Take Two

Sometimes I get really frustrated because I'm passionate about a lot of things. If someone was to tell me this I'd think "how can someone have too many passions?" I mean, this makes sense if they all tie into each other somehow. Like, if someone was passionate about swimming and running they could get into triathlon and just pick up the cycling. Or if someone was interested in both health and cooking they could become a nutritionist. Creating a career from a passion is something I dream of, however I keep changing my mind.

In high school it was running and photography. I used to have dreams of becoming fashion or lifestyle photographer so when I started college, I declared photography as a major. I then got a gig taking pictures for the school's newspaper, but I was never  published. I wasn't too into this whole idea so one day I thought about how I'd love to become a teacher. So I changed my major to Special Education. The classes were great, my instructors were inspiring, and at age 19, this is what I was going to do with my life. I was going to have a classroom and I was going to be one who lived up to the quote of "those who can, teach". After two semesters life happened and I ended up back at home with my parents and worked as a daycare teacher for two year olds. It was here that I was talking to a coworker about how I felt that being a teacher wasn't really something I was passionate about anymore and she was telling me about how her daughter was at school in a Speech Pathology program. My coworker was sharing how the income for people in this field is high and that people are needed to fill these jobs. I went home and researched the field and thought I'd go back to school and declare this as my major for the final time. I was in the program for a semester before my family moved to New Hampshire. I took some classes online but work got too crazy so I dropped them. It's been a year since I've been in school and as of right now, I'm not looking into going back to learning Speech Pathology.

Also within the last two years, I've gone back and forth between both running and triathlon. This isn't as big a dilemma as figuring out a career, but it is frustrating none the less. Triathlon's expensive and you can't do it without a bike, a pool to swim in, or races to enter. Running is much cheaper in this regard. All you really need are running shoes, shorts, and race fees are sometimes about a third of a triathlon. I can always do one or the other whenever I want. But as I've written before, I've been leaning more toward focusing on running. This was great until I got sick and stayed six for 3 weeks and when work got stressful. I plan to pick running back up again soon, slowly. I am also planning on getting this blog going again too. I'm thinking that maybe I can channel all those crazy passions I have into one thing. So, here's take two and hopefully no take three.

'A' is for Athlete

Having a "type a" personality is usually defined as someone being regimented or particular about how things go because they like being in control at all times. They don't like seeing an outcome that they weren't able to be in charge of. They're often anxious and impatient and live off the deadlines they set for themselves. If you want a more clear picture of this kind of person, watch some Gossip Girl and observe Blair Waldorf, you'll learn quickly. 

I never saw myself as one of these types of people except for maybe within the last couple of years. I'm known for being really laid back, indecisive, and quite. I would never, ever, consider myself to have a "type a" personality. However, when it comes to being an athlete, I obviously have some type a in me. I'm a competitive, ambitious, and pretty impatient person by nature which doesn't really fit the "type b" personality traits. These traits have more to do with my athletic self more than anything else. For example, the other day it was in my schedule to run 3 easy miles because the day before I had done 5 miles at tempo pace. I felt great for the tempo workout, the best I had felt running like that in awhile. I wasn't feeling the same the next day. 3 super easy miles at 8:30 pace was more than fine by me, but Dad didn't think so. We were easily pushing 8:15 pace. When we hit the trail on the run he had just kinda took off while I tried to get back to 8:30/ mile but slower because we were trail running. I could have been super competitive and kicked it in with him but staying back had a lot to do with the fact that my training plan said to do 3 easy miles. If a person with a "type a" personality had gone over or under the 3 miles at a pace that was way too fast they would have probably had anxiety. I'm don't go this far with it but something inside of me always feels wrong. And then tonight at the local track practice I felt the same way. Where I live, there are controlled burns for the forest. I don't know if today's smoke was from a controlled burn or not but the air (it was also really cold) was really thick and I was having a lot of trouble breathing. And it wasn't the trouble breathing I was familiar with. No, this was a "I'm sucking in air but nothing's going in my lungs. Oh now comes a mini panic attack because I can't breathe." type of thing. The workout involved some interval pacing and I was feeling so awesome and fast but when you're feeling awesome and fast your body also needs that oxygen and I was not getting enough. I grew frustrated but let it go because workouts aren't always perfect and this is how you learn because adversity (aka breathing issues) makes you stronger. So I shook it off like Taylor told me to and finished out the workout best I could. 

