running

Weekly Therapy: this is Halloween

- Mel

the week:
Halloween always used to be one of my favorite holidays, but not so much in the last few years. I did throw a DIY costume (old school diner waitress) together for work since we were given approval to dress up — and I’ll do anything to get out of my uniform for a day! But I mostly just love to pass out candy, since I live in a neighborhood with actual trick or treaters (and the adults who check to make sure your glass is always full).

halloween_football

Oh, and the roof is leaking somewhere new. Happy two year-anniversary, house!

weekend:
Road trip to Columbus, to celebrate with our friends getting married! I hear that an Insanity workout is part of the festivities. And a lot of drinking. Will report back. I’m really looking forward to this one though.

seven things, seven days:
1. Mesmerized by (and drooling over) all the Jonathan Alder home collections that I cannot afford. *sigh*
2. Free Halloween lunch at work!
3. ALL OF THE KIT-KATS.
4. Signed up for the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay with my fellow CrossFitters! Got Weights?
5. Purchased all the items in my Stitch Fix box again (even though I didn’t like an included scarf — it was lousy and WAY overpriced — the box was cheaper to keep everything). I am feeling overwhelmed now with my new wardrobe, so I’m taking a month off.
6. Lessons learned: Why You Shouldn’t Text Your Arguments {via PsychCentral}
7. The past is past. I love this post from Gabrielle Bogan. Speaks to my heart right now.

Holy crap, I ran a 5K!

- Mel

It was really a crazy thought process: oooh, hot apple crisp — I could totally run a 5K for hot apple crisp!

photo 4

Yep. That’s some self realization there: YOU SO CRAY!

And then I did. In the rain. Basically 2 out of 3 miles up hill. For this year’s Harvest Moon 5K, I placed 12th out of 16 in my women’s age group — ha, so not impressive on paper. Not only that, but with basically no running schedule or program aside from doing CrossFit and roller derby, I beat my personal record. My last 5K was somewhere around 3 years ago, and I clocked in at 33:some odd seconds.

When I was rounding the corner to the finish line, the clock had a 32 on it — a 32! I wish someone would have grabbed a picture of that expression. I ran so fast (yeah, not-so-much) that my boyfriend missed my finish. We talked before the race, and I was honestly thinking I would finish in 36 minutes, so he sat in the car because of the rain. I had already finished, almost puked in the parking lot, and ate an orange and my apple crisp before finding him.

race 5k apple crisp

Finished: 32:30

race clock finish 5k

Next up: Turkey Trot 5K on Thanksgiving

Weekly Therapy: a change will do you good is SO cliche, but SO true.

- Mel

the week:
YAY, new hair! No joke, it’s been somewhere between 8-10 months since I’ve had my hair cut OR colored. Embarrassing. Also why you’ve been likely to see me sporting a pony tail for the last 6 months. I needed a new stylist too, and finally… FINALLY I found one that I love! It only took me two canceled appointments and waiting for the end of derby season for me to see her. I swear if she moves, I will hunt her down for trims and touch-ups.

weekend:
I’m running a race on Saturday morning. What was I thinking?! Oh, yeah… apple crisp.

Sunday, work. Then… DERBY! THAT I’M NOT PLAYING! It’s our home teams season opener, and to be honest, I’m excited about being on the spectator side.

52 Books in 52 Weeks:
Did I tell you that I lost my Kindle charger? Yeah… this is three things in the last three months that have left me perplexed. Luckily, a helpful twitter person told me that an Android charger would work. We didn’t have any of those things around the house, but found a random charger with a Microsoft-looking logo on it (maybe it’s a Blackberry, I don’t know). The hell, IT WORKED!

seven things, seven days:
1. Alladin’s falafel wrap: my last meal, please.
2. The Pirates run has ended — but OH, what a season! Looking forward to see what this team can do next year. GO BUCS!
3. Naked 2 eyeshadow palette now in my possession! (after a much-needed old makeup dump)
4. I also did another closet dump too.
5. And then I moved around my entire dining room BY MYSELF. Because, no derby season means BOREDOM, apparently. But also: living spaces as inspired by Pinterest.
6. Has anyone local tried Pittsburgh Fresh? I’m SERIOUSLY considering the service, especially that it’s paleo-friendly and locally-sourced meals. I have a problem when it comes to healthy lunches.
7. Which of the four “romantic archetypes” define you (and what do men find attractive about each type)? {via PyschCentral}

Weekend Therapy: traveling for something other than roller derby feels weird.

- Mel

the week:
Holy crap, THE SORENESS. Good sore, but still. I’m working out with the regular athletes and doing real WODs now, and O.M.G. But my post-workout exclamations go something like this: I JUST PRESSED A BAR! I JUST SQUATTED WITH WEIGHT ON THE BAR! I JUST DEADLIFTED 50 POUNDS! I JUST CLEARED A 30″ BOX JUMP!

Drinking the kool-aid, and loving every drop.

Also, how about them Pirates?!

Living near the stadiums, we could hear the roars of the fans stream through the windows during the wild card game. IT’S SO AWESOME! Though I’m an Indians fan at heart (sad trombone), it’s hard not to rally behind the Bucs and their success.

weekend:
Road trip to Columbus for friends and fun! (and the President’s Cup) I have plans for dinners, plans for brunches… and I’m looking forward to some room service (and possibly an in-room massage) too. FOR REAL.

