Well the title of this post says it all. My stupid sore throat won't go away and I haven't felt well enough to run all week. This leaves me realllllly well off with my half-marathon coming up on Sunday.

It sucks and I'm fed up with it and I can't believe it hasn't gone away yet. I'm frustrated and as a result not even excited about the race anymore because I don't want to run feeling like this. I'm hoping that actually getting to Va. Beach tomorrow and going to the Expo and seeing everyone else be pumped will help lift my moods.

I'm also bumming because I'm going to miss the first football game of the season (which when I registered I didn't care about, but now do)

I need a serious attitude adjustment when it comes to this race and I hope that happens down there.

I leave tomorrow morning. Be back either Sunday or Monday, but most likely the latter.

Race report to come.

To sum it up real quick, the birthday involved a party, a trip to the bar, tasting many forms of alcohol on Monday night/Tuesday morning. It wrapped up with a road trip from College Park to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies vs. Mets game last night.

The birthday was a success...in that I wasn't even a little bit hungover when I woke up Tuesday morning! Whoo!

We didn't get back from the Phillies game last night until about two in the morning....there was construction everywhere all over 95. It took us about 1.5 hours to get to Philly and it took about 3 to get back to College Park....ridiculous.

Needless to say no run this morning, but the UMD running club meets at five today, so I might try to meet up with them and squeeze in a short taper run. My throat is currently on fire though in part because I have a cold and in part because of the yelling at the game last night. So I'll see how I feel.

Anyway here's some pictures of the night:

My roommate, Emily, and me at my birthday dinner at Olive Garden.


Me in the bar sipping a pineapple and rum. (The crazy kids behind me are my friend Ryan and his girlfriend Kristen...they were the ones who bought me the drink.)


Me and my younger brother at the Phillies game. (Yea the 21st birthday tiara kind of rocked!)

Because tonight at midnight this runner turns 21!!!!!!

(And it's about freaking time!)

Here's the back story: I don't drink. Like ever. I think alcohol for the most part tastes bad. And really what college student thinks that.

So tonight, at my birthday party, my friends are all mixing up their favorite drinks and I'm trying them all in hopes of finding something that I like. Then it's most likely off to the bar because I want to hand a bouncer my ID LOL.

As a result, I'm thinking I may be hurting a bit tomorrow, and definitely not in running condition!

I'm sure I will have some hilarious pictures to post tomorrow or Wed.

Well the rains that forced me to cancel every run this week until today have left. And the nice little present they left behind was like 80-90% humidity. Makes for lovely running conditions indeed.

Needless to say today's five miles were sweaty ones. I was able to run without walk breaks for the first 2.5 miles and then my legs were feeling it and I started walking/running. I was doing run five minutes, walk one minute and using that plan I finished my five in 1:01:24. Not great, but definitely not bad either. Especially because I hadn't been able to get out to run at all this week.

I'm thinking if the weather is this hot and humid in Virginia next weekend, I will definitely be using the run five/walk one. My plan all along had been to improve on my half marathon time from last year's marathon. But I realized that might not be extremely likely because last year's race was in October. Race start temp was like45 degrees and it wasn't any higher than like 55 by the time I finished. Literally perfect running conditions.

I'm pretty sure a race at the beach at the end of August is not going to duplicate those conditions.

And as my wonderful roommate just pointed out to me as I was mourning the fact that my times probably won't be as great as I'd like, "Isn't it more about running and having fun than worrying about times?"

Indeed it is.

So that's my plan. I'm going to go down to the beach, have fun, run a solid race and if I do better than last year, great. If not, I'll deal.

Only two or three more runs left til the big day! Whooo!

...the serious downpour you get as a result of months of no rain...not so much.

So needless to say, I haven't run since my 10-miler on Friday. Saturday is a play it by ear day and my legs were way to tired even for cross training. Sunday is a rest day.

Which brings us to Monday. I was supposed to have a short run, but when my alarm went off at six it was still dark outside because it was overcast and about to rain. I was working on kind of a crunched schedule because I had to stop at the Dept. of Transportation to pick up my parking permit before I drove home. So I figured okay no morning run, I'll run when I'm back in PA.

Well then the rains came. And it's been raining nonstop ever since.

It's supposed to clear up tonight. I'm crossing my fingers so I can get something in tomorrow before I head back to Md.

...and no one is awake in my apartment yet. So I'm filling out Jess' meme. It's my first one ever on this blog (can you believe it?) So I guess I'm popping my meme cherry LOL. Enjoy.


How many teeth do you have?
24 regular teeth (I had to have four molars pulled when I was younger or else there wouldn't have been room for the rest of my teeth to come in straight) + 4 wisdom teeth (yeah mine came in and aren't getting pulled) = 28.

Have you ever had braces?
Yes. Twice. Once to fix my cross-bite and over-bite. The second time to actually straighten my teeth. Other fun things I had: headgear, retainers and because my jaw bone was too small I had to wear this thing on the roof of my mouth that had a key hole and every day I had to turn the key and it spread my jaw bone...yea it hurt the first few times.

