Summer: Not just for kids anymore

I am so excited that warm weather is finally here. No more having to bulk up to go outside, no more crappy driving because there’s snow/ice on the ground and no more freezing all the time. (Ok, technically, I still am cold in my house. I can’t believe it-but I’m still wearing sweaters and stuff in there) This is my favorite time of the year-summer. I can’t wait to start my summer trips, and the swimming, and the hiking and everything you can do in the warm weather. I have waited so long to bust out the summer clothes-the tank tops, flip flops, and shorts. I’m already wearing the flip flops-I need to get my feet used to them again!
To kick off the “start” of summer, PJ and I went on a hike yesterday. It started out as FHE for our singles ward (we never go to activities, this was one we’d know we’d enjoy, being hiking) but when that ended up not happening the way we wanted (the ward failed to realize that there is still snow up in the mountains. They chose to hike the Y trail, we chose to do our own thing) we had to make plains of our own. We went up Dry Canyon, and it was a good hike. I gotta tell you- I always feel like I’m in such good shape and hiking always seems like a good idea until I actually go hiking. Then, as I’m gasping for breath and a lot of my muscles are screaming at me to stop, I think, hiking is stupid. Who chose this as an activity? Why can’t we just turn around? But then, we keep going, and have an awesome time. We saw lots of deer, and a turchicken (I couldn’t tell if it was a chicken or a very small turkey, so I am inventing my own animal, a turchicken. Never has anything tasted so good) We met a lot of nice people up there-most of who had a dog. Good dogs, this lot. When we got to the top of whatever trail we were on, we looked down on the valley, and we could see so much! It was all so beautiful-but I had left my camera in my car. PJ tried to take some photos with her cell phone camera, but they didn’t turn out as one would hope they would. But that’s ok-we can always hike back up it again, to get some good ones.
I am excited for all the stuff that’ll be happening this summer. I’m hoping to learn to snorkel and I want to swim a lot more this year than last. We have some great trips “idea-ed” out. We bought an annual pass for every national park this year-and I intend to use the crap out of that sucker. I will hit up every place that is available to me. And don’t worry, folks-I’m sure you’ll hear about all that I do!

There is one bad thing about having warm weather. I got a delicious candy bar from Papa Parry-and it melted in the car while we were hiking.

Challenge Accepted

I love to bake. Cookies, cakes, any kinds of desserts. I think it’d be awesome to have my own bakery, and do this sort of thing for a living. I do it often enough, just getting paid to do it would be so great! I love the masterpieces people can do with cakes, and wish one day to be able to do it myself. I have a friend who recently decorated a cake for a wedding, and looking at the pictures of the cake, I was blown away-it looked so good, and it made me want to do one myself. I want to take a class for it-and get good at it, and be able to decorate cakes for people.
I have a new Food Network show I watch called Challenge. For those of you who don’t know what this show is, here’s a breakdown. 4 chefs from all over the country come together in a bake-off. (I don’t know if there’s other types of challenges, the only ones I’ve seen so far have been about cakes). They’re given a theme-for instance, I’ve seen a Dr. Seuss theme, a Disney princess theme, you get the idea. They’re then given 8 hours to make/decorate a fantastic cake applying the theme for it, and the winner gets $10,000. Last week the theme was Sweet 16, and they brought in a girl who’s having her Sweet 16 party and they decorated a cake knowing little of her personality, and she chose the winner. I didn’t ever think this would be a fun show to watch-but I really do like it. It’s so awesome to see these people create these cakes, and the expertise of their decorating is just…mind-blowing. I can’t believe the masterpieces these people can create with some cake and frosting (and other kinds of edible things too, but you get the picture.) One day, I’m going to create one of these. I doubt it’ll ever be as good as the ones on the show are, but hey, I can dream. And now, I really want a cookie or something. Looks like I’ll be baking some later…

I'll help myself!

