The Last Great Race and a Trip Up North (Way North)

Tuesday Workout: 5 miles, 11:33 average
Thursday Workout: 3 miles, 10:52 average

Here's a random picture I took a few years ago that I've always liked. It's from a peak called Little O'Malley looking at just plain O'Malley (which I've also climbed). I figured we should start off with something pretty because I've got no other pictures for this post.

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Busy week here at JJ-o Headquarters. It's midterm week! And, the Iditarod's almost here! Which is relevant to me, I swear. Most Many Alaskans will tell you they don't give a shit about the Iditarod, and in the past I've included myself in this category. I know, I know, it's supposed to be our pride and joy, the "Last Great Race" or whatever. I guess it just wasn't on my radar (except that one year a random and very distant cousin contacted us to tell us she was running it. Even then, the rest of my family went to go see her start while I stayed home). Now that I'm helping put together this project about it, though, I'm kind of obsessed. I've been watching race recaps like it's my job (wait, it is!).

(Side note: we can maybe but probably not talk about animal cruelty concerns another time if you really want to. I'll just say that yes, dogs die, which is incredibly sad, but no, I don't think mushers are abusing them. If you've ever seen a dog team waiting to head out, you'd see just how much they love to run. Also, there are hoards of veterinarians available all along the trail who can make the decision to remove a dog from the race at any time. There have been no dog deaths for the last three years, I believe. End of side note. I love dogs!)

Tonight is the Iditarod "ball" celebrating the beginning of the race. It's also where mushers choose their starting positions (which is done based on the order of race sign-up). I'll be attending with a coworker and I'm pretty pumped. I asked her if there was a "dress code," assuming I'd have to throw on a dress for the first time in a long while, but she just laughed, looked at what I was wearing (baggy jeans, a sweatshirt, and my Michelin Man shoes), and said I'd be just fine. Wonderful! I'm always down to hang in comfortable clothing.

Anyway, why am I blabbing on about this? Well, partially because I thought there might be some interest in the topic (or maybe you're all like our friend young Jeano and don't give a shit), and partially because I'm going to be spending a lot of time thinking about the race over the coming months. The purpose of going to that incredibly awesome place I get to go for work? This project. The ticket's been confirmed so I'll just let it out: I'm going to Norway.

Ahahahaha, what?! 'That girl's getting sent to Norway for work?!'

Yep. I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm owning it. I'll be almost as far north as you can go (it's the same latitude as Barrow, Alaska, around 69 degrees North). I'm also planning to  swing by Oslo for a couple of days to break up the 20-hour trip home.

It's funny to think that when I started this job two months ago, I was told my responsibilities would include "You know, some Excel work, maybe digging around in the literature to see what's been written about x, y, and z..." Apparently "going to Norway" fits in there somewhere. I'm not complaining! It's been number one on my travel list for years. Now I just have to figure out how to get all my runs in that week!

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Oh, you mean this is a running blog? Could have fooled me. I was going to talk about my first impressions of my new shoes but I'll save that for tomorrow. As a quick summary, they are both delightful but slightly concerning (mostly because of major blister potential). More on that later.

Questions:

• Are you interested in hearing more about the Iditarod, or is it not something that interests you?
• What's the farthest north you've ever been? Fairbanks, in the middle of Alaska, is the farthest for me. I ate at the "northernmost Denny's" there.
• How's your week going? What have I missed? Tell me all about it!

I've Done a Bad, Bad Thing

So... about today... I bought a new pair of shoes.

Wait, did I say one pair of shoes? I mean two.

...

Gulp.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I can't control myself.

In my defense, I was planning to return one pair once I had a chance to walk around in them some more. As anyone could have told you would happen, my resolve has weakened considerably since I made that choice.

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Let's start at the beginning.

I love, love, love the shoes I do 95% of my runs in. They are light, they aren't very cushioned, and I feel wicked fast when I wear them.

Love

I trained for a marathon last year entirely in these shoes. The one time I ran in another pair, I got a stress fracture. In all fairness, I had just bought the shoes (another Merrell model) and stupidly ran a half marathon in them without properly breaking them in. My bad. I've run in the shoes a few times since that happened, but I just don't like them that much. So after a brief affair, I went crawling back to my Pace Gloves with promises of eternal love.

Anyway, these shoes got me through marathon training (or at least, up to 20 miles), and while I think they're excellent shoes and would recommend them to anyone, after about 15 miles things get kind of tough. After that much pavement pounding, the skin on my feet starts to ache. Not anything within the foot, just the skin. Imagine repeatedly slapping your bare hand against cement. For 3+ hours. After a while, your palm skin will feel like it's falling off.

