Muggy Monday

So I got in an easy 4 miler today, but MAN it was a sweaty one.
The temps were in the low 70s (in November?! not ok) and it was humid as mess out there.
But my legs surprised me.
I started out kinda sore, but they loosened up in the end.

I'm planning on getting in one more easy run tomorrow.
Then I'm all rest and carbs until Thursday.

Today has been extremely uneventful because while the college is officially on break, the high school is not.
They get out tomorrow.
So until then I'm just lazing around watching How I Met Your Mother and trying not to O.D. on cornbread.

I hope everyone else is having a great Monday!

Taper Time

So my Thanksgiving break has officially begun!
And it's time for me to relax for a bit before the big 13.1 on Thursday.
I'm pretty darn excited.
So how do I plan on relaxing?
Laying around, browsing Tumblr for countless hours, and watching movies.

This semester has been tiring, so I'm fully planning on investing in some R&R.
I hope everyone else has a great start of Thanksgiving break!

Cranking It Out

So I worked the State Meet on Saturday!
It's sad to see the season come to an end, but I enjoyed spending the day with friends.
I ended up working concessions with two other runners and that kept up plenty busy!
Our best senior runner, Kate, set a PR of 21:47. I was so happy to see her end the season so well.

Sunday I knocked out 13 miles!
I set out intending to do 10 or 11 miles, but I decided to go the full 13.
I needed to prove to myself that I was able to do it.
It gave me much needed reassurance for the upcoming Half Marathon.

Anyways, the Cross Country banquet is this Thursday. I hope I don't cry when Coach starts making speeches.
I am so thankful to have found Cross Country.
It changed my life around and is easily the highlight of my high school career.

I hope everyone else had lovely weekends filled with great runs!

State Meet

This time of year is when I start getting overwhelmed, but I'm trying to keep up my blog as well!
(I swear!)
But anyways...

Last Chance Invitational went alright. Still didn't put in a stupendous time, but I think my body is trying to catch up to all my demands lately.
The State Meet is this Saturday. I won't be running it, but since my team hosts it, I'll be working it all day.
But onto more exciting news...

I'm officially registered for the Atlanta Thanksgiving Half Marathon!
Wohoooo!
If anyone has any advice, feel free to share it.
I'm having trouble hitting 13 miles, even though I've hit that distance before.
It's been a while.

Happy Humpday everyone!

Last Chance Invitational, Region, and the End

So I haven't posted in a while.
My apologies! Life has been getting a bit hectic with job-searching, homework doing, college applicationing and what not.

But anyways. Last Saturday was our "Last Chance Invitational" Meet. It was on our course.
I didn't pull any great times, but I did all right. Lately that's all I can ask of  myself.
I'm not entirely sure why I've been so slow for the past month or so, but I can only hope my body will sort itself out.

But this Wednesday was region. While I started my race feeling thoroughly exhausted, my energy picked up after the first mile. And while I, once again, didn't post a time I'm particularly proud of, I enjoyed my run. And considering it was my last meet of my Senior Cross Country season, that's really all I can ask.

So other than helping with the State Meet next Saturday, my season is done. It's sad to think about it, but I have no regrets. Running has changed my life. I can't even imagine where I would be without it.

So with the season wrapping up, I'm setting my sights on longer distances. So far I've only run 5k and 10k races. But I've talked things out with my family, and I'm going to be running the Thanksgiving Half Marathon in Atlanta. I'm really excited.

Since I'm so new to this new distance, please give me any advice you feel like offering up! I'll take all the help I can get! Hope everyone else is having an amazing week!

Sometimes Life Just Works

Life is looking up friends!
Guess who has a date tomorrow?
This kid, that's who.
I'm super excited (he's really cute!).

On the running front, things are always going well.
The temperature drop makes it a lot easier to run and run hard!
We had hill workouts today so my thighs are a little shot, but it felt good to run out some stress.
Our "Last Chance Invitational" is this Saturday. Hopefully with the weather I can pull out some better times.

I hope everyone else is having a lovely week!

Disney in Review

Sorry I haven't been posting lately!

I've been super busy with school and work stuff. 

But here's some info on my Disney weeked!

It was such a fun trip!

I really enjoyed spending 4 days with my running friends in Florida. 

