3:23:25

And the moment you've all been waiting for... I ran the half marathon today!!!

They had World of Color going while we ran!

Okay, perhaps "run " is putting it a bit strongly. I walked with Kristy for the first 11 miles - she was quite the trooper and I'm very proud - and then I ran the last 2.1. What I learned in the experience, first and foremost, is that that's the best way to feel like an awesome runner. Cuz I spent 3 hours at the back of the line and then spent 20 minutes passing like 3,000 people. And that's not much of an exaggeration - Kristy got 13125th place and I got 10367th place, which means that when I left her and started running, I did indeed pass approximately 3,000 people.

Soooo many people!

In any case, we should probably go back to the beginning and start from there. This morning, Kristy and I woke up around 3:30 am. This was lovely because we couldn't fall asleep last night until about midnight. So yes, we slept for about 3 1/2 hours the night before doing this craziness to our bodies...


We got dressed, packed up, and made sure we cleaned up and left my grandparents' house as clean as when we arrived. Grams even said we left "no fingerprint," so I call that a success. We drove down Katella and hit maybe 3 red lights in our whole 20-minute drive. If you don't like traffic, I highly recommend driving at 4 am.

Ready & waiting...

Once we finally arrived and parked and walked to the starting area (where we saw a huge contingent of ladies from that society where they wear red hats and purple clothes waiting to cheer everybody on), we waited almost 45 minutes to start. We were in the last starting corral for whatever reason so there was a lot of waiting involved.

We eventually made it to the starting line and got to the gettin'. The route took us around the outside of the parks, through California Adventure and then Disneyland, and then around some random parts of Anaheim before ending back in the parking lot near where we started. We both finished - and we weren't even last! - so we're deeming it a success.

One thing that surprised me this time was the number of bathroom breaks I ended up needing to take. I hardly drank any water before we left this morning and I only took water at the water stops, so I can't imagine I was that over-hydrated, but I went before we got to the starting corral, 3 times during the race, and probably 3 times during Frozen (we decided we would reward ourselves with a 2-hr movie break before heading home from Disney). It was craziness. I still don't quite get it, but whatevs.

So colorful and lovely =)

I also wasn't expecting there to be bands and cheerleaders along the route playing music and cheering for all of us as we went by. It was really helpful and motivating, especially at the end. The Disney employees (while we were in the parks at least) were also really great. We kept thinking it'd be fun to stop and take pictures with characters like other people were, but also we couldn't afford to sacrifice any time. My favorite, though, were the custodial workers -- when we went around the back of Disneyland, we turned a corner and there was a big sign saying "Welcome from the Custodial Staff!" and a group of 10 or 15 guys taking time out of their mornings to cheer us on. I just thought it was so awesome of them, especially since they weren't there working the race like so many of the other employees.

We did it!!!!!

The other thing that was kinda fun during the race were all the signs. The two best we saw were "Run like it's the start of the Hunger Games" and "Worst Parade Ever." It's really great that so many people come to support, especially people they don't know. All the people really help keep you motivated as you're running, as does the fact that there are just so many people running, and in our case also running slow (or walking). The first half I did, back in South Bend, I was going a lot faster than I was today - I think I ended up somewhere between 2:30 and 2:45 - but I was pretty alone most of the time. Minus the friends who ran with me, of course, but there weren't many others around to keep me pumped about finishing and make me feel like I wasn't just lame compared to everyone else. That's something I really liked about this race.

So anyway, we did it. On 3 hours of sleep. And now we have really heavy medals that have Tinkerbell on them. And neither of us has work tomorrow lol. Life is good =)

Seriously, so heavy. We we sitting down eating after and kept leaning further & further forward from the weight.

Half Marathon Eve

It has arrived. The Tinkerbell Half Marathon is tomorrow. Are we ready? Probably not, but we're doin' it anyway.

Not gonna lie, I was kinda hoping for a bright green shirt (I mean, c'mon -- it's named after Tinkerbell, who always wears bright green), but this isn't too bad. And it's better, I think, than the pale purple 10k shirt, so I'll take it.

