Back At It

Dallas was quite refreshing for me!

1. Jogging with my dog - he'll go with me comfortably for a little over half a mile, but hey, anything is good with me! He's almost 12 years old!
2. Spending quality time with my family, and catching up with old friends.
3. Getting caught up on my running routine again!

I've gotten really strong over the past few weeks- it started in Dallas, with 4 mile runs every other day. Not very fast (at ALL), but runs all the same.

Then, I enjoyed a nice weekend off in Santa Fe celebrating one of my dear friends upcoming nuptials in August - my friend Isabelle is getting married in August! We rented a huge house on a 35 acre lot, and spent the weekend lounging outside, hiking, gossiping, drinking, and making delicious food. Everyone left the weekend feeling energized and inspired, and ready to celebrate in August!

After Santa Fe, I returned to Bellevue for a week before I was off to Idaho. We saw Post Modern Jukebox in concert!

It was amazing! We finished off the week with a few meals with friends I hadn't seen in a while, and then before I knew it I was on my way to Singin' in the Rain in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho! I'll be here for 5 weeks rehearsing and performing. 

So far, I've run 6 miles every other day - a HUGE leap for me in terms of running frequency. I finally feel like a real runner again - waking up early and running for an hour really jives with me. They aren't fast runs, but at least they're something.

Of course, I haven't just been running and rehearsing. There's been plenty of beach time and fun with friends!

I even got to watch the Iron Man Triathlon!

Potts in first!

Not to mention, Idaho has its fair share of amazing sunsets.

Overall it's been a really amazing experience so far, and I've had a fantastic start to the summer. We open in less than a week - which is crazy, considering we've only been rehearsing for about 9 days! Wooo!

Wrapping Up March

Wrapping up March!

JW and I went to see a musical at ACT Theatre

My roommate Sarah came to visit Seattle for her birthday!

We had a great time while she was here :)

March 16: 6 Miles, 9'33" average pace, 57 degrees, partly sunny.

The weather was amazing all week!

March 17: 3 Miles, 9'36" average pace, 57 degrees, partly cloudy.

And that was it for running that week! Unfortunately, on Wednesday night I came home from rehearsal feeling really ill - sure enough, I had a fever and stayed in bed for the rest of the week and into the weekend. I needed to make sure to rest up in time for tech week!

I emerged from bed to have brunch with JW and Rachel's cousin, who was visiting

Total Miles for March 15-21: 9 Miles
Total Yoga Classes: 3 Classes: 2 Power classes, 1 Hatha class

March 22: 2 Miles, 11'14" average pace, 53 degrees, cloudy. This run was with JW!

The second time ever that we've run together :)

March 26: 2 Miles, 10'11" average pace, sunny. I was still not feeling great, but I couldn't pass up the wonderful weather!

And then I called it quits for running that week. Oh well, I still succeeded in getting 4 miles for the week! Woohoo!

Total Miles for March 22-28: 4 Miles
Total Yoga Classes: 5 Classes: 3 Hatha classes, 1 Power class, 1 Renew class

Blooming Cherry Blossoms

How is it halfway through March already?! I guess I'm just not very motivated with this blog anymore, hmm?

The sun has been coming out more and more lately!

March 3: 5 Miles, 9'39" average pace, 50 degrees, sunny

Chai tea latte art

March 6: 4 Miles, 9'46" average pace, 55 degrees, cloudy

A much needed massage - a christmas gift from the in-laws!

March 7: 6 Miles, 10'18" average pace, 55 degrees, sunny

love seeing the cherry blossom trees :)

Total Miles for March 1-7: 15 miles, a 0% increase from the previous week.
Total Yoga Classes: 5 classes: 3 Power classes, 2 Renew classes

March 8: 7 Miles, 9'40" average pace, 62 degrees, sunny

I've been going to a lot of yoga lately and it's been really refreshing!

March 10: 4 Miles, 9'33" average pace, 55 degrees, partly sunny

March 12: 3 Miles, 9'27" average pace, 64 degrees, partly sunny

Total Miles for March 8-14: 14 miles, a 7% decrease from the previous week.
Total Yoga Classes: 6 classes: 4 Power classes, 1 Renew class, 1 Yoga Sculpt class

JW played a gig at Chateau Ste. Michelle, a winery in Woodinville, and we had a blast! We got a bottle of wine and I got to dance the night away, which was awesome! March is going well so far- before I know it, it'll be April... crazy!

Catching Up February

I haven't updated since mid February and I feel a little bad about it! I'm not really sure how to catch up except by doing just a quick little recap of the last two weeks of February.

