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24 August 2013

The Next Chapter Begins

I am so happy I survived this week! It sounds melodramatic I know, but that's me. This was my first week of my new job, and it coincided with some intense house-selling stress and some obnoxious (but not too terrible) MS symptoms. But holy shit, I'm still here!

The MS crap started way back in Bozeman, about 2 weeks ago. I got back from a short run one morning and I couldn't move my hand too well. I’ve had fatigue and some mild numbness in my leg on and off since then. It probably didn't help that I wasn't running as much as usual, since I've had trouble finding the time for it with my 60-minute commute and the new job, where I have meetings all day long. I think running keeps things in check for me, which is part of why I do it. The house stress wasn't doing me any favors either, not to mention the stress that I might become incapacitated during my second day at a new job. "I'm fine, really, I just have an incurable degenerative brain disease. No no, don't call 911 - my health insurance hasn't kicked in yet."

The tingling and tiredness lasted a couple of weeks, but I am feeling great now. The first week at the new job went really well. It feels like a good place for me; the work is interesting and the people are very nice. Also, amazing discounts on cool stuff. And as expected, we are loving Seattle. I'm enjoying riding public transit all around the city. Today Maple and I went to the Big Day of Play at Magnusen Park. We saw a dog training demonstration and had mango coconut ice cream, and then missed our bus home and had to wait half an hour for the next bus, in the most adorable neighborhood ever. The trees here are amazing, and I love how few traditional lawns there are here, and how much wildscaping goes on.

[...] Now that I'm on the Oiselle Team, I figured it was time to look the part. I only have four Oiselle items so far, and I love them, but I want some more! So yesterday I did a full-on Oiselle shopping spree. I got half running clothes and half casual stuff, and I'm so excited to show it to you! All four of you! This morning, inspired by the idea of the cool new running stuff that will soon be mine, I did over 5 miles in my new pair of Brooks Ravenna 4s! There's nothing quite like a maiden run. I forgot how much I love those shoes. And I set a personal distance record for the month - this was my longest run since July 28th! That's almost embarrassing. I'm so excited to start training again. I found a nice bike path near my office, so this week I will try running in the mornings before work. And I'm previewing You, Only Faster, which is Greg McMillan's (of the famous McMillan Running Calculator) new book. I'm hoping it speaks to me enough to use it for my next half.

We closed on our MA house yesterday, which feels amazing. Weight = Lifted. It feels like a victory that I made it through the week and I'm going to run MORE THAN SIX MILES tomorrow. Amazing, right?

I'd love to hear what is going well for you! Let's spread some positive vibes.

17 August 2013

Welcome to the West!

We arrived in Seattle on Monday, August 12th. Since then it's been a whirlwind of househunting, sightseeing, resting and stressing, and a tiny bit of running.


When we got to our temporary housing, we were shocked to find this view from our apartment on the 17th floor:


The day after we arrived, I went to Greenlake.


I did an amazing outdoor yoga class with @jasyoga (Yoga for Athletes!), along with some Oiselle peeps, including pro runner Kate Grace.


Photo credit: @oiselle
Afterwards we went back to Oiselle HQ to watch some of Kate's races and celebrate the end of her awesome season.

Photo credit: @sarachan215
Since then we have been buying a house, enjoying our view, periodically stressing, and checking out the city.

I have run a couple of times but mostly I'm resting my fragile little brain in preparation for starting my new job on Monday. Although we're in a great place and things are settling down, I'm still a bit janky from all the excitement.

I can't believe we live here now!

01 August 2013

I Believe I Can Fly

Things are getting pretty exciting around here. We're moving to Washington in FOUR days. We have a whirlwind weekend planned which includes a birthday sleepover, an overnight trip to visit my grandma in upstate New York, my last day of work (tomorrow) and a million little chores to do before we walk out of our house forever, bright and early Monday morning.

Each day I get more and more excited for the move (road trip!), the new job, and the new town. We check Zillow about 17 times a day to see if there are any new houses on the market in our target neighborhood. It's fun. The moroseness I was feeling early last week has faded. I'm moving on.

In running news, I am super excited to announce that I will be running for Oiselle this year! Wowzers. I am so looking forward to meeting the other birds ("oiselle" means "bird" in French). After trawling #oiselleteam on twitter, I feel like I got 100 new sisters today!

I started shopping for races in Seattle, and it's likely that there will be a trail race in my future! I'm planning to focus on shorter races this fall. With all the changes in my life, I'm going to spend fewer hours a week running, but more time doing speed! Work. Speedwork.