Last night, I made a trip to the local health store, for some supplements. Not sure exactly where I should be going or what I should be getting, I enlisted the help of the employee there. He immediately dismissed what I was looking for, telling me instead that I should get these other things. After talking for about ten minutes and apparently satisfied with the “service” he gave me, he walked away, to let me find these things all by myself. Since I really haven’t spent a long time in these stores, I still was unsure of where to go. I couldn’t really find him again after that, so I left that store, dejected.
I decided to try another one of these places, and got better results the second time. The guy knew what I needed, brought me over to the product, and explained how it would work. I bought my thing and went on my merry way. Afterwards, I was thinking of all the crappy service people get in stores now. There are a few kinds, I have noticed in my years. There is The Smotherer-this is the person who clearly works on commission, and desperately wants you to buy something. If you say you’re just looking, they’ll follow you around and will check on you every ten minutes. What emergency could possibly come up in a few minutes that you’ll need them for? There’s also The Ignorer-no matter how many times you look at them, or how long you stand by them-you do not exist. They’re too busy with their co-workers to be bothered to help you. Or they’re texting their friends. I hate encountering these ones because I don’t need help in a store often, but when I do, you better believe I’m expecting the employee to help me out. Otherwise, what are they there for?
There is one kind of employee that I like. The one that just asks, as you pass them, if you need help with anything, and that’s it. They’re not all up in my face and at least they’re making their presence known to me. Mostly, I just like when they leave me alone. So to those people who work retail that happen to read this, just know, less is more.

I can see why running next to me would be embarrassing for you.

With the arrival of this somewhat lovely weather, comes the ability to run outside without freezing my buns off. I love to run outside-the fresh air, the scenery changing within seconds, all you have to do is keep going and you'll pass everything. As I'm running right now, its not very quickly, as my legs are slowly recovering. I didn't take a good enough recover time from the race, nor do I stretch after running (I know, I know, I need to. PJ lectures me on this all the time. I'm trying to get into the habit.) so I'm like, slowly making my way through my running.
As I'm running at my slow pace, I can't help but wonder if it looks like I'm going really slow to the people who drive by me. Any time I see someone running as I'm driving, I always wonder three things. One, I wonder why they're running. Is it vanity, do they want to just lose weight? I mean, yes, about sixty percent of the reason I run is such a thing, but I wonder if its theirs too. Are they training for something, a marathon? Or are they running because the person of their affection is a fitness buff, and they were like, 'oh, me too!' and now have to make good on their lies? Two, I wonder how long they've been running. I see them running, and usually I judge them on their pacing. Are they going quickly, or slowly? If they're going slowly, I wonder, is it because they've been going for like, ten miles, and they're starting to wind down? Are they just starting out and they're just slow? Not that it matters-running is running, no matter how you slice it. And if they're going fast, I'm usually impressed. I'm no Speedy Gonzalez, so I say good to you to the people who are. And third...I wonder if I could beat them in a foot race. I mean, I'm not fantastic at running long distances, but I'm a hell of a sprinter. I feel like I could beat a whole lot of people, given the chance. And yes, this is a challenge to anyone reading this who wants to run. Except maybe Justin-I feel like he could beat me into the ground.
But anyway, I think I'll spend the next few days nursing my injuries. Its a good thing all this stuff happened after the race-and not before. Though, if they had, I'd still be limping toward the finish line!
*Authors note-I apologize once again for having a post about running. It's all I got right now.

Being lost is just a state of mind.

I decided today to run outside. The weather was looking pretty good, and it didn't seem to be too windy. I was actually proved wrong there. It was windy-but not too much that I couldn't handle it. I don't understand how I run against the wind no matter what direction I'm facing. Stupid stupid wind. Well, I like to mix up my runs-I don't like to take the same route over and over again. Today, I went on one that I've never been on before, and was excited to see where it would lead me. Usually I grab my cell phone on a run, but today I decided not to-I just wanted to get away from everything. I put on some tunes, and out the door I went.
I'm from "big-city" Orem. Anywhere you go, you'll hit a road that'll lead to someplace. That is definitely not the same here in Spanish. If you pass a road, kiss anything goodbye-because you'll never see anything else again. I started out in a direction I'd been before, so I knew a little of where I'd be going. I turned east down a road, assuming I'd end up turning down a road in a while. After about a mile or two, I realize I have no idea where I am. I don't know where the roads have gone, I'm like, in the middle of nowhere surrounded by farmhouse type places. I see no people-save for a few people on 4-wheelers. And if you know me at all-you know I'm a little stubborn. I don't want to admit (even if its just to myself) that I'm lost and should probably turn back. I assume that eventually I will hit a road, I see houses and stuff in the distance, and figure I'll get to them quickly.
I did not. And the more I kept running, the more I realize that I need to admit defeat. As much as I want to see how far this road goes, I don't think its wise, because what if it never ends? Or ends on some farm where some creepy farmer likes to kill anyone who ends up near his farm? Accepting finally that the smarter thing to do is turn back to civilization, I do so, defeated. Maybe someday, I'll go all the way down that road-with a cell phone handy in case I need to be rescued.

Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine.

Authors note: All times are approximate, and should be considered not quite on
5:00 AM:
Laying in my incredibly comfortable bed in our hotel room, I wonder what time PJ has set our alarm for. I don't sleep well in hotels, so every few hours or so I woke up. I kept thinking how crappy running the next day would be on such little sleep, but I tried to get as much as possible. We were told to be at the shuttle earlier rather than later, and we like to be early to things. PJ's company had a picture taking at 7, and the race started at 7:30.
5:30 AM:
The alarm clock goes off and I'm wide awake. We get up and get ready, finishing at about 6:05. On the way out the door, I wonder if I should grab the banana to eat. Since my stomach had been acting sorta shady that week, I decided not to bring it. I didn't want to be sick before or during the race.
6:15 AM
We arrive at Liberty Park and there are already a bunch of people there. It's a little windy, but not too cold, which is good for the run. We stretch it out, and hang out for a while, eventually running into PJ's co-workers. As they're taking their picture, I'm invited it. I accept the invitation, and hop in. I'm beginning to regret not grabbing the banana, as I'm starting to get hungry. I look around for some fruit, forlornly, as I notice a lot of people are eating Pop Tarts. What an odd choice before a race.
7:25 AM
Standing in the chute before the race and getting some anxiety as the final minutes count down. The music they're playing over the huge speakers is all old stuff, so I shake my booty waiting for the countdown. I notice there's some idiot dressed completely in a Spider-Man costume. How will that be fun to run in?
7:30-8:ish AM
As we begin the run, we're going at a good pace. There's a lot of people running-afterwards I think I read there are 2002 (that number might not be accurate, I'm still checking facts), and starting out, we were near the beginning. The wind has died way down, to just be a light breeze. We are passed by a guy running and juggling-what a talent! Good for him. Spider-Man passes us, puffing really hard. I think it was hard for him to breathe through his mask. After passing us, he runs 10 more feet and starts walking. We pass him. As we near the end, I'm getting tired. Keeping up our pace is hard, but I feel good about it. We turn the last corner, and its at the Gateway. Since the race ends at the fountain, I know we still have a little to go before the finish line. I see the finish line, and we decide to sprint it out to the end. I take off as fast as I can, and I know PJ is right there with me. Crossing the finish line, we're pretty neck in neck. Its only when we look at the results later that we know what happened, and....I won!!!!! Ran it in 28:51, which beats my last race time by about a minute and a half. My placing in the race was 706 out of 2002-which isn't bad. It's in the top half! PJ ran hers in 28:51 and got 709th place. Yeah, still not sure how that happened, us finishing at the same time and placing so far apart, but I'm holding onto this victory like you wouldn't believe. Now we need to have another race, to see who the ultimate champion is-since we've both won a race.
Now that all is said and done, everything was fun. The race was good. The best part about these races is all the swag you get. Afterwards, you get all the fruit and water you want, plus we got some trail mix, a free shirt, and oodles of coupons that I'll probably never use. For some reason, after this race, they had hot dogs and pizza there. Like after you run, you're gonna want to eat some greasy food. But there was a lot of people walking around with plates full of that stuff, so I guess some did! We hung out at the 4Life tent for a while, guarding the food that was there for the 4Life employees. Even though I'm not one, I was able to snag myself an apple and a Propel. Yeah, I used my connections to my own gain, I'm not ashamed to admit. Then, another picture of PJ and her peeps-and again I was invited in. I bet some people will look at these pictures and go, 'who the bleep is that?' But at least the big one is over-the big one, the one we wanted to prove ourselves in. I'm just glad its done with-and look forward to the next one!

