This is Kylie. She’s my friends’ boxer puppy and I’m keeping an eye on her this week while my friends are off at their brother’s wedding.

She’s pretty much the cutest thing I’ve laid eyes on, and I think we’re going to have a really fun week together.

We had a minor disagreement last night over where she would be sleeping. See, I imagined her sleeping in her own bed. She however, imagined she’d be sleeping in my bed. Eventually her little puppy cries broke my heart and I caved, which is pretty much exactly what my friend predicted would happen.

Apparently I’m a huge softie when it comes to adorable puppies.

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Right, it went well last week. I got in all five workouts — though instead of three runs and two days of CrossFit, I ended up with four runs and one day of CrossFit. But either way, all good in the end.

But then last night, a friend of mine asked me to make her a training plan for the Biggest Loser 5K that we are running in DC in July. (Full disclosure, I got a comped entry so I could run the race and review it.)

I had so much fun making her training plan, that I started itching to have one of my own.

Next thing I knew, I got sucked down the rabbit hole of training plan creation. I was looking at my calendar, blocking out time for CrossFit and softball and other prior commitments and fitting in training runs around them.

The race is only four weeks away, and creating a training plan that short was kind of fun. I’m used to these long 12-week marathon and half marathon plans that require so much advanced planning.

Having something short and sweet like a 5K in a few weeks is going to bring a nice level of focus to my training without bogging me down with long runs in the hot summer months.

So here’s what I came up with. For the most part I nixed all dedicated speed work because I get a lot of interval type training through CrossFit. So my runs are either short and easy 3 milers or slightly longer runs on the weekend.

I’m kicking around the idea of doing one of the local 4th of July 5Ks just for fun (hence the “potential 5K” on that random Thursday.) And I’m also planning to experiment with a run commute on a Tuesday morning, which explains the 7 mile run that day.

I’m pretty excited about this plan. All the workouts are short which makes it totally manageable in the hot summer months and gives me plenty of flexibility with my schedule.

And before I know it, it will be time to jump back into half marathon training for my race in September. But for now, I’m going to embrace short and sweet runs to get me through the summer!

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I think it was the most fun I’ve had at a wedding ever.

Jon and Sarah are two of my very best friends. I’ve known Jon since pretty much our first week of college at Maryland.

And I’ve known Sarah since my sophomore year and her freshman year when we lived on the same dorm floor.

They’ve been together close to seven years now, so we’d been looking forward to this wedding for a long, long time.

And Saturday was pretty much perfect.

Since I was a bridesmaid, I got to the hotel to get ready around 10 a.m. The girls spent the morning relaxing, getting all dolled up and jamming to Pandora.

Eventually 6:30 p.m. rolled around and it was go time.

There were definitely a lot of nerves flying around in the back room as we all waited to walk down the aisle, but the bridal party was such a good group, we spent the whole time laughing and joking around. The wedding planner had to keep telling us to keep it down.

The ceremony itself seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, but it was full of sweet moments.

Jon started crying as soon as he saw Sarah and the vows Jon wrote made everyone else cry.

We watched them read and sign their ketubah (why does Google always list multiple spellings for words from Hebrew…apologizes if I butcher any of them.), exchange rings and then boom Jon was kissing the bride and we were processing out of the ceremony, and they were officially married.

The rest of the guests went to cocktail hour, and we did pictures, and then we were being announced for the reception.

I was partnered with one of my good friends, Greg, and we were scheming up a fun entrance, but my dress didn’t have a ton of stretch in the skirt, so it made our original plan impossible, so Greg just ended up carrying in me in and spinning me around before setting me back down on the floor.

We had the traditional first dance, father-daughter dance and mother-son dance and then it was party time. Sarah and Jon had an amazing band, and I think I sat down for about five minutes all night to take a bite of crab cake. Otherwise it was dancing all night long.

I kicked off my shoes almost immediately, but my feet were still sore the next day from all the dancing.

Toward the end of the night, I was at the bar pounding my millionth glass of water, when Greg came up to me with a bunch of rose petals in his hand. I remember being like, “Greg why do you have those!? They are for when Jon and Sarah leave!” And then I looked at my phone and realized it was 11:55 and the party was pretty much over.

I have no idea how four hours of dancing felt like two minutes. I wish the band would have played longer because I know we would have been happy to dance the night away.

