Today is the BEST day ever!

UPDATE2: Found out this AM (6/7/12) that I was yesterday’s winner for the Vasque Mindbenders trail shoes giveaway from National Running Day!

UPDATE1: I ran home from work (it was warm) and I knew I had to be ready for #3 (see below) and I was feeling a little spent. I got home and, BOOM!, my Nuun Hydration order was waiting for me! One box of Lemon Tea and one box of Nuun All Day variety pack! JUST WHAT I NEEDED! OH, and Maui Jim used my RNR Portland photo on their Facebook page for National Running Day! Sorry for the shameless yippity skippity…. Okay, back to the earlier version of why today is the BEST day ever:

Today is National Running Day and Day 3 of my 5 Day Mega Me Challenge. I’m taking an early lunch break to write this post because it just became THE BEST DAY EVER! (Arguments could be made for my wedding day or maybe a future marathon PR.)

Here are my reasons:

1. It’s National Running Day! I know tons of folks are getting some miles in today and that is just awesome. Some of us would have done it anyway, but the online social solidarity and enthusiasm has been great so far.
2. I ran to work. Why? To celebrate #1 and to break up the bike commute this week and to help gear up for my next event. It was a great morning run.
3. J and I are all set to head to Crossfit Huntington Beach for the first time tonight. I’m not sure what all we’ll do but I’m excited to meet the Coach, see what they do, and see if I can handle it.
4. I GOT MY ROCK SOCIAL TEAM GEAR TODAY! This was really the tipping point, obviously. I was just sitting at work and Ryan brings up a package for me. SO thrilled. This beautiful kit includes a Brooks Infiniti Jacket (which has awesome thumb holes), a Brooks Equilibrium Racer Back top (both embroided with the social team logo and “Follow Me”), a pair of beautiful white Brooks Pure Flow shoes and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Tour Pass! WHAT?!

“Follow Me”! Love it!

So what’s the Rock Social Team thing all about? As you might know if you’ve read my earliest posts, part of the reason I started this blog was my goal of running for Rock Legend in 2011. I’ve been a pretty dedicated Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series participant since my first marathon (San Diego!) in 2008. Consequently, I’ve been brought onto the Rock Social Team, a group of severely active online socialites who run lots of Rock ‘n’ Roll events.

This is purely volunteer on my part (maybe someday I can get paid to be a running/blogging nerd). I just keep running RNR events and blogging/tweeting about them and I can be critical about what I don’t like. The perks are obviously sweet, though. It is also through this that I became a Rock Brilliantly Ambassador for Maui Jim!

So I’m most excited about this Tour Pass. Unfortunately, a lot of the events are over for this year but I’ll definitely cash this in for Rock ‘n’ Roll Los Angeles! And wear my official looking badge whenever I can get away with it. The Tour Pass idea is actually kind of brilliant. I could easily pay a flat fee and rock the hell out of it by using it to run as many events as possible. I just hope that the Tour Pass event list opens up for 2013! I’d like to see Arizona, Pasadena, Portland, and Seattle. WEST COAST!

Will you be at RNR LA this year?! Let me know! It’d be great to meet/tweet up!

5 Day Mega Me Challenge Announcement

There are a lot of fitness challenges going around and I guess I got the bug. My own challenge will take place over National Running Day, which is extra fun, and I will plan a run commute to celebrate.

My 5 Day Mega Me Challenge Dates: June 4th-8th

Aside from the cool new products I’m trying out during this challenge, I have another reason for doing all this. This is a test. I may have set in motion a chain of events that will seriously alter my lifestyle and force me to take it all to the next level, whether I’m ready for it or not! More on that later….

Anything but driving.

I’ve never been in love with driving. In high school, I wasn’t dying to get my permit or my license. In college, I didn’t even have a car until senior year. My dad gave me his truck for my graduation but I gave it back when I left for China a few months later. In China, there was absolutely no need for a car. I miss that.

Well, good news! The current geographical relationship between my home and my office is such that I can easily commit to self-propelled commuting. I’ve ran to work several times now [more on that]. AND NOW THAT I HAVE A BIKE, I have yet another (somewhat easier) option for avoiding the car altogether! Bike commuting is faster, less sweaty, and it doesn’t massacre my PB&J like run commuting does.

I like my bike! But, it is kind of like other bikes. A lot of other bikes. For now.

This week I drove to work on Tuesday and after coming home, hopped on my bike and rode back to work to make sure my bike lock worked with the available bars in front of my office and just to see how it would feel to ride there and back.

On Wednesday, I packed my lunch and rode to work. I’m still getting used to the feeling of being on a bike again. It’s been a long time. My stopping/dismounting and then going again is a little awkward. There’s a rumor going around that I may have ran into a golf course fence and a parked car. Psh.

