One of Those Days...

Today has been absolutely fantastic. I'm guessing it has a little somethin' to do with the cooler weather. This morning started with the PP workout consisting of the Warhurst. The Warhurst and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate it everytime I see it pop-up on my schedule but fall madly in love with it once it's over. Today would prove to be no different. I won't bore you with the details all I know is the demons are getting quieter each time I run this route and I actually think I'm getting faster. I am amazed I didn't topple over when running the Deep Eddy mile. I don't know what happened to my form but I will say I looked more like a 2 year old just learning how to run, flailing all my limbs everywhere, not so great when there's no light. I'm so thankful noone was able to witness my attractive running style and even more thankful that I didn't turn/break an ankle. Somehow my legs managed to get under me for every wacky step back there.

My other fantastic news for today is I got to register for spring semester and I only have classes on Tues/Thurs for spring. I realize I'm the only one that gets/cares about this but this is THE perfect schedule. 9:30am- 6:15pm are you kidding me!!! I only have to drive to SM 2 days a week. YIPPEE!!! Last bit of good news I got into Studio 1...this is crucial in order for me to graduate on time. Usually there is a waiting list for this class but no sir I'm in like flinn (no idea how to spell that last part...you get my drift)

Now if only I would sit down and work on the 2 big ass drawings i have due. Hmmm, I guess it's one step at a time and the procrastination will have to wait it's turn;)

Boo

Unfortunately, today's race wasn't meant to be. The poopie doop feeling I had yesterday was a nice strong sinus headache that kept getting worse. Around mid-night I told myself if I woke up with the headache still pulsating in my left eye extending to the back of my head I would NOT be getting up for the race. You guessed it around 4:45 I woke up with headache still intact and had to make an executive decision not to race. The last thing I need right now is a full on sinus infection;( A quick text to my partner in crime, Jon, letting him know I wouldn't be there.

I'm sure I donated to a worthy cause!

Pre-Race

For some odd known reason I feel like racing this weekend. The majority of my running friends will not be doing the IBM 10k and still I wish to run it. No idea why I wanna race, these things stress me out and it's a 10k a distance I don't like to race. Moving along to the e-mail I received from Coach Ruth this week. Friday is an important night for rest. Go to bed early or if have to stay up late sleep in. Ok, I'm already off to a wrong pre-race start. I worked late Friday night, read on my feet the entire time, and met a friend at 7:30am for our pre-race run. I might have gotten 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Oops. Top that with the fact I feel like poopie-doops today. I'm hoping it's just allergies and can be gone by tomorrow morning. I really wanna give this race everything I've got. I'm not looking for a huge PR I'm well aware of the racing condition I'm not in at this moment, but seriously I wanna run hard. At the moment my legs feel like jello.

Let's go back a bit for the 2 people that read my blog. Remember when I had to get a new hard drive and somethings didn't get backed up. Well, I had forgotten about the tunes dear, precious Wiley had given me. Yay!!! new tunes that I haven't heard in awhile. I'm totally stoked I've been reloading them for my race play list (seems more important than my current school project, wouldn't you agree?) So tomorrow's race is all about enjoying my new found tunes at full blast while enjoying a new course. If I PR it will be icing on the cake. At this moment I'm just looking to run and hopefully not serenade any runners running near me;) I've been known to randomly start singing out loud with the shuffle. Hell, I can't hear me how am I supposed to know I'm out of key???

E-mail Response

My response to C's e-mail today.

Do you dare ask how I am???

It's safe to say this has been a meltdown week for me and it's only Tuesday;)

1 flunked test in AutoCAD- he said it would be easy but funny I think my test was written in Chinese.

Rendering (perspective drawing class)- we always have a sh*tload to do in here, but i enjoy the class so I usually don't mind. this is the class i broke down in...lucky male teacher. thank goodness he likes me.

thursday- test in building codes. i'm skipping 1 class for sure tomorrow in order to study. there has to be something wrong with that statement???

aren't you glad you asked;)

I believe it's safe to say school is kickin' my arse!!! I honestly don't know how people pull this off. I'm going to make this happen!!!

Simple Things = Happiness

AHHH!!! Is all I can say at the moment. Thank goodness I have internet at home again. This morning I decided to check my TX State e-mail, which is something I rarely do since all it ever has are construction updates. However, today was extremely different. I only have 1 class on T/Th and it's smack dab in the middle of the day and a short lecture class at that. Well, this am I have an e-mail from my professor cancelling class due to some knee injury. SWEET!!!

Looks like I don't have to battle the weather afterall;) I feel a nap comin' on!!!

