don't mug yourself

perhaps you caught RWD's blurb on runners being more attractive than the general population. for the most part, i agree. i think i am a more attractive person because of me running, too! obviously it helps stay in shape and creates awesome legs, but there is something very attractive of being able to drop "im training for a marathon" in conversation. provided their response is impressed rather than intimidated. or maybe a bit of both.

but there are some things that running do to me that make me much less attractive. my feet, for example. constantly blistered and bruised.

and there are moments of complete disgustingness that have come to be part of my life that concern me. for example....

yesterday afternoon i worked out, went to a mtg at school (still sweaty and in gym clothes), went home, ate dinner, watched 24, went to bed.

this morning i woke up at 5.45, headed to the gym, and ran 3 miles. as i was running, i could smell myself. then i realized, hey, i never showered after my work out yesterday. in fact, im not even sure i washed my face.

SICK.

i took a very thorough shower this morning to make up for it. so no worries, im not smelly now. but i am concerned my lowered standards of clean.

cinco dias hasta el martian half marathon!!

(and yes, my dear colie, we do need to hang out asap. lets plan on running after spring break! and getting margaritas!)

just another manic monday

pretty soon after my post yesterday i got power back. yay! i still stayed in bed for a very very long time....and never made it to the gym....

but i did some cross training today - 50 minutes on the elliptical, abs, and arms. this week is kinda crazy so i am going to do my runs in the early morning hours to make sure they happen. this shouldnt be too bad, since im tapering off for my half marathon on sunday, im only running 3 -4 miles each day. so i wont have to get up too too early!

i had a mini freak out looking at the remaining long runs i have. half this weekend, 15, 18, 20, 12, 10, marathon!!! crazy! im just worried im not going to be ready for the 18 and 20 milers. also, im thinking about switching the 18 and 15 so that i have a lighter week between the 18 and 20. but if i do that, then i will have to run an 18 6 days after my half.

i guess ill just wait and see how i feel.

i have to mention my date yesterday...im still not ready to unveil why this boy is named SB or what the interesting story behind him. BUT i will say we had a really good time. we met up downtown (since we live on opposite sides of the city) and got beers at a bar called English. he talks more than i do, so the hours flew by. i couldnt stay longer because of other commitments, but i wish i could have. not sure if i actually like him, but i did have fun.

24 is almost on!! cant wait to find out if jack bauer got infected by the bioweapon and will die!! or, i bet he will figure out a way to get more powers from it.

i hope there is a lot of tony almeida in tonights episode and not much renee walker. i think shes a little annoying, and think hes majorly hot.

covered in snow

its a snowy snowy snowy day in chicago. im not going to go into how silly it is that we just got snow dumped on us.

also, i have no power, which is kind of annoying. i skipped earth hour yesterday...perhaps this is some sort of punishment?

the lack of power is really only bugging me because 1. i cant work out (im assuming my gym across the street doesnt have power either) and since its so snowy i cant run outside and 2. i have a date this afternoon i was hoping to use a hairdryer and/or straighter to get ready.

ill look on the bright side and say its a good excuse to stay in bed til noon.

yesterday morning i posted that i was going on a run while very hungover (and thanks, dad, for the sassy comments!) i wasnt even supposed to run yesterday - it was a rest day, and i was going to do my long run today. but when i woke up, i just really wanted to run. i hadnt had that feeling in a while - ive been doing more or less what my schedule says, but hadnt really wanted to go on a run in weeks. so yesterday, when i felt like a run was the only thing that would make me feel good, i did it.

and im so glad i did!

i wanted to run 15 but only got in 12 because i didnt have enough time. the first few miles didnt feel so great but they never do. i was running my first 6 miles into strong wind, which was challenging but made the run home so great - and fast.

ive been eating gu or shot blocks for runs over 8 miles, but the only kind i had left was strawberry banana gu and margarita shot blocks. you have no idea how many margaritas i drank friday night so i clearly couldnt eat those. i tried to strawberry banana gu around mile 6 and EW! it is not strawberry banana but banana. and i find banana flavored things absolutely horrible. so, not gu or shot blocks for this girl but i had gatorade so its all went well.

