So Nice, I Did It Twice!

Saturday Workout: 8 miles, 10:52 average, Pace Gloves

Sunday Workout: 8 miles, 11:30 average, Connects

As this post's title suggests, I ran the same place two days in a row. Remember a couple of days ago when I fled Creepy McGee and also found a flat, snow-free stretch of pavement perfect for speedwork? Well, I went to scope it out yesterday and was reminded of how much easier it is to run on pavement, so today my body drove there without my mind ever agreeing to it. Funny how that happens.

Of course it was another bluebird weekend. This sunny streak is ridiculous. I'm pretty sure I have a light sunglass tan, and I totally have a watch tan. I'm obsessed with cold but sunny weather, so I've had a definite spring in my step. I'll have to remind myself of these few weeks when it's August and we're in our 42nd day of rain (no joke, one year when I came back to visit for a week, Anchorage was actually in its 42nd straight day of rain).

I didn't have high hopes for this pavement route, scenery-wise. It's next to the airport(s - there's a place where big planes take off and another place for little planes) and the FedEx complex so, like, industrial city. Not really up to my usual standards. However, the mountain views were actually pretty spectacular. Up where I live, you're up too high to really appreciate the Chugach as a whole. Down there, you pretty much see mountains everywhere you look.

Little planes! And a porta-potty I was super excited to see until I realized it's inside the fence. Not that I needed it, but living in New York made me a freak about bathrooms because you can't drop trou wherever you please in an emergency.

Besides jumping in terror every five minutes when a plane took off twenty feet above my head (that may be a slight exaggeration), it was a surprisingly serene place to run. I never run on roads, but these roads don't see a lot of traffic so it was more like a really large sidewalk.

Yesterday's run was the first of this training cycle where my legs felt tired (not to be confused with plain ol' pukey). It was a welcome feeling as it's all felt too easy so far, but it was also a taste of the  many, many tired runs I've got ahead of me. This was the first time I had to keep running when I didn't feel 100% and it reminded me that this running thing requires mental strength in addition to physical strength. Fortunately, I made it through just fine and felt great a few hours later. They'll all be that easy to recover from, right?

Like I said, I hit the pavement again for today's run, this time in the Connects. It was their first time on pavement and they passed with flying colors, although I was dismayed to see that after only a few runs, the traction on those stupid pod things is almost gone (the traction on the other parts of the shoe are fine). I saw this in a review I read prior to buying them so can't say it's a huge surprise, but still... they've only got 25-30 miles on them, most of those miles on snow! But hey, who needs traction, right?

I actually only did 2 miles on my new pavement friend before continuing down the road that parallels the Coastal Trail. If you had told me a week ago I'd choose to run on that road when I could just as easily run on the Coastal Trail, I would have called you crazy. However, the call of cement was just too strong, and after starting on pavement I couldn't handle going back to snow. I'm not sure if this is just a passionate but brief love affair, or if we're in it for the long haul. Stay tuned.

I'm glad I stuck to the road, because I ended up with some great views once I got out a couple of miles. Logan, I'm not sure if you're still considering it or not, but the Anchorage half marathon you were thinking of doing runs along this road before turning back along the Coastal Trail.

Interestingly, today's run felt much easier than yesterday's, despite having more miles on my legs and getting some elevation in (not a lot, but 350 ft. compared to only 60 yesterday). I'd attribute it to the slower pace and the more-padded Connects. Whatever the reason, I felt dandy. You're great, pavement! Don't ever change! Except when I want you to be lower-impact. Then you should turn into the softest of dirt.

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I cannot believe I finished week 6 of marathon training today. What the what? This week had me shaking in my boots, but it ended up not being a big deal. I actually feel much better at the end of this week than I did last week, when I had some hip soreness (I pretended it didn't exist, did nothing to rehab it, and it went away of its own accord. I find that most of my weird pains do better when I just ignore them).

Here's a recap of the week:

Monday: 4 miles, easy

Tuesday: 7.25 shitastic miles including 12 x 400 (is that how you write speedwork? I'm such a noob)

Wednesday: rest

Thursday: 7 miles of sweet redemption, including 5 tempo miles (9:44)

Friday: 4 miles, easy

Saturday: 8 miles, easy

Sunday: 8 miles, easy

Total: 38.25 miles (yes, that extra quarter mile matters to me)

Say what?! 38 miles? That's only two short of my peak mileage week using Hal Higdon's plan last year (aka my highest mileage week ever). Crazy. I sure as hell feel a million times better at the end of this week than I did at the end of that one.

