Catching Up

Please forgive my social media hiatus. I always find Lent to be a good excuse to "disconnect" and find other things to occupy my time, like reading books (got 4 done in 5 weeks!).

In the time I've been absent, I've ran 2 5Ks, kept up with Crossfit, decided I needed to run more, got a tattoo, cut my hair even shorter, freaked out about shorter hair (twice), interviewed for a job in Portland, Oregon, got rejected by said job, took my parents out to a delicious meal for my birthday, visited my wonderful friend Maranda in Springfield, and got super excited about spring.

The running.

My first 5K was a trail 5K with the local Trail Nerds. I just want to say, I love Trail Nerd Events - I'm actually really sad I am just now attending them, when I've known that trail running is the best type of running for me. This 5K was called Mrs. Robinson's Romp and I got another coffee mug (seriously, best race swag ever). I also really enjoyed the 5K. It was a deceptive loop - the kind where you aren't really sure if you are going in a loop because there is a hairpin in part of it. So I thought I was crazy, thinking this was super easy going out and then wondering why there was so much uphill work on the way back. Yeah. They should have called this one the Psycho one.

But I still had fun, as evidenced by the photos I posted on FB. And my parents came out, so it's always fun to have someone cheering in the crowd.

The second 5K was during my trip to Springfield to visit Maranda - it was the first year of this 5K and I'm so glad we did it because the family putting it on was so invested in it being a success. We pre-fueled the evening before with sushi and girly martinis ... delicious, but not the best choice the night before the race. Maranda threw up halfway through the course and I ended up with the worst side stitch I'd ever had, but somehow we ended up with awards (Maranda won!!!! and I got third in my AG). We had a good time, and I was a popular superhero that day.

So my super awesome haircut was also super assymetric and drove me nuts while I worked out because I felt off balance (there was this chunk of hair that would flop around on only one side of my head ... it was annoying). So, I told my awesome stylist Chelsea to go even shorter. And while I looked cute, I ended up in tears. Twice. I called my friend Piper and sobbed "Even Army people are allowed longer hair than this!". Lesson learned. Growing hair back to original short cut. I'm pretty sure Chelsea is going to fire me.

Short hair that made me freak out.

Fine. Fine. I got a tattoo to honor the HUGE awesomeness of last year in general, but mostly everything that came with marathon training. It's my favorite quote, from my favorite book - the last words said by Vito Corleone as he dies in the rose garden in "The Godfather".

And yeah, I got to spend a weekend with my dear friend, Laura, after I interviewed for a job in Portland. I seriously love that city. She calls my visits the 'convince Elizabeth to move here' visits and if anything, she's definitely convinced me I need to visit once a year. And yeah, I wouldn't mind making Portland home, either. But, in due time, in due time.

And since I decided I'm not running enough, I thought signing up for a trail half would provide good motivation. HAHAHAHAHA.
It's now in a little less than 3 weeks and I'm seriously behind in training. Oh well. At least I know I will have fun.