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..