HEY YOU! Yeah, you...

Nothing irks me more than waving or acknowledging fellow runners while I am running and not having the favor returned. This is something that has been building up inside me ever since I started running.  And it's not just other runners, it's the walkers and dog-walkers, too. Or anyone else who is out at the crack of dawn trying to squeeze in some exercise.  Whenever I pass by any of the aforementioned people, I almost always acknowledge them, be it a wave, a nod, a smile..sometimes I manage a "good morning".  I think it's curteous in the least.

But when they do not wave or nod or smile back, well that just makes Jessie ANGRY! Why do you refuse to acknowledge me or, for all I know, anyone else you pass by? I know for a fact that running with an iPod does not decrease vision. I know that I can still see all around me, including You, the runner or the walker dead ahead. What, are you in the zone and didn't see me? Fat chance buddy, we've been running towards each other for the past minute at least. Focused on listening to your power song? I might be too. But you know what else powers me through? You, waving..or nodding, acknowledging that hey, we're both in this together and yeah, it sucked dragging our butts out of warm beds to run or walk on this cold morning, but look at us go!

Sometimes it's the small things that make or break my runs. Acknowledging fellow runners is, I think, the smallest of small things. It's the easiest thing and possibly the kindest thing to do, yet so many people don't. And frankly I just don't get it. However, there is something to be said for energy I unleash am able to channel into my runs when frustration builds up inside me as I pass one runner after another and they run blankly by.

[Runner's World had a nice article about this recently]

This Thanksgiving

I'm very excited for Thanksgiving this year. Instead of traveling home to Charleston or somewhere else to meet up with family, my family is coming here to DC! My mom and I are splitting the cooking so I've been busy making rolls and pie crusts and soup. Not to mention also studying for the LSAT (which I take a week from Saturday AHHH!). But I don't hate being completely consumed by cooking and studying. 

It makes time pass quickly, which is great when I'm home alone, not wanting to go out into this hurricane-like weather, and looking forward to the holiday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. You get to spend time with family, eat good food, and don't have to worry about giving/receiving gifts. Tomorrow my dad, brother, and I are running in the Alexandria Turkey Trot before our meal and then Friday is the Backyard Brawl (WVU vs Pitt), so this Thanksgiving is shaping up well.  I hope your holiday is as enjoyable as mine is sure to be!

Squashes wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving.

lessons learned

For the past 5 days, Yohn has been in DC and staying with me.  I hadn't seen her since the spring and missed her so. She was in town for a neuroscience convention and I was taking an LSAT prep course over the weekend, so we spent a lot of time not hanging out together. However, over the course of her stay I learned a few things. Or rather, things I knew to be true were reinforced.

1. Chalkboard walls are very useful.

(on the left, a friendly reminder; on the right, directions to the metro!)

2. Take caution when handling pepper-spray.

This one comes with a story. Yohn's pepper-spray somehow opened in her purse without her knowing. She was made aware of this when she touched her face after retrieving something from her bag and her face started burning. When we finally went through her bag to see the extent of the damage, we found the pepper-spray bottle kind of leaking (it was orange and oily. weird). So I, being the nice, helpful friend that I am, grabbed a paper towel and started wiping it off to see if it was salvagable; only as I was cleaning the top, pepper-spray SHOT into the air. This became an issue as the pepper-spray cloud began disseminating around the room. Becky was the first victim. She started coughing/gagging and bounded upstairs. Yohn starting coughing. I started sneezing. Have you ever been pepper-sprayed? The stuff is AWFUL! I can't imagine being sprayed directly. We were all coughing or blowing our noses or gagging for the rest of the night. awesome. 

3. If you don't have photographic proof, it never really happened. (true story)

So we remedied that this morning before she left.

My overly-dramatic post about a breakthrough run

[warning: no pictures. good luck]

After my incompletion of the Pittsburgh marathon, I have had my sights set on another marathon. Hopefully with my dad. Hopefully one I'm able to complete. And hopefully one in which I qualify for the Boston Marathon (NY too! did you know it's harder for me to qualify for the NY marathon than Boston? isn't that weird?).

