Friday Thrive

Hi there and happy Friday! This week seemed to fly by with Halloween, All Saint’s Day, and another week of high mileage. I don’t mind though – this entire week, I’ve been super excited to watch both the New York City Marathon on Sunday and to see Thor: Ragnarok tonight! 

Hike

Last weekend, Ryan and I hiked up to Snow Lake. Rather than hiking all the way down to the lake, we decide to relax and eat from a higher look-out point. While we were eating, I noticed a quick flash of movement on some rocks – a pika was just a few feet away from us! Pikas look like tiny little rabbits with short ears. It blended into the rocks so well that if we stopped looking at it, we had to spend a few seconds trying to find it again.

Seeing small wildlife like this is one of my favorite parts of hiking. Once, we saw a white weasel in winter and it was so, so cute! But the bear that huffed outside our tent when we camped near Mount Rainier was not as cute. 

Watch

 

We watched the entire Stranger Things 2 this weekend. Everything from the soundtrack to the character development of this show is outstanding. Personally, I thought it was even better than the first season. I don’t want to give away too much of the plot, but if you haven’t seen it, go watch it! 

Read

“Smiling Makes You a More Efficient Runner” by Alex Hutchinson for Outside. 

Some studies indicate that smiling while running can improve your running economy (how much energy it takes you to run a certain pace) by 2%, which is comparable to how much strength training can improve your economy. Smiling during a race seems so simple, yet so difficult at the same time. Who really wants to smile when everything hurts during the last 10K of a marathon? Yet if you can remember to, smiling can lower heart rate, reduce muscle tension, and put you in a positive state of mind – all of which are conducive to running fast. There’s no risk and no investment, so why not try smiling at your next race? 

Shop

We got an Athleta catalog in the mail yesterday, so of course, I immediately perused it and want at least half the clothes in there.  I appreciate how they prioritize sustainability and fair trade and make fashionable athletic clothes without being overly trendy or succumbing to the “pink it and shrink it mentality.” Best of all, their tanks are long enough for tall runners like myself!  Their tank tops are my favorite: I wear the Chi tank and Speedlight tank for most of my runs, both of which wick well and never chafe. 

Celebrate

Brian ran a half marathon PR!

Rechell ran a half marathon PR!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend – one of my runners is racing a 5K, a couple are running New York City Marathon and a couple are running RNR Savannah! 

[Tweet “This week’s Friday Thrive, featuring @athleta winter clothes, #StrangerThings2, and #running reads from the week! via @thisrunrecipes “]

Do you smile while racing or running hard?
What TV shows are you currently watching?
What brand of running clothes is your current favorite?