Brittney Has Something To Say » Running

Great day for a run/ to collapse

Brittney — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:07:38 +0000

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh, haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuhhhh

Oh, I’m sorry. That was my lungs greeting you good afternoon. ‘Tis a lovely day for a run, no? There’s never really a great day to pick up running after neglecting it for… an entire season… so I bit the bullet and figured why not today. Well, I’ll tell you why not today. Or at least why not an hour and a half after lunch. There’s a reason I prefer running first thing in the morning– there’s not pita and hummus sitting in my stomach that about a mile in creeps up and talks hold of my esophagus screaming, “You idiot! You idiot!” and slamming on my insides to let it back out the way it came. No, I didn’t puke, but holy poor digestion, it didn’t feel great. I suppose I could say it felt kinda nice to get back out there, though more seems to jiggle and my form is for shit. (You’ve seen Phoebe on “Friends” run, right? No?)

I didn’t exactly share her enthusiasm, but that was generally how graceful it went down. Overall, I pounded out about 2.5 miles– you may save your standing ovation for later– and I’m thinking about registering for the campus 5K on Sunday. (There’s also a 10K, but after taking a look at the course, I believe I had what you might call a “hell no” moment.) Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get ready to go hear Michele Bachmann (yes, that one) speak on campus later. I’m all about being open to opposing points of view, and I’m genuinely interested in what she could possibly have planned to say to a group that is mostly turning out in hopes they’ll witness her burst into flame onstage.

The Zumba that wasn’t

Brittney — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 01:23:10 +0000

Ouch. That is all that can describe how I feel right now, and it’s only perhaps twenty minutes post-workout. Let me back up here a bit…
Yesterday while surfing around on the university’s CRWC site, I saw that at 5:30 tonight there would be a Zumba class which I immediately decided I need to be a part of. Roomie Lauren had to work, but Rachael and I arrived at the rec today at about 5:20, super eager to get our Zumba on (or basically get our heart rates up in any fashion besides the damn Dreadmill.) The facility was PACKED– unless you have no other time to go in the day, avoid the rec center like the plague anytime after 5 pm. Every machine was full… and so was our Zumba class. And Winter Break isn’t even over yet! Feeling quite pissed, but not defeated, we went up to the fitness track to pound out a mile before deciding there was probably something streaming on Netflix that could give us a nice workout in the comfort of our own apartment. By this time, Lauren was home and graciously offered up her new Jillian Michaels’ Yoga Meltdown DVD.

Sweet. I’ve never done yoga before but have always wanted to try, so we fired up that beast.
I HAVE NO STRENGTH ANYWHERE, AT ALL, IN MY BODY. This DVD was asking muscles to be moved and stretched in ways I could never have imagined while Jillian’s telling me to “melt your heart to the sky” and “focus on your breathing.” I’m sorry, I can’t really focus on much besides my severe lower back pain due to my inability to do any of these moves correctly. Needless to say, it was intense. It felt really good afterward, of course, but we are all already walking pretty slowly, and I’m not at all looking forward to what waking up tomorrow morning will feel like. Caitlin tells me a beer helps soreness, but that would require getting off the couch, something that’s not in the cards for a while. So what have we learned today? The rec center is insane and will only get more so in the weeks leading up to spring break; sign up for classes early; people who can do yoga are amazing. I will persevere and one day be one of them (or break my back trying.)

Follow up

Brittney — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 01:36:09 +0000

…and of course I can’t blog today without mentioning what I’m thankful for (but seriously, every time I go to do it, the first thing that pops in my mind is a food item. Today it would have been the bomb-tastic muffins Roomie Lauren made over the weekend. I had one this morning, not really sure if I was supposed to, but I’m pretty glad I did. Way to go, Fiber One Apple Cinnamon mix.) Instead, today I am officially thankful for running. I suppose I could also say my legs. Or the random urge I got to run today. You get the idea. It’s been a while (ahemtwomonthswhaaaat?!) since I’ve gone on a run, and today’s was glorious and strong and reminded me that I can just go out and do it and not get all mentally tweaked on adding mileage every single day and calories in vs. calories out and 13.1! 13.1! 13.1! I’m sure I’ll register for another half marathon in the spring, though I’ll need to keep my head in check while training for it. With the semester I’m looking at, it’ll be a miracle if I’ll have time to breathe (exaggeration? You wish) but perhaps that’s just the sort of thing with which running can better help me deal.

Today’s friendly reminder: the Class of 2011 graduates six months from next week.

