It's Coming...

I'm going to talk about running today. Okay? Alrighty.

My run in in less than 36 hours. There's the expo for the race tomorrow. For some reason, I'm less freaked out than I thought I would be. Anxious, but not really freaked. The only thing I'm really freaked out about is the fact that I can feel a cold coming on.

As for prep, I've been a bit distracted. My last run was on Thursday, and I'm supposed to walk two miles. I've followed the training as close as possible, making sure not to overdo it when I feel an injury coming on. Does that mean my race is going to go perfectly? I have no idea. No matter what training you do, on race day anything can happen. I've heard all of the stories, good and bad.

For now, I'm going continue to... let's call it "carboloading". I did happen to read something on my running calendar that said, "Before a race, you shouldn't eat a huge amount of carbs the night before. Eat a decent amount of carbs for a few days before instead so you don't have to stop for multiple bathroom breaks." So... yeah. "carboloading.". Pish.

Have any big plans for the weekend?

October

It's October. Geez.

I'm actually quite happy that it's October, because I love this month. And this year, this month is even better because

1. It's my birthday on the 22nd! Woo!
2. In one week, I run a marathon.
3. It's Halloween!

Man, I wrote a lot before this, but my computer bugger out. Oh well. Anywho, back to the list.

Alright, most of those things happen every year, but I'm just really excited this year. Actually, I'm really excited about Halloween. The only problem is I have no idea what I'm going to be.

You see, I'm one of those people who think about what they want to be for Halloween all year. Unfortunately, I can never think of what to be all year. There are a lot of costume ideas out there yes, but I want to be original. And cute. Not an easy combo.

One of my favorite costume I've ever been was a headless person. Despite the cardboard digging into my shoulders, it was AWESOME. It was also in middle school. Not a cute one, but cool.

Like this, but less gruesome.

So, I'm hoping to come up with a creative, but cute costume. It's still a month away, but... time flies.

Do you have any idea what you're going to be for Halloween yet?

Running Roadblocks

I promised myself that I wouldn't talk as much about running, but... here we are.

My run yesterday was a great run, but there was one little part that wasn't great. Between miles 2 and 3, I started getting a pain just above my heel on the back of my leg. It faded quickly, but after my run it felt like there was a bruise there.

I told my family of this. They said it could be my achilles. Yeah, that didn't make very happy. What made me less happy is what I'm going to have to do.

I'm going to take more than one day off of running. I haven't done that since December.

You see, many runners have a problem with taking days off. I know that I'm not the only runner who has a problem with this. Still, I know that if I don't take more than a day off, I could injury myself even more.

All I know is that I will complete that marathon in October, even if I have to crawl across that finish line.

And who knows? Maybe a little rest will be good. I talked to another person who has run a couple marathons today, and her longest run was 16 miles! How crazy is that?

Other than that, been hanging at my family's house. Yup.

Do you have trouble taking breaks from training despite risk of injury? Or do you stop at the first sign of anything wrong?

Hitting 20 and More Bread

Hello. My name is Hannah, and I ran 20 miles today.
...
I ran 20 freakin' miles today! Holy Grilled Cheezus!
(I'm allowing myself to say that, I ran 20 miles today.) Here's the proof:

Yeah, I ended up going at almost a 10 minute mile pace while two weeks ago I ran 19 miles at a 9:30 pace, but I don't care. I could have probably walked the last mile, and gone faster than I was going. But I don't care. I wanted to continuously run for 20 miles, and I did.

Why does 20 miles seem like such a big deal anyway? I mean, I ran 19 miles two weeks in a row, 20 is just one more mile. It's different somehow though. 20 miles is how much you're supposed to go before a marathon. Sure, you can go more than that, but at least 20 miles is what most training schedules tell you to do for your longest run. I ran that.

So... Yeah. Pretty pumped about that. Also, it used to gross me out whenever I'd get really salty after runs. This was after races in high school mind you. Now after my long runs, I look at the side of my face seeing what appears to be someone dumping salt on the side of my face and thinking, "Holy crap! Cool!" I think this is just another thing that makes me officially a runner. Or maybe I'm just a dude in the body of a girl. Naw, I don't like bodily functions humor.


There was a lot more salt before this.

Since I don't understand the meaning of a nap, I've been doing things around the house. I suppose some of the doing things around the house involves acting like the hedonism bot and chilling.

Replace grapes with craisins, and you've got me.

I am baking some bread! Yeah, yeah. There are some strawberries in our house that need to be used, so I browsed the pages of my Bread Bible and found a recipe involving strawberries.

That's not for strawberry smashing! Ah well.

It smells AMAZING. Really, it's more like strawberry cake. I'm taking it up with me to my cousins as soon as it's done.

One thing I've noticed about my bread baking endeavours is that I'm the only one who ever eats my bread. Sad. I know that my mom won't because she's eating healthy foods (that don't involve bread), but what about my dad? Does he think I'm trying to hoard it for myself? Or it could be that he's scared of my cooking. I don't know. I know last year for Christmas I made him food as a gift, and he never ate it.

So, if for some reason you're at my house and I have some bread made up, feel free to eat some! Although I don't know who out there would be at my house. Hm.

Hit any big goals lately? Do people act weird around certain foods you make?

