I haven't written about running in awhile because...I haven't been running. What started as some necessary time off and LASIK recovery has snowballed into a real slump. I'm playing with the idea of starting a run streak to help reignite my engines.
Last time I participated in the Runner's World Run Streak I felt I got a lot out of it. I don't think I want to go 39 days again, but a week or two of running daily might be just what I need.
The trick to a good run streak is to remember the minimum - one mile - is a perfectly fair run. It fulfills the requirement while allowing for rest and recovery. Last time I streaked, I found my passion for running again, got stronger, got faster, and built confidence. I think that's really what I need right now.
Just because I didn't run once over spring break doesn't mean I was sedentary. We finally undertook the task of painting our house.
Here are some before/after shots!
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| Matt and his dad powerwashed the house Saturday while I recovered from Passover and did some lesson planning. |
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| Before, the house was a washed-out pink with brown gutters and soffits. |
The last time our house was painted was probably in the '70s. We had a hard time choosing a color because, while I like pink houses, Matt was dead set against it. In the end, I thought a reddish-brown would be bold but not overwhelming, and then (after much debate and stress), Matt found the perfect color.
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| You can see the new color beside the original here! |
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| Almost done! |
I've never so much as painted a room before, so I was beyond grateful for Dave's expertise and the additional help from Tammy and her son Justin. We got pretty much the entire house done in one day! (There are a few areas that will need touch-ups and detail-work of course.)
The color is a deep pink/almost red (it's Valspar's Savannah Red if anyone cares), but looks definitively red in certain lights. I love it!
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| I'm really happy to say goodbye to those dated brown gutters, too! |
I feel very accomplished, and the house is one step closer to feeling like our house. (I guess by the time we have everything set up to our liking, it will be time to sell!)
Have you ever painted a house?
What color is your house?
Have you ever participated in a run streak?
ABK
Love the color...what an improvement!!! I've never painted my own house, but we used to stain ours when I was younger...we had cedar siding that required staining every couple of years. Most of the houses in my neighbourhood have vinyl siding.
ReplyDeleteI miss the different types of houses up north...in Florida is pretty much all stucco/cinderblock all the time.
DeleteI love it!!! The color is perfect! It is funny how house styles are different in FL and PA. In PA, a pink house would make ANYONE do a double take. The color you have now would be less of a double take. It looks beautiful. And also, I would read your blog if you never talked about running again. I am INVESTED. :) (no pressure!)
ReplyDeleteWhen we bought our house, it was light blue and UGLY. There was even astro turf on the front stoop which we immediately ripped up. Maybe 2 years after we bought our house some guys were walking around the neighborhood. They knocked on our door and said they painted a house down the street, would we like them to do ours for $1000 bucks. We were like, "Okay!" haha. We picked our colors and we did it all in one day. It wasn't the PERFECT paint job but it was worth what we paid them. The funny thing is I forgot to tell my piano students we painted the house so some of them got lost when they came to their next lesson hahahaa!
Ha, I'm glad to know you're invested ;o) I feel the same way!
DeleteWe played around with blue colors but it was so hard to choose one that would be really perfect. I'm glad we avoided the possible downfall of the wrong light blue haha! That's so funny about your piano students! What color did you change your house to?
Oh - I love that new color!!
ReplyDeleteWe have painted inside many times but not outside. Our current house has cedar siding so just needs to be stained every few years.
I think a natural stain on cedar houses is just so pretty! You don't see many wood houses in Florida.
DeleteI've never done a run streak, but I know a lot of people love them. How long would you streak?
ReplyDeleteLove the house color! I think it pops but not in an ostentatious way. It's crazy to see what a difference a fresh coat of paint makes!
I think I'll do two weeks; I want to get back into the habit of waking up early to run and running consistently.
DeleteThe new color looks great! I do like the white gutters much better, makes it pop!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We don't have much in the way of "accents" so the white gutters really serve as the only pop we have!
DeleteI really like the new color! Congrats on getting it done!! The house we live in (it's a duplex, we live in the upper) is tan-ish colored. But our landords painted the stairwell up to our apartment sky blue with white fluffy clouds. It's priceless seeing people's reactions when they visit for the first time, especially since I'm so used to it I kind of forget it's there before they walk in and don't really know what to say, LOL.
ReplyDeleteI've never done a run streak but I can see how it would be a great thing to keep you motivated and in shape during an "off" season of not having a big race to train for. But since I just love to schedule the crap out of my running life, it's gonna be a long while before I don't have a big race to train for!
OMG, your stairwell sounds SO FUNNY! I was obsessed with skies in high school and when we moved I made my parents paint my ceiling blue with clouds. It was seriously odd.
DeleteI usually take time off races in summer because it's too hot to race safely (for me...I'm very sensitive to heat), so run streaks are a great way for me to keep running without a race to motivate me.
Wow, the house looks great! I was blown away when I saw on instagram that you painted the exterior of your house. I repainted half of the inside of our house when we moved in and I am so over painting! It is such a huge task and I bet the outside is even more difficult. I love the color you chose.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your run streak! I am super intimidated by the idea of doing one, so I'm already impressed.
I think because I've never painted before, it really was fun for me! I'd hate to do it all the time though.
DeleteWow, super impressed that you painted the outside of your house yourself. I guess it makes a difference being one level - I would never consider attempting that. But we have vinyl siding anyways.
ReplyDeleteI do love the color!
And I love reading about whatever you're doing, running or not. So keep writing! How are your eyes feeling now, a week later?
Yeah, I can't imagine painting a two-story house! It definitely helped that it's typical Florida ranch-style.
DeleteMy eyes are feeling really good! A bit dry, but I hardly notice!
Wow! Nice job! You should be available for hire as a painter. The house that I grew up in was orange, and was pretty close to the color of your house now, but a little lighter. My parents recently repainted it, but I haven't seen it since then.
ReplyDeleteRun streaks always scare me. I worry that I'm injury prone and gonna hurt something, but I imagine I could probably go ahead and not worry about that. Good luck!
I find that making sure you definitely run slower some days and only run one mile on some days helps avoid injury, but I know the idea of no rest days is scary!
DeleteYou picked the perfect color, it looks great!
ReplyDeleteI love when houses are colorful - pinks, reds, greens. To me there's just something depressing about driving through a development where all the homes are the same shade of beige/brown.
Our entire neighborhood is beige!! We almost went beige because we had the hardest time finding a good color, but I'm so glad we found a good one...finally!
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