weekend catch up

1. I got my hands dirty this weekend and freshened up the window boxes.

2. I wanted to relax a little and was feeling a bit nostalgic so I made Ryan hook up the 360. He didn't mind.

3. We drove to the local rail trail to get our run in today and I had to go so bad I PEED OUTSIDE. #whoami #soproud

How was your weekend?

Peace out, alfalfa sprouts. - Allison

three sentence catch up

1. Ryan took me to see Beauty and the Beast - which was nothing short of magical.

2. My living room is no longer green but an interesting shade of periwinkle. 

3. Missed my run plan last week by less than two miles - not so unrelated side note: running on a track is pretty much terrible on all levels.

Peace out, cub scouts! - Allison

Thursday Catch Up

ON LIFE (IN GERMANY)

Whoever said life goes by in the blink of an eye could not have been more right. It's December and I've been here for four months. FOUR MONTHS! Between traveling and running and binging on Netflix life. is. flying. Too fast. But I'm happy it is. Because it means I'm closer to being home. Like HOME, home. Home, in the house I grew up in, home. Home, in the city I'm so used to, home. Home, where my family is and where my in-laws are only four hours away, home. 

Life here is really good though, and sometimes I forget that. Maybe I just need to wait another four months to really appreciate having lived here.

ON GOALS & PLANS

I know I mentioned it already but it bears repeating...I'm officially signed up for my first half marathon! The more I say it, the more excited I get. Maybe by the time it gets here, and I've said it five thousand times, I'll actually want to run it. That and by the time I'm finished with our half marathon training program there'll be no reason NOT to run it. I'm going to completely ignore the fact that we also signed up for three triathlons because they're not until the summer.

But as we work through the program we definitely get encouraged by the improvements we see. Like a new fastest mile (10:05) and a new personal record for the 5K (33:36). Ryan works in a fifth run day every week so he can do speed work since we run together at my slower pace. 

And since I'm a real glutton for punishment, I convinced Ryan to add more exercises on top of that training. You know, for fun. Greatist put out their first challenge since July and I jumped riigghhtt on that band wagon. I would like to mention that it's currently day ten and I fully regret my decision. My entire body is sore. So, so sore. 

Only twenty more days to go!

ON (HOLIDAY) CELEBRATIONS

I saw this card on instagram the other day and it's definitely starting to feel like christmas. I can't say look like, because for one, we still don't have a tree or really any decorations up, and two, it doesn't seem to snow here. Which is a major bummer because snow is my favorite part of the holidays. 

Which is why I could never live in, say, Florida. Frozen States Forever!

Anyway, I'm trying to convince Ryan that we need to get a puppy when we get home. You know, for health reasons. He likes the idea but isn't quite ready to give up his "lack of responsibilities." I think he sees it as his glory days ending. Picking up and going somewhere on a whim is pretty cool. Picking up dog poop of the daily? Not so cool. 

We may not be exchanging big presents this year (unless you count five pound bags of gummy bears big) but we will be visiting each and every christmas market Cologne has to offer. Drinking glühwein all along the way. It's definitely not a bad way to celebrate this adventure we've had.

Thursday Catch Up

ON LIFE (IN GERMANY)

I want to meet the person who controls the weather in Germany. Because I'd like to register a complaint. In less than a week, the weather has gone from high-fifties to high-thirties. And to top it off, it's been rainy. The dwindling light doesn't need any help from storm clouds. kthxbye.

ON GOALS & PLANS

I'm 99% positive I would never get Ryan to agree to a halloween party unless he was under extreme duress. And I mean, EXTREME DURESS. For whatever reason he hated it growing up and didn't like getting free candy. I know, I know. I married the strangest person ever. 

Anyway, I did convince him to watch halloween movies for the thirteen days leading up to halloween. So I'll consider it a success. 

On Monday we'll start our thirteen days of halloween. Since neither of us are into scary or gory movies, we're watching a good mix of comedy and kid movies. To be fair though, Disney has some pretty awesome halloween movies. I'll share the movie list as we get closer. 

Now all I need is candy corn. 

ON CELEBRATIONS

As we truck along in our half-marathon training, we try to switch up how we attack our scheduled runs. Since tonight was a relatively short two mile run, we made it a "tempo run." Which just means run balls to the wall. And because Ryan is a freaking gazelle and I'm a snail, we ran separately.

