I spent the weekend in St. Louis for Smart Girl Summit and luckily, Mom was able to join me! Smart Girl Politics has been one of my favorite organizations for a long time. I love their sweet name, their obsession with pink and of course, woman power! This was my third year at the summit and it was just as awesome as usual, with great company and inspiring speakers!
I must say my favorite person all weekend was one of my new heroes, Phyllis Schlafly. Here’s the thing — I don’t love her FOR her politics, though we do generally agree. I love her for being strong, independent, hardworking, fearless, confident, trailblazing and looking amazing every step of the way. She’s feminine but competed no excuses no problem in a man’s world. She’s willing to take on anyone and she’s smart with some of the best dry humor I’ve ever heard. She doesn’t take crap and she literally led a movement in this country for women single handedly. Her stances on life, liberty, family and freedom are refreshing. I may not agree with every single thing but that’s not the point. There NEED to be more NO EXCUSES people out there. They are rare and I’m certainly not one of them — not yet at least. The character and attitude of Phyllis should be taught and instilled in every child. Her grace, strength and intelligence is something we should all aspire to!
In the midst of my three-day weekend, I missed out on any exercise. Traveling literally sucks the energy from me. I get tired, cranky, dehydrated and feel completely worn down no matter what! My stomach always seems to act up after flying and for whatever reason, I’m off kilter. I had planned for the possibility of no workout so that was mostly fine, though I basically threw caution to the wind when it came to food as well. That’s never a good combo for my sometimes crazy brain!
Since Mom and Dad had driven the RV to St. Louis, we had dinner with Dad after the conference Oddly, he picked a Hookah Bar for dinner. Whatevs! It was next to a place with great music and I had perhaps the world’s best hummus at this place. I also had some amazing drink that entailed sweet tea vodka, peach schnapps, and lemon/lime spritzer. Actually, I had two!
Sunday morning I flew back to DC and still had most of the day left. Still feeling zonked, I opted against the 10-mile run I had scheduled for marathon training this weekend. My body just said NO! Rick picked me up and I felt like I hadn’t seen him in forever! We did the usual Sunday stuff — groceries, errands, trash TV. It was one of those days where I had to tell myself, Ericka, its okay to do nothing sometimes. Sit, relax, enjoy. And so I did! I was have Anxiety Sunday — you know, that feeling of anxiousness before the workweek begins. I wanted to eat and eat and eat but knew that was a silly option. I had a glass of wine and probably too many snacks but managed to keep the snacking under control!
What: 10 mile run
When: Monday, 6:30 am
Where: Washington Sports Club treadmill
Why: Marathon training I missed over the weekend
Fuel: 1/2 Go Lean Fiber bar (chocolate caramel) and coffee with chocolate almond milk, lots of water!
Post-fuel: 1 banana, one apple, 1 Nature Valley dark chocolate and oats granola bar.
I had it in my head to run my 10 miles this morning but wasn’t sure if I would. Waking up as been so hard lately and my normal early morning path outside seemed boring. I opted for the gym, thinking other early risers would motivate me! Armed with the latest issue of “Shape”, I hit the treadmill and let me tell you, those miles were not my friend. I told myself I would run for 1 hour and if I felt like I could finish the 10 miles then, I would. It was so hard not to keep glancing at the clock but finally, one hour was up. I stretched and wiped off and chugged ice water and figured, I could do 3.35 more miles and keep on track! Unfortunately I had finished my mag but located an old “Us Weekly” that I’d not read to hold me over. Though I had used body glide, my sports bra seemed to be rubbing me raw. (And indeed it was as the shower bit me, owe!). I finished my 10 and forced myself to stretch. Time ticks away when you are doing this stuff before the workday! I felt so happy I had done it and stayed on my training schedule so I’d be ready for my 13-miler this weekend with the Road Runners.
Finally I made it to work, sweating like crazy with no makeup on (this is after my gym shower of course!) Lunchtime ended up being Sweetgreen, which is overpriced but also delicious! I had my guacamole salad made with spinach and let me tell you, it’s A LOT of spinach which made me feel awesome.I had a side of bread and a crapload of water. It was nice eating lunch by myself away from the office for once. Then I stopped by the store to pick up some ingredients for what I am planning for dinner: mini-whole wheat flat bread pizzas. Not that exciting but I thought of that myself and it’s going to be delish 🙂