I love the 90s

Sometimes I have plans with my friends that I am really excited about, but that are also sound really strange to other people. Like the time we celebrated New Year's Eve in the middle of February.

We called it New Year's Eve 2K7.2

Last night was another one of those times. We went over to our friends Carolyn and John's house to watch a bunch of home movies from Carolyn's childhood that had been converted into DVD. Sounds freakishly boring, but it was hilarious. We used to watch them when we lived together, so this was actually something we'd really been looking forward to.

I love the 90s. So much neon.

We ordered takeout, wore pajamas, and drank wine. Combining drinking with friends and wearing pajamas is the secret to my everlasting happiness. 


I got to combine that with my absolute favorite ending to a night, even: going to bed without setting an alarm. Is there any better feeling than going to sleep and knowing you can sleep as long as you want and no rude alarm clock is going to be screeching at you approximately four hours before you actually want to wake up? Around 9 I rolled over, started the coffee, and laid in bed alternating reading and falling back asleep for a little while. This is why I need to figure out how to be independently wealthy. 

The book I'm reading now. Ok, not the  greatest. I'll take recommendations.

Today is a rest day (and as we all know, I take the "rest" part extremely seriously) because tomorrow is a race day. Kara posted yesterday about the half marathon we are running together tomorrow. To sum it up, the plan is to run fast, the goal is to get a good time. I'd love to PR, my last half mary PR seemed to nearly kill me, so we'll see.


The good news is I'm pretty much guaranteed to PR over my time in this race last year. About half the race entrants didn't show up after getting an email from the race director basically stating "the course is under 6 inches of snow and ice, run the race at your own risk, and don't say we didn't warn you".

When your time is ridiculous, you may as well stop for a photo op.

Why waste money on "adventure races" when you can just wait for a regular race after a blizzard?

Tomorrow's forecast is sunny with a high of 48, so I think I should be able to run a tad faster. My usual race plan with Kara is just to stay with her (she's a fantastic pacer), whine for a bit about the pace, then just give up and accept it and be happy with my time when the it's all over. Celine is coming with me, though.


Friday morning I went to spin class (any triathletes read my blog and want to comment on whether or not that is actually at all helpful in training?). For years, I went to this spin class at my old gym downtown that I was totally obsessed with. It was so hard it would DESTROY me every week, but the music was fantastic and the instructor was so motivating (ok, I had a huge girl crush on her) that it also somehow flew by. I'm not even joking that giving this class up was one of the first "cons" I brought up when Eric suggested moving to a cheaper area to save money. I miss it so much now after writing that.


Spin class at the YMCA is the poor man's equivalent. I can compare it to a bowl of grapes vs. a brownie sundae for dessert. It had decent music, it was a pretty good workout, and it was over in 43 minutes. So short, so sad. 


Since I was done at 6:30 am, I decided to get a few miles in. I wanted to run outside since it was 50 degrees, but I had brought all this stuff with me to the gym, and it seemed like a pain in the ass to bring it all home first, so I just hopped on the treadmill. In writing that last sentence, I realized I could have just left all my stuff at the gym and got it after running, but that's my brain at 6:30 am before coffee. 


Amazing the difference "warming up" with spin class made. Usually I hit the pavement about ten minutes after my alarm goes off, and a 9:30 pace feels like a sprint. On the nice, flat treadmill yesterday, an 8:30 pace almost seemed too easy. I did three miles at an average pace of 8:13. I felt fantastic, even though the boredom of the treadmill still horrifies me. I would have kept going, but, as stated above, the lady of leisure lifestyle still eludes me, and I got bills to pay, so I had to go to work. 


I really need that "8:30 is so easy!" feeling to return and stay with me for all 13.1 miles tomorrow.






What's the weirdest way you and your friends have spent time together? I could really go on and on about mine.