Celebrity Girl Crush

Ok, I usually don't fall into the 'Oh my gosh, I LOVE celebrities, they're such good role models, blah blah blah' malarkey. But there is one celebrity that I continue to be impressed by. She keeps me inspired as a curvy girl AND as an athlete. I'm also super duper jealous of her fashion sense.

The girl? Kelly Osbourne.
I think she is SO amazing.
She completely turned her life around. She works out like a beast, she dresses in clothes that flatter her figure, and she just seems like one kick ass chick.

 I mean, check out those legs! So jealous.
Does anyone else have a celebrity they just love?

Terrible Tuesdays

All cross country runners at my school seem to be moody on Tuesdays. 

This is because Speed Days are on Tuesdays. 

Cue horror music. 

Speed days: can't live with them, can't SUCCEED without them. 

As much as I dislike them, I stuck with them at practice today.

We ran 6 800s. I kept all of them (except for the 4th, which was about 3 seconds over) under 4 minutes. 

But the annoying thing about speed days is how hungry I stay afterward. 

I ate SOOO much food afterward and I'm still hungry!!!!!

Does anyone know how to fix this?!

Also, just on a curious note, how many calories (ballpark) do you consume per day as an athlete. 

People always tell me 2,000 per day is the standard, but I usually eat between 1400 and 1800 depending on the day's level of hunger. At this point, I don't want to lose weight, I'd just be happy with maintaining. But I'm just nervous that I'll overestimate my calories and put on more weight. 

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!

Letting Go

As a girl who used to be 'a bit hefty', I often find it hard to be happy just the way I am.
I stopped weighing myself a couple of months ago. No matter what the number was, I wasn't happy with it.

Sometimes you just have to stop and take a good hard look at yourself.
And this is the honest conclusion I came to:

I'm the healthiest I've ever been.
My diet isn't 100% perfect, but it's close enough (I'd say anywhere from 90-95%).
I put good foods into my body to fuel solid workouts that challenge me.

I think a lot of my negativity has stemmed from the energy crashes I experienced this summer and the slower race times.
The neurotic part of me worries that I'm getting out of shape, but the logical part of me knows that's not possible. I have kept consistent mileage and strength work.

I'm trying to add yoga back into my life because it gives me a sense of balance.
I will also (hopefully) start rock wall climbing again when the wall at the college opens back up.

As a senior in high school, I just feel like I'm in an awkward transitional phase.
I feel so ready to start college life and find my place in this world as an individual, but I've still got a  year left.

So until then I'm trying to bide my time and find activities around her that are stimulating.

Has anyone else experienced this? How did you manage the stress and lethargy?

Fave Friday

Hey guys! So the first full week of Cross Country practice is behind us. Wahoo!
We did a hell hill workout yesterday, so my butt is sooore.
I'm hoping to get in a 4 or 5 mile run today.
Note to self: take it easy on the Chinese for lunch...

Now onto my favorite things!
1. COLDPLAY COLDPLAY COLDPLAY COLDPLAY. I can't really explain why, but I have this INTENSE love of Coldplay that started late Freshman year and has grown steadily since. I listen to their music constantly. All my 'most played' on itunes are Coldplay songs.

2. Owls! They're the most adorable birds on the planet. I've had a strange obsession with them since I was little, and my love of Harry Potter definitely didn't help. My sister just made me a little owl-plushie last night, and it is adorable!



3. The Golden Hammer: for reasons beyond my knowledge, I've snagged a couple of age group medals for 5ks (and one 10k) this past year. If I remember correctly, the golden hammer from the Habitat Hustle 5k was my first ever medal! And it's a (fake) GOLDEN HAMMER. I mean, come on.



I hope everyone has a lovely weekend and gets in some nice, long runs!

Monday Mile Trial

So today turned out to be the BEST FIRST DAY OF CROSS COUNTRY EVER.

I was fully expecting it to suck hardcore. Practice was at 3:30 and it was 100 degrees outside.
Major bummer. And mile trials were today. Every first day of the season Coach times everyone on their mile to set the lineup for the first meet.

And this is where things take an epic turn.
Right before we lined up to run, he said that if we were at the timed mile during Summer practice (which I was!) that we didn't have to run it again, provided that we could remember our time.

I definitely did. 7:18, my best timed mile to date.
SO, not only did I not have to run a mile as fast as I could in the horrible heat, my solid time put me in third place for the lineup!

Of course, the boy's captain and I went on a three miler after practice so we didn't TOTALLY slack off today.
We ran McDonalds (an out and back run). We stopped for water and he randomly decided to buy a burger and eat it right before we set back out.
Needless to say his stomach was killing him when we finished.

Anyways, I've rambled quite enough.
I hope everyone else had a lovely Monday!

Founder's Day 5k

I ran a 5k yesterday.
A good many people I knew ran it too! (But once again, I'm a horrible blogger and failed to bring my camera...)
It was such a hilly course, my shins are definitely feeling it this morning.
My time was 27:31, which I wasn't too happy with.
It did however, grab me third place for females in my age division.

ANYWAYS.
This weekend has been otherwise uneventful.
I came home and took a FOUR HOUR NAP after the race (holy balls!).
Today I walked four miles (mostly to redeem my pancake breakfast) and now the family is about to go to some Georgia Tech social thing.

My sister moves out the 18th. I'M STILL NOT READY.

On another note, I apologize to the people (Lauren) who asked me questions for the Q&A. Answers will come eventually! I'm being a horribly lazy blogger, I know.
I hope everyone else had a lovely weekend!