There were a lot of things I could continue to say about this subject, I think. But it's 11 at night and my body is telling me to go to sleep and that the last few hours of Christmas music was enough for tonight. 

Oh, and I found this quote tonight- "Stay close to what keeps you feeling alive." Mmmm yeah I think being an athlete (more specifically running) is what I need to stay close to. 

For the Love of Running

I recently changed the name of this blog to something more permanent. It's called "For the Love of Running" for various reasons. However, running is way more than just running to me. It's my lifestyle and I love it. It's opened a lot of doors and has made me into who I am today and will bring me to where I want to go in the future. So here's a little story of why I named this blog what I did. 

---

I've been running for a long time. It kinda started with my dad. He ran marathons here and there when I was a kid and I'd go on an occasional run with him around the neighborhood. I also had a babysitter who ran for the local high school. Since every 8 year old wants to do what there babysitter did, I took up a local recreational track program. I don't remember a whole lot about participating besides running across the field at a track practice one night and then finding a fly in my mouth and was totally grossed out. I had a ribbon for a 300m I ran once. There wasn't a time listed on the ribbon but I know it wasn't anything impressive. 

I didn't keep up with the rec program for very long. My family moved out to Arizona when I was ten and I hadn't really participated in anything up until I joined a coed soccer team with some friends. This didn't last long either since my team never won a game, but I had always enjoyed running around the field. I quit soccer on my 11th birthday. After soccer it was volleyball. A lot of volleyball. I loved volleyball. Again, I started this because my friends were playing and I had an interest in it. I didn't make the middle school teams but I played for a few local clubs. I wasn't always the most coordinated, but seemed to beat all my teammates when we'd have to do suicides (running the length of the court for a certain amount of time, usually as discipline or conditioning). I just thought I was more in shape than the other girls, for some odd reason. Then my world came crashing down when I didn't make the high school junior varsity team my sophomore year. It was a dream of mine to play at the college level. When I look at it now, this dream was kinda far fetched. I loved volleyball but I wasn't consumed by it. 

So with volleyball very much over, I needed to take up something else. My dad suggested I run the local Turkey Trot 5k with him since running had been something I was interested in before taking up volleyball or soccer. Run that 5k with him I did. I ran something like 24 minutes and won my age group with little to no training. I didn't think much of it besides the fact that it was fun. This time, however, caught the eye of the local high school cross country coach. A few hours after the race, on Thanksgiving mind you, my mom received an email. It was my sister's club volleyball coach (also the high school xc coach). It said something like "24 minutes for a 5k is good for a 15 year old who doesn't have much training and I think she should come out for the track team once we start training in January."  I was pretty excited seeing as how I hadn't ever been recognized for my athletic abilities. Sure my volleyball coaches always said I had potential, but I never really honed in on that. This email was the beginning of the rest of my life, quite literally. 

I started with the track team and fell in love with running right away. I was quite that first season and wasn't really fast either. I didn't make it to state and ran a slow time at regionals but wanted to be on varsity as a sophomore and that was what I had accomplished so I was happy. I then ran cross country junior year and wasn't all that fast at 5ks either. I had finally found my niche that track season. Coach had me racing mostly 1600s but my 800 times were kinda impressive. I had run the 4x800 a few times and was one of the faster 4. I then started racing the open 8. I placed second in the region that year and tenth at state. (My 4x800 team were the first girls to win points state meet as we had placed 7th). I was running 2:30s consistently. At the time (girls are getting faster year after year), if you could run a sub 2:30 800 you were good because there weren't many girls that could do that. I ran cross country again my senior year but again, 5ks weren't my distance. It was the 800. I was successful at the distance again my senior year when I had learned how to actually run. My goal had been to go around 2:27 to try and keep the school record a little longer, but my legs weren't able to get me there. I placed 3rd in the region that year and 11th at state. I loved that distance and really miss racing it. It is one of the hardest races in track and field but it was a blast. 