Getting back into the swing of hard, rewarding running was a difficult for me. Why should I be pushing my body to do something that it clearly told me it was not happy with me doing? (of course, the supplement I started taking was going to help with this...) And I've always viewed running as half physical/half mental, so rewarding runs where I pushed myself seemed hard to come by. My first runs were easy, not fast, but I was sustaining 40 minute runs without passing out, or getting a similar feeling. I could feel myself getting stronger and building back to where I was around the this time last year. I was fortunate enough to be doing this running at camp, which I've always thought leads to magically awesome runs (see? mental.).

Enter yesterday's daily 5 mile run. It was faster, I could feel that. But sometimes when I think I'm running fast, i'm not actually...or I end up slowing a lot towards the end...BUT, to my surprise, I calculated my pace to be one that would qualify me for both marathons! And then some! I was ecstatic when I realized this but MAN! it hurt! How does anyone sustain that pace for 26.2 miles!? Hell, it's still inconceivable to me that elite runners can run a marathon at a pace faster than I can even run one mile.

Regardless, I feel like this was the breakthrough I've needed. All the pills I've taken, the extra strengthening exercises I've done, the mental focus I've tried to employ on every run, got me to here. I know my next couple runs will not measure up to the mental and physical success of that run, but it's all about baby steps. I know that I can, and right now that's going to help me more than anything.

Neighbors!

We have neighbors! Rather, we have neighbors that do neighborly things. Like invite us over to make banana bread with them. Or invite us over to eat banana bread they just made. Or ask to borrow our mixer to make banana bread. Or give us a piping hot loaf of warm, gooey, delicious banana bread that they just made with our mixer. It's awesome. 

Especially with nutella on top. 

Thank you, neighbors.

Sitting will kill you

Today at work I stood at my desk. In fact, the majority of the people in my office also stood at their desks. Because sitting will kill you. Check out the infographic on that link - scary stuff, man (okay, I know it's mostly geared towards combating obesity...) But while this seems extreme, it's really great! Regardless of whether or not sitting at my desk is really increasing my risk of death by up to 40%, standing at my desk seems to have many benefits. I felt more focused throughout the day. While I still felt a little tired post-lunch, there was no way I was about to sleep standing up. I definitely had better posture while standing (once I got my computer to the perfect height) as opposed to slumping over the computer in my chair. And I never stood perfectly still. Sometimes I plugged into my ipod and moved my legs to the music, which was energizing and kept me focused at the same time.

However, around 2:30 I had to sit back down. I just felt exhausted and my lower back hurt. That tells me how much I do not stand, but I figure I can build on what I did today! And stand forever and be really productive. Standing makes lunch breaks even more worth it, too.

Best Halloween costume

This year I won't be celebrating Halloween. And by celebrating, I mean dressing up as anything. Instead, I'll be up at camp, helping close up for the year, surrounded by lots of camp friends and hopefully some beautiful foliage.

But if I was going to dress up, it would be as this:

Very impractical for getting the most candy, however.

..you know...since I still trick-or-treat and all..

Talon

Meet our fourth roommate, Talon. Talon enjoys crawling up your pant leg and nibbling on gourmet food, like arugula and craisins. And while he hates baths, he loves being swaddled in a towel afterward. He used to have a facebook, but it was deactivated because he had too many friend requests. He is also highly skilled! Check him out:

the one where i went to ikea

[disclaimer: if you've been to IKEA, this may bore you] 

I recently made my first trip to IKEA. I have wanted to go to one ever since Tyler Durden's obsession with IKEA sparked my curiosity. How can a store be that great? Is it really like what they show in 500 days of summer??! I MUST FIND OUT.

So find out I did. That first trip was exceedingly overwhelming. The store is deceptively large. And the sunday crowd was unexpected. I could not fathom how people effectively shopped there. I was fortunate enough to have my roommate with me for support. She's part swedish, so that counted for extra. (extra what? i don't know.) When I finally decided what I wanted, we headed to the pickup section, which was IMPOSSIBLY HUGE. THERE IS NO WAY THAT BUILDING HAD BOTH THE STORE AND THE PICKUP WAREHOUSE. no way. 

