K&K and Return to Running

Saturday, my mom threw a graduation party for my sister and I. Even though my sister swears otherwise, I promise I knew nothing of this party until like a week or two before graduation. It was my mom's first time making a facebook event and, despite inviting friends of mine who had since moved across the country, she did pretty well! The food was amazing and I was grateful for an intimate gathering of friends and family since I was still over small talk and crowds from the previous weekend. At some point during catching up/gossiping with everyone poolside, I made Lo get a twitter and found out she now runs!!! We've come so far from our varsity cheerleading days. I promised to do a race with her soon.

Speaking of running, Sunday was supposed to be my return to running after a hiatus during finals. A good friend, Stephanie, from the counseling program was unable to run the 8k she signed up for this weekend so I volunteered to run for her. We did the Christmastown Dash in December together and she joked I would run a better time for her. Ha. She did not know I had not run in almost 3 weeks. Another detail: we did not know the race was on Saturday instead of Sunday which I found out after waking up early on Sunday morning and seeing tweets wishing the half marathoners good luck. While I realized it was probably best that I didn't try to race after not training, I was too stubborn to let a good playlist and my cute new tank top from Wulia go to waste so I logged an easy 6 miles instead.

Awkward 8k Playlist: (awkward because I don't typically run to a lot of acoustic covers)
"Not Ready to Make Nice" -Dixie Chicks
"Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" -U2
"Lover in Japan"(acoustic version) - Coldplay
"Breakdown"-Mae
"Empty House" -Paper Route
"Every Teardrop is a Waterfall"(cover) -Boyce Avenue 
"A Thousand Miles"(cover) -Boyce Avenue
"Rise Above 1" -Reeve Carney ft. Bono, The Edge
"Eyes Open"-Taylor Swift
"Peponi" (African/Piano/Cello cover of Coldplay's Paradise (yes, this exists)) -ThePianoGuy (I've linked to it here in case you are curious: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgovv8jWETM )


I timed it perfectly to look like I was simply cooling down after running the half marathon:) An ambulance headed towards the course also passed me on my run and I realize how glad I was that I had not run the half. Note: I have immense respect for everyone who ran that half this year. It KILLS. Half of the course is on the colonial parkway which is mostly hills and just brutal. (I ran it last year after having mono in February and only having run 8 miles as my max. I was definitely out of commission for like 3 days after.) After saying all of that, Stephanie and I have vowed to both run the half next year in May. And I know she will hold me to this.

Btw, Stephanie blogs here: http://graceandaplum.blogspot.com/. She's highly entertaining, a badass, and an incredible mom.

Missing the 8k on Saturday just made me ever more hungry for my next race now that I have a life again and have realized how out of shape with running I am. I am contemplating the Richmond ColorMeRad 5k in July with Lo and the VA Beach Rock and Roll Half in September (flat course!), but am still shopping around. Once I decide on a race, I'll try to come up with a more concrete training plan, but until then I'm trying to stick to my half hour every other day routine.