If you’re reading this blog, then you and I are probably pretty like-minded about our interests (ie: food, health, running). Some days though, the regular ole’ things you love just seem 100x better and you’re reminded just HOW much you love them! For me, today is one of those days.
Thing #1 I love=running in the morning! Now I genuinely do LOVE running as a whole- the sound of my feet on the pavement, my breath and heart working harder and harder, my muscles aching feeling great as I stride through mile to mile. But I love all of these sensations so much more when I am running first thing in the morning rather than in the afternoon or evening, and I just don’t know why! I completely understand why people – myself included – find it kind of stressful to know that the very first thing you’ll be doing in the morning is rolling out of a peaceful slumber and within 30 min pounding the pavement like a mad man or woman, but for me, it is more stressful to have a run looming over my head all day. I think I just get nervous that something will come up and I won’t be able to get in the type of run I want, or I’ll get burned out by the day’s activities and won’t want to go, PLUS I do carefully plan my meals around my runs to make sure I am properly nourished before and/or after a good workout, and much more thought has to go into my day’s meals if I run later. I have successfully gotten into and love a routine of working out first thing in the am, and I think this is just the BEST discovery about myself I could have had! Getting my run done first thing promises that I will feel energized and happier (thank you endorphins) throughout the day. I love the feeling of my increased heart rate and flexibility, and even better, the appetite that comes along with a good morning run is just FUN to have!
Item #2 = The state of Pennsylvania! This is a bit odd, I know 🙂 As a girl born and raised in the great state of New York, I never thought I would feel such loyalty and love for my neighboring state. I know that part of it comes with being a Penn State grad (DUH), but even after graduating and moving to DC, it wasn’t NY that I missed, but Pennsylvania! As I drove from my hometown to Philadelphia yesterday to visit my boyfriend for a couple days, I had to pass through a lot of country sides, 2 lane roads, and slower-than-should-be-allowed speed limits, but instead of being annoyed and/or rushing through them, I rolled down my window, turned off the radio, and simply enjoyed all of my surroundings. One might say, I was actually ‘taking time to stop and smell the roses’ in a sense. Whatever you want to call it, on my entire ride down to Philly, and since being here, I just realize how much I love everything about the state – from the urban areas of the cities (Hello Temple Law!) to the farms that take up the majority of the state, and of course, to the sprawling PSU campus in the middle…there is just something about PAthat makes me happy, and dare I say, makes me feel home?
Thing #3 I love today = enjoying coffee in coffee shops! Since beginning my unemployment, it has been my goal to at least once a week enjoy a leisurely afternoon or morning in a coffee shop. I want to take time to just indulging in a good coffee, cappuccino, latte, chai, whatever it may be, and play on my computer or read a good book. As easy as this sounds, its been kind of hard to get in because I have been doing a lot of traveling to visit friends and on settling in back home. Even though I am in Philadelphia over the next couple days visiting Patrick who is at work, I am currently sitting in a Saxby’s working on this blog and enjoying a delic coffee (with a free sample of a cinnamon roll). Somehow this combination just embodies what true relaxation is for me, and after a windy and hilly run this morning (see below), there is nothing else I want to do 🙂
On to the run I mentioned… Now it is the end of April and for some reason the Northeast cannot get itself out of March weather! I decided to go out for a run at about 10 am, after Patrick went to work and my banana was semi-digested, and it was 45 degrees out with wind gusts up to 40 mph – and believe me they went up that high! I have never run in Patrick’s neighborhood before, so I made a lax route on walkjogrun.net to follow so I wouldn’t find myself going in circles and/or LOST in the unknown territory. I ended up going 5 miles in about 43/44 minutes. I could have gone longer because after working up a sweat in the chilled air, I felt more than ready to go! But I had an impending lunch date with the boyfriend that I knew I would be ultra, rather than slightly, late for if I kept going. So I stopped , did some stretching and core exercises, and was running (again!) out the door in 15 minutes, which could be another PR for me haha! Now, if you know anything about the Manayunk area of Philadelphia, you also know that it is unbelievably hilly! The streets are old and narrow, which gives it a great “feel,” but no matter which way I ran this morning, I was always going up one hill or down another. This definitely kept my body and mind guessing! I may have been cursing up the insane Green Lane incline, but all in all, it was such a fun and different work out! Though I won’t be repeating it for a while.
When you travel to a new/unknown place, how do you plan out/go about your runs outside?
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