2 Mile Run

Ran 2 miles alone. Stopped by Starbucks. Worst day ever. The end.

For The Record

I can't sleep. It's 1:30 in the morning, so I should be tired and sleeping by now, especially because for the past 3 or 4 months all my body has wanted is sleep. So why insomnia now? Could it be the cup of coffee I had with Derek 8 hours ago? It was my first cup in months, delicious too, but I've been trying to stay off coffee. Or maybe the stress of the week to come, believe me you don't want to know, but I'm sure you'll be hearing about it at some point down the road. Perhaps the thoughts I was left with AFTER the coffee with Derek. Or was it the chocolate bar that I ate instead of dinner tonight? Either way, I'm wide awake, my body temperature is quite high, not feverishly high, I just don't feel cold, which almost never happens at night. I brought the space heater from home because my heated blanket no longer works and I always freeze at night even with my endless layers of blankets and glowing orange space heater. Wide awake, warm, thoughts swarming.
And for the record I would like to state:
My dreams and aspirations have changed many times over the years. Those who know me know that I am a terrible decision maker, and that trend continues to this day. That trend is what led me to apply to nearly every university in the state, to transfer schools, to change my major 4 times in 1 year, to take forever when shopping for clothes, which rarely happens anyway, you get the picture. Today I am a 5th year senior, 7 days and 1 semester away from graduating with a bachelor's degree in architecture from one of the best universities in the state. But I no longer find joy in Architecture. Perhaps I never did, perhaps it was what I could do with architecture that was intriguing. Learning about an old building, retelling it's story. Or building structures for those in need. I could use architecture as an avenue for adventures. I could also use public health as an avenue for adventures (another prospective career path). I could have gone to any university, pursued any major and the goal would still be the same: adventures. What brings me joy cannot be summed up in one word, or even one blog entry. The world is one big adventure and its not waiting to happen, its happening and it will continue to happen with or without me, and I don't want to miss out on any of it. Something new is an adventure, something out of the ordinary, something that only comes around once in a lifetime. Those are the things that bring me joy, living those somethings. There is just so much to do and so much to see... there is also so much to be.
Adventure isn't the only thing I want. Over the years that have made up my short life thus far, I have also grown to love and appreciate the people in my life more and more. My family are the most important people to me, ALL of them (I emphasize ALL because the definition of family that I am referring to extends beyond the household I grew up in). And my friends, ALL of my friends (childhood, highschool, college, camp...) I find joy in loving and being loved by all of them. So what I want more than anything is not to be a world famous architect, or dietician, or teacher, or musician, or *fill in the blank*... What I want is to be the best daughter, sister, grandaughter, niece, cousin, friend, girlfriend, roommate, *fill in the blank if I missed one* in the world to all these people in my life. And to SOMEDAY be a great wife and a great mom too. To love the people in my life, to experience great things, to do great things, to LOVE GOD and to LOVE PEOPLE.
Perhaps now I can sleep...