Oh and I still have a permit retainer bar thing on my bottom teeth.

Name and tell us a bit about a pet you had as a child.
I was never allowed to have pets, but I finally got my parents to crack and let me adopt a baby hamster from my friend's who had babies. I named it Frisky after his mom and because he couldn't sit still. He was so small one time he squeezed out of the bars of the cage at night and we found him behind the refrigerator the next morning. (But I cried for a really long time because I thought he was lost forever. My parents freaked out because they thought he'd die in the walls and smell.)

Where were you born?
Allentown, PA.

How many siblings do you have?
1 brother. He's two years younger than me.

What was your high school's mascot?
The Viking. I still have crazy pride for the CCHS Vikes.

What was your favorite Halloween costume (either childhood or adulthood)?
When I was little it was the witch costume my mom made for me. I think this year's is going to be my favorite adult costume. I'm going as a CareBear. Other hilarious costumes from the college years: football player, baseball player and Catholic school girl (I found that one highly amusing because I went to Catholic school for 13 years)

What's your favorite smell?
Vanilla and coconut (although I think coconut tastes nasty)

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Probably running my marathon last year. Maybe graduating college a semester early (but that won't actually happen until December)

Do you put the TP on the roll so that it feeds from the bottom or the top?
Top.

Have you ever broken anything?
My nose.

If you could travel anywhere, and the budget was not a factor, where would you go?
Italy or the Carribean Islands

What is your dream job?
Something that pays? LoL thinking about jobs has made me a little panicky of late with that whole graduation thing happening soon. But I'd love a job in the D.C. area writing lifestyle, trend and health stories. (Anyone got connections???)

What is your most embarrassing moment?
I'm in college. I've done a lot of embarrassing things.

What is your worst fear?
That'd be failure. Or not being the best at everything. Seriously being a perfectionist sucks.

What year did you graduate high school?
2004

What was one of your new year's resolutions for 2007?
To spend less money...ya know, prep myself for this whole real world living on a budget thing.

Well after many wonderful beach vacations, it's finally back to the real world. (Well sort of, I still don't start classes for another two weeks, whooo!)

Thanks to everyone for the congrats in regards to getting my article published. (See previous entry if you missed it!) In response to Annette's question about how the article ran in so many papers: I'm a journalism major and I interned at a wire service over the summer. If anyone is familiar with the Associated Press, my wire service worked the same way. Basically, I wrote stories for my editor, which she then put out on the wire and any paper that subscribed to our wire could run the story. It was fun and an awesome experience.

So now that I'm back to reality, it's also back to serious training. I'm getting down to crunch time here. The Rock N Roll Half is only two weeks away! YAY!

This morning was my last long run. Now that I've finished it, I'm officially in taper mode (my favorite part of training!)

So 10 miles this morning. Finished in 2:09:42. I had to walk a decent amount because it was really hot and humid. When I left at 6 this morning the sun wasn't quite up but it was still 72 degrees with 90 percent humidity. Ahhh! When I got back it was 76 degrees with 92 percent humidity, making the real feel up in the mid to high 80's.

Ran the first four miles and started introducing running and walking at the beginning of mile five. I didn't do anything super-scientific to determine mine run/walk intervals. I went by how I was feeling and picked a landmark. Very fartlek-esque.

I felt like I was starting to hit the wall in the last half mile or so. My legs were feeling heavy and everything hurt (not bad hurt...just tired please let this run be almost over hurt). I thought I did a pretty decent job fueling, but I wish I would have had a little more energy at the end.

I woke up feeling so not hungry, but forced down three Clif Shot Bloks because I knew I was going to need energy later. I grabbed my Propel and a Clif Shot gelto take with me. I took the gel or at least as much of it as I could stand to force down my throat around mile five. I think if I had been able to get the gel opened sooner (yea it took forever) I would have been able to slurp down more of it before I passed the dumpster. (Being the quasi-tree-hugger that I am, I couldn't stand the thought of throwing the thing on the ground when I was done and I didn't want to carry it and drip gel all over myself for the next five miles!)

Nothing major hurt on the run. I felt a few muscles tweak a bit because of soreness and general "I haven't really run very much the last two weeks while I was on vacation" tiredness. But other than that I only have good things to report.

And I am STOKED! to finally be tapering! WHOOOOO HOOOO!

Now as promised: Pictures from vacation!

View from my porch in Myrtle Beach, SC.

We could walk right from our porch onto the sand. Yay ocean front house!

View of the ocean from the porch in SC.

Sun setting over the marina when we were at dinner.

Picture of the crazy thunderstorm that I thought was going to knock our house off the stilts and break all the windows on our last night in SC.

Goofy picture of me pretending to kiss the dolphin in Rehoboth Beach, DE. (Just a short drive away from where we were staying in Ocean City, Md.)

My two friends from high school Anne and Kim at Dogfish Head Pub in Rehoboth.

Me with my friend the crab at the all-you-can-eat crab house in Ocean City.

Still not back at school so still no beach pictures. Probably not til the end of the week.

