Frank Photos at the End

Lately I have been trying out this novel idea of doing things I enjoy and not doing things I dislike. I sometimes find myself forcing myself to stick to an arbitrary schedule (I only go to yoga one day a week because I have too many other fitnessy things to do!), when in reality, I can cancel a spin class for another yoga class whenever I want. Sometimes I want to spin 5 days in a row. Breaking useless rules I have created myself has been freeing. And it's also made me feel a little silly. Why did I come up with all these restrictions in the first place?

My favorite Dancing Dogs Yoga teacher Zach taught three evening classes last week instead of the usual one. I went to all three of them because I could. That's me on the right with the pink sports bra in fish pose. I'm feeling a whole lot more flexy this week. I went to the Friday night Power Beats class for the first time and it was weird to hear music while doing yoga but I didn't hate it. I found it much harder to be present and my mind kept wandering. The playlist was [insert fire emoji].

Yesterday we took the dogs to Sweetwater Creek State Park for the first time and hiked the 3 mile yellow trail. Daisy Mae was a real trooper and only needed carrying up one hill. Dachshunds are much heartier animals than many give them credit, and a dachshund mix like Frank can handle even more exercise. 

My friend Jamie from Rukus has inspired me to start doubling up my spin classes. She doubles all the time and still comes in first place during her second class. It makes more sense for me to double because it allows me to attend my class goal (4 classes a week) in fewer days since I am capable of two 45 minute spin classes. This frees me up for more yoga (see above.)

With the Open finally almost over, I felt comfortable going back to CrossFit. I took my first regular weekday CrossFit class and did a normal WOD for the first time in months. I was able to run, doubleunder, burpee, and deadlift pain free. While I did have to scale the deadlift weight from 155# to 105#, my form looked pretty damn good, even at the end of the workout. I'm looking to go to CrossFit once a week for a bit and get my fitness back. I got Fran cough 4 minutes into a 27 minute WOD. I am a shell of my former self. [insert crying emoji | insert laughing tears emoji]

Frank is extremely photogenic and open to modeling work. Please DM for details.

If You're Happy and You Know It, Touch Your Toes

I took for granted being able to touch my toes until I couldn't touch them anymore. Baptiste yoga has a lot of sun salutations and I got quite familiar with my shins. There was very little difference between my forward fold and my half forward fold, but at least I was able to show up to yoga class.

My precalculus class conflicted with my Monday night yoga class at Dancing Dogs Yoga, but last night I was able to return for Zach's class. His class is my favorite. Miracle of miracles, I could touch my toes. I could forward fold and touch the mat. I could jump back into plank for chaturanga. I was even able to flip my dog and hold a side plank. And then I did a wheel.

Maybe my consistent hard work and dedication to healing has paid off. Maybe it was my new cork B Mat yoga mat. It gets grippy when you sweat on it, making it perfect for sweaty hot yoga.

I don't think my back is magically cured. I still feel it several times a day and I make sure to ice it before bed. I've started to sleep with a pillow between my knees because I am a side-sleeper and I've noticed a difference in my posture since I started doing that. Regular movement from walking to class, spinning at Rukus, and yin yoga has been helpful. I started Be Better group training with Sarah Furman last week and we are focusing on our posterior chain. Taking time off from lifting was needed but I think just 2 days a week has already been beneficial.

New yoga mat feels.

Dancing Dogs Yoga now has yin yoga on Sundays with Alex. I highly recommend Alex's class because I love yin yoga and she's a lot of fun to be around. Yin yoga has you hold poses for 2+ minutes with the assistance of props. I find lying on a bolster in half pigeon to be a great way to cap off a weekend, and it doesn't hurt that I usually head over to Superica for a margarita on the way home.

Dancing Dogs Yoga

This summer I have enjoyed going to Dancing Dogs Yoga, a Baptiste yoga affiliate studio located on the Beltline at Studioplex Alley. A few years ago, I was on a business trip in Saratoga Springs and the meeting ran over (what's new), forcing me to miss my Bikram yoga class. The studio offered to let me attend the Baptiste class instead and I fell in love with the practice. Now I live a 10 minute walk away from a fantastic Baptiste studio and I'm pretty sure it was meant to be.