Our friends who ran the 10k this morning have already decided they're doing the Disneyland Half Marathon in August. I'm torn. Part of me wants to because over the summer I'd actually have time to train -- no school and all -- but of course, as you may remember, I really dislike running in the heat so part of me obviously doesn't want to. Registration doesn't open until next weekend, though, so I have a little time to decide. If I'm gonna sign up for another one, though, especially an expensive Disney one, it's going to have to be one I take seriously. I'm not gonna sign up for another half unless I actually train for it for real and try to do well. I don't know my exact time for the Holy Half a few years ago, but I think I'd want to aim for a 10:30/11 minute pace. Which would probably be fast for me. But if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right.

You might be wondering why I'm talking about the Disneyland half as if it would be my next half marathon. Aren't I signed up for a half marathon in May? ... I have a confession. With as much trouble as I had with this training (various injuries, sickness, being tired from work, not having a buddy to keep me motivated), I was feeling extremely overwhelmed about trying to train for another one right away. And I was mentioning this to co-worker of mine who was talking about how she wanted to run a half, so I offered her my spot and she was really excited to take it. So that's that. I feel a little lame about it, but also I think having it hanging over my head for the rest of the semester and me feeling tired all the time from running or lame all the time from not running would've been worse... Don't hate me...

In other news, though, I finally bought The Stick. My goal is to use it on a daily basis, even if I don't run, and get my muscles all nice and loose and relaxed. I really have no excuses cuz I can totally do it while I watch TV or something. In the shorter term, I'm hoping it'll help me be able to walk tomorrow and Monday lol.

Anywho, I'm off to eat dinner and lazy around and try to get some sleep before we wake up to leave for the race at 4 am. I'll have more for you tomorrow =)

Thanksgiving

Okay, I may be a few months late for this, but I decided that today's post would be about things I'm grateful for.

Last time I ran was 2 weeks and 2 days ago. I haven't run since then because I had a really terrible cold - worse than I ever imagined a cold could be. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say I definitely couldn't do any running. So anyway, to start the giving thanks, I was thankful during my time of sickness for the friends who took care of me and the fact that now I have a much better understanding of how debilitating non-stomach sickness can be. I'm also grateful I have sick days I can use at work, and for that matter that I have a job at all, and one that allowed me to go visit my friends in the first place.

So today, I finally felt good enough to go running - another thing to add to the grateful list. It was much hotter today than I would like, particularly in winter, but that leaves me grateful I don't have to deal with some of the more annoying parts of cold winters, like scraping my car or getting salt all over everything or shedding 20 layers every time I go inside. And it was hot mostly because of the Santa Anas, but that also means it was very clear and very pretty - and that I'm grateful for.

I'm also grateful that the run wasn't too bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. I ended up running about halfway and walking the back stretch, then even running most of the rest of the way (I stopped a teensy bit early out of respect for not having run for 2 weeks and being sick). So 3 miles in 36 minutes or so. Including 5 minutes of walking. Not bad.

I also had a conversation with a random guy who asked how long the loop was and was in a very good mood about the weather, which made me feel a little better about running. So I'm grateful for being able to talk to people and for joy in the world, and for the little bit of cold I got on the second half - gotta love cold air that's been sitting in the shade for a few hours. Refreshing.

And then, of course, there's the fact that I can run. That I have a friend to run (or probably more accurately, walk) with this weekend. That I have a car to get to Disneyland this weekend. That I have grandparents to let me stay at their house since it's closer to Disneyland than mine. 

I'm pretty sure Sunday is going to be a world of pain, but at least I can say I did it, right?

Two Runs in as Many Days :)

Check it out, dudes - 2 runs in 2 days, with a total of 8.5 or so miles covered. Not bad, if I do say so myself...

After the traditional Christmas Eve dinner of shrimp and cinnamon rolls with our friends the Painters, my family and I headed to midnight Mass (which used to actually be at midnight). In an unexpected turn of events, I ran into some old friends from high school whom I look up to. Literally.

They're much taller than I am. Get it?

One of them has been getting into running the past few years and rather than just answer my "how do you get motivated to run?" question decided he'd make me run way more than I wanted to, so we set a running date for the day after Christmas. He met me at my parents' place at 9am the morning of the 26th, at which point we did a little stretching and made our way down to Redondo Beach pier and then to Hermosa. There and back, including the walking parts, ended up being about 7 miles all together. The running parts totaled approximately 1:09 and we were gone about 2 hours (we may have taken a bit of a chatting break at the end of Hermosa pier, which is much longer than it looks).

