Hello Baltimore

At the end of 2019, I ran my first marathon then went to have Thanksgiving at my sister’s house, then went back up to New York, my home of 13 years, to finish packing up everything I own. We loaded all my things into a U-haul and drove down to Baltimore to move it all into my new home. Somehow we got it all done just in time for me to spend my first Christmas as a home owner here. I’ve spent the last six months unpacking and doing home-improvement projects and working to make this house a home for my cats and my puppy dog and me. One thing I have not been doing enough of is running.

After the marathon, I pretty much spent all my time packing and working toward the move. Since I moved I’ve spent most of my time working and setting up my home. I’ve done quite a lot of walking, enjoying the restaurants in my new city and regularly attending a warm yoga class that I adored before the covid outbreak shut everything down. I have not found myself in a good running habit overall. Especially now that covid put an end to my yoga classes and shut down all the restaurants I used to walk to (they still deliver though, so only the walking part has stopped…). I have a lot of excuses, my puppy just can’t run that much and I can’t bear to leave her at home! It’s cold, or I still need to paint the room I’m calling ‘my office’, or my poor darling cat, Luke, is sick… and then… my beloved cat had to be put down and I am too heartbroken…

And now that it’s summer, it’s hot! The kitchen is messy… We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and I can’t run with a mask on… The quar has all the races cancelled and it’s hard to find that motivation on my own, Josie has gotten bigger but she is a winter dog, not well suited for the heat… and also, I am still just so sad…

But now that my toenails are basically recovered from the marathon (two came off, but they’re pretty much grown back even if they’re shaped kinda funny), and I painted the room, and my puppy is getting stronger and closer to being a full grown dog, I am ready to get back to it. Desperate to get back to it actually… I’ll get around to cleaning the kitchen eventually and the quar isn’t going anywhere any time soon so I need to get over that.

For now, I’m devoting one hour every weekday to walking my dog, and part of that hour is spent running. She is still a puppy so she’s not gonna run three miles with me, or even a full mile, but she can run the straight-away by the ball field or up a hill or around the lake. We go out in the early morning instead of lunch time most days because the temperature suits us both better at that hour. I’m going to use conditioning my pup for running as a way to recondition myself as well.

In addition to that I’m doing a 30 day workout challenge my coworker suggested. Today is Day 7 of Chloe Ting’s Flat Belly Challenge and I already feel stronger. I don’t like the click-bait-y way she markets herself, or the focus on flat bellies as opposed to strength and fitness, but I can’t argue with the actual workouts and schedule. It’s not groundbreaking stuff, but she keeps it interesting and formats her workouts with a progress bar for each set, a timer counting down each move, a small preview window showing what the next move coming up is, and a small window showing a low impact modification. Her enthusiasm is inspiring and gentle and while the emphasis on thinness is problematic, she says the right things. “You don’t need to loose weight to be beautiful!” she affirms, “everyone has their own reasons for working out” “wherever you are in your fitness journey is totally fine!”. I like her. I worry she will cut her fingers off in one of her meal prep videos, but her workouts are simple, charming, and effective. After day 1 I was soooo sore but she includes rest days in her workout calendar and emphasizes that you just need to do your best and do it safely. Sitting all day for work has really done a number on my core strength and posture. I am excited by how quickly I seem to be making progress and while I don’t expect a flat belly in 30 days, I won’t pretend it wouldn’t be nice to fit into my wardrobe a little easier.

You know I love a good 30 day challenge, so I’ll be excited to report back about how it went after 30 days.

Oh also— I’m learning to play banjo.