From what I can remember, the next few weeks will look similar to this past week. The jump from 24 to 38 miles seemed (and continues to seem) outrageous to me, but fortunately I survived it and now we're going to hang out around 40 mpw for a while. Phew. I'm not even totally dreading the 800s I've got scheduled for Tuesday (mostly because I get to run them outside and not on a treadmill). Oh, and I've done ab stuff every day for the past two weeks or so! This is big news.

Aaaand I'm out. I hope y'all enjoyed your St. Patrick's Day weekend. I know I certainly did!

Questions:

• Did you do anything special for the holiday? Are you wearing green? If not, I virtually pinch you (although I just realized I'm not wearing any. Such a hypocrite. It's okay, though; I had plenty of green going on last night)
• What's your highest mileage week ever? If you tell me 100+ miles I'm going to punch you.

Close Encounters (of the Viking Kind)

Workout: 4 miles, 11:30 average, Connects

People were skating over on the left there.

Scary times on the trail today. I'll preface the story by saying that nothing actually happened and Bailey and I are sitting pretty (well, she's actually aggressively ripping apart the new toy I just bought her), but it was a potent reminder of the importance of being aware of your surroundings and doing what you can to minimize risks.

Since I'm on "Spring Break" for the day and it's too sunny out to work more than a few hours (come on, "good weather" is totally a legitimate excuse for ignoring responsibilities), I took the dog to the Coastal Trail. There weren't that many cars there (you mean some people have real jobs?) and after we pulled into a parking spot, I saw that I had some new emails so started messing with my phone. I happened to look up at my rearview mirror and noticed a creepy guy rolling by very slowly in his car. I could see that he was staring at me, and his car came to a stop right behind mine. He sat there for a few seconds before slowly pulling forward ten feet or so, as if to turn back onto the main road. Instead of leaving, however, he paused for much too long and then backed into a space a few down from me. This whole time he was looking at me. I had locked my doors and put my key back in the ignition as soon as he pulled up behind me because there was obviously something wrong with him, but I was still very concerned about what he might do.

After parking, he got out of his car wearing only a t-shirt (it was 10 degrees out - he clearly didn't plan to stay out for long) and walked slowly down the trail I had planned to use. Okay, buddy. You're crazy if you think I'm following you. Really, this guy's idiocy is kind of astonishing. I mean, did he think he had me fooled? He sure as hell didn't look like he was out for a casual stroll; he looked ready to rape and pillage. Anyone could take one look at him and realize he was bad news. Sorry, I don't mean to trivialize the situation; humor is my way of dealing with uncomfortable situations.

We did the smart thing and PTFO'd the second he was out of sight. Fortunately, the Coastal Trail extends for miles in either direction, so we drove about three miles before parking at another access point at a much more popular section of the trail. All was good, although I was definitely alert and on the lookout for creepy Viking man (he had red hair). This (and moose) is why I don't wear music on outdoor runs.

[It didn't occur to me to call the cops until much later, at which point I couldn't really remember what he or his car looked like, but that probably would have been a good idea. Lesson learned.]

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Moving on from that awfulness, it really was gorgeous outside.

 Yes, this is essentially a repeat of that first photo, this time with less grass! Variety is the spice of life.

It was totally average as far as runs go, but it felt great to be in the sun. We're on, like, day 14 of sun now. Crazy.

Let's take a look at some of the sights I got to enjoy! What did you look at during your run today? Probably not mountain-lined, frozen ocean views.

Frozen ocean!  

 More frozen ocean!

Last frozen ocean!

The other awesome thing is that I found the perfect spot for speedwork. Not only is it completely flat, long enough for longer repeats, and not too curvy, but it's also completely ice/snow-free. Driving along, I couldn't believe it - straight pavement as far as the eye can see! Well, at least for a mile or so. It's not all that scenic (it's right next to the airport, actually), but it will definitely get the job done. I've seen people running down this road before and always thought they were heading towards a nice lake or something, which is why I finally decided to check it out. Turns out they're just looking for flat pavement like me! The only downer about this place is that it's an approximately twenty-minute drive from my house (and another fifteen minutes or so to work/school). Whatever, better than a window-less basement!