52 Books in 52 Weeks:
Definitely not meeting the goal this year, as I started around Thanksgiving last year… and have only finished, like, 20 books. DO BETTER. But no time like the present to start again!
#1. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert

seven things, seven days:
1. I signed up for two upcoming 5Ks. *gulp* The one next weekend ends in HOT APPLE CRISP, which… I’m so easy.
2. Scored a couple items from Poshmark this week. I am obsessed with window shopping the app (and have been finding some amazing deals).
3. See also, it was time to do a closet and makeup drawer purge — soooo, I finally purchased the Naked 2 palette.
4. A carafe-less coffee pot is the answer to all my coffee-making prayers!
5. My left pinky finger still hurts from two weeks ago (derby injury, natch). It hasn’t really impacted my workouts, but when I set my hand down or smash it into something… YEOWCH. Putting a timeline on it for healing before seeking our urgent care.
6. Our neighbor invited us to a Sundays meatballs dinner (they’re rumored to be award winning). One of the guests was the contractor who remodeled their BEAUTIFUL home… and built their amazing rooftop deck. WANT.
7. Gender as non-fiction in The Atlantic {shared via Dan Savage (*swoon*)}

Weekly Therapy: deine Katzen sind wilkommen

- Mel

the week:
My sister had major surgery this week to remove a tumor (the size of a football o_O). Thankfully, it wasn’t cancer, but she still has 4-6 weeks of recovery (she had one ovary and tube removed because of this). Please send good healing (virtual) wishes her way!

duolingo german iphone app

Labor Day marks the unofficial end of summer (and I guess I can get rid of those white shoes and bottoms that I never wore this season). It’s a little surreal to think that my favorite season is around the corner (fall-flavored beers and pumpkin lattes and Halloween candy). It’s also a super-slow time at work, which… boring.

Because I donated my well-loved tennis shoes to the Tough Mudder’s foundation, I am on the hunt for a new pair. I’m no marathoner, but I can DEFINITELY get behind stomping around in the woods and mud again for fun, so trail running shoes specifically. I hope this will not be a tortuous process (but if so, THERE ARE MACAROONS TO BE HAD). See also: where did all my bandanas go, and why can’t I find the old school 100% cotton ones anywhere?

weekend:
My boyfriend is away for the weekend on a bachelor party somewhere on a farm in Pennsyltucky-nowhere. I don’t know. I heard there would be skeet shooting. His (our) friends are weird.

For me, a ladies-only neighborhood happy hour Friday night, an extra Saturday afternoon practice and work Sunday.

seven things, seven days:
1. You know I lost my driver’s license TWICE last weekend at Tough Mudder? Seriously, found it in the grass the first time I realized it was dropped from my hands (thankfully I found it!); and somehow my boyfriend ended up with it the second time.
2. Skating outdoors is fun!
3. Remember that guy who came to seal up the chimney? Yeah, it’s basically raining into our living room now when it’s raining outside. And of course he hasn’t returned our calls to fix it. FML.
4. Am I crazy to sign up for a 6am Crossfit class? Probably. But it’s about the only time I can fit it in.
5. I started brushing up on my German again via Duolingo. It’s really fun to see what I can remember and laugh at some of the verbs that I still misinterpret.
6. With all this talk about road trips, here is Seventeenth & Irving’s Road Trip Essentials
7. Now I’m obsessed with this Weekender bag from Everlane.

Got any road trips planned for this last weekend of summer?

oh nothing, just finished the tough mudder

- Mel

Mel_ToughMudder2013

What is the Tough Mudder? Well, it’s a lot of freaking mud. Ten miles of it. Of course that’s why we called ourselves Team F*cking Mud! It’s not really a race, but a challenge — both physically and mentally. If you look up any of the obstacles and videos, you’ll know why. These things test every fear.
Team_ToughMudder

There was a little of this:
MudTunnel_ToughMudder

A lot of this:
MelMud_ToughMudder

And some of this:
MelElectric_ToughMudder

THOSE ARE ELECTRIC WIRES AND I’M IN WATERY MUD. Yeah, that was the one obstacle that I almost walked away from. I’m so proud that I finished it.

MelShannon_ToughMudder

And this girl — one of my oldest friendships. We’ve known one another since elementary school, and she’s the tough cookie behind why I do stuff like this in the first place.

MelMile10_ToughMudder

I dove under barbed wire, crawled on my elbows through mud (under said barbed wire), jumped in ice cold freezing water (seriously, my heart stopped), jumped off a 15-foot plank, got electrocuted, jumped over fire, climbed through tunnels, pulled myself over walls, ran up a greased-up halfpipe… ran/climbed/swam/trudged through more miles of mud than I could even keep track.

My team finished in around 5 hours (whew). It was really fun to train for and accomplish an endurance-type event. I’m kind of still in shock that TM is already over AND that I actually finished that course and got my orange headband! And I think I might actually be back on a runners kick.

OrangeHeadbandsBeer_ToughMudder