For months now I have been talking to my husband about leaving. I’m not positive where I want to go or for how long, I just know that I wanna get away. Soon. I’m not talking about a vacation either but actually living with my family somewhere else (anywhere else!) for a few months or maybe a year. The need to travel, to leave, to move to just go is so strong, and there are several reasons for it.

At least I was able to get away to Maine last weekend for the annual trip with my aunts, but now that I’m back, I need to really think about Denmark or Canada or Finland or Sweden or…

The gorgeous view from Anchorage by the Sea in Ogunquit Maine!

WEEK OF OCTOBER 8, 2018

RUNNING

Running toward 13.1 in Las Vegas on November 11 continues with a vengeance! And I love it. I had a long run of 13 miles last week and it was a perfect opportunity to ponder all the places to go and all the potential running spots I can check out when I do.

Monday – easy run on the beach | 5.18 miles | 8:29 pace

Wednesday – 5 miles at 5-10 seconds faster than HMP | 7.09 miles | 2 mile warm up then 7:32, 7:04, 7:10, 7:37, 7:30 | there were some hills to navigate and the weather decided it was summer again so it was a battle, but I won.

Friday – long run | 13.1 miles | 8:05 pace

Sunday – VT running | 5.44 miles | 8:59 pace

Total = 30.81 miles

CYCLING

Sadly, the only cycling I was able to squeeze in this week was on the trainer in my basement. I love my Wahoo KICKR bike trainer and I highly recommend it if, like me, you’re facing a long winter of indoor rides. Although, maybe I’ll get to go somewhere and ride outside this winter…

I love that so much.

Tuesday – indoor interval ride while watching Shameless | 1:15:48 | 20.5 miles

SWIMMING + STRENGTH

I’m putting these together since the only swimming I did was as a warm-up to a killer strength session with Andre at Star Hill Athletic Center in Tolland. You know when you think you’re working out and then you do a workout with someone who WORKS out? Well, let’s just say the strength training I was doing was absolutely nothing compared to the strength training I’m doing with Andre.

Ab pull-ups on the bar. I took this post-workout since Andre doesn’t yet know about the blog. He may never know.

It’s been years since I did a leg press or 21s for bicep curls or, apparently, a proper row that engages my rear deltoids, but I’ve now had two sessions with Andre and I’m back to doing all those things. Of course I hate it while it’s happening but afterward I feel empowered. Another important note is that I was sore, but not overly so, after training with him. I think that shows he knows what he’s doing and the kind of workouts I need to then be able to run and bike for two hours the following day…or the same day. #TriLife

THINGS I LOVE

Researching where I want to travel, move or whatever in the next year.

First I Googled “best places in the world to raise a family”

Then I tried “best places in the world for women to live”

According to the website, they collected data based on a score of 1-10 for human rights, gender quality, income equality, progress, and safety.

The United States was number 16. And I’m sure that was before Trump was president and Kavanaugh was on the Supreme Court. The U.S. has most likely made the list of “top places of aw hell no!” #VOTE

At least I have the perfect shoes for my move (and for fall). I found these adorable shearling Birkenstocks while in Maine. Technically I found someone wearing them and then promptly ordered them from Amazon. They were at my home before I was. I love you Amazon.

THINGS I DON’T LOVE AS MUCH

Once again I fell for the “huge twist you don’t see coming” when selecting a book. A few of my so-called friends even recommended this one to me:

It was certainly well written and the characters developed nicely but you don’t see the “twist” coming because it’s ridiculous. Truly. Also, the book could have been a lot shorter since a lot of time was spent on mundane chatter and description of routine. I’m not sorry I read it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.

I also would not recommend the book I’m currently reading for book club…at least not when you’re eating or thinking about food or have just eaten. You get the idea. Radium Girls is a true story based on a time when women were painting a radium mixture onto watch dials during and after the war in the 1920s. Guess what? They were unknowingly ingesting poison on a daily basis so the long term effects are scarier than any Halloween movie I’ve ever seen or could dream up. The fact that this is all true is the most terrifying part. I can’t wait to finish so I can go back to eating normally and also so I can Google everything about it.

MOVIES

I can’t believe I actually went to see a movie that wasn’t animated or filled with super heroes, as is the case when you have 9 year-old twins, but it happened. While in Maine and faced with a rainy day, we decided to go see A Star Is Born. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Gaga is over-the-top amazing and Bradley Cooper? Let me just say (because he’s reading) that I love my husband so much but Bradley Cooper is one of the most beautiful and talented creatures to ever walk the planet. And he can sing!? WTF? It seems wrong but this movie is 100% right. It’s an incredible love story and I died 10 times over while watching it. Go see it now. Leave the kids home, they will be fine.

Just stop it!

RANDOM PICTURE OF THE WEEK

It was absolutely freezing up in Maine last weekend but that didn’t stop my aunt from going in the pool! She will want to kill me for posting this but it sums up the entire weekend – I was freezing and she was in her element.

Now, before I rent out my house and crash the AirBnB site for homes in Denmark, I may listen to my runner’s meditation one more time. ICYMI my spiritual gangster sister-in-law, who is a licensed psychotherapist, created a meditation specifically for runners in a blog post where I talked about the most important thing to have on race day! Check it out HERE.

[Tweet “The Rundown wants to get away! But first all the #running #reading and #meditation you need for wherever you are right now. #Train4life”]

Have a great week and let me know if you have additional suggestions for my great escape!

If you could live or travel to anywhere in the world, where would it be?

If you could race anywhere, where would you go and why?