I ran a virtual half marathon last week, sort of. I finally got to see (outside, mostly at a distance over 6 feet), many of my Team in Training friends who I haven’t seen since March. They were running their virtual Disney races. Since I wasn’t signed up for any of those, I didn’t really run a virtual race, but I did run the half distance. But I was a part of the larger fundraising team that had all planned on running races in the last year (that none of us got to run) and that fundraising team has raised $260,000+ so we got “Circle of Heroes” medals that I got after I finished my not Disney not virtual half. (I was a very small portion of that total). But really, it was just so good to see some more people again. I never thought of myself as a huge hugger, but wow, I miss having physical contact with people. So, I didn’t get that there, but just seeing people, in person, meant so much.

Post half distance (so slow lately) The hat I'm wearing was crocheted by Aliphine Tuliamuck the US Women's 2020 Marathon trials winner.

            I’ve gotten nowhere on the job search. I have one more that I plan to apply to over the weekend when I have the brain space to reread the posting and make sure I actually want that job and that I’m doing everything that I need to do when I apply. I am probably overthinking these some of the time. I’m not doing enough networking either, I need to reach out to a few people, but that means figuring out how I want to say what I need to say. After 2 years of all that grad school writing my brain has decided thinking is too hard again. Also the anxiety about making such a huge life change is making it hard.

            Everything feels hard right now. I guess that’s not unusual. My running has felt harder too – I had my annual women’s health appointment today, and since I haven’t had blood work done in a while, I’m getting all of that done. Usually they can do it in office but I was one of the last appointments of the day and the phlebotomist had already gone home for the day when I was done with the rest of my appointment so I had to schedule with an outside lab (or I could have gone back to the office, but the Quest lab is a lot closer to home). I’ve gained weight thanks in part to my desk 3-5 days a week being at the kitchen table, less than 10 feet from the refrigerator. My nutrition education and my final project tell me losing weight in a healthy way is very tricky, especially for runners, but 5-10lbs would probably do me good (if I loose it SLOWLY). So I’m going to work on snacking less, and eating less sweets, things that increased significantly during the pandemic.  

A couple fun pictures from lately -

By the Olympic Rings in St. Louis next the site of the 1904 Stadium (not sure how much of that stadium if any is still there - it is the current stadium/track for Washington University.) Read about that marathon sometime - it is in contention for the worst marathon ever. Maybe I'll write a post about it sometime, that could be fun...

Everyone loves a pet picture. Izzie loves a snack. (I was eating a cookie I think - not something she could have, but the right look earns a cat treat which is even better in her book.)