Another 2 for 1

Well, last night made the top 10 coldest walks ever. Luckily the wind had died down from the storm, which left us with just a dusting of snow and freezing cold temperatures. Anyway, the 20 minute walk was cold, but I've had worse. Take last year for example. Another snowstorm, -30 degree windchill, at least a foot, if not more, of snow on the ground, it was so cold that my car wouldn't even start so Andrew and I were stranded at my house. My "real people" house, as my friend Pauline would say, was pretty far from campus and only within walking distance to Kroger, the bowling ally and the laundry mat, hence when the car would not start on account of the temperature being below anything that man could survive we were stuck. So 11:30pm rolls around and Andrew decided that he was hungry for a loaf of french bread, I said you're kidding, and too bad because I can't drive us to Meijer and Kroger closes at midnight. To make a long story short, I somehow got roped into venturing out into -30 degree, blowing wind, 12+ inches of snow on the ground weather at 11:40 pm to walk to Kroger with my boyfriend who was craving french bread like a pregnant lady. And the kicker to the whole story is that when we got home to bake the bread, genius didn't set a timer on the oven. French bread, burnt. Ahh yes, that was probably THE coldest walk I have ever been on in my life.
In other news, today I may have experienced the coldest RUN of my life. Today's 1 mile easy run was painfully cold. The temperature was about 11 degrees, not so windy, but still, 11 degrees. Breathing through my nose like you're supposed to do when running, or excercising in general, in through the nose out through the mouth, it's so the mucus and nose hairs in your nasal passage can filter and warm the air you inhale before it reaches your lungs. Anyway, super long run on sentance, I don't even know if a period belongs there, but I was tired of using commas. So ANYWAY, breathing in through the nose was not even an option, it stung and made my eyes all spazy and watery trying to breath in the icy air. So it was in through the mouth, out through the mouth, which is a common breathing pattern for most people while excercising. However, it proved to be very painful. The icy cold air reached my lungs too soon, painful. But the run was good.

1 Mile Walk Or Run

The first 2 weeks of the schedule are pretty much the same, and this week was once again a 1/2 mile run and 1/2 mile walk. The weather made it tempting to keep on running. We are in the midst of the "Heartland Blizzard." I wish I were at home for it, being blasted with lake effect snow and ice and wind and more snow. In the morning I would wake up and find my car invisible, just a part of the cold, white landscape. And there would be nothing to do all day, but enjoy the snow. That's the wonderful thing about snowstorms, they have the ability to stop the "real world" from happening and create a mystical adventure in your own front yard. Once when I was younger, there was an aweful snowstorm and school was cancled. There was an incredible amount of snow that had fallen over night, then it turned to rain and sleet. Which froze when the temperature dropped again, and another layer of snow fell. That morning the roads were too full of snow and too icy underneath to drive on. Of course, we couldn't even make it to the end of the street. My neighborhood roads were always the last to be plowed, if at all. Anyway, we soon discovered that there was so much ice on the roads that we could go ice skating! Right down the driveway and up and down our street. It was the most amazing winter day. I skated for hours, or so it seemed. Then the sun finally melted the ice off the black top, and the adventure was over. Here on the other side of the state, this is the first snow we've seen this winter, and it's mostly been wind today, hardly any snow. I don't like the wind, never have and here that's all we've gotten. A little bit of snow and ice, but not even enough to cover the grass. But the wind hasn't died, the lights keep flickering, our friend called and said he lost power. Stupid wind.

1 Minute Walk/1 Minute Run - 20 Minutes

This time Andrew kept track of time. I think he felt bad because he was supposed to call me this morning for a wake up call (I have a hard time waking up to an alarm, remember?) and he didn't. In any case, we went running and thankfully I didn't have to spend the whole time staring at my watch. Andrew did a pretty good job. We took Ashley St, then the railroad tracks. I'm pretty sure it is illegal to walk, or in our case run, along the railroad tracks though. It's understandable, afterall it is somewhat dangerous if say you're running with headphones on, or stumbling home drunk (at CMU many students found their way back to the dorms after a long night of Frat parties by following the train tracks because they led strait to the dorms), or just not paying attention, and all the sudden AMTRAK comes speeding around the track, SPLAT. So yes, probably not a good idea to hang around on the train tracks, at least not without paying attention, but must we make laws for something like that? Are we incapable of being responsible for ourselves? Or using common sense to keep ourselves safe? You wonder why we have so many rediculous lawsuits these days. Common sense people. Trains travel on tracks. Don't want to get hit? Be careful when playing on the tracks, or just don't go near them at all. But I don't think we need a law for that. It would be like saying that it's illegal to swim in the ocean. Sharks swim in the ocean, don't want to get bit? Be careful when swimming or don't swim in the ocean at all.

