First Day of Grad School

It's late-ish. And my slow computer took ten minutes to get started up. The things I go through to write a post for you all. This will be a short one though. I am tired and eating Oreos. Best way to stop that is to sleep. I think.

I just wanted to tell you all about my first day of school like I'm a third grader who did a super fun art project today and wants to have it hung on the fridge, even though it's probably fugly. Also I know my mom will read this and I didn't return her call to tell me good luck on my first day. But my phone was also dying a quick death.

I digress. I survived my first day of grad school! Go me! My biggest problem is figuring out what to do with my hour break between work and class. I'm considering going to the gym for a quick workout. That's assuming I don't have to pay to get in. I should get in free as a grad student. I'll be angry if I don't. I'm not paying for that. Blah. Anyway, tonight was my Editing and Research class. I'm a nerd and I love love love editing, so I'm pretty sure I will enjoy this class. And I know I'll learn a ton of stuff, and get lots of practice on stuff I already know. So this class will be helpful to me with my current job, and for any future jobs. I love when your classes and assignments have real-world applications. Unlike math. Why do I need to know how many watermelons Timmy has left if he gives two to Jane and she gives him an orange?

I'm also looking forward to my class on Wednesday. It's my 19th century American Lit class, and I'm almost done with the reading assignment for this week. Actually I think I'm reading more than I really needed to, but it doesn't hurt to get ahead of schedule a little. It is really time-consuming reading for classes like this. Not only because you have to read about ten novels in however many weeks is in a semester (don't judge me, it's been a long day and numbers aren't my thing), but also because you have to take notes while you read so you can talk about it in class and use it for papers and such. Writing stuff like that is kinda hard, believe it or not. And my hand freaking hurts from all the writing I've done lately. I can't wait to have my Mac and I will type all of my notes (yes, I am getting my Mac!).

I did not work out today. However, up until about ten minutes ago, most of what I did eat was healthy. Those Oreos were just calling my name! I plan to go for a run tomorrow, although I think I'm going to make it a short one--my leg is hurting quite a bit and I don't want to overdo it. But I'm also going to do some push ups and things like that, so maybe that will make up for it.

I'll write more tomorrow! I can't promise posts on every Monday and Wednesday, but I'm going to try!

Goodbye Summer :(

I ran 2.5 miles today. Well, I walked about half of that if I'm going to be completely honest. It was another one of those days where everything was working against me. Asthma, allergies, and my leg hurt a lot worse than I thought it would. But I ran the first mile straight through (I know that's not a super big deal, but that's about all I can manage right now). After that my lungs hurt and my leg hurt.

I came home and cleaned my bathroom and my room. Then I rotated my mattress. And then I did more homework. Boo. Not the best ending to my summer. But my roomie did make a delicious dinner, and now we're watching The Lion King on tv, so I guess that's not so bad.

I really don't feel like I've made much progress this summer. I never ran any races thanks to being poor (which is also why I never signed up for the half marathon in October). And I can't seem to run any amount miles straight through thanks to my allergies and asthma this summer. I tried a diet and gave up on that pretty quickly.

On a more positive note, I did get my new shoes (which I think I finally have broken in!). And my amazing boyfriend bought me the ipod I wanted and took me to the Muny to see Aladdin. I think we went to one Cardinals game (I have a picture from it, so I know we went at least once lol). We saw Third Eye Blind downtown (it was unbelievably hot). We watched fireworks on the Fourth of July. And I'm forgetting a bunch of other stuff we did. But we had fun in spite of all the 100+ degree weather. And I did force myself to go for a few runs in the heat, and I didn't die, so there's that. I also did quite a few 5am runs which I sort of started to enjoy.

Don't forget the spaghetti squash! I learned to cook spaghetti squash, and it turned out incredibly delicious! Chris even liked it. And it looked good too. I rarely cook things that actually look good and taste good. I'm very proud of myself for that accomplishment. It was by far the best thing I have ever made (besides cookies. I'm pretty damn good at cookies when I'm not too lazy to bake).

All in all, it was a pretty good summer, and I'm sad it's over. I don't feel like I accomplished a whole lot, and I'm not sure I read an entire book all summer either which is super depressing. From now on, my life will consist of Grad School, running, eating, sleeping, Grad School, sleeping, eating, running, Grad School, Grad School, Grad School.

Run Chata has a Facebook Page

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day. Lots of things going on. Change is stupid and hard, but sometimes it's good. Either way, by the time I got back to Cape last night, I was exhausted. I finally got the right book for my class in the mail (yes, I ordered the wrong book), so I eventually started reading that shortly before I went to bed. I still have a lot more to read today, unfortunately. But I'm going to get started on that after I finish this post. And then I plan on going for an afternoon run. My leg is still bothering me, so I can't decide if a long run or a short run would be better. I really want to do a longer run (even if I can't run the entire thing) but I also have homework and I really should clean my room and bathroom (been putting that off for a week or so). I guess I'll just see how I'm feeling later and then decide.