I started off by signing up for the unlimited intro month and then signed up for the Yoga 101 series. I HIGHLY recommend taking this workshop. It meets every Wednesday night for five weeks. Steffi breaks down the components of the practice and teaches you so much in such a short amount of time. I think it's helpful for anyone interested in Baptiste yoga, even if you've been practicing for a minute. So many things clicked for me for the first time during those sessions. You can get the series plus unlimited yoga for $75, or $50 for just the series.

Today was the first day I was in the studio since July. Even though I woke up feeling stiff with a sore back (possibly because I fell asleep on the couch binge watching Veronica Mars season 3 yesterday), I realized that I had so much more strength and mobility now than I did in June and early July. This gives me so much hope that I am finally on the right track for a full recovery.

School starts on August 26 and I plan to attend DDY every Monday evening. My favorite instructor Zach teaches the Monday 7:45 PM class. Other teachers I really enjoy include Shelley, Shannen, and Steffi.

DDY offers both class packs and memberships. You get a significant discount if you join before your intro month or Yoga 101 ends. I bought a 20 class pack at 20%, giving me a $60 savings.

A Grey Run

Today I decided to go for a run after church. I figured a quick jaunt down the Beltline would get me the steps I needed to complete my weekly Pact, and perhaps I could convince the boyfriend to leave his cave apartment for food. He and I came down with terrible colds. Thankfully I appear to getting well faster.

Run, run, stop for coffee at Inman Perk. 

The patient was somewhat better and agreed to go to Ladybird for lunch. It's no Waffle House, but the food is pretty good. I tried to drink a glass of pinot grigio and didn't even want it. Send help because I'm clearly dying.

The boyfriend let me borrow his coat for my walk home. No way was I running after that brisket potato chorizo hash egg scramble. I enjoyed a leisurely stroll and took some photos, including this accidental shot of my face.

There's new art everywhere.

Paris on Ponce never disappoints. This is no filter. Grey day, pink ombre paint job, random gorilla in front of the Eiffel Tower. 

CrossFit Open 17.1

The Open is here! It's the magical time of the year when the community comes together for 5 weeks of anxiety, PRs, vomiting, and a general hate for Dave Castro. I am so fucking excited.

All I want is an Open season where I don't have to travel for work at all. Unfortunately February/March tends to be my busy travel season. I thought I had planned my travel perfectly so that I would fly back every Thursday night in time for Friday Night Lights, but God laughs at our perfectly made plans. Last week I was in Houston and found out that I would need to fly to Iowa on Thursday to attend my grandmother's funeral on Friday. I'm sad. She was a fantastic lady, and I will miss her very much. My poor boyfriend has bore the brunt of my sadness and associated nastiness because I'm a jerk who can't let people be nice to me. And because I am neurotic as all hell, I decided to become obsessed with pinning down exactly when and where I would do the 17.1 workout since I'd be freezing my ass off in Iowa while all my friends were at CrossFit Identity's Friday Night Lights.

All the fretting was senseless because I went with the boyfriend to CrossFit Downtown Atlanta on Sunday morning and everything was great. Coach Michael got us all set up. Coach Brian was my judge. The boyfriend and I got to compete at the same time, which meant I wasn't available to judge him or cheer for him and he didn't have to throw a 50# dumbbell at my head. (We actually really like each other. I promise.) All great things.

Coach Brian and me post-WOD

Dekalb Farmers Market

Clint E. left a Yelp review for the Dekalb Farmers Market warning visitors to take a Xanax before they came inside. I thought he was kidding, but upon entering the place for the first time, I immediately wish that I had taken something. It's not like there's not enough Xanax lying around my place.

Clint E. was also right when he said the anxiety-fueled nightmare that is the Dekalb Farmers Market is definitely worth every stressful minute.

That guy that I've been seeing and I have started a new tradition where he calls to wake me up at whatever ungodly hour he arrives in Atlanta, we then enjoy delicious breakfast burritos at Gato, and then we go to the Dekalb Farmers Market. I know we haven't been seeing each other for very long, but I'm pretty sure that surviving a crowded market filled with 19 different kinds of radishes and some potentially illegal seafood items together without screaming or threatening one another with bodily harm is a good indication that we might actually get along. I always ask if anyone in Atlanta works and then I remember that he and I manage to go there at 11 AM on a Friday but his work schedule is weird and mine is flexible. I always drive because 1. my car has a roof and doors, and 2. I am somehow the better driver. (This is very concerning.)