And there were multiple aisles that were miles long. Well, we successfully navigated this vast expanse of neatly boxed up furniture. I picked up my bed in a box, along with a mattress in a tightly bound roll, and headed to checkout with my cart that kept veering right..right into displays..right into little kids... And let me just say, if it wasn't for the smell of the cinnamon rolls just on the other side of the checkout, I don't know if I would have made it. Of course, I didn't even buy a stupid cinnamon roll because I just wanted to get out there.

BUT I LOVED IT! SO I WENT BACK TWO MORE TIMES!

Fall

It's fall. I'm sure many of you are like me in wondering when this happened. But at the same time, welcoming it with open arms? Yes, fall, you can stay for a while. Whenever a new season rolls around, I say to myself - self, THIS is my favorite season. (okay maybe this happens a little less with winter) But I'm starting to think that fall is my favoriteEST of favorite seasons. The cool air is perfect for runs after work. The leaves are juusst lovely. Fall food, okay squash, is mah favorite. And, of course, college football.
But enjoying all that fall brings will be hard because I have acquired myself a busy schedule. Since I haven't blogged in a while, here is a brief rundown, in words and pictures!, of my life now:

the majority of my first few days back in dc

was spent putting together IKEA furniture

i'm baking my own bread

i have 3 great roommates.

one is a rat.

and i have an awesome internship

in downtown DC

i'm also studying for the LSAT.

but nothing associated with that warrants a picture.

Summertime done...

..come and gone, my oh my

Summer's over. That means a couple things. One - i'm back from camp. Two - i'm updating my blog. Thinking back to the summer and my lack of blogging, one topic I meant to blog about was the title of my blog and where it came from. I reference it on the left hand column, but it's a long essay, and there's a lot more meaning to it for me.

My camp is divided up into multiple sessions, 3 of them being "senior" sessions. Our camp director begins each of these senior sessions with a reading from the foreword of A Sand County Almanac, which is a discussion of the value of wild things. On the final night of each session we have a "final ceremony". During this final ceremony, staff members share poems or songs, we give out "awards" (ex: Commander Salamander or Helter Skelter in a Summer Shelter or King of the Ant Hill ...thank you nature camp), and our director does another reading. This final reading is parts of Loren Eiseley's "The Bird and Machine". Because she has read it at the end of every senior session, I've heard it more times than I can count. No, that's not true, I can probably count the times. But it's really a wonderful essay if you have not read it.

To me it means more than just what the essay provides. It also means camp, which has been my home for many a summer. And it means an end, the end of a session or the end of a summer. Not a bad end, but a reflective one. How has my summer reflected what is written in this essay? This is often not a hard answer to come by, given life at nature camp.

So that is why... it's life I believe in!

[ ps, that there is a bald eagle! ]

Birthdays

Birthdays here at camp are always fun and momentous occasions. For campers, it's a day of cake and skipping around the room. For us staff members, it's that and more. We generally target something defining of that staff member at that moment in time, be it hedonism or just outright embarrassing them because they do not like to be the center of attention. For my 21st two years ago, we had something equivalent to a toga party.

My 23rd birthday this year was very low key, however, because as Blink 182 says: Nobody likes you when you're 23! For one of our more recent birthdays, I made a rat cake. The recipient of the cake/birthday boy has been chasing down a giant rat that is living in our dark room and has been evading us for some time now. So it was only appropriate that he received a rat cake (red velvet cake covered in gray fondant) along with a rat pinata ..among other things.

Who knows what the next birthday will bring.

Oh wait, that's today.

(happy birthday rachel!!)

A day in my life at camp

Long time, no post. My life has been consumed by my job as assistant director at a summer camp. I'll make up for lack of posts somehow. For now, I present to you a day at camp.