20 Minute Run

Yes, I wrote and posted yesterday's post today. The good news is, I am posting today's post today, well LATE today. I wasn't sure if running today would be an option. I threw up this morning, the genetically mutated california navel orange I ate last night actually. But after a 6 hour nap and a bowl of cereal, running wasn't all too bad. It was a pretty enjoyable run. We took First St. through town. We passed by a cool outdoor market shop something or other. You could drive your car into it though, weird. We stopped on the way back, thought about buying a Christmas tree, read the price tags and laughed out loud. $70 for a 4 foot tree? Are you serious?! At home, we always get a really tall Christmas tree for our living room with the double height ceiling. This year the price was free, and we even got 2! My dad went deer hunting, like he does every November, and instead of getting a deer, he got 2 Christmas trees. :)

Off Or 1 Mile Run Easy

I opted for off yesterday. I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I'd been hit by a train which was a direct consequence of my decision the night before to drink Jungle Juice. Now, being a 5th year senior I thought, I know my limits and I know what this stuff does. Every freshman and sophomore in college learns about Jungle Juice the hard way, but that lesson had been learned and it was either that or the cheap keg. I'm very picky about beer and almost never drink the cheap stuff, so at age 22 I re-learned my lesson about Jungle Juice.
We did end up taking the 1 mile run, at about 11:30 at night. It was good to get out and run, after a long painful day on the couch. I ran faster last night than I have in a while, my speed no doubt fuled by my frustration/anger at a situation I was recently informed about. This situation may leave me dateless on New Years Eve. ANGER!!! Or cut my New Years weekend very short, and all for dishes? Mmm. We'll see how this pans out...

2 Mile Run

The information super-highway is incredible. How lucky are we? Our generation has the world's entire collection of information available at our fingertips, literally. That is, if you know how to read and write, and type, and use a computer, and have access to a computer that has access to the Internet... So I suppose it is we who are privileged enough to have all of these things, that have all of this information available to us.

In any case, I used the information superhighway twice today to satisfy my curiosity. After our 2 mile run this morning, which by the way was really cold, and I spit a lot and I'm still not drinking enough water, especially not enough to replace the water that I am losing while I run. Hmm... sounds like another habit to make... the list continues. I also don't think I waited long enough after breakfast before I decided to run. Rice Crispies bouncing around in my stomach, YUCK! Way off topic now, well kinda. Anyway, after a shower I decided to snack on an orange. Now the oranges I bought at the store last week are incredible. They taste delicious, no seeds, but they are a little strange. While talking to my roommate the other day, snacking on an orange, I suggested that my orange had a tumor, or a parasite, or a baby (orange baby) growing inside of it, and that it was weird. I started noticing that ALL of the oranges from my purchase were like this. So this afternoon I decided to consult the Internet. It turns out that I purchased California Navel Oranges which are a cross breed of some sort with a mutation that causes the orange to grow a second orange inside of it. WEIRD! I'm not sure how I feel about eating something that is genetically mutated, but they taste so delicious. Any thoughts or knowledge on the subject, please share.
Continuing on, while eating this genetically mutated delicious California Navel I was also experiencing excruciating pain in my lower back/hip/leg. It started yesterday sometime. I often get pinched nerves in my hip, that cause my entire leg to have this numbing pain sensation. This happens about once a month, or once every other month for as long as I can remember. It will start in one hip, and switch to the other hip. The pain lasts for days, my doctor says that my hips just slip out of place, causing a pinched nerve. I'm not one for taking drugs, I'm one of those treat the cause, not the symptoms kinda people. Anyway, I took my pain to the Internet. Now, webmd is usually my go to website for health issues. But this time I decided to check out the mayo clinic site and what i learned was that a pinched nerve that causes pain in the leg is usually caused by a herniated disk in the lower spine. I also learned that I may be causing permanent damage to that nerve because it happens so often and the pain lasts for days. Of course, the most recommended treatment is drugs, but I'm not really all for pharmaceutical companies making a profit off my pain, I would much rather a doctor fix me up (surgery or physical therapy) than drug me up. The prevention page read this: The following measures may help you prevent a pinched nerve: Maintain good posture. Incorporate strength and flexibility exercises into your regular exercise program. Limit repetitive activities, and take frequent breaks when engaging in these activities. Maintain a healthy weight. Posture is absolutely on my list of habits. Strength and flexibility exercises, does running and stretching count? Repetitive activities, blablabla. Maintain healthy weight, well I'm working on it.