Meal prep feels fantastic when you can buy a bajillion items of fresh produce and the only decent looking scallops I've seen in Atlanta for under $50. I managed to spend $80 the other day only because I bought enough fruit to make fruit salad for 20 people. It was for a picnic in the park because it's been 72 degrees in Atlanta for about a week.

I've been there thrice so I'm no expert, but this is what I've learned:

1. Get a cart in the parking lot.
2. Don't go hungry.
3. Agree upon a pre-decided meeting spot for when one of you gets lost.
4. Devise a strategy to make it to every aisle while one person mans the buggy.
5. Make sure there's cash on your debit card because they don't accept credit cards.
6. Don't expect the cashiers or the other patrons to find your witty banter amusing. Apparently asking who someone is and why his items are in your cart is not as funny to others.
7. Photography is prohibited.

Literally moments later, I was being chased down by an employee and told I had to put away my phone.

[solidcore] with Pepper!

One of my favorite CrossFit friends, Allison Pepper, is coaching at the new [solidcore] in Midtown Atlanta. It hasn't officially opened yet, but they have been offering free mock classes. There's still time to sign up.

I went to Pepper's 7 AM class on Wednesday. [solidcore] is located at 915 West Peachtree on the same block as the Alta and right next to the Wich Wich. I couldn't figure out what parking deck they referred to (maybe the Alta's parking garage?), so I just parked in a metered spot outside of Marlow's Tavern.

I woke up feeling puffy and bloated, so I took a photo of it to document that this is normal. I'm not going to be my leanest every day of the month. In other good news, you don't have to wear socks or cover your mid-drift for [solidcore]. It was cold so I did put a shirt on, but I didn't have to and that's what matters.

Hotlanta Half 2016

I ran the Hotlanta Half on Sunday, June 13 and the photos are finally ready (and then I forgot to post finish this post for a while, so the photos were actually ready back in June.) The event has free race photos - yes, I said FREE race photos. How awesome is that?

I tried not to freak myself out about this race. One, I wanted it to be fun. Two, I signed up because I needed to prove to myself that I could do some long runs for the Marine Corps Marathon. So I kept telling myself it was just an expensive long run with hydration stations and 1,600 of my closest friends.

I woke up on Saturday viciously hungover and dragged my ass to CrossFit to sweat it out. I had a great partner workout with Dave (I've been trying to get him to be my best friend for months), but there was rowing, doubleunders, over the rower burpees, and thrusters. All things that would catch up to me on Sunday. I had drunkenly slept through my 5K the previous weekend so riding the struggle bus on Saturday was actually clutch for my pre-race preparation. The boyfriend and I adulted the rest of the day and then I cooked the shrimp in my refrigerator because it was going to go bad and ate a bunch of sourdough rolls. It wasn't my usual pre-race dinner of buffalo wings, but it wasn't bad. I was in bed by 10 PM.

It's Sunday morning and I'm out of bed by 5 AM. I walk the dogs, make some toast, and cover one piece with Earth Balance creamy coconut and peanut butter spread and the other with some Kerrygold butter and fig spread. I decided to take an Uber to the race and conveniently one of my neighbors was coming home at 6:15 in the morning so I snagged his driver.

The race was super easy to get to down at Pemberton Place by World of Coke and the aquarium. I arrived, walked my ass over to bag check, and took my shirt off. I was ready to roll! Unfortunately the porta potties didn't arrive in time and the line for the real bathroom was a bajillion people long. I decided to line up and hope I'd find a restroom along the way.

I took this photo instead of standing in line to pee.

First Long Run in About 2 Years

I signed up to run a Hotlanta Half course preview last Saturday. I figured it was a great way to get myself to complete a long run. I got a little nervous as Saturday approached; I hadn't run 10 miles since I completed my last half marathon on November 8, 2014.

So I wake up at 5:45 AM on Saturday in an attempt to kind of recreate race day conditions. I needed to leave the house between 6:45 AM and 7 AM to make it to Big Peach Running Co. on time. Back before I had two dogs, I would have been able to wake up at 6:40 AM and make it out the door on time. Now I dragging two dachshunds around in the dark asking them to go potty. After the troops were pooped, fed, and watered, I ate some raspberries and drank a protein shake. Then I neurotically peed a few times and headed on my way.