Now, something I really struggled with when I started running was getting out of my head. I would run and the only thing I could think about was how much I hurt, how I couldn't breath, or how slow I was going. When I came over here to Germany, I used music to distract me so I could keep running. And then, once Ryan came, we started running together and we always talk about our days. 

Today was the ultimate test, With no one but me, myself, and I to talk to and no music to distract me, I just ran. It was without a doubt one of the best runs I've ever had. While these thoughts have run through my head before, today's were more like this:

"I'm not that far off Ryan."
"Look at those calves."
"He's really picking it up."
"Do not try to catch him, you're not a gazelle."
"Where is he?"
"These kids with scooters!"
"Would it be bad if I pushed one?"
"Focus."
"Avoid the wet leaves."
"Seriously, where is Ryan?"
"Don't look at your watch, don't look at your watch."
"Woo! First mile!"
"I just did what?!"
"Okay, you can do this. You're a gazelle."
"So smooth, so fresh."
"Why do bikers always have to sneak up on you?"
"Come on, people, move it. I'm running here."
"Okay, only half a mile left."
"He must be done by now."
"Wasn't he going to turn around and run back with me?"
"Swing wide on the corner, you don't want to run into Ryan."
"No? He's not there?"
"Seriously, where is he?"
"I'm doing what?! I'm on fire!"
"Light as a feather."
"There he is! Look at him, all surprised."
"Fist bump, because I'm crushing it."
"You got this."
"Run. Run. RUN."
"Sweet Jesus, hallelujah. Two miles."

And with that, I ran my fastest mile ever. Best day ever. Complete with chocolate and cookies. Because how can you not celebrate a personal record? 

Which, in case you're curious, is a 10:28 now. Down 21 seconds from my last PR. 

Thursday Catch Up

ON LIFE (IN GERMANY)

Fall is officially here and I love it. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. And I'm 99% sure the smell is the best part of it all. You get out of your car at night after a rainy afternoon and it smells so so good. I want to bottle it up and make a candle. 

Now, I know I talked before about the WIDE variety of songs they play, but here, the songs are all played in their original format, profanity included. Imagine my surprise the first time I heard "The Real Slim Shady" uncensored. I'm definitely not in the US anymore. Amazingly enough, though, people aren't crude and everyone's pretty pleasant. So maybe the FCC needs to do some thinking about being such a prude. We can probably handle a little swearing.

One thing that had me swearing this week? My car was towed yesterday morning. The first time I've ever had my car towed and it's in a foreign country. That was a 190€ lesson I won't be forgetting easily. Especially not after Ryan and I had to go to three different companies looking for the damn car at eight in the morning. Seriously, how many Colonia's can there be in one suburb of Cologne? It probably would have helped if we knew just a littttllleee bit more German. Or if we knew that "towed" isn't a word here.

I suppose that if it has to happen once in your life, though, it's better to get towed sooner rather than later. Yay?

ON PLANS & GOALS

Reading this article I want to binge watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Because, hello, Charlie Day. I just want to hug him. When I brought it up to Ryan he was all over it. The Netflix binge, of course, not the hugging. I think we found our weekend plans.

Next weekend though, since being here for such a short time, Ryan and I have been traveling like mad with so many more trips planned. It's funny, considering when we're in the States, we go nowhere. Like, we take zero weekend trips. No close-to-home trips. But in the short month that Ryan's been here, he's come to realize he wants to do more exploring around home. You know, when we do finally get there.  Ryan's started planning some hikes in the Adirondacks and a Finger Lake beer/wine tour. I am super excited. Not only for the long awaited Finger Lake wine tour, but I'm pretty sure I can convince him to show me Niagara Falls. Since I've never been. And I'm also pretty happy because it's about as much wanderlust I can inspire in my self-described homebody husband.

ON CELEBRATIONS

I somehow stumbled upon this shimmery wine/vodka the other day and I cannot wait to try it. It freaking sparkles. I can't wait to celebrate with it. I just need something to celebrate.

The weekend? A long weekend? How about running. Ooo, yes. Let's do running. Because nothing says healthy after running than wine/vodka.

