Good morning!

Er… afternoon!

Yesterday was a busy day! I went for a run around 11, just before it started to downpour! I did 4 miles in 38:13 with splits at 9:25, 9:17, 10:04, and 9:27. I’m really glad I’m starting to drift away from 10:00/miles. I seem to be able to pull off 8:00 miles during races but nowhere near that during training. I know I need to push myself harder and so I’m trying to be more aware of my speed during runs.

Afterwards I met my family in Providence for lunch after my cousin’s graduation. We went to an Italian restaurant which was really good. We started with ricotta rice balls and fried calamari, which were both delicious, and I had sweet potato gnocchi for my meal. I don’t LOVE sweet potato, but the gnocchi was really good. I also tried a tiny bite of fried polenta out of curiosity, it was a little weird.

I stayed up late last night watching the first four episodes of Extreme Couponing. It was so interesting, but I have mixed feelings.. The people on the show had stockpiles of paper towels, laundry detergent, sodas, and tons of non-perishable items. I feel that if you are receiving over 90% of your total bill and paying very little out of pocket, food should be donated as these people seem to be able to score these deals somewhat frequently and do not need over 80 bottles of laundry detergent. That’s just my opinion. What do you think?

Anyway, I ended up falling asleep watching it and waking up in the middle of the night not being able to fall back asleep. I also ended up waking up around 6am but fell back asleep awhile after. My allergies are the absolute worst right now. I can deal with itchy eyes but I can’t stand having a stuffy nose and sore throat.

My plans for today include relaxing, watching TV and movies, and doing an at-home yoga video, 2 mile run, and the FitBlog plank challenge! I want to join a yoga studio, but they’re so expensive and I don’t know how often I’d actually go. Some studios in Boston offer 2 weeks unlimited for $25 which I might just try out. There are also several lululemon stores offering free yoga/cycling classes once a week. I love yoga but don’t want to shell out $15-$20 per class!