Merry Christmas!!!!



Thankfully I have pretty much the most awesome family ever! My dad called me yesterday and said that he would donate the remainder of the money that I need for my fundraising, since it is due tomorrow! My parents have noticed that I have been pretty nervous about it all (the fundraising, training, etc) and said they would help me out of this one. This will be my last race with TEAM for a few years and thankfully THANKFULLY the goal was reached!


Last night I went for a 5 mile run and it felt good. There were a good amount of runners out there and It wasn’t too too cold. I think I will try to get out tonight too. It is nice to not have class and be able to do whatever I feel after 5 pm. Tonight I think I will bake a little bit and hit the hay early. Winter time makes me want to hibernate and I have not gotten a full night’s sleep since Thursday. I had a great holiday but my mom isn’t feeling well which stinks. It was nice to get back to my bed last night and it will be great tonight too I am sure of it!

Here is the pic that will be displayed at Penn :) I get to put my name and the title on it 'Train to Jersey.' Deep, I know.

I actually feel like an artist holy crap!

17 Miles on Kelly Drive

Happy Holidays kids!!!! Just 3 days til Christmas and for the first time in my life I have presents, already wrapped, in my apartment! I don’t have everyone’s gifts yet because they are coming in the mail but the ones I do have , are wrapped and ready to go.

Every year I tell myself that I am going to be the little baker and make things for my friends and family and every year…I find anything else on earth to do besides that. I went over my friend, Dani’s house this week and she gave me a box of assorted cookies. She made them all, which had to have taken a long time, because there were like 7 kinds in there. I finished them all the next day… Delicious! Tonight I have a chance to bake, should I want to, and I think I might just turn my oven on. If nothing else I can open the door and heat the place a bit, but considering it is 60 degrees outside, I should probably just put some cookie dough in there.

OK Saturday- December 17- Kelly Drive- 6:30…Ok OK 6:50am
I woke up reluctantly on Saturday to go meet Laurie for our run. We wanted to start before the team since we would be going pretty far. I got there later then I had hoped but it is a little over a mile from my apartment to Lloyd Hall so while Laurie was running her first mile, so was I. Since it was still dark, she had only gone out to the .5 mile marker and turned around. I really don’t like running alone on the path at night and she felt the same. When we met up it was a little before 7, so we were able to get 5 miles in before meeting up with the Team.

Our Route was from Lloyd Hall to Ridge Ave, back to Lloyd Hall, then back to the Bridge, and back. For those who were just starting they had to run the path down to Locust and back to get the extra 3 miles in, but Laurie and I headed right to Ridge. We were walking 4 and running 2 minutes which felt pretty good. We talked a lot which helped make the time go by faster. Coach Glen told me that it would be okay for me to just do some of the run, not the full 22 miles, and that I should focus more on the 16 next week. I nodded along but in the back of my head I wanted to be able to say I ran the full 22 miles. I was feeling fine at that point (5 miles in) so I didn’t see what the problem could be.

By the time we got to the TNT table heading out to Ridge (8-9 miles in) I was starving. Dunkin Donuts is across the street and all I smelled was warm onion bagels… The girls at the water stop did get us some munchkins and I popped two in my mouth, which probably wasn’t the greatest idea. I was okay though after our walk break. On the way back to Lloyd Hall, it felt like it was getting colder, which was weird since the sun was now up. About 13 miles in I started to feel my knee pain again. Around 7 miles I remember thinking ‘wow my knee hasn’t started hurting yet, this is great, maybe I will do this today.’ 5 miles later, there it was. I didn’t say anything at first because I wanted to finish with Laurie and I felt back leaving her alone for the last 6 or 7 miles. At mile 15 I decided that I better not be an idiot. I don’t have time to recuperate if I get hurt, so I finished back at the pavilion. I counted my walk home too and it was 17-18 miles.

Sunday I felt okay. I am getting excited for Disney now! This week I am still not sure whether I am working a water stop or not but hopefully I will be running 16 miles Christmas Eve. Laurie will not be there, so looks like it’ll be me and God at my pace.

I did of course snap a couple good pictures. I love that when I see family and friends I don’t see in awhile they comment on my pictures and it's so nice to know someone is seeing them.

This just in, while I was writing this, I got an email from the Celebration of Art and Life Exhibition that will be happening all of 2012….They chose one of my pictures! I drop it off, framed and ready to hang on Jan 4! It will hang in the Perelman Center or Penn Tower all of 2012 and they said I can sell it too so that is pretty awesome!!! Today went from clock watching, dragging, wishing it was 5pm…to hyper, happy, still wishing it was 5pm : )

MIC..See you real soon..KEY...Y because we like you...MOUSE

Today was pay day, hallelujah! I purchased my plane tickets to Disney and even got an awesome deal on a hotel for two nights! I decided to stay with Sean Thursday and Friday nights then the hotel Sat and Sunday.

