This afternoon, as I sat stranded in the Cincinnati airport after dealing with two cancelled flights, I sent Gia, my running coach, an email. I was so nervous to send it that my heart rate definitely increased before I pushed send.

“Gia, this week I’ve prioritized building work relationships over running. I’ve stayed out until at least 2am almost every night laughing, drinking, and getting to know co-workers from across the country. I’ve done 2 runs for a grand total of 8 miles. I’m so sorry but can you please adjust my training schedule as I don’t think a long run is going to be in the cards either due to travel this weekend.”

Much to my elation, Gia’s response was exactly what I was hoping to hear and reconfirmed my decisions. She believes that we’re too early in the training to worry, I’ve had a strong three weeks of training thus far including double digit long runs, and I still have 3 strong months of training ahead of me. Sometimes we all need a break physically and mentally from training.

Over the past few years, a healthy lifestyle has become a way of life and running or working out daily is a key part of that lifestyle. Often, when traveling, I’m the person who is on the hotel treadmill or out the door for a run in the new city by 5am, often sacrificing late nights with co-workers. While I’m fine with this decision most of the time, this week, as soon as I met the amazing group on Monday, I knew I wanted to invest the time in networking. These aren’t people I work with in New York City so seeing them is a rare occasion. Therefore, staying out late didn’t make me feel guilty. Instead, it made me remember and enjoy the fact that I am practicing what I preach: moderation.

 

So while I didn’t exactly deliver on this week’s training plan, I had a wonderfully exhausting week in Cincinnati and am leaving feeling more inspired to work for this amazing company than ever before. I also discovered a new delicious drink, Goslings and Ginger. Since college, I’ve avoided rum as it’s never been a favorite of mine and my college memories are filled with more Jack & Diet Cokes than I care to remember. While my liquor of choice is normally vodka, last night a co-worker ordered me a Goslings and Ginger which was delicious. While I know that drinking mixed drinks with regular soda is an easy way to pack on the calories and pounds, I don’t think having one or two every now and then is an issue.

So now I’m going to prop my legs up, relax in a massage chair, people watch, and worry about the ominous clouds on the horizon.

My flight to New York was cancelled tonight but luckily our friends in Harrisburg are letting me stay with them since that is the closest Delta could get me to New York. Conveniently, we were already heading down to Philadelphia to meet them tomorrow to celebrate Bo’s birthday! It’s going to be a packed weekend but one thing is for sure, I’ll sleep well tonight!

Happy Birthday, Bo!