Hello hello! It’s been a pretty relaxing but ramp up kind of week – mentally adjusting to this end of summer/beginning of serious study mode. It definitely helped spending the week at home back upstate; the whole family was together for the first time since Christmas, and I was able to catch up on shopping & sleep, hanging with the fam, and not worrying about being an adult so I could focus on hittin’ the books :).
Electric Zoo Festival
By far, the highlight of Labor Day weekend was E zoo, my first EDM festival. I went with Phil, Scott, and several of their friends. I was skeptical going with such a large group of people I didn’t know, but it was definitely a bonding experience; we danced the day & night away, and by the end we were one big happy family. It was my first EDM festival and overall and A+ time! But I must say, one day was enough ;), I don’t know how people rave for days straight!
My favorite sets: Porter Robinson, Louis the Child, and Hermitude. The light show for Porter Robinson was mind blowing.
Another highlight – I ran into two good friends from college! NYC sure feels small sometimes 🙂
New guitar
I FINALLY bought a new guitar this week!!! I learned to play in high school on a guitar I shared with my sibs, and it’s been on my list for a while to get one of my own. I thought going home and having my brother there as an advisor was a perfect opportunity to take the plunge!
My brother and I hit up a local guitar store and we checked out different brands and sizes. I knew in my gut I wanted a Baby Taylor; I’ve had my eye on one ever since I played one for the first time. For a city gal like me, a small (3/4 size to be exact) guitar was what I was looking for.
Thank god my brother was there to give me advice and help make the decision. I left the store with my very own Baby Taylor! I love it so much and can’t wait to get jamming 🙂
Family time
Lots of good moments with the family this week. Walks with mom. Funny talks with dad. During one dinner, my dad pulled out the letter he wrote to my mom to propose to her – beyond adorable…communication was definitely different back in the day. If only I could read Chinese!
New makeup routine
After some feedback from my best friends, I decided it was time to change up my make up routine. Personally, I’m NOT that into make up. I spend minimal time on my routine everyday, usually just putting eyeliner before heading out the door. What I didn’t realize was, even though I thought my makeup was minimal, it did not look minimal (my black gel eyeliner was coming off super intense). I knew that it was time to invest some time and money trying different products in order to find a more natural look 🙂
I was SO happy to be with my sister this weekend since she is the make up expert. She taught me tons of tips and tricks on how to apply eyeshadow to my eyes (#monolidstruggles), and even accompanied me to the Sephora and Target to buy some new products! I’ll definitely be spending some time experimenting new looks and trying to find something more subtle 🙂
Now some running talk.
After my triathlon, I’d been thinking a lot about what to aim for next. I had my heart set on a fall marathon, but after A LOT of research trying to find a race, playing around with different training schedules, and coordinating with my study schedule…I don’t think a fall marathon is in the books for me.
It was a bit pretty disheartening coming to terms with that. I pride myself on being superwoman and being able to handle approximately 900 things at once, but the only local-ish marathon that was feasible for me was the Philadelphia Marathon in November, which would have given me only 12 weeks to train after Iceland…not ideal. After 3 marathon cycles of different lengths/difficulties, I found that 16 weeks is my happy spot, and any less I’m either unprepared or pushing my body to injuries.
Another thing that drove my decision was remembering last fall’s NYC marathon, I only trained for 14 weeks and definitely half-assed it. I skipped work outs, didn’t mentally commit, and was definitely under-trained, making it my least favorite race so far. For me, training is the best part of a race! The feeling of accomplishment, progression, hard work…THAT’S why I do all of this, not for the medal. If I were to aim for a marathon this fall, I’d constantly feel lots of pressure and always behind target – definitely not the feelings I want to have during training. And so, for my health and sanity, I’m going to push my next marathon to next Spring.
HOWEVER, I’m not willing to pass up fall running season! Fall running is the absolutely best – beautiful scenery, cool enough to wear shorts but not hot enough to be sweating, tons of races and running spirit in NYC…I’ll definitely be aiming for 1-2 half marathons this season :). So far, I have my eye on the NYCRuns Falling Leaves Half, and potentially one more in October depending on how training goes.
All in all, I’m super optimistic. I will be nice to have a break from intense training for a cycle, focus on studying, and try and enjoy life while I’m at it 🙂
I Run Like A Girl 