Washington Trip – 2nd Half – Laughing Until Your Cheeks Hurt!

Finally getting around to posting about the second half of my trip!

Wednesday during the day I had time to myself which I was thankful for after a long day of travel/shadowing/catching up on Tuesday.  I found an Anytime Fitness near Jeri’s house and spent some quality time there on the elliptical (such a shame when it was 55 degrees out!), 30 minutes of strength work, and stretching.  It is SO nice to be able to find an Anytime Fitness literally anywhere and be able to access it vs. some of the crazy Lifetime memberships where there are different tiers and if you want to visit a club in a different tier or different geographic location it’s a different membership price.  Anytime is just simple.  Plus, this one was super nice!

If you’ve been thinking about a membership, you should message me.  I think if I refer someone in early May you get some sort of special pricing/one month free – so let me know!

I ran down to the Market late that day to check it out and meet Jeri after work.  I was pumped the ankle seemed to handle it pretty well and also pumped to check out the place.  It made me want to change my grocery buying habits and just buy fresh for the day!  I wonder if I could  do it… I think I could, I would just have to be okay spending more time on meal planning and spending more $$ on food in general (since now I buy only what is on sale & then stock up).  Has anyone here ever experimented with buying food just for the day?  Curious to see your thoughts – pros/cons.

After finding Jeri we bought food for the evening.  Fresh pasta (I had never had this before!) with organic sauce, mushrooms, and onions.  Yumm :).  Oh, and a bottle of wine.  We met up with Rachel, another of my best friends from high school and just chatted – the ENTIRE evening.  It was so much fun, and there was never a lull in the conversation.  Gotta love that about best friends – after not seeing each other in years (it had probably been 8+ years since I had seen Rachel), you can jump back into things like you were never away :).

I spent Wednesday night at Rachel’s so I was closer to my Thursday activities.  Rachel also was nice enough to lend me her car to help make my day possible.  Thursday morning I ran 11 miles (YEAH!! Ankle was great! Swelling down, no more discoloration, and only a little tightness in the soleus/ankle).  It was such a liberating run.  Also, nice to run in shorts and a light long sleeve and appreciate the green grass all around :).

Then, it was off to Brooks Headquarters.  The head of their social media department was available to show me around.  So glad I was able to see their building! Made me want to buy a ton more Brooks things – they have so many fun shoes and clothes laying EVERYWHERE!  Gosh… it would be fun to work for them.  Wait… guess I already do :).

Then I took off for Seattle Pacific University for my second coaching shadowing opportunity.  SPU has a long history of women’s XC and track success.  Part of that is that they were coached by Doris Brown-Heritage for the longest time.  She is an absolute legend in the women’s running world, having set 5 world records.  She is also regarded as a pioneer in women’s running/coaching.  My goal was to find out how they’ve been able to continue that success.  Erika Daligcon now coaches the men’s and women’s teams (how lucky was I to find TWO women coaching mens and womens combined teams? There aren’t that many women across the country that do – believe me, I have a list :)).  She is so gentle with her coaching style as compared to Tricia at Seattle University.  Nothing bad or good about either style, just interesting how different each was!  SPU believes in lower mileage, higher quality workouts (many more up-tempo days).

I was invited to run with the team as they had an easy run.  Turns out, that meant 8 miles… so 19 total for the day.  Hmm.  Good thing the ankle felt great – guess this was a great test for it!  We did 8 minutes inside of those 8 miles as “diagonals”, running FAST for about 150 meters diagonally on a football field.  It felt good to move quick and I was impressed to be able to keep up with their speedy women :).  Not bad for these old bones, have to say!

Then back to Rachel’s for one last night out.  Except on the highway my phone dies… which I was relying on for GPS directions.  Oh, crap.  Ever had that? Worst feeling ever… especially when you’re somewhere new and have no idea where you’re at!  I luckily turned off and headed into an AT&T store (thanks for helping me even though I’m a Verizon customre!) where they printed me directions.  Oh, mapquest printed directions… I haven’t had to use you in a long time! 🙂

Then, an absolutely wonderful dinner out where my cheeks HURT from laughing so much.  Rachel even sprayed me with water after a particularly humorous memory was shared  :).  When was the last time you’ve laughed THAT hard or THAT suddenly?  Think about it :).

Then…back home early in the morning.  What an awesome trip – I am so blessed!  Motivational speaking engagement, one of the world’s most scenic marathons, catching up with three of my absolute BEST friends, and two great shadowing opportunities!  I would never have had the opportunity to do all of this if I were still working, so am thankful for the opportunities – and hope to find many more like this in the next coming months!

Questions: When is the last time you laughed so hard your cheeks hurt? Any experiences buying food for just the day?

Until later, run happy!!! 🙂