---

Since picking up triathlon and learning that the 20s can be some of the fastest years for female runners, I've begun to think that I'm faster than I ever was in high school. I ran a 47 minute 10k in my first olympic distance triathlon after being burnt out and not having trained a whole lot the weeks prior. The half marathon a few weeks ago was a blast but I feel like I could get my 10k down even more. I feel like I have some speed hidden inside of me somewhere. It needs to be nourished and encouraged. With these thoughts in my head I took action. I joined the local running team. It's a collective mix of middle aged parents, college kids, and singeltons in the adult program. There's also a kids team and a pro team within the whole as well. Tonight I went to my first track practice with the team at the University's track. It was a blast. We did some interval work and I was nervous about it since I haven't been very diligent about training. I kept up with some of the faster women and felt terrific. Some of the pro athletes was there to give splits and encourage every single runner no matter how fast or slow they were going. It was amazing to see the community and camaraderie taking place. I'm so glad I am now apart of two amazing teams who encourage runners no matter there speed or experience. This is one of my most favorite things about the sport and it's taught me so much.

So here it is, an actual blog with an actual name. Running is my first love and always will be. It got me into my newer love, triathlon. It's developed some of my dearest and closest friendships. Because of it, I've had the opportunities to coach and see the sport from that side and I couldn't be more grateful for having these legs of mine that allow me to do this. 

Here's to doing something you love and not having it any other way. Here's to running because you love it. 

Dabbling in 13.1

Lake Powell Half Finish

It's been over 12 hours since I finished the race and all I keep thinking is "I can't believe I ran a half marathon this morning." This half was the most miles I had run continuously ever, with my second longest being 10 miles. The rooms and I had decided we would kinda just do this race because it was Lake Powell and it'd be a fun, kinda easy race. So that's what we did. She's run 6 halfs up to this while I had never done anything over an open 5k. Its safe to say I was a bit nervous this morning.

Leading up to today I had trained very minimally, and I'm not understating this. Last weekend we ran 8.5 miles and bonked hard around mile 6. This was the farthest I had run in at least a year and a half. Prior to picking up triathlon,  I had no reason to run over 10 miles at one time and when I'm not training for a specific distance I find it hard for myself to get out there and knock out more than 3 miles at a time. And the 800m runner I had been in high school didn't ever have super long runs unless it had been for xc but even then, I never raced over a 5k. Being a server, I find it hard to find the motivation to get out and run every day, so I hadn't run more than 3 days in the past two weeks. The girl inside me that's been running for 6 years was kicking herself because she knows that this is how you can get injured but, I did it anyway.

Reppin' the Oiselle Flockies!!!

The course was gorgeous so I'll just start off with that. We started off with the 1:45 pacer. My goal for the day was to just go under 2:00 but, if I could stay around 1:45 I'd be happy. My first few miles were like 8:30 pace and I was too comfortable and I wanted to go faster but I knew I had to hold back. It also had to do that we were down in elevation about 3,000 so yay oxygen! About 6 miles in, the rooms and I were talking about how we weren't really pushing a pace. We had fallen off the pacer as I had issues with the hydration system because I was just used to grabbing cups and going (Vacation Races does this awesome thing where cups aren't allowed as to reduce litter in the park. They use hydration pouches). Then at about mile 8, I asked her if she had wanted to go for it and catch the guy trotting along with the 1:45 sign. She replied with saying he was kinda far but I was ambitious and eager and feeling awfully competitive. I picked up the pace a little getting under 8 mins to try and catch him. But then the 1:50 pacer caught me. He was saying how he was a little faster than goal time so I held on with him until about a mile left where I kicked it in a little too early to try and catch a girl with American Flag shorts who I had assumed had been in our age group. Side note: I have this thing where I don't like to go home with just a finishers medal. I like to podium in my age group. I also have a superstition where I wear my green Nike sports bra and either podium or pr while wearing it. But anyways...I tried to catch the American Flag girl but wasn't able to. I panted till I got to the finish and probably ended up with a not so cute finish photo but who cares because it was a blast. I finished 4th in my age group with 1:46 while the rooms was 3 seconds behind me and placed 5th. We still got age group medals because Vacation Races takes it 5 deep! Woo!

