Back to the office for me

This past Monday I started my new internship in (unseasonably) sunny San Francisco. I’m working right downtown, seven blocks from the Ferry building, so I’m in a prime location. It feels odd to go back to work, I almost forgot what it was like to wake up at 6am and take the train into the city. Sigh…  Hopefully I won’t get up as early when I actually move into the city next week (very exciting stuff to come!).

Monday began with a long orientation.  There were thirty-three interns starting this week, it got a bit chaotic. We all introduced each other and I happened to sit next to the most gorgeous Stanford business student (swoon). Before I knew it, I was being shuttled off to go learn about my new position, or so I thought. Three more hours of orientation before I trekked over to my actual office. My manager and I spoke briefly about what I would be working on and then I set up my new Macbook Pro. Have I mentioned that I’m a PC? This will be an odd learning experience (I can’t master the scroll, why is it backward?).

Then yesterday was a bit more low-key. After arriving at the office at 8:54am, I realized that most of my coworkers are late risers. The door was locked and I had to wait until a bit after 9am to get in. Most of the day I spent doing research on my company and the other half was spent fighting with the computer system (it won). Somehow, even though I was seated for most of the afternoon, I was exhausted by the time I finished. Does this happen to other people? I felt like I’d been lazy all day, but was horribly drained regardless of my activity. This is something I need to combat and quick!

And a serious note to self: do not wear brand new shoes on your first day of work, they will hurt you! My gorgeous pink new shoes ended up tearing apart my heels. Fortunately I’m working for a Do-it-yourself company so there was plenty of duct tape to make myself fancy bandages. I wanted to dress like an adult and have a little pop to my outfit, but this wasn’t the way to do it. Any suggestions for how to break in shoes without putting myself in more pain?

In addition to my new hectic work day, I realized that I need to keep running. This week I have over an hour commute each way, but I am determined to get in a run. Which meant that this morning I woke up at 6am and pumped out a few miles before getting on my way. It was tough, but I had to do it.  In fact, it felt pretty fantastic (which I’m still surprised about). Hopefully I can keep this momentum going and do it again this week. Although I’ll admit that I can’t wait to live closer to the office so I don’t fret as much about timing.

How is everyone’s summer thus far? Any tips for feeling energized at the end of a long workday?

Goals for June (and beyond)

Now that school has officially ended (as soon as I hand in my research proposal) and the summer is truly beginning, I feel it is only appropriate to set some goals for myself. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had goals throughout the entire year, but they focused on doing well in school for the most part. Since I’ve made it through successfully, I feel that it is the right time to focus on my body and my running. So here are some of my plans for this upcoming summer:

1. This summer I will be running the San Francisco Marathon and I would like for it to be my best yet. Thus far I’ve completed three hillier marathons, so this should fit right in with the elevation changes. This means that I need to start focusing on hillier training and completing my long runs on schedule. I’ve used every excuse not to complete long runs for the previous two marathons (school and such), but now those are not viable reasons. In fact, I am aiming to join a new running club that will keep me honest and remind me what it is to wake up at 7am on a Saturday.

2. Although it isn’t something I discuss much, I’d like to focus on putting better foods into my body and perhaps dropping a few pounds. Life will still be hectic with my new internship, but I should have more time to cook and select healthier options. The main goal is to drop 5 pounds and return to my high school weight. As a reward I’m planning to buy some more “adult” clothing from Anthropologie (I need to stop dressing like an engineer all the time…).

3. I’ll be moving into the city in a week and I want to make the most of what my new home has to offer. This means running in Golden Gate park, visiting some of the local farmers markets, and spending more time outside of my apartment.  I haven’t had the opportunity to enjoy the nightlife SF has to offer, so that is a major goal of this summer. If you live (or find yourself) in San Francisco and want to grab a cup of coffee, hit me up!

4. Read more! During the school year I’ve only had time to read a few books here or there (and plenty of psych papers). This summer I’m going to take some time to enjoy the books I have piling up on my shelf. Does anyone have some good suggestions?

I’m sure there are other things I’ll want to accomplish, but these are the most salient. And if I have the time I plan to travel, even if it is just to Marin or Napa.

What are your goals this summer?  What tips and tricks do you have for sticking to them?

Running in the dark

Recently I’ve been meeting up with a running club in the area where I was fortunate enough to meet a wonderful running gal. Although Nina runs a touch faster than me, she is making a perfect pace rabbit and a great motivator. So far she has managed to convince me to wake up far too early on a Saturday, run hills, and push myself to certain limits I’d typically avoid.

And tonight what did she rope me into? A late night, in the dark, run! Of course it didn’t start that way… I drove up to a lake while the sun was still in the sky as I waited for the rest of our cohorts to show up. Since Nina had organized the run, I had expected that she checked the park’s hours. What did we find out? That it closed at 9pm and we had to move our cars or we’d get fined!

So we moved our cars and proceeded to make our glow bracelets and necklaces so we could find each other in the dark (a shockingly great idea). Once we all arrived we got on our way on a trail into a park where we’d never been. Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest idea to try a new trail when it was getting very dark out, but who doesn’t love an adventure, right?

We began our trip around a lake and realized we’d misinterpreted the size of the lake. In an effort to keep the distance down, we turned around and made it a solid four mile run. Fortunately a new running friend, Daria, came to set the pace properly (since Nina likes to vary too much). Thank goodness for that, I felt amazing after the run and truly believe I could have kept going. I think I’m going to keep Daria around so she can help me improve my pacing for my upcoming marathons.

What did I learn tonight? Glow sticks are more fun when you get older and running in the dark is great because you can’t constantly check your Garmin! I’m having a blast with these ladies, hopefully we’ll get to run throughout the summer even though I’m moving into the big city (more news on that to come).

Do you prefer to run in the dark or during the day?