Weekly Recap and Running as a Team Sport.

By Jess in Minneapolis

It's a rainy gloomy Sunday here in Minneapolis. I hope the sun is shining where you are!

The rain does somehow motivate me to clean though, so I spent a large part of the day cleaning and organizing, which included switching out my summer running clothes with my cold weather gear (so sad...)

I feel like I am back on a somewhat regular workout regime now. With Flying Pig on the horizon as my next marathon, I am hoping to keep a solid base throughout the winter with about 30 miles a week, and hopefully lots of cross training and yoga.

With that said, here is how the week panned out in fitness:

Monday: 5.5 birthday miles with Kelly, and a vinyasa yoga class at Corepower (free class on your birthday, FYI)
Tuesday: BarreAmped at Balanced Barre (with Meggan of the Yoga Garage)
Wednesday: 5.5 miles with Matilda
Thursday: 7 miles with three friends
Friday: 4 miles with Matilda
Saturday: 10 miles with the Calhoun Beach Running Club
Sunday: Yoga Sculpt at Corepower Yoga

Total: 32 miles, 1 barre, 1 yoga, 1 yoga sculpt (strength)

I was pretty happy with all that I squeezed in, considering Monday was my birthday dinner (at Pig Ate my Pizza, so, so good!), Wednesday was a work happy hour at Rojo, Thursday was a dinner with girlfriends at Terzo Wine Bar, and then last night was our anniversary dinner at La Belle Vie. 

Outfit details: dress- jcrew, necklace- jcrew, clutch- stella & dot

So yeah..lots of dining out! This week I will definitely be eating at home more, i.e. I have lots of recipes planned from my Runner's World Cookbook.

I really enjoyed the barre class on Tuesday with a new-to-me instructor at Balanced Barre. It had also been almost a year since I had taken a yoga sculpt class, so it was fun to get back to that today too. It's nice to have more time for non-running workouts.

 So, you may notice that most of my runs were with company, though sometimes that company was just my dog, Matilda. Yet it is rarely a solo sport for me; lots of times, it feels like I am part of a team, and it's a supportive team, where everyone seems to be cheering for each other. We all want the other runners to enjoy the pleasure of having all of their hard work pay off.

With that said, I'd like to share a short post from Move Your Booty about whether running is a team sport. I wouldn't have thought so before, but I can definitely agree with some of her points.

Why Running is a Team Sport- and how to know if you’re on it:

Running isn’t what it used to be. It’s bigger than just our own two feet. What moves us individually moves us as a collective unit. It’s about inspiration, courage, passion, daring to try. It’s about going further as a team than we might never have done alone.

 

with one of my fav running companions!

Whether we run alone or with a crew, we are all connected. With each bead of sweat, with each step, each mile, with each lofty goal, we work hard to crush; we understand each other on a deeper level.

Running brings us together as one. No matter your pace, we all aim for that finish line together. As a result of our ever-intertwining connectedness, running has become a team sport. And we are all part of that same team- for many, without even knowing it.

So how do you know if you’re on the team? Answer YES to any of the questions below.

1. Do you nod at your fellow runners/total strangers as they run by? YES!
2. Ever run in total silence with your running buddy, yet walk away feeling more connected than ever before? YES!
3. Ever cried watching total strangers cross the finish line of a race? ummm....YES!
4. Ever convinced a friend to sign up for a race with you because it makes you both feel better about the challenge? YES!
5. Ever paced a friend during their race to make sure they hit the finish line? No, but I have talked about pacing my sister Erin to run a sub-2 hour half marathon, so hopefully I will do that someday soon! And Kelly might be pacing me at Flying Pig, so that might be fun!
6. Do pictures of your friends feet on a run make you get out of bed and take your own run? YES! You guys are motivating!
7. Ever raced for a purpose bigger than yourself? Not yet- other than races that are for charity like Race for the Cure, etc.
8. Ever lay out your running outfit the night before- even though you’d never do that with your work clothes? All the time! I obsess about the weather every night with regards to what to plan to wear on a run, but I rarely give that much though to what to wear to work!
9. Have you run a race that involved mud, sleeping in a van, or getting really dirty? Of course!
10. Do you prefer gossiping with a friend over a sweaty run instead of over a coffee date? YES! YES! YES! I love this one. I honestly feel like I bond with some friends the best over a run. 

Thanks to EMILY NEWMAN @ move-your-booty.com for this list.

What do you think? Is running a team sport, or a solo sport for you? Did you answer YES to any of the questions?