Running just as fast as I can...

Saturday tomorrow, and we all now that that means-my Real is playing. I love soccer season! We’re playing Toronto (at Toronto) which means we’re hitting up a watch party. Thank goodness they keep doing these watch parties, or else I don’t know how I’d get to watch my boys. This week’s watch party is at Baxter’s. I’ve never been to this place, but I hear it’s pretty good. And because the game is at 12:30, Toronto time, it’ll be 10:30 AM here. We’ll have to be hurrying that morning from the race to the breakfast, but we’ll make it. These places are all like, two minutes from our hotel. It’ll be a little weird to see them play this early, but hopefully we’ll win. I had discounted Toronto winning anything this year, but then they ended up beating LA last week (which, yes, LA isn’t that good, but you think they’d beat Toronto) something tells me not to discount our boys from the north. Hopefully we’ll win though, and shove it in their faces. So keep your fingers crossed that we will come out with a win!
It’s here. The big one. The one we’ve been training for the most. I’m talking, of course, about the Salt Lake City marathon. Now, I’m only training for the 5k, but this is the one that started it all. Months ago, PJ got us into this, because her company is running in this. We did the other 5k, the Provo one, to test the waters, to see how well we’d do. And although we did well, I think this one will be even better. Last time I was battling, having been indisposed the previous week, but now I am back and better than ever. I am finally back to running my full speed for my full time, and it’s getting easier. This course doesn’t have any hills on it (that we can see) so that is an added bonus. That’ll shave seconds off of our time-and as any racer knows, those seconds count. I just want to beat my previous time, and now I have the confidence to be able to do so. There will be a lot more people running, but that’s just more opportunity to pass up more people, to leave them in my dust. I know there’s no way I run fast enough to finish in the top of the race, but I am hoping to finish in the top half instead of the latter half. I’m a champ-I can do it. And PJ better watch her back this time. I’ll be going at this will full speed.
And just in case people are interested, I’ll be better in posting the race results this time (I promise I’ll be quicker!) -so check back to see just how awesome we did.

Pick me, pick me!

I recently have a new obsession. This whole thing is due to Tyler. I thought it was weird when first explained to me, and now that I’m a part of it, I love to do it. I find myself checking it all day, even at work, to see what else I can do for it. Let me explain.
There is a website called www.answers.yahoo.com. You go on this site to, as the name explains itself, answer other people’s questions. They are in every topic, so there’s something for everyone. I find that I spend the most time on the entertainment boards-specifically movie and TV. I have a lot of knowledge regarding these two areas, so I know that’s where I’ll be answering the most. You earn points for pretty much everything you do on there. Log on for the day? That’s a point. Answering someone’s question, 2 points. If that person selects your answer as the Best Answer, you get 10 points. If you ask a question though, it’ll cost you five points. You gain points and work your way through levels, reaching the highest level, which is I think level 7. I can’t figure that out. I am currently on level 2, I totally surpassed Tyler! I’m pretty picky about the questions I answer- I pretty much only answer the ones that I know I’ll get chosen as Best Answer on. I know that’s a dumb strategy, and I won’t get the two points for answering any question, but that’s how I roll. It takes a lot more points to get to level 3 than it did to get to level 2, so that’ll take some time, but believe me, I’ll totally get there.
I even created myself an Avatar for the thing too. I didn’t really know what that was before this, but I guess it’s like an online version of you or something. Mine is adorable-I tried to make her look sorta like me, which I guess she does if you count that we both have long brown hair and an angry look on our faces for most of the time. I tried to get her linked onto this, but I couldn’t figure it out. Which is sad, I think you all would have loved her also. I dressed her up in a soccer jersey, shorts and shin guards, and set her up in front of a soccer net. I don’t know what her purpose is, but she’s there, looking like she could beat someone up.If you feel like helping someone out, or just wasting time answering questions (trust me, I’ve done both of these on there) you should check out the site. I don’t know that you’ll find it as addicting as I do, but its still fun. I’ll be there, jetting my way up to the next level.

