Booooo for Halloween

There was a time in my life when I looked forward to and planned for Halloween. Actually, there were probably 23 years of that...I'm subtracting the first few years of my life because I'm sure I had no clue what Halloween was, and the last 2 years of my life, when I've grown to hate it. Last year was the beginning of the end...I was dating a real great guy at the time (insert sarcasm) who was 26 years old and acted as though he was 18. I believe we were in a fight about how I wanted to spend it with my new friends, and he wanted no part of that. I ended up boycotting the holiday and staying in. Bad taste in my mouth. Jump to this year...I would like to say that my sense of self and sense of style has changed a bit, as I have come to the realization that less is not always more on my SLIGHTLY less than perfect body and that going out on Halloween is in short, a sh!tshow. When my friend showed me a picture of a costume a group of us were to dress up in, I just could not agree to it. It was low cut (which is actually to my advantage) and very tight (so not to my advantage). I declined the group costume invitation but obviously agreed to go out with them last night for a birthday/ Halloween celebration. I ended up dressing up in all black and said I was mourning the demise of the Florida Gator football team. I don't think anyone got it...surprising, I know. Anyways, I made it to midnight and left the bar of slutty wish-I-had-their-body cats, supermen who only wished they had six packs, and way too many LMFAO group members to walk home alone. Don't worry...I closely followed a group of female crayons back to my apartment so that no one would figure out I was actually alone. Oh the humiliation...

I figured that would be the fate of my Halloween weekend, but at least I tried. What I looked forward to most happened yesterday morning at 8:30 AM, long before the Party Rockers awoke. A few months ago, I signed up for the Monster Dash Half Marathon. It would be my first race since the Boston Marathon and a measuring stick for my training leading up to January's Disney Marathon. Many people dressed up for this as well. I was in the port-potty line behind some Q-tips, and ran next to a leopard and Superwoman for a large majority of the race. Typically, I didn't adorn a costume, but I did sport an orange shirt and my signature knee high socks (w/ the feet cut out) as arm warmers. Usually they look ridic, but yesterday no one noticed them.

My thoughts going into this race: I aimed to break 1:40 without pushing it too hard. I did that 2 years ago leading up to Boston and really aggravated an injury. So I lined up with the 1:40 pace group (7:38 min/ mile). As a side note, I'm a huge advocate of pace groups...they keep me conservative in the early part of the race when I usually get anxious about all the slower people I have to weave in and out of because they don't understand how races work. Usually I end up leaving the pace group at some point because I end up feeling pretty good and convince myself I can go faster to the finish. In short, pace groups help me achieve my signature negative split racing style. It was about 35 degrees at the start, and when the gun went off, I felt like we were sprinting. I didn't really do much of a warm up, and I had a lot of trouble getting into the groove. Couple that with our pace leader who had WAY too much enthusiasm and constantly veered off to high five spectators. I'm all for having fun during races, but I guess I was just NOT in the mood today. I'm assuming he kept our pace pretty even, although there were some points I felt like we were sprinting and others barely shuffling along. Around mile 8, I started feeling a pretty sharp pain in the top of my foot. I told myself that today I probably shouldn't attempt to pick the pace up at the end for fear of a legit injury. I don't know if I tuned out the pain or if it really went away, but at a water stop just before mile 10, I lost the pace group and didn't turn back. I saw the finish line and clock for the 10 mile finishers and saw 1:14 on the clock. At that point, I figured I was pretty close to a PR (1:37:15 is my best time and the time I got injured at 2 years ago), so I might as well keep trucking to the finish. I passed a referee, a girl dressed in some sort of 80s gear, lots of tutus, and a fully suited up Gumby (thank goodness because I would've beat myself up over that one) to finish with a time of 1:37:57 and 11th in my age group. My last 5k was probably slightly better than 23 mins. Of course I would've liked a PR, but I'm certainly pleased with my performance, considering I felt like crap for 10 miles. I also think I'm at a pretty good place 10 weeks out from Disney...

So until I have kids, which my mom tells me will reignite my love for Halloween, I think I've found a new tradition that will get me looking forward to it every year. Who knows, maybe next year I'll wear some cat ears.

About this blogging thing...

It's been a few years since one of my best friends, Kim, first attempted to talk me into creating a blog. My response has always been, number 1 I don't have time, and number 2 I am NOT that interesting. However, recently I've found that my life is unique and intriguing to many of my friends and acquaintances. You see, I have two VERY distinct sets of people in my life. On one side, you have my best friends from college and my home town of St. Petersburg, FL. All of these friends are married (some with children), engaged, or pretty much going down that same path. Of course I am very happy for them, and yes, there are some points in time when I envy them. (Maybe I'll devote I blog to that one day...) Even though these are the people I cherish most in life and know me better than anyone, sometimes I have trouble getting them to understand what my life is like as one of their only "still single" friends. Some say "you are just going to find someone and fall in love so fast", others live vicariously through my sporadic dating life, and I can count on all of them to give me the "you're way too good for him" or "he was such a jerk" speeches when one of my epic "relationships" ends. One of the biggest issues here is that I've always put my career first and haven't really let anyone stand in my way or, probably more often than not, support me along the way. You don't just move from an apartment on the water in Florida to Minneapolis, MN for fun...and that's exactly what I did last year. Then you have the hectic aspect of this career. I travel just about every other week to Wisconsin, Iowa, and of course back to Florida to see my lovely mom and close friends.

Then there are my new friends in Minneapolis. These are the people who are in the same stage of life as me! They are mid-20s to mid-30s, single, professional (except on the weekends and even some week nights). One would think this must be the group I fit into perfectly, and that can certainly be true. There have been make out sessions in parking lots after bar close, people getting kicked out of fine establishments like the VFW, taking body shots at someone's apartment, and obviously playing Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas" at the bar in May. In sum, I have an absolute BLAST with each and every one of them! The problem is, I find that I can't keep up with these friends, and sometimes I really don't want to! You see, I spend my weekdays socializing and talking with clients, and by the end of the day all I want to do is put on my pjs, cook a frozen pizza, and watch The Real Housewives on my couch...alone. On weekends I would rather wake up at 7 AM to go for a long training run or take a spin class than nurse a hangover in bed with the blinds closed. There was a certain point in my life when I got excited to go to the most crowded bar in town filled with douchebags to buy me shots, but sadly, that time has ended. Now, my passion is for running...2 things about me that will never change: my competitive nature and my need to feel a sense of accomplishment. Long distance running allows me to channel both, and I am now at the point (quite recently I might add) where I won't give it up for a couple of extra drinks at the bar...

I used to think I was stuck in the middle of these 2 lifestyles, but more often than not, I'm not even close to being on the same wavelength right now. So maybe my one of my objections is not really true...the trials of balancing a crazy work life, trying to defend my single-status, willingly turning down shots at the bar, and dedicating a lot of my free time to running...all of those ingredients together make for a life that none of my friends have the distinct pleasure of experiencing, and therefore, might be somewhat interesting. Oh, and I got a new MacBook Air which somehow frees up all my time I never had to create a blog. With that being said, below are a few purposes for my blog:

1) Chronicle the interesting tales of my professional life, travel experiences, and recently toned down nights on the town
2) Track my progress as a runner with training updates and race recaps
3) Hopefully provide some humor to others out there as a twenty-something (single) runner...