We drove down on Thursday and went to Disney's Wide World of Sports on Friday. 

I ran the course in 27:41, which isn't great, but I was just happy to finish. 

That night we went to America's largest McDonalds. 

They even served ice cream!

We went to Universal the next day (more importantly, HARRY POTTER WORLD!)

I spent the day with my friends Justin, Wesley, and Fernanda. 

I got to try Butter Beer and bought a wand! 

Unfortunately it rained the whole day so we were soaked when we made it back to the hotel. 

But we didn't let that drag our moods down. We ordered pizza, played cards and hung out in the lobby. 

The ride back was rather long and tedious, but the trip was worth it. 

 I really needed the break, and my friends took my mind off of all the recent drama!

The Day Has Come

Today the cross country team will be loading our excited selves onto a school bus to embark on a 12ish hour drive. 

But it will be totally worth it. 

Why, do you ask?

Well, my good folk, it is officially DISNEY TRIP!

Therefore it is HARRY POTTER LAND WEEKEND. 

In a matter of days I will be in possession of a wand. 

I am beyond excited. 

For my 'bus entertainment' I fully loaded my ipod up with Coldplay and packed three Harry Potter books. 

On a less great note, I  had a rough day yesterday. 

I won't go into detail about my now ex-boyfriend, but yesterday I found out he cheated on me. 

I don't tolerate cheating. Ever. 

Luckily I have amazing friends and family that were there for me. 

So have a great rest of the week! My weekend officially starts now!

Also, take a chance to thank your support group for all they do.

Disney in 3

The Cross Country Disney Trip is in 3 days!
That's right folks, the magical time of year is upon us again.
I am SUPER pumped. I've been looking forward to this all year.

I'm even more pumped because my two cross country besties made the trip this year.
Megan and Fernanda are beyond excited.

And best of all, while we running in Disney, we're going to Universal the next day.
That means....
I GET TO GO TO HARRY POTTER WORLD.
Ahhhhhhh.

So coach had the top girls knock out a 7 miler today.
The weather wasn't too temperamental, so it wasn't complete torture.

I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend!

Fave Friday: Coldplay Edition

So in honor of my favorite band, I decided to dedicate my fave Friday completely to Coldplay!
So here are some of my favorite songs:

1. A lesser known song: Only Superstition

I love this song! It's probably my favorite Coldplay song to run to. It's got a catchy guitar.

2. An older song: Amsterdam

This is from their Rush of Blood to the Head album. I love how mellow and romantic it sounds. Swoon!

3. A newer song: Paradise

I am LOVING this song right now. I don't even thing I describe it properly. It's just amazing. Check it out for yourself! I'm so pumped for the new album!!

Anyways, all goes well on the running front right now. We don't have a meet tomorrow, so I plan on getting a longer run in tomorrow morning. We had hill work yesterday and I am SORE, so I plan on taking it easy today. I might just go for a walk.

There's a small music festival going on one town over this weekend, so my sister, boyfriend, and I plan on hitting that up. I hope everyone else has exciting weekend plans!

Varsity Redemption

So good news!
Even though I sucked up the last xc meet because of my shin injury, Coach has me running Varsity again this Saturday.
It's at Clinton Farms again, but a different course.
I'm hoping for some shin redemption!

Music Midtown is also on Saturday!!!!!
YAY COLDPLAY (and other bands)!

My "Run from the Cops" 5k went rather well.
I finished in 25:35.
I'm still hoping to get my times into the 24's, but I'm just happy to be running!

We did 5 1,000 meter sprints today at practice and I help my pace well.
This fall-ish weather is treating me nice!
Hope everyone else is having a great week!

Fave Friday

It's late and I need some z's, so this post is going to be very...to the point. Ha ha.

1. Local 5ks! I'm doing a "Run From the Cops" themed 5k tomorrow. Wish me luck!

2. Fall weather. Today felt GREAT outside. Sweaters and nonstop chai is just around the corner!

3. Waffle House. I'm addicted. 'Nuff said.

I hope everyone else has great plans for the weekend! Happy Friday!

The Cursed Week

I'm convinced that someone put a hex on me last week, because everything was just weird!
My runs were pretty off last week.
I threw up OUT OF NOWHERE.
And then at the Meet this Saturday, disaster struck.