i was really hoping to get in another 10 or 12 miles today, but i dont think thats going to work out. good thing i ran before the snow hit!

song recommendation for lazy mornings like this one, or any morning really: "good morning" by william fitzsimmons. its charming. william fitzsimmons is awesome in general. he was born to two blind parents and grew up with sound and music and instruments of all sorts central to his life. his dad built instruments into the house. really cool. check him out.

so i mentioned i have a date today - i am really excited. this is definitely a get to know you date. but the phone conversation yesterday was promising. i enjoy people who cut me off when im talking and talk over me because i do it to everyone. its nice when people keep up. theres an interesting background story on this man, who we will refer to as SB, but ill save it for another day. im not sure youre ready.

one last thing.............ONE WEEK TIL THE MARTIAN HALF MARATHON!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, back to bed for a lazy morning!

i laugh outloud, my lifes a mess

woke up this morning so hungover.

last night was fun but ended badly.

wanna know the only thing i wanted to do this morning?

run.

run far.

so here i go.

im not well rested, im hungover, my head hurts, but i really want to go run. so im gonna go do 15 miles.

keep your fingers crossed for me.

ill let you know how it goes.

people got a lotta nerve

this crappy weather is no good. its in the 50s, dreary, and very windy. i was fine running in the winter, but now that we had a few nice spring days, it is even harder to run on the gross days.

i am oh so happy my half marathon is next weekend. its been too long since ive raced. i do nearly all of my training runs alone, so ive missed the excitement of races and being with other runners. this weekend i am volunteering at the shamrock shuffle expo, and i think that will be fun too. its a big race in chicago, and i have a few friends running it. hopefully they will come to the expo saturday morning so i can hand them their t shirts and goody bags! either way, i think that my long draught of race-less-ness is close to over. and once i get near a race, i know i will remember why i signed up to do this silly marathon thing in the first place.

i decided to hold off on any shorter distance races next weekend. im only going to be getting into michigan late friday night, and my friend andrew is coming in to stay with me sometime saturday, so i should probably just head to packet pick up and chill around the house, awaiting andrews arrival.

i had a 7 miler today. it was WINDY. yes, so windy that i need to capitlize all of the letters. you know when you feel like you are running at a pace 2 minutes faster than you are actually moving?? yeah, it was like that. also, my calves were super tight and they never really loosened up during the run. i might take a day off of running tomorrow and do some yoga instead.

the good news is that i think i solved the problem of my blistery feet. i put vaseline all over my feet today and no problems at all. ill try it again this weekend for my long run. im still trying to decide if i want to do 15 or 18 this weekend.

i think i mentioned that i got the new neko case cd, middle cyclone. ive finally given it a few good listens and i really am diggin it. its typical neko, and i like that. she makes good folk music, but she is super sassy. my favorite track by far is "people got a lotta nerve." i just found the video, and its pretty adorable.

slow ride so long

the other day i was looking at my PRs, and realized something interesting. if you add my 5k and 10k times, it is slower than my 15k. this tells me 1. i rocked that 15k but also 2. i should get some more short races under my belt. i can easily improve on my times, and would love to have nicer times staring at me when i blog.

the problem, of course, is that i am running long runs every weekend and don't have any short races on my calendar. the day before my half marathon, there is also a 10k and a 5k on the same course. there is also a Race to the Final Four through downtown Detroit. should i sign up for one just for fun? or should i save it for the half on sunday, and just wait til after my marathon and halfs are done in june to worry about conquering shorter races?

i think im just getting ansy to race. any advice is welcome.

it was supposed to be so easy

ok, 18 miles was never meant to be easy. but my legs felt great, its beautiful out, i was rested, had a stellar playlist and excited to run. what could go wrong?

my shoes, apparently. my f'ing shoes.

