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A Running Update + IRONMAN Jacket Giveaway

I’m really struggling to find time to do anything with my new work schedule – that includes blogging, exercise and social activities. I’m not complaining though – I’m so much happier than I was at my last job. When you’re miserable for so long you forget what it feels like to NOT be miserable, and you think being miserable is just how it is.

So now that I’m finally not miserable, it’s really refreshing. photostrip But I am working 60 hours a week. I wake up at 5ish just to get to work at 7ish so that I could leave by 7ish and not have to stay later.  Also, I work on weekends. This leaves little time to work out before work — and then there’s the fact that I have never in my life had such a hard time getting out of bed in the morning, I’m so tired — and no time after work because I just want to go home and crash. This week I have  late weeknight events three nights, which is stressing me out majorly. Again, not complaining, just explaining it all.

I need to figure out a better balance because I have a marathon to start training for in May! And not just any marathon, but ideally my sub-4 marathon. Coach Abby says I NEED to get my leg strengthening exercises in three times a week, not to mention the actual running. As for my beloved Refine, right now I would only be able to go on weekends but I am not ready for that neck-wise. I want to have a few more pain-free runs completed before I feel ready to add in any other types of exercise. I feel a mix of upset (Refine is my happy place) and smart (listening to my PT when he told me to use running as a gauge for other workouts). And, I am LOVING running! Every run I do, I feel grateful and happy. I can’t wait to be running more miles and more often. And training for a marathon! I booked my flight to Seattle for Bellingham Bay Marathon! And I might have something else in the works that I’ll talk about soon that will motivate me even more to run and help me meet running people at my company. When my brain isn’t on work, these days it’s on running.  Running FTW.

I do have to say, I am not used to feeling so soft and being so out of shape. I haven’t been this way since I started working out “for real” on January 2, 2010. I’m self conscious all the time and I miss the old me.

Does anyone seasoned in working long hours have tips?
(I should note – I already wake up at 5 just to get to work and I don’t have a lunch break and I am scared to run outside before 5am… so it gets a little trickier…)

Abrupt subject change: Yesterday I had an amazing day. I slept until 10am for the first time since COLLEGE. Even Larry didn’t cry to wake us up, he slept in, too!  I guess this is what early mornings and long days of sitting for hours straight will do to you.

After breakfast at our favorite Jersey City spot Sam A.M., Andy and I spent some time at Project: Earth, a street fair in our neighborhood to benefit  local Earth Day initiatives. I got some really great stuff there and I’m excited about all of it, including vintage shoes and a vintage bag and some gifts for a certain baby with a very large bun.

Then we signed the lease on our new apartment, an amazing apartment that overlooks the dog park section of a really nice park. We don’t move until July 1 but we are obsessed with all things new apartment right now. We even bought this at Project: Earth, which happens to perfectly match our black, red and beige rug AND is the same exact pattern and colors as our shower curtain.

Does this thing have a name?

Does this thing have a name?

Then I had my first pain-free 5 mile run, my longest run since the Richmond Marathon and one of my few totally pain-free runs. Things are definitely looking up. And then we ate dinner at our favorite Jersey City dinner spot, Razza. One thing I love about living here (and there’s a lot) is that just by going to these two restaurants often, being passionate about them and engaging with them on social media, they know us now. And they talk to us, and that makes us feel special and want to go back even more and tell more people. And there’s just such a community feel here, it is so nice. A perfect day.

This morning I did another 5 miles and felt good, so I’m happy with my decision to run in the Newport 10,000 next weekend. It’s a 10K race I was too injured to run last year, but I’ve been really wanting to do it. Before my neck injury, this was going to be my PR attempt but I’m not ready for that. Instead, I will run at a leisurely pace, take in a new route and get cheered on by my boys as I run directly in front of my apartment building.

Once my running started going well I had the opportunity to finally try the  IRONMAN’s Women’s Convertible Versa Jacket. They sent me this jacket awhile ago to try out, review and giveaway. I chose the passion fruit color, which looks even better in person than in the photo. Made by Sugoi, this jacket is warm enough to wear all winter long for you cold weather running people (every year I try to become one of you, maybe next year I will be thanks to this jacket). I really liked it and although I don’t look forward to next winter’s cold weather, I am really glad to have this jacket and hope to use it often! ironman jacket

It didn’t look too bulky, and the bottom of the arms and bottom of the jacket are adjustable so I was able to make it snug around my wrists and waist so no cold air could get in. It protected perfectly against the wind and the best part of the jacket — which I did not get to try yet — is that if you get too warm, it converts INTO A VEST with MAGNETIC SLEEVES.

