Forever in Wonderland: My Dog. In a Sweatshirt.

Hi everyone—

I know I haven’t been blogging as frequently, but I’m working on totally revising/recreating it. I just think it’s time I made it more relatable, as in, less like my personal online diary. I love sharing my day-to-day stuff with anyone who wants to hear it, but I think it’d be more fulfilling for everyone if my blog had some direction. Right now it’s just so all over the place, and I really want it to be more focused. So I’m working on that—just keep checking in and I’ll let y’all know when the new blog is ready to go!

But, until then, I’m going to be random.

The past couple of days have been busy as is quickly becoming the norm.

The interesting stuff:

Last Saturday I ran 14 miles at the beach. 14! I ran 14 miles once my junior year in high school, and that’s the longest distance I’ve run to date. People always seem surprised that I haven’t run more than that before now. But I’ve spent my entire running career training for one mile, two mile, 3.2 or 6 mile races. I usually gravitate toward races that are long enough that I can use my endurance, but short enough that I can still run fast. But I really do love running longer distances (we’ll see how I feel about that when I start getting into the 20 milers). It’s oddly therapeutic and invigorating all at once. It gives me a prolonged adrenaline rush while simultaneously putting me at ease. It’s pretty amazing really. The 14 miler this past weekend definitely hurt (especially in the last two miles). My cardio felt great, but my legs were achy achy achy. And the bottoms of my feet…ouch.

But after finishing 14 miles (and barely being able to walk), I could only smile. That’s the cool thing about running for me, no matter how bad it hurts or much I sweat or how long it takes, I always finish the run smiling. I just can’t help it.

I just ran again today (first time since Saturday), only 4 miles this morning due to time restraints, and for the first time in a long time I ran without music. Not by choice (initially)—my iPhone was on the brink of dying. But I’m so glad I ran without tunes today. Sometimes I forget how amazing it is to hear your own breath and monitor your breathing. The sounds of nature are sometimes just as captivating as Taylor Swift (yes, I run to her music) or Katy Perry’s new single (also on my playlist). It left me with the ability to think about things, whereas normally I listen to the music and kind of zone out. I don’t think I want to run without music from now on, but I definitely think I want to make an effort to run without it for maybe half of my runs.

Linus and I bought Louie a sweatshirt. It’s basically a cutness overload. The best part is that he LOVES it. He doesn't even try to take it off (not even the little hood), he just snuggles up in it. SO. FREAKIN. CUTE. I swore I would never be the girl who puts her dog in clothes. Or puts her dog in her purse. But, guess what self, I AM that person. And I accept it.