i ran the 4 miles from my house to the lake and by the time i got to the lake, i was all warmed up and in the zone. lots of other runners (and other people who thought it was a nice day for them to go on a run) were out on the path, navy pier was full of tourists (a true sign of spring), and lots of other really distracting things were happening to keep me happy and occupied. my legs felt fresh, i had lots of energy, and i was excited to conquer 18 miles, but my stupid shoes were rubbing my ankles raw. its not even that i had blisters, my feet were just raw and sore. and gross. and this made me mad.

i got to my halfway point near fullerton, which puts me 9 miles from home. at this point, i realize i cannot finish my run. i stop and walk and trying to figure out what to do about the rest of my run (and getting home). but walking does not make my feet any less miserable or my shoes any less mean. so in an act of desperation, i took off my shoes and socks. my pride will not let me walk barefoot while wearing a fuel belt and many many many people running by me. i feel too stupid.

so i make a brilliant decision: i run anyways.

i ran barefoot, carrying shoes and socks and avoiding rocks and pieces of glass, for about 3 miles. i was pretty proud of myself for making the most of the situation. also, running helped me get home faster.

once i got back up to millenium park i put my shoes back on and walked to the bus stop. i felt really defeated getting on the bus in the middle of a long run, especially because i was not stopping because i was tired, or cramping, or mentally shutting down. it was just my damn shoes!

the fact it was shoes makes me even more annoyed because im not sure how to fix the problem. the shoes are the same as my old pair which never gave me any problem. they are about 3 weeks old so any breaking in should have already happened. maybe my ankles are just too precious and tender.

i guess i will try taping my feet up with duct tape. when i was in the backcountry this is how we solved the problem of any "hot spots" in our boots. my backcountry guide friend even taped up my feet with duct tape when i was breaking in ballet flats when he visited me. and goofy as it looked, i have to say it worked.

any other ideas on how to fix my problem of my feet getting rubbed raw?

i guess i will change next week's 12 miler to an 18 miler, then taper for a week until my half marathon april 5.

songs to download NOW: "i like you so much better when you're naked" by ida maria and "no class" by mickey avalon. both are badass running songs.

house of cards

my coworker/friend/fellow blogger and i have coffee every friday to catch up on things. she sent me this ecard....


it made me laugh a lot. also, its friday, and fridays are great days for internetting and not being productive, so i spent a lot of time on someecards.com. id reccomend it if you are bored (and have run out of blogs to read).

this one also made me laugh:

good luck with long runs, races, partying, and whatever else it is you will do this weekend. i hope you all get laid.

speedway

i just got back from my first track workout ever! woo hoo!

ok, it wasnt actually on a track. my friend who i did the workout with and i googled tracks near us, and someone had posted on yelp that there is one at UIC. so we ran 2 miles over to UIC athletic fields to look for the track. the person on yelp is a LIAR. there is no track. there is a path that goes around the fields, but no track at all.

we convinced ourselves that a certain portion of the path was 1/4 mile, which i really think it was. so, we decided to do 5 repeats on what (we think) was 400 m.

let me explain that i have NEVER attempted to run fast. ever. i hated running growing up, and now i focus on distance, so this whole speed thing was very very new.

speed work sucks. i feel great now, and i am glad i did it, but everytime i was halfway through a lap, i felt like i wanted to vomit. not my favorite feeling. after 3 repeats, i decided i was only doing 4, not 5. i reasoned that if i only do 4 i will come back next week; if i do 5, i will actually vomit and never come back again. so i was happy with my 4.

we were really consistent tho; coming in within 3 seconds of 1.46 each time. i have nothing to compare this to, so i will pretend it is good. consintency is good, though, right?

major lesson learned: my first lap around, i talked the whole time. big mistake. but its harder for me to shut up than to run while talking.

also, the whole ordeal was made insane by the fact that ROTC from UIC was doing whatever ROTC people do on the same portion of the fields we were on. there were compasses, fatigues, crouching, and yelling involved. so basically, i ran my 400m repeats through a war zone. during one repeat, i couldnt remember the name for batalion and kept thinking cottilion. they are very different things. but its very funny to look at army men and call them a cottilion. almost as funny as running as fast as you can many times in a row voluntarily.

i came home to a nice bloody sock. ive gotta remember to keep my toenails cut short.

