Hello, my name is Theodora.

I like running.

I like group fitness.

I like cocktails.

I like summer and the pool and the beach.

I like dancing…when it is combined with the summer and the beach and cocktails late at night.

Dance as fitness?!

HELL NO.

If I’m being perfectly honest, it’s because I know I have less than zero rhythm, and I’m embarrassed and feel very inhibited — which is the opposite of what you’re supposed to be, but I’m an uptight bitch.

But I somehow have gone to TWO dance classes this week — one, I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into at an event and ended up Zumba-ing…still not my jam.

Tonight, though! My lovely New Balance people invited me to their Girls Night Out event. The purpose of these nights is to give women a free, fun way to bond over fitness instead of cocktails. (Or, hey, cocktails after…) The instructor tonight was Krystal, one of our Daily Burn trainers. It’s super important to me to support/stalk our DB fam, so I couldn’t say no!

And then I realized it was a dance workout…well, I wasn’t going to back out. So I brought my coworker Mallory with me, and we ran into Ashley and Heather there.

We met at the NB store on the UES and somehow fell behind everyone else chatting. By the time we walked in, the class had started and the only spots left were in the front. Let me remind you again — I do not like to dance and am not good at it.

But I had no choice but to get the hell over myself and dance my butt off in this cute outfit NB sent us. ( Top / jacket / bra / leggings / shoes) A quick note on the outfit: I loved the jacket, leggings and shoes (the Zante shoes are part of my regular rotation. I was not a Fresh Foam believer when it launched, but they’ve really improved on it, and it’s a great balance of responsive yet supportive now.) The bra…it was OK for dance (except when she had us do mountain climbers, but most bras can’t handle mountain climbers for me, to be fair), but it wouldn’t work for anything higher impact for me. The shirt was super cute…on others, but long and tight does my body no favors. 

Back to the dancing! I was happy to have Heather next to me, Ashley behind me, Mallory a few spots over, and know the lady behind the microphone. The first song or two were, um, interesting…and then I decided to just let go. If I was going to be the awkward girl in the front, I was going to be the awkward bad dancer, not the awkward, stiff girl in the front. So I shut up and danced. And it was actually pretty awesome, and I walked out with an entirely different type of endorphin high.

Two completely unrelated questions:

1. Team dance or no?

2. I’m starting to have some tightness in my left shoulder/neck which I know is entirely related to carrying a heavy tote every day. I’m thinking of joining Team Backpack. I wear workout clothes often to work (yes, dream job), so I want something more athleisure than sporty, if that makes sense — something that can dress up my workout clothes a bit and fit a laptop, workout clothes and bottle of wine. Any suggestions? No Herschel! (Just not for me.)

For most of the summer, I felt like utter crap. I tried, and I tried, and I tried to run, and it sucked. Or I said eff it, I don’t want to do this, and I didn’t run at all.

I’d said here earlier in the year I was running Richmond. I’d told friends and family and coworkers, and after not finishing Brooklyn, I didn’t want to say I wasn’t going to/couldn’t run Richmond.

But on Labor Day weekend, after not being able to run without feeling nauseous for most of the summer, I finally asked Jess what she thought. I knew in my heart what I should do but needed to hear it from someone else. “I think you need to figure out this sinus stuff without having to worry about marathon training,” she said.

And I both felt a weight lifted and sad all at the same time. For the past few weeks, I’ve felt something off making fall plans, seeing people’s Instagrams. Fall just means long runs to me, and usually marathons.

But then I started wondering if I’d lost my ability to run forever. I kept thinking if I should find another race or not. I started thinking about the Rehoboth Marathon in December. But after feeling so crappy for most of the summer, I didn’t want to risk starting to train and feeling crappy again. 

In an unusually-zen-for-me move, I decided to let the goal go until something came to me I couldn’t say no to.

I started thinking more and more about a fall local-ish half…

and then Meredith made a fabulous suggestion, and a decision was made:

It’s local, it’s near the National Tennis Center, and it’s the site of my first tri — so it’s a (weirdly) special area to me. Also, it’s on the same day as Richmond, so I’ll be happy to be running a race that day.

Sometimes life throws you lemons…and you make maple syrup. Or something.