The Best Day

Amazing days just happen. And today was one of them. Things that made my day awesome:

• My first ever 14 mile run. And I didn't want to collapse at the end.
• The Diet Coke I bought after the run.
• A 3.5ish mile hike on the Natchez Trace at Garrison Creek with three of my best friends.
• Playing cornhole at the Loveless Cafe while waiting for a table.
• Call ahead seating at the Loveless.
• Biscuits at the Loveless.
• Realizing I didn't need to finish my entire meal.
• But it's ok to finish all of my mac and cheese.
• A pit stop at the Kroger solely to get a whistle from the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and realizing they have a game (very similar to cornhole) to win prizes. And we actually did well!
• An amazing yoga class. 
• Pineapple, ham, and jalapeno pizza shared with friends.
• And tomorrow? A much needed rest day.

The Mile: Revisited

This morning marked the 5th Tuesday after the initial one mile time trial for summer speed sessions. I wrote about my first ever sub 7 minute mile here. The South (as well as a lot of the US) has been going through a crazy heat wave right now. I have been dreading the time trial for the past 2 days.

I was fulling anticipating doing worse on this mile time trial than the last. 1.75 mile warm up and before I knew it I was running. I started out a little too fast, but in the end my final time was 6:51. 8 second improvement. In this heat I will more than take it.

In other news, I have completed 5 weeks of my marathon training. I am really doing this.

Bon Iver, Bon Iver

It's July. Do you know what that means? BON IVER at the Ryman.

In case you have been under a rock, the new Bon Iver album, Bon Iver, Bon Iver came out a few weeks ago. It's amazing. It's different from some of his other stuff. And I am in love. Hinnom, TX is one of my favorites.

There is even a phenomenon named after him. Top album without a top 40 single.

Maybe I will even post a concert review in a month or two?

Edit:  My favorite radio station DJ from KEXP, John in the Morning, just started his set with Hinnom, TX. It's going to be a good day!

The Mile

For as long as I can remember I have hated the mile run. Specifically I hated the mile run in gym class when I was younger, 6th and 7th grades to be exact. In 6th grade I made the jump to middle school where we had multiple teachers instead of one main teacher. Gym was no longer fun and games. We actually had to do stuff. Long gone were the days of scooter boards, may poles, hula hoops, the multi colored parachute where you bounced a ball around, Jump Rope for Life, etc. Enter the days of what most overweight kids would call Hell. Mile Days, obstacle course days, having to actually change into gym clothes (and of course I was never lucky enough to land 6th period gym...2nd period both years.) Mrs. Berkler was my 6th grade gym teacher and our mile day was on Tuesdays. I actually liked her, even though she made us record our weekly mile time in our standard issue Ramona Middle School planner. I think my best mile time was about 10:30 that year.

In 7th grade I continued the tradition with gym class during 2nd period, however mile day was moved to Wednesday. I think I cared even less about PE that year because I really didn't like my new PE teacher Mr. Smith. I don't think I ever ran a mile faster than the 10:30 I ran the year before, but I did manage to jump over the wall on the obstacle course, so I viewed that should count for something right?

Ramona Middle School had a 5 minute mile club and a 6 minute mile club.  At the time that wasn't even an aspiration of mine and I thought it was sort of ridiculous. Who would anyone want to run that fast? And then if you did run that fast you got a mile club t-shirt that you could wear instead of the mandatory grey t-shirt with a green box for your name. Not a prize I view as worthy of the effort.

I never made any sort of mile club at Ramona Middle School. And honestly I never thought I would, ever. I hated running and when you are 11 and hate something as much as I hated running, the 5 and 6 minute mile club seemed kind of ridiculous. And honestly, they still kind of do. I think if proper running techniques had been taught instead of "DO THIS" or else you fail mentality, more kids may have enjoyed PE. It took me 17 years to run a timed mile under 7 minutes.

This past Tuesday I ran a timed mile in 6:59. Barely making the 6 minute mile club. I accomplished something I never though I would ever do. Recently it has seemed more attainable, but it has always been just out of reach. Now that I have done it once, I know that the real club isn't the 5 or 6 mile club, but it is the Club of Runners. I have never seen so much support and congratulations as I did last Tuesday from runners and non-runners alike. I was pretty shocked. For all you runners our there, keep doing your thing. Set goals for yourself and as hard as it is not to, compare yourself to no one. We are all running different races.



And in case you have never seen Freaks and Geeks, it is by far one of my favorite TV shows. This gym class scene is a favorite of mine. (My 6th and 7th grade gym uniform looked a lot like the one in the video, except we didn't have ringer tee's.)