my love/hate running relationship + my love/love burger relationship

Hi! I hope your day’s kicking off wonderfully. Mine started at the track, where luckily I didn’t spot a car break-in like I did last week

Since running in circles is pretty straightforward, I get lots of time to think during my track workouts. One thing that randomly came back to me this morning was a chat I had with a blog reader in-person a while back. “You always look so happy to be running,” she said.

I was totally flattered — but had to laugh, too! I told her no way, Jose. I’m definitely unhappy before and during plenty of my runs. I guess I always seem happy about them here in blogland because I’m writing after I finish, when I’m soaking up the post-run high.

To break it down, here’s what my love/hate relationship looks like toward most of my workouts:

• Tempo/fartlek/fast finish runs: Hate that I have to interrupt an easy outing with fast bursts of speed. Love that I can test out different paces and kind of re-create a race environment.
• Mid-week long runs: Hate that my legs are usually pretty tired on these and that I have to wake up extra-early to do them. Love that I get to run with a group and feel super accomplished afterwards.
• Track: Hate that I have to run in circles and really focus. Love that I get to run in circles and really focus. It’s weird.
• Long runs: Hate that I have to wake up early on the weekend! But probably love these the most because I get to explore new parts of the city and meet new people and go at whatever pace I feel like.
• Easy runs: Hate that sometimes they feel hard, even though they should be easy. Love that I can go as fast/slow as I want and run wherever I want.

Usually my feelings about each run start off on the hate side of things (especially when it’s 4:45 a.m., my alarm clock is blaring, and my legs are tired) and end strongly toward the love side (when I’m a sweaty but happy mess and saw a beautiful sunrise).

Though I clearly am an emotional basket case when it comes to running (just kidding about all of the above — the truth is that I’m half asleep when I do most of my runs and am completely numb), I’m always feeling the love when it comes to burgers.

Anthony made his teriyaki turkey burgers last night. They were mind-blowing as usual.

Fun fact: Anthony made these burgers during one of the first times we met! We had hung out a couple times and he invited me to a grill-out at his house. After I had a bite of this burger I knew he was a keeper.

The secret is in the toppings and sauce, which include teriyaki sauce, beets, and pineapple! Yum.

That’s all for today! See you FRIDAY!

• Do you have a love/hate relationship with running?
• Does your significant other cook for you?
• What was the last speed workout you did?