The Big Peach's midtown location is 1.8 miles away from my house. I ran/jogged/walked over there and sadly my GPS didn't pick up. I didn't realize I didn't connect to the satellites until a mile into the group run. We started and ended in the same location, but Garmin shows the start as somewhere near Georgia Tech's campus. The nice thing about the Garmin Forerunner 630 is that it continues to track your mileage without the GPS, unlike my 305. I lost so many miles to that damn thing.

Atlanta Dogwood Festival Mimosa 5K

The boyfriend and I ran a 5K a couple of weekends ago. We'd been talking about running a race together and chose the Atlanta Dogwood Festival Mimosa 5K because of it's location. We live right near Piedmont Park so it was super easy to walk to the starting line.

That 8 AM start time kind of sucked. It's been pretty warm in Atlanta this month but the high for April 9 was 62 degrees. It was like 40 degrees when we woke up. Even though it was cold, I decided to wear my brown Oiselle Roga shorts. I love these running shorts and I got them for a sick discount because apparently no one but me wants poop brown shorts. Last summer, I went to our local running store to try a pair on and I had to size up from the size 6 because they were too small for my booty. I bought the size 8 but had to tie them tight around the waist. Now that I've lost weight, the waistband is getting too large and I might have to accept that Roga shorts aren't made for runners with small waists and large bums. I completed the outfit with a Fabletics long-sleeved tech top and my Saucony racing flats.

Pure Barre

I tried Pure Barre this summer and liked it so much that I bought some class packs and continue to go. I think it complements CrossFit training and has improved my core strength immensely. There's also just some days where I'm looking for low-impact and a lower heart rate, and Pure Barre fits that bill.

My family came down to visit me for my birthday in August. My mom, sister, and I celebrated with a class at Pure Barre together. Recently one of the instructors commented on how good they were so clearly they left an impression.

I don't know how she gets up on her toes like that, but I am impressed.

I took this photo last summer back before I was allowed to go to Pure Barre with them, mostly because they were afraid I might embarrass them. That's why I practiced very hard. I still refuse to wear long sleeves and bootcut jazz pants though, no matter if it's a requirement of their club.

My mom and I went to Pure Barre Huntington together when I was back in New York. These are her special 100 Club socks that she received for completing her 100th class. I really want a pair.

Remember Pure Barre Bingo?

And this is a photo of my sister and me at Kevin Rathbun Steak for my birthday dinner.

Sunday Run

Frank and I flew back to Atlanta yesterday and got home a little before 2 PM. It was good to be back home and we spent some quality time on the couch. I knew I wasn't going to hit my step goal by lying on the couch and was facing a $10 fee for my Pact app if I didn't get moving, so I went for a quick run on the Beltline at 6 PM. The nice thing about living this far west is that the sun still sets at 7 PM this late into the fall.

Atlanta, I love you.

A Fantastic Week

So last Thursday I went on a date with this guy I met on Tinder. I'm terrible at dating because if given too much time (aka any more than 20 minutes from the start of the date), I start coming up with excuses not to go. It was raining, and I was tired from work, and I was hungry and we were supposed to have drinks and then I was trying to eat while simultaneously putting on makeup, and I was totally going to bail. I am so incredibly happy that I did not. We had the best time. And one week later, we've had six dates.

Thoughts on Love During a Long Run

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (Corinthians 13:4-7)

Today I ran the long run I skipped last Friday in favor of watching The Young and the Restless in bed with my dog. Spectacular idea at the time and I felt pretty good on my run today. I had 8 miles to cover before my Pure Barre class at noon. I left a little bit after 9:30 AM and headed south on the Eastside Beltline Trail.

I had to run 4 more miles after the Beltline so I hit up Piedmont Park

Virginia Highlands Running Club

This morning I woke up so excited about running and training for my marathon. I haven't been this psyched in a long time - probably since I started training for New York City in 2011.

While I was in Orlando last week, I went for my first run since I was attacked. (Thank you Samantha and Audrey for catching how my original sentence said that I was attacked in Orlando.) I was with two of our new teachers. I went for my first solo run and first run back in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon. I ran into my friend Doug from the Virginia Highlands Running Club and I really appreciated his kind words. I promised myself that I'd go to run club on Wednesday evening, no matter what. It starts at 7 PM giving me ample time to talk myself out of it, but I went!

Not Even Flywheel Could Help Me

Sunday morning I awoke with the distinct searing pain in and between my eyes that can only mean one thing - I stayed out way too late showing off my impressive endearing straight up terrifying ability to chug Fireball interspersed with the occasional tequila shot. Guess what Atlanta? I found my people. So help me God.

