As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized how beautiful saying no can be. I definitely used to overschedule myself, and probably relative to a lot of people, I still do, but I’m learning how to carve out time for myself more and more.

But sometimes a long, busy day is really worth it when you have three irresistible options, you know?

Tuesday was one of those days.

#1. Asics Event // Run with Ryan Hall

I mean hello. Run with Ryan Hall AND check out some new gear? Yes please!

 

A photo posted by ASICS America (@asics) onJun 14, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT

They were launching DynaFlyte, their newest line of shoes which is a lightweight cushioning shoe. We met in midtown at their showroom to try it and just casually ran through Central Park with Ryan Hall. The shoe felt a bit heavier/clunkier than some of my other lightweight shoes, but I was also given men’s shoes, so that could be why. #bigfootproblems 

#2: Outdoor Fhitting Room with Dara (ok and their other trainers)

Our Daily Burn trainer (which fine we share with Fhitting Room) Dara is amazing. She is this itty bitty little powerhouse, and she is funny as shit. She is so freaking buff (here’s her killer arm workout) that you want to be intimidated by her/want to be BFF at the same time. She and Fhitting Room were doing an outdoor workout down by Brookfield Place…and Ashley knew I wouldn’t be able to resist so grabbed me a ticket.

 

A photo posted by Theodora Blanchfield (@theodorable) onJun 14, 2016 at 7:51pm PDT

And then we put her on our shoulders, NBD. (Please note Ashley is like 4 inches taller than me and I was afraid I was going to drop poor sweet Dara because her (light) weight was unevenly distributed between us.)

#3 Daily Burn x Men’s Health @ Soul Cycle

This week is Men’s Health Week, and Men’s Health’s fitness director BJ Gaddour was going to be on our show, so they were kind enough to invite some of Team DB to a special ride they were doing at the Chelsea Soul Cycle (also hi thank you for coming to my ‘hood.)

 

A photo posted by Theodora Blanchfield (@theodorable) onJun 15, 2016 at 7:49am PDT

Anja, one of our OG trainers, was in town, and I couldn’t resist a chance to hang with her…or a free Soul ride, let’s be real.

We took Joey’s class, and he ended on Same Love, which nearly had me in tears on the bike after this weekend’s tragedy.

And now my glutes are EN FUEGO. 

Oh! And that happened on my watch.

Questions:

Have any of you trained for a marathon yet with an Apple Watch? Filling those circles is weirdly fulfilling for me…I am tempted to wear two watches to train perhaps.

Most workouts you’ve ever done in a day?

Workout you CANNOT SAY NO TO?

A note before I start my regular blog post: I’m sick reading this news about the Orlando shooting, and I just saw a man getting beat up on my way home from work. This world we live in makes me very sad and makes me count my blessings.

Saturday morning, I ran the Mini 10K. After a rough start to my spring/summer running season, I was a little nervous about this race, especially knowing how hot and humid it usually is, too.

I took a cab up to Central Park and jogged to pick up my bib. The site said bib pick-up was closing at 7:30, and I arrived around 7:20. I’ve picked up bibs after pick-up “closes” before and been OK, but I know one of these days I won’t be. Thankfully that wasn’t Saturday morning.

As I jogged down to Columbus Circle to the start, I heard them yelling that the corrals were about to close. SWEET.

I knew I was nowhere near PR shape, so my goal was just to run as good a race as I could that day. I managed to sneak into my corral and saw Meggie up ahead with Ali and a few other runner girls. I texted Meggie that she was just ahead of me, but there were too many security guards for me to sneak up. And weirdly, a minute after, one of the security guards asked me if I wanted to move up. Maybe I was in the wrong corral? I stood and chatted with those ladies for a few minutes until the race start. They’re all faster than me, and I didn’t even try to keep up with them. I was going to do my own thing.

That first mile up Central Park West felt INTERMINABLE. I’d look at the street signs and wonder how I’d only gone another block or two…so I put on Spotify and tried to zone out and just run. By the time I got to the first mile marker, I saw that I’d run it in 7:50-something. OH that’s why it felt hard.

As we got into the park, it never felt easier but I tried to just stay strong and enjoy the downhills. For the uphills, I decided that trying to run hard up them would use too much energy when it was getting warmer and warmer, so I would keep an even effort.

Every time I get to the south end of the park and we start to head back west, I always channel the marathon and remind myself how close I am and even if I feel like I’m struggling at a shorter distance, I have run this stretch SO MANY TIMES.

I finished in 54:31, a 8:47 pace. Would I have liked to have finished faster? Sure. Is this pace representative of my current fitness level? Yes. It’s giving me a good baseline of where I am right now.

I used the Nike+ app, which has gotten MUCH more accurate since I last used it, oh, seven years ago. I’d forgotten a watch that morning and I know Jordan really enjoys the app, so I gave it a shot. 10/10 would app again.