Today was the best kind of day: An Optional Day.  At my office, optional days are scheduled for Columbus and Veteran’s Day and you are allowed to either take these days or utilize them as two paid days off at some other time during the year.  So today I opted out of work.  

As I danced around my kitchen to tswift tunes (I mean cmon look at the yellow walls wouldn’t they make you wanna dance too?) I knew I could get used to this lifestyle.  So as I let my mind fully soak up not having to be in a cubicle and turn to daydreams of being a full time blogger, I decided this optional day would actually be my fake day as a real life blogger.  Usually breakfast consists of a quick smoothie that I sip while power walking to union square to catch the subway to work.  But today, with all the time in the world, I tested out the pumpkin quinoa breakfast bowl recipe that was posted on PB Fingers blog earlier this month.  My pumpkin obsession continues to grow each year so why not add one more pumpkin-esque treat to the list? I love pumpkin coffee, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin beer, and pumpkin muffins, but combining my one true love of quinoa with pumpkin just sounded too good to be true.  Luckily the recipe didn’t disappoint and I even had enough to save a bowl for tomorrow morning.

While I ate breakfast I poked around online looking for new songs to add to my running mix.  It’s unreal how sick my running playlist would be if I had every day off.  It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m pretty sure this playlist could motivate me to run everyday for the rest of my life.  So far I’ve compiled a list of 51 songs.  I haven’t had a chance to upload the list to iTunes on my laptop but once I do I’ll upload it here in case anyone is looking for songs to add to their own running mixes and needs suggestions.  

After breakfast I had big plans to head over to Jack Rabbit to get some new kicks.  Ever since the half marathon last week my knees have been killing me and it got me thinking that my running sneakers may have stuck around for a bit too long.  It definitely is not ideal that I waited until one month before the marathon to determine that I needed to buy a new pair, but it is what it is.  So I made my way to Jack Rabbit to run on the treadmill and have the sales representative/running shoe expert evaluate my running style and help pick out a sneaker.  

In high school a track coach recommended Asics and since that day I had never thought twice about testing out any other sneakers.  Today I went in determined to be open minded and get the best sneaker regardless of brand.  As I stepped on the treadmill for the representative to evaluate I was kind of hoping that she would say that I was doing something wrong and she had the sneaker to correct it that would make me run a 7 minute mile.  Unfortunately (but actually luckily) she said that I am a neutral runner, which pretty much left my shoe selection open for discussion.  After careful debate and running in each of the four pairs that she selected for me, I ended up with a brand new pair of Mizunos.  Overall, it seemed that each sneaker could potentially do the job, but the Mizuno sneakers that I chose were a perfect fit, hugging my foot in all the right places.