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Following my run, I went to Target. I am most definitely going back there to buy all the clothes, but since I was a post-run mess I opted not to share my sweat with everyone by trying stuff on. I may just head back this weekend, though. New clothes are definitely not budget-approved but then again, I've been wearing the same crappy garments for what feels like decades now. I could use some new threads. And hey, at least my tastes aren't expensive!

Wow, that was sort of a tangent. I really just wanted to say that I bought sunscreen and that you should too. I wore sunscreen religiously when I lived in New York, but got out of the habit once I moved back to Alaska. Like I mentioned, we've been getting a lot of sun here lately, so I thought I'd do my skin a favor and lather it on. I usually just use it as my moisturizer so it doesn't require any extra effort. Say no to skin cancer! PSA over.

And now I'm off to enjoy an early start to the weekend. My Q's for U's:

• Ever been in an iffy situation like my Viking man encounter? 
• What kind of scenery did you have for your run today? Concrete jungle, woods, a television?
• Do you wear sunscreen? If no, get on it!

Tempo Triumph

Workout: 7 miles, 5 at tempo pace (9:44), Pace Gloves

Hey, it's my new hair!

Some day I hope to be comfortable enough to post normal, smiley selfies. That day has not come. Also, I need to sleep more. #darkcirclesfordays

I'm going to be vain and say I love it. I think it really balances out my oval face and long, long forehead. Attempting to arrange it for today's run, though, was a workout in itself. I'm going to go ahead and say I looked completely ridiculous. It was a sort of half-ponytailed (do people even wear those anymore?), Bic-banned, hair-clipped to hell situation. I would have taken a picture but I was afraid I'd lose the nerve to be seen in public like that if I looked at it too long. Must pick up some bobby pins.

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Anyway, today's run was an awesome way to come back from Tuesday's torture. Despite some major trail annoyances resulting from Sunday's snow dump, I felt really great the entire time and finished knowing I could have gone much farther. Always a good feeling.

I felt fantastic this morning following yesterday's rest day, which kind of surprised me. It's obviously way too early in the game to call my training plan a success, but I can't believe I just ran six days in a row. In the very recent past, three days in a row was more than I could handle. Even two days in a row was pushing it. I credit slow and easy miles (and the Hansons).

I was also surprised by how great I felt after my 400 repeats. Like, no soreness at all. I was worried I felt so sick because I was doing the repeats too fast, but the lack of soreness indicates otherwise. It seems the discomfort of the workout itself was magnified exponentially by the fact that I was doing them on a treadmill, it was 50 degrees hotter than my usual runs, and I likely didn't wait long enough after eating to do them. Lesson learned. I'm definitely on the lookout for a flat, well-paved stretch of road for next Tuesday's 600's. Wish me luck!

I admit I was worried about doing another challenging run just two days after Tuesday's repeats, but now that I've done my first tempo I can see the logic in it. Not only did I feel fresh following my rest day, but the 9:44 pace also felt really relaxed relative to the 8:30 repeats. In the past, I've found tempos to be much harder than repeats, but that was not the case this week. 9:44 was a breeze! It also felt great to stretch the legs out a bit and run faster than the 10:52 and 11:38 miles I've logged for the past five weeks.

I didn't bother to take any pictures, but I ran over by the dog park. This trail has been a pretty reliable winter running locale, but today it didn't deliver. The snow wasn't nearly as packed down as I expected, and while this was fine for my warm-up mile, as soon as I tried to speed up my feet started slipping all over the place, even with Yaktrax on. I decided that if I wanted to hit my desired pace, it would have to be a sidewalk run, so I veered off the trail to find some. This didn't work. Ice everywhere. As you can see below, I tried to find runnable sidewalks in three different directions. No cigar. It was extremely frustrating, and every time I started to get into a groove, I was forced to turn around.

In the end, I realized that the dog park actually had the most packed-down trail (dog park is a trail that circles University Lake), so I did my last two miles there. Finally, I was able to stop worrying about footing and just run. It felt great.

My strange route.

Let's check out some stats!

First warm-up mile was recorded as a separate workout.

I can't believe I just wrote that much about one run. If you skipped all that, you passed the Jeano intelligence test.

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I found out this morning my office is closed tomorrow. Spring Break, baby! Let's rage! I don't understand why a university-affiliated organization without any students gets a (very short) Spring Break, but I'll take it. Actually, I won't take it; I get paid by the hour so will still be working tomorrow. But at least I can do it at home in sweatpants!

Questions!

