April Goals Update

I was Captain Grumpy Pants in March and the goals update thing did not happen.  Sorry.

Eating: No updates.

Running:
Keep up the streak. Yes.
Keep weight lifting 3 days/week.  Apparently in non-race training, this gets reduces to two days/week and I'm okay with it. I am solidly and reliably lifting twice/week.  I did make it to the gym on Sunday and try some plyos and other exercises so we're calling that progress.
Cross train with Zumba.  I have been to Zumba this month.  It is what it is.

Races: 
Only remaining race I'm registered for is Loony.  I didn't do any racing in March or April because the weather made training unpleasant to impossible.  Fucking blizzards.
Loony Challenge in October
Feet in the Street 5K in October. Sadly, this is scheduled for the same weekend as Loony. 
Break 30:00 in a 5K - I guess I should register for another 5K.
Continue MAF training through June.  So far so good.

Blogging:
Not doing whole30 or race training, so this has been a 'not so much' thing.
I am enjoying the pictures of the weather for the different months (tagged 'running conditions').  They are something I frequently look back at, just for my own planning.

General life stuff:
Read 12 books in 2018. Read 50 books in 2018.   I'm over 20 already.  I thought I'd listen a lot on the road for my job, which I do, but I also listen a ton when I'm at home over the weekends cleaning and doing chores.
Volunteer at a race.  Signed up for TC 1 Mile as a course marshal.  I've always wanted to actually run this race, but have been intimidated by the logistics.  I want to see it once before I register.
Learn to french braid my hair.   No, but it's legitimately long enough to ponytail now.

Before and After: 1 Week

What a difference a week makes, right?

CDMX

Tuesday: The Day Before

 My Pooky Bear helped me prepare my condo for some upgrades.

Wednesday

Running: An early morning run along the river.  I was wishing I’d dressed warmer because I was having a nice time and wanted to stay out longer.
Activities: All of the traveling.  Meeting Charles Manson. We need to find a better blog name for him. Our first Uber ride and our first look at CDMX
Weather and natural disasters: It was freezing too cold in Minneapolis.  Totally did not expect to be able to weather-brag on this trip, but there it is.  It was raining when we got to the Air BnB.  There was an interior courtyard we had to go through and it was a bit slick 

Thursday

Running: This is day 2000 of the streak.  Olive helped me celebrate. I ran 2K for 2,000 days. This is also my first high altitude run.  I did not get a nose bleed.  Yet.  That happened later.
Activities: The Casa Azul (Frida Karlo Museum) and Coyocan.    At night we went for Tacos in the rain.  The tacos were excellent.  During the walk I had a great time getting to know Charles Manson.
Weather and natural disasters: The rain was a problem.  We took an Uber home.

Friday

Running: Another run in the park.  I love this park and I am happy here.
Activities: The civil ceremony for Charles Manson and Captain Smiley. Captain Smiley made me cry. Damn it. Charles Manson’s family is super sweet.  For the 'American Party' we taught Charles Manson's family how to do the Chicken Dance.  Olive and I got to do the Danza Kuduro routine from Zumba.  We nailed it.
Weather and natural disasters:  There was an earthquake in Mexico somewhere.  I was assured it was a small one. I did not feel it and there were no sirens.

Saturday

Running: It’s a good thing I like this park because I am here again.  Once I'm in the park, there are no cars on my route, no streets to cross, and there are other runners here. 
Activities: Xochimilco.  If I spelled this correctly, it will be a miracle. It was a great day on the water with no mosquitos. That alone is something to write home about for this Minnesota girl. This is also the day that we had Chapulines.
Weather and natural disasters:  I think it actually did not rain on this day, which was lovely.

Sunday

Running: We went to Parque Mexico which was a suggestion from Charles Manson.  He was right.  I had a blast on all the trails on the outter ring and inner ring of the park.  I think here I should give a shout out to Strava Heatmaps.  When they are not outing secret military bases, the heat maps are awesome.
Activities: Hay una boda!  Today's excitement was when Olive were voluntold to collect the wedding cake.  In Spanish.  Because Liz speaks Spanish.  WTF.  I do not speak 'go to a bakery and get a cake that someone else paid for' Spanish'  That mission was ultimately a success and we had a great Uber driver as well.  At the boda, we did all of the dancing including The Chicken Dance which is awesome to explain to people from another culture and language
Weather and natural disasters: Didn't rain.  Again.  So that was nice.

Monday

Running: Here I am at the park again.  Although today I warmed up a bit longer and then ran around the outside of the park instead of the interior running track trail.  It was worth it.  I saw all kinds of new things including a shrine and a fence with locks on it which is actually art.
Activities: We went to ruins in CDMX; the Basicala for Virgin Guadalupe and Teotihuacan.  We went up both the Pyramid of the Moons and the Pyramid of the Sun.  I have now made up for all of the weight lifting that I’ve missed on this trip.  Because OMG the stairs.
On the way home from the tour, we saw a protest, and saw the start of the counter action by police in riot gear.  We got out of there so fast it would make your head spin.
Weather and natural disasters:  It started raining again.  Hard.

Tuesday

Running: I really like this park.  This is my last visit and I think I will miss it.
Activities: I had, um, issues starting around 3am and subsiding around 7am so I laid low in the morning.  In the afternoon we had lunch and then visited the Chapultapec Castle
Weather and natural disasters: So this volcano started to erupt.

Wednesday

Running: Back in Minneapolis, I tried to enjoy all of the oxygen we have here.
Activities: 4am - Wake up
4:30am - Uber to Airport
6:30am - attempt to board the plane
7:00am - actually board the plane
12:00 or so local - arrive in ATL.  Talk to gate agent about changing my flight.  She is grumpy but acquiesces.
1:42pm local - take off on earlier flight.  Last row of the plane.  In between two HUGE dudes.  One is ripped and super polite.  One is not ripped but also one of the most polite passengers ever.
3:30 local - arrive at MSP and begin bartering for a ride home.  Part ways with Olive.  

Running Conditions: March 2018

This has been a rough month for a lot of reasons.  Not everything is weather related.  But the weather certainly isn't helping anything. 
March started off cold, but the days getting longer and longer.  The sidewalks are covered in mixtures of snow, ice, and puddles the size of a car.
Mid-March I went home for a week, so there's no Minneapolis weather pictures from then.
For the last week, I'd finally started trusting the sidewalks in the neighborhood to be clear for running.  And then I woke up to ice and an inch of snow today.  
The lakes are still frozen.  I haven't seen the Great Horned Owls yet.  Mostly because I haven't trusted the sidewalks to be clear enough to feel great about running that way right now. 
Runs in ice cleats: 1.  It was a little over a mile, keeping the steak alive.
Runs in shorts: 4.  For some reason, I thought there were more.  That number is so depressingly low.
Runs in short sleeves: 5.  That number is also sadly low.  Winter will never end.
March is going out like a lion.