DC, here I come

Brittney — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:11:24 +0000

I suppose this post could be filed under “semi-big announcements,” only because it has to do with another semi-big announcement I made a while back when I revealed I registered to run my first half marathon in October. Most of you know of my involvement in PRSSA on campus, being VP this year after three years of pretty serious involvement and general geeking out about most things that will lead to a richer professional life right outta college. Imagine my dilemma then when I found out that PRSSA National Conference this year is scheduled over the same weekend as my race. As much I would love to go to DC (never been!) I said no, thanks– I’m already registered, I’ve already been training, staying in Des Moines is hundreds of dollars less than going to the coast for some stuffy conference anyway. I sat by while other executive members planned their trips and tried to recruit more interested members in getting in before the registration deadline. Well, today I changed my mind. I know, you’re shocked. The most indecisive person in the world flip-flopped her position on something. It was actually brought about by a guest speaker we had the pleasure of doing casual lunch with today. She was PRSSA President back in the day (the year I was born, actually) and hearing her speak of her experiences and how networking and the people she met led to such great things really got me thinking. I love running. I’ve been running, and I know that while 13.1 miles is no easy task, I could definitely do it. I don’t need to be in an organized race to run that distance or farther; with a couple weeks more mileage I could wake up on a random Saturday and do it around the city. This is my only chance to go to such an event, and the line-up of speakers and events they have planned for us makes it kind of silly for me not to go. As my father said (because yes, at 21 I still call him to run ideas by him and get his advice before making semi-big decisions) “You’re not going to get paid for being a marathon runner” aka– this is much bigger investment in The Life of Brittney. So yeah, I am kinda bummed about the race because I’ve been getting weirdly excited about it. I don’t really see it as quitting because races of all distances are pretty plentiful. I’m much more excited about flying again, staying in a hotel (I LOVE hotels, perhaps a post for another time), continental breakfasts, buying and wearing professional clothes, handing out business cards and resumes and working through my awkward meeting people issues, and perhaps meeting up with NPH’s little sister who goes to school in DC and might have a package of delicious baked goods waiting from their mother upon my arrival. Hey, a girl can dream.

Let’s go Monday!

Brittney — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:23:44 +0000

Sorry, Monday– I discounted you from the start this morning. After a night of poor sleep thanks to weird dreams (starring Gisele, Tom Brady, and a former high school lust) I woke up demanding caffeine and cursing my scheduled eight hours of desk work. Somewhere along the way, Monday quietly surprised me with an uncannily productive work ethic AND energy to go for a run a little after 5:00. –Note to self, the sun is still far from setting at this time. Humidity is still rocking well about 50%, recent thunderstorms make gravel more like sand to run on, and you will end up getting rocks into your shoe only a mile in. While I commend you on lacing up them sneaks and getting out there, next time perhaps some pre-planning will go into it. Baby steps.

A note on my job: IT IS AWESOME. Some of the events involved in my internship are, wait for it… weddings. !!!! I get to help plan weddings, attend weddings, research weddings, market our weddings, le sigh. Before you get your panties in a wad, let me be perfectly clear that I under no circumstance, perfect proposal, threat, insanity, or death bed-side wish am anywhere near getting married AT ALL. Gross. Barf. Throat tightening at the mere thought of lifetime commitment. I’m still quite a young’in and I have quite a prepared speech about how STUPID it is to get married before you have established your own life. But that’s for another time. Luckily NPH realizes that my wedding-centered brain is part of my job, an outlet to entertain my inner girly-girl while my practical side knows that many years from now I’ll be celebrating my nuptials at the Hofbrauhaus in Vegas (honeymoon in Munich to follow.) Speaking of my fabulous place of employment, I have this Saturday off and GUESS who’s coming to town? The nowhere-near-fiance-so-please-stop-asking-even-if-it-is-a-joke boyfriend. While I’m sure we’d have an uproariously entertaining time just hanging out with the folks, we’re going someplace even better: ADVENTURELAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Famous Dave’s at some point, but I’m not sure you can handle all of this exciting news in one post. The weekend after that is the Fourth of July (whaaaaat?!) and I hope upon hope my schedule will allow a trip to Chicago/ Milwaukee for Summerfest because apparently people wanna meet me. NPH’s people. I’m such a gem, I suppose I really can’t blame them.

And I ru-uuuu-un, I run so far away

Brittney — Sat, 01 May 2010 15:31:07 +0000

As my time in Europe winds down and I prepare to say good-bye to my primary blogging focus for the past four months, I figured I’d restart things here with a bang in the form of a semi-major life announcement. (For a second there I was going to make this next sentence have something to do with pregnancy, but then realized absolutely no one in my life would find that funny.) About a month ago, a friend and I registered to run a half marathon in October! Perhaps some of you just fell off your chairs in disbelief, others laughed out loud, and yet the majority of you who are Facebook friends with Emilee and I knew this was coming (and have been entertained by our “I’ll start my training to become a distance runner just as soon as I polish off this last case of beer” wall posts.)

In gym class, I DREADED running the timed half mile because what I was lacked in self-esteem, I made up for in body fat. We always had to run in soccer, and around junior year my friend Savannah and I got the brilliant idea to join the cross-country team. She made it through the season, I only went to the first informational meeting. In sophomore year of college, I’d get into running for a week or two, but hangovers always trumped any fleeting motivation to jack up the ol’ heart rate. So what makes you think you can run a half-marathon then, kid? Simply put, I really do like running. Like, love running. I’ve made it enough of a habit in the past weeks that it’s something I automatically fit into my day. I’ve actually called it a night early a few times, knowing that I wanted to get up before class and run. Mentally, it puts me in a very healthy place, not to mention there’s near-instant gratification from week to week in terms of noticeable improvement (distance, speed, etc.) I’d thought about running a race for a while, NEVER a marathon, but kept going back to 13.1 miles as a challenging but do-able distance. Impulsive ol’ me didn’t sign up automatically, but actually put some thought into this decision and read up on training plans before submitting my official registration (and checked to make sure the Hawkeyes are playing an away game that weekend.)

So, in addition to whatever riveting fodder I post in the coming months, get ready for some pre-race thoughts (that, let’s just be honest, might be better categorized as outright bitching.) I’ve already had two dreams about it, and welcome any and all persons to get motivated, by what you might now feel is my complete loss of sanity, to sign up with me!