According to Death (one of Mike's many nicknames, and one particularly appropriate considering what he put me through yesterday), the key to running is smiling. A lot. He told me most of the time we were running that I just wasn't smiling enough. Apparently I also need to find some woods to run through and trails to run on, where there are no people and lots of nature. Not surprising coming from a kid who once told me of an ambition to run a bunch of people over with a lawnmower after spending 5 hours walking through crowds after World Youth Day. Long story.

The aforementioned "Death" aka Mike Fend.

Not sure I'm entirely convinced by his theories, but I do plan to visit Colorado sometime to visit and I'm sure he'll make me run on at least one of these awesome trails and maybe then I'll change my mind. We shall see.

After our run, I squeezed in a quick lunch with another high school friend and hurried off to the airport and caught a plane to Nashville via Salt Lake City. I planned to wake up and go running again this morning where it was colder, but when I got up it was almost 50 degrees so I had to postpone. I spent the day with one of my old roommates from college since the friend I'm actually here to visit has not yet returned from Christmas with her family (you'll see and hear more about her soon, I'm certain, as I will force her to run with me while I'm here) and then, once I got home, it was finally cold!

I figured I could either try to get myself to wake up early enough for it to still be cold enough in the morning or I could go for a little nighttime jog... so I chose the latter. The neighborhood seemed pretty safe and I hadn't really done anything healthy all day (guac & tacos for lunch, then mini corn dogs and popcorn and Junior Mints for dinner at the movie - not good choices for running), so I geared up in my UnderArmour cold gear and got ready to head out.

Love me my cold running gear!!

The first 2/3 of my run was wonderful! I cannot tell you how much I miss running in the cold. I really dislike being hot, so running in 30 degree weather (or less) is as good as it gets, cuz no matter how hot you get, you're still cold. It's pretty much the greatest. I was just thinking over and over again how awesome it was and how it would be nice to live somewhere cold, but then how much of a pain it would be to move again, etc., and then the mini corn dogs and popcorn and Junior Mints hit me. Not good choices for before running, in case you were curious. I started feeling pretty bad so I stopped running after 16 minutes and walked the rest of the way. All said and done, I probably only ran/walked 1.6 miles, but - as always - better than nothing, right? And it was nice and cold!

Can't wait for some more running in the cold with Stephie, and maybe her former-Army boyfriend who has apparently decided it's his new mission to whip me into shape. In 5 days. Good luck, my friend...

Motivation Needed

And the lameness continues.

No excuses, but I haven't really done much running recently. I'm just kinda lazy and really enjoy blazing through TV shows in way too little time.

I did run on Monday, as planned, but I did not run again until Friday, and then we only ended up having time for an 18-minute, 1.7 mile jog.

My running buddy from Friday is on the top left.

I thought I had a running date for today, but holiday plans decided to get in the way. I did end up dragging myself off the couch to go, though, which I'm relatively impressed with. I had my little bro drop me at the beach and I ran about 3.5 miles along the coast in 38:45 or so (pit stop in the middle not included in the time) and then walked the last 1.5 back home (I thought about running at times, but it was very sunny and warm so I just walked).

All in all, I'm definitely failing at this training thing. I mean, the whole goal of signing up for the half marathon was to get me to exercise more, which has technically been a success even if the training is pretty much a failure.

But this leaves me with a question for all of you who are runners/who like exercise: how exactly do I become one of you? I mean, I'm usually glad I went when I go, but how do I get to a place where I actually want to go? I need your wisdom...

Lameness

I know, I know. I'm lame.

Last week, I ran on Monday and didn't run again until Saturday morning. Both times I ran 3.1 miles, for a grand total of 6.2 miles this week.

In my defense, I was pretty exhausted all week from having to work last Sunday (aka I worked 11 out of 12 days Dec 2-13) and I didn't do anything else either. It's not like I ditched running to go do fun things. I ditched running to lay on my couch and not even have enough energy to watch TV at times because it would require paying attention. Not that that's really a good excuse.

In happier news, I actually almost feel like a normal human being today, on the second day of the weekend that I actually get to enjoy this week. Yay team!

This is also the last week of school before Christmas break (waaaaayyyyyy more exciting to me now that I'm a teacher, by the way), and my goal is to run on Monday AND on Wednesday, and then hopefully on Saturday when I'm back in Torrance.

So anyways, short & boring post to note a short & boring week. Here's hopin' I'll have something more interesting to say next time.

Colleen out.

