Have you ever thought about why we run long distances? Why we keep pushing that envelope? Well I guess it's probably no secret, but I'm realizing that it's come in handy in many life situations that seem to push you to your limits and never end.
I'll write a quick recap of the past month, since finding any time to post updates seems to be scarce. About a month ago, we got notice that our landlords wanted to sell our house. Like just about every other person I know that resides in the bay area, we were booted out and left frantically searching for an affordable place to live. I thought it was hard enough having two dogs...one being over 70lbs, but throwing six chickens in the mix? Nearly impossible. Our rent in our 2 bedroom house was manageable, and while it did go up a couple times it was still surprisingly low for what it could be going for. If were were to look for a similar place it would have cost us easily $1000 more a month.
We decided it was in our best interest to look for a house to buy since throwing thousands of dollars each month into the black hole of rent didn't seem appealing. The market in the bay area is insane and moves at lightning speeds. If you're searching, you've got to be ready to throw down some money (at least 500k) in order to grab a place. It boggles my mind that I can spend longer deciding on a pair of running shoes than I can for a house that costs over half a million dollars.
It was after the SF Rock N Roll race that we decided to check out open houses in Concord. Everyone always asks...WHY CONCORD? I'll admit, it's not our first choice to move way out to where every commute is an hour or more...but we really didn't have much of a choice since we needed a larger yard. I would have loved to find something in the peninsula but it wasn't happening in our price range.
I limped pathetically through all the open houses since that was the race that I fell on the Golden Gate Bridge. Some people like to dress to impress, but I like to go in sweaty gym clothes and bandages.
Long story short, we found a house that we loved and the past couple of weeks we have had our hair on fire trying to close on the house and move almost simultaneously. We literally closed the day before we had booked our movers to move us out. Did I mention that we're getting married in...two weeks?
And that weekend, my friends, was the first weekend in a very long time that I have not ran. I didn't need to! I was sore from head to toe from carrying box, upon box, upon box. We had movers but since I had no idea where I wanted things, I had them drop them all in the garage and I later moved them all myself to their designated rooms. We are still living out of boxes...
Since moving two weekends ago, we've ran three times around Concord. Amazingly, we are less than a mile away from some incredible trails. I am pretty sure some of them take us straight to Mt Diablo, a mountain that we have summited a couple times via hiking and running. I'm a little scared of the rattle snakes in the area. Any snake can inspire a shriek and 10 foot leap from me, but I guess rattle snakes are kinda dangerous. :P And there were a couple of sightings on the trail we regularly go on.
On the first of May I also ran a marathon. It wasn't the best circumstances, and I promise that I'll write a proper race report soon, but I can proudly say that I DID come in under four hours which was really all I wanted to do. Of course it would have been nice to hit my goal of 3:45, but the weather was hot and I have been way too stressed out to put running as a priority.
This last weekend, I spent the most epic weekend in Yosemite with mah girls! I've never been much of a girly girl, nor have I ever had many girl friends...but I guess I've accumulated some over the years since I had so many present at the party. They are all truly amazing in so many ways, and I'm really happy I was able to bring them together to meet. :) We squeezed in an 8 mile hike on Saturday up to see some spectacular water falls, and a 13.1 mile run the next day! I'll try to write a special post for that too, but I might be getting a little ambitious.
Next weekend we head to Michigan and then the next weekend we're getting married! Running is still a lower priority to me right now, but I plan on getting back into it as soon as this chaos dies down. Wish me luck cuz the next two weeks are going to be crazy!