Thought-Topia 2008: The April Edition

I have many musings right now that I don’t think can be made into a full bloggity blog, so I’ve decided to cram them all into Thought-Topia 2008: The April Edition.
I was accused of late that my blog is esoteric. After researching what this word meant (heck, I’d never heard of it) I learned the meaning is: “Hidden or deeper knowledge or teachings that are possessed or understood by only a few”. I disagree with this…diagnosis. I try to write for the many, not the few, and I try to make it understood by many. Its even weirder for me to be told this, because the person who told me this is kinda one of the “few” who would be in on it. Oh well. I’ll embrace the few I write this for and create my own nation. Hey, if Stephen Colbert can have a nation, I don’t know why I can’t.
My boys in red, Real has won a game! And we didn’t even have to wait for half of the season to go by in embarrassment before we did. We beat DC United 4-0 on Saturday night, and it was an amazing game. I’ll give a tip of my hat to Kyle Beckerman, who totally represented in the game. Lets hope they can keep this up-games where we win are much better than games when we lose. (Who knew?) We play Toronto this coming Saturday. I don’t want to be too cocky, but I’m pretty sure we can beat them. But I’m not getting my hopes up too high-I don’t want to be disappointed, just in case.
The other day, Chelle and I were talking about cereal. More specifically, what kind of cereal you’d be if you had to choose one to describe your personality. After thinking about it, I have chosen Corn Flakes. I’m boring, and pretty vanilla. I know I am, and I’m ok with that. And, Corn Flakes happens to be one of my favorite cereals. Which proves my point even more.
On Sunday, I had the great fun of organizing the kitchen. I cleaned out the fridge and organized by genre. (Cheese, meats, drinks, sandwich fixins, salad dressings, you get the idea) and then I did the same to the freezer. I was on such an organizing high I kept going. I did the pantries, by genre too, and it was so much fun! I know that many a people would hate doing that, but there is nothing like the satisfaction you get after you see how nice things look all clean and organized. Now if I could only get it to stay that way, I’d be a happy person. But I would miss cleaning it out if such were the case.
I think those are mostly all I’m thinking about today. Join us next time, when we’ll be discussing such topics as: “The Professor on Gilligans Island: Genius, or diabolical mastermind?” and Sunshine: The Silent Killer?” Until then, I am Setenta Sports.

Whoa-am I sleep shopping?

Last night I got to do one of my favorite things-organize. In this case, it was my DVD’s. I got a new storage case recently. Since I have way too many, and keep buying them, my DVD’s are constantly outgrowing their cases, I always need more space for them. With the new case, I decided to once again separate my TV series from the regular movies. I had had these like this once before, but when I ran out of space, they sadly had to be moved all together. It just irritated me to have them together-I like them separated, but I’m not really sure why.
So after I had moved furniture around to accommodate the new storage piece, I was ready to go. I removed the TV shows from the shelves, and then combined the remaining DVD’s into the storage. As I was combining the movies, I noticed there are a few movies that I have no recollection of buying. I remember seeing them in the theater, and I don’t even really remember liking them that much, but now all of a sudden I own them! And there are so many movies that I have that I don’t even really like. I used to work at Media Play (before they folded, of course) and got a pretty decent discount, so even if I only sorta liked a movie, I would buy it, because my thinking was always, “whatev, this movie is only 7 bucks, that’s a good price”. But now that I have them, I don’t even really want to watch them. And I have lots of movies that I loved as a kid, but I know I look at them and think, wow, I barely even like this anymore. But at the time, it seemed like a good movie to buy. I have become more selective in my process of buying movies-I don’t buy nearly as much as I used to, and I really have to think about if I’ll actually watch it when I buy the movie. I really should have instigated this strict policy years ago, but oh well. At least if I ever get the craving to watch one of these movies, I’ll have it nearby.

