Fave Friday

I'm feeling a bit better today! I slept like a rock last night, so maybe I was just tired.
I tend to get cranky without enough food or sleep (yes, I'm about to turn 18, not 3, but still...)
Onto 3 of my favorite things!

Ponyo: I've been really loving this movie lately. It's so adorable, and I LOVE Miyazaki's movies. He's like the Japanese Disney. (Keeping fingers crossed for a Ponyo birthday present!)

Local 5ks: Don't get me wrong. I love love love Cross Country season because working within a team forces me to train harder. But pushing it so hard can get overwhelming. I love community 5ks that are either just for the heck of it, or for some charity. I should be running one on Saturday, and it will be a nice break from an actual Meet. I'll be able to enjoy it without worrying about a PR or rank.

Professor Quartermus: He's definitely my favorite teacher at the college this semester. He's in his 60's and technically retired, but he still teaches freshman Biology. He's kind of nerdy and corny, but he's really nice, and does his best to engage students in the subject. And while he can be super nice, he's a (pardon my French) bad ass when it comes to phones. He has called several people out in the middle of a lecture for texting. More power to him!

The Funk is Invading

Everything.
My mood.
My shoes (smell like death).
My hamper, and therefore my room.

Oh cross country season. You make my room smell so...bad. And NOTHING is working out that smell.

The season has NOTHING to do, however, with my funk.
I'm not really sure what is.
Probably just a combo of busy weeks, stress, and feeling a little sick lately.
Hopefully this all will pass without actually coming down with something.

Coach cancelled our Tuesday practice due to heat, so we had speed day on the xc course today.
It was painful, but I stuck with the top group of girls and finished within my projected time for all 5 repeats.
Twas a blessed practice.

Anywhos, this cloudy mood of mine better clear up before the weekend!
My birthday is a-comin' up this Sunday, and I'd like to start off the big 18 in a cheery mood.
I hope everyone else is faring well as Summer winds down!
Who else is ready for that fall weather?

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!

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!