Here are the official jacket deets:

Available in passion fruit or black, the IRONMAN Women’s Convertible Versa Jacket is 100% polyester argon fabric jacket and features a high air permeability rating and water resistance, both of which help to keep you warm and dry. With its easily removable/attachable magnet-attached sleeves and reflective visibility, this jacket can also be converted into a vest, making it perfect for any workout – indoors or out! Combining durability with function and style, this jacket is simply a training essential. (Feel free to see what I’m talking about in this video here or read more below.)

The IRONMAN Women’s Convertible Versa Jacket jacket retails at $135.95, so I’m really excited to give away such a functional, good-looking, all around awesome jacket!

GIVEAWAY INFO

You can get up to two entries to be in the running to win:

(1) Leave a comment below telling me what you look for in a running jacket OR if you have a favorite local food spot OR your advice for fitting in workouts with a very challenging work schedule (

2) Tweet about the giveaway, leave a comment here letting me know you did. Suggested tweet: I entered to win an @IronmanTri Women’s Convertible Versa Jacket from @thedorigray: http://dorishinyblog.com/2014/04/a-running-update-ironman-jacket-giveaway

Good luck!

Oh! Unrelated, I’m using Instagram more these days but can’t for the life of me figure out how to add the icon to the top of this blog. It’s not one of the options in my template. Anyway, you can follow me there.

All entries must be received by Sunday, May 4 at 12:00 am EDT. The odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received.

Updates: Work, Marathon, Injury, Life

After my last blog post, I went silent. For a month. This is the longest I have gone without writing since I started blogging back in November, 2007.

There are a few reasons for this hiatus.

1. Thanks to the recurrence of my neck injury, I haven’t been exercising. Since fitness is my topic of choice and my favorite hobbies (aside from reading but I’d rather read books than discuss them) are running and Refine, not being able to do either means I don’t have much to say to the internetters reading here.

I am glad to say that after a very long six weeks, a number of physical therapy sessions (with the best PT ever in the history of this world, I am obsessed) things seem to be finally getting better with my neck. I ran outside yesterday — the only spring-like day we’ve had so far — for 2 miles. This is a huge milestone actually, because up until then my limit was 1.5 before my neck would act up. I smiled the entire time like a jackass and I felt amazing.

2. I’ve been mourning not running the Eugene Marathon. I mean, I didn’t officially make the decision not to move forward with this race, but that’s only because of my stubborn denial. Given that the race is now four months away and I only just ran 2 miles when I should be in the first weeks of official training, I think it’s obvious.

I’m really upset. I wanted so much to train this spring and not deal with the annoying parts of a fall marathon (namely, beginning training in the most humid time of year when I am slow). I also wanted to get my marathon over with and have my summer weekends free (long runs take a huge toll on me). And I really wanted to visit Eugene, stay in a cute rental house with my adorable baby nephew (plus brother and sister in law) and run an awesome marathon on a weekend devoted to running.

At the same time, I lost so much strength from not going to Refine that I am eager to work on getting that back first. But overall, I’ve been really sad about this. Better the neck thing came back now than after I started training and bought my $600+ plane ticket (kinda relieved I don’t have to deal with that…) but still. Ugh.

3. I was so miserable at work I had nothing left in me to blog. Anyone who’s ever been deeply unhappy at work will understand this one. It wasn’t something I could write about while I was working there, but I was miserable for a very long time. Like, sick to my stomach unhappy. Cry in the morning because I can’t imagine another day, another week, another month at that place unhappy. I would barely even talk to my husband in the evenings or weekend; I was mostly silent. I couldn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel and as hard as I tried, it didn’t seem like my situation would change anytime soon. Going to a place that causes you to feel this way, day in and day out, is draining. I was exhausted. I had no room in my life to blog; I was too busy being unhappy. When I was at home, I was lethargic. I watched TV and that’s about it. Of course, it didn’t help that my main outlet — working out — hasn’t been available to me.

Even though I had already given notice for about half the time I haven’t been blogging (and unhappy with the quality of my posts before that), I still needed to be out of there to understand that it is good on the other side.

I have a new job now and it’s a much better situation. I’m very, very busy — busier than I’ve ever been in my life — but also much happier. I’m enjoying my work and feeling much more fulfilled, but I am also a little overwhelmed in these beginning stages.

I will have less time to blog but I hope to write a little on weekends when I can. And when I am working out again, I’ll write about my return post-injury. If and when I can train for another marathon (I am devoted to my sub-4 goal) I will once again share my weekly training updates. I absolutely loved doing that last time around, and it will be fun to compare training cycles.

And there you have it.

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