18 miles this weekend. after today, ill be happy just to run them slowly : )

also, i will leave you with another st pattys day picture that i found. i love a dance party, especially at 11 am...



happy almost weekend, lets hope it warms up again!

25 days

"25, 25 days. thats too much! thats too much!
25, 25 days. thats too much! thats too much!
it will soon be 24. oh!
you’re so worth waiting for"
-hello saferide, "25"

my half marathon is in 25 days! woo hoo! now that it is approaching, its becoming a bigger focus. i'm still pretty marathon centric (2 months from today exactly, but who's counting), but i am so excited to race, to race with good friends no less, and to hopefully PR.

anything under 2.09 would be a PR, but im really ambitious and hoping to break 2 hours. is that ridiculous? keep in mind, i am not doing any speed work. my main priority is to stay healthy throughout training and to finish the marathon happy. so is it silly to think that being able to run 18 miles means i can run 13.1 fast (for me?)

it is absolutely gorgeous out today. i am still kinda sick, but i just had to get outside to run in shorts and a tshirt for a quick 2.5 miles. as a midwest kid, i just cant let a nice day go to waste. im pretty sure people who live in nice weather all the time can stay inside and read on a sunny day, but i just cant do it. i feel so guilty. like if i dont take advantage of it, i wont get any more. anyone else feel this way?

musical obsessions this week:
for mellow music, download ane brun (especially treehouse and armour) and hello saferide (25, anna, i wonder who this one is like are stand outs).

as far as running tunes go, i am head over heels for "pretty young thing (p.y.t)" by michael jackson. this song is so good!!! where have i been??

oh, and "get down lil mama" and "if you seek amy" are pretty great in my ears right now, too, to run to.

i hope everyone is having a great st pats! i keep forgetting it is today because it was so saturday in my life. here are some pictures from saturday morning at my friend tiffanys.

with my girls kate and tiffany:

please notice the girl's face between tiffany and kate. creepy, or awesome??


malcom, chad, and myself

that smile was plastered on my face the whole day.

im looking forward to a motorcyle ride (yes mom, ill wear a helmet) and some beers with runner boy tonight.

in non running news (but other boy news)...im trying to get a (specific) boy to ask me on a date. how can i make this happen??? hes seen my nasty blistered runner feet and still talks to me, so i think theres hope.

sleep all day

i wish i could write a super happy post to accurately convey how well my long run went on friday afternoon, but im sick in bed and not feeling well at all. i had been a little sick last week, it got worse this weekend, and i didnt sleep at all last night. so, its a sick day for this little lady. but, there are some good things to update you on...

my run really did go well on friday. i ended up running 11 miles to my friends place, and she ran the last 5 miles with me. she even talked me into doing an extra lap around wrigley, so i ran more than i needed to. it was really fun running with a destination, first to meet nicole and then to kates. im going to have to do that again for the seriously long runs.

saturday was an amazing day of sunshine, beer, whisky, and friends. highlights include:

• 8 am cans of sparks and a dance party
  
• juking to "get down lil mama" at 11 am
• ending up IN the parade
• bottle of jager i made my friend buy and wouldnt drink more than 4 sips of (sorry kate)
• introducing myself to a creeper as "im maria, i ran 16 miles yesterday"
• 4 bars, 3 house parties, 1 parade, approximately 11 cabs, 13 hours
  
• golden nugget for pancakes at midnight

hopefully some pictures surface on facebook so i can share the amazingness with you.

other good news....i talked to my two friends who are running the martian half marathon with me in april. one i havent seen in over 2 years, and both are significantly better runners than i am. but, yesterday i talked to each of them about the race (in seperate conversations), and they both said that their plan for the race is to run with me at whatever pacei want. hooray! i really want to break 2 hours, and even though it is a really small race, i think andrew and dustin might be just the right support team to help me to that goal.

more updates to follow. i need to go take another nap.

