home and writing process tour

Happy Friday! 

I’m home in Ohio for the last little more than a week before the fall semester starts, and I’m writing this post to the tune of seven singing boys in my basement.  My brother’s college a capella group is performing locally, so our house is home-base for rehearsing and sleeping.  I could get used to these high quality concerts via the vents in my room.

I’ve had a good week of workouts while I’ve been home, and I’m still riding the high of the super tempo run I had this morning!  I ran 2 warm-up miles, 3 miles @ 7:36, 7:18, 7:13, and one cool down mile.  I had  absolutely zero pace expectations because it’s been probably three months since I’ve done anything remotely fast, but somehow it was awesome and I felt like my feet were made out of little wings.

Afterward, my sweaty self joined my mom on a loop of garage sales, where I lucked out with a few kitchen essentials that aren’t really essential…or maybe they are and now I’ll find out what I was missing. A blender, 2 cooling racks, 3 spoons (okay, these are kind of essential, and I do have other spoons), a 1/2 cup measuring cup (I dedicated my other one to my oatmeal container), and salad tongs.  All for about $3!

Other workouts this week:
Monday: 4 x (run 1 mile + squat jumps, squat + lift, burpees, v-ups, push ups, skaters, plank, & tri dips)
Tuesday: 7 miles, easy pace
Wednesday: 4 x (run 1/2 mile + squat jumps, push ups, squat with side kicks, tri dips, skaters, plank, & single leg bridges)
Thursday: 15 min arms, 60 min AMT

While I’ve been home, I’ve met up with a few friends for lunches & dinners.  I joined my sister and our friend Allie at a pizza place that we recently discovered called Blaze, where you go down the line (like Subway) and pick your individual pizza toppings.  They also have predetermined pizza topping options, if that’s your thing.  That should have been my thing because I went crazy and chose a weird combination of everything I liked: basil, artichoke, cherry tomatoes, pineapple, roasted red peppers, green olives, red onions, banana peppers, garlic, oregano, and ham.  Not sure the pineapple and green olives were team players, but it was still tasty.

Our faces are obscured by the angelic beams of sunshine coming from Laura’s head.

No beams of sunshine from Allie’s head…just an umbrella hat.
It was great to see Allie!  We chatted for so long that even though I only ate half of my fairly big pizza at the restaurant, I was hungry again by the time I got home, so I ate the other half before taking my shoes off.

Before I move on to the writing process tour, I need to acknowledge an important holiday that happened over the week: National Middle Child Day.  Its level of importance sits just behind Christmas and the first day of watermelon season.  Happy National Middle Child Day to my fellow middle children.

My history as The Middle started 20.5 years ago, when baby Greg came into the world and I wasn’t big enough to hold his head.  We’ve become friends since then.

Now, I have something fun to share!  Two awesome bloggers, Amy @ Fitness Meets Frosting and Anne @ Candy Crazed Runner, invited me to participate in the writing process tour!  I have four questions to answer about how and why I write what I write, and then I get to pass it on to three other blog friends.

1. What am I working on?

Academically, I’m working on a clinical doctorate of audiology, so eventually **in May 2016** I’ll be an audiologist, and I’ll work with patients & their families to diagnose, treat, and prevent hearing loss.

Specifically pertaining to the blog–It’s a creative outlet to talk about my biggest hobby called running, though lately the blog has turned more into a life journal disguised as a running blog.

2. How does my work differ from others of its type/genre?

I try to make my blog genuinely me, and I hope that my family and in-person friends can vouch for that.  I write like I talk, and I post about all of the silly and weird things that I do…usually with Ryan.

OH, ha– one thing that makes me different from most other running bloggers is that I am not a foodie.  My contribution to dinner parties is usually carrots and hummus, chips and salsa, or paper plates and plastic utensils.  I didn’t have a blender until this morning.  I can pass up any baked good without blinking except for one particular cookie that my mom makes.  I like to try new foods, but I would be okay if I had to eat PB&J every day for lunch for the rest of my life.
…so if you’re looking for recipes, I’m not your blog.

3. Why do I write what I do?

Um, I guess because I like to reflect and I like to write, and I like to reflect and write in a somewhat humorous manner.  I think it’s fun and de-stressing to recap events, runs, failed cooking attempts, trips, etc.  I like to read about other people’s days (CREEEEP), so why not post mine?  Plus, I can keep in touch with the family and friends who read it…and I can keep in touch with my own running in a life-perspective way.

4. How does your writing process work?

I don’t have a process or a posting schedule…for the most part, I post a weekend recap that usually includes a long run, and midweek posts depend on how busy I am or if feel like blogging, and whether or not anything exciting happened.  I’ve toyed with the idea of having some sort of “Friday [alliteration post topic]”..”Tuesday [alliteration post topic]”…whatnot schedule that repeats weekly, but I don’t want to make blogging feel like a chore.  So I’m sticking to what works for me.

Now…I’m passing this tour over to:

Ashley @ Saving Money in your Twenties
Ashley gives easy and realistic, yet sometimes genius, tips and tricks to save money.   Perfect for someone like me whose brain instinctively muddles up with words like “finance” and “spreadsheet” and “budget” and “taxes”.  She also has a great blog personality and writes about her life, which is still fun while saving money!

Mel @ Mel’s Miles

Mel is a fellow runner who writes about her training, but also about positivity and happiness!  I love to read her Gratitude Friday posts.  We would have a lot to talk about if we got together because I am pretty sure that we share a love for social psychology, counseling, and happiness.

Kelly @ Running in Scrubs
Kelly is another runner & healthcare field friend–she was my fellow eternal student until she went and graduated. 🙂  If I ever go to Charlotte, I will stalk her blog for places to eat and things to do because she is more of a social butterfly I am, and she has great reviews of local restaurants and yoga classes.  She also goes on sister dates, which makes me smile because Laura and I do too.

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What are you up to this weekend?