sleeping in my own bed…

has never sounded so good. I am writing to you from my desk in my dorm – room mostly bare – 0n my last night at Northeastern University (for the year). I am SO looking forward to getting home to Minneapolis and sleeping in my OWN BED!

So where have I been?

• Drowning in A&P
• Suffocating in Chem
• biking all over the city
• because I currently can not run
• because I got hit by a CAR 
• on April 8th
• 12 days before the Boston marathon
• Hows that for an FML post?

Like any other college student during the end of their semester, I’ve been stressed, busy, frantic, the usual. I’ve also been pretty bummed to be completely honest – having to pass up on Boston this year was really hard. I have met some great amazing people over this last year though, and they have all been very supportive along the way. I know deep down that I would not have had a good time running injured, and the last thing I want to do is create this fear or anxiety associated with running. I never want to not look forward to running. Ever. So that meant sitting this year out. I am looking forward to opening a big old can of whoop ass on 2010.

As for the future of the blog.. I’m gonna have to wait and see. I like blogging.. but more for a personal thing. And no offense, but I’m really not a fan of an “online diary”. I may or may not keep it up, but either way, I am very thankful for everyone I have met through RRR! 

I hope everyone finishing their school year is hangin in there, and everyone beyond school, well you need to hang in there too! 

Peace out peeps. See ya later Boston!
-E

tracing boston.. backwards

That may look familiar if you are a Boston FloTracker.. and if not… mmm never mind.

I’m not even gonna say “sorry… I haven’t posted in blah blah blah” because OBVIOUSLY it has been a while, but truth be told – I am a busy kid. The majority of any “me time” I get during school is either spent running or in the Caf. Clearly two very important things. When I’m writing, it’s usually an essay, an application, or a lab report – there is very little time left for coming up with something to put up here. The reason I’m not apologizing is that I love being busy! I would much rather have the busy schedule I do now than be sitting at my desk, bored.

Anyways, back to this “Tracing Boston” business. This would be referring to my last “long run”. My DF Maddie (who had just KILLED in her first collegiate 1500 the day before!) was taking her rest day, and she decided to bike with me on this mini adventure! Many people run the Boston course as part of their training runs… you gotta get used to them hills! So I decided to start from the finish, and work backwards. 

The famous finish line in front of my favorite store – Marathon Sports!

Workin our way down Commonwealth Ave. Maddie needs to be included too:

We did the route out to the Chestnut Hill Reservoir, and then we cut over on Chestnut Hill Ave to the Brookline Reservoir. At which point we felt the need to take this:

And then continued on for 5 seconds, until a woman felt the need to “scold” us because Maddie was on a bicycle, and “bicycles are not allowed.” To which my response was, “It’s ok, we got permission” and we continued on our way. We had to get to the other end of the lake somehow! 

From the Brookline Res we took a straight shot down Boylston, which turns into Huntington somewhere along the way, and found this secret water stop that they forgot to mention in the course guides…

Gatorade, huh? Is that what they’re callin it these days?

Clearly, it did the trick. 

Before I knew it, we were already back on campus! It was a very fast 9 miles! Not fast as in fast running, but it went by very quickly. It wasn’t so bad though – with all the stops and everything my Garmin gave us a just sub 8 pace. They didn’t feel like sub 8s, but I guess thats what happens when you’re going with a bike! We had a great day!

In other non-running life, I’m just trying to piece together my schedule for next semester and figure out what’s going on for next year. It. Is. Stressful. But you know what? When I look at my life, I have a lot to smile about, so I’m going to try and keep that in mind, and keep a positive attitude. 

My dad comes back from Germany this week. He recently moved to Philly – exciting! Well only sorta. I will miss him a lot in the summers.. especially having him show up at the Tin Fish randomly. I could use a dad hug right now.

Ahh! But those smiles! Hahha it’s easy to forget sometimes. Time for me to get working! I had my LAST Chem lab of the semester today, and I want to get this lab report DONE and out of my hands!

Love yall.
-E

shake ya money maker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHpMYR9wVaU (for the readers who don’t have a secret affair with pharrell)

I actually really didn’t (/don’t) like that song when it came out. The lyrics are pretty lame. But Pharell.. and that face.. ahh!!

ANYWAYS, the money maker title comes from the fact that makin money is like my job right now (oh wait.. aside from school..) because I came to the sad realization that many things in life cost money (… doh!) and although I have a decent safety stash in my bank account, I am really terrible with spending money. I haaaate it. I’m not like so frugal that I won’t spend money at all, but when it comes to buying things for myself, I usually find a way to talk myself out of it. Either it’s “I have enough running clothes” or “I can run the lake for free, why would I pay to race it?” 

Wow.. that was a tangent. What I was going to say right after “makin money is like my job right now” is that  I spent part of today down at Brigham & Women’s Hospital participating in an asthma study. And an asthma study that pays! Today I was paid for basically just filling out forms, and getting myself down there, which was like a 15 minute walk in the gorgeous sun. Next time I will be paid for letting them induce an asthma attack in me, which doesn’t sound as fun as just filling out forms. Luckily, they jack me up with albuterol to bring my lungs back to normal after the attack, so it can’t be that bad. And hey.. I’ve had enough asthma attacks on my own, and no one pays me for those!

