I have a Radio so I'm basically a Secret Service agent now

Today I'm thinking out loud with Amanda from Running with Spoons!

1. Despite being completely difficult, sluggish, and electronically glitchy, Tuesday's run felt amazing! Elizabeth and I ran the bridge and when we got to our usual 2-mile mark my watch clocked a single mile. I know the route well enough that I wasn't concerned about adjusting it afterward, but losing the data and our splits was frustrating.

I mean...what do I even say? The run was actually 4 miles, only 3 recorded, and the paces are clearly totally wrong.

The weather was overcast and the pre-storm humidity that so epitomizes the tropics in summertime was in overdrive. Basically we slogged through a run we couldn't even properly track...and yet it was awesome.

Of course, it rained as soon as we finished and got in the car to go home!

2. Kids are officially back to school! I spent my first day putting together teacher resource binders and helping with drop off and pick up; it felt really weird not to have students of my own. I love fostering personal relationships with students and I think that's the way to get kids to care about education, but I still think I'll be able to make a difference and feel fulfilled in this new position, too.

Check out my awesome secret service earpiece!

3. Last year, Kristin introduced me to these amazing gluten free "thin mint" cookies, but I could never find them anywhere. Then, they appeared at my parents' house and I happily helped myself, only to go through withdrawal once they were gone. I'm so glad my Publix is finally carrying them!

I honestly don't remember what real Thin Mints taste like, but I think these are softer, fudgier, and a little more plush than the originals with just the perfect hint of mint.

4. This year our school is doing a book study on The Happiness Advantage. I don't really care to wax on about the book itself, but it got me thinking: can we all afford to be more positive, or should we just accept who we are instead of forcing ourselves to change our personalities?

I'm naturally a realist. I border on pessimistic sometimes. I think I can afford to be more positive sometimes, but I also don't think there's anything wrong with the way I am!

5. Speaking of books, I pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and it arrived last Friday. I read it all that night! I plan to reread it to pick up on some nuance, but it was a nice way to end my usual rereading of the series. It's been eight years since I read a new HP book!

I will say that this is not a novel. It's a play; it's meant to be a play. I like reading plays and I think the stage directions in this one are just whimsical enough to give it a little extra literary flair. I liked the storyline but also felt, at times, that it seemed Rowling had listened too intently to fan theories when crafting it.

The wisdom of the Harry Potter world lives on in this installment.

I won't spoil anything major here, of course. But I enjoyed the added maturity that was sometimes missing when our protagonist was a teenage boy, and I'm considering this an enjoyable companion piece to what I will always consider the "original" series. I loved catching up with my favorite characters again and seeing what their lives are like now, 19+ years down the road.

Yes, I'm talking about them like they're real. Deal with it.

6. I've been thoroughly enjoying the Olympics! I can never sleep the first week of school, so I haven't minded staying up late to watch the events. As usual, I'm obsessed with our gymnastics team (and watch with the same intensity as Aly Raisman's parents) and I'm completely loving Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky's continued domination in the pool.

I think some of my motivation to get back on track this week is coming from watching the events in Rio!

Have you been watching the Olympics?
Do you plan to read the newest Harry Potter?
What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?
Are you an optimist, pessimist, or realist?

ABK

Restructuring

There's nothing quite like the panic, stress, and overdrive of a new school year to remind you that you're only human.

New office, new job, familiar faces. These first weeks back were BUSY.

I was so consistent with my speed work and workout schedule from March until July, but over the last two weeks, I've struggled. And once you give in to the struggle, it's hard to get back at it.

Monday, on the drive home from Orlando after a rousing back-to-school conference, Elizabeth and I sketched out what this fall's workout schedule will look like. We have a 10k in October to train for, and I'm playing with the idea of running a half in December or January - I can't believe my "year of short distance" is almost over already! - so it's time to get serious again.

This week's workouts included two morning runs and one treadmill run (because we were traveling). I was impressed that we got up early to run before work this week! It's been storming so badly in the evenings that we really had to.

We got up at 6am Sunday to run before we drove to Orlando; we were dressed and ready to go when we realized it was storming and there was tons of lightning. So we settled for treadmills later that day.

We also did an ab workout Monday.

Starting this week, our plan is to add a fourth day of running to our schedule. We needed to move around cross-training days to accommodate this. Our usual plan as looked like this:

Consistent, but fairly easy.

Now, it will look more like this:

Friday's easy run will be moderate distance, hence the +.

Although summer is only going to get hotter and more humid in the next few weeks, we both know we have to get back into consistent training. I'm disappointed in myself for allowing myself to slack off a bit over the last couple weeks, and I'm worried that some of the major progress I've made with speed will have regressed a bit, but I really needed the time to adjust to being back at work.

I'm also going to try to get back into my blog-reading schedule. I've missed catching up with all of you!

How was your week?

Are you preparing for race season?

How do you balance running and cross-training?

ABK

Just Quickly

Thank you so much for your kind thoughts on my last post. Obviously last week I took a step back from blogging. Matt's Nana's passed Monday morning, and I went back to work full time last week. Needless to say, I didn't have much energy to spare. I didn't run or workout at all; I just let myself coast for a little bit.

Nana was the matriarch of Matt's family. She kept everyone in line and held everyone together. When Matt's parents divorced, she moved in with Matt's dad and helped raise him and Scott.

Matt's favorite picture - him, Scott, and Nana at school.

She's always been a pillar of strength and love for them. She was unconditionally loving; I never felt scrutinized or sized-up when I came into Matt's life, and she made me feel like part of the family with no strings attached.

She was simply a great woman.

Christmas 2015.

So last week was hard and I took it easy.

This week I'm slowly getting back into a routine. I've run in the mornings before work and have been settling into my new job. I'm really enjoying it! I feel ridiculously busy right now but I like that, and I also feel really useful, which is what I was hoping for.

Tonight we have open house, so I'll be at work until 8:30pm, and students start back on August 10. I'm hoping that as the school year gets underway, I'm able to continue a solid running/cross-training/writing routine.

What are you thinking about?

ABK