This time around, I've decided to experiment with some different shoes. Ideally, they would be identical to my Pace Gloves, only slightly more cushioned. Unfortunately, this ideal doesn't seem to exist. I haven't been very happy with the other Merrells I've tried (*cough* stress fracture), and given all the ridiculous "technology" shoe companies feel obligated to spew all over their shoes, finding a nearly identical model from someone else isn't realistic. It seems I'll have to be content with a totally different shoe.

I hate myself for this, but a certain shoe company's incessant blog campaigning has been massively successful, and the "buy these shoes" message finally worked its way into my head after the umpteeth blogger raved about them. I swear I looked into other options, but I've just heard so many positive things about these shoes that I wasn't seriously considering anything else.

I was convinced I was going to try on the most "minimalist" offering and run out of there with it, but surprisingly when I first tried it on I kind of hated it. Maybe it's because I've been running in "less shoe" for the past two years, but I really dislike arch support. I'm not, like, morally opposed to it or anything; I just hate how it feels. Also, the shoes I was wearing when I hurt my foot had a significant arch bump. PTSD. This shoe's arch bump felt like it was going to poke me in the chin, so I was less than pleased.

Door number one. I really wish they had the other color. Pink + Jeano = puuuuuuke.

So I put these shoes on and wasn't really feeling it. So much for the quick trip I had envisioned. I proceeded to run the salesperson ragged, demanding that he bring me shoe after shoe after shoe and wait patiently as I tried each of them on multiple times. A good forty-five minutes later, I thought I was happiest with the feel of a slightly more cushioned model. The "bumpy" shoe is already so cushioned that the slight increase in cushioning is negligible to me. Most importantly, it doesn't have the pronounced arch bump the other shoe has. 

Door number two.

You would think I would quit while I was ahead and PTFO... but I just couldn't.

I wasn't really able to run in either shoe (note to REI: get a treadmill for your shoe area), and from what I've read the experience of running in the bumpy shoe is very different from that of walking in them. It seems the bump isn't nearly as noticeable once you get moving. Plus, they feel like really fast shoes. I was obviously having a hard time letting go of the shoe I had been so certain I would buy, so like a breakup that just won't seem to take, I decided to give it another shot.

I've had a chance to try the shoes every which way (socks on, socks off, insoles in, insoles out). Conclusions? To me, both feel better sockless (although I think there is major potential for some bad blistering - the inside is nowhere near as seamless/smooth as Merrell's shoes) but with insoles. Sockless, they're both pretty rad. You wouldn't think it would make much of a difference, but it totally does with these shoes.

So what am I going to do? Who am I kidding: I'm probably keeping both pairs.

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I was just shown this video and think you might enjoy it. Unless I'm the last person on the planet to watch this thing. Wouldn't surprise me.

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Post-script: sorry for not using the shoes' real names. They kind of make me gag. It is next to impossible to say them out loud without rolling your eyes at yourself. If you want to ask what they're called, I'll suck it up and tell you. If you ask me about "pod technology," though, I'll probably punch you in the face.

Thanks for putting up with all this shoe rambling. But if I can't talk about it here, I REALLY can't talk about it anywhere, right?

• What do you run in? Have you tried this company before (I think we all know what company it is)? Are you a convert?
• Tell me about your terrible shoe-buying habit so I feel better. I swear, all my casual shoes are hideous and were given to me as gifts. I hate spending money on real shoes. Put some running shoes in front of me, though, and I'll buy it all.
• Watched any funny Youtube videos recently? Send 'em my way!

CHRISTOPH WALTZ!!

Sorry, that title's completely irrelevant to this post. I just love that man (and he just won another Oscar).

Saturday Workout: 4 miles, 11:29 average

Sunday Workout: 5 miles, 10:47 average

And so ends four days of consecutive running. I think it's a record, actually. I guess it could have theoretically happened during the dark ages of my running (also known as "the first three years") when I never had any idea what was going on, but I can't remember it. How'd I feel? Fine, but happy for a rest day tomorrow. More on that in this week's training recap.

I wasn't messing around this weekend. My neglected classes were screaming at me to pay attention to them (something about "you're failing everything!"), so I checked out my school's library for the first time ever and spent the last two days imprinting my ass on the special chair I've claimed as my throne. I haven't worked in a library since I was an undergrad, and it was kind of awesome to be back. The process of finding "your spot" in a new library is kind of intimidating, though. I seriously walked around that place for fifteen minutes before I found a spot I deemed acceptable. And then I kept glancing around nervously to make sure I wasn't out of place among all the younguns in college these days (can you believe most of them were born post-Cold War?!).

