Ready to Run

I mean this in a couple of ways.

First of all, I'm tired of being injured. Between a stress fracture 8 weeks before my marathon (hence not training for it and downshifting to the half-marathon) and a bursitis problem for the past week.

Two miles today. I feel like a wuss.

Goal: April 30 -- Louisville Derby Marathon. Let's hope 6 months is enough time to let this heal.

At Last...

Oh my. I'm embarrassed. This is just sad- over two months later, and I'm finally back on the wagon. So much has happened in the last few months.. I don't even think I'll do a recap, except for some highlights.

For one, I will officially be taking an additional year off school to work and save dollars. This is mostly by choice, but I know that by next fall, I'll be ready to be back in school. So this upcoming fall will focus on scouting out law schools and applications. Very exciting, I know.

Another thing is that I successfully completed the Lexington Half Marathon back at the end of March. Finished in 2:19:33, which was a little slower than I'd hoped but I'll happily blame the weather. Sideways wind and rain along with a chilly day did not make for a fun run. Luckily I had a great friend who ran it with me (although I know he could have smoked me) and helped me along. Dad was waiting at the finish line and it was a great weekend. For some reason, after all this, Dad and I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the Columbus Marathon in October. So we did. Dad actually has a good shot of qualifying for Boston, which is HUGE. Columbus is a fast race and October is the perfect time to run. Our race is a week after my sister will run the Chicago Marathon so I'll get to travel up there to watch her. I think that if I'm able to keep this up, I'll start planning my travel destinations around races. There are some great places to go and I'd love to travel the world running half marathons here and there. And there's plenty of celebrating afterwards!

Enough of running. I could probably go on for hours about that.

New thing three: I have officially been hired on part-time at J.Crew. I know, it seems strange for me to get a retail job when I have a perfectly good, well-paying office job with benefits. I'm definitely holding on to that one. The J.Crew thing is just something on the side to make a little extra cash here and there. And the discount is serious. Like, dangerous. Deadly. I've already used it, and I was barely there for four hours. But I guess that's why it'll be "extra" money. :)

I suppose that's it for now. There's lots more (like how I've finally redone the disgusting bathroom in the new place, got a brand spanking new car, the wonderful world of first dates, etc.) but those will come later.

I think I need to come up with a more unified theme for this little blog of mine, I have no clue what to focus on, and my life only seems to get interesting when I'm not writing about it that often. However, I think it would be good for me to jump back on and really pay attention to it, even though no one is actually reading. Ah, the glories of the internet.

So long for now. Hopefully it won't be another two months before I get back on here.

Dear Josh Blair

suck it.

No but really, thanks for calling me out on not posting anything for an entire freaking month. Things have been completely nuts, and since I didn't think anyone was actually paying any attention to my little ol' bloggy-poo here, a month off didn't seem so wrong or offensive. Apparently I was wrong.

On that note, I don't think Josh should have ditched me around my birthday weekend. I mean, I'm glad you got into the Mexico program and all, but Alice in Wonderland was fabulous, especially with pitchers of beer. You must come visit me in Lex very soon, young man.

As I mentioned, I've been quite the busy bee lately. Since my last post, I've changed addresses. Across town. My once $30 cab ride to my favorite bar is now less than $10. My once 25-35 minute morning commute is now 10 minutes, 15 on a terrible day. I'm pleased, to say the least.

Half marathon training is going... ok. Successfully completed a wonderful 10-miler last weekend only to get the flu for 3 days this week. But I'm finally feeling like a normal human being again and I'm going to attempt a short morning run tomorrow and another long run for Saturday. I'll try not to kill myself. But after this long run, I'll be in taper mode until race day so I can take it easy and just focus on tempo.

I guess that's about it for now. I haven't been writing between the busy-ness (I never really like the spelling of that as "business") and the sicky-ness. And frankly, I haven't thought that anything has been that exciting. I turned 23 but that isn't such a big deal anymore. I might just start celebrating every other year and make it absolutely ridiculous. We'll see how I feel about that next year around this time.