Unfortunately I am coming home Jan 9 now and not the 10th but that is not even considered a problem in this thing called life.. 'O M G I can only stay in FL 5 days instead of 6 like seriously, with?!' if I ever talk like that, you have full permission to slap my silly cause that's just the sound of ungrateful snobbery.

Coach Laurie posted on Facebook that she is going to practice early tomorrow to get a head start on her 22miles. I am going to meet her at 6:30 and see what happens.

Am I physically ready to run 22 miles tomorrow? Absolutely not.

Will I run 22 miles tomorrow? I don't we will see where my legs take me.

I'm excited to be there for Laurie. That 20 mile run at Kelly Drive I did solo was pretty excruciating. I've been lucky in the past with having my parents or friends accompany me with anything near or over 20 miles for the most part. It can get lonely, fast!

The Lone Rangers have corralled on a group on Facebook to start exchanging training tips, plans, talk about long runs, etc and it seems to be that they are all starting training in Jan! Maggie is running I think an Ultra Jan 7 and I have Disney the 8th.. I will start prob a few days after, I'm gonna play it by ear.

I just had dinner and am going to drink a giant water before bed...tomorrow I have no plans until the evening so that means, shower and nap! Sunday Maggie is teaching a Pilates class but I'm going to see how I feel. Buying the plane tickets today got me excited!! 22 days!!!

Frogger

Those Christmas shoppers are out and Running down Chestnut is a mix between Frogger and how I picture football training camp to be (in my mind I do spins off the pedestrians and weave to get to the next stop light). It's pretty frustrating and slightly embarrassing when I get a nice break away from the crowd and a red light stops me.

The positives for running in the city: it's well lit and scenic. I remember living with my mom in Jersey and running around the neighborhood 3-4 times. You run one way a mile then hit a 4 lane highway, turn the other way and same thing.

Last night was a great night for a run, clear sky, Christmas lighting, and 45 degrees. I ran to Penn's Landing to see if I can get a pretty picture of the ice skaters at the River Rink. There were only a couple out there and the lighting was super bright so I deleted the pic I took.

I also can't help but feel like I'm a stalker when I take pictures of people. Which is why 98.6% of my pictures are inanimate objects, they can't judge me. The water was very pretty and the condos had their red and green lights outside, lining their multimillion dollar dock.

I ran up Market and got a little better at my people dodging. The tipsy people are so hard to judge. Usually I can see if someone is headed to walk into a building and I verge accordingly, but there's at least 3 people on any given run that either abort their original destination or just have no idea they walk zig zaggedly.

I made it to City Hall and Love Park then back to my warm, cozy apartment. Cozy is a synonym for tiny if you ever see it on Craigslist while apartment hunting, but I love it.
Tonight is also a great night but I am going to do something's around the house and hope to wake up for a morning jog tomorrow.

I have my philosophy of Religion final tomorrow night, then Nutrition on Monday and I am off for almost a full month! I remember when that meant I was off from everything and just needed to nap and catch up on all of the daytime TV I missed while in class. I do still have a job but a few more nights free a week, I'll take it!

I should probably buy things for the people I love soon... Eh I got 11 days

The Water Girl

Water Stop duty! Sunday I had the water stop in Valley Forge and it was a chilly one! I did not dress accordingly and I am happy to report that I have gained full feeling in all 10 toes.

I did take some good pictures which makes me excited to blog again.

I ran last night in the gym and am going again tonight. I want to be thoroughly honest here….this marathon will absolutely not be my best. I have had a few nightmares over the past 2 weeks involving the race and I know that I cannot go out there expecting the results I had in Philly. I have enjoyed all of the sleep I have been getting the last couple weeks. I am going to try to do a long run this weekend but not 22miles. I have not decided yet what I would like to do, but all I do know is when I show up, things have a way of working out. So 7:45am Saturday morning I will be at Kelly Drive ready to go somewhere with these legs of mine.

It is already time for our packets, so this weekend when I go all of the Disney info will be in my hands. Jan 5, I will be in Florida! I am looking forward to it, very much so!! I am even thinking about getting a hotel room for a night in Orlando, instead of leaving Sean’s house at 2am like last year. Sean and Boggs will probably be happy with that decision too lol. So excited! 25 days!!!