Trust me-its not real.

I watch a lot of TV. I have many shows I watch, some I absolutely have to (hello, Heroes) and some I have lukewarm feelings about. (sorry, Smallville) I have an addiction, nay, an obsession with watching. But before anyone calls me a couch potato, please realize-I watch the bulk of these while I work out. While I’m running on the treadmill, I watch my Tivo’d shows (thus, cutting out commercials!) and it works out quite well. I see my shows, and feel like I’m active. Every year, I pick up new shows to add to my already long list of stuff I watch. I rarely stop watching a show, unless it gets really bad. I always hang on, in the hopes that it could get better, I could love it again.
The thing I hate about television, however, is reality TV. I think it is awful, and I don’t understand why you would go onto a program and show everyone how annoying and awful you are. Does one really think they’ll find true love on TV with 20 other women competing for the same guy? You can’t build a relationship on that! And why would you want to go live with 15 (or so) strangers in a strange house? I don’t understand the appeal of it, and I think the amount of stuff we now have is ridiculous. My Dad is Better than Your Dad? Holy crap is that dumb. And who are the network people that are okaying these productions? Who hears the premise of these shows and goes, ‘Jackpot’? I understand we have billions of people who watch some of this stuff (Dancing with the Stars? Would we consider any of those people stars?) but I wish we would get more intelligent, good stuff on the air.
That being said, I must admit, I am a little bit of a hypocrite in this respect. I do like a reality show-even though it is ridiculous. I love The Hills. I have to tune in every week to see what’ll happen. I got hooked onto Laguna Beach from an old friend, and it just grew into watching the spin-off. For those of you who don’t know the premise, we’re following the life and times of Lauren “LC” Conrad as she works her way up the LA fashion scene. Or something, I’m actually not sure what she’s trying to accomplish. I have to tune in every week to see how annoying she’ll be (she is really kind of annoying) and how dumb Heidi will be, how she’ll use Whitney, and how stupid Spencer will be. And even though they tout this as a “reality show” everything is so obviously staged. Which is ok with me, I still like to watch it. It is completely ridiculous and very stupid-I’ll agree with everyone on that-but I have to see what happens each week!
So whether or not you like reality TV, fear not. We all have a dirty little secret, and I promise I’ll keep yours. I might laugh at your choice of shows, but I give you full permission to laugh at mine also. But at least I know my choices are ridiculous-do you?

Updating

Ok, I had a bunch of stuff that happened in this past little bit, so I'm going to do quick bits of everything!

I did indeed have my race. I didn't die, I ran the whole time, and did better than I thought I would. I ran the 5k in 30 minutes 26 seconds, which for me, is so excellent! I figured on finishing in at about 35 minutes (because thats how much I run it in on a treadmill. I know that its not the same as real life, but hey, I work with what I have. I wish I could have gone a little faster, but I know I'll do better next time. I sprinted in the last little bit-as soon as I saw the finish line, I gave it all I had. Upon stopping, my lungs felt like they were on fire, and it took a minute, but I got back to normal. Hopefully I will have no ailments before the next race, and I'll be primed and ready to go. And as a side note, even though PJ beat me, she better be on her guard this time. I'm totally coming ready for a rumble. (And for a better understanding of the race, please read the blog of PJ. Hers is all good and visual-ly.)

Real played this Saturday, at Chivas. Since they played on a channel I don't have (I'm sorry, I refuse to pay a lot of money for a channel I'll only watch whenever my team is away) we went up to a watching party at Jerseys. I don't really like Jerseys (I feel like I'm catching a disease just being in there) and we were wary of going. But, with the promise that they were under new management (and no other watching options, really) and the fact that they have the most delicious nachos, we had high hopes and went up there. It wasn't bad-the food was still good and the place was packed. We RSL fans filled up the joint, there were so many people! Unfortunately, my team lost. Real is good. We have really good individual players, and we mesh well in play. We pass it well, and we have possession of the ball for most of the game. We just can't finish! We get up to the goal, and 9 times out of 10, we will blow the shot. It'll be just over the bar, or just barely punched away, or get taken away at the last possible minute. Then, in the four seconds that the other team will have the ball, they take it down and score. Its not that Rimando isn't amazing-he is. The other teams are just lucky where we are not. I love my team, but oh right now, I hate them. We just have to pick up our game, learn to get the ball in the back of the net. We play next Saturday here-and I can't wait for the game. I hear the weather should be nice-but his being Utah, that could change at any second!