Riding to and from work for the first time I realized two things:

1) I must look like a high school kid; riding a mountain bike on the streets, wearing skinny jeans, hoody, backpack and my classy aviators. How cool am I?

2) Since I’m not peddling hard, I’m not breathing hard. Since I’m not breathing hard, I’m totally singing or whistling. I just can’t help it. I do it when I drive, when I cook, at my desk at work…I’m always humming or sing-talking. Now I’m the crazy high school girl singing to herself on her bike. Perhaps I should work on a ‘Songs from the Bike Commute’ album. Who doesn’t want to hear that?

Anything but a car: I’d like to try ditching my car altogether for the summer at least, maybe indefinitely (too romantic of an idea?). Actually, there’s talk that J will sell his car altogether and use my truck for his commute. We could get down to 1 car! How awesome would that be?! Gas prices aren’t shrinking ever. $pare the wallet and world. Between 1 or 2 days of run commuting and the rest bike commuting, I should do fine. I’m sure my running would improve exponentially with that kind of schedule.

Working out the kinks: There are a few things I need to think about to make a habit of bike commuting:

1) A reliable coffee travel mug. My husband is gracious enough to make coffee in the morning, but unless I want to chug it down before I hit the road (and I really don’t), then I have to find a way to take it with me so I can drink it at work. You could argue that I could just drink the coffee provided at work. No one drinks that coffee. You could suggest that I just have tea in the morning instead. I might listen to you.

2) I need more skinny jeans (I could care less if they’re not “in” anymore), or I need to get some of those leg straps to keep my trousers safely away from the moving parts on my bike. I do not like either option very much. Ideas, anyone? Should I do as I do when I run commute and keep a change of clothes at work? I was hoping to avoid that extra step.

3) Inclement weather. Not that we get weather in southern California…but if I really want to ditch the car altogether and begin bike/run commuting as a consistent practice, what would I do if it DOES happen to rain? Just make sure my pack has a waterproof cover on it? Should I also cover my bike so it’s not getting drenched all day? Should I avoid riding in the rain altogether? Get my husband to drop me off and pick me up on those days?

Testing, 1, 2, 3, Run Commute!

Oh how twitter is changing my life. But let me back up a second….

Just under a year ago I moved to an apartment that is a mere 2.2 miles from where I work. I thought, “Wow, I’m close enough to go home for lunch. Close enough I could bike, even! I should get a bike.” But I didn’t want to spend money on a bike just yet so I’ve been driving.

As 2012 came, I thought about wanting to be better at getting in consistent run mileage.  I thought about the lunch run. Lots of folks do it. I, however, do NOT like feeling rushed, and really do not like moving my lunch time around. Excuses, I know. Still, the lunch run just didn’t seem like a good fit for me.

Then, on Thursday, the most obvious solution dawned on me and I have no idea why I didn’t really think of it before. I had starting following Lisa, @runlikeacoyote, on twitter and had been reading about her run and bike commutes to work.

“Fascinating,” I thought, “what a dedicated runner she is! AND, her work day is bookended with a run which is a good way to buffer work life from personal life. AND, she gets her mileage built-in to her day that way.”

When I realized that I probably have one of the easiest potential run commutes of anyone in the northern hemisphere (sunny southern california with rarely a foul day and only 2.2 miles to get to work), it was such a great AHA moment that I immediately told my co-worker. We share an office. She was supportive! Good sign.

I then went home and told my husband. He thought it was a great idea, too! Good sign. He then thought that I wouldn’t need my car at all if I had a bike for the days I didn’t run. Then, he realized he could sell his car and use mine to get to work. (My ride is superior, clearly). Now, he has already mentally purchased things with the money he’s planning on getting from selling his car. Zoom, zoom, goes his brain.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. In order to see if this is going to work, I had to lay out a plan and then test it. So this morning I got up, had a little something to eat, packed a “lunch” and clothes, keys and wallet and phone, all into an outdoor back pack (which probably ended up at around 4 lbs) and ran the route to work. 25 minutes and a few stop lights later I was there. Easy peasy. With all the right things in place, this will definitely be doable and probably enjoyable!

Run Commute Test – Packed and Ready

25 minutes to get to work.

I’ll plan on starting slow, run commuting once or twice a week for a month. If I’m liking it and it’s working, then we’ll talk about exchanging a car for a bike.

This could be the beginning of something AWESOME!

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Where I’ve been getting inspiration and doing research on run commuting:

Run Like a Coyote - The woman who planed the idea seed.

Run For Your Life! - Emilia tackles her 8 mile run commute in Texas.

The Balanced Athlete - A good list of things to consider you might not have thought of.

Runner’s Kitchen - Megan’s approach to a NYC run commute.

The Run Commuter - I particularly like Part 5: Sweaty to Office Ready. Man’s point of view. Good stuff in the comments section for ladies.