In addition to my leg pain, my allergies have been awful lately. I'm starting to think I'm allergic to something in my room/apartment and that's what causing all my problems. I woke up at 3am and my throat was scratchy and I was sneezing and my nose was stuffy. This happens pretty often. And waking up in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning with an asthma attack happens frequently too. I am allergic to dust, and because of this, I don't dust as often as I should. So that could be part of it, but the act of dusting usually gives me a worse asthma attack than just letting the dust be. The only other thing I can guess is mold, maybe. I know I'm allergic to it, and that's the only other "indoor" allergen I can think of that would cause me problems.

In other news, the Run Chata Facebook page is up and running! You can check it out here and I would really, really appreciate if you Like the page while you're there! Also, it's not so super fantastic looking yet or anything, but it'll get there. It needs some new/recent pictures and stuff like that. But don't worry, I will be adding more pictures both to the blog and the Facebook page. I'm going to attempt to bring my phone with me and possibly take a picture or two. Or maybe just pics before and after my runs or something. I don't know. What kind of pictures would you guys like to see?

I've been really excited lately because Chris and I have been planning a trip to Chicago to see the Cards/Cubs later in September. I've only been to Chicago once (this past February) and it was entirely too cold. So I hated it, but I wore my World Series shirts proudly. I thought it'd be much more fun to go to Chicago when the weather is warmer, and of course to see a game. We planned for the last weekend in September. Turns out, the series is the weekend before that. One of us got the dates wrong. Actually it was both of us I think. I swear when I looked at tickets they were on the 29/30 and not the 22/23. So we may not get to go see the game, which is quite disappointing. I've always wanted to go to one. There's always next year I suppose. We're still considering possibly going there the last weekend in September anyway. Trying to find hotels has been difficult though. Any suggestions on where to stay? Something that's not super expensive but fairly close to stuff like Navy Pier?

I might write another post later, especially if I go out for a run. But I feel the need to write a farewell to the summer since school starts tomorrow. So keep your eyes out for that one.

Friday! Finally!

I was supposed to run last night. Big shock: I didn't. My leg is still hurting when I walk. And when I sit indian-style (pretty sure that's politically incorrect now, but whatever). I didn't want to push it too much with my leg feeling like that. Plus, I was just in a crummy mood. Also there was a storm with a lot of lightning. Didn't want to take my chances with that. If it had just been rain, I might have considered going anyway, or at least walking for a while. As of this morning when I got out of bed, my leg still hurts. So I'm going to take today off as well. Plus I'm driving to St. Louis after work to hang out with my sister and watch movies like Superbad and hopefully order pizza with the money my mom should leave us--because, ya know, we're her kids, and good parents should not let their children starve. :)

I do plan on running sometime tomorrow when I get back to Cape. It will be evening-ish so hopefully it won't be super hot or anything. And hopefully I'm not exhausted with all the stuff I have to get done tomorrow. I don't plan on doing 6 miles (especially since I can't run the entire time anyway) but I'm gonna shoot for running 3 miles without stopping. And fingers crossed my asthma won't get in the way, and my leg feels better. I am thinking about doing a longer run/walk on Sunday. I haven't decided where though. Depends on the weather I suppose.

I am considering a return to Facebook, mainly for this blog. It needs a little more traffic. Maybe some more followers. Or at least more pageviews on a daily basis. Unfortunately I think I have to have both my personal account and the blog page activated in order to do this. Lame. But I might just start unsubscribing from a ton of people so I don't have to see their daily, mundane bullshit. Or read about how happy and great their lives are. I don't care. I also don't care if your life sucks. I really just prefer to read funny things that people post. I like those. So I'm gonna give this whole Facebook thing a try sometime this weekend. If I get a page set up for it, I will let you know and you can tell your friends and whatnot to follow/like the page on Facebook (there will be links to the most recent posts on there, so they can get to the site from Facebook).

Anyhoo, happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Did a Mile in 9 (ish)!

Tequila Tuesday was a success. Homemade salsa, jalapeno chips, Landshark beer, the delicious chicken my roomie made, and of course, Jose followed by a shot of pickle juice. Even the roomie sucked it up and did the shot. I am apparently the only one who liked it.

Before all that, I ran a mile and timed it, as I said I would. Approximately 9 minutes! I have no sort of stopwatch any more, so that number is not 100% accurate. And that was with forgetting to take my inhaler before I left, and some slight hills. After I finished my mile, I walked for a bit to catch my breath. Then I walked/ran the rest. I did it all in 45 minutes. My warm up, mile run plus another 2, and my cool down. 45 minutes. I'm pretty proud of that. And my feet didn't hurt at all! No blisters or pain of any kind!

