Everything that's on my mind right now...

Great news: That weird ear thing from last week? All better!

The sunset in Clearwater, FL. I stared at it for a very long time and took at least three deep breaths. I am a self-care queen.

I’ve never done cocaine. And unless someone sneaks it into my jar of Nutella (please don’t), I don’t ever intend to. But today, I found myself Googling, “What does being on cocaine feel like?”

Not because I thought someone drugged me. (Brian is traveling this week and next, I don’t think Annie has access to hard drugs at the ripe age of four, and Ellie is the only other individual in this house, and I just don’t think she’d do that.)

I was just curious if my brain’s relentless hyperactivity this week compared to some kind of drug.

(“People who use cocaine describe a feeling of alertness, power and energy. They are likely to feel more confident and excited. They may also experience anxiety, paranoia and agitation,” according to DrugPolicy.org. The more you know! The D.A.R.E. program taught me a lot about peer pressure, but I’m not sure I retained the hard facts beyond that.)

How did we get here?

This is what I mean!

My brain has been on overdrive this week. One of those “very busy, need more hours in the day, all good things!” kind of weeks. It’s not a drug. It’s just the return of big races, and it seems like everyone has settled into 2023 and we’re all just getting stuff done.

I love it.

I am also playing a bit of catch-up. I was in Florida from Friday through Monday, working the Clearwater Running Festival. I spent nearly 13 hours on the mic, announcing the event’s 5K, kids’ races (my favorite!), half marathon, marathon, and 50K. It was a busy, exhausting, fulfilling weekend.

I can’t say I was disappointed that the plane’s WiFi wasn’t working in either direction. I had carefully planned out how I would spend those 2.5+ in-flight hours, and I was going to be so productive. Then, the FlyFi was out, and so I did what I do best:

I watched Top Gun on the way down, and Top Gun: Maverick on the way back. (I also watched Bros, which was cute, but I was acutely aware of the fact that I was in a relatively public place while watching, and some scenes were just…not ideal for that.)

So I’m not on cocaine. I’m just working really hard right now, and it’s exciting. Can we skip to the part where I tell you about those things?

Great! Let’s do it.

• I’m heading to Atlanta at the end of the month! I know, I told you that last week. Now I can tell you why: This year, the Atlanta Track Club will begin producing its own broadcasts. (Congrats, ATC!) I am beyond excited and humbled to be a part of the first one at the Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend. The powerhouse team of Carrie Tollefson and Chris Chavez will be calling the race (all the important stuff, splits, tactics, analysis, etc.), and I’ll be the start and finish line reporter (“Let’s throw it to Ali for an interview with Pete the Peach!”) (JK, Pete doesn’t talk!). I said I wanted to get into more live TV this year, and here we are. (Speak your dreams, people!) Now I just need lessons in hair and makeup.

• While I’m down there, I’ll be doing a live event at the race expo on Friday, February 24, with Chris Chavez (4 PM at the expo, no tickets required, just come and be prepared for some audience participation!), and I’m going to fun-run the 5K on Saturday. (Run it! And use code ONTHERUN for 10% off your registration.)

• I had a major mental shift in regards to marathon training this week! More specifically, in regards to rest days. When I’m just running for pleasure and not training for a specific race, I resist days off. “I just love running and moving my body,” I’ll tell anyone who will listen. Now that I’m in training mode (12 weeks until the Eugene Marathon!), oh my goodness, give me rest days! Give me cross training! Rest days feel important and welcomed and wonderful. I crave them. I love them. I appreciate them. I need them. (And I want to remember this feeling after Eugene. Take the days, Ali. Take the days!)

• Boston Marathon 2023. See you at the finish line. Officially. I have had some really great calls with the B.A.A. over the past few weeks, and I am going to be doing all kinds of fun things in Boston this year, including hosting panels, announcing the start and finish of the 5K and the elite miles on Saturday, and spending 12+ hours at the finish line in a multitude of different roles on Marathon Monday.

• It’s almost Valentine’s Day!!!

OK, speaking of that, though…

Will you be mad / upset / disappointed if I tell you that I’m not doing Love on the Run Week this year?

I know. I’m super bummed.

The reality is that I’ve had so much going on and I’ve been changing a lot on the business front (nothing exciting or glamorous, but it’s important to me and how I run this whole thing), and February snuck up on me like an unwanted chin hair. (Best reference I could come up with. Sorry for the visual.)

I still have some Love on the Run episodes planned with some cute couples. But not a week of nonstop episodes, which some will probably appreciate! Seven episodes in seven days is a lot to take in.

This week on the Ali on the Run Show:

• Susie Chan, Ultra Runner & Peloton Instructor: It was nice to have a “down week” on the show (rest days for the podcast, too!) and just share one episode, and my goodness, what a conversation it was! Susie Chan is a dynamite ultramarathoner and Peloton instructor based in the UK. I love that even after 600+ episodes, we’re still finding new things to talk about on the show. (For example: perimenopause, going to the bathroom in a bucket during a treadmill challenge, and a fresh round of mid-ultra hallucination stories.)

What I’m watching: Nate Bargatze’s new comedy special on Amazon Video! Nate is my favorite comedian. I got really into his specials during the early pandemic days, and loved that it was fun for the whole family! I love some good, clean comedy. (I’m not a prude, I swear. I just love that his jokes and stories are so wholesome and relatable!) I have been watching this in 10-minute increments at night, so I’m not done yet, but I’ve been LOL-ing my way through.

On the run: Eugene Marathon training is going well. We’re only a week in, officially, and Coach Kaitlin has me adding fun things to my runs, like strides and little efforts to get my legs turning over a bit. But my real love is the long run, and I got to enjoy 13.1 miles on the Clearwater Half Marathon course the day after the race. This felt really good.

Meanwhile, on the food front: I’m working with Meghann Featherstun, and she’s amazing, and she has equipped me with all the plans and resources a girl could need. And yet here I am, taking it all in and not quite committing to it. The whole “fail to plan, plan to fail” thing. I do great when I go grocery shopping and meal prep and commit to that whole thing. But with traveling this past weekend, and Brian being gone this week and next, it’s just a little scrappy around here. Not terrible! Just…scrappy! Or as Meghann has so kindly and encouragingly told me, “There are places where we can improve!” (She’s really great. Highly, highly recommend!)

And so…

Take good care of yourselves. Take good care of each other. It’s going to be so very cold this weekend and everyone is going to be posting pictures of how cold it is where they are, so get ready for that. And whatever you’re going through, keep going.

Love,

Ali