Instead, we rallied the troops and headed to a bar a few blocks up the road with rooftop patio. I rarely have energy after weddings for an actual after party, but we were all having such a good time, we didn’t want the party to end.

I think I finally collapsed into the bed I was sharing at the hotel around 3:30 in the morning. I had been up since 6:30 Saturday morning so needless to say I was beyond exhausted. Yet somehow I managed to spring out of bed at 8 a.m. on Sunday to make it to the post-wedding brunch. Don’t ask me how.

When I finally got back to my house Sunday afternoon, I crashed hard.

Waking up this morning, I couldn’t believe that wedding weekend was over. It was the perfect weekend — all my favorite people together in one place, for a perfect party, celebrating two of my very best friends.

The post My Best Friends’ Wedding appeared first on Jess Runs.

Between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. — Alarm goes off. I use the Sleep Cycle app as my alarm and it wakes me up in a 30-minute window when I am in my lightest sleep.

4:30 a.m. — Roll out of bed, brush my teeth, throw on running clothes and set Garmin on the window sill to let it sync with the satellites.

4:45 a.m. — Out the door and off on my run.

5:15-5:30 a.m. — Finish run, chug some water, quick stretch and jump in the shower.

5:45 a.m. to 6:20 a.m. — Blow dry hair, put in contacts, get dressed, attempt to make myself look presentable

6:25 a.m. — Run downstairs, grab my breakfast and lunch out of the fridge and hustle out the door to the metro.

6:30 a.m. — Twiddle my fingers as I wait on the metro platform for a train to show up.

6:50 a.m. — Butt in chair at my desk at work

7 a.m. — Eat breakfast while my computer powers up. (Breakfast usually consists of either oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, or a breakfast sandwich of sorts.)

7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. — Normal work stuff, projects, meetings, etc. etc. I usually stop to eat lunch around noon.

4:40 p.m. — Back on the Metro platform waiting for a train

5 p.m. – ? — Whatever post-work activity I have that night. Could be a softball game, could be happy hour with friends, could be a hot date with my sofa to relax and catch up on some TV.

10 p.m. — Lights out so I can go to sleep and repeat the next day.

The post A Day in the Life of an Early Morning Runner appeared first on Jess Runs.

Summer in DC is definitely starting to heat up so to stick with my “non-training training plan,” I’ve decided it’s time to shift my runs to the early morning.

My alarm went off at 4:20 this morning, and I was up well before the sun to get in my four miles.

I had forgotten how quiet DC can be in those early morning hours. I walked out of my house and didn’t hear the normal hustle and bustle. There wasn’t the rush of traffic or blaring horns.

It was really peaceful.

In fact, it was so peaceful that even my friends, the deer, were out this morning.

No matter how long I live in DC, I still can’t get used to seeing deer walking in yards along a really busy street.

Deer I saw on a run through the park last summer in DC

Seeing deer on a run in the countryside of PA, totally natural. Seeing them running through urban DC, not so much.

I finished my 4 miles in just under a 10-minute per mile average. The humidity was definitely noticeable, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it will most likely be later this summer. Guess it’s time to get used to seeing those slower running times for the next few months.

Do you switch your running schedule based on the weather? I’m normally a morning runner in the summer and an evening runner in the winter.

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I usually managed at least one long run on the weekends and one other shorter run during the week, as well as a couple CrossFit classes. It was stressful, but I made it work the best I could.

Now that teaching is over, I haven’t really gotten myself back to a regular workout routine. I’m still sort of just picking a few workouts to do here and there and enjoying having free time again.

I’m not training for anything at the moment, so I certainly don’t need to be on a rigid training plan dictating the number of miles I run and the pace at which I run them, but I could stand to have a bit more structure in my running life.

Especially as the weather gets warmer and fitting in runs is going to require early mornings.

So I’m introducing the non-training training plan:

• 3 days of running per week
• 2 days of CrossFit per week

Runs during the week will range anywhere from 3-5 miles depending on time. I’d ideally like to fit in one longer run on the weekends, but I’m not going to kill myself to hit double digits. I’d be happy with longer runs in the six to eight mile range, but if there are some weekends when I can only fit in a three miler, well then that’s fine too.

