Running Reboot

Remember how I started running and was totally fired up about it and then ran a 5k in 44 minutes without walking at all?  It was awesome.  Slightly less awesome: I didn't keep it up.  I mean, I did - since mid-March, I've gone out at least a week - but I stopped pushing myself.  And, as expected, I felt crappy about  it.  I really missed feeling the burn and the stretch and, at the end, the triumph.  I knew that my last month in London would be sort of lost to running because of the chaos of moving, so I vowed that I'd get back on the wagon when I got back to DC last week.

Okay, yes, it's only been five days since my return - but I've hit the pavement for three of them and, even better, I've pushed myself each time.  My mom and I signed up to run a 5k together on 16 June and I knew that I wanted to beat my previous time; in order to do that, I needed to reintroduce some structure to my running.  I downloaded the Ease into 10k app because I didn't want to repeat Couch to 5k but needed to respect the fact that my body would take a little while to get back into its groove after being more or less sedentary for a few (ahem, ish) weeks.  I've actually bounced back faster than I thought I would and have increased to a new week's routine each time I've gone out, which feels amazing.

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I decided that this reboot was the perfect time to upgrade to a new running playlist - Aaron Carter served me well, but it was time to move on from the noughties.  I've also realized that I stay on my toes if I set my music to shuffle because then I can't anticipate the next song, which keeps me interested.  (Runners out there: did you know this?  Is this, like, a normal trick?  Am I late to the party?  Whoops.)  Anyway, I thought I'd share my new mix with you - just in case you need an excuse to get fired up.

Double Heart (The Band Perry)

Lonely Boy (The Black Keys)

Cowboy Casanova (Carrie Underwood)

Wold Ones (Flo Rida feat. Sia)

Dance Again (Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull)

Domino (Jessie J)

Sexy and I Know It (LMFAO)

Give Me All Your Luvin' (Madonna)

Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5)

Gunpowder and Lead (Miranda Lambert)

Everybody Talks (Neon Trees)

Love You Like a Love Song (Selena Gomez)

You Belong With Me (Taylor Swift)

Glad You Came (The Wanted)

On that sweaty note, I hope you have started a fantastic week, dear readers, and have plans to get back into your groove, too!