I Run Like A Girl

What’s up! I’m currently blogging on my back porch – the sun is setting and I just ate a lovely home-cooked meal. Happy is an understatement.

This week I’ve been back home in upstate NY ❤ It’s just been me, my mom, and my sis – and we’ve all been busy bees at home! My mom and I are in crunch time with our projects at work (she’s a software engineer and luckily has the flexibility to work from home as well!), and my sister is on summer break and studying for SAT’s + summer hw (remember that in high school?)+ recording her album + coding a new app (um…amazing?!?! I’m beyond proud of her already). It seems like every second is filled with work or one of my 800 side projects, but just being home and not worrying about commuting, cooking, cleaning, or anything close to being an adult is a recipe for rejuvenation.

In the afternoons, my sis and I have been hitting up Barnes & Noble – (high school flashbacks to when B&N was the hippest after-school spot in town). Super nice switching up our working seshs while sipping on our fraps 🙂

Another highlight – we went to the sushi buffet in town! This place use to be one of my faves but the food definitely lacked this time…I get so upset when restaurants think they can cut corners without people noticing! This amazingly relevant fortune cookie made up for it.

My mom is growing mint in our front yard and I’ve been putting it in EVERYTHING…especially my coffee! I know, sounds crazy, but it is SO good. I got the idea last time I visited SF – there’s a super dope coffee shop called Philz that serves mint mojito coffee. That was when I discovered that mint + coffee are a power couple. And so easy to add it to the drip coffee maker – you’ve GOT to try it!

I cut my sister’s hair this week. Oh, fun fact – I cut hair 🙂 Men, women, hermaphrodites, I’ll cut it!

Evenings have been especially lovely. After dinner me and my mom take our usual walks around the neigh. It’s a nice reminder of how freaking beautiful this town is…took coming back after living in NYC for 5 years to see that.

We saw these deer crossing the road! So cute.

My mom bought these geese for our front yard. I swear to God I think they’re real EVERY time.

Now for some running talk. Being home = my only option for exercise has been running! No pool or bike around here, which I was actually looking forward to. Running has the shortest start up time and I was looking forward to a week of not worrying about balancing three sports, hitting up my favorite routes, and getting some hill work in (can’t avoid them here 😉 ).

My runs have been on the short side – 3-4 miles give or take, on a beautiful hilly running path near my home. My view is usually something like this:

Something weird happened today though…I set off for a longer run (aimed to do 6 miles). I went out at 5pm thinking the weather would cool down by then, but it was still over 90 degrees! I was optimistic thinking I could beat the heat. Boy was I wrong. About 2 miles in I felt my legs stiffening and my heart rate being higher than usual; I kept up the pace for another mile or so before I had to stop. I thought my legs were just tired from the previous runs and I could just walk it off, but after another .5 miles or so, I STILL felt terrible. Every step felt so stiff, I was dehydrated, and my heart was racing like a hummingbird. I was at the halfway point of my out and back (aka 3 miles AWAY from home) and knew that I didn’t have it in me to run, let alone even walk back home. Defeated, I called my mom to pick me up.

I was SUPER hard on myself at first. I hate not making all the miles for long runs especially, and blamed myself for not being mentally strong enough to finish the run. But as I was talking to my mom in the car and telling her how I felt, she was convinced I was near a heat stroke. I was so happy I was able to get home quickly and cool down, drink water, and recover.

Today taught me that we have GOT to put our health first over everything. I’m so thankful I didn’t do one of my naked runs without a phone – I was so blessed to get home ASAP. Things definitely could have exploded if I kept pushing myself and didn’t have someone to help me. As much as I like to fancy  myself as superwoman, my body just could not handle it today, and THAT’S OKAY. Knowing our limits and respecting them is so so important when training; progression will come naturally, and hurting ourselves will not help that cause!

Stay safe everyone!! Especially you New Yorkers out there caught in this never ending heat wave!!!

Now off to watch No Strings Attached with sissy! We’ve been hitting up all the classic chick flicks this week. Not complaining 😉