Ten things Thursday: Catching up on Life

Admittedly, for a good chunk of time I was rolling with the punches but also expecting the punches regularly. I kind of felt like I was in the ring with Ronda Rousey a bit, but somehow managed to come out alive and relatively unscathed. 

Lets file the last few years under 'Chaos' and current state as 'great changes'

Life lately has been much less of a boxing match, and much more of a zip line ride down a mountain. All of a sudden I look around and things are just....amazing. Life has been changing at a rapid pace, complete with all of the emotions. It's exciting, fun, a little scary but as a whole just a damn good experience. Sure, it's not always easy and I find my grip slipping here and there but you adjust and hold on like hell. 

A few things to talk about, so in true Laura fashion we will go with the list....

1. I have a secret to share. My alter ego is published! You can now call me Barley, read more about that right here --->Introducing Barley!<--- on Salty Running. I am really excited to start writing over on SR, I will be posting my training logs as well as other running/training/racing posts. This little corner of the web isn't going anywhere though. I will be sharing the writing between sites, and created a tab up top for links to all my Salty posts as they are done! So I guess that really wasn't a secret but I just hadn't gotten around to talking about it because I was busy with....

2. Moving. This fall has been pretty darn busy (but in so many good ways!). The decision was made towards the end of September, even though we knew that October was going to be nuts. B was gone the first 2 weeks of the month, and I spent 5 days partying and running my way through Chicago. When we both got back it was time to just make things happen. A few evening trips with the truck (followed by food and beer at Tap & Mallet), and a few more day trips and a large trailer load and we were done. The house is full: 2 people, 2 dogs, 2 sets of adults belongings....and many jokes about needing a room for my books and my running shoes. Many adventures in cohabitation to come :)

3. Speaking of moving, I didn't realize how attached I was to my regular running routes until I didn't have them! I moved out of the city, but am in a pretty busy area with less convenient access to my go to running spots. Not a huge deal, in fact it's been fun finding new routes. Sometimes I get home and say I will NEVER run on THAT road again, and other times I come back all excited to return to a road for a certain type of workout. I do miss some of my old routes though, luckily it's not THAT far away.

4. Training has been, slowly becoming training again if that makes sense. Between Erie and Chicago I basically just ran if I wanted and didn't otherwise. After Chicago it's been a mish mash of runs, races, and whatever I could fit in. I finally feel like I have some structure back which is a good feeling. I also have a new gym membership which is 2 miles from my new home- convenient for getting workouts in, and for running (treadmill time is imminent, it's November). This is Upstate, NY. It may have been 78 yesterday, but I'm a realist and I know I'll be grumbling over white crap in no time. I'm sticking with a pretty loose training plan for the time being though- after a big year of training and racing, the stress free and fun is a great distraction.

5. Bibs Galore! I used to race a LOT, like a lot lot. Over the past few years it's dwindled a bit, although I still race a decent amount. Somehow, fall fun running turned into racing a ton! Since I'm not high volume training right now, and have gone into all but one (Erie) of these with no expectations/pressure/stress- I don't think it's a bad thing to spend my weekends poking myself with safety pins at ungodly hours.

9/13- Erie Marathon 2:58

9/20 Recovery Week

9/27 More Recovery running

10/3 Photo Finish 5k 19:07 

10/11 Chicago Marathon w/Brittany 4:20

10/17 Courage Run 5k 19:05

10/24 Scare Brain Cancer Away 5k 18:55

10/31 Pumpkins in the Park 5k

6. Racing. While we are on the topic, there are two more to add for upcoming races. I am running a 5k this weekend (I'd like to be around where I have been, but also have been training more this week so who knows), and then racing Philly half in two and a half weeks! Admittedly, I do have some bigger goals for Philly but that we can talk about another day.

7. I know I already did a race recap- but um, yeah. You gotta see this again. because...jorts.

8. Can we talk about the weather? No, seriously...the weather has been awesome! We had a cold snap for a bit but then this week has been 70's! Yesterday Rochester reached 78 which broke a 70+ year temperature record. Usually we are breaking cold or snow records this time of year, so cheers to something new! Buffalo Bills also won a new title, drunkest fans. Admittedly this shocked me far less than a record breaking 78 degrees on November 4th.

9. We all know I love my Zensah compression. What you may not know is they have wool sleeves now! I know I was just talking about it being 70 degrees outside, but it's NY and that could change in 5 seconds. I love the wool sleeves and can see myself using them a LOT this winter. They are super warm/cozy but still offer great compression without being crazy itchy! Check those out here---->Wool Compression sleeves

10. Apparently my life isn't changing as much as I thought if I can't come up with 10 things without talking about the weather. Obviously there are other things in life going on. I still work (ONE job for the time being, WHATTTTTT?!). I still run. I still drink beer. Basically, I'm the same person but I smile a hell of a lot more and my zip code is different.

What's new?