Distractions

Today wasn't too exciting of a run. Rose Bowl loop (as usual) in 34:04 (which isn't particularly impressive) with the roomie. But hey, it's a run. It counts.

The fun part of today's run, however, was the topic of discussion. Of course we talked about work for awhile -- mostly how tired we are already because of Open House yesterday and how tired we're going to be by the end of the week when we have our work party. And of course we both have friends having parties that night as well... And people are coming over here the night after... It's going to be a long few weeks...

But then we started talking about Rachel's fake Instagram account. Her friends have been giving her grief about not having one so she started one on her birthday this past weekend and is kind of using it satirically. She's trying to think of the most cliche Instagram things she can and post them with as many super-obnoxious hashtags per photo as she can, starting with her birthday latte two days ago. So we spent at least half our run brainstorming.

I couldn't actually find her on Instagram, but I imagine her first post looked something like this.

We talked about taking pictures of the food on Friday, doing a Throwback Thursday involving her engagement, putting together a collage of roomie running dates at the Rose Bowl, maybe some corrected grammar mistake in a student's paper, and perhaps one of those pictures in the mirror before she goes out. We also talked about appropriate/ridiculous hashtags for each one.

[I apologize if anyone takes Instagram super-seriously and is offended by all of this, but neither of us has time for that... so we just talk about it instead...]

So anyways, I realized when we were pretty close to being done that I had been perfectly distracted for at least half the run. Not even just partially distracted, but wholeheartedly not thinking about breathing or my tired legs or anything. I call that a win.

Kristy, we're gonna need to find something equally awesome and distracting to talk about come Jan 19...

Titles are Hard to Think of...

I really did not want to go running today.

I probably should've gone running yesterday, but I didn't, using carpooling with the roomie and saving the environment as an excuse. And yoga on Tuesday was rough - not even because we did anything particularly difficult or anything, but just because my body is apparently mad at me for some reason.

This afternoon, I was curled up on the couch in my office after school falling asleep and just dreaming of going home to my real couch and spending the rest of the day in a TV coma.

But no. Last time I ran was Monday and two days off is pushing it. So I went.

Course I forgot regular socks. Again. Luckily, I wore boots to work today so I was wearing socks - socks that would look ridiculous with my running capris and probably keep me too warm, but still socks. So I went running dressed kinda weird.

I was less self-conscious about it than I thought I'd be, actually, and in the end decided I didn't care if people thought I was dressed weird. I was running, and that's what was important.

I also needed some extra motivation today so I racked my brains for something really important to offer my run for. And not that I'm happy that a friend's mom is in the hospital, it definitely gave me more reason to keep going. I even ended up going an extra mile and a half! I did the first loop in 32:07 (not the fastest, but still pretty darn good... for me...) and ended up running for 51 minutes all together. Well, I walked at the end of the loop while I debated whether to keep going, but I ran most of it.

And, lucky for all of you, something kind of interesting happened today that has never happened before. Two things, actually. (1) I passed 4 people who were running -- I didn't count the people walking -- and (2) no one passed me. That has literally never happened to me before. I think all the people who are real runners must've just been going the opposite direction on the loop today, but it still makes me feel a little special. So I'll take it.

One last running observation/question that I keep meaning to mention but keep forgetting, especially directed toward you veteran runners out there: do you have issues with snot? Honestly, I feel like every time I go running I start out fine but then at some point find myself unable to breathe and needing to blow my nose. I never think to bring Kleenex, but also that seems a little weird and where would I put it and what would I do with it once I used it? So, any wisdom you people have to share -- I'm all ears. Help a girl out...

Just What I Needed?

So, I definitely failed again and didn't run on Saturday. I had all intentions of doing so, but apparently being 25 means my body really doesn't like this whole quick-turnaround, travel-across-the-country-for-two-days, stay-up-all-night business. It just wasn't havin' it. I spent Saturday on my parents' couch watching football, lesson planning, and reading Mockingjay for the third time.

I did, however, run this afternoon. It was painful in ways I didn't expect, but I did run a majority of the time and finished the loop in under 40 minutes. And, hey, I went, so that's something.

When I went last Sunday with Becca and didn't end up running much at all, I was having the same sort of pain -- not exactly a sideache, cuz it's in the lower abs, but kinda the same sensation. I'm not exactly sure what it is. Last time, I attributed it to eating too much too close to running. This time, I finished lunch at least 2 hours before I went and all I had was pad thai and an apple. So I dunno.