Since I happened to be near the library (and, let's face it, I don't really run anywhere else these days), I hit up the trails by the dog park both yesterday and today for my runs.

I don't really have anything interesting to say about these runs, except that today I saw this fantastically crazy Russian woman I ran into on a previous run. The last time I saw her, I was looking at a map since I wasn't familiar with the new trails I was on, so she took the opportunity to give me a 20-minute play-by-play of what lay ahead. I'm a people pleaser so of course I listened attentively, all the while wondering how long it would be before I lost my toes (sweat, cold, and inactivity do not a happy Jeano make). When I couldn't stand it any longer, I politely bid her farewell and continued on my way, but not before I saw the fury in her eyes. Seems she thought I was being disrespectful. Anyway, I saw her today and she was with another friend from the senior home so I was off the hook. It made me laugh.

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I figured out a way to simplify my life. And by life, I mean garmin. I don't know what my problem is, but I've had my watch set to display three screens with three data fields each since I bought the dumb thing. I guess I got so excited about being provided with all this data that I felt the need to display it all at once. The only things I actually care about, though, are distance and pace. Consequently, I found myself wasting a ridiculous amount of time waiting for the watch screens to cycle through to the ones I wanted (yes, I realize you can touch it to move to the next screen, but that's more energy than I'm willing to use), which annoyed me to no end. Well, turns out you can change this. Who'da thunk it? Not I. Anyway, I was messing with my garmin yesterday, as people tend to do, and I changed it to one screen, two data fields. It's like having a new watch! It was awesome to be able to instantly get the data I needed during today's run.

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Somehow it's been three weeks since I started marathon training! Not sure how that happened. Here's a li'l recap:

21 miles jogged.

God, recaps are so easy.

But seriously, this week's schedule didn't have a lot of variety. It was 4 easy 4-mile runs and 1 easy 5-mile run. It seems the coming week will be similar. This lack of variety is totally fine with me, though, since I know it's going to get weird in a couple of weeks. I can already tell this "cumulative fatigue" thing is going to be pretty killer (but likely effective). My mileage this week was similar to what I was doing with Higdon's plan, but I ran five days instead of four. Did I mention four of those days were consecutive? They were. My muscles could definitely feel it on today's run. I wasn't experiencing muscle failure or anything, but the last mile or so I just felt tired. I'm thinking it was a combination of four consecutive days of running and the knowledge that I had a super hero waiting for me at home (SO GOOD).

I managed to do ab stuff most days this week (just realized I haven't done any today; thanks for holding me accountable, blog!), but my eating was atrocious. I mean really atrocious. I've eaten pizza every day for the past three days. I've eaten hamburgers two out of three days (if you do the math, you'll see that means I've been eating a lot of hamburgers and pizza). I ate that awesome sandwich I just mentioned. Yes, things got a little out of hand. But hey, I ate some asparagus. Aren't bloggers always preaching about the importance of balance? There's balance for you!

You're probably all too busy thinking about the Oscars (HELL YES Christoph Waltz!!!!!) to answer questions but I'll throw some at you anyway:

• What screens/data fields do YOU use on your garmin?
• What's the most days you've ever run in a row? Probably more than four...
• Ever been accosted (in a harmless way) on the trail? Or do you keep on running before it comes to that?

A Puzzle

Friday workout: 4 miles, 10:40 average

Thanks for all your comments re: yesterday's good news. I totally understand the desire to know the school and the subject, although it makes me slightly uneasy to reveal anything before it's set in stone. But why then, you ask, mention it at all? Because I'm an asshole! No, not really. I'm just full of contradictions.

So what do I want a PhD in? Writing!!!! 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I kid. I would never force my questionable writing abilities onto anyone but you poor souls. It's actually economics. And no, before the thought even has time to manifest itself, I am NOT planning to "fix this crazy economy of ours" any time soon. I know that would have been your first question had I given you time to think it over. It always is. No, I plan to set my sights a bit lower. Always the underachiever.

Because I'm strangely paranoid about this li'l blog coming up in a google search (as IF I have enough readers to show up in a google search), I'll just say this about the school: it's home to the marathon that was run by what seemed like every single blogger ever last spring. Happy hunting!

