Melissa Runs

Hey everyone! My name is Melissa and I currently live in Austin, Texas.

I’m a Jersey girl, born & raised. I moved to Florida immediately following high school graduation for college but some old habits die hard. It took quite some time before I let go of the acrylic nails and huge hoops.

After a few drinks my Jersey accent used to come out, but since moving to Austin three years ago apparently I’ve developed quite the southern twang after a few glasses of wine. Speaking of wine…

I love it. I love wine!  Give me a bold glass of cab, fruity sauvignon blanc, or spicy shiraz and I’ll be one happy girl. If you try to give me moscato though, I’ll downright refuse it. Same with white zinfandel; there are just some lines I won’t cross. I try to keep the wine rack stocked all times, you know, for emergencies.

I have an obsession with Sriracha. Seriously, there isn’t much you can’t use that stuff on. It’s very rare I take a bite of my meal and don’t say "hmm, this could really use some Sriracha." Yeah, addicted. There’s a bottle at home and in my desk at work – always.

While we’re on the subject of addictions, I have a running shoe problem. It started out innocently enough – I was simply a new runner on a quest to find that perfect shoe. I was constantly plagued with shin splints that made running terribly painful but knew there HAD to be a shoe out there for me. After blowing through countless pairs of Nike, Asics and Sauconys, I finally settled in on Brooks Adrenalines. They.were.awesome. I bought them in three colors and happily went on my way running.

Then in May 2012 I made a trip to Road Runner Sports where I was informed I no longer pronated! I was a neutral runner! Woo-hoo! And so naturally I needed a new pair of shoes. Or two. Enter Mizuno Wave Riders and Saucony Kinvara 3s. And then I added a pair of Kinvara 2s into the rotation a month later. Saucony then released the Ride 5 and thus far I’ve resisted from purchasing those gorgeous shoes. But the future may be a different story…

My Garmin was the single most important purchase of my running career. (Career? Does that even make sense? I surely don’t get paid…) Usually it’s impossible for me to even wait to get home to review a workout – I start going through the details right on my Garmin. I know I shouldn’t rely so heavily on the numbers, but love analyzing splits and comparing runs. It’s motivation to keep at it, get out there and give it your all.

I like lists. And calendars. Planning. And spreadsheets. Being organized is incredibly important to me, and for that – I love Google. I keep a to-do list on GTasks. I have two calendars on GCal: one for personal items, one for workouts. Hey, if you schedule ‘em like appointments – you’re more likely to get them done! My training plans are uploaded to Google Docs, so I don’t have to worry about where I saved that Excel file. When I plan a vacation, I sketch out an itinerary so there’s a general framework of what the plan is. And all of these things? Get synced to my phone, so I have them with me whether I’m at home on my laptop or on the go.

My roommates are the BEST!

I love to cook, but I’m terrible at following recipes. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I’ll read through a recipe, remove/add ingredients, and slash the cooking time by 20 minutes. I make things simpler, enhance the flavors, and try my best to improve on the dish. It makes it difficult to pass along a recipe to friends and family though, since I never remember exactly how I tweaked it.

I wasn’t always a runner. I was a pack-a-day smoker with a drinking problem for 8+ years. Talk about a turnaround!

A few of my favorite things: anything chocolate, cream cheese frosting, Tom Petty, Bon Jovi, the Jersey Shore (where I grew up, not the show!), Christmas, Elf, Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots, iced coffee, Texas Holdem, the Marine Corps Marathon, cheese, watermelon, Weezer, cupcakes, Kerbey Lane, al fresco dining, Friends, flavored vodka, LaCroix, mimosas, and margherita pizza.

Things I’m not so fond of: vanilla, lasagna, olives (unless stuffed with blue cheese & soaked in gin), the Yankees, the Jets, crickets, doing laundry, shin splints, children, gold jewelry, Southern Comfort, hot dogs, summer running, Green Day, oatmeal raisin cookies, Crocs, and Avatar.

Thanks for reading!