Half Marathon

Nine days until race time. On the fourth I'll be running a half marathon. Today, I ran 12 miles and it was a tough run- quite a few inclines but I guess there were also some good declines.

I become more and more grateful for running as the weeks pass. One reason for this is that my long runs tend to take me to beautiful parts of the city that I wouldn't usually get to see. As summer really hits it's stride this becomes increasingly delightful. I also, value the time to and for myself. It's a really wonderful thing to have some time dedicated to your own well being.

Outside of running, I've been working a whole lot and volunteering a bit. Today began another 4 day streak of working which will be followed up with one day of volunteering and then 2 magical days of freedom (one of those days my friend's band is playing so I can really enjoy my free night). That's the light at the end of the tunnel right now. I should go back to a 4 day work week after that. We'll see what happens. If I get tired of working I just remind myself of those 5 months of working 10-14 hours a week and realize how good I have it now.

I hope you all are doing well, I need to get some food in me asap before I crash from this run.

Cheers

Thursday

My big news for today is that I'm going to have a visitor come April. Daniel Wood, a loyal follower of the blog and dear friend will be gracing Portland with his presence for several days at the beginning of April. It is really nice to have someone (excluding family, who are nice too) come and visit me. It's funny that when he comes out, I'll just have been getting back from the East Coast so we will both be adjusting to Pacific coast time at the same time.

Other than that a hiccup on the training front. It seems as though I may be getting some mild shin splints. I maybe, should have been more careful before I essentially tripled my weakly mileage. I was just so excited! It's OK though. After tomorrow's long run I've got a couple days off and then I'm going to start replacing my shortest runs with bike rides of equivalent time spans. I'm also not going to increase my mileage at all for the next couple of weeks. In fact, due to the bike replacement it will actually fall a bit. Then, I'm going to make every effort to run on people's lawns instead of on the sidewalks. Hopefully all of that will put me in good working order.

Today was my first day as a volunteer at Habitat for Humanity's Restore. It went well. I'm hoping that having two jobs won't get in my way of being able to volunteer when they need me but I'm not going to go around turning down any work.

Other than that, I just drank some sleepytime tea and am about to zonk out. Hope you all have had a good night.

Real Deal

Some of you may think I'm getting soft.

What with all the pictures of flowers and blue skies I'd think the same thing if I were you. But here is an update with real information.

I know you're looking for what's happening in my life. I know you're not interested in being placated with pretty pictures. Delicious pictures, on the other hand are in great demand.

I'll start with this. I got another job.

I actually got offered a few different jobs at the same time but the one I took is at a self serve yogurt shop. The benefits of this job as opposed to the other opportunities are that: A) it's closer to my house and B) there's room for advancement. This means that by summer time I could potentially be a manager there. C) I can eat frozen yogurt but not ice cream. I figure it's best to take a job where I can get leadership experience, can stand behind the product, and don't have to bike a half an hour to get there every day. Also, with this job I can keep my currant job. Which is a plus, since I just picked up another bigger money shift and am generally opposed to leaving jobs after only being there a few months.

Next thing is: I entered into a half marathon yesterday! It's at a little island that's just a bit north of Portland and it is on the Fourth of July. Really early in the morning on the Fourth of July. I'm excited because you are supposed to get Strawberry Shortcake after that race. Now I have something to train for AKA the Foot Traffic Flat. A nice bonus of this Half is that it's exactly the right amount of time before a marathon that I'd like to run for me to use it as a stepping block to get trained up for the marathon.

And then let's not forget that yesterday was Pi day. So, I went over to my friend Rosie's house and had some pizza pie.

Pizza Pi

Delicious

I'm about to go for a run now in fact. I've got to work off that Pizza and get ready for that Half.

Night update

If I had to make a list of things I wanted to do today it wouldn't have been long.

1. Working Interview.

2. Buy couch.

3. Go for a run.

It would have only been 3 items long. But, today, I feel like I've accomplished so much more!

Two friends of mine got postcards from me today.

I went to and think I did well on the working interview

I bought a couch and got it in my room (which involved taking two doors off their hinges). That couch is brand new, soft and fluffy, and only cost $35. Win Win if you ask me.

I reorganized my room to accommodate my couch

I probably biked at least 8 or 9 miles.

On part of my bike ride (the part after I left my working interview) I made a friend visit. Got a little friend time in.

Then, I went for a run.

After which I ate a delicious dinner and made carrot cake which I'm about to enjoy.

Hope you all are having an equally accomplished day.

Best wishes.

Road running

I've got the racing bug. I've just spent the last hour and a half looking up races in the Portland area.

Specifically, I'd love to be able to train for a marathon. I don't know if that's something I could do without a team of supporters but I don't know, the idea is bouncing around my head quite a bit. The race that has me really interested is the Columbia Gorge Marathon. It sounds like a beautiful event. Still, there are a few obstacles for me. One is that there aren't a lot of spectators to lend emotional support and another is I know I should shoot for a half before I try and run the whole. It's hard not to get ahead of myself. Ah!

Who wants to fly out here and help me whip myself into shape? Any volunteers?! Oh boy.... I can't stop looking up races. I've got to get myself back into running!!

A day in

Today, most of my goals were goals that kept me inside. Except my first goal which was to get groceries. I walked to the grocery store.

I might add that it's super nice to be able to walk to a nice grocery store again.

I applied to jobs online. I made a collage (I'm trying to make more of those again). I started my book. I did some yoga. I made lunch. I made cookies. I talked to Stephanie on the phone. I made dinner and that's about it. When you spend all of your time at home it sure is easy to make food. Good thing I've got food stamps!

Hope all of you are having as easy a time of achieving your goals as I am having of achieving mine :D.

I'm off to set some more goals for myself now.