Wake up. Often to the most obnoxious bell. ever. Or, on occasions such as July 4th, to Bruce Springsteen serenading us with Born in the USA.

At mealtime we have "family style" meals. We all fit around 6 tables. And the cooks often join us. Straws are clearly a necessity.

In the mornings, we either offer workshops for campers so they can learn about butterflies, birds, etc. Or the campers get an opportunity to work on specific projects... Catching butterflies for instance (Mourning Cloak pictured here)

At lunch we present the inspection report of the camper's dorms to make sure they keep up with cleaning! This is clearly taken very seriously...

After lunch and a little rest/free time, we have afternoon options which can vary from hikes, to nature focused arts and crafts, to mermaid boot camp.

During dinner we have the bird list. The bird list is a daily tally of all the birds we have seen or heard. This is a highlight of my day since I LOVE BIRDS.

Evening program time provides a lot of flexibility for activity offerings. Since it is one of the coolest times (literally and figuratively) of the day, we can do hikes, more active programs, or just quiet reflective time inside or out.

Hopefully that provides a glimpse into what I've been up to these past few weeks. Over these next few days, I hope to have the opportunity to make a few more posts. Adios!

A Day in the Life Of Ronnie

[I swear this will be the last post I make about this cat. I also swear that these posts were taken in succession throughout the day, as presented here.]

Morning finds Ronnie asleep on the couch.

Waking up just took too much out of him.

Poor guy.

About an hour later I found him still on the couch.

But he clearly moved.

Probably to get food, but that's debatable.

Another hour later, unable to keep his head up,

Ronnie stretches out on the couch

to take his late morning nap.

When lunch time rolls around,

Ronnie can be found gazing longingly at his food.

Feeling rejuvenated after lunch,

Ronnie ventures to a new spot for lounging.

Buutttt nothing beats the couch..

..for the rest of the day..

As night falls, Ronnie finds himself

once again at the feeding hole.

Chances are, he was the one that

finished that bowl to his right (it's for the other cat).

Goodnight, Ronnie.

May you meet tomorrow with the same enthusiasm

that you met today (HAH! Joke!)

ni hao

I haven't kept up with blogging because:

• the weather has been too beautiful to be inside on the computer

• when i am inside on my computer, i'm probably watching Criminal Minds

• i'm busy preparing to leave for my summer job

• i'm busy preparing to switch to a NEW COMPUTER!

....which is currently in...

...China.

True or False

[Answers at the bottom!]

1. I love cameras so I bought another one.

2. I love cameras so much because I now understand everything about them.

3. I recently found out, thanks to all of that blood that was so mercilessly taken from me, that I'm allergic to cats, which provides a partial explanation for my breathing problems whilest running.

4. I've been avoiding eating our bananas so they'll become really ripe and I can make banana bread.

5. I emptied the dishwasher this morning.

***Answers***

1. True! I received this behemoth of a camera in the mail today! A fujifilm instax 210. Because instant pictures are so much fun.

2. False. Falsey false false false. I bought a book that I'm going to have to read several times.. I hope to take a class in the near future.. Like my mom said, it's like a foreign language.

3. False.

4. True. Look at those bananas in all their spotted glory. They look like me at the end of the summer. ...because I get lots of freckles.

5. False. My mom did.

That's all!

Thanks for playing.

Tune in next thursday

when i might do this again

chinchilla chinchilla chinchilla

I realize I haven't blogged in a while..

I spent this past weekend back in Washington DC getting trained in Wilderness First Aid. Out in the woods and a tree falls on you, perhaps resulting in a femoral fracture or a head injury? I'm your girl. All of that left me exhausted and pictureless.

Time in Charleston has been enjoyable and relaxing.

I've made new friends..

..spent time with old friends..

...and gotten blood drawn two too many times.

But it'll be worth it when I can run

without fear of any issue

So i'm home..

There's no place like home. I get to enjoy things like home-cooked meals in a clean kitchen, sleeping in, a free gym.. Oh and my family, of course.

And I've gotten to spend a lot of quality time with this guy:

That's Ronnie.

