Thursday, December 31, 2009

in ten years

i saw a recap of the past ten years on someone else's blog and realized how this closing decade marks ten years of running for me! (on and off, but still). i'm also thinking it's probably the more exciting decade of my life because it included the college years and what will really happen when i hit the 30's and 40's. investing in a roth ira is so exciting...

2000 - ahhhh y2k ahhh! i was in 10th/11th grade, had just finished my first season of cross country ('99) and ran my second season later in the fall. my older sister graduated from high school and when we dropped her off at college everyone cried but me (and i think my dad).

2001 - apparently i've done a good job of blocking out dorky high school memories because i can't think of many. in the spring semester of 11th grade i got iss (in school suspension) for lying to my teacher. my friend and i convinced our us history teacher that he (my friend) was the soccer team trainer and had to leave early for away games. we got caught because someone in the class freakin' told on us. what the heck; lame! as an honors/ap student the iss 'teacher'/supervisor didn't think i should be in there and let me run errands for her instead. (and yes, said friend was rather cute of course). also in '01 i started taking some college classes at a local college because somehow i didn't need anymore high school credits - i had "late arrival" and "early dismissal" as some of my "classes". i had a 7:30am (or so) english class and remember hearing about the first WTC plane in the car after class, and assumed it was a small plane that had malfunctioned somehow. when i got to (high) school later that morning, i broke the news to my spanish teacher who didn't believe me until we turned on the tv near the end of class.

2002 - senior year; not as glamorous as it is on mtv. i quit soccer and cross-country; went to prom. i was the last class to graduate my old high school before they tore it down and turned it into a walmart, so some of the teachers let us spend the end of the year graffiti-ing the walls. i cut out a piece of the track as a souvenir (one of the "4's" from lane 4). i started college in the fall, joined the rowing team, learned that just because i never had to study in high school does not mean college will be as breezy...

2003 - survived freshman year; had a great group of girlfriends from the rowing team. had a much better 2nd semester grade-wise, though mandatory study hall didn't help - too many distracting male athletes. moved into first apartment where we had the best neighbors and funnest block parties. i attempted to make pancakes one night and almost set the complex on fire. the blackened, crisp pancake was hung on our front door as a warning to others. i began running again but didn't keep any stats.

2004 - more college antics. moved into new apartment. still casually running, but not yet ocd enough to log stats.

2005 - worked two internships on top of my part-time job at the crack house (aka cracker barrel). also helped out with the local special olympics group - those 'kids' always brightened my day. went to nyc for christmas, saw my best friend graduate from college, began tracking my mileage/time on runs.

2006 - set my car on fire! (yes, on accident) got a new one. ran my first marathon! began interviewing for jobs. major fail at first interview - actually told the guy i wasn't planning on having kids so that wouldn't interfere with my career (yes, seriously). needless to say they did not call me back. got a job somewhere else. college graduation! sad but exciting. began my first big-girl job, made friends with the other college-grad hires and still acted like we were in college. bought a house (offer was accepted on my 22nd b-day). made running friends in my new town. ran another marathon.

2007 - most of the new running friends quit running except one (kt), began running "hardcore" 40 mile weeks with her. participated in a medical study at md anderson in houston, tx. ran two more marathons. took a random, spontaneous trip to san diego for memorial day. took a random trip to nashville in august. older sister got married. met josh, tried to flirt, he was oblivious.

2008 - finally "really" trained for a marathon, bq'd. went to visit a friend living in st. kitts, still jealous of her! started helping out with old high school cross country team. started this blog. helped josh flip a house. experimented with buying individual stock and doubled up (go ford!).

2009 - did the goofy challenge and ran another marathon. spent 9+ months living in hotels/working in kentucky and am now a celebrity at the hampton inn. got engaged. had my wisdom teeth pulled. hit a deer. beefed up my savings.

i still have yet to review my '09 in running and make plans for 2010, but i'm pretty awesome at procrastinating and not-getting things done, what's a few more days. so, until next year! happy new year all!

Sunday, December 27, 2009

it's the little things

merry (belated) christmas! i hope you all had an enjoyable, relaxing holiday with friends and family. once i got home to my mom's never-ending baking, i had no trouble making up for lost calories from earlier this week. entire tin of cookies in one sitting? no problem.

initially i thought i'd get in all this running during these two weeks of vacation but it turns out i'm doing a much better job of being lazy. i've still gotten in a few runs, including a solid (spontaneous) progression run on christmas day. my long run for the week ended up being shorter than planned, but i hung in for 11 miles instead of quitting at 1 or 2 like i so badly wanted to.

friday (12/25) afternoon run: 6.15 miles, 50:45 (avg pace 8:15)
(8:54, 8:41, 8:23, 8:18, 7:52, 7:09 - see, progression! i don't achieve this often.)

even though i wait for a particular movement before heading out on a run, there are many days where my bowels seem to hold out for revenge. lucky me, this morning was no exception. i wasn't brave enough to pop into one of the 19 churches i ran by and detoured for a grocery store instead. it was probably the only food store without a well-marked "restrooms" sign and i frantically hustled around all the edge-aisles of the store. i eventually found it though, thankfully, and once again i was reminded what a great invention the bathroom was.

sunday (12/27) am run: 11.10 miles, 1:41:36 (avg pace 9:09), 33-47*

thank you, running, for making me appreciate the porcelain throne even more. you always make water the most awesomest thing ever too.

week in review (12/21 - 12/27):
total miles: 32.55
time spent running: ~ 4 hours 47 minutes
avg hr: unknown
avg pace: 8:50/mile
off days: 3 (sleeping has gotten better, not glorious, but better)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

two g's

i surprised myself this morning when i entered today's 11-miler into my dorky spreadsheets (yes, plural. i love my spreadsheets). i just crested 2000 miles for the year! woo hoo. i didn't set a mileage goal for the year because i'm already hard-headed enough -- i don't need the extra goal forcing me to run when i don't feel well or in the event i get injured (which thankfully didn't happen in '09!). so yeah, i don't do a yearly mileage goal but of course i want to continue beating each previous year :o)

2005 - 735.94 (logged march thru december)
2006 - 623.43 (didn't log mileage may thru september; gasp i know!)
2007 - 1335.95
2008 - 1618.95
2009 - 2000.01 (with 8 days to go!)

i'm like walmart with all those .94 and .95 endings.

wednesday (12/23) am run: 11 miles, 1:34:48 (avg pace 8:37), 32-47*
i kind of attempted a couple "threshold" miles but they were slower than threshold pace. with mile 1 clocking in at 9:48 i was just glad my legs could still pick up the pace somewhat. with the sleeping/eating troubles i'm just going to take this week easy.

and just for the record --
week in review (12/14 - 12/20):
total miles: 14.75
time spent running: ~ 2 hours 03 minutes
avg hr: 153
avg pace: 8:34/mile
off days: 5 (yep, 5) some people sleep 8 hours/night. i get 8 hours/week.