Friday Five + Race Day Decision & I totally get what the hype was all about….

Hey, hello, hi! It’s Fri-YAY again and I’m finally back home! If you follow me on Instagram, you saw I was gone all last week traveling up North to Wisconsin and Chicago! I’m working on my recap post from our trip too so that’ll be up really soon. But, how was your week? Hopefully you’ve had a really good one.

I actually brought home quite the souvienir from our trip, probably the worst one ever–A COLD! Ugh! I’ve spent this entire week trying to heal up but nothing is doing the trick so far. There’s nothing more frustrating than a cold that you just can’t kick as it lingers around day after day. I think the worst part has been this terrible cough that is just non-stop, especially at night! Here’s hoping this weekend I’ll finally get back to normal and can feel somewhat human again. Fingers crossed!!

I’ve also been all mixed up because I’ve totally be out of my regular routine for about 2 weeks now which has thrown me off completely. I’m trying to get back to normal though today and I’m loving it so far, as I’m a major creature of habit. Traveling to 2 new cities filled with all kinds of firsts + sleeping on an air mattress for the week + swirled around a marathon consumed city + driving for over 18 hours total, + a major cold that has knocked me off my feet–talk about a whirlwind of half the month so far! Goodness gracious! So much fun, but so much to wrap my brain around all at the same time!

Anyways, despite all of that chaos–I’m bringing you my Friday Five today! 5 totally random things that I just want to share with you in my little corner of the internet that are totally share-worthy (to me at least! ;))

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

1) Alright, so these have been my thoughts exactly ALL week long! Anyone else feel this way too? I’m only a little bitter…..ha! 😉 Despite the pizza and sweets that we totally took part in last week on our trip, I tried my best to get at least one big salad each day to make sure to get in my veggies for the day! And then, LOOK WHAT HAPPENED! Grrr……Or should I say “Cough, Cough, Cough”….

2) As mentioned above, we had some pretty amazing food last week but the best thing I think I had the entire time was my first time trying Halo Top Ice Cream!! Goodness, I’ve heard people totally hype this stuff up but hadn’t tried it yet! But, MAN–I was missing out!! This peanut butter cup blew my socks off and we nearly ate the entire thing in one sitting!! SO YUMMY!! I can’t wait to try all the flavors!!

3) I also came across this Halloween mix on “Justin’s” Instagram and instantly started craving chocolate covered pretzels. Doesn’t this look so good?? What’s your favorite trail mix or sweet/salty mix you like to have for Halloween? My mom actually made us the best mix last week for the trip which was just salted peanuts and candy corn! It tastes just like a pay-day candy bar minus the caramel. It’s was delicious and consumed super fast!

4) We also got to see a show in Chicago while we were there for the day called “Motown”. It was AMAZINGLY good and got me thinking, I’ve actually only seen 2 “Broadway” type shows ever! When I was in college I got to see “Legally Blonde” the musical on campus and brought my sister along because we love that movie! It was super cute and I loved all of the actors/actresses in it! Motown was so great and had such a good message to it too! Plus, they had some seriously talented singers in it! If you head to Chicago anytime soon you should definitely check this one out!

5) So, with me getting sick and all this week and not running all last week while we were traveling–(I did walk almost 20k steps a day though!!) I’ve officially decided that I’m not going to do the Soaring Wings Half Marathon next weekend. 🙁 I just don’t feel like I have 2+hours of running in me right now to race and actually be able to enjoy it and then recover healthy. SO–I did decide though to go ahead and do the 10k! The past few weeks just haven’t been in my favor for getting in long runs, and I’ve just decided I want to be smart and trust that my solid running base of about 6-8 miles is my max right now. So, a 10k it is! I’m signed up and ready to go, as long as my body can get itself together and feel all better by next week! (Surely it will!!) I’m a little disapointed that I’m not running 13.1 because I LOVE this course and the race itself but I just have to be honest with myself and really listen to my body right now. Even though I’ve been training for about 12 weeks, I’ve kind of had an overwhelming past few months with some things going on career wise and life wise and half marathon training just hasn’t been as smooth as I’d want it to be. But, a 10k is totally doable for me and maybe I can get a good PR on it. Plus, I’m hoping to be able to get in some longer distance races in 2018! Fingers crossed all the stars will align for a few at least! We shall see. When I was deciding what I should do for this next weekend, I just really felt like I know it’s a disappointment, BUT that’s the beauty of running is that there will ALWAYS be other races to sign up for when my training is stronger and my distances are longer. It’ll all be okay, and at the end of the day–I get to run no matter what and that’s always a blessing anyways! Race or no race, either way–I’m just lucky to get to put one foot in front of the other for even a mile-much less 13.1.

So, here’s hoping to fantastic weather and a great day for 10k racing next Saturday at the Soaring Wings 10k!