Does It Have To Be This Hard

Why is going back to school at the ripe 'ole age of 34 so hard??? I've moved cities several times to places where I don't know anyone, no home & no job...i consider that way easier than the school thing.

I've started my first full semester and I'm hear to tell you it's going to kick my ass. I won't bore you with all of the details but let's just say finding parking at TX State is enough to put someone behind bars or in the hospital. I now just wear my running clothes in order to get to class on time. I consider this my own personal boot camp...running with a backpack bigger than me and whatever else is needed for rendering.

I also started working last week. I'm doing catering for 34th St. Cafe and I have forgotten how labor intensive this stuff is topped with a non-breathing outfit (totally elevating my sex appeal in this get-up) in this heat...tons of fun. I never knew I could sweat this much. I realize I'm a runner but I'm pretty sure in the past 72 hours I've sweat 1/2 the water out of my body. I think my feet are still pulsating from all of the running around/standing for countless hours over my first weekend of work.

The tough part of all of the above is I don't have any idea how all of these puzzle pieces are going to fit together. I'm exhausted and it's just the 2nd week of school. I managed to get my lazy bum outta bed for my track work-out this morning and my eyes are leaking their so tired. Unfortunately, sleep is one of the first things to go and this is a problem for someone who likes her 8 hours of z's.

My other sad realization for today is I won't be doing a marathon this season. I'll need to downgrade to a half. In a sick & twisted way I'm extremely sad about this but I have to be realistic...it just doesn't fit on my over flowing plate and I really need to relieve myself of some of this pressure.

Ewwww!!!

Wiley- in answer to your question have I let go of the blog...yes, I have. I really have to pick and choose my battles these days with the school thing. Yes, I will be using the school excuse for the next 2 1/2 years;)

For today I had an eeewwww moment on the trail. We took off this morning at 6am (I'd like to mention that I'm out of school this week- I would also like to pat myself on the back for getting up before 6am to run). Our plan an easy 4 miler. There were 3 of us so I'm on the outside lane and I try to be aware of people coming the other way so I can either drop back or speed up to give the other peeps room. Granted I can't see in the dark so this is a hit or miss...no pun intended, which will make sense in a few. Today we are cruising along chatting away when boom dude runs right smack into the right side of my body. We have been running for maybe 5 minutes so I'm not nasty yet but this SCRAWNY dude was SLIMY...i was running in a sports bra so had nothing to wipe his nastiness off of me. G-R-O-D-Y. Maybe I shouldn't run on the trail this week;)

Just to continue with the eewww theme for today. I'm at Green Muse working on my computer because I still haven't gotten internet at home. There is an old dude sitting at the bar thing right next to me facing me for some odd known reason. The place is empty with tons of cushy places to chill, but no he's sitting here facing me doing nothing...well, almost nothing, he just let out a nice sized belch. What is it with me today. It's not even 9am and apparently it's going to be one nasty day!

Letting Go

Letting Go...when do you know it's time to let go better yet, how do you let go? What do you do when you know someone that you've considered a close friend no longer wishes to be your friend? How does one handle this situation? Do you send an e-mail, snail mail, call them on the phone or just ignore it until the pain goes away??? This is a friendship nothing romantic...the romantic endings I know how to handle...I let them go.

I don't even know where it all went wrong. I know something that may have triggered a little uncomfort but to me if a true friendship it was totally manageable. Maybe I was just a bandaid until whatever this person was looking for was found then I would no longer be needed. I don't have an answer I just know everytime I run into this person it hurts...I don't like sadness and it seems to be hitting me hard this year. Maybe this is part of the change/transition I have to deal with and I'm not real sure how to. All I know is I want this pain to stop. It's on my mind way too much and honestly, I don't have space for this not so great energy...

Sorry, I just had to get this off my chest.

Random

I have quite a few random thoughts that run through my head constantly...none related to the other the majority come from observations I make throughout my day.

Today I'm at the Green Muse studying to take the practical part 0f my bartending stuff as you can see I'm holding my part for the procrastinating I love to do. 2 posts in 1 day. Note- I'm technically certified to bartend but finding a job in this industry is a tad tricky hence the reason I went to a bartending school- so they could find me the job. Back to the random. I'm sitting in a corner with an outlet (need new battery in order to be unplugged) and the majority of the place is empty with tons of places to plug-in and/or sit. There is a gal sitting in the comfy couch next to me sharing my outlet...no biggie. Random dude walks in cases the joint which is somewhat empty and he chooses the chair next to me which will sandwich me in to my corner. If I need to get up for anything I either need to perform acrobatic movements or bug him everytime I need to go to the bathroom. Yes, this random thought totally boggles my mind.

