Jenna’s BSR Diary, Week 8: Jury Duty + Wedding Road Trip = Major Detour

Jenna Bergen

MONDAY, APRIL 18
I was supposed to run three miles today, but my body was super-sore thanks to my 10-mile run on Saturday. I was also scheduled to meet for dinner and drinks with a colleague, so I decided to give my knees and ankles a rest. The last thing I want to do is injure myself and not be able to run on race day. This week is also crazy-busy: I have jury duty Tuesday and I’m traveling for a wedding Thursday and Friday, so it’s a very short work week at the office and I have quite a lot to do.  It was good to stay at work a little later than usual to cross off some of my never-ending to-do list before heading out for dinner.

TUESDAY, APRIL 19
Jury duty! This is only my second time being called upon to perform my civic duty and the first time since moving to the city. (The last time I was called, I was living on the Main Line.) I must say, it was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. There were quite a few criminal trials scheduled for voire dire. My name wasn’t called until later in the day, so I kept myself busy by studying for my NASM certification. I finally ended up being called as juror number 43 for jury selection on a criminal stabbing case.  The trial was set to start Wednesday and run through the end of the week so, seeing that I had to travel to the wedding, I pleaded my case and wasn’t picked to serve. I was relieved, but also thought it would have been really interesting to have been on the jury. When the day finally ended, I headed to the gym (it was raining) and logged four miles. I felt strong and good, and was very happy to see that my knees and ankles were feeling a lot better thanks to that extra day of rest.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
Ugh, I missed my run today. I had been all set to work out after work, but with having to catch up from being out of the office on Tuesday while also prepping for being out of the office for the rest of the week, I ended up just going home and packing when I finally finished at work. The wedding is in South Carolina and Lloyd* wants to leave by 4:30AM so we can make it to the rehearsal festivities in time. (It’s a Friday wedding.) I’m packing all of my workout gear, but I have a feeling it will go unused since our schedule will be full. Heading into an 11-hour car ride without a workout the day before is definitely stressing me out, but it is what it is. I managed to squeeze in a pretty good abs and arms session at home before crawling into bed at around 12AM, and I have some healthy snacks (green apples, almonds, seltzer water) that I’m bringing along to keep me from falling prey to disgusting road food.

THURSDAY, APRIL 21 to SATURDAY, APRIL 23
So … my workout clothes went unused. Boo! I tried to console myself with the fact that I’ve been training regularly and that a few days off in the final two weeks probably won’t totally derail things. It also helped that I had a great time seeing a new city. Charleston is goregous. The Isle of Palms, the town where we stayed, is dotted with palm trees—loved it! It was also fun to watch our friends tie the knot. A very good time all around.

SUNDAY, APRIL 24
After sitting for about 12 hours straight yesterday for the car ride home, I was really looking forward to a workout.  I slept in (we got home really late, so I didn’t crawl into bed until about 2AM the night before), so I didn’t start running until 1PM. Major mistake. It was hot.  My face got so red after a few miles that I felt like it was going to bust in two. I ended up doing about five miles. Not as far as I had planned, but the heat was really just too much. I’m going to get up early tomorrow morning and get a nice run in before work while it’s still cool. I think it’s time to get back to my AM workout routine!  Fingers crossed it stays cool for Broad Street!

* Name changed to protect the innocent.