I did have a little revelation, though. I had my hair done up all nice for school in these cool twisty bobby pin things and I didn't feel like taking it out, so I just ran in it. And it didn't fall out and it was actually kinda comfy - didn't pull as tight as a normal rubberband. So that was cool. 

I might have to try running with my hair like this more often.

And that's pretty much that. I ran. It wasn't great, but it happened. I guess that's better than nothing. Yay me!

Cross-Country Travels (but not the Running Kind)

This week, I have not done any running. Or really any exercising of any kind. I know that's not good, and I'm not entirely proud of it, but it has been kind of a crazy week.

The weekend ended up being a lot crazier than I expected, and though I did go with a new buddy on Sunday, the long run didn't end up being long or much of a run. I think we did around 4-4.5 miles and we walked most of the way because I kept getting crazy cramps after about 10 seconds of running. We did explore a few very pretty parts of Pasadena, though, which was exciting, and it was nice to be outside on such a beautiful day and spend some time with a friend.

Monday and Tuesday were spent up in Malibu at Junior Retreat. I brought my stuff with me, but there didn't end up being much free time for running (unless I had gotten up at 5:30am to do it, but I was too tired for that - 7am was bad enough).

The beautiful retreat center in Malibu.

I left the retreat a little after lunch on Tuesday to head straight for the airport (shoutout to my awesome chauffer, Dad!) to surprise a friend of mine who was to graduate from Navy boot camp out near Chicago the following day.

Two days, two uniforms. Dress blues on top and NSUs on bottom. And no real smiling in the military, or so I'm told.

The trip has been a whirlwind so far - I got in late Tuesday night, hung out with the graduate & family Wednesday, and did Thanksgiving things today, and we're about to head to the airport (yes, at 1 in the morning) to hang out with him overnight before his flight leaves tomorrow morning, at which point I will spend the day with my suitcase in Chicago before I fly home and do a post-Thanksgiving visit with my own family since I wasn't with them today.

Phew.

My hope is to run on Saturday and get myself back on track next week now that life will be pretty much back to normal. I have another trip planned for Christmas break, but since I'm visiting the friend I met while training for the other half marathon, I'm just going to make her go running with me while I'm there so it should work out better for my training next time. Here's hopin'...

Kind of an Off-Week

This week hasn't been my best (in terms of training anyway).

I mean, I did run the fastest I ever have on Monday, but it's been a bit of a downhill ride since then. I skipped yoga on Tuesday so I could go with our volleyball team to Palm Springs and cheer them on in CIF semifinals. I even got to be the "assistant" trainer and sit on the bench! It was pretty fun. Plus, they won!!

These aren't actually from the game on Tuesday, but it's still them, so good enough.

Then, of course, after going to and from a volleyball game with high school students 2 hours away and not getting home til almost midnight, I was not feelin' the working out Wednesday. I came home and crashed. Slept many hours. It was lovely.

On Thursday, Rachel and I went running after work, but we were both not having a good day of it. Our usual level of chit-chat was waaaaayyyy down because both of us were almost out of breath. Not sure if we were running faster than usual or were just having a really bad running day, but it even got to the point that I got a huge sideache for the first time in a long time and she could barely keep moving, so we started walking at about 2 miles and did about 2.9 mi total in 38:45.

And finally, I had all intention of going to yoga today. But I'm also on junior retreat and then Thanksgiving vacation next week so I had to get everything in order before I left, which means that I missed yoga. I can't be completely sad about it, though, because if I'd gone, I wouldn't have had such a beautiful drive home and wouldn't have seen this when I got to my front door.

Rain makes this even prettier than the Santa Anas. And it comes with cold weather, so I'm all for it!

Since the girls won on Tuesday, they have CIF finals tomorrow at 10am. I got special faculty passes from the Athletic Director for agreeing to do crowd control for our fans, who luckily for me are good about sportsmanship anyway. Yay for getting in places for free!

I'm also pretty psyched to be going with the Cappasolas and my uncle to Catching Fire in IMAX tomorrow. My juniors said it was SO great. We all know high schoolers exaggerate, but I'm still excited about it.

Of course that means I'm not running tomorrow either... But there's a football game at the Rose Bowl anyway so I'll just do my long run on Sunday. And hopefully I will have a new running buddy to tell you all about. So, until then, enjoy your weekend everybody!

Thinking ALL The Things!