Until next time.. hopefully it won't be April by then and I'll have something thoughtful to say. And spring will be here.

So Predictable.

I knew this would happen. I got on the blogging kick and stayed strong for about a week. Now, a week later I got busy and didn't even bother to worry about this. But I'm back, hoping to save this fumble.

Anyway, this past week has been good. Work was a little overwhelming at times, but my weekend at Centre definitely made up for it. I went down to help out with recruitment, and I have to say that I am so grateful that I'm done with that process. I loved being on the alum side of things, helping behind the curtains and then having the freedom to hang out with my other alum buddies. I wish I could always walk into a room and have about half a dozen people look up and yell "Dahlman!" since they'd be so excited to see me. That's what going back to Centre feels like. I gotta cherish it while I still know people there. After that, I can only rely on homecoming weekend for that sort of reaction.

In other news, I officially have the first 4 boxes packed for our big move. They're mostly just books, but it's a start. I also cleaned out the fridge as best I can right now, getting rid of those things that should have been gone a week ago. All in all, a relatively productive night, especially after my swim.

I decided that I'm going to come back from this injury much slower than the last time. A few weeks ago, when I thought I was back at 100%, I found out the hard way that I was not. So this time around, I'm going to do my long runs on the weekends then build up my runs during the week. I'll hop back into the group this Wednesday and Saturday morning. On off days, you can find me in the pool. :)

Finally, I guess I need to edit that neat little list of mine from my first post. I'd like to make an addition. One more thing for me to do this year: become a DIYer. That's right - a do-it-yourself-er. I want to find creative ways to decorate and have fun doing it frugally. I literally read a decorating blog last night for 2 hours. TWO HOURS OF DECOR. And I loved it. I went to a secondhand furniture shop today and I kept thinking about what I could do to change the pieces to make them work. This upcoming weekend I'll try my hand at it. I've decided to change my bedroom furniture (well, my dresser and nightstand) into something a little more modern. I'm going to remove the varnish, sand them down, prime 'em up, and put a little black number on them with some new hardware. I have high hopes. I dreamed of a staple gun and wallpaper last night - I think that's a good sign.



Well, I'm off to bed. I was completely useless at work today so I figure I ought to do something with myself tomorrow. So long!

Life's Better with Company

Here I am, sitting around on my couch post-State of the Union. I guess I should write some thoughtful response to our President's address to the nation, but frankly I need to read a transcript to remember all of the major points and to make a thoughtful comment. My initial reaction: I did enjoy was the fact that he finally stepped up to the plate and seemed like a strong leader. He didn't shy away from the people that disagree with him, and I'm glad that he called out the Supreme Court for their decision last week on campaign finance. It was a direct shot at Kentucky's own Mitch McConnell when he said "Just saying no may be good short term politics, but it's not leadership." It's time for the Republicans to finally come to the table and stop being so damn personal. These people were elected into their offices to govern a country, NOT to ensure that this President fails and that healthcare reform "will be his Waterloo." (Thank you, Jim DeMint, R-South Carolina)...Enough of that.

In other news, I ran with a group for the first time tonight. I finally took the time to step out of my comfort zone a bit and meet new people here in Lexington. I had faint memories of my freshman year of college - "Hi, I'm Rachael and I'm new to the group." But it was fun, my pace time increased, and it looks like they want me to stick around for a while. Our course took us through my soon-to-be new neighborhood and I loved every bit of it. I'm going to love living in Chevy Chase. And I'm going to love running with a group. They'll help keep me motivated, accountable and on track. As George Clooney stated in a movie recently, "Life's better with company." I cherish my solitude and independence, but it's nice to have others around. Although I'm not prepared to figure out the whole "co-pilot" aspect of the rest of that movie quote..

Since I'm supposedly all grown up now, I guess that means it's about my bedtime. I haven't been sleeping well, and it's been nearly impossible for me to get up in the mornings. Hopefully I can rest up this weekend, get out for a long run (eek - 8 miles), and do my taxes. I need a couple of good, relaxing days before we start preparing for the move in a few weeks.