So there you go. Information superhighway at work for those privileged enough to reach it. I now know why my oranges look so funny, why my leg/hip/lower back hurts like hell, and what I can do to help it. What do you want to know?

2 For 1

Well, I survived the all-nighter. Truth be told, I fell asleep for a couple of hours. Thanks to roommate, I did not sleep forever. But I probably am now growing some sort of weird cancer caused by the inhalation of toxic fumes produced by melting pink foam insulation, and whatever other various carcinogens are floating around the architecture building.

Anyway, even though review lasted FOREVER and our professor held us an hour later than we should have been there, 2 hours longer than he told us we would be there, I still somehow managed to complete yesterday's training schedule assignment, a 20 minute walk. I totally lucked out there. There was no way my body would have been capable of running. The walk was nice, took a stroll through the park, the moon and a few stars were only visible through the small partition in the clouds. But the view of the city was beautiful, so I wasn't so sad about the clouds. Its amazing, from that park, you are only a couple of blocks from the hustle and bustle of downtown, but somehow its so peaceful and it feels as though you are miles from the city. I have experienced this same feeling in almost every park in this town, and yet from the city you would never know that these parks exist, a real shame for those who don't.

After the walk, a bowl of oatmeal for dinner and about 1/4 of the way through Harry Potter and I was out for the night.

Today, I slept until 1 pm. Don't judge, I was recovering from an all-nighter. In all honesty though, I easily could sleep that long any day of the week, all-nighter or not. Today was another 1 mile easy run, to State Street and back. Run was good, quick, cold, but good. I've never had a running buddy that I've really enjoyed running with before so it will be interesting to see how our runs go when we're on a 14 mile run. Anywho, nothing more here, just happy to report that it has been 6 consecutive days of running. We'll see how things go when its the last week of studio... YIKES!

1 Mile Walk Or Run

I decided that I wanted to run, sound all hard core and all. But it totally turned into run the first 1/2 mile and walk the second 1/2. :) P.S. Studio sucks. This semester makes me not want to be an architect anymore. :( So that's where I am, and where I will be all night. Don't plan on sleeping, I have NO IDEA how I am going to go running tomorrow. That is, if I live to see tomorrow. Currently modeling with foam insulation, toxic fumes everywhere!!!

1 Minute Walk/1 Minute Run For 18 Minutes

Yes, today's running assigment was just that. Which means you have to look at your watch almost the entire time you are running, because a minute goes by really fast, and there were several times where we were running and I wasn't constantly looking at my watch because there were other things to do like look where I was running, or talk to my running buddy, aka Andrew, and then I would check to see that it had in fact been longer than a minute and well, you get the picture. It made the trip very easy, but somewhat irritating with the whole constantly looking at my watch thing. I am pleased to share with you though, that I arose from my bed today before the noon hour. Yes, my alarm did go off for about an hour and a half before I actually realized that it had gone off at all, that and Andrew called to say he was on his way for our daily run. I even retrieved the rest of my architecture supplies that have been sitting in my friend Zoe's basement since last April and returned them to studio, only about 4 months after I needed them.
I am sorry to say that studio was awefully unproductive. I am so ready for this semester to be over. Really, I am ready for the school year to be over. There are so many things that I hate about architecture and the architecture school at this point. I really want to go back to Honduras, I feel I can do something there that might actually make a difference. Maybe I am being pessimistic, just thinking about the last time I was truely happy and wanting to be there. Honduras. Yes, Honduras sounds lovely to me.