Ahhhhhh! That was the sound of a deep breath after two weeks of complete and total chaos. My training for the past few weeks has been nothing if not interesting, and filled with alternative plans, added and subtracted routes, and unconventional strength-training. I’m sure everyone has found themselves in a position where training simply couldn’t be a priority in the grand scheme of other life events, and that was certainly the case for me over the past few weeks. However, as of yesterday at 1:30PM, some level of normalcy will hopefully be returning to my life. Sort of, anyway.
The chaos was the result of our packing up our life, fitting it into a POD, cleaning and selling a house, and moving in with a dear friend for the next 6 weeks. All of this happened while working full-time, and, in my case, job searching. It sounds like the perfect time to try and ramp up for some long spring miles, right?
You might recall me mentioning that the epicurean and I will be transitioning to a new home in Delaware this spring. Well, the time came to finalize the sale of our house, and that meant packing up everything we own and getting set to move it across the country. As it so happens, packing up a house is considerably more work than packing up a small apartment. Who knew?! (Ok, anyone who has ever done it realizes that, but it was new to us). It’s amazing how much you learn about your lifestyle when you pack up your home and get ready to move. You realize how much extra “stuff” you have but don’t need, and you get excited about living more minimally in the future. Well, at least that was how we felt. At any rate, the packing and cleaning took longer than we thought, as they always do, but we managed to empty our house and pack our life into a 16′ x 8′ x 8′ POD with no small amount of help from some incredible friends.
Moving with some great friends!
Working out to move, or moving to work out?
Yesterday, we closed on the house and officially turned over possession. After many long days and long nights, it felt great to sit down for dinner and know we didn’t have to start packing and cleaning again when we were done. Throughout all of this, I’ve had to adjust my running schedule considerably to get in the miles I wanted and needed. This meant a few extra early morning mid-day runs (because getting up early on Saturday isn’t bad enough :) ), and some strange routes. I somehow managed to keep my training on track.
Last night, as I was finishing up a celebratory 17 mile day, I realized my knees and quads were a lot more sore than they normally are at this point in the week. That’s when I realized just how much “cross-training” I had been doing for the last two weeks. I’ve gone up and down more flights of stairs, lifted more boxes, bent over to clean more surfaces, and stayed up later doing it all in the last two weeks than I ever remember doing. Moving was indeed the best “cross-training” I’d had all year, and I’m strangely thankful for it. My long run tomorrow morning is going to hurt more as a result, but as my legs repair themselves, I’m going to be better for it moving forward.
Finished packing and cleaning- our last night in our first house!
Life is going to be full of transition in the next month and a half. We will be living out of suitcases and traveling considerably. I’ve signed up for quite a few “last races” in Iowa before I leave, and I’ll be going through RRCA Coaches Certification training at the end of April. All of this will be happening while work carries on and the end of the semester brings with it much more work. However, there’s a lot of excitement on the horizon. There will be new roads, neighborhoods, trails, and races to explore, and new challenges to meet. You can expect some optimistic uncertainty from me over the next few weeks, but plenty of adventures as well.
Spring is finally in the air, so it’s time to get those legs moving! Get out there and make it happen :) #chasing42
