bit. I stopped by the corner store to get a delicious Gatorade G2, only to find they had a debit card minumum and I had no cash. I must have looked so crushed, drowned-ratty, and bedraggled, because the cashier gave it to me for free and said I should just get him "next time". Of course I'll be taking the T out to Davis again to give him his 1.25, because that kind of awesomeness is rare these days. And it was a DELICIOUS beverage.

Tonight I WILL do my Stretch & Strengthen, even if that's just a couple downward dogs and some pushups.