I Ran this morning (now i want cheeseburgers)

So I ran again this morning. All thanks to Meredith again. I didn't think I was gonna make it as far as I normally do, but I did. I think it was mainly because Meredith and I were in conversation and whatever it was we were talking about I wanted to continue on, so I kept running. After I reached the end of the walk, I think I coulda kept going, but apparently by that point the conversation wasn't as interesting, so I saw walking as more beneficial than talking. I guess I can say that I can run two miles rather comfortably now (as comfortable as running can get I suppose).

When I got back home, I felt hungry. I always feel hungry after I run. Lately, I've just been feeling hungry period. Lauren and I had a brief conversation about this. I'm apparently not the only person who has been wanting to eat more lately. Perhaps it is the cold weather. We instinctively feel that we need to "stock up" for the winter. No matter what it is, I feel like I could eat everything in my house. I'm trying to ignore this call of nature so I won't gain a bunch of weight. Unless of course Ashley and I actually decide to go through with our plan to gain one hundred pounds, get on the show "The Biggest Loser," and then lose the weight and win the show because we're more athletic than the real fat people.

We shall see. Oh and we need to plan a 5k soon. December. Ski masks. Its all good.

April

Run, April, Run goes to Washington

I went to Washington DC for a few days for the American Public Health Association conference, and did a LOT of physical activity -- running, walking, bicycling, you name it. I saw lots of super important buildings while on my trek, like the Washington Monument, the White House, Capitol, Jefferson memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Potomac River, George Washington University campus, Smithsonian Art Museum ... I think all in all, my runs were about 2-3 miles each. DC is a very pedestrian-friendly city -- very flat and lots of sidewalks.

I even ran into this guy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashcroft) while I was running! I noticed him when I was crossing a street, but I couldn't remember his name off the top of my head, so I didn't want to say anything to him ... so I just kept smiling at him, hoping he would look away from his business partner and up at me. But he didn't. :-( It wasn't until the next day that I remembered his name ... but either way, I can honestly say that I "ran" into a politician while in DC. Hehe!

Lauren

I'm the only one posting apparently (cough cough)

I ran some more. Get excited. I've been finding some time to go every now and then. The weather has been a lot nicer so breathing is easier. Meredith and I went running around noon today. It felt like it was a good bit earlier in the morning. I was a bit tired, but since Meredith was with me, it made me push farther. She normally runs to the very end (past Pointe West) and then plus some. I usually run just to Pointe West. Today however, I felt like pushing to go beyond comfort. So I went to the end with Meredith. This was probably close to two miles. When Meredith turned to go back though, that's when I said, "pft I'm walking." So she ran on and then came back and met me while I was walking back. So in other words...I reached a new goal! Woot!

I realized that last weekend we were supposed to run the Governors 5k or whatever it was called. We all neglected that fact. There are some things that are coming up in December ...we have to get on this ball if we're gonna run the Cooper River Bridge Run. Oh and there was something this month where you run at night and look at Christmas lights. I'll have to look into that.

Anyway, be encouraged, and blow of some steam running. Peace!

April

I needed a break...

So, I sit at my computers for hours on end almost every day. I have tried on several occasions to sit down and post, but everytime I start some distraction comes up. Then when I'm through with the distraction, I'm usually so sick of the computer that I have to get away from it. Therefore many posts that I have begun have just been discarded. I'm not going to let that happen today though.

I'm writing this blog post to take a bit of a break from the other work that I've been doing. October has been hectic and today has been no exception. About the moment I woke up this morning I was feeling overwhelmed. It began with some phone calls that threw more work on my plate. Then, God bless Meredith, she imed me asking if I wanted to go run at the Riverwalk. My first instinct was to say no since I had all kinds of stuff to do, but then I thought that maybe I needed to go run because I had so much stuff to do (stressful stuff at that). So I said I would go, threw on some clothes and went. While the sky was gray, it felt really good outside. We ran from the New Orleans side of the walk to Pointe West. Meredith decided to keep running on the extended part of the walk, while I realized that I was about to pee my pants due to the coffee that I had had right before. So I ran to the nearest parking lot restroom (you know where the picnic shelters are). By the time I made it back up to the walk, Meredith was almost there to meet me and we cooled down by walking the rest of the way back.

I was pleased with the amount that I was able to run this morning. I'm also still glad that I decided to go. Shortly after I got back, I received some more phone calls that made the day a little more stressful. I think the exercise has helped me to handle it better.

Anyway, keep running, endorphines are your friends :-)

Hey! I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right ...

What a difference new shoes make! I bought some new Nike Max Air running shoes with shock absorbers (on sale at Foot Locker, plus my 20% coupon from a McDonald's monopoly prize piece) on Saturday afternoon and put them on when I got into the car. I drove over to Shandon, and BAM! -- I ran 3.2 miles. No kidding. I had my pedometer on me, and started running/bouncing along (thanks to the shock absorbers) and somehow ran two miles fine. I decided to push myself a little more, and got to 2.5 miles, and still was recovering fine. So then, I said "What the heck, let me do a 5k!" And I did.

Pat me on the back next time you see me, thank you very much. ;-)

So, Basically, I Run on Mondays...

How sad is it that for the last THREE WEEKS, I have only run on Mondays! It's like I get off to a great start with quite high expectations for myself and then crash and burn somewhere along the way! Of course, now that we are finally finished with Searching For God Knows What I am sure I will have TONS more time for running! Ha! Kidding! Pray for me... and I'll pray for you... we'll get back in the groove THIS WEEK! :) Happy running, GAMECOCK GIRLS! On another note, did our football team kick some Wildcat patoot tonight or what?! (Not that I wasn't just a tad nervous on more than one occasion! We are, after all, Gamecocks... a 15 point lead essentially means nothing until the final whistle blows!) GO COCKS! Run, April, Run!

Running during my lunch break

Just got back from running during my lunch break. Um ... can I say, it's hot outside? And I basically had to give myself a sponge bath afterwards (in my cool bathroom in my cool office) because I'm dripping. I checked the map -- I went from the health center to the horseshoe, passed Capstone until Laurens Street, looped around Senate Street until I reached the statehouse and then back to the horseshoe. Total, it was a little over 2 miles. Woo! My forehead is still a little red/pink from being exerting myself, and I'm definitely using my entire lunch hour (with my door closed) to recuperate. But I feel great now. It was a great stress relief to have time to run around campus, pretty much without traffic.