Stuck in a Running Rut

I'm stuck in a running rut.

It's not that I haven't been running, but a lot of my runs have been giving me difficultly lately. Today for example. Let's just say I felt like I was going to throw up the first five miles, and walking was thrown in between the last couple of miles. Augh. I managed to run 18.5 miles, but I was hoping to get 19 miles in... and not walk. Still, 18.5 miles is pretty cool. It's just frustrating.

I can't get past that 18 mile mark or something. The last three long runs I've had some issues with each one of them. Stressful.

Now, I'm just tired. And that's about it from me. Exciting night.

How do you get past a rut?

Change of Plans, Organizing Favors, and Anticipation

Today was supposed to be my resting day. Today I was supposed to sleep in late.

That... did not happen. I ended up waking up at my regular class time despite going to bed a little late, and kept myself busy all day.
Instead of cleaning up my own stuff, I thought it would be nice to organize in the kitchen cabinets for my parents. I also made bread.

The whole cleaning of the cupboards started when I was grabbing supplies for the upcoming school year. School is at the end of September, I know but I'm trying to do little things in a long stretch of time instead of a rush at the beginning of the year. Mostly it's baking supplies at the moment.

As for the cleaning rampage, I managed to open up a lot of space in the cupboards. I thought my parents would think it was a nice motion. My mom said I should be worrying about my own stuff, while my dad bitched about not knowing where things were. Then, when I tried explaining it to him (Rice is here, Vinegars are here... unlike before, when everything was just all thrown together), he shot me down.

Nice favors don't always turn out the way you want them to, do they? Ah well. Now, I'm tired and I have a long run tomorrow. Lately my long runs have freaked me out. It's weird, but I almost just want the race to get here so I can get it over with. Maybe it's the anticipation? Maybe it's so I can finally spend some time not organizing my life around my running? Most of my runs are easy to organize around, but not the long runs. I dunno. I just want to do the race.

Now I'm going to start getting ready for tomorrow's run. I'm hoping to run a little earlier, because summer has finally hit and it gets hot.

...I hear the ice cream lady.

What was the last favor that you did that wasn't received like you expected?

Running Overtime

I keep on thinking it's Saturday, but that's because my schedule today has been a lot like my Saturdays... So now, I'm exhausted. Let me explain.

Yesterday, I ran 8 miles. Normally, I have a rest day and them run a long run on Saturday. Instead, I ran an 18 mile run today. I was so exhausted in the last mile or so I wanted to cry, but I couldn't because that would take more energy.

I feel like I really haven't had a chance to stop for the day until 9 tonight, so I'm probably a tad crabby because I haven't gotten a chance to rest. As soon as I was done, I showered, drove for an hour or so, went to an art show, and... here we are. Guh.

Lesson learned? I don't think I can ever run a long run on a Friday ever again. Also, apparently I can't make weekend plans before Saturday ever again... at least until I'm done training.

When was the last time you decided to do too much at once?

Big Goals, Future Goals

So Spanish. We've been meeting for five weeks now, and it's been going pretty well hasn't it? Actually, it's been draining. I'm glad that after this summer fling, we'll part on our own paths. Because four hours of Spanish? It's not a great deal.

Thursdays are quite crazy for me. Waking up at 7:00 A.M., then getting home at 7:00 P.M? What is this, the real world? From that, you might be able to realize that I don't have many exciting stories from the day.

That does get me thinking about the real world though. I seem to have a new idea about how I should live my life every second. Should I go? Should I stay? What would be the best plan for the future? Who knows if I should worry about the future, and instead worry about the now?
Then I have a new idea on what to do with my life when I see my English muffin pop up from the toaster, making me think of some metaphor for life.
Not really, but almost.

I want to do a lot of things in life. Who doesn't? For now, I have one main goal, and that's to run the marathon in October. After that, we'll see what big goal I make next.

I'd worry about weight and such, but for now... Ugh. This training is screwing with my appetite and body weight. I think I'm getting bigger, which feels like a disappointment but then I think, "Who else other than myself cares that much about my weight?" It feels like I'm disappointing someone, but I shouldn't be stressed about it.
I'd rather stress about figuring out things I need for living next year, driving arrangements, and my race.

Long run tomorrow... Hoo boy.

What are your big goals right now?

Long Runs Equal Energy Zappers

Long run days can take a lot out of me, but I don't really notice it until a couple hours later. And when you've had that wall of exhaustion hit you, you do not want to do anything. You especially don't want to have to walk up and down stairs.

Guess what I got to do?

One of my little cousins came over to visit, and for some reason no one else was available to play with the three year old bundle of energy. Moments before, she had passed out for about five minutes and that's when I hit my wall. She decides she wants to play "Castle" with me. "Castle consists of throwing a feather boa down the stairs, going down to get it, and going back up to throw it again. This repeated several times. So I'm tired.

I love my long runs, but they screw with my system like crazy! I'm munching on things like crazy, and it throws my hunger gauge off every time I have a long run.

I'm also getting a wicked runner's tan.

Aw yeah.

So, I really can't think much. Yeah.

Last thing on my mind: I've been having quite a few problems with blogger for awhile now, so I'm thinking I might change hosting sites. Any suggestions?