I was about halfway through the race when I landed HARD on my right foot, sending a (for lack of a better description) shock wave up my shin. My shins had been achy all week, but this was the final straw. My right shin was now in major pain. But with a little over a mile to go, I couldn't let myself drop out of the race. So I kept trying to block out the pain and managed to cross the finish line in 28:10.

Although the time isn't stellar, I'm just glad I finished the race.

As soon as I got out of the puke chutes, I essentially buckled. Coach had to come pick me up and get me back to the team's tent. Then the Sports Medicine Coach took a look at me, wrapped an ice pack around my leg and forbid me from moving. I was then told to go see him on Monday to decide whether or not I'd need an xray.

So the rest of the weekend I essentially tried not to move. My shin felt a lot better on Sunday, so I was hoping it had just been some freak occurrence. When I got rechecked today, the Sports Medicine coach didn't mention an xray and just told me to take today off and take it easy-ish for the week.

So while I don't actually know what happened this weekend, I'm just glad I haven't been injured for the season. Taking today off was a hassle, but if it gets me better, I'll deal. I should be up and running again tomorrow, but I'm probably not going to be doing the dreaded speed day. I'll be doing a long, slow run to reassess how my leg feels.

Hopefully I've put in all the 'bad karma' for cross country this season. I'm ready for some good karma!
I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend!

Fave Fridays (and "Thirsty Thursday")

I'll start with 3 favorite things and then explain "Thirsty Thursday".

Lizard Thicket: I know this sounds strange, but it's the name of a clothing store in Newnan. I usually loathe clothes shopping, but they had SO many great things! We went there over the weekend for my birthday and I left with a shirt, skirt, and dress. WIN!

The Cure: I have been on such a kick lately! They're one of very few 80s bands that I can handle. I find myself singing 'Just Like Heaven' a lot on my runs.

Powerade Zero: It has nothing to do with the 'zero calorie' part for me. I LOVE the flavors. Regular Gatorade and Powerade taste too thick and sugary to me. With coach ramping up the top girls mileage, I've been chugging these things down whenever I get home.


Thirsty Thursday: A slang term for Thursday nights at the college (aka 'let's all get wasted' night). Before you all jump to conclusions, I did NOT drink any alcohol or go to any parties. I'm too much of a goody goody.

However, coach had the top girls running the 'College run' where we run to the college, loop through it, and head back to the high school. I feel that I should also mention that 98% of my run yesterday felt pretty good! All the girls were sticking together and we were keeping a pretty solid 8 minute pace. Pretty good for a run right after speed day.

But just when we were about to leave the college campus, I got sick out of nowhere. Seriously. One second I was fine, the next second I was throwing up. Luckily, the girls didn't notice me drop back and kept running. I would have been (more) embarrassed had they stopped for me. Luckily only a handful of college students witnessed my homage to Thirsty Thursday.

As embarrassing as it was, I felt fine right after and was able to complete the run! I'm just hoping it doesn't happen again this Saturday.

Good luck to everyone and their running endeavors this weekend!

Kicking Off the Season

Our first cross country meet was today!
We ran at Clinton Farms.
I'm happy to say that we had many runners PR on this course.
I ran a 25:50, which isn't my best time, but it's enough to keep me on Varsity for the next meet.
And, compared to ALL of my times last Cross Country season, it IS a PR (off season races excluded).
2 whole minutes faster than the crap I was running at the end of last season.

Needless to say Coach was pretty proud of me.

But on a downer note, I think I might be getting sick.
Practice all this week was a major struggle, and this morning my throat really started bothering me.
I'm super prone to strep, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just a fluke.
I AM, however, going to get everything checked out on Monday.

College classes have been keeping me pretty busy, so my life is officially being re-consumed with school.
I hope everyone else had a great week!

Into the Wild

Was a great book! And a very good movie (although very depressing in the end...)
But anyways. All was well on the running front this Saturday.
I did a 9 miler that actually felt pretty good!
The weather was a lot nicer than it has been.
SO ready for fall runs.
I didn't run Friday or today, but I walked 4 miles Friday and 3 miles today.
My legs were feeling a bit off, and with our first Cross Country meet this coming weekend, I didn't want to take any chances.

But on another note, my house has been creepily quiet this weekend!
We moved my sister into Georgia Tech on Friday, so we're having to slowly adjust to her not being here.