Today I had to run alone.

That gave me lots of time to think of awesome things to write about in tonight's post. And I did come up with lots of things, but apparently I can't stay focused on one thing for very long when I run so I never got very far with any of them. So today's post will be a sampling of all the things I thought about writing about but never fully developed. I hope you enjoy it!

So the first idea I had was to talk about this pattern I've started to discover in myself. Pretty much every time I start a run, this is how I feel:

This happens especially when I'm alone. I get all tired and think about how it's no fun to breathe this fast without a break and wonder how I'm ever gonna make it to the end of the run and why I ever thought it would be a good idea to run 13.1 miles all at once. Twice in the same 6 months.

But then, once I've run 2 miles -- pretty much every single run ever -- I start feeling like this instead:

It helps sometimes to know that I'll feel good in like 20 minutes, but it is a long time to wait. Luckily as soon as I started thinking about that, my mind moved on.

I saw a couple people wearing shirts from various places I associate with certain people. One guy was wearing a Los Alamitos shirt (where my dad is from and my grandparents & Godparents live, as well as where another friend of mine grew up) and one girl was wearing an Upper Arlington sweatshirt (assuming it's the one in Columbus, my friend MaryPo at least worked and maybe lived there). I also saw a couple wearing Northwestern gear (where the very same MaryPo went to grad school for journalism).

This is MaryPo. I think we may have gone running once.

I also thought about writing about various things that motivate me to run. Today, I was surprisingly tired after work. Usually when I'm tired like that I can barely keep moving, but today I was running rather faster than usual (I'll talk about that more later) because all I wanted was to be done and get home to a shower and sweatpants. I was also more willing to push myself today because it was cooler than it has been - 60s today guys! - and because a friend's grandfather died this weekend and I was offering my run for their family today. You all also helped out some. I'm glad I stole Other Colleen's blog-writing idea because no matter what is actually true about your interest in what I write, I feel obligated to be truthful and try hard so I don't disappoint you...

Then I spent some timing remembering when I first started running and the few things I learned then from my good friend Galli.

St Patrick's Day 2010. He made disgustingly green eggs.

He was the first person to take me running, back at the RecPlex at UD my senior year. He was in much better shape than I and would entertain me by telling long stories to keep my brain occupied and not focused on how out of breath I was or how much my legs hurt. He also had a somewhat obnoxious habit of telling me I needed to start running again every time I caught my breath (I still hear it in my head when I finish a run sometimes). He did teach me a few important things, however: stay as upright as possible, don't move your arms much, and keep your breathing slow - a few steps in and a few steps out. I still count how long my breaths are when I run. Usually I stick to 4 or 5 steps breathing in and 3 or 4 breathing out, which is actually how I could tell I was running so fast today - it was more like 3 in, 3 out for much of the run.

Then that made me think of pretty much the only thing I've changed since then: my stride. Lydia the trainer said that maybe my knee was hurting earlier this year because my muscles were all tight and perhaps because I was running with a heel strike instead of a mid-foot strike. So now I try to run with a mid-foot strike. My leg pain a couple weeks ago may have been part of my body getting used to running differently. Silly body.

This is what it looked like at the end of my run. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was gorgeous.

Near the end of my run, I was wondering how fast I was actually going. I knew it was faster than I'd ever run (except maybe that one time I ran to get my energy out after what those of us on the Notre Dame MTS intramural volleyball team of Spring 2012 like to call the Valentine's Day Massacre), but I wouldn't let myself check.

**DRUMROLL PLEASE**

I ran the loop in 31:31 today, guys!!! That's almost a 10-minute mile! I know, I know. Pretty slow. A 10-minute mile is me pushing it harder than I did today. But whatever, it's the fastest I've gone yet so I'll take it. Go me!!

Parties at the Park & Training at the Beach

So I've discovered that, as a result of being a teacher, I tend to be lame on the weekends. I'm just tired all the time and don't want to do anything. So this week, to make sure I couldn't be lame and bail on people, I invited a bunch of people over to my apartment so I couldn't cancel on them. It was a good life decision.

Back in South Bend, I had a couple different circles of friends and I was always planning things involving all my friends and bringing people together. Friday night, I did that same thing here and I finally felt more like myself instead of just like the new girl in town. It was lovely and I was thinking how I should do this more often...

