Three Things Thursday

1. Miles

I have only clocked 15 of my 100 miles, but I'm slowly making my way there. The weather has been a little whacky lately -  45° and raining one day, 75° the next - just in time for me to have committed to trying to log all of my foot miles outdoors. Aside from risking ruining my phone (which has the Strava app) in a surprise deluge, I'm glad the 100-mile challenge is forcing me outside. I'm pretty happy to run just about anywhere, so treadmill miles don't bother me at all, but for this month's miles to "count" they have to be measured via GPS and uploaded to my online profile. Unless I want to run nowhere for 45 minutes, I have to get outside rain, wind or shine. This means getting back to running with my daughter a bit more which has actually been quite fun. Don't get me wrong, she's the best kid ever, I just haven't always looked forward to pushing her chunky toddler butt up hills. As far as how she handles being strapped into the stroller; as long as there's a fun destination or nice scenery, she's a great running partner. The runs are tougher, sure, but it's also nice to relax and back off the pace so that I can chat with her and answer all of her questions about the world around us.

2. Mindfullness



My biggest pet peeve this week is stupid questions. Despite what your benevolent 2nd-grade teacher told you, some questions ARE stupid. When asked, certain questions don't just reflect a lack of knowledge, they indicate that no thoughts are processed before the speaker's mouth has opened. Here are a few:

• "Did you do/take care of ___? Are you sure?" asked in a accusing manner, to make the person in question feel as though her answer won't be trusted, anyway. In a situation such as, say, working in a restaurant, accusatory-sounding questions like this one are especially unappreciated by me because it feels like an assumption has been made that I won't do what I'm supposed to unless there's someone tailing me going "Are you gonna do this? You got that? What about this over here?"
• Any question about a food's origin beyond the state and farming method. I get that you want to know your filet was once a happy cow, roaming free in the North Georgia mountains before he was electrocuted. But I don't know his name or where his favorite patch of grass was. There's no such thing as a conscious carnivore, although many will continue to try as if caring deeply about the animal on their plate makes it any less medium-rare.
• People who ask my child if she wants something right in front of me before asking me first. This is usually only an issue in grocery stores that give stuff away, and while I'm not a strict mom who never lets her kid have any fun ever, I'd appreciate you clearing it with me before you try to give her a cookie/balloon/crack-on-a-stick (lollipop).

3. A Massive 10K

The lottery opened today for biggest 10K in the country so I'm crossing my fingers that I get in again! The race takes place on the Fourth of July and it's massive. I've never run shoulder-to-shoulder and heel-to-toe like that before but I'm looking forward to hopefully doing it again and improving my time. My first attempt was definitely not the fastest I've ever run 6.2 miles but heat and humidity are definitely a factor. Being quick enough to be in the first start wave is a huge advantage, as there is still shade and just a hint of a breeze between the buildings in Midtown, but regardless of what you do you'll still be sweating before you pass the first mile marker. Fortunately, the weather is warming up just in time to start getting used to runs in the heat. I ran 6 miles with the Little Miss in her jogging stroller and was dripping buckets thanks to some post-storm humidity. Time to acclimate!

If you had to pick an extreme, would you rather run really hot or really cold?

Been asked any stupid questions lately?