Ran this morning for about 30 minutes, walked the last five minutes home. It was hot and humid again. I should have left earlier. The hills at home are killer because I'm so used to running on the flatness around school.

But the real reason I'm writing up this quick post is because the story that I mentioned I was writing way in the beginning of summer comparing the five hundred million things runners (and other endurance athletes too) can use to help in there training (i.e. Clif Bars, Gels, Jelly Belly Sports Beans, etc.) finally was released on the wire and a couple papers have started to run it.

I figured you might all be interested in the findings so here's the link to the story in a few papers. (I'll include the three that I've found so far, sometimes papers de-activate their links pretty quickly so if one doesn't work I apologize. They all worked as of right now when I'm posting them.)

Gels, bars and drinks can boost workout energy, NorthJersey.com.

What's the best way to refuel your body?, The Olympian, Washington State.

Which is best: Bars, gels or drinks?, The Montana Standard

Happy Reading!

Here's just a quick vacation update. I promise to post pictures when I get back to school and have the cord that connects my camera to my computer.

General thoughts:
South Carolina is HUMID. Very very humid. (The heat index held steady between 110 and 115 while we where there).

Got up to run on Sunday, my first day there with my mom. Left at 6 a.m. and it was already 80 degrees + humidity. (ICK!) Ran three miles at about a 10 minute pace. Walked the last mile and a half because the humidity was awful.

Monday my legs and my mom's legs were dead tired from fighting the waves all day on Monday. We walked the entire 4.5 miles.

Tuesday, scheduled rest day. I got a stomach dealy and missed a day at the beach :o( But it went away by Wed. So no biggie.

Didn't run on Wed. for fear of upsetting my stomach.

Planned runs on Thursday and Friday didn't happen. Thursday because there was no way I could wear a sports bra with the sunburn on my shoulders. (I made it so far through the week without sunburn....but I guess it was bouind to happen eventually!) Friday I had my alarm all set, but when it went off at 5:45 I was exhausted because the girls I shared a room with kept me up way late. (I mean we were on vacation it wasn't a huge deal, but I would have liked to get Friday's run in.)

So all in all, it was a fairly lazy week. I mean I got a serious workout every day in the ocean fighting the tides, so that counts for something. Just not the quality miles I had hoped to put in.

I'm not too upset though because I did have one extra week built into the training plan. So it won't be a huge set back. Tomorrow I'm going to get up early get in a solid run at home before I head back to College Park.

Then I leave for the beach again. This time Ocean City, MD. And only for three days. I'm going with two friends from high school and some of their friends from college. It should be a good time.

...but I'll be back on next week.

Using Mapmyrun, I plotted out a few potential courses to run while I'm down at the beach so I'm not completely slacking off. I even mapped out a 10 mile course in case I'm feeling ambitious at the end of the week. It wasn't my intention for the course to be 10 miles, I just thought it would be cool to run to the end of the pennisula and back and it just happened to be 10 miles. So, maybe my 10 miles will happen. But only maybe.

Happy training to everyone! See you next week!

July Totals:
Time: 7 hours 29 mins 31 secs
Distance: 40.23 miles
(Less than last month, but that can probably be chalked up to my recent leg problems)


Kickboxing last night rocked. I taught a super intense class. Then I had to get in the car and drive home three hours (without time to shower). Sitting in a car all sweaty does not rock. But eh, well. It happens.

So now I'm back home in PA for a few days. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a run scheduled for this morning before my sports massage. For whatever reason, my alarm didn't go off, but I woke up at 6:30 anyway. (Yea, that's a whole different issue right there lol!) My legs were feeling a little tired so I debated with myself about whether or not to run. It was like I had the angel and the devil sitting on my shoulder. The angel was like get up and run because after the massage you'll be sore for a few days and will miss runs. The devil was like go back to sleep or go sit and the sofa and watch Mike and Mike in the Morning.

Usually in these cases the devil wins, but for whatever reason today the angel won out. So I headed out for a run, 40 minutes according to the training schedule. With my leg issues though, I was really expecting to be able to do all 40 minutes, so I mentally prepared myself to let it be okay to stop when I needed to. And that's what happened. About 25 minutes in my legs were really killing me. So I walked the rest of the way home.

As for the sports massage, I don't know why it's called a massage. It's not comfortable. It's not relaxing. It's downright painful. But it's so worthwhile. My legs were so tight before I went and now they feel a lot looser. They also feel like they've been beaten up, so tomorrow is definitely a rest day so that the muscles can rest up and heal. I'd like to try for the nine I missed last week on Friday, but it usually takes me two days to recover from one of these massages, so I might not get it in. Or I might only get part of it in. (That would be ideal if I can't do the whole thing, to at least get something in before I head down to the beach.)

I'm not sure how training is going to go at the beach. I'm not bringing the training guide because I know it calls for a 10 miler next Friday and there's no way I'm running 10 miles on my last day of vacation. I plan to get a few solid runs in while I'm there though. My goal is to do between three and five miles on most days that I'm there. I figure that won't knock me too far off schedule, and I can re-schedule the 10-miler for the following week.