Existence updates + 100 mile challenge

The past couple of months have been pretty hectic for ole Granny Rose, but in good ways. Among other things, I have been involved in Away Day 2013 both as a planner and a talent show contestant, transitioning from a Business Analyst role to a Project Manager/Iteration Manager position on my project, embarking on a series of mini-vacation/adventures every other weekend, and moving into the boy's condo - all while still traveling every week and nursing a broken hand, yowza!

The bad news is that my itty corner of the internetz got a bit neglected in all of this excitement. The good news is that much of the dust has settled and I feel mostly normal/inspired to blog again. Away Day is over (thank jebus), my hand is mostly healed, and both moving and role transitioning are going fairly smoothly.

Here's some fun footage from the Away Day talent show. Fast forward to the five minute mark to check out the act that I'm in, "Matrix Ping Pong."

In essence, my "talent" was to go up on stage in front of 500 of my colleagues in a full-body skin suit, crouch down with my face four inches away from somebody's butt, and half-blindly execute a complex series of movements, all while trying not to be seen, heard, or to pass out from the lack of oxygen. Huzzah!

As for the various vacations I've been on... well, they really deserve their own posts, and at least the most recent trip, Mackinac, will get one. So look for that in the near future.

Now that I'm splint-free, I've been really eager to get back into running. So much so that I've been pursuing something called the 100 mile challenge. It's very simple - the challenge is to run 100 miles in a month or any other 31-day time span, which averages out to roughly a 5k every day. What I like about it is that this challenge requires diligence and consistency, two qualities I want to improve in as a runner. 

I'm currently on day two and have exactly seven miles under my belt - so far so good! Both days' runs have been on the hotel treadmill and therefore logged manually on Endomodo. While I prefer running outside, it's just not really feasible here in Dallas in July when the feel temperature easily reaches 100+ F (37+ C) and there's a heat advisory almost every day. 

At the end of the challenge I hope to see some improvement in my 5k time. My best time ever was in the Austin Gorilla run (go figure) with a 23:01 5k, or a 7.5 minute mile average. Right now I'm easing into the routine with a pace around an 8.5 to 9 minute mile. But my goal will be to gradually increase that speed through some interval training and hopefully beat my personal best - and then some (I've got my eye on you, sub-20 5k!). But really in the grand scheme of things, even if I don't go super duper fast, just getting through all 100 miles without breaking any more bones will be something I'll be proud to say I did. 

Oh, and in anticipation of/as a reward for me completing the challenge, the boy has made reservations for two at The Girl and the Goat for the end of August. If that isn't enough motivation to get my ass on at treadmill, then I don't know what is!