Tag Archives: running

Summer Bucket List

5th June 2013

I’m not quite sure what it is, but even post-college, summer still seems to have a sweet aura about it where you can dig up a little extra time in the days and make the most of a great adventure or two.

While we are already a week or so in to my favorite season of the year, I’ve finally compiled my summer bucket list, one which I hope will evolve and result in supporting blog posts to document the tales.

Hike to the cliffs and jump. If you’ve gone tubing down the Chattahoochee before, you’ve seen the jumping cliffs. Fun fact: you can hike there too. Weeknight hikes are quickly becoming my favorite way to cap of a weekday and while ~~hiking~~ scaling the side of a cliff isn’t on my list of favorite things to do, I do seem to get less fearful each time. Plus it’s hot and jumping into the water while we leave our shoes on the cliff just sounds plain fun

~~Learn~~ attempt to learn calligraphy. This one is slightly lofty, but it’s been on my list for quite some time, so what better summer project. I’ve been eying this program, but if anyone knows of a local in-person course, I’d happily take recommendations

Sharpen my media skills. This one is work driven, but I am no pro when it comes to media buying, vendors, etc. As my role requires me to have a fairly in-depth knowledge across channels, this is a good continuation

Buy vegetables from the farmer’s market. I finally made it to the weekly Peachtree Road Farmer’s Market last week and it was lovely. However, picking out greens seemed too overwhelming, I’ll get over this

Make it to Scott’s again. Scott Antique Market gets me every time, and it is Saturday very well spent. DONE: June 8th

Take a trip to the mountains complete with fresh fruit: blueberries, cherries and peaches … oh my. Maybe I can even cheat and get cherries in Michigan during our annual trip in August, I always seem to just miss peak season

Watch more than one sunset from PDK. Another favorite hidden Atlanta gem

Run once a week without a watch to keep pace. This is a big one, the watch is addicting and distracting. I need to spend some time falling back in love with the pavement (or trails)

(On the opposite effect) Run a sub-50 10K. With my recent knee issues, that don’t seem to be letting up, I’m not certain this is realistic, but you better believe I’ll try my darnedest on the Fourth of July

Read real books. I’m on a good path here, with a stack at my bedside and obsessed with this one

Kayak the Hooch. We can add tubing here, that’s bound to happen at least a few times

Make King of Pops a staple (as if it wasn’t already)

Celebrate turning 25 without fear of entering my “mid-twenties”

The Dreaded Runner’s Knee

13th May 2013

Remember that whole resolution to take things a bit slower in 2013? The one that I *thought* I was conquering just a few months ago? I have a confession to make, I’m apparently doing it all wrong. Or so says my body.

Last week, on an otherwise bea-u-ti-ful run through Central Park during a quick business trip to NYC, it hit me, the dreaded, often whispered about pain just to the side of the kneecap, also known as runner’s knee. Until this point, my running career has been largely injury free. I’ve learned how to better take care of my body, train properly and as a result i’ve made it hundreds of miles without too many setbacks.

How could one *not* want to run here?

Then, around mile two, as I floated past Strawberry Fields, someone took a sledgehammer to the outside of my knee, and that all too well known searing pain found its way up my leg. Runner’s knee had finally caught up with me and reared its ugly head.

The cure? (thanks to futile Google searches in hopes of some forgotten treatment), ice. And ibuprofen. And REST. Oh the rest, we’re just not quite on the same page, rest and I.

The good news? Another likely culprit of this little setback is a lack of strength training. While I’d like to tell you that my bottom half is rock solid muscle, it’s not, running does many things for me, and building the right types of muscle is just not one of them. I’ve known for some time that I should be spending more time strengthening my hips, quads and hamstrings, and now I have the perfect excuse.

If an injury is the excuse, The Nike Training Club app is the solution. I’m not much of a gym fan, so in-living room workouts work well for me. The app provides some fantastic workouts for as few as 15 minutes, all targeted to various body parts and brought to you by Nike athletes. Combine this with AirPlay over the Apple TV and it’s almost as if I have a personal trainer in the room with me.

Here are a few of my favorite low-impact exercises so far (all courteous of the ever so lovely Gabby Douglas, who can also be found within the app):

Side planks with leg lifts:

Side leg circles:

Straight leg flutters:

So there you have it, this is the look of my next week and beyond. With a little help from Gabby and others, I’m hoping to be back outside in no time. In the meantime, I’ll be here with my phone and a bag a frozen peas on my leg.

Becoming a Hill Seeker

9th May 2013

A few weeks ago, I completed Nike’s inaugural DC half marathon (you can read more on that adventure here). The city, the atmosphere and the course were a dream: 50s, plenty of eye-catching sights (running past the Lincoln Memorial, yes please), zero humidity and no hills.

I repeat, not a single stinking hill. And boy, was I looking forward to it. Living in Atlanta, I’m not certain in the entirety of my short time as a runner have I ever experienced such a thing for more than a mile or two.

At the starting line I was all smiles.

By mile five I turned to my new running buddy I made at the starting lane to describe just how great this was. I mean, I could breathe!

By mile 10, I hit a wall.

Thanks to the amazing support of my pace group, I didn’t miss much of a beat, but boy did those last three miles kick my butt…and it was flat, and cool, and the air was clear, how could this be happening?

It wasn’t until I ventured out a run once I got home that the common thread hit me.

Those hills? The ones I whined about and said good riddance to? I just might have a love affair with ’em. In fact, I’m sure I do.

But why? Because on a muggy afternoon run through Atlanta, it hit me, life happens on the hills.

I’m a stronger runner because I can conquer the hills. And those same hills that drag me to my core as I’m fighting up them? They carry me graciously back down to earth once I’ve reached the top.

Progress isn’t possible without a little pressure. Good might come from complacency, but in my limited experience, great most certainly does not.

During my first few weeks at Engauge (and in a “real” job period), we were getting ready to pitch a big new client. As I was new to the team and without a ton of client commitments, I jumped in to help with the simple stuff: research, note taking, I was all for any and all of it. On the night before the pitch, we celebrated moving to a new office space with a company party.

As I got ready to head out for the evening around 10pm, I checked in with my boss to see if there was anything left to do. His request, “by the way, be sure to wear something nice tomorrow, you’re going to come with us to pitch.”

Excuse me? Here I was, 22, serving as the note taker and you wanted me to do what? Big hill.

I don’t think I have ever been so nervous to walk into a room in my life.

The best part about the hill is that there is no true preparation. Sure, you can run drills, practice speeches, or put on a really fancy pair of sneakers (or pencil skirt), but when you take a look from the bottom, there it is, ready or not.

I think I ended up presenting one slide that day. It was the first of many “big kid” meetings I’ve had the opportunity to dive into here at Engauge, but still one of my favorites.

It was an opportunity to dive in head first with confidence none my own, but forced to embrace the trust and fervor of everyone around me. And just as those hills will always kick my butt on the way up, they most definitely send me smiling on the way back down and leave me eager to climb my way back to the start.