Friday Favorites: The Oatmeal

*Please note: this post includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of my links I get a small (at no cost to you!) commission. I promise to only link products that I'd recommend and use myself. I strongly encourage you to first consider shopping small and locally, even if it means I don't get the referral commission. Otherwise I really appreciate your support: blogs are expensive to run and maintain and I'd like to get out of the red one of these days, thanks!

Can you believe it's been two whole weeks with this whole running and writing streak?! Nope, I can't believe it. Nope nope nope.

But sure enough - it's Day 14!

Here are my stats for the past week:

Total time run: 5 hours, 11 minutes

Total distance run: 18.5 miles

Total days run this week: 7 days

Total days run this month: 14!

Whew! 🙌

This week's mileage was a little lower than last week's because it's a recovery week. We'd been building up decent mileage the last few weeks, so this was a cut back week to let the muscles recover. It also turned out that I had two soccer games this week: Monday and Wednesday, which is why it looks like I didn't run a full 7 days in the one graph since it only shows tracked runs, not sport activities.

Tomorrow I kick off the new week with an 11 mile run and then this time next week I'll be on a van for an epic race - more details coming soon!

In the mean time, it's time for another...

FRIDAY FAVORITE!

Y'all, if you love running, if you like running, or even if you get a bit of schadenfreude at other people crazy enough to run, The Oatmeal's comic book The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances* is a must-read. I first got hooked on The Oatmeal (created by Matthew Inman) from those snazzy little comics that people would share on Facebook, until one day I discovered a couple absolute gems:

1) "The DOs and DO NOTs of running your first marathon" - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/marathon_do

2) "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances" - http://theoatmeal.com/comics/running

Yeah, you can totally look up the comics online, but isn't it COOL to have a snarky yet meaningful comic about running that hangs out on your bookshelf? I think so. (Because books are cool.)

Oh, and the book totally comes with some goofy stickers. Take that, all you cars with snarky "0.0" decals! I've got The Blerch!

Actually, it might have taken me twice as long as necessary to write this post this evening because I was re-reading (again) all the comics. Seriously, check out at least these two samples about running and then tell me I'm wrong and The Oatmeal isn't brilliant. (Oh, and if you start browsing through The Oatmeal's site - do it! it's totally worth it! - watch out for snarky "locker room talk" aka confessions about personal insecurities and bodily functions and stuff that doesn't even come close to what some personality on TV might claim as "locker room talk." Ahem.)

Oh, and while you're out running this weekend, don't forget my favorite quote from the book:

"I run very fast because I desperately want to stand very still. I run to seek a void."

Go find your void, and I'll see you out there.