Training for a half is actually pretty fun. And I have the best partner. I'm getting faster and I think my technique is getting better so those are definitely things to celebrate. In moderation of course.

If you're on them, you can follow me with Garmin or Smashrun. 

Thursday Catch Up

ON LIFE (IN GERMANY)

Slowly, but surely, my apartment is falling apart. The washing machine has broken. I've broken a fridge shelf. Ryan's broken a light bulb. The shower head is springing new leaks daily. And in the past two days a smoke alarm started chirping, the heating element in the oven fell out, and the handle on the oven door fell off. Our only tool to fix  them? A hammer. 

You want to know what a hammer can fix? NONE OF THOSE THINGS. Seriously, we can't even figure out how to change the battery in the smoke alarm. 

I promise, I'm an adult.

ON GOALS & PLANS

I've thought about it for years and after reading this article I'm deadset on creating a capsule wardrobe. I love, love, love the idea. What do you think? Could you do it?

Fitness wise, Ryan and I decided before we moved here that we'd strictly train for running. It's my weakest sport (in a triathlon) and I'm super, super slow. Since Ryan has a lot of free time, he's been researching training plans and watching running documentaries. Which, if you have a free half hour watch Wonderland. All this free time also let's him find a crapload of races for use to do next year. So far the list includes: three sprint triathlons (June, July, August), the 10K Turkey Trot (November), the 15K Stockade-athon (November), a half marathon (March), and a full marathon (October). The list doesn't include any other 10K or 5K races we'll "pick up."

And if someone can reassure me that I'm not going to have a heart attack that would be lovely. Either that or tell me how hawt I'm going to look after logging all those miles. Pretty please?

ON CELEBRATIONS

Last Sunday, I celebrated my birthday in Munich. Like actually celebrated. Then again, it's kind of hard not to celebrate during Oktoberfest. But I didn't try to avoid it and pretend the day didn't exist like I always do! I can't believe I've been missing out on enjoying it for the past five years. I need a V8 smack upside the head for that. 

One win for the home team? I'm slowly picking up more and more German. I can almost make my way through dinner at a restaurant. And just the other morning, someone asked a question at work and I understood the entire sentence! By the time I'm conversationally fluent it'll be just in time for me to go back to the States. 

Now, if only I could convince Ryan to have a Halloween party, my fall would be made. Especially considering I have the perfect costume idea.

Thursday Catch Up

Have you ever driven near the Canadian border and searched for music on the radio? You inevitably find a good song and then they switch to the DJ and it turns out the station's in French. Welcome to Germany. Except, it's in German. But you figured that out right? Right.

Every morning I get in the car and listen to my local "pop" channel on the twenty minute drive to work. From what I gather, they tell you the big news stories, about the stop-and-go traffic, and they make prank calls. The best part of my mornings? The random assortment of music. They've played "Lose Yourself" by Eminem and "Sometimes" by Britney Spears. Those brought me riiiggghhhttt back to high school. Thanks, but no thanks.

Anyway. One of the songs on the radio is John Newman's latest single with Charlie Wilson. Have you heard it? I've only heard it about a dozen times and today is the first day I know what he's saying. Tyrant? Tiring?

IT'S TIRING.

You know, in case you were confused too. I cannot be the only one who wasn't sure if it was tyrant or tiring. I know "tyrant game" doesn't really make much sense, but music these days can be very questionable.

In other news, Ryan joined instagram (@rclabarge). He posts daily pictures of the beer he's trying and screenshots of his runs. He's a quick learner, adding about half a dozen #hashtags to every post. His new obsession, besides ogling all the food and craft beer pages, has become seeing how many likes he gets. He's like a needy teenage girl. It's kind of funny. Endearing almost?

When we're not running together or going to the store, our weeknights are pretty relaxed. I finally have time to catch up on my horrendously large inbox and all the unread posts in my RSS feed. The downside? I'm pinning everything. I just looked and I have almost five thousand pins.

FIVE. THOUSAND.

How does that even happen?! Clearly, I've had too much down time. But now I'm thinking about organizing and weeding through them all. Does that make me crazy? I don't even know how I would start attacking a monster like that. Would you do it? Have you done it? Please tell me your secrets. Pretty please?

"Our love is just a tiring game. I'll never give it up, I'll never give it up."