AFC 5k

I almost didn't make it to this 5k today. This past week has been an flurry of work activities, going back to home town for jury duty, awesome evening run with high school friend and then on Thursday night, I fell prey to a stomach flu bug. Friday and Saturday was spent void of any normal activity and stranded amongst the couch, bed or by the porcelain god. Not fun to say the least.

Lucky for me, Mother dearest came to the rescue with her collection of herbs (she is a certified acupuncturist/herb doctor). She whipped up a stew of herbal Chinese medicine and made me drink every last drop (blech...if you think they smell bad, it tastes even worse!) starting Friday and ending the last dose on Sat evening. Surprisingly, this morning I woke up feeling pretty darn good (i.e. I can move!) and went on my merry way (thanks Mom!).

Thanks to friend HL, she was able to pick up my bib for me earlier so all I had to do was to pick her up with sister at the un-godly hour of 5:50am and cart all of us to the starting line. Sister had the task of taking pictures of HL and I while we were off running, so she stayed behind once the race started.

The race felt like it was finished before it even began. According to my Garmin, my stats were below:

I wonder what was exactly my official time.

Regardless, I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing this race and now I have a bib to hang up on the wall! As for pictures...Sister failed for both HL and I, she didn't make out either one of us. *sigh*

Though, I think I did manage to guilt trip her and convince to do her first 5k come Nov. *evil grin*

My eyes still sting a little from sweat and sunscreen, and my legs are still buzzing with a post run sore, but I don't think I've felt this content with a run for a while. That and I'm starting to flirt with the idea of a half for Jan. 2012. Man, this runner's high is dangerous.

p.s. Why is it that after EVERY single steep incline on the route today, there were a hoard of photographers? Don't they know I look like CRAP after running up a hill? 0_o I dread the pictures already.......

A break from the frenzy

To my right, there is an old gentleman who is napping at 15-20 minute intervals. How do I know? The snoring that he emits when he is passed out is quite the tall tell sign. Behind me there are ladies that have struck up a conversation starting from marital status, work, and now onto the topic of life in health care and the medical field. And ahead of me, amongst the background of The Price is Right, two people are engaged in an animated conversation, gesticulating, laughing, and enjoying their new found company.

It has been a long while since I’ve been able to sit somewhere random and just simply people watch. While I do know being on jury duty waiting to be assigned to a court isn’t exactly the most ideal place to people watch, it is nonetheless quite amusing and interesting. People from all walks of life, the way they carry themselves, and the conversations they initiate all paint quite a colorful microcosm of the society we live in today. That and being able to take off from work for the day (and maybe next couple of days) is a pretty sweet deal. I can read blogs all day long and not have to worry about burning my work place down or co-workers looking over my shoulders! PWAHAHAHA.

On a totally random note, it always tickles me inside whenever I see people reading and flipping through newspaper. With the advance of online subscriptions (which I am a fan as well) and easy access to news 24/7, it seems as if no one really cares about paper copies anymore. But there is that something that is romantic and so old school chic about someone reading paper with a cup of coffee at their side that makes me happy inside. Me, strange? Perhaps. I never claimed to be normal anyway.

Cold Weather

Why is SD in the high 50's in the middle of August? Poor tourists, I hope they don't think this is normal weather for sunny SoCal. Sun, please come back. Thankx, much appreciated!

Planning my trip is making me very happy, whereas scheduling out my experiments and thinking about my pending talk is making me slightly sad.

Soreness aside, hopefully endorphins will help me pick up my motivation tomorrow. That and the perchance that my experiments will actually work, unlike today.

Anyways, the count down begins and frenzy commences. Hopefully I'll stay rather sane throughout this chaos.

Life's updates

I have to say I am pretty amazed at all the bloggers that post every day. Damn girls! You guys are super stars. Work super hours, go running miles, and then come home to blog. After my days, I just want to come home, curl up on my floor or bed, depending on how clean I feel and just stay there.