The Simple Things in Life

I swear the simplest things in life make me soooo happy!!! I love a good night's sleep. I'm not kidding when I call that love. After a great night of sleep I walk around announcing how happy I am for that rest. Last night would be no different. 9 full hours of sleep. I think I was out within a nanosecond of my head hitting the pillow. I woke up this am and thought ahhhh!!!

I won't lie that I'm a complete nerd when it comes down to me and my z's. The challenge of it is I also like to get up early so needless to say I'm usually in the bed with a book by 9pm...and I wonder why I'm single;) Not really but that's a whole 'nother blog.

This summer I came to the oh, so sad realization that sleep a full night of sleep will be few and far between until December 2009...that's when I graduate. The next 2 years are going to be a huge challenge. Some of my projects require me to skip an entire night of sleep i can assure you this is not pretty, not pretty at all.

I apologize in advance (this apology is good for the next 2 years) if I seem a tad cranky. I don't mean it I promise I just don't function well when under less than 8 hours of sleep.

8 Days In

8 days into this new "birth year" and I'm here to tell you we're not off to a good start;( My mood is a tad fed up at the moment. I will not go into all the boring un-fun details but I will tell you about the un-fun thing that nearly broke me...I think they say something about the straw that broke the camels back or something of that nature.

Let's go back to the beginning of June when the trackpad on my precious iBook decided to freeze up. I wanted to drop dead at that moment until I realized I could buy a mouse and still use the computer. Side note- when the trackpad isn't working don't get all techno and buy a wireless mouse because you still can't use the computer to download the wireless software to make the mouse work...yes, I did this. Well, the month of June was slammed with class/building stuff so I opted not to send my computer to Apple until school was out. This will prove to be my brightest decision all year;)

Long story just getting longer- I decided to send my computer in this week. I knew to back everything up which I had half-ass been doing but got serious about it Sunday late night. This will prove to be dumbest decision all year;( Send computer in Monday back in my hands on Wed. I immediately notice how CLEAN my keyboard is (you really shouldn't eat and work on your computer at the same time, right). While computer is warming up I decide to read the repair notes which mention they put in a new hard drive, cool I backed everything up. I start the long ass process of re-loading all backed-up files until I got to my main one, the one i refer to as my brain. Insert CD and all it says is blank. NO!!! Of course thinking I'm smarter than the computer I reboot the whole thing. Load CD again...BLANK!!! I will spare you the profanity I was screaming at the top of my lungs. My fit didn't last that long because I was immediately heart broken. All pictures, portfolio, resume, and all excel spreadsheets gone this thought made me nauseous.

The 2 things that kill me the most are my photos and my spreadsheet on all the books I've read. Yes, I'm anal but when you read as much as I do I can't remember which title, author and plot go together.

I have now wasted an hour blogging and catching up on blogs instead of studying;)

Procrastination 101

I really think I should be a professional procrastinator. I'm extremely good at it. I've gotten rid of my wireless connection at home to cut down on my internet time and ways to procrastinate. As you can see today it's not helping me so much. I'm at The Green Muse using their internet when I'm really supposed to be studying for my bartender exam I'm taking this afternoon. Nevermind the big ass project I have to build this weekend. So far I have spent about 60 hours (in a 5 day period) on my project that is due this Monday and the sad thing is I have a good 20 or so more hours to go. I love school I really do it's just going to be an intense 2 years!!!

For the record I've wasted an entire hour perusing the net...guess I should get to bizness!!!

3 Bitchy Volunteers

Let's just say Joey got 3 bitchy volunteers this morning for the Rogue water stop. At times some may have considered this an understatement;) It was the Brendas and me. 1. Brenda- a.k.a M. 2. Brenda- a.k.a 5'10". Just to keep you from getting super confused.

Our morning started at a whopping 4:30. Get to M's house where 5'10" is picking us up. Both 5'10" and I discuss that we wore our sports bras in order to change...poor M couldn't understand our conversation at all. This will make more sense in a bit. Sorry, M but I'm throwing your 'lil ass under the bus.

When one volunteers for a triathlon you may consider taking out cots to your area the day before much like the athletes take their bikes the day before the race. If you're not at body marking you will definitely have time to catch a few more z's before you're put to work.

First things first we go to volunteer check-in to get our much "needed" t-shirt. 5'10" and I were smart enough to plan ahead for the change without frightening the other women participants (don't ask me why it's an all female race). M, wasn't comprehending our earlier discussion on the sports bra, therefore we got the luxury of being blinded by the brightest & whitest bra I have ever seen in my lifetime. For sure if she's ever lost she can use the brighty whitey as her mayday signal. Ok, this gave us a good laugh...sounds like we're alive at this point.