When we first rescued him, he was Scrawny Ronnie. underweight...you get the idea...But after massive amounts of feeding, he became Ronster the Monster. His daily exercise consisted of moving from the couch to the food bowls, then back to the couch (or maybe a different chair if he was feeling particularly ambitious). However, with age and acclimation to a life of luxury (or life with a family that realized that just because the food dish is empty, doesn't mean it has to be refilled) he has slimmed down. He is now a more social cat (almost annoyingly so) and does whatever he pleases with his food (note the location of his tail):

How i spent forever traveling,pt. 3.14

Day 3 in NYC. This series is almost over. Day 3 brought the Harry Potter: The Exhibition, which is a display of some costumes and props from all 7 Harry Potter movies. Only you couldn't take pictures. But I didn't let that stop me as I snagged this blurry one of Oliver Wood's and Cedric's quidditch robes:

Gimme!!! The next day was the last day of the Book Expo and our last day in New York. We made our best effort to get over to the expo on the early side to get tickets to see Jane Lynch!! She was there promoting her book, Happy Accidents (due out sometime this year..september?). She talked a little bit about the book, read the epilogue, took questions, and then signed autographs. She was just as entertaining in real life as she is in Glee. Only not as mean. And taller maybe. And definitely more awesome.

And then we flew home. THE END. Finally.

How i spent forever traveling,pt. 3

After spending less than 24 hours in Charleston, my mom and I hopped on a plane (ugh, not flying again) at 7 am to NYC! She was attending Book Expo America so I decided to tag along. I still hate flying though. And I hate flying even more when I'm taking off from the top of a mountain.

[fog in the valleys]

We spent our first day kind of unsuccessfully shopping. It was gloomy, chilly, and occasionally rainy so not a good combination on the whole. But we finished the day with New York pizza, which is one of the most delicious things in the world.

mmm..take THAT We the Pizza, 2 Amys, and Adams Morgan Jumbo Slices! The next day we ventured over to the book expo and it was one of the most overwhelming experiences I've ever..experienced. It was up there with walking into Forever 21 for the first time. The expo was held in the impossibly huge Javits Center and there were rows and rows of vendors and displays. But that meant that there was also an abundance of free books and bags. That first day we met and had things signed by Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket) and Tyra Banks. It was:

That night I also got the chance to meet up with a friend and have dinner a fondue restaurant. I had never been to a fondue restaurant. It was a weird experience. I'm not and will never be a big cheese and fruit fan. But cheese and just about everything else- delicious..

next up:

New York part dos!

exciting? if you like Harry Potter and Jane Lynch

then YES

How i spent forever traveling,pt. 2

After Preakness, I headed back to DC, expertly packed my dad's jeep TO THE BRIM with ALL OF MY STUFF (but seriously, i deserve an award or something) and left for Charleston. The drive was filled with traffic, Thunder Road over and over and over, and this guy:

He (she?) was even funnier to pass, but more dangerous to take a picture of. It was like a dog. I have never seen a horse with its head out of the window, only glimpses of butts from smaller windows. Perhaps he was coming from Preakness. Anyhoo, DC - it's been real, hope to see you in the near future. Horse - thank you for making me laugh on my long, interstate filled journey home.

next up:

NEW YORK!

exciting? i think way more exciting than

a horse with its head out the window

How i spent forever traveling,pt. 1

I'm finally back from what feels like an eon of traveling. And by back I mean back in Charleston, not DC. And okay it wasn't that much traveling..less than a week.. But it all started with a trip up to Baltimore for the Preakness! After going to a Kentucky Derby party, I had to keep up with the horse races. Infield at the Preakness was fun, sun, and horses. And live performances by Train and Bruno Mars. And more horses. I had every intention of betting on some horse or some race but did not realize just how complicated it is. Exactas? Oy..

next up:

The drive to charleston

exciting? you just have to wait and see

marathon or BUST

Well the marathon didn't go exactly as planned, to say the least. Occasionally on previous runs, I would have breathing problems that would cause me to stop running while I attempted to regain my breath. It was like a mix of hyperventilating and not being able to breathe. Maybe throw in some nausea and dizziness for added effect. It happened on 3 runs but subsequent runs were a-ok.

