For weeks and WEEKS I’ve been talking about getting a bike.  I just kept talking and talking about it.  And himming and hawing. Then I texted. I emailed. I tweeted.

Still no bike.

At the beginning of summer, I saw this bike at Target and was immediately in love.

The Schwinn Gateway City Bike:

So many factors contributed to my love: the vintage look & color, the adorable little luggage rack, and especially the big comfy cushiony seat for my old lady bootay.

The other day, when I randomly checked Target’s website for the bike and found that it was gloriously on SALE I knew it was fate (am I the only one who interprets “sale” to mean “fate”?). I quickly checked the store inventory, and found the bike was SOLD OUT at all but one Target in the Charlotte metro…

Crap!

After work I sped-walked (speed-walked? Hmmm… how bout walked at an embarrassingly fast pace?) the 1.25 miles to the nearest target. I was hot and sweaty by the time I got there, probably due to the giant bag of work crap and lunch tupperwares I was carrying on my shoulder. I felt like a Black Friday shopper as I did the excited half run/half walk to the bike aisle… And there she was. The LAST bike of this model and color in the Charlotte Metro area. As I wheeled the beautiful bike triumphantly to the front of the store I realized that not only was I going to have to ride the bike 2 miles home, but I’d have to do it while carrying this GIANT bag of work crap on my shoulder.

Awesome planning. Awesome.

Once outside it dawned on me that I’d have to do something about all the tags if I was going to have any sort of street cred. I tried ripping them off, then sawing them off with my keys, and finally managed to remove everything BUT the manual, which I left dangling on the side of the bike.

I’m so cool.

About 7 minutes into the ride home as I was awkwardly fumbling with my giant bag o’ crap, I noticed I had forgotten to remove the big bright green paper display signs in the wheel spokes of the bike.  Soooo classy.

Two minutes later while riding on a particularly narrow patch of sidewalk on a particularly busy street I managed to side swipe a brick wall. Whose idea was this?!

It seemed like it took entirely too long to ride the two miles home. Google maps must have miscalculated the distance… Or, (more appropriately said) holy cow bike riding is hard.

Once home, I tried to finangle getting the bike through the condo entrance whilst holding my giant bag of crap by backstepping as I held the door with one hand and the bike with the other. Did I mention I was wearing flipflops during this excursion? Oh yes, flipfops. Well, as I was back stepping, my flipflop flipped backward, I stumbled and then proceeded to do a 20 second tightrope teetering act until my fight or flight instincts kicked in and I realized I needed to either save myself or the bike. So, the bike went crashing to the ground as I stumbled backwards recovering my balance. Lucky for me I had an audience during this whole fiasco.

Well hellooooooo there. I’m Hot Mess Mary. Nice to meet you!

After refusing to get on the elevator with the innocent bystanders and waiting for a solo ride, I wheeled my bike onto the elevator. When the doors opened at my floor, there were two new bystanders waiting to get on.  At the site of them, I got all flustered and proceeded to try and turn the bike around IN the elevator. I gave it three good attempts, wheels bumping into either side of the elevator, before realizing the bike was clearly too large to maneuver in the elevator, verbally declaring the whole situation “AWKWARDDDDD” and proceeding to ever so carefully backstep my way off the elevator.

After all that, I made it home. I have my bike, which I have already received two compliments on I might add

I’m one of those weirdos who likes to run WITHOUT headphones.  Did you know that some people actually do that?  I think the first thing most runners do after lacing up their sneakers is pump up the jams.  Yes, it’s 1992 again.  Where IS that jock jams c.d. anyway?

Personally, I just like to hear the sounds of nature (or the sounds of city) as I’m running.  Or, perhaps it really just has something to do with my paranoia and not wanting any crazies sneaking up behind me without my knowledge as it could impede my natural defense mechanism:  the karate chop.   Hyyyyyyyy-ya!

Sometimes as I’m running sans music, my subconscious starts to play songs to keep me entertained.  There are two songs that pop into my head more than any others.  The Rocky Theme song.  Yes, I’m serious.  And Going the distance by Cake.  “She’s going the distance.  She’s going for speed.  She’s all alone (ALL ALONE) in her time of need.”  Not that any of this songs applies to me, but for some reason it keeps me chugging along.  Whatever works, right?

As much as I enjoy running, sometimes I wake up and want NOTHING to do with it.  I have this mental debate with myself about whether or not to run.  Then I try to convince myself I’ll go after work (haha, nice try self, but when has that ever happened?!).  The process of just getting myself outside is the hard part. Once I get going, I’m ALWAYS glad I did.

I was talking to my mom a week or so ago, and she mentioned this new book she’d read called In the Long Run.

She casually suggested I read it.  AKA she told me I needed to read it.  She told me why I needed to read it.  Then she told me once again that I should really really just give it a shot.  And then three days later the book miraculously appeared at my doorstop.  Funny how those things work, isn’t it?

I can’t fully recommend the book.  BUT I can recommend the first 104 pages (slowly but surely making my way through it ).  It does have my mom’s stamp of approval though, and I’m pretty sure that’s the highest level of stamp a book can receive.

The one theme in the book that has really resonated with me so far is: “slow down, and you’ll go farther”.

When I woke up Sunday morning I REALLY wasn’t in the mood to run.  I felt groggy (even with 8 hours of sleep), so I made some coffee and cooked up my normal dippy egg + 3 egg white scramble + a toasted slice of Trader Joe’s sprouted bread.

Then I decided if I was going to run (which the jury was still out on), I’d need some extra fuel so I threw in a 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s plain vanilla greek yogurt (my fav) and some strawberries.  While I let all that deliciousness sink in, I started thinking about the book.

Slow down, and you’ll go farther.

It’s like I could hear my mom whispering these words in my ear.  Slow down, Mare.  Slow down….. That was enough for me to get my butt in gear.  Once outside I decided that rather than hitting the trail for my normal 3 mile loop, I’d head for the city for a leisurely uncharted jog.  2.5 miles into it, I felt like I could run a little farther than my normal 3 miles.  4 miles into it, my knees still weren’t bothering me.  5 miles into to, I was pretty much AMAZED at my progress.  And at an OUTRAGEOUS 6 miles, I was still holding steady at my normal 10 minute mile pace.

Never in my life have I ran that long.

HOLY COW.  Where did that come from?  I’ve been running 3 mile loops consistently for the last couple of weeks after FINALLY making it through my interval training and getting to the point of running without any walking intervals.  But going from 3 miles to 6 miles, no problem?  I’m still shocked.  On my normal 3 mile loop, I always feel like DEATH at the end.  Like every last ounce of life has been sucked from my being and it’s all that I can do to drag my feet back to my condo.  Is that because I have a predetermined route in mind and I’m just hurrying to get to the end?  Is it really just in my head?  Just HOW far can I run if I set out with no plan in mind?  8 miles?  10 miles?!

I guess mom was right.  Maybe I’ll actually finish this book, unlike the 5 others I currently have in progress

What’s the farthest you’ve ever ran?