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Today's run was beautiful! I work all day Friday because I don't have class (tough life over here, working all day once a week), so the past two Fridays I've run after work. Since our daylight is slowly returning, I've been treated to some nice sunsets.

Unfortunately, last week's run was super sloppy because of six inches of new powder, and this morning it seemed I was doomed to similar conditions (or, horror of horrors, an evening treadmill run. I don't know why, but an evening treadmill run is infinitely more depressing than a daytime treadmill run). When I got up this morning, it was snowing. Hard. I think the best word to describe what was happening outside is "aggressive." It was kind of insane.

The snow stopped after a couple of hours, though, and I went on my merry way. I ran along the pretty road to school and was treated to some sun.

Sun 

Alpenglooooow. I attempted to take this while sitting at a stoplight. Side note: it's hard to look at the road while driving when you've got this view off to your left.

I'm ashamed to admit my pride almost got the better of me on this one. The Hansons had me running at a 10:52 pace, but it was really hard for me to keep it that slow. With all the rush hour cars driving by, I obviously HAD to impress their occupants. My future husband could have seen me so I had to pretend to be fast! Admit it: you would have done the same thing. I was able to keep my overall average close to what I wanted, but my pace minute-to-minute was all over the place. Not this all over the place, though:

This is crazytown. I try to structure all my runs in a way that gives me a fun pace chart.

My strange heel pain was nowhere to be found. Like I said, it only hurts when I walk. It got better as the day went on, though. Thanks for your tips!

And with that, I leave you. You're probably thinking, "What's wrong with you, posting on a Friday night? Loser!" I probably am a loser, but I will in fact be out celebrating tonight. Four hour time difference ;).

Shoot The Moon

Workout: 4 miles, 11:17 average

My friend sent me a couple of pictures from our exciting trek on Saturday, so I figured I'd share them because I've got nothing else.

I'm kind of shocked this was taken with a phone.

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Wait, I do have something else: I got into another school! This one was EVEN MORE exciting than the last because it's one of my top choices AND because I didn't think I had a chance in hell of getting in. Honestly. Not in an "I'm being modest" kind of way, but in an "I don't considered myself remotely qualified" kind of way. Early on, I contemplated applying to their MA program but nixed that idea because I thought my odds were so low. A few weeks later, though, I decided on a whim to apply to the PhD program and see what happened. Shoot for the moon and all that, right? Oh, I shot, and I landed among the stars or whatever (or did I actually make it to the moon? Sayings are not my forte).

So that turned what had been a pretty ho-hum day into a pretty awesome day. I haven't really been "sleeping" or "functioning as a normal human being" since I found out about my exciting and terrifying work trip in April (leave me alone, I'm dramatic), so this morning's run was done with my eyes shut far more than one might consider safe. It was also a neighborhood run so it's not as though there was anything to look at anyway. Here's the one pretty picture I found that was taken in my neighborhood.

From when that weird mist took over that one time.

I was supposed to run an 11:38 but my garmin was being an asshole so it made me run too fast. Oops.

I've got this disturbing pain in my right heel when I walk. This makes no sense because my heel barely touches the ground when I run. I'll show you the tread on old pairs of shoes if you don't believe me. Forefoot-er all the way, baby. Also, the pain actually started before I even ran (and I took yesterday off), and it only hurts when I walk. I'm not too worried because this happened to me a few months ago and I wasted 24 hours worrying about plantar fasciitis before it disappeared. Something to watch out for, though.

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In this week's "questionable music suggestions from a girl who's embarrassed about her music tastes but working on being more open about it," (a pithy working title I just came up with), I'm obsessed with this Beyonce song. Can't stop, won't stop. I was trying to belt it out while driving to school, but apparently it's hard to belt a song sung by a much better singer in a key twenty octaves higher than anything I'll ever be able to sing. Regardless, you should listen to it and have crazy solo dance parties like I do.

That's all I've got. To you, my friends!

• Ever shoot for the moon? Or shoot the moon? That's fun too. How terrible is that saying, by the way?
• What's up with my heel? Should I tennis ball it?
• Forefoot striker? Midfoot? Heel? Knee?
• Let's have a Beyonce dance party. This is an order, not a question.

Short But Sweet

Workout: 4 miles, 10:51 average

Today I ran. I moved one foot in front of the other at a brisk pace until I had covered four miles. I ran in my neighborhood, which was surprisingly not as terrible as I was expecting. It was 9 degrees, a bit cooler than the 30-degree weather we've been having, but I felt dandy once I got moving. It was delightful to run on plowed pavement instead of the loose powder of my last couple of runs.