• Anyone else have a Spring Break coming up? Are you doing anything fun?
• WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITHOUT GOOGLE READER?! Totally forgot to mention this in the post but we've all heard about it at this point. Rude!
• New pope, huh? I love that he's Argentinian, but I haven't done my research on this dude so have no opinion on him as a leader. Not that the leader of a religion I'm not part of affects me in any way.

Death By Speedwork

Monday Workout: 4 miles, 11:38 average, Connects

Tuesday Workout: 7.25 miles (12 x 400), Connects, pace unknown

Guys. We need to talk. About speedwork.

Speedwork MAY just be the worst thing that's ever happened to me. To anyone. T'hat's putting it mildly. What's wrong with you people, telling me speedwork's soooo awesome and the post-workout high soooo amazing and empowering, when really it's just torture?

I haven't done speedwork (or, really, run faster than 10:00 miles) in two years. Back in those glory days, I ran in regular shoes and a 7-mile, 8:00/mile tempo was NBD. Then came minimalism and marathon training. Word to the wise: if you start wearing less of a shoe (and transition in a slow/safe manner, obviously), you're going to run slower. Much slower. And training "just to finish" your first marathon (which I didn't actually run - don't make me rehash that story) doesn't exactly encourage speed. For the past two years, I have been totally content to stay in this tiny 9:30-11:30/mile bubble of mine.

Have I made the point that speed work is a foreign concept to me? Here I thought I was supposed to feel awesome, powerful, fast, strong, etc. WRONG. This run totally blind-sided me. If I had had the energy to think, I would have spent the entire time marveling at the fact that my heart hadn't yet stopped beating.

You guys know I'm cool with running on snow, but for speedwork I kind of need to run on regular surfaces that don't slow me down. Therefore, I ran my stupid intervals on the stupid treadmill. I think I need to find a treadmill with more accurate speeds. I'm convinced mine moves faster than the speed indicates. That's not wishful thinking; I honestly think it's true.

So let's stop dillydallying and get to the damn run.

The brothers Hanson suggest beginners warm up and cool down with 1-2 miles for speedwork. I was aiming high so went for the lower-bound, 1 mile. So far, so good. Then I started my twelve 400s. Each 400 was done at 8:30 pace (7 mph), and the first couple were manageable. Not, "This is the best thing ever!", but I was gettin' 'er done. This feeling left after about four repeats. Suddenly I was feeling incredibly pukey, and the realization that I had at least four miles left, two of which had to be done at the faster pace, almost did me in. Fuuuu! Not even the always-entertaining Life and Times of Tim could calm me down. Times were tough.

To the shock of all involved (me), I managed to stumble through all twelve 400s. Before I could even think about cooling down, however, I was sprinting up the stairs to the bathroom to puke. Whoops. At least I put it off until after the last one! Must put a bucket by the treadmill next time. You're welcome for the visual. Getting back on that treadmill for the cooldown was so. Incredibly. Difficult. I did it, though, and even managed to crawl through a half mile at a 12:22 pace (yep) before I declared myself finished.

Speed workout #1: complete!

Lest you think I'm depressed about this run, I'm not. Really. It still kind of blows my mind that I (mostly) did it, minus the last half cooldown mile. But I'm also already terrified of next week's workout, 8 x 600 at the same pace. My only consolation is that the entire workout will be a mile shorter since there's less rest (although now that I think about it, the fact that there's a mile less rest concerns me). Start the doomsday countdown.

I'm also aware that speedwork gets easier the more you do it. I know. I KNOW. Soon I'll be one of those assholes yelling about how great it feels (maybe?). Right now I'm just not there. Right now speedwork and I are not friends. Right now, I'd say speedwork is the popular mean girl who seems like a raging bitch but is really a nice girl once you get to know her. That makes sense, right?

So this was my sixth consecutive day of running, a new record! It also means tomorrow's a rest day, which I'm looking forward to. My body held up really well over the 30.25 miles. Besides some continuing soreness in my left hip, which appears to be lessening, everything feels fantastic. Let's celebrate!

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In life news, I got a haircut! I'll maybe throw a picture up tomorrow. I love it, but I'm already fuming about how I can't put it up in a ponytail. Thankfully I've got a rest day to dedicate considerable brain power to the issue.