But then around 11, one of my neighbors came and asked that we be quieter so he and his kids could sleep. We weren't being super-crazy or anything, but 15 people having a couple different conversations can get kinda loud I guess, so since I live near a park we decided to just head down there. It was still quite fun, but now I'm wondering if I can host more such get-togethers. I'd really like to, but I don't want to be disrespectful to neighbors either. Dilemma. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Now, I suppose, to the real reason for posting -- the long run. To start off, today I finally trained with my half marathon buddy!!

That's her. She's awesome.

I ran from my parents' house down to the coast and along the beach for awhile, then met up with Kristy and we walked to the pier and back from where she started. It was gorgeous and not too hot (YAY OCEAN BREEZE!!!), and it was awesome to get to catch up with Kristy for awhile. She just started work as a nurse in the ICU and is super-busy. I was lucky I even got her to come out because she just finished her third night shift in a row, and this was her first stretch of nights. Shout out to Kristy for being awesome and walking with me =)

And that was our view. Also awesome.

Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what I decided to do about the length of my long run today. Well, it's funny you ask because I'm not entirely sure. I mapped it when I got home (see below) and it said 5.5 miles. But the reason I got a ride home with Kristy instead of running/walking back is because based on her calculations I had already done 6.5 or so. Our technologies disagree. What I can say for sure is that I ran for 32:28 and walked for close to an hour, maybe more. I'll have to try to be better about keeping track of distance in the future.

Not sure what to make of this whole business...

But, either way, I went outside today and did some healthy moving around. And then I made myself a breakfast of champions: scrambled eggs, a Honeycrisp apple, and an eclair my mom made for my dad's birthday party last night. I'd been up for a few hours at this point so I figured dessert was okay... right?

I can hardly believe that today is already November 17, which means we're down to 2 months and 2 days until the race. Also, this is post #10 for me. Time flies, man. Hopefully it will fly during my run tomorrow since I may not have a running buddy. Good thing I have you guys to keep me motivated!! I will do my best to think of something more interesting to write, but I make no promises...

Week 3: Nothing Too Exciting

Hello devoted readers!

I realize it's been a few days since my last post, but life just hasn't been all that exciting. I'm starting to wonder how I'm going to keep filling these posts - sometimes all I have to say about my run is that it happened...

So let's see, last I updated you I had just gone on run #2 without pain. Which was exciting.

Then, on Tuesday, I went to yoga. You may recall that my normal teacher -- whom I absolutely adore (can you name that Mary Kate & Ashley movie?) -- is out of town for 3 weeks in India. I think I like the one who's subbing on Fridays (though I didn't go today), but I don't think I like the guy who's subbing on Tuesdays. It's hard to explain, but the way he talks when he leads is kinda irritating, but more importantly I felt like we didn't do anything. I think I must've had a class like his the very first time I tried yoga because I remember not liking it because it was too much like doing nothing. It's good that I went I'm sure, but I want Carrie back.

I realized while I was watching Nikita last night that the title character kinda reminds me of my yoga teacher. Go figure.

Then, on Wednesday, I took advantage of another perk of working at a high school with a sports program: we have a weight room. Again, nothing too exciting - I got on a bike for *almost* 30 minutes and then did a plank for a minute. Also, I read what I thought was the last Percy Jackson book. I finished it later that night only to find no resolution and a cliffhanger. I felt cheated and was a little confused, so I went to the website.

Wish I'd know before I started reading. What a letdown.

Thursday was another running day. I cannot even describe to you how exhausted Rachel and I both were after school and how much we did not want to go running. But we did. We decided to walk the middle .3 miles, but we still finished our loop in 35:46, which I'd say is pretty darn good. Especially given how tired we were. And how hot it was (finally hit the 70s once the sun went down).

And then today I rested. I think my body is trying to decide whether to be sick or not, which makes sense at this point in the school year. I'm doing my best to be good and not get sick, but we shall see.

My plan as of now is to do my long run on Sunday morning at the beach. I'll be down at my parents' house for my dad's birthday this weekend, so I've got to take advantage of the lovely ocean breeze.

Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get to do a little of this as well!

The original, overwhelming-to-me training schedule says 7 miles, but it also said 4 for last week and I did 6 (I suppose that's what happens if you don't look), so we shall see what actually ends up happening. I might be going with my half marathon buddy Kristy if she's up for it after first 3 night shifts in a row, or I might not - I imagine she might be even more tired than Rach and I were yesterday. I will keep you posted.

