Let’s start with the business side of things, shall we?
Run
My amazing new employer has a “policy” that understands and believes employees should not be at at the office just for the sake of being at the office. And because of this, my work day was a jam packed 745 – about 12:30, when I was released. Awesome. I know that things will get busy, and I will be full of 10 hour days, but having such a flexible mentality has already made me want to be that much more productive with my time.
I digress. Because I was off so early, I was able to tackle a mid afternoon run well before I had planned.
I’ve been in a bit of a Sloan’s Lake run-rut lately, so I decided to switch up my route this afternoon and do a bit of a lap mentality ending on a hill. I knew I didn’t want the distance to be too long, thanks to taper week, but still wanted to get the most out of the run.
I ended up with about 3.55 miles of flowered side walks that were obviously starting to reach their last blooms. A real reminder that Labor Day is in fact this weekend, and the Summer really is wrapping up. Talk about “real talk.”
{And because I’m psycho, of course I G-mapped that baby. I had to know exactly how far I ran}.
Once again, I was fueled and paced by the wonderful Ms. Britney Spears through the entire run. What can I say, her songs are freaking catchy. I know the construction workers around my neighborhood loved my upper body dance moves as I ran {More real talk, don’t judge}.
Let’s Talk About This Relay
So — while I’ve briefly mentioned it on multiple occasions here on the ol’ blog, I haven’t gone into too much detail about the relay that I am running this weekend with my hubby and some of my best friends from back home {shout out Zoe :)}
The six of us will be running the St Louis KT82 trail relay race that runs from Creve Coeur Park to Hermann, Missouri. Hence the name, 82 miles on the Katy trails of St Louis.
I.Am.Terrified.
You guys let’s be honest, running does not come easy to me. Especially since moving here to the high elevation of Colorado. Do I love it, abso-freakin-lutely — but it isn’t easy and I get pretty serious anxiety around races. Add the whole element of something TOTALLY new for me, and you get a recipe for freaked out Ashley.
{do I looked freaked out, or just pissed?}
Between buying our first home and completely changing jobs, this Summer has come and gone without much of a warning, which means training has also come and gone.
In June, Zach and I were running 8-10 mile long runs on the reg. Somewhere along the interviews and house visits, those long runs became 5-6.
And now, I’m facing a race this weekend that involves me running three 4 + mile legs in a day. Yup, scary.
But today I’m switching my tone
Do I know this race is going to be tough as hell? Yes. But have I ever had an experience like t his in my life where I am going to be able to spend an entire day laughing it up and doing what I love with five of my closest friends? NO. And that makes this whole experience awesome, no matter the outcome.
Reality is, Zach and I have been busy but we HAVE trained. And trained hard. What I need to do now is respect the taper {which is killing me} and trust that this race is going to be a blast. And that the mix of runners like myself and the speedy runners like my hubby on the team, we help so that we won’t have a problem hitting the 1030 pace limit.
And that, my friends, is my real talk for the afternoon. And now it’s time to enjoy my carrot smoothie and do some reading.
Ever run a relay?
Do you get race or running anxiety?
Chocolate Covered Race Medals 