Also, I got my first grad school rejection. Meh. Wait, I mean, noooooooooo! Why?!?!?!?! The world's ending!!! But not really. I honestly only applied to this place (UC San Diego) because I felt like I needed to apply to more schools and San Diego's on the West Coast. I obviously put a lot of thought into that one. Turns out their economics program is a (surprisingly, to me, at least) prestigious one, and it wasn't until a few days ago that I found out their acceptance rate is around 4%. You read that right. Jeano! What were you thinking?! You're not the 4%! The rejection made things much easier for me, actually, because I worry I would have felt pressured to accept just because it's a high-ranked program and not because I have any interest in it. Also, Jeano + beaches (+ big city *cough cough New York never forget cough cough*)? Not a great idea.

To balance out my rejection, I got in somewhere else. Not a first choice, but they want to fly me out to see the campus. Fly somewhere for free? Sign me up! I'm not sure I'm going to do it, though, depending on how the other decisions pan out. Will check back in on that.

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Here's some hiking pron to make up for the lack of photos. I really need to start taking Anchorage-y pics again.

Hiking up the Ramp, the peak that inspired my return to blogging. This time in summer!

Questions:

• What are your thoughts on speed work? Dumb, right? Tell me it gets easier.
• If you've got short hair, what do you do to keep it out of your face? Did I ask this already? Now that the hair's actually gone I need some help. "Grow your hair out" isn't considered help, fyi.
• Have you faced any rejection recently? 

Winter's Back!

Saturday Workout: 4 miles, 11:34 average, Pace Gloves

Sunday Workout: 6 miles, 11:33 average, 3 miles in socks (treadmills are pretty brutal on bare skin), 3 miles in Pace Gloves

I called it. Winter's back!

Ugh. Finally accepting that long hair really isn't my thing. I've been in denial because I'm lazy and like putting it in a pony tail when I don't shower. Might have to go for a drastic chop soon, though. I do it every year - hate my hair, cut it all off, love how it looks but decide the inability to put it up is too much to deal with, vow to grow it out... It's a never-ending cycle. Aren't you glad you read the picture caption so you can learn so many new and interesting things about me?!

Yesterday we were on our seventh-straight day of tropical weather, and then BAM! I wake up this morning and it's snow city. This is totally fine with me (I'm still trying to soak up as much snow as possible after two largely snow-free winters in New York), but it meant I took today's run inside. Pre-Hanson Jeano would have said, "Screw it! Outside run ahoy!" but now that I'm all serious and marathon training-y, I'm doing my best to avoid any more deep-snow runs (which are less "runs" and more "polar expeditions"), so I went for the treadmill. Thank you, thank you, no applause, please; just throw money.

I'd say my hate for treadmills is pretty well-documented, so I won't rehash it. I did what I could to ease the pain of what was sure to be a torturous run (mainly, getting Life and Times of Tim queued up on my laptop and attempting to open the nearest windows which, to my dismay, are painted shut), and it actually wasn't that bad. I don't know if it's that I'm stronger, or that I'm running more frequently, or that 6 miles isn't really any farther than I've been running every other day of the week, but it was more than manageable. Probably a combination of all three. Well, that and Life and Times of Tim. Hilarious show, if you're into that kind of humor (many aren't).

Because I'm obsessive and require some sort of data from each and every run, I wore a heart rate monitor for this. My average bpm was 151, which I'm more than happy with. I'm pretty sure it was a good 10 bpm faster than it would otherwise have been, due to treadmill panic (an undocumented disorder I just made up).

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Like I said, yesterday was pretty "spring"-like. I went to the Coastal Trail! There were no ski races happening this week, so the run was a win from the get go.

The roads were disgustingly slushy, but the trails were perfect! 

[Side note: someday we'll talk about the fact that in Alaska, we don't get "spring;" we get "breakup season." Think slush. Everywhere. All the time. You would be extremely hard-pressed to find an Alaskan who names spring as their favorite season.]

I think all this boring neighborhood running is doing good things for my overall level of fitness. I really had to pull back the pace on this one. Every time my mind wandered, I would look back at my watch and realize I had sped up by, like, 30 seconds per mile. Whoops. It helps that the Coastal Trail is pancake-flat.

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So we're done with week 5 of marathon training!

Mileage: 24

All runs 4-6 miles, all easy

5 days of running

And now we enter uncharted territory! By "we" I mean "me" and by "uncharted" I mean "six consecutive days of running." Six. Who am I? I'm not sure I'm the kind of person who runs six days a week. Whatever. I'll try anything once! Sell me a bridge!

My body's holding up really well. Shin pain seems to be a thing of the past, fortunately, and apart from some tightness in my left hip, everything feels A-OK.