fancy footwork

i just checked my calendar, and today is my first day of complete rest in eleven days. ELEVEN DAYS! isn't that insane? i didn't plan on that, i just ended up throwing in some miles and cross training on what should have been rest days twice, and now its almost been two weeks since ive had a day off. no wonder my legs felt so tight yesterday during my run.

i ran 7.5 miles yesterday. i said it before and ill say it again...long runs are so much better than short runs. the first 2 miles yesterday were not that enjoyable, especially because my calves felt so tight. but once i got warmed up, i really had a great run. i explored a new route, which is always fun.

the hockey game was a good time, but some of the sloppiest hockey i've seen. with 3 minutes left and chicago up 2-1, my roommate and i left to get a cab home. i get home, check the final score, and learn it went into a shoot out. oh well, im sure the shoot out was as sloppy as the game.

ST PATTYS DAY IS SATURDAY! ok, i know its actually next tuesday, but saturday is party day. my alarm will be set for 7 am in the hopes of getting to my friends party by 8.30 or so. bar hopping from there....if im ambitious i will get downtown to see the river when its green. but its not a priority.

im sleeping at my friends house tomorrow night, and i am being super smart by packing for the weekend tonight, giving her the bag at work tomorrow so she can bring it home with her, and then i am planning my 15 miles so that my run will end at her place. i am genius, right?? yes. the answer is yes.

i have so much excitement for saturday that i think it will help me push through the 15 miles. ill be passing all the bars ill be drinking at 12 hours later, and listening to the songs i will be dancing to.....maybe im overly optimistic, but i think these 15 miles will be fun.

the good old hockey game is the best game you can play.

thanks for the words of encouragement in response to my post yesterday. i ended up squeezing in 2.5 miles. better than nothing, right?

today i am running 7 miles. i get so much more excited about a 7 mile run than a 3 mile run. the first few miles are just warm up, and a 3 mile run is over before i start enjoying it. longer runs feel more substantial, like bigger accomplishments. when im running outside, i can cover more distance, and explore more areas of the city.

speaking of exploring the city, im excited to plan out my 15 mile route for friday. im nervous about running 15 miles. i have hypothetically run 14 miles, but there was a break in the middle, and sometimes my nike plus lies to me and tells me i have run farther than i really have. so, this time i am plotting it out on runningmap.com to ensure i get all the miles in.

after my run tonight, im going to the blackhawks game. lets get this clear- i do not like the blackhawks. i am from detroit, and i will die a red wings fan. but, hockey is hockey, so i am excited. wanna see some good fights and listen to the best hockey song ever?

last night i talked to my wonderful friend luke on the phone, who has loyally been reading my blog (or just really bored at dental school. this is the more likely option) luke has been my anti-running buddy since we met senior year of high school on the football team. we ran together because we both hated running so much. even though we later worked together, visited each other all through college, and were work out buddies, our friendship was really a product of shared hatred for running at practice. i am pretty sure she is scared we wont be friends now that i actually like running. and by like i mean love. but no worries luke. we are more than just running haters. also...come to chicago this weekend!

help me i think i'm falling.

i'm blaming the time change and the weather.

i'm very very unmotivated. and i feel like crap.

yesterday all i had to to was a 3 mile run that i was planning to do on the treadmill to get some hills in. i did NOTHING yesterday but sleep, read, nap, and read more. i am apparently a completely lazy person. so 5 pm rolls around i realize, ok, maria, youve got to get to the gym now if you are ever going to go.

so i go to the gym, and through some complicated barter system i created with myself, i traded my 3 miles for 1.5 miles of hills, 20 minutes on the elliptical, and a 1 mile sprint. does anyone else create bizzare trades with their training schedules?

last night i realized that my day today is pretty busy, and i would have to get my 3 miles in early in the morning. so, i set my alarm for 5.45 am. i KNOW that i did this. i set out my running clothes, ipod, and shoes, too. but somehow today my alarm went off at 7 am. i don't have any recollection at all of waking up at 5.45 am and changing my alarm to 7 am. but, apparently this happened. so at 7, my shoes and running clothes were staring at me in the face as a reminder of how i have let them down.