And now...the time is here....

The time I thought would come at last has come at last. One day left. Well, less than 24 hours, even. It has come too quickly and I am not prepared for it. As everyone knows, I’m speaking of Race Day! It is tomorrow, April 5th, 2008. The preparation has been going on for months-running, running and more running to get my body in shape and ready for the final event. Of course, now that it’s here, I don’t think I can do it! If you had asked me a week ago, I would be saying, “Shoot, I can do this, with my eyes closed” But now, I’m not so sure.
It all started about 2 weeks ago. My face and mouth had started to hurt. Thinking it to be nothing more than maybe I had knocked into it or something, no attention was paid to it. After a few days, it started to swell, around the nose/mouth area. I thought at the time it was odd, but I figured it a side effect, so again, no attention was paid to it. A few more days later, and it was huge. My face was very swollen underneath the nose, and it was difficult to smile or talk without invoking lots of pain. Now I knew something was far more wrong than earlier thought, but I figured (this was Friday by now) that I could wait until Monday to see the doctor, if it persisted. I woke up Saturday and my face felt ok. The swelling seemed to have gone down, and it didn’t hurt as badly, so I figured I was on the road to healing. I went on my morning run with no problems. As a side note, my run was from my house (In Spanish) to Joe Bandidos (In Springville) it is 6.5 miles-and I did it in 69 minutes, which I don’t think is too shabby, I was actually pretty proud of myself. Of course, after the run, I was like, I’m totally ready for next week! Oh, how wrong I could be, though.
Waking up Sunday, my face had swollen more and was now in more pain. By the afternoon, I could take no longer, so I headed over to the Insta-Care. The doctor there couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me, so he suggested I go to my dentist, to have him X-Ray my mouth, and sent me home with antibiotics and Loritab. (Thank you, kind doctor; those were very nice to have during these times of pain) My dentist isn’t opened on Mondays, so I was like, I’ll just go to work, not do a lot of talking and then go in on Tuesday. When I woke up on Monday, I looked so much worse. The swelling had gone up, even more, which I didn’t think possible, and it had spread to the right side of my face-I could see it from under my eye! I called the dentist, hoping he’d have an emergency number, but luckily, they were open! I was booked for that morning. After I was x-rayed, they found the problem-an infection in the gum area. The next day, we surgically drained and fixed that problem right up, so it’s ok now. Of course, I didn’t run Sunday, because of the mouth, nor Monday, and Tuesday was spent recovering. So here it is, Wednesday, before I even got a chance to run. Even though the mouth was a little painful, I decided to run. It was necessary!
The run was disastrous. I couldn’t do my normal speed, I had to go a little lower, and I couldn’t even do the normal time either! Once I hit the 5k, I walked five minutes, and called it quits. I was so disappointed in myself. I decided to run Thursday morning, before work, and that didn’t go that well either, I was slower than normal, and didn’t go for the full 5k, even. So now, I am doubting myself. Can I actually make the run? Will I have to turn it from a running 5k to a walking 5k? I’m not sure tomorrow is going to go as well as originally thought. I have been preparing, food-wise for it. I’ve had a protein day, I’ve had healthy days, and I did give up sugar for the week. Tonight I’m carb-loading, which I am looking forward to. Tons of pasta and bread-and maybe that will help me tomorrow. At this point, I’ll take any help I can get. But I will try my best. Maybe this time off with be good for me (as Ashley has been telling me this past week. I’m pretty sure she’s lying to me to make me feel better. Thanks, Ash) and I’ll run so good tomorrow.
No matter how I do, I know I’ll have PJ there to cheer me on and keep going, as she (most likely) runs past me. Wish me luck, ya’ll, and I’ll see you at the finish line!