...like a chicken with its head cut off.

Yep. That's me.

I've been running around like a chicken with its head cutoff. (do chickens really do this when their heads are cut off? Hmmm...)

The past 2 weeks have been nothing short of insane.

Mostly work insane.

But life insane, too, on some fronts.

I'm trying not to complain given the ad market here in Chicago. I know plenty of folks looking for work in the industry. But I digress...

Work is nothing short of crazy. Lots of late nights. And things have been falling apart in the condo. Literally. Balcony door. Kitchen phone jack. Kitchen light. Bedroom light switch. Big screen TV. Yep. If it's halfway important, it's probably broken on some level.

Slowly, but surely, we're getting things fixed. And was even able to upgrade to a new TV thanks to an extraordinarily generous birthday gift for Mike. So life, in a word, has been crazy. (but fun.)

After the awesomeness of Chiditarod (I know, I know...I still owe the full gamut of photographic evidence--let's just hope I never run for office--though we did make the honor roll with the "inappropriately appropriate" recognition and a shout out for my awesome twitpics throughout the day), I got to finally experience the awesomeness of one of my favorite bands of all time. Muse. It was epic. And better than I ever imagined. The band has solidified itself ahead of the pumpkins in my book, which is a huge and bold statement.

Then, in case you didn't know, I've joined Team Moxie...an all-women's cycling team here in Chicago. It's in its first year and it's sure to be awesome as we have an incredible group of women already. I did a baseline test on the 14th and managed to toss my cookies when I was done (though in my defense I wasn't feeling the greatest when I started). But hey--they said to go hard...and hard, I did. My numbers were right on par with where I tested during my cycling class with Infinity Multisport a few months ago, but this time I managed a negative split by about 8 watts. Good times.

Sidebard note: if any chicagoland ladies out there are reading this and are interested in joining Team Moxie, let me know--you don't have to be a crazy awesome cyclist and all levels of triathletes and cyclists are welcome!

Then this past weekend...we had the Shamrock Shuffle. it was my fifth year running this beautiful mess of an overcrowded race. And for the first time ever...I broke the 50 minute barrier.

Can I get a fist pump!? Huzzah!

I set a new 8k PR of 46:33 (previous PR was 50:28). I'm pretty pleased with myself. Here's how the mile splits break down...
Mile 1: 8:53
Mile 2: 9:07
Mile 3: 9:29
Mile 4: 9:36
Mile 5: 9:28

Clearly it took me a bit to find my groove. But I'm pleased that I was able to maintain sub-10 the entire way through. It's strange that after all of these years of running how things finally start to click in regards to speed.

I'm still training (sort of) for the St. Louis half marathon. I've missed a handful of my long-runs lately for a myriad of excuses. None of which are truly acceptable. But hey. Life happens. I'm looking forward to running the race with my good friend, Hurley, as it'll be his first half and who better to make it fun and memorable than yours truly?

The performance at the shuffle makes me confident that this year I'll be able to set a new half marathon PR at either the RnR Half in August or the Capital City River Run on my birthday in September.

I'm still trying to make up my mind on whether or not I want to go long this year. But that's a whole different blog post to ramble through. So until then...

Stay awesome, my friends...