Enter the Pittsburgh Marathon. Of course I was feeling nervous about the run. But the morning of, my nerves were turning over to excitement. We started the run fine enough but maybe about a mile in I felt the breathing problems coming on. We moved over to the side of the road so I could regain my breath, and continued on. Only, it happened again a short while later. Someone was kind enough to come over and talk me through breathing...in through your nose, out through your mouth...and we continued on. Then around mile 4 I could feel it coming on again, reached for my dad's arm, and the next thing I knew I was on the ground. Apparently I passed out in my dad's arms and he hit me on the back to wake me up. Another runner helped my dad carry me to a nearby ambulance, where EMTs checked my vitals (all okay) and helped me calm down. Needless to say, I wasn't going to finish the race.

Once I was released from the ambulance, my dad and I made the walk back to our hotel. I was frustrated and disappointed. Frustrated that I couldn't will my body to complete the race. Disappointed that I couldn't complete something I was so mentally and physically invested in. At one point I removed my number bib from my shirt and ripped it up before tossing it in the trash. The rain didn't help. It's hard to think that I essentially failed at something I had been training for so long for. Hell, I partially created this blog to help me through the training process! I think you get the idea..

But through all of this disappointment and frustration I can't help but be thankful that I am okay. And thankful that my dad was with me when it happened. And that there were runners kind enough to stop running their own marathon and help me (looking back, I can't positively say I would have done the same thing, though I would like to think I would...). But I can't let myself associate running with disappointment, or even fear. I'm going to get this breathing thing sorted out. I'm going to get back to running. I'm going to run another marathon.

now here are some baby ducks that made me smile on that day:

welcome back blogger

i guess i'll take a break from reading the hunger games to post. though i'm still a little upset at Blogger for being down this morning and making me think that my most recent post was deleted and lost forever. ...i think that sense of hopelessness is just the hunger games speaking.

today was my last day at my internship. definitely felt mixed emotions. i am sad to be leaving it because of the people i've met, the experiences i was afforded, and the routine i developed. but at the same time, i'm ready and excited to move on in my life. i'm ready for summer, i'm ready for camp, i'm ready to see where the fall leads me... since it was my last day, i made cookies. more specifically - black and white cookies. only, being the supremely creative person that i am, i made them blue and white as those are the organization's colors. go me. i would have taken a better picture of them, except i lost all hope that blogger would ever return and by the time the site was up and functioning, they were gone.

so that's that. i leave bright and early tomorrow for pittsburgh with my dad. in the meantime, i'll be reading the hunger games by booklight until i pass out from excitement or the general tiredness that i get when i read. of course, reading by booklight is unnecessary. i could very well have the lights on and make it easier on my eyes. but if katniss has to suffer through the hunger games, i will suffer along with her! in solidarity! by not having enough light to read! (while i am well fed and hydrated in the comfort of my cushy bed, in an air conditioned house)

hungry for hunger..games

I just started reading The Hunger Games thanks to Lauren's extra copy. And by just started, I really mean just started. Page 24. Except I might as well be halfway through considering it's ALL I THINK ABOUT AND I WANT TO READ IT SO BADLY RIGHT NOW BUT I HAVE TO GO TO WORK SO I CAN'T AND IT WAS A BAD IDEA TO REALLY START READING IT AT 1030 AT NIGHT.

.........

I have no idea what's going to happen (though I can make some guesses..) but I hear people die left and right. How exciting! And the premice is just downright cool. It reminds me of the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" where a man hunted another man on his island. It'll probably be nothing like that. Either way, I don't think I've felt this way about a book since the 7th Harry Potter came out!

But there it sits.

And will sit.

And will taunt me.

In other news, with The Hunger Games currently filling every empty void in my brain, there is very little room to even think about that run I'm doing on Sunday. Marathon? What marathon? Hunger Games?? HUNGER GAMES!