Escape from the Museum

July 18, 2017 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's, Humor

A few weeks ago, while in Boston, a friend gave me a free ticket to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Now I’m not a regular museum goer. I support the arts, but my lip service is enough. I rarely want to pay admissions (one time I paid $25 at the Virginia Historical Society to spend 20 minutes staring at Downton Abbey costumes), and once I’m there, I feel low class compared to the seemingly more informed art viewers who pause, lean in toward each other, hand on jaw, other hand indicating a brush stroke, and whisper.

I see a picture of a girl walking a dog, read the placard (“Oil on canvas”), and I’m done.

The Tacky Light Fun Run Conundrum

December 22, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Humor, Life In Your 20's, Cazey's Column

Last week my running friend, Ally, told me about the “Tacky Light Fun Run” that she discovered on Facebook. The local running store in Carytown would be coordinating a run through Richmond to see holiday lights in the Fan, Oregon Hill, and downtown. Ally asked if I wanted to go and suggested that we dress up. I thought it would be fun and clicked attending on Facebook alongside Ally.

The day of the run, the event hosts posted the route and wrote, "Hope to see you at 6 PM! Dress up :)" I didn’t have anything festive to wear other than electric blue tights so I hurried to the Dollar Tree in the afternoon and bought green tinsel, an elf hat, a bell ornament, glow-in-the-dark sticks, and a big red bow to decorate myself.

Never Again: Running a Marathon

November 21, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, life lessons

I write this narrative from my bed the morning after. People who complain about hangovers have nothing on my calves. You don’t know pain.

Leading up to the marathon, I tried to train. I mean, I did train. I ran twice a week. My friends, Ally and Emily, trained with an actual training team. I trained once with them. But back in September, at a half-marathon, a woman told me that to properly train one should run two miles more than the race distance aka 28 miles. But, like, betch, why would I run 28 miles and then go run a marathon? I would’ve already done it.

The night before the race, my friends and I went to Mamma Zu’s to carb load. And then I went to a concert. Yes, that’s right. I went out on the town. But it was one of my favorite bands, and I wouldn’t have been living my best life if I didn’t go see them perform live. I got home at midnight and then slept five hours

Running on Fuel100 Electro-Bites

November 16, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Life In Your 20's, life lessons, Makeup Sales

For the last several months, I’ve been training for the Richmond marathon, which I ran this past weekend. Because of this, I’ve tried out some running gear and workout supplements. The gear I tried out was the c2 leggings and pullover, which you can find here, and this week I’m reviewing Fuel100’s Electro-Bites.

Fuel100 sent me five packets of Electro-Bites to try: Apple Cinnamon, Pumpkin Spice (!!), Salty Vanilla, Simply Salty, and Salty Vinegar. I haven’t tried them all, but that’s probably because Salty Vinegar has me gagging at the thought. But Pumpkin Spice and Apple Cinnamon had me excited to try.

By the time I got these in the mail, unfortunately, my training for the marathon was over. All I had left was the war itself: the actual marathon. So this past Saturday I put a packet in my pocket (Salty Vanilla) and offered the packets to my two other runner friends with the condition they tell me their thoughts on the Electro-Bites. Instead of getting one review today, you get three-in-one. Even McDonald’s doesn’t give out deals like that.

Marathon Moocher

November 14, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Humor, Life In Your 20's, Cazey's Column, life lessons

My friends and I signed up to run the Richmond marathon, which took place this past weekend. Ally and Emily joined a training team to prepare for running the 26.2 miles. I did nothing of the sort. I was too cheap to pay more than the race fee and also thought I wouldn’t be around enough on weekends to justify the purchase (which has turned out to be true), plus if I was around, who wants to commit to waking up at 6:30 AM on a weekend?

I also had the master plan of tracking my friends’ mileage on Strava (an app where you post your running routes) and mimicking their training schedule. I could do this for free.

I’ll be honest. Training did not go as expected. I thought I’d be running longer distances on the reg and get into the groove. In college I regularly ran half marathons on my own just because. That is not my life today

Bri's First Race Ever

April 18, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, life lessons

Last week you read about my first race ever. This week you get to read about Bri’s first race ever.

The story begins two Thursdays ago. My friend Brian asked if I was running Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10k, Richmond’s big spring run up and down Monument Avenue. I told him I wasn’t running since it since I don’t pay for races unless they're extraordinary deals like my 10-miler was.

Brian: “Do you want to run it?”

Me: “How much?”

Brian: “It’s free. You can use my bib. I have shin splints.”

Internally: Oh, free you say?

Externally: “I’m really sorry to hear that. You could walk it?”

Running My First Race

April 11, 2016 by Cazey Williams in Cazey's Column, Humor, Life In Your 20's, life lessons

I’m known for being a generally fit person. I walk everywhere in Richmond, including the grocery store and work/school, and I lift weights five times a week. I also used to run regularly in college (now I run once or twice or never a week, but whatever). But I’ve never done a race.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. Senior year of college, an organization I was in hosted a 5K fundraiser, so I participated. I almost won, too. Having never done a race at that point in my life and being used to running 10 miles at a time, I thought I’d sprint the 5K. I led for the first mile. For real, I was hundreds of yards ahead of the second person. But one cannot run at 10 mph for three miles. By the end of mile one, I met my mortality. I was lapped twice. By a father and son. Anyhow, they got first and second place, and I got third. Fourth place was my friend who now runs marathons regularly, so it says something that I beat a future marathon runner. Right?

Anyway, that race was $15 and benefitted my organization. I never did another race after that because why pay to exercise? Races are extravagantly expensive. They’re usually upwards of $60 to jog a distance I could do on my own. So what, I get a t-shirt I won’t wear and a medal that I could just order and pretend I earned?

Google Maps vs. the Military

March 14, 2016 by Cazey Williams in life lessons, Humor, Cazey's Column

A couple of weekends ago, I stayed in Arlington, VA with a friend. That Sunday, I decided to go for a run. My friend suggested I run at the National Mall. I knew this to be a trendy DC/Northern Virginia thing to do and an excellent opportunity for both my Instagram and Snapchat story, so I took her advice.

Finding the metro stop turned out to be my first ordeal. My friend said it was on the other side of the Ballston Common Mall, but then I passed through the mall, and where was it? I'm not one to ask strangers for directions, but I found myself approaching a man on a bench.