Happy weekend!

Running Without...

Today, I ran without socks.

I forgot them when I packed my bag for after work, and Rachel and I were running together today and she drove, so no chance of going back once I figured it out. It worked out okay, though. I did have these lovely little things.

I thought it would be uncomfortable and a pain, but it wasn't. It was actually fine. Mostly because *knock on wood* today I also ran without pain. That's the second time now, and I did take some ibuprofen and am currently icing the Achilles/calf area of my left leg, but that's definite progress. Hopefully this continues.

Today, I ran without boredom. My lovely roommate accompanied me and we chatted on and off for our 3.1 miles (which we finished in 33:07, for those of you out there keeping track - I'm pretty sure that's somewhere around a 10:40 pace, so not bad). We also ran into part of the cross country team from the school where we teach - they were definitely running faster than we were - and saw some people playing with these little planes that make really annoying sounds.

And finally, today I ran without feeling like I was gonna die. I probably could've run faster if I really want to push myself and, by the time we finished, I felt like I probably could've kept going. And I don't feel like I'm dead for the next couple days. So this is good progress methinks.

And now I get to drink chocolate milk. CFitz for the win.

I Hurt All Over... But NOT In That One Spot!

Good news, guys -- I ran today and my leg didn't hurt!

I mean, it hurt in the normal way of being tired because you're using it, especially when you went to a yoga class yesterday that focused on legs, but not that one place that it's been really hurting for a week. So I call it a win.

There were a lot of things I noticed/thought about/realized today during my run, so this post is probably gonna be relatively piecemeal. If you like bullet pointed lists more than flowing paragraphs, this post is for you.

• I like running with people.

Natasha, my running buddy for the day. She got some compliments on her awesomely bright shirt.

When I go running with people, I feel much less like I'm exercising and much more like it's a social event. I push myself more because I want to keep up with them and I enjoy the time because I'm spending it with someone. As some of my grad school friends would point out, this is the extrovert in me coming out for sure. I have many friends who probably like running because it's an excuse to be alone...

• Saturday mornings are more interesting than weekdays at the Rose Bowl.

There were a couple hundred recruits running together and chanting as they went.

And a police car announcing them and trying to make jokes.

Lots of little kid soccer games to watch.

Horses. 'Nuff said.

There were also some UCLA kids training for triathlons. We saw them getting off their bikes and changing into running shoes, and even saw one girl kinda wipe out as she was transitioning. 

• However, I think I might like going on weekdays after work better.

And this is why.

Yes, my car had been sitting in the sun for 90 minutes, but also EIGHTY-TWO DEGREES!? It was probably a few degrees colder outside, but that's too warm. When I go after work, the sun is going down, so the second half of my run is completely in the shade and the world is cooling down anyway. Not so this morning. That might be enough to deter me from running on Saturday mornings in the future. 

• I should probably eat before I go running. And bring water with me.

In a lot of ways, I really enjoy working out first thing after I wake up. The problem is, that usually means I don't eat before I go. In some ways, that's good because I don't get sideaches from food; but also that means I haven't put any fuel into my body in many hours, which isn't necessarily ideal for running, and especially for long runs. All that to say, perhaps it would be a better choice not to run in the morning?

• Apparently my legs like my old shoes.

If you can't tell, they're the ones on the right. My poor new blue shoes must feel neglected since nobody likes them.

I don't really have a serious problem with this, but I do worry/wonder about what will happen when the red shoes get worn out. I bought the second pair so I wouldn't have to stress about finding shoes when I needed them in case I was busy or something, but now I don't know what I'll do if I can't wear the old ones anymore, since my Achilles/calf doesn't seem to like the less worn in ones. Hopefully Lydia the trainer has some suggestions...

• And finally, I'm not in awesome shape, but I'm actually not doing too bad.

And I still have some time! Today, Natasha and I ran/walked the first 3.1 miles in 37:47, then I did another 1.3 mi in 18:58 (which included stopping to say bye to Natasha and walking part of it, and then finished the whole 6.1 mi in 1:26:03 total. I probably ended up walking about half of the 6 miles, but that's pretty good considering I only really started running 2 weeks ago, I had run once in the 9 days previous, and I was trying to take it easy on my leg. I'm not 100% where I'd like to be, but I'd say I'm doing pretty well given my current situation.

And I have 10 weeks to improve. Hopefully my leg will decide to cooperate.