I’ll start this week’s update off with a new breakfast I’m trying out: smoothies. I’m really late to the smoothie scene, in part because I’ve always thought it would be too difficult to get all the ingredients needed to make one. But it turns out that everything I need for my morning smoothies are things I already buy each week:
- Kale
- Bananas
- Peanut Butter
- Frozen blueberries
- Frozen mango (optional)
I’m not sure what I was thinking would make the process so difficult. I don’t even use milk of any sort, and they still taste great. I’ll probably return to my morning oatmeal at some point, but for now smoothies are a refreshing change, particularly as it gets hotter in the mornings.
Here’s the before and after from this morning:
As for my running this week? Things have been steady and enjoyable. Last weekend was a busy one, so I ended up taking Sunday off and moving the 10 mile run I had planned to Monday. That means that this week is now a bit crazy, with seven straight days of running and relatively high mileage. Tomorrow I’m planning to run something short, and then 22 to 24 on Sunday. I’ve got two months until the 100 miler on July 24th, but with two weeks of taper and rest before the big day, that leaves just six weeks to crank up the mileage. I’m not going to push things too much, because I’d rather be undertrained than risk injury, but at the very least I want to get a couple weekends of back-to-back long runs in before July. So next week will most likely involve two rest days, in preparation for a serious effort on Saturday and Sunday.
Here’s what I’ve run so far this week:
I started following a new blog, The Hungry Runner Girl, and it’s reminded me of something I’ve been missing throughout my years of training: a consistent running partner. I have great friends who I run with, but nobody who both 1) lives close enough, and 2) runs at the same time as me. That means that something like 95% percent of the time, I’m running alone.
Now I don’t mind running alone. Not at all. The last thing I’d want to do is become beholden to someone else’s schedule and to start running on their terms. I like being able to choose the time, distance and pace for each of my runs. But once a week, running with a partner? That I could do. Because I also really enjoy running with other people. I like to talk, and it helps to pass the time. It’s nice feeling like someone else is more or less chasing similar goals as you are.
Hungry Runner Girl is a bit too sponsored for my liking – all of her posts seem to be about buying something from Target or making a quick meal from Costco – but she does a great job capturing the camaraderie of the sport. She’s always running with someone or recovering with someone. And both of those things are often better spent with others.
I’m going to be looking for that running partner in the future, so any suggestions on how to find them are welcome.
One final thing:
I ran my ten miles this morning in Prospect Park, and was treated to this scene:
I love the park and all it has to offer, and it turns out there’s way more on offer than I’d thought. That view looks nothing like New York City. Check out this episode of the Bowery Boys podcast for the park’s history.