CrossFit is pretty self-explanatory. I pay to take two classes each week, and I’d like to do that.

I figure a plan like this keeps me accountable, but doesn’t make me stress out over fitting in certain mileage on certain days.

Have you ever followed a training plan when you weren’t actually training for anything?

The post The “Non-Training” Training Plan appeared first on Jess Runs.

Then I realized the weather might not support that plan since Andrea is currently dropping a bunch of rain on DC, but I had a great back-up plan in place. If I couldn’t get my run in, I’d just hit up the 6 a.m. CrossFit class.

Either way, I was pumped to start my Friday with a great workout.

Then this happened:

Seven hours in bed, 30 percent sleep quality, wide-awake from about 3:15 to 4:30ish.

I tossed and turned for a while trying to fall back to sleep, but I couldn’t turn off my brain. I kept thinking about all the things I had to do today and next week at work and how worried I was that I wasn’t going to get them all done.

Also my stomach was growling like crazy.

Eventually I threw in the towel, got up, had a little something to eat and crawled back into bed with a magazine figuring I’d eventually nod back off.

First story I read…

Yea…the irony isn’t lost on me.

I eventually did fall back to sleep, but when my alarm went off about an hour later for my workout, I knew it wasn’t happening. I shut the alarm off, set a new one for 90 minutes later and went back to bed.

My plans of starting the day with an awesome workout went right to hell.

I have one small opportunity of open time today where I might be able to sneak in some quick intervals at the fitness center during lunch.

Otherwise, I guess I can just plan to do that longer run tomorrow morning.

Has a crappy night’s sleep ever messed up your morning workout plans?

The post The Best Laid Plans appeared first on Jess Runs.

Like my badge says, I use running to maintain my sanity and after three straight days of work slammed with meetings, today’s lunch time run will definitely be a nice way to clear my head and keep my sanity in check.

The Rock n Roll Marathon series is also offering $20 discounts today on all their U.S. races. So if you were thinking about signing up for any of them, today might be a good day to do it.

Do you plan to run today in celebration of National Running Day?

The post Happy National Running Day! appeared first on Jess Runs.

But luckily I had plans to work out with a friend later Saturday afternoon. I wasn’t sure what equipment would be available at the little fitness center, but I figured I’d make do.

Of course when I got there I was mildly bummed out to see there wasn’t a kettlebell in sight, which I mean wasn’t really that surprising, it was just a bummer.

But there were a whole bunch of dumbbells and I decided to make do with what I had and created my own mini-WOD.

I warmed up with some handstands and light presses, and then got into my WOD:

Five sets for time:

• 10 dumbbell snatches
• 15 air squats
• 10 burpees
• 10 dumbbell push presses

I didn’t have a stopwatch or a clock so I have no idea what my time was. But man, any workout with burpees is automatically a buttkicker.

I used a 25 pound dumbbell for the snatches and broke them up doing five on each arm. I used 20 pounds for the push presses because my arms were pretty shaky after the burpees.

My friend was looking at my like I was kind of a crazy person, since his workout consisted of some heavier weight stuff and a quick spin on the stationary bike to loosen up his legs.

Meanwhile, I was panting and sweating like a pig. Man I’m such an image of beauty sometimes.

The whole workout was pretty short, which was just what I needed on such a busy day, and it was kind of fun to make up my own WOD on the spot. Turns out there’s a lot you can do with some dumbbells and creativity.

The post Improvised WOD appeared first on Jess Runs.

My alumni league had a doubleheader Saturday afternoon against West Virginia and Penn State. The temperature was up in the 90s on Saturday, so the playing conditions weren’t ideal, but luckily plenty of people showed up for the games so we had lots of subs.

We beat West Virginia in our first game, though it was a close one.

And I think between the heat and how close the previous game was, by the time we got to Penn State, we were about done. It just wasn’t a pretty game and we lost by more than I care to admit. It was also our first loss of the season, womp womp.

I spent Sunday afternoon with my men’s team…where I obviously do not play, but I “coach”/keep score/hang out with all my friends.

I should note this is not the book from Sunday’s game. I keep a much, much neater book.

We won both games, putting us at 4-0 for the season.

I think the real victory for the entire weekend though, was after spending so much time outside, I managed to not pick up any sunburn, and only walked away with minorly awkward cleat tan lines.

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