Thoughts and LW

Well things have been hectic and stressful and such but my school work is pretty much all done!! I still have to pack all my track stuff and we leave at 6pm tonight!!

I woke up with a horrible headache this morning and now I sit at my computer with my water bottle on one side and a chocolate raspberry coffee (yum!) on the other.

Yesterday was my last track practice. And I am not sad about it at all. It has been a great experience and this is the best possible way for me to end my college athletic career! I am very excited for this "last" track meet!! The parents are traveling to see my compete as well which is an added boost!

Yesterday I got the keys to my new apartment. While driving there I saw that there were sidewalks on pretty much every street which will be great for running!! (I also saw a drive threw for a dunkin donuts! This will obviously feed my coffee addiction!)

Ok on to Literary Wednesday! I have a word document that has a list of all the books I have read since high school (We actually had to start this document my senior year for a portfolio project). I opened that file up and picked out a book that I really enjoyed.

One of my very good friends and also running buddy Winkly recommended this book to me a while ago. It is a young adult book but the story is really touching. I found this description online:

"It's a captivating, heartbreaking and illuminating tale of what happens after we die. Liz Hall, the narrator, is a well-spoken, emotionally intense 15-year-old. She was primed for adolescence: boyfriends, driving, her first bra. And then she was killed in an accident, after which she ends up in heaven looking down as those who loved her go on with their lives. After the accident, Liz ends up in a heaven called Elsewhere, an extraordinarily organized place where the dead go to await rebirth. In Elsewhere, the dead are not dead in the traditional sense. They have lives. They work. They eat and play and have relationships. They explore life as we do. They succeed and they stumble as we do. Most important, they age -- but backward, from the age they were at the moment of their arrival to infancy, at which time they're transported back to earth for a new life."

I definitely recommend checking this book out! It was a quick read and I really enjoyed it!

Happy Wednesday (and Thursday and Friday!) Tomorrow is Day 1 of Heptathlon and then day 2 is Friday! I am not as nervous this time, I am just hoping to beat all my previous times and distances!

Catch Up

I have been slacking on the blog posting but life is getting stressful over here. This is the last week of classes for college (ekkkk!) with next week being finals week and Graduation on May 23rd! I am desperately trying to finish my senior project by Wednesday afternoon when I will be leaving for Massachusetts and the regional track meet which is on Thursday and Friday!

Here's a quick recap of my workouts (This is more for my sake, so you can skip this if you want!)

Wednesday 5/6
No running. Came home and took a nap!

Thursday 5/7
My team had a track meet, I opted to stay home and rest. I ended up doing 4x400m repeats. (times = 92, 87, 90, 85 seconds)

Friday 5/8
I went to practice and spun for 15 minutes with my teammate Jill. I wanted to do some running so after I left her I came home and decided to run the 3 mile loop around campus. I ran it in about 23 minutes, stopping around the 2.5 mile mark to run 4 hills. Let me tell you 3 miles is hard right now since I seem to be only in shape to run 1/2 milers!

Saturday 5/9
Woke up and hit the track. I ran 3 sets of these => 200m, rest 3 minutes, 100m rest 4 minutes. This workout was ok, my left hamstring has been bothering me....weird.

That's about it for workouts. I took Sunday off and went home to see my mom! A lot of you asked about my mom's story with archery and I asked her about it so I will post it later on (maybe not till after I get back from the track meet).

I cannot believe that college is almost over and I am going to graduate! I signed my lease for my new apartment where I will be moving in right after I graduate. I am moving in with a girl who graduated from my college last year and works at the same company where I will be working. On top of all that we have almost the same name!! Ill post more about this later on too!

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! Happy Monday!

TIART: Running Moms

Every time Thursday rolls around I am surprised and happy that the week is almost over. In case I was wondering what I would write about today, Runners Lounge always has a nice (TIART) topic for me ponder. Since Mother's Day is Sunday it seems very fitting that we talk about running moms!

Of course I am not a mom yet, but I do have a wonderful mother of my own! With each day that goes by I realize that I am more and more like my mother (and I am starting to look more like her too!)

My mom grew up in the time before Title 9 but she still participated in sports. In college, she went to the National Championships for Archery (this reminds me I should ask her to tell me the story about that when I go home this weekend!!) and also competed in Badminton. She eventually graduated and became a Physical Education teacher where she could do lots of sports everyday!

I don't think she started running until after college and after she was married to my dad. They both started running to get back into shape and lose weight. From what my mom tells me, she never liked to run and she hated hills! Eventually she was forced to give up running in order to have me. Talk about a true sacrifice! Nowadays she walks and hikes the areas around her house and sometimes my dad will join her.

Both of my parents were very athletic (my dad played football in college) and so I have had great examples throughout my life. I have been blessed with a wonderful mother who gave up running in order to bring me into the world and give me a chance to learn to love running!



Later this afternoon I hope to head out and get a nice workout in. I am hoping that some 400m repeats will help my legs to feel better! Happy Thursday to everyone and to all the fabulous mothers out there - Happy Mother's Day!!

Seeking Inspiration

I am going to jump on TFH's bandwagon and participate in Literary Wednesday! Since I got back from my "week of track meets" and finally settled into my regular routine I have been seeking inspiration to inspire me to compete in my final track meet (next week).

My mom suggested this book - Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell and I have only just started it but it is really interesting. Some of you may have heard about Luttrell and his story is one of determination and heroism.

Speaking of determination - once I picked up this book I started on a Navy SEAL kick where I looked up all the information about them. I was able to find videos about the first three weeks of training they go through to become a SEAL. It was very similar to the movie G.I. Jane but I have always been fascinated with the amount of perseverance and determination it takes to complete the training. Seeing those men push through pain and continue on really helped to motivate me to continue working to be the best in my track events.

Speaking of motivation - I usually don't watch the Biggest Loser but last night I just happened to tune in and I was sure glad that I did. I don't mean to spoil it for anyone but watching those four contestants run/walk a marathon was very inspiring and brought me to tears. It is amazing how much they have accomplished on that show!

As for workouts this week, I still have my cold and I still feel really run down from last week. Practices have been fairly light but I still have been feeling sluggish and slow. I guess it is taking me a lot longer to get back to normal than I thought.

It is a beautiful day out today! Happy Wednesday!

Outdoor Track State Meet

I am going to make this short and sweet.

Friday morning I left with my team for the Track State meet. It was a two day meet with half the events on Friday and the other half on Saturday. Friday I had Long Jump and the 4x800m Relay and Saturday I had shot put and long jump.

Due to my cold, I ended up only competing on Friday. Long Jump was horrendous and the 4x800m relay was not much better. I ran a 2:43 split and felt like I was going to die after the first 300m. My coach said I looked like I had no leg lift and I agreed as my hip hurt for most of the race.

I think with the cold and having competed Sunday and Monday, I was just burnt out. Thank goodness I had three other great teammates on my relay team who ran great and helped us get a third place finish!

Saturday my coach pulled me from my events because I wasn't feeling good. I ended up taking pictures of all the girls running and just supporting and cheering on the team. With my rinky dink canon camera was able to capture a few good pictures but nothing compared to the ones that B-Rabbit takes with his camera!

Anyway today it is back to the grind with practice. I am just hoping to get over this silly cold as soon as possible!! Hope everyone had a great weekend!