Life After Vacation

I've been running again. Oh man, does that feel good. Of course, I'm still in the shoes I wore for the marathon, and my knees are beginning to feel it. I went on a wild shoe chase to find a new pair because the line I'm switching to is impossible to find locally in the color I want.

I'm switching from Kayanos to the GTs for a couple reasons...I'll write about it once the shoes are in!

Don't judge me for being picky about the color; I really think neon makes me feel faster and more confident!

Anyway, because ASICS is probably getting ready to release the new editions of the shoes, I had to order them; they should be here by Monday. I hate running in worn out shoes, so I'm keeping my mileage low.

This week I only ran a total of 8 miles, but I'm already feeling ready to build in more workouts.

I chose a training plan, too, but I need to tweak it a bit. It calls for four 20-milers, and while I do want to run more than one this time around, I really want to taper smarter this year and avoid burnout. I also want to fit more races into the fall...last year I skipped a couple of my favorite races and I think I'll try working them into training this year.

I went with Smart Coach again, but a more rigorous program. I'll talk a bit about my goal time once I get it all in order.

Some days I have no idea how I ever ran a marathon; my runs this week have been so sluggish. I just have to chalk it up to humidity and cut myself some slack.

I bought a gently-used Forerunner 10 from Kim and can't wait to begin using it for intervals and tempo runs. I'm still pretty loyal to Nike+, but I'm excited to have a simple Garmin for speedwork. (If you recall, I have a 440 as well, but it was too complex for me! Matt uses it now for SUP training.)

On the school front, I had my first meeting of the year on the 8th; it was fun to see the leadership team and to take a look at this year's big changes. I'm excited (and a bit nervous) to be going back.

I'll be going in to school this week to start setting up my classroom a little before actual training begins. I got a new Smartboard in my room and can't wait to play around with it!

My new Smartboard!

I got my back-to-school haircut! I wanted to do something drastic with my hair so...I did. I'm still getting used to it but I like it! When my hair is down, like I wear it 80% of the time, it looks totally normal. But...

I think when I go back in to get it trimmed again, I'll get the shaved part tighter to my head. I want it to look like a mohawk haha.

Maybe I should dye the short part...I think dark purple would look awesome.

Do you have a color-preference when it comes to shoes?

Do you like to take risks with your hair, or do you play it safe? I always figure it grows back, so why not play around with it?!

ABK