Will Run for Crepes

Today on my 10k training schedule was an easy 3 mile run at an 11:49 min/mi pace. When I woke up at 9:15 this morning, I was excited to run...but at the same time, not very excited.

I had to leave my house at 12:30 at the latest in order to make a lunch date I had in Seattle by 1:15. That meant I had to be at the gym no later than 10:30 so I could have plenty of time to do my miles, come back home, shower and do all that jazz.

Well, I didn't get to the gym until just after 11. Why, you ask? Because laying in bed and watching football is way more f*cking comfortable than running, that's why!

After I finally got myself out of bed and too the gym, I had to run my miles at a bit of a faster pace than I was scheduled for. Like a whole 2 minutes faster. Pretty much I was hauling ass on the treadmill.

Well, the running Gods must have been spiting me because a little under a mile into my run, I got two wicked side cramps. I thought I could push through and finish the three miles, but I was hurting.

In the end, I only ran two of my prescribed three miles. That made me a little angry. I really wanted to run a fast three miles ever since I signed up for my 5k. A lot of my 10k training has me running really slow paces in order to build up my endurance, and I'm afraid that's not going to do me any favors by the time I have to toe the line at Green Lake on February 11th.

Oh well, now I know that when my schedule says I have to run at a certain pace, I will run at that certain pace, instead of taking off like a galloping "Warm Horse" (it's War Horse...with an M).

That also means that I need to give myself plenty of time at the gym, instead of trying to squeeze everything until the last minute. When will I ever learn?

After showering and dressing and all that shit, I made my way to Capitol Hill to have lunch with one of my old college classmates, Megan. Megan and I studied abroad in London together, but didn't really hang out much when we came back to Pepperdine. She was a history major while I remained planted in my communications fortress at the top of the hill. But she's a nice girl and we always got along.

She's getting her master's in education at the University of Washington, so I thought this would be a great time for us to grab a bite to eat and talk about how much we love Seattle. We ate at Saley, which was the same crepe place that Victoria and I ate at after the Kanye/Jay-Z concert. It was delicious then, and it was delicious now.

I picked Saley as the place to have lunch because I thought it would be a great homage to our time in London, considering there was a bomb crepe restaurant just down the road from our house. I ordered a savory crepe with turkey, mozzarella and spinach while Megan went with what she knew -- a sweet crepe with Nutella and banana. A Londoner's staple.

We had a really great time eating and talking about a lot of things. I talked about work while she told me about her master's classes that were filled with older students that already had career's in teaching. That can't be awkward at all.

We chatted about all the cool things you can do in Seattle and how much more beautiful it is here than in California (so glad we have another convert). She told me about how awesome the Ballard Farmer's Market is, and now I'm pretty sure we're going to go together.

And of course we talked about how excited we were for the Coldplay concert we're going to in April. Well, we're not going together, but we'll be in the Key Arena at the same time. Both of us are huge Coldplay fans. She got to see them in London, which I was really jealous of until I got to see them at the Gorge. I think that should be a point in the "Ally" column. Regardless, the two of us are pretty stoked and are already counting down the days (it's 108 by the way).

I'm just really glad that I'm sticking to my New Year's Resolution to connect with friends more. Good for me!

After chatting and reminiscing for about an hour and a half, it was time for me to go to work, which is where I am now. Boo.

But thank goodness I have play-off football and the Mighty Tebows to keep me company.