Greetings From New York

I am back in New York visiting my family and enjoying a pseudo vacation. I'm working on a few projects but otherwise I'm free to chillax with Frank and harass my relatives into taking photos of me.

I accidentally had my Fabletics outfits sent to my parents' house. This is the Highway 74 outfit and I love the mesh palm tee shirt and the white sports bra. The Dili shorts are cool because they have little tabs to tighten the sides.

Feeling Trapped and Escaping

When I woke up from my nose surgery, I thought I had been buried alive. My eyes were covered, my nostrils were packed, and they had wrapped me in so many blankets that my mouth was blocked and I was swaddled like a newborn infant. Realizing I was trapped, I let out a bloodcurdling scream that sounded more like a small animal drowning. The subsequent panic attack resulted in a barely tolerable nurse loading up my IV with Xanax over the next four hours because I was apparently upsetting her and other patients. If I hadn't wanted to get out of there so badly, I would have shown her what it really looks like to upset other patients. I once watched my grandmother remove her own IV and beat a nurse with it. It was one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen and I seriously considered paying homage to the small yet vicious woman, may she rest in peace.

I don't do well with being trapped, figuratively or literally. I don't like small spaces, glass enclosures, revolving doors, or particularly long tunnels. I like to know how I am getting out of things. Maybe this is caused by my being trapped in revolving doors twice. Maybe knowing that everything would end on a neat timeline - high school, college, my corps commitment, school years, summer jobs - has made me crave a definitive end to everything. All I know is that I feel trapped and I have felt trapped in New York for too long. I can't wait to say goodbye to studio apartments, the subway, and crowded sidewalks. I am really looking forward to moving to Atlanta. I don't think that I am running away but I certainly see this as my escape. Get out, get moving, don't look back.

To escape my parents' cleaning people, I went for a midday track workout. I warmed up with an 800 m jog and then completed HQ's WOD: 100 m walking lunge, 800 m run, 100 squats for time. Including the time it took me to unlock my phone with sweaty fingers - 11:17.47.

Sunday Funday: Burpee Edition

Today I got up when the alarm went off for the third time, put on my workout clothes, and headed to the track. For those of you whose property values aren't being lowered by the proximity of an eyesore of a middle school, finding a track may be more difficult but there's usually at least one in a town. For my Manhattanite readers, there's a really nice track up at Riverbank State Park in Hamilton Heights.

looking fierce with my medicine ball

the eyesore of a middle school

I decided to do a workout modified from a WOD I saw on the CrossFit Hell's Kitchen website. I briefly entertained the idea of doing pull-ups from the jungle gym until I saw that the school replaced the old set that I was thinking of and there's not really a place to do them on the new one. Excuses excuses.

So I mosied on over to the track on the other side of the school with my 8 lbs medicine ball and liter of water to start my workout.

Workout:

run 1 mile with 8 lbs medicine ball

60 burpees

run 800m with 8 lbs medicine ball

30 burpees

run 400m with 8 lbs medicine ball

15 burpees

Lie in the grass and die

Running with an 8 lbs medicine ball is not easy. The actual WOD had women using a 14 lbs medicine ball, but I don't own one of those so tough luck. I alternated arms each lap around the track and held my iPhone in the other. I'm glad I had my workout playlist to keep me going because it was hot and tiring.

Sixty burpees is harder than running an ultramarathon. That's all I have to say about that.

after the last burpee

that's cool. just leave me for dead.

A soccer team gathered to practice this morning. I think they were a little put off by all the grunting and groaning coming from my side of the field.

yes, I took this from my prostrate position in the grass

Burpees in the grass is a messy business and my shower was covered in clover leaves.

I'm feeling very accomplished for a Sunday morning. Since I'm normally still in bed trying to determine who is lying next to me without waking him up, pretty much anything I do on a Sunday morning is an improvement, but this was a difficult workout and I'm impressed with myself.

Tri-Terrain Independence Run

I'm finally home! (And by home, I mean at my parents' house, duh.) We drove from Independence, Iowa to Chicago, and got in early for our flight... which was delayed. Uh oh. We spent twelve hours en route and about four of those at the Chicago-O'Hare airport.

I woke up around 7:30 to get in a short run before we left for Chicago.
Distance: 3.02 miles
Time: 29:28

1	10:38.7
2	09:24.2
3	09:10.6
0.02	00:15.1

Super conveniently, my grandmother lives right near a middle school that has a trail and a track. Hence today's title: I ran on road, trail, and track and I only ran 3 miles!

Liberty Trail

I distinctly remember the Liberty Trail being longer as a child. One reason might be that I have distorted childhood memories, or the trail has become overgrown and the "path" I imagined I saw through the fallen tree limbs was real. I'm leaning towards the latter.

The bridge was slick but I managed not to slip.

This is my attempt at artistic photography. I was actually really tempted to run down into these people's yard and play with tire swing.

Eventually I ran out of trail, so I turned back and headed over to the West Side School's track. 

Go Mustangs!

I ran around it three times but I was more focused on photo opportunities and the waffles my grandma was going to make for breakfast than my workout.

Does my face look fat?

I found some prairie grasses growing at the school. Obviously this lead me to crouch down next to them and take pictures of myself. Sometimes I think I need help. Like honestly, imagine you are a middle-school aged child headed over to your school's track or playground, and you catch sight of this whacked out 25 year-old in spandex pants hiding in the prairie grass taking pictures of herself.

Where's that wascally wabbit?

Buchanan County has the Prairies to Schools program. To learn more about this program, go here. I promise no prairie grasses were damaged in my photo shoot.

Taking Advantage of the Track

I can't go that many days without exercise. Just can't function without the endorphin rush, and if I'm suffering, everyone I come in contact with suffers too. To avoid spreading feelings of unhappiness, I hit up the university track after work tonight. It was super simple to change into shorts and a t-shirt after my shift. I had stashed my Vibrams in my bag with my change of clothes, and was all set to run by 8:50pm. I decided to run 2 miles on the track before heading home. Everything is great. I've got my iPod, I've got my toe-shoes, I've got some good weekend plans to think about... and then I spot the child on the bicycle. And then I spot her parents. I smile, she's cruising, they're being weird. Now I'm not the only person running on the track. This is a track, mind you. Meant for running. I notice that the family has chosen a lane without a runner, so I go back into my fantasy, and take off. I'm good to go until a snoozefest of a tune comes on, and I go to change it, and the next one sucks too, dear lord, this is my iPod? And then I glance down and there is the toddler literally 8 inches away from my foot. I am going to take her out. I did the only thing I could: I used her as a hurdle.

Dear parents,
I don't run in your kid's playground. Don't let your kids play on my track.
Sincerely,
In Shape Out of Mind