I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend and got some solid runs in!

A Day So Nice You Have to Post Twice

Or the fact that my other post today was such a downer I felt like sharing happier news.
Today has been a pretty good day!
I rolled pennies with my grandpa, which may sound boring to most people.
But I love spending one on one time with papa. He makes me laugh.
Then I was off to cross country practice where coach had the top group of girls running 5 miles today.

At first I was SUPER nervous. Compared to the other top girls, I'm at a disadvantage.
I'll just keep it simple by saying they're 'built' much better for running than I am.
But I kicked some butt today!
I was the 2nd girl to finish!!!!

So how do you wrap up such a great run?
You get your running buds to go to Waffle House with you, of course.
So we went there and did a splendid job of undoing all the hard exercising we'd just done.

So while my post this morning was a bit of a bummer, my day certainly picked up.
Happy Monday, everybody!

In a deep south state, far far away...

...yours truly is dedicated to improving her times!

Last night I did some strength training and this morning I busted out 5 miles worth of speed intervals. 

I also have my sights set on a 5k this Saturday located in the A-t-l.

Oh, and not all was lost on Saturday. Although I didn't get to run my race (The Invisible 5k) I met up with another buddy, Joseph, to go on a 5 mile evening run. 

Other than that, my days have been rather uneventful. I'm still looking for a Summer job and trying to keep the house clean. 

And my garden is finally blooming, so maybe I can whip up some fresh, tasty recipes soon!

I hope everyone's having a great Monday!

The Invisible 5k

So I woke up late this morning. I vaulted myself straight out of bed and right into panic mode. I hastily forced some breakfast down, got dressed, and sped (sorry, mom) to the rec department where the race was supposed to be. But then things got weird. No one was there.

So there I am, standing like a goober when I see what looks like a registration tent across the lawn. So I sprint over and slam my money down on the table. The guy examines my attire and then asks, puzzled, "Are you here for the softball tournament?" WHAT?! 


So I sprint back to the rec building (leaving a group of very confused softball parents in my dust). I then (very politely) proceed to bang on the window to the locked building. The lobby man (I don't know what they're called) ambles on over and opens the door about an inch (because apparently crazy needs a door fully opened before it attacks).

I ask him out of breath, "Where is the race being held?"

I receive a blank stare followed by "What race?"

We look into each other's eyes for one long awkward moment before I apologize for the inconvenience and walk back to the parking lot.

Once I get to my car I just stand there for a moment, bewildered (Is this all just a bad dream?). I was just about to get into my car and cry when I saw a runner a couple of cars down lacing up his shoes. I amble over as calmly as possible (because I've already scared enough people today) and ask if he heard about a race being held today.

"Oh yea," he says. "I just called the coordinator. They cancelled it."

I wanted to ask several things (Couldn't they have updated their website which I checked last night? How do you have the inside scoop and I don't? WHY DID THEY CANCEL IT?!), but I was too tired to listen to any of the answers so I just thanked him, got into my car, and (angrily) drove home.

Lesson learned? I have no idea. Make sure your alarm works?

Movie Week

Hottie!

So I've been watching a bunch of movies this week!
I watched Accepted (for about the hundredth time), Without a Paddle (once again, for like the hundredth time), Easy A (don't even get me started), and I'm watching Star Wars for the first time tonight.

Me and St. Amelia at graduation.

I know, it's insanity that I haven't seen the Star Wars trilogy before, but I haven't. I live in an all female household and it just never really happened. My sister's boyfriend discovered this and nearly stroked out. So now he currently have his VHS copies in our possession. I should be watching the first one tonight. As long as Harrison Ford is in it, I'm game! =).

My bestie Daniel!

But my running has been really fun this week! I've done two-a-days twice this week. On Tuesday I ran the morning and then did a night run with St. Amelia, and yesterday I ran in the morning and then met up with my friends Daniel and Victoria at 8. I was afraid that my legs wouldn't be able to take it, but the paces both times were comfortable and I had a lot of fun catching up with friends!

And for the most exciting news: I'm running a 5k tomorrow!!! (Cue roaring applause). I'm hoping that taking today off will restore my legs (they've been a bit store) and that I'll really bust it out tomorrow. I hope everyone else has a great weekend planned.