The reason I woke up was the screaming alarm on my phone announcing that it was time to go to Flywheel. During my drunken bedtime routine, I laid out my spin clothes and my shoes, so clearly I really wanted to go. This is like that one time when I woke up wearing my gym clothes because I was afraid I'd oversleep for the Holley Mangold seminar. What can I say? I'm special.

So I'm dressed, I get in the car, and I consult the park instructions that I saved in my calendar invite. Midtown one-way streets and random ass parking entrances confuse the beejezus out of me so I reached out to the Flywheel Midtown team and received a detailed email back. I realized that the street I thought went right actually only went left (not while I was on it, I realized this as I drove down 10th Street, thank God), completely throwing off my understanding of the directions. I turned around 4 times, and then finally said fuck it when I got concerned that I'd be late and told I couldn't go to class. I parked in a residential building parking structure in the visitor spot and I am in no way sorry. Who is visiting at 10:30 in the morning on a Sunday who isn't there from the night before?

Intervals on the Active Oval

I woke up on Sunday and couldn't lift my arm. If it didn't hurt so badly, I would have thought I was paralyzed. It turns out that I did something to my rotator cuff when I reached behind my driver's seat looking for my pocketbook the day before. Yup, I have injured myself through my own laziness because I wouldn't get out of the car to look for my purse. I blame my passengers for forcing my pocketbook to relocate to the backseat floor in the first place.

On Monday I woke up in excruciating pain. I managed to dress myself and get to CVS for Icy Hot patches and Advil. I really wanted to make it to CrossFit that evening because the WOD was everything I like: clean and jerks, cleans, shoulder to overheads, doubleunders, wallballs (eh maybe not wallballs), but my arm just didn't feel right. I decided to get over to the Active Oval and complete the interval run from my half marathon training plan that I have been putting off for weeks.

I ran from my apartment to the Active Oval and that conveniently took care of my 1 mile warm up. Then I ran fast for 30 seconds and recovered for 60 seconds sixteen times. I'll be honest, some of those 1 minute recovery jogs were more like stumbling around like a drunk walks. Most of my 30 second runs were at 7:09 or 6:15 pace. Once was an outlier at 8:20 but that was when the timer went off in the middle of me chugging water from my almost empty bottle. It was pitiful looking. Georgia is hot.

A Long Run for Half Marathon Training

Long runs are pretty critical for any long(er) distance race. I used to run and race so often that I didn't really bother with them. I signed up for the Area 13.1 Half Marathon in November under the condition that I would train for it. I have a training plan that I loosely follow, but I haven't been that great about the long runs. I did my first long run in a very long time on Monday, July 14.

I gave myself 2 hours to run 10 miles. As you can see above, I reached that goal.

Day 1 of Half Marathon Training

Today I trained twice - CrossFit in the morning and running in the evening. I even looked forward to running after work. I found a plan on the half marathon website that was made by a running coach who has a L1 cert and therefore is trustworthy. The plan includes CrossFit twice a week, but since that's not enough to feed my addiction, I played around with it and some days I have two workouts. The plan called for a 45 minute easy run and that's about a 9 minute mile for me if I'm really taking it easy.

super excited to go run around in the humidity instead of going to bed

I ran 20 minutes along the Beltline and turned around when I hit another road. I then ran back and into Piedmont Park. A ton of porta-potties are all lined up. I'm not sure if they're for the Peachtree Road Race on Friday or leftover from today's giant USA soccer party.

Atlanta Pride Run 2014

Yesterday I ran the 2014 Atlanta Pride Run and Walk 5K. It was my first 5K race in 2014 and the only short distance I've raced since the Oyster Bay Thanksgiving Turkey Trot. I came in first in my age group and in 6th for women. My time was 23:41.20, not my fastest 5K time by any means, but it was hot, there were a lot of hills, and everyone was talking about how slowly they ran (even the sub-20 finishers.) I'm feeling good about my time. Even while I was running the race, I thought about how I needed to reset my expectations because I have never raced in Atlanta before.

The race was held in Piedmont Park and I live right there so I walked over. I was hoping there would be baggage check so I didn't have to run with my iPhone and keys but I was out of luck. I imagine baggage check is unnecessary when most participants drive to the race. Thankfully I had thought to wear my iFitness running belt.