February 17: 5 Miles, 10'01" average pace
February 21: 6 Miles, 9'28" average pace

Total Miles for February 15-21: 11 miles, a 50% decrease from the previous week. Hmm.

Opening night reception!

 

We opened Death By Chocolate to rave reviews! The process has been great and the cast and crew have been really wonderful. I'm so glad I auditioned!

Saturday Brunch with JW, Rachel, and Chad

February 22: 4 Miles, 9'42" average pace

February 23: 3 Miles, 9'21" average pace

February 28: 8 Miles, 9'50" average pace

Total Miles for February 22-28: 15 miles, a 36% increase from the previous week. Getting a bit better, but still pretty inconsistent. 

Rehearsals begin!

I had two big auditions the last week of February, on Thursday and Friday, along with my three performances for Death by Chocolate and three Arcadia rehearsals. Whew!

I've been walking more, trying to get to 10,000 steps every day - it's so hard! The weather has been gorgeous lately, so I'm happy to get some amazing pictures out if it.

March began more or less the same. I had a performance on Sunday followed by an Arcadia rehearsal (I slept so good that night! So exhausted..). I have one rehearsal for Arcadia this week, and one callback to go to, but after that all I have are the three remaining performances for Death By Chocolate. I can't believe we're almost done! I'm going to schedule my massage soon (Christmas present from the in-laws)- I'm really looking forward to it!

Here's to hoping the weather stays beautiful!

Into The Fog

It's been pretty foggy in Seattle lately, and it really hasn't helped the post-Holiday drear.

January 2nd: 4 Miles, 9'56" average pace - foggy, 38°. Started at a 9'00", and ended with 10'20.

January 3rd: 3 Miles, 9'27" average pace - foggy, 39°. New route. Started at 9'22" and ended with 9'14"- much better!

January 6th: 4 Miles, 9'30" average pace - foggy, 51°. Though the sun was peeking out through the clouds, it was still mostly foggy. Started at 9'15" and ended at 9'22" - I like these as I feel less lethargic at the end of the run.

January 7th: 4 Miles, 10'14" average pace - foggy, 43°. My most difficult route, changing over 138ft in elevation. No sun, just fog. Started downhill at 8'47" (yikes) and ended uphill at 11'19".

January 9th: 4 Miles, 10'13" average pace - foggy, 43°. Sun peeked out again for a bit, but mostly fog. New route. Almost negative splits, missed it by 4 seconds after the third mile. Started at 10'17" and ended at 10'07". I'll take it.

January 10th: 6 Miles, 11'07" average pace - misty, 46°. I woke up late this day, and had some nuts and a cheese stick beforehand, so the slow pace makes sense. Plus, they say you're supposed to do your long runs as much as 1-2 minutes per mile slower than your usual pace, so this is about right. I started at 10'35" and got progressively slower through the 4th mile, and then sped up the last two miles, to end at 10'53".

Total miles for January 4th-10th: 18 miles (10% less than the previous week- I needed this!).

It certainly looks like I've gotten slower, but considering I'm also changing my diet, it makes sense. My body is getting used to working on significantly less calories than it had during the holiday season, so it'll take a bit for me to start feeling normal.

This was also my first foray into trying my long run at the end of the week after doing consistent "short" runs, yoga, and rehearsals. I'm starting to consider half marathons I could run - I'm eyeing the Lake Sammamish Half Marathon in March, but it would be on the same day as a show, and I'm just not sure if that's a smart idea at this point.

One of my goals next week is to run with the Seattle Green Lake Running Group just once. Hopefully I'll go to bed early enough to feel rested enough to run at 7am! We shall see!

December Running in Dallas

From mildly cold weather (46-48)...

To really, really nice weather (55-70)..

And back to actually cold weather (37-41)...

Can't Texas make up its mind??

Clearly I'm on a sort of running streak with the end of the year fast approaching. I did the math and figured I can get 600 miles by the end of the year as long as I run 15 miles total by the 1st. If I run 5 miles a day for the next 3 days, I can do it!

Hope everybody had a good Christmas! I sure did!

Givings and NaNoWriMo

Where did we leave off?

Birthday run!

11/19/2014

 

Funny that this run was literally almost the exact same time as the previous one!

Thanksgiving run!

Little did I know that I was training for the 2014 Seattle Half Marathon during these runs... Cliffhanger!

In the meantime, I've been spending a lot of time with family and friends.

I turned 26!

5 days later, so did JW!

We hosted Thanksgiving...

As well as Friendsgiving!

I also won NaNoWriMo and wrote over 50,000 words this month!

Phew! Next I'll be sure to update the decision to run the Seattle Half Marathon on a whim...