my head hurts today too (i also blame the time change for this. maybe the dreary weather a bit too). i could concivably squeeze in 3 quick miles this afternoon. i have a 7 miler on the calendar tomorrow with thursday off to rest for my 15 miler on friday. saturday and sunday will both be off because i will be so drunk (saturday) and hungover (sunday).

so, i need advice. should i try to get my miles in today? move them to thursday, the day before my 15 mile run?

my schedule has become to rock of my life, and now that i am moving it around and skipping it, i feel really lost and upset.

help me.

cuddle fuddle

the rain i ran in yesterday kept on raining all day, and night, and through this morning. no worries, though, this did not put a damper (hehe) on my plans for the night!

the pub crawl was good fun, and i discovered something amazing. there are dog friendly bars! jake's on clark lets people bring dogs! how awesome is that? i dont have a dog, but it was pretty great to get to play with other people's dogs while drinking my pbr.

the birthday dinner/bar hopping was a great success as well. for reasons still unclear to me, it was a mustache party. we all had stick on mustaches we rocked, and might i add, looked pretty great in them. of course, we brought extras to give to the new friends we made at the bars.

i was super clever and put mine on my beer.

like any night that starts with a bar crawl at 3 pm....i ended up eating at taco burrito house at 3 am. classy.

today i slept in, took a nap, and ill be going to bed early. yayyy sundays.

i did manage to do some cross training and weights today, too, as my only productive activity. im switching around my training plan for the week to move my long run from saturday morning to friday afternoon. this is crucial in freeing up my weekend to adequately celebrate st pattys day. green beer will probably be necessary after a 15 miler!

i dont like this spring forward time change nonsense. i want that hour of weekend back! my friend suggested that the time change take place on, say, a monday morning at 9 am to preserve the weekend and shorten a workday. i have such clever friends.

i just discovered an adorable song by ane brun called "the treehouse song." lyrics include "we were gonna live in a treehouse and make babies." pretty cute, eh? i heard those lyrics and listened to the song about 43 times on repeat. thats not an exageration.

as an F-Y-I i'm F-L-Y

these things are making me happy today -

1. the feeling of complete bad ass-ness of running my 10 miles during a complete downpour.

2. the "she's an insane maniac" look i got from nonrunners witnessing my bad ass-ness of running in the freezing rain.

3. the "isn't this so fun!?!" smiles exchanged with runners sharing in the bad ass-ness of running in the freezing rain.

4. the last 5 miles were easier than the first 5.

5. running through millennium park. i never get sick of how fun the bean is.

6. i had enough energy towards the end of my run that i really pushed it the final 1.5 miles. i kept thinking "guts race, maria, its a guts race." (obviously inspired by steve prefontaine)

7. yesterday my runner's world came in the mail. what a perfect addition to my stay at home friday.

8. i have less than a month until the martian half marathon. i haven't gone to an expo, pinned on a bib, and crossed a finish line since this year's turkey trot. i can't wait to put my training to use!

9. "what up man" by the cool kids

10. "skeleton song" by kate nash (not her best song by any means, but ive listened to "pumpkin soup" and "merry happy" waaaay too much in the past year its time to obsess over a new song of hers)

11. the hot shower i took after my run. so good.

12. enumerated lists.

13. the pub crawl i am attending this afternoon

14. the birthday dinner and bar hopping thats happening tonight (my lenten promise of not drinking is over. i don't think its fair to my friends not to give them the best maria that could be. and that best maria likes to have a few beers)

15. i have a 3 day weekend!

i hope everyone else has a minimum of 15 things making them happy today, too.

i sleep til the point when im awake, i run until theres nowhere left to trek

alright, city runners, i have a question for you-

how do you deal with running through intersections and stopping at lights?

wednesday night i went on a nice 7 mile run from my house towards lake michigan and back, during rush hour. i really like running that route, and i really like running right from my house and not having to drive to the lake, but the intersections are a huge problem. maybe it was just because i ran during rush hour and there was a lot of traffic, but it really messed up my run. i'm running 10 miles tomorrow and would prefer not to stop every 3 minutes at a light.