With all this being said and it being a more running-specific post I feel like for some reason, I should announce that I'll be focusing more on solely running for the next few months. The cost to get back into really training for triathlon was really off putting when I moved and calculated how much it would cost for me to join the University's pool and gym so I could use the track. I found this to not be totally financially responsible for me at this time so it's back to my first love and I'm really excited. I even bought myself a Garmin 220 as an incentive and I love it. 

I only ran 2 mins off my 10k pr today and 2 of the 6 miles were on hilly, sandy trails. So who knows what I could do. I think I'll make it a goal of mine to beat my high school 5k pr of 20:58. I feel like that's cake for me now. And there's already been talk of another half and then the full 26.2 within the next couple of months too ;)

On Serving: Part 2

As I've said before, I haven't been in this business for a long time but since last September, I've learned a lot. So here's a short(ish) list of some things working in restaurants has taught me-

1. You're an actor all the time. The saying "fake it till you make it" applies to every aspect of being a server.
2. Guests will yell at you whether you they're the only ones in the restaurant or if you have a full section.
3. If a guest yells at you there was probably something that had happened or has been happening in their life where they needed to take it out on someone so they took it out on you.  
4. Explaining to a guest that you will do everything you can to try and fix a situation doesn't always make them any less angry. Crying in the back or behind the bar is kind of inevitable because being yelled at while at work feels like it's a personal attack. 
5. Going to the soda station and telling one of your fellow servers about how unruly and needy a table is being is a great time for a laugh or to let off some steam. 
6. Some dry humor and a Starbucks Double Shot make a 14 hour day a hell of a lot easier. 
7. Spilling wine on a guest, dropping glassware on marble floors, and dropping plates full of food are things that happen. Everyone has at least one horror story. 
8. Your personal checkbook is your lifeline. You make sure none of your checks or cash spill out of that baby during a shift. Also never let it out of your site, try finding it when there are at least 20 other black American Express checkbooks sitting around the server stations. 
9. Always tip out your busser, bartender, and hostess a little extra at the end of every shift. These people work their asses off for you so giving them a few extra bucks will keep them working hard for you. 
10. Managers will always have your back unless you screw something up big time. There is never a time when it is ok for a guest to mistreat a manager's staff. 
11. The kitchen staff are some of the most hard working, humble, sarcastic people you will ever meet. They work their buts off for people who don't have faces to them. 
12. However, working 15 hour days doesn't mean they won't make you some food at the end of the night. 
13. Your coworkers will take orders for you, drop checks, or go talk to a table for you if those pesky guests created this temporary hysteria where you cannot stop crying. 
14. These same coworkers will also drop food or drinks or clear a table if you ask them nicely because you just got triple sat. 
15. Spending more time with these people than you do your roommates and friends creates relationships real fast. There's a certain family atmosphere that comes along with working in this industry because of how stressful things can get at times. 

I often complain about how I don't like being a server in this industry but I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had through it, the lessons I've learned, and most importantly the people I've met. 

The Flock

Today was a pretty exciting one in my book. Well it may not seem like a huge deal to some, but let me tell you about why I am so freaking excited. 

Today I joined The Flock. You might be thinking to yourself, "what the hell is Lexi doing joining a bunch of birds?" These birds aren't any kind of birds, people. They're inspirational ones, they're unique ones, and they're fast ones. These birds are the Oiselle Flock. It consists of women like me. Women that want to find a community of other athletes, more specifically runners, who are as passionate as they are.