I did however manage to injure an awkward part of my leg. I'm not even going to try to describe it because it's hard to describe. And stupid. But I somehow started getting sharp pains there not even a minute into my mile. Lame. But I toughed it out and finished. I doesn't hurt too badly today, so I have the day off to rest it and then get back out there tomorrow.

As far as today's workout goes . . . well I'm not 100% sure there will be one. I'm not feeling well, again. And no, I am not hungover. I did wake up in the middle of the night with a sore/scratchy throat. This morning it felt awful and it hasn't gotten much better throughout the day. And I'm getting all achy and yucky feeling again. So there's a pretty big possibility that I will go home and sleep. Or, assuming my book came, I will start reading, since I have to have at least 100 pages read before next Wednesday. One week. I can do this! As long as UPS doesn't screw up again.

Hope the rest of your Wednesday is just swell :)

Tequila Tuesday

Over the years, I have learned that I do not like change. At all. I get myself into my routines and I hate having to change those routines. Even if it's something as small and insignificant as waking up 10 minutes earlier. No thank you. Obviously, eventually I get used to a new routine and everything is just fine and dandy . . . until it all changes again. School starts in less than a week now, and that changes everything. And it has a huge impact on my running/workout routines. This makes me extremely unhappy.

I am currently working full-time (8am-5pm) and starting next week, I'll be taking classes Monday and Wednesday nights. On those days I will have an hour break between work and class. Not enough to go home, work out, come back, blah blah blah. So those will be my "off" days. I use the term "off" loosely. Now I am in the process of changing up my routine to running Tuesday, Thursday, and every. single. day. over the weekend. But this change worked out to my advantage yesterday because I felt awful. Horrible headache and body aches. May have been running a fever, but since I don't have a thermometer, I don't know. Thermometers never seem to be accurate anyway.

So today I will go for a run. And I'm really looking forward to it. It's been a pretty cool day so far (and by "cool" I mean it's not 97 degrees) and it looks like there might be a chance for rain. I'm gonna make it a quick one though--somewhere between 1 and 3 miles, I haven't decided yet. If I do just 1, I'll time it and proudly tell you all just how slow I run! :)

Tonight is Mexican night! Chicken fajitas for dinner, chips and salsa, beer, tequila, etc. We are also going to try this whole chasing tequila with pickle juice thing. I like pickles, so I'm going to assume this will be good--better than limes. It will be interesting to say the least. But I'm looking forward to it. Once school starts next week, nights like this will be nonexistent. Plus I've just had a bottle of Jose sitting around since Christmas and it's time for it to go!

Tomorrow there will be no running (thanks to this whole new routine thing), but I do have a new workout to try, so maybe I'll do that instead.

Happy Tuesday!

Car Troubles

I've been kind of lazy this weekend. Well, as far as running goes, I've been lazy. Aside from that, I was pretty busy yesterday. Mostly because I had car trouble first thing in the morning when I was supposed to be on my way to St. Louis. What a perfect start to a Saturday morning. Ended up costing me $86 bucks to get it fixed. Not as bad as I was expecting, so I guess that's ok. Then I was off to St. Louis two hours later than I had planned. I needed to go to my bank (which is only in St. Louis) but I didn't make it in time. Didn't make it to the mall to look at Macs (which now I'm debating on getting. I need it for school, but can't exactly afford it right now, and yes, I'm going to use my loan money to pay for it, but I could be using that money for something else, like saving for a new car).

I did make it in time to have lunch with Chris's mom which was nice. Except for the part where I went in earlier to use the restroom and buy something (I feel weird about using people's restrooms and not buying something) and then she decided that's where she wanted to go. So half the people recognized me. One guy said "Amanda you're back! And you brought your mom!" So I just said yeah and went along with it. Seriously, those people were a tad eccentric. Or we can just call them weird. Because that's what I was thinking. They did have my favorite soup though (black bean) so I had that with a greek salad. It was yummy. And she made me get dessert. Kind of glad she did--it was delicious. :)

After that, I stopped by my parents house to say hi, steal some food, envelopes, and stamps, and then I was on my way back to Cape. By the time I got back, it was almost 7 and I was just exhausted. So I decided not to run. After everything with my car and stuff, I just wanted to lay around and do absolutely nothing. And that's what I did. I watched movies based on John Grisham novels until about midnight and then I went to bed. Today, I need to go grocery shopping (I HATE grocery shopping). So I've been procrastinating for a few hours now. I'm going to try to get a run in later, but my allergies are sucking today, and I'm just really tired. So I might not. And I'm not going to go tomorrow either. I'm trying to get myself into the routine I'll be doing once school starts. Since I have class Monday and Wednesday nights, I'm going to have no time to go run. So I need to get into the routine of running Tuesday, Thursday and on weekends. Wish me luck.

I hope you all had a great weekend and have a happy Sunday :)