i am honestly considering running in whichever direction has a green light, even if this means i run back and forth across the intersection 4 times waiting for a light to change.

maybe there is no good solution to this problem, but i thought i would see if others had any ideas or at least share the same issue so we can comiserate.

this morning i actually had the thought, "i only have to run 10 miles tomorrow." a year ago 10 miles would have been an impossible amount of miles, and now i am really looking forward to a "short" long run. i find this encouraging.

for the past 24 hours i have only listened to one song - "city song" by emmy the great. enjoy the live video of it. it is a hauntingly charming song; it literally gives me chills and butterflies in my stomach at the same time. yes, i might like music too much.

i've taken the liberty of changing "walk" to "run" in the lyrics i used for this post's title. i think it works well : )

you are an animated anvil and i'm an animated duck.

yesterday i had a 3 mile run on my schedule. maybe one of the least exciting runs imaginable. short distance, easy pace planned, boring, in theory. not so, my friends, not so.

i always run past this cute vintage store, knee deep, on my runs. i always want to stop in, but, being in the middle of a run, its never the most convenient. well, i really needed to go the knee deep because a certain friend's birthday is tomorrow and i thought this might be a great spot to pick up a cute present. also, my day was pretty busy, so i figured, hey, why not bring a credit card on my run and stop in?

i know, my brilliance is blinding.

to make a long story short, i ran past this during the first half of my run. sweeeeeeeeeet. the weather outside is getting better, so here come the gangs.

(note to my mom: i'm fine, i was never really in harm's way, i can run faster than a bullet or at least the average gang banger, i'll make sure i run at the lake or inside if its dark out)

i have to be honest - this scene in no way, shape, or form impacted my run. by the time i figured out what was up, there were tons of cops around, so really my run was safer than a typical run. so i kept running and looped back to knee deep to do my shopping.

i found a really cute gift which i will not reveal in case my certain friend reads this post, as well as some most adorable earrings for myself. so yayy knee deep! super cute. i'm still thinking about a little yellow cardigan and a spring dress i may have to go back to try on.

so i have the gift and my earrings and they are in a bag and i leave to run home - a bit less than a mile. ive got my hood up, im clutching a bag to my chest, and running pretty quickly. i am positive it looked like i just stole something.

well there you have it, i managed to turn a simple 3 mile run into a very eventful 30 minutes.

in music news, i just downloaded emmy the great's album, first love. she makes some great antifolk music with wacky lyrics. its keeping me so entertained that i have yet to download the new neko case album that came out yesterday. i like to be able to give albums the attention they deserve, so i need to pace myself, or else i will have an eargasm overdose.

ps...i love the lyrics i picked for this post's title because sometimes, i think my life is like a big goofy cartoon.

and everything is going to the beat

i've got some treats for you to brighten up this monday!

two of itunes free songs are really great: sleepyhead by passion pit and bang bang by k'naan.

if the links don't work for some reason, you can just search and download them for free from itunes.

hope you dig them like i do.

a dreamy day day dreaming

i am not sore from running my 14 miles, but i am sore from the twister tournament i won last night. the twister tournament prize was a gift card to cesars, so this makes me intensely happy.

i did not make it to my fleet feet historic run this morning because last night got out of hand.

after a well behaved dinner at sura, i found out that i am a bad influence on cody and he is a worse influence on me. long story short: we skipped the comedy show to go to a gay strip club til 3 am, i decided that its okay to drink sundays during lent, and sunday starts at midnight so i had 3 long islands. i'll spare you the rest of the story, but rest assured it is hilarious and highly inappropriate.

sample tidbit - i was at a friends house post gay strip club and saw his underarmour running shoes. i then engaged him in a lengthy conversation about his shoes. i barely know him. he might have been weirded out. its probably the appropriate response.

the assorted craziness is the reason my running the fleet feet run was physically impossible.

its snowy and awful weather right now. i have no plans to leave my bed today now that i've made it home.