Well, good thing we got to our water station when we did...we only got to sit around for about 2 hrs. The funniest thing is we have a few "over water achievers" who were itching to fill water cups at 6:30am. Come on people the race doesn't even start until 7 am and we are at mile 2 of the RUN!!! Again this gave us 3 bitches a good laugh.

Finally, we've got some athletes. M and I are ready with our water cups. M looks at 5'10" and says "don't you wanna get some cups???" 5'10" looks at her with utter disgust "uh, NO!" As if she could be bothered with such trivial things. This may have been the funniest thing ever.

Next on the list is my inability to release the water to an athlete. I was always taught to make eye contact with the water person so they knew you were taking their cup. Apparently, triathletes are very zoned. It may have been the 2nd gal to come through and she didn't have the look of "I'm taking water from you" so once I turned my head she decided to make a go for the cup in my hand which happened to be the same time I was rescinding my offer of water. Oops, hope it didn't mess up her time too much. At this time I realize I'm going to have to work on my release techniques. (Side note I've decided to wean myself off of caffeine- today may not have been the best day to start) Again the Brendas and me are in a fit of giggles because we can't get a pass-off rhythm and challenged probably isn't a strong enough word to describe us.

My favorite thing at races is a picky athlete. I have finally found my release water groove and as I'm passing to a gal she looks in it and says there's no ice. Are you kidding me??? NO WATER FOR YOU (Soup Nazi style). I swear people say the darndest things.

I'm real sure by the time we got to Freebirds for lunch I stunk to high heaven...get me a shower!!!

1 WEEK DOWN

Whew! What a jam packed 1st week in school it was...way too much. So many projects that sleep was at a minimum, therefore, last night was all about catch up time. 10 full hours, ahhhh. Granted it had a lot to do with my practice ride for the UT cycle study and not being able to eat/drink anything (except for water) until 1pm. I felt like I had the worst hangover of my life without any alcohol being involved. Yes, that really is strange.

If I stop and think about this week of school which apparently is the equivalence of 1 month in a regular semester it's been fun. I have put together joints, built structures and am now working on reversing a picture. The structure stuff has been the most fun for me, and I'm proud to announce I haven't cut-off any body parts yet;) I think my favorite cutting material at the moment is the bass wood. Possibly because it looks most like unfinished wood. The chipboard was relatively easy to use as well, but I could only find it in a grey color and I really like color options.

I will admit time has not been on my side this week and it won't be on my side next week either. I got the bright idea of signing up for bartender's school that started this week too. What was I thinking??? It will be done next Friday then hopefully I can breathe/sleep again. What am I doing for a work-out at the moment? My cycle study and that may be it for 1 more week...I could have sworn summer was about good lazy fun. Clearly there is something wrong with me;)

Here We Go...

Oy, school started today. Lemme tell you that 8am start time down in San Marcos sure is early. I think they lured me in with the easy schedule of last semester. Yes, I realize it's summer so we're cramming a ton of stuff into a 5 week period.

My first project has some heavy duty cutting tools in it. I'm hoping not to lose any body parts since I won't have my wits about me for the next 5 weeks. It reminds me of my 6th grade art class and my first experience with the Xacto knife. I can hear Mrs. Johnston telling us now don't put your hands in front of the knife to hold the board down. What do I do??? Put my hand in front of the knife to hold the board down. What do I manage to hold together while chasing down Mrs. Johnston for some paper towels or something to keep my body parts in tact, my left thumb. Let's just say she was a little less than thrilled with me that day. Honestly, are both thumbs necessary?

Some other un-exciting news in my world. Today was my first day for the UT Cycle study. This was just to get my VO2 Max. Friday is a test run and I have to fast 12 hours prior, so I will be attending class on an empty stomach and no caffeine. It's going to be an interesting way to end my first week back at school.

VO2 Max- 45.4
Weight- Nunya
Height- Dear Lord I knew I was short but seriously...this is ridiculous, so again nunya. In my world albeit it's a small one I'm 5'7". It's my world remember!

Life Altering Moment

A small one I can assure you, but I've been told it's the little things in life that make you happy. Today is one of those small thing happy days. Let me just preface this with the fact I'm not a techi so I tend to be a tad slow on the uptake of certain cyber-lingo things. Again, today is no different.

