Keeping Austin Weird and Cap10k recap

Happy almost weekend! Late Wednesday does in fact count as almost weekend because it's more than halfway through. This week has been pretty relaxed anyways. Last week was insane! I was working for market research projects from 9am to 10:30  almost every day. It was exhausting, but thankfully that makes my financial situation a little less dire for now. I can only hope that work keeps picking up like this.I had some interpreting work Mon/Tues, and now I'm also in charge of our accounting/ secretary's job while she's in Mexico, so I'm in charge of all calls, emails, making sure everything gets entered and updated on the computer, and making sure all interpreters are where they need to be. 
I don't think I mentioned it, but I was supposed to be in Frankfurt this week. Mom and another interpreter were supposed to be working for some oil negotiations and I was going along to babysit the other interpreter's daughter while there. It was going to be an awesome trade-off!! But then of course all the craziness ensued with the volcano eruption, flights canceled, my mom was "stranded" in New York (not a bad place to get stranded in my opinion) for an extra two days while there was talk of moving it to Madrid, and finally the entire meeting was called off.

I do wish I were in Europe...I ALWAYS want to be in Europe. But there has been a lot going on here in Houston at least and this weekend is packed! Earth day festivities, charity events, vegan potlucks, and my second ever 10k for Earth Day to benefit one of Houston's largest parks and conservancies. I'm so excited to run again! But before I can run again, I have to recap my first ever 10k two weeks ago in Austin.

I ran the Cap 10k 2 weekends ago after starting on my quest to become a "runner" at the beginning of March. Prior to that I had never been able to run. I've done every other sport, I've always been active, but running to the end of the block would leave me wheezing. But after reading so many running blogs and meeting many runners at my yoga studio and among friends, I felt really inspired to become a part of the community, be able to enter all these charity races, and do something good for myself in the process. I think my inability to run has always been largely due to a sort of mental block. I just didn't like it, it made me tired, and so I never really tried. Because once I really got started, I progressed in leaps and bounds and began loving it! I still have problems getting over the mental hurdles, sticking to my training plan, or making myself do the longer runs, but I love how I feel afterward. Ironically enough, the day after my very first run, I was talking to a friend of mine in Austin about when I could visit her and she mentioned she was running a 10k, so I told her I had JUST started running and somehow decided to sign up with her, despite the race only being 5 weeks away. Not wanting to pass out on race day was great motivation, and kept me a little more on top of the training plan than I would have been otherwise. Race day came around and it was soooo exciting to be running with her! The Cap10k is one of the biggest races there is, 18,000 people, costume contests, live music along the course and lots of free stuff afterward. It was so much fun! I loved the adrenaline rush, the crazy dressed up people, and even conquering the hills (Houston does not make for good hill training). I ran the 6.2 miles in about 67 minutes, which was actually the fastest I had ever run any distance at that point. My friends and I also think we should subtract a few minutes from the beginning since it was so packed it took quite a while before we could spread out enough to actually do any more than walk through the crowd.

I'm hoping to beat my time this weekend, but I really just want to have fun and keep up this new love of running. After growing up competing in things like gymnastics and swimming, and then going to doing nothing but yoga, I think I've missed the rush of competition, really getting to "beat" people, or even reaching my own goals and then surpassing them. I absolutely love yoga, particularly because it is so personal, peaceful, and non judgmental, but I think I need a little of both worlds.

I don't have any pictures from the race because I didn't want to run with a camera, but I'll try to get some from my friend and there are photos on the website.

Question: Are any of you runners, or what sports do you love? How do you keep yourself motivated? 

Just to keep this post a little more colorful though, here's a picture of one of the crazy Austin squirrels.

I know I have more Austin pictures somewhere but my computer seems to have lost them. But some of my favorite Austin things:
- Shopping the vintage stores on Guadalupe
- Abundance of vegetarian friendly places to eat --> Mother's Cafe!!
- Barton Springs for freezing swimming
- Green Belt for hiking, swimming, boating, and spelunking if you're brave enough to enter a cave called the "birth canal". I am not.
- Downtown and the whole foods.
- Super biker friendly and the cycling culture, everyone has a bike, everyone uses it to get everywhere.
- Enchanted rock, about an hour outside of Austin. Best hiking and climbing and caves that I did in fact enter and had the greatest time crawling through!
- Driving there in Spring. I was mesmerized by the fields of wildflowers along the road throughout the whole drive! It was actually a little dangerous considering how hard a time I had concentrating on the road in front of me.

That's what comes to mind now, if you're heading to the area, message me and I'll give you more tips!

Jon Stewart/ Colbert Time!!
Goodnight!