Hey, it's Flattop! The flattest of tops. Hey, hill.

Garmin blew it again. It claims I started in a wooded ditch and not at my house. I may someday end up in a wooded ditch, but I most certainly did not start from one today. Consequently, during my first mile I was told I was running a 12:30 mile which caused me to pick up the pace. I spent the rest of the run moving faster than I should have (10:52) trying to bring my average down because inaccurate numbers on a screen are obviously more important than reality. I did it!

The cold temps resulted in a killer view of the mounts across the way. My phone had difficulty capturing said mounts, but they were awesome.

Loser phone.

So there you have it. Short but sweet.

Whine of the Day: Skiers, Fat Bikers, and Short-Haired Dogs

Workout: 4 miles, 11:21 pace

I had this cute little reminder waiting for me when I woke up this morning. And yes, 10:59 is a respectable time to wake up. Anything earlier than 11:00 qualifies as responsible adult behavior.

Silly Google, didn't you hear? Marathon training started ages ago! But hey, at least it didn't cuss at me like my alarm clock does.

Today I ran four miles. They were slow, as planned, and they were replete with interruptions that were most definitely not planned. Sigh.

Same old scenery. Kind of a joykill to follow up yesterday's post with this. Hey, dog friend, I see you there.

Interruption number one: Shoes. I figured all the new snow would be packed down by now and so boldly set out without Yaktrax. I was a-slippin' and a-slidin' all over the place and while part of me wanted to suck it up, the other part of me was pissed at how much energy I was using to maintain a 12:00 pace. After about three quarters of a mile, I turned around and went back to attach those bad boys to my shoes.

Interruption number two: Skiers. Ugh. The rivalry continues, and it seems the skiers have recruited those suddenly ubiquitous fat bikers to their cause (fat tires, not bodies). It is so unbelievably annoying that I'm apparently expected to move to the side of the trail each time one of these people shows up, and yet ninety percent of the time they don't even acknowledge that I've gone out of my way to step in the deep snow, stop, and patiently wait for them to amble by. I mean, I'm not giving up my firstborn or anything, but would it kill these folks to treat me like a human being every once in a while?

Interruption number three: Bailey. I know, I know, I said I was done with all that, but it's hard (whine, whine, whine). Setbacks are to be expected. Once my runs hit 5 miles again, I'm done, for real this time (don't hold me to that). Anyway, she was annoying, just like she always is. There was a lot of stopping to tend to her needy needs.

Interruption number four: Moose. We ran into three and had to do some off-roading ("trail running"?).

But hey, at least I did the damn thing. The legs felt fine and when I wasn't being inconvenienced in some way, I was having fun.

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Let's do our marathon week two round-up:

12 miles jogged, 3 hours hiked.

Well that looks pretty pathetic, huh? Good news is, I feel great and everything's working the way it should. I always assumed it was the number of days run per week that determine wear-and-tear on this decrepit body (the reason I've limited my running to four days a week), but I guess total mileage is more important. Keep in mind that this is just a working theory and hasn't been even remotely tested since I only ran four days this week. But whatever, I'm saying it's true until proven otherwise.

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Can we talk about how some seriously lame-looking dogs are on Runner's World's  list of best dogs to run long with? Can we also, some other time, talk about why it's Runner's and not Runners' World? But how is it that a jack russell terrier and a goldendoodle can run 10+ miles but my stupid golden retriever can't? And why are these all short-haired dogs?

I don't really like short-haired dogs. I mean, I love all dogs, but I love them least. I'll still love your short-haired dog if you really need me to, but I'll probably say mean things about it behind its back because I'm an asshole.  My ideal dog would be an aussie who runs for miles and miles with me. Aussies didn't even make the list!! Come on, now. Tell me aussies can run long so I can go out and buy one and force it to run with me. Because now that I've seen this list, if I go out and do that I'll feel like I'm abusing my dog because Runner's World is obviously never wrong.

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Turns out tomorrow's a holiday? I got ridiculously excited until I found out I still have class and since I'm paid by the hour, still have to work. Lame. But hey, kudos to current and former presidents. Some of you have been better than others, but thanks for doing a job I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (not that you can touch a job - I think?).

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Questions

• Did your dog make the Runner's World list? Is it short-haired? I promise I like it just as much as its long-haired brethren.
• What's your biggest annoyance while running? I'm talking disruptions, poor etiquette, etc.
• Are you training for anything right now? Tell me about it!