I read various blogs/boards and have seen the acronym LMAO quite a bit. One day a friend of mine responded to one of my posts with LMAO. I e-mailed him to find out what it stood for, no response. Today as I'm reading Joey's blog all of a sudden Maggie's response hit me like a ton of bricks. LAUGHED MY ASS OFF!!!

My world can go on;) Seriously, this made me happy!!!

Could It Be

I just may have fallen in love with my bike. I'm probably jumping the gun a bit much like I do in my love life or lack there of;) I really think it could be love for me and Belle, not the lezbot kind of love (not that there's anything wrong with that) but my bike's name is Southern Belle and Belle for short. Maybe some day I'll write about her name, for now will stick to the cycling.

I managed to ride 42 miles last week outside. No, this is nothing in comparison to my cycling peeps but I've got to start somewhere. Panther was kind enough to give me weekly mileage goals to get me ready for the Katy Flatlands which I will be doing the 62 mile ride.

Yesterday I rode by myself for the first time granted it was on the Veloway which means NO cars but still I went out and entertained myself. My plan was to get in a few laps before Lulu joined me to hit the Autobahn.

When riding the Veloway it is likely one will see quite a bit of "wild" life out there. You may wonder why they have a yellow warning sign about crossing snakes. I am here to tell you it's there for a reason, there really are crossing snakes. I don't know why this came as a surprise to me, I am known to attract them. I spotted one yesterday on a curve no less. I can't guarantee my steering on curves but managed not to hit this one. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I way-lay one. Argh!!! Me and my so called life with the reptiles. At some point I will blog about my history with these scary creatures;)

KAPUT

My legs are officially kaput. Yesterday involved another 2-fer. I knew after the first work out my legs were beat but did that stop me from the second part of the day's work-out. Hell no!

5:30am met my running peeps for what was supposed to be an easy 10 miler. We usually do this run on Friday but since everyone is out of town this weekend we upped the day for the longer run. I don't know what happened but for some odd known reason this run turned out to be more of a "race" pace. Legs dead by the time I got home.

The second work-out was to be a bike ride, keep in mind I'm just getting "back in the saddle." I e-mailed Lulu secretly hoping she couldn't make our afternoon ride;) No such luck. So I plopped my lazy butt on the couch to "rest" until it was time to head to the Veloway.

It's official I've finally clipped into the bike and happy to report I didn't take Coop or Lulu out during the ride. Now, when it came time to clip out I had to keep pedaling until I figured out which side I was most comfortable in getting out of. I swear I slowed down to 5mph before I decided on the right foot.

Katy Flatlands here I come!!!

Brick #2

Apparently, what I considered to be a brick on Friday 10/10 was really just a 2-fer, meaning I worked out twice in one day. Whatever, LuLu said it's a brick as far as she is concerned. I tend to agree with her.

Today was a combo of a 2-fer and a brick. Today started with the Mother's Day Trail Race. This consisted of 2 loops on the Moonshadow trail. If you missed it this year I highly recommend it for next year. I took it easy since breathing seemed to be optional for me this morning.

This afternoon I met up with Kris & Erin for a 2 mile run followed by swimming/not drowning. So today was my first day in the pool since last summer. I wouldn't call my pool experience last summer swimming necessarily, but today was a new day. We swam at Stacy Pool which apparently is 32m as opposed to the normal 25m. The first lap pretty uneventful the laps there after just involve me trying not to drown. I swear at one point on the way back down the pool I must have snoozed or something because the next thing I know I'm sinking and in need of oxygen...what a pretty site this must have been. I'm pretty sure I came out of the water flailing my arms and choking on water with my hair all in my face, now I know why I need to put that heinous swim cap on. I'm so glad Kris was there to chat with in between laps. The continuous swim was not on my to-do list, Erin. There was a cute boy in the lane next to us which made drowning worth my time. ;)

10/10 BRICK

You read that right Ladies and Gentlemen. Today was my first official outdoor brick. Granted the 10 mile run was at 5:30am and the 10 mi bike was at 3:30pm, everything was outside.

Yep rode the bike for the first time in 2 years. Lulu was kind enough to meet me at the veloway and we went for 3 full loops and 1 mini loop. I'm not gonna mislead y'all I did ride in my tennis shoes as geeky/dorky as that is I needed to remind myself which gears did what and being glued in was not part of my learning equation.

I'm officially worn out today. When the alarm went off at 4:45am my legs were already tired. Hello, my feet hadn't even hit the ground. Something tells me the beer, wine & margarita the night before may have had a little something to do with this but whatever, I pulled it off. I think it's time for a Tecate.

I will be clipping into my pedals on Sunday...I'll keep y'all posted;)