Before March, it was easy to be active just on a normal work day. I’d drive to work, park in a deck, and then walk to the office. My coworkers and I would often walk to lunch, or walk just to enjoy a beautiful day. Now that I am a remote employee indefinitely, I have to sneak activity into my daily life that used to just be standard. If I don’t, I’m lucky to hit 1000 steps for the day!

I have gotten comfortable with the WFH life now. I either run or do a Peloton ride before work and then sneak in the other activity in between meetings. The last week I worked in an office, I started a run streak. I’m now 267 days into it. I told myself I’d stop when we got back to the office thinking it would be 90 days or so. Now I have NO idea when I’ll stop streaking, but I have a reason to get some fresh air daily and I’m feeling stronger than ever.

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What I’ve struggled with is getting motivation to do speed work or train for races. I’ve been running mostly alone or with my husband for 267 days, so it’s hard to remember what it was like running alongside 40k other crazy runners!

Every few weeks, I get to run with my friend Erica. We love to challenge each other by setting a certain stretch pace, or pushing the distance. The second time I met this wonderful woman, she just dove right into a crazy workout I had just to spend time with me. I’ve loved her ever since and am so grateful for her presence and friendship. I was honored when she agreed to run this 10k with me.

We chose one of our favorite hilliest routes, the NC Art Museum! Erica is also a hip hop dance instructor and yogi so she is always encouraging her friends to work that booty. Over the course of the 10k, we had over 430 feet of elevation gain. Honestly, not as hilly as many of our runs together, but not flat enough for true race simulation.

When we started, the sun was just rising and it was absolutely gorgeous. I forgot to take a picture because we were so busy admiring the sunrise. Sunrise and sunset are my favorite parts of the day hands down. There’s something so soothing to me about them.

I chose this race in part because my family is full of super hero fans. My husband has tons of Batman gear and often nerds out with our brother-in-law John over DC versus Marvel. The goodie bag was SO good and I knew I’d have to share some of it with my 2 year old niece. We got a nice quarter zip pullover, a hat, a medal, and a bib! They also through in a Gu waffle which makes for a nice pre-run snack.

But whenever I choose a race to run, I always seek out how they give back. DC Batman partnered with St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. If you’re not familiar, check them out!