The Flock isn't insignificant per say, but the Oiselle Elite team has some pretty big names who also happen to be my idols in all sports- Kara Goucher, Lauren Fleshman, and more recently Kate Grace. If you know me you probably know my obsession with Kara Goucher, American marathoner who came up short at the 2012 London Olympics. I first grew a liking to her when she was supposed to speak at an Arizona Girls Sports Expo I attended back in 2007 when running was new to me (she didn't attend but Alicia Shay's talk was just as awesome). So I began to follow Kara. I loved her as a Nike athlete. But when her contract was up with Nike she went to Oiselle. I had known of Oiselle before because of Lauren Fleshman. She's the wife of triathlete Jesse Thomas. I followed Lauren on social media but didn't know a whole lot about Oiselle till Kara joined the team. In short, Oiselle is a running apparel company specifically for women. What woman doesn't like awesome looking clothes that fit her correctly!? But anyways, I was on the company's blog a few months ago and saw a post about The Flock. I got super excited and texted some friends about the prospect of joining the same team as Kara and Lauren. So today I sat on my computer at 10am hitting the refresh page on Oiselle for at least 10 minutes. I was growing concerned because I didn't know if I had been to late to the train and had missed a spot, but turns out, I didn't. I got in. I get to connect with all these inspiring women and I'm so excited. I also get a really awesome Oiselle singlet (I hope to debut it at the Lake Powell Half Marathon a month from tomorrow), a spike bag, and free shipping for a year! I think my most favorite part of the membership, however, is that a portion of my membership fee is going to support the elite athletes of Oiselle. These women inspire me everyday so having the opportunity to help them out a little means a lot. 

With this exciting event expect to see some more Oiselle/triathlon/running things on this blog in the future because yay passions!!!

On Serving

When I started my first restaurant job in a fine dining restaurant as a busser, one of the servers told me I wasn't cut out for working in a restaurant. She said I was too gentle and naive and quite. She was right. A year later and I'm still that way. She wasn't trying to insult me or steer me away, but she was honest with me as she had worked in the industry for well over ten years. She grew to know me better than anyone in the restaurant and ended up being like a big sister to me. This business is rough, but on the contrary, some of the most rewarding relationships I've had in my life have come from sharing this commonality. 

I would be considered more of a newbie in the restaurant business. Having worked in fine dining and, recently a more casual setting, I have found that being in introvert is my biggest setback. It's hard to make an introvert talk to complete strangers. It's not something that's easy for someone who needs quite, alone time to regain energy to just go up to a table and be like "Hey! My name's Lexi and I'm your server and I love talking so we can talk as much as you want!'. No. I mean, I've learned a lot from this job and although I never wanted to pursue a career in Hollywood, I'm still an actress. I have to be happy when I'm not, smile when I feel like crying, and bust my ass off when I'm tired because I just worked five doubles in a row. 

On the contrary there are some pretty rewarding things like how quickly you develop family-like relationships. Working in a restaurant, you instantly have something to talk about with the other staff. It usually goes something like,

"The lady in the yellow shirt just told me she has a gluten allergy but insisted on having regular bread. And then she asked me for a water and when I went back to the table the husband wanted a glass of wine and we were out of the wine and then the food is taking forever to come out so now I'm not going to make any money off the table and now my life is over."

And sometime that's as far as the conversation goes because venting is all you need for a temporary release before you get out there again and the same thing happens to your next table. But sometimes one of your coworkers makes a joke about something and it's an on going thing for the rest of the night or even the week. Because of this sometimes you'll go out to a table still laughing about what just happened by the computer. It's all worth it though because it gets you through a slow shift, or a double, or a busy Saturday night. 

Working in this industry has taught me a lot about the real world and myself. I've seen that sometimes the work you put in doesn't yield the results you're looking for but the same can be said for the opposite. There are generous people in this world and people the genuinely care about your well-being. Waiting tables certainly isn't my dream job but I'm grateful for what it's taught me, the friends I've made, and how it's shown me that things are temporary and that you have control of where your life goes.