Maybe getting all this work done is like running....once you do enough mileage, you just get it and go with it instead of constantly trying to work it into your life. Hmmm if that is the case, then let me get running down first and then maybe I'll eventually be able to blog more regularly. G-d knows I need more practice writing.

My 5k is a week from today, and I went on a running hiatus for the past 11 days. *insert mild panic here*

The past 11 days have been a whirlwind of emotions and challenges. Rushing deadlines to submit a pre-submission inquiry for work that took over the past 2 1/2 years of my life, work maintenance stuff, and most of all, finding out that they want me to speak at a conference in ...........PORTUGAL!!! *insert more PANIC here*

So basically I've been trying to stay afloat my work load and attempting to schedule work and vacation a couple weeks away, while holding down the fort since boss and her admin is off on vacation. *tears*

And to make matters more interesting, I suddenly have a suitor...however I can't get over the fact that he looks exactly like my cousin with really tiny eyes. I don't think I like him as much as he likes me; our conversations always make me want to tell him to back off a bit on his enthusiasm. I wish there was a nice way of telling things like this to people.

Why is it that when things are moving in life, all of sudden, everything likes to pile on up all at once? WEIRD.

On the upside, I finally got my ass out the door for a run.

Let us hope that by this Sunday, the route will be relatively flat...and I'll be able to shave off a minute or two.

Yoga!!!! ....or not...

So the closest I ever got to yoga was printing out the pass and placing it into my bag. Work today was so mentally straining towards the end that all I wanted to do was to eat, veg out on the couch and read blogs from the comfort of my home. And now, I'm laying on my bed, and trying really hard not to pass out cold since there are still mountains of laundry to do and lunch to cook. Woe is me. Blah. Could be worse.

The funny thing about the internet is that it makes you realize that you are never truly alone. Before I discovered some of the serious blogs I read now, I use to think that I was alone in my weight issues. No one would ever understand. EVER!!! Wrong I was. Good thing too. Tomorrow I'm gonna try to get my round little ass out the door at 6:30am in hopes of getting in a morning run, since tomorrow is for a lack of better words...doomsday for paper writing and boss man wants me to stay until the paper is completely finished....even if it means ending at 4am the next morning. Tis true...it happened to the last unfortunate soul who had the joy of trying to get a paper out 2 years ago.

Well I suppose I should stop lamenting the fact that have so much to do and actually start doing it. Like Nike says.....Just Do eeeeeeeeeeT!!!

Soreness

Work has been a pile of poo lately. Without divulging much, let us just say I've been goaded into the office on weekends with the thought of finishing up a project that has been stalled forever, only to find the person who asked me to go in in the first place calling me to tell me that they can't make it. SIGH.

Onto happier topics....

Work out today sucked a bit. Calves were burn burn burn on the uphill....who knew paddle boarding worked out the legs as well? Almost managed 2 miles before I really had to stop or else I would probably have had to crawl home. Tomorrow is rest day and I intend to make the most out of it! Oh sweet sweet bed.......I will tell you the ways I miss thee. That or yoga......hmmmmmmmmmm........

Hopefully this week will turn out great.... haha

Life

Today instead of sleeping in like I usually do, I woke up at 8:30 and went paddle boarding. After an onslaught of not so calm waves in the bay, quick dip in the water (intentionally of course....well sorta), and not so graceful paddling, I made the trip of going around half way through the bay. Yay me! Next time I'll try to act more graceful. But all in all, it was a wonderful morning spent with an awesome friend.

I've dropped off the training band wagon last week (boooo). So I suppose instead of excuses, I'll just jump right back on the training plan. Hopefully I will be able to last the entirety of tomorrow's 3 mile run; that and be able to walk properly after today's intense core work out. Sore me + 3 miles = potential inability to walk on Monday. We shall see...we shall see.

Tomorrow will be another eventful day! Woohoo