Reunited and it Feels So Good

Friday workout: 3 deep, snowy miles, 11:15-ish average

Saturday workout: Flattop Flattop Flattop!!!!

So, Friday's run was really challenging because the snow had been coming down hard all day so I was running in about six inches of powdery snow. I had intended to keep a 10:52 average, but that was just not feasible. I'd say my effort level was somewhere near a 9:15 average on cement, so it was not the easiest run.

Who cares about a measly 3 miles, though, when I climbed a mountain this morning?!

It was SO nice to be back out there again. I was reluctant to attempt it because I thought there was way too much snow, but my friend wanted to do it so I decided to go along for the ride and see what happened. Who am I to turn down a mountain ascent?

Surprisingly, the going wasn't that bad. Someone had already broken trail so all we had to do was follow in his/her stead (thank you, kind shemale!).

There's one kind sir. This older gentleman was a BAMF, taking the steep route.

Describing a hike isn't that interesting (if I were to try, 90% of it would be, "... and then we continued upwards!") so I'll let the pictures do all the talking.

Anchorage from above. Looks kind of desolate here, but it's really not.

The Ramp!

I'm a big fan of the sun-in-the-corner photo 

Anyway, we explored for a bit and then headed down. It was delightful! It was especially nice being on top of something again (TWSS?) instead of viewing it from a distance.

Not gonna lie, though, I got a little angsty about substituting this for today's planned 3 miles. Because I'm a square, when I've got a plan, I like to follow it to a T. But I suppose that hiking for three hours (it takes a while in the winter) is more or less the same as a 3 mile jog, right? Right?!?! My training cycle's ruined, isn't it? But really, I think I'll be okay. There was a moment when I contemplated running after the hike, though. Then I realized that probably didn't fit in with Hansons' gradual, cumulative fatigue thing. Don't want to waste all my energy at once.

No questions for you today. Happy Saturday!

Too Much Energy

Workout: 3 miles, 11:39

Oh hello, interblogs! It's been a while, huh? The past couple of days real life has taken priority over anything blog-related. So sorry to deprive you of my questionable wisdom. You know what they say about absence, though...

So I ran today. It was three miles around my neighborhood. Running in my neighborhood is soul-crushing, but I'm grudgingly beginning to accept that my future's got a lot of neighborhood miles in store. Take this morning, for example. I knew I had three miles to do, and I knew they had to be done in time to make it to class. Initially, I planned to run by the dog park since it's right next to school, but then I started thinking about all the time and effort required to get food and shower stuff together (not to mention the time it takes to drive to the gym to shower), and I just couldn't do it. The reality is, I can either spend 45 minutes running and getting ready, or I can drag it out for two hours. Things are starting to get really busy with school and work, and a three mile run just isn't worth all that extra time. We'll see if I still feel that way in a few weeks.

Another bummer about running in my neighborhood is that there's nothing pretty to look at. This is about as nice as it gets: 

It was snowing, though! Snow makes everything better

Since I just started the plan last week, my runs are all 3-4 miles so my legs obviously feel pretty great. So great that I made an effort to run up (and down) some hills.

 That 124 feet in mile two was packed into like two-tenths of a mile. Tough.

Garmin scaling fail.

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I was pissed my plan didn't have me running yesterday. I found out some super amazing news at work (it involves traveling to a place that is literally number one on my long travel wish list. Side note: I never thought I'd be someone who goes on "business trips" - only important people get to travel for work, not peons like me!) which both excited and terrified me. I don't exactly consider myself "qualified for" or even "knowledgeable about" what I've been asked to do, so I'm already having mini-panic attacks two months out. Anyway, I was chock full of energy and had no way of ridding myself of it. Because I am incredibly annoying about not sticking exactly to a training plan, I had to settle for taking a long walk with Bailey after work. It was not the same.

So, there you have it. That's all I've got today. I'll let you know the super exciting place I get to go once plans have been finalized. I know you won't be able to sleep until you know!

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Oh wait, almost forgot the obligatory Valentine's comment. I'm a single gal this year (yes, yes, so very sad, whatever) so I don't have pictures of cute things a handsome lad bought for me or anything. Sorry. My one comment is that blogger's evidently realized I'm single and keeps showing me a cartoon heart breaking apart whenever I click on things. It's... unsettling.

And now, I ask and you answer!

• Ever gone anywhere exciting for work? Was it really fun or all business?
• How do you rid yourself of excess energy without exercising?
• Most exciting place you've ever been? Sorry, I've got travel on the brain.