Questions, questions, questions:

• Do you get a pretty spring or a gross spring? Vermont (where I went for undergrad) has nothing on Alaska's breakup, but it can get pretty gross. Ditto New York.
• How bad do things have to be before you resort to treadmill running? What do you do to make it tolerable? I say t.v. beats music, especially when you're in a windowless basement and have nothing to look at.
• Anyone have tips on keeping short hair out of your face? I'm pretty sure I'm chopping it off but I'm already pissed off at not being able to put my hair in a full ponytail. I can't handle having any hair touching my skin while I run.

Crossword and a Six-Pack (In My Dreams)

Workout: 5 miles, 10:52 (moving) average, Connects

Things that are awesome today:

1. More sun!

This is almost identical to the picture I posted on Tuesday. I should probably be even more unoriginal and give it the same caption. I'll spare you this time.

2. Watch tan!

I swear it's darker in person. Oh hey, hairy arm.

3. SHORTS!!!

That is joy and not terror on my face.

New rule: when it's above 40 degrees, Jeano wears shorts. Those legs shone brighter than Edward Cullen's diamond chest once they got outside.

How do people in eternally-sunny places like California ever get anything done? I just want to sit in the sun with a crossword and a six-pack of Shock Top.

Happy trails, my friends!

That Time I Tried to Pass as a New Yorker

Workout: 4 miles, 11:33, Connects

There was nothing special about this run so I won't linger on it too long. I have to say, my super awesome Tuesday run left me sore for this one. I haven't been sore in months! It was an odd feeling, especially given that I didn't feel like I was working that hard on Tuesday. I guess that goes to show that I haven't been giving hills the attention they deserve.

Holly politely pointed out in my last post that my moving average was faster than my goal pace. This is true of all my runs. I would much rather have my garmin display the exact pace I'm aiming for even when that isn't my actual pace. Because that's dumb, I'm trying to change it. The best way to fix this would be to change my garmin to display average moving pace instead of average pace, but I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to do that. Instead, I'll just try to slow my runs down and see what happens.

Anyway, I purposefully ran slower today so my displayed pace was 11:43. My moving pace was 11:33 (goal was 11:38) but hey, what's 5 seconds? Baby steps.

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Someone posted this hilarious (Onion) article on Facebook and I had to share. It's called "8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize New York City is a Horrible Place to Live." A couple of my favorite quotes:

"Other incidents that prompted citizens to pick up and leave included the sight of garbage bags stacked 5 feet high on the sidewalk; the realization that being alone among millions of anonymous people is actually quite horrifying; a blaring siren that droned on and fucking on; muddy, refuse-filled puddles that have inexplicably not dried in three years; the thought of growing into a person whose meanness and cynicism is cloaked in a kind of holier-than-thou brand of sarcasm that the rest of the world finds nauseating; and all the goddamn people."

[emphasis mine]

Garbage bags stacked 5 feet high. Or, "scenery."

Seriously, that quote could have been taken directly from my nonexistent diary. Ditto this one:

"In addition, 3 million New Yorkers reportedly left the city because they realized the phrase "Only in New York" is actually just a defense mechanism used to convince themselves that seeing a naked man take a shit on a park bench is somehow endearing, or part of some shared cultural experience."

I have, in fact, seen people taking shits. Never naked, though.

For your viewing pleasure, some pictures of Jeano attempting to be New York-y:

Rooftop bar. So New York-y.

Johnny Utah's mechanical bull. So trashy. I did not need any encouragement to get on that thing. I lived for Thursday night mechanical bull-riding. I was good.

Full disclosure: this was taken in Boston. Boston is better than New York. This has not been scientifically proven but I'm pretty sure it's true.

Anyway, enough shitting on New York. To each their own. I moved there knowing I was going to hate it, so you could argue that I doomed myself from the get go (side note: don't follow a boy to a city you know you're going to hate). Maybe I'll go back there fifty years from now and excitedly scream about all the hip places I used to hang out (Johnny Utah's will not be on that list).

Questions, questions, questions:

• Have you ever moved somewhere you know you're going to hate? How long did you tough it out for? This girl put in two whole years.
• Are you obsessed with your garmin displaying your exact goal pace like I am? Do you know how to switch it to moving average? That doesn't seem to be an option on mine.
• Boston or New York?
• Have you ever been on a mechanical bull? I kind of really, really want one installed in my future home.