And the other sentence that was supposed to come after “spent part of today down at Brigham & Women’s Hospital participating in an asthma study” was that I got paid, and I used that money to register for the Loco Luv2Run 5K! This will be my first “real” race now that I’m back in action. It is also the day before the Boston Marathon, so maybe this will help ease my pain from not running. 

No joke.. letting Boston go this year is the hardest thing I’ve ever not done. 

Anyways – this race – I’m really excited!! This adds one more race to what is my current/probable race calendar for 2009:

• Great River Ragnar Relay (3 6-mile legs over 24 hours)
• Lake Waconia Triathlon (the running leg)
• Hennipen Lake Classic Double Header (10K + 5K)
• Urban Wildland Half (Half.. claro)
• Loco Luv2Run (5K)

That pretty much gets me through the end of the summer! I haven’t started looking at races once school starts up again in the fall, because I don’t really know what my situation will be at that point. I have to hop on it soon though and get my registration in for Ragnar and the Waconia Tri.. because one of the things I hate dislike the most is paying a late fee! 

Time to go meet this kid for some Caf time.. I don’t know if I like the kid more or the caf? Haha oh life… there is this little love triangle going on here in Boston, and it’s throwing me off big time. When it rains it pours. And that’s the end of that!

Love yall.
-E

i. owe. you.

Big time…

Where did this last week go? Wasn’t it just like two days ago that I was saying “I’ll be posting on Friday.. from HOME!” ??

Mmm.. apparently, that was like 2 weeks ago. AND, I didn’t bring my camera home with me from Boston! I was so pissed because I did so many fun things.. and I would have been snapping pictures all day otherwise! Well, here’s what I can give you: a running update, a review/recommendation, and a video! Haha now that I have it all figured out!

she runs…

Not quite like she used to… (wait a minute.. was that 3rd person?! IIICK.) not quite like she not quite like I used to… yet. While I was home I got in a LOT of good QT runs with my mom! It was perfect because I could let myself go slow, and she didn’t have to keep saying, “Erika, you wanna wait for me?” (hehehe.. OK, only a couple times.) It was also a good time to bump my distance a little (key word: a little. I’m following the 10% rule) because I was going slower than usual. It’s not like I came up with this… but a good tip to all new runners is don’t increase your distance and your speed/intensity at the same time. Work on one, get comfortable, and then work on the other. 

Here was my February:

and here’s my March so far:

I’m up to 6.3 miles right now, and will most likely go to 7 this weekend if everything is till feeling good! It’s nice to be able to actually run on the river now, not just to the river and back home!

she i reads…

If you haven’t read the book The Last Lecture yet, you better hop on it. It. Is. Fantastic. No matter what you are dealing with in life, you will find motivation in that book to keep your chin up and keep trucking. My example: just last Sunday night, I was coming towards the end of my run, and all of the sudden I realized, hey, no one has passed me! That quickly turned into, hey, maybe I’m not running so slow! and all these great thoughts. I was feeling good. And then about 30 seconds later, I see these reflective Adidas stripes comin up behind me, and before I know it this guy passes me up. My good quickly turned to %$@!^@&($ and suddenly my maybe 7:40s turned to a definitely 10:00s and I was never going to race again, let alone be “fast”. About a minute into my downward spiral, I remembered a quote from the book (which is actually a quote from Henry Ford, who said it a little differently)…

Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.

That’s all it took to shake those BS thoughts out of my head. It’s true – if I tell myself I can’t do something, then I won’t. Or worse, I won’t even try. Maybe this 30something guy was running faster than me on Sunday, and that’s OK. I know I’m not the fastest kid out there, and clearly not right after surgery. There’s time. But know who I passed once I turned off the Charles and headed down Mass. Ave? Mr. AdidaStripes. Walking home.

and I YouTube…

But just a lil bit. I love dancing whenever I’m home!! Going out is good.. but I like taking classes too. I haven’t really found that kinda thing here in Boston, but that’s OK because I don’t have time for it anyway!

Here’s a little of what I have planned for this (umm.. I can’t promise “week”. I hope!) whenever:

• a new page!
• a reviewwww!
• this summer’s race calendar!

To anyone still out there – thanks for stickin’ around! It’s Caf time homies…

nom nom nom

as promised..

I didn’t forget!

home is…

Home is the place where, when you go there, they have to take you in.

-Robert Frost

Hahah I love that quote. Not that I forced my mom to take me in or anything.. yikes! But it’s true – there is no turning family away. Not here.

I am currently blogging to you from the futon up in our office, watching this 6 year old kid on Ellen who knows basically everything about the solar system and knows more already than half the people I know. Except he just got on the floor and did something called the “swimming tuna”. I’m tellin you – he’s gonna get all the ladies.

 It’s almost time for a refill of my big ol’ scrabble mug of coffee.. Dunn Bros coffee.. ohh I love being home! 

There is a lot to do today! I promise a full catch-up later on: running, school, next year’s decision, the whole deal. For now though, it’s time to go refill this cup and relax a little. My flight, which was supposed to leave out of Logan at 6:05 last night, didn’t leave until 9:50 due to the SNOW STORM in Minneapolis. The plane we were picking us up was coming from Minneapolis so we had to wait for it to wait to be de-iced along with all the other planes. Finally though, it took off, got to Boston three hours later, and by 2:00 this morning, I was home. And of course I was up by 8:00… but it’s ok. I’m HOME!

My attempt at taking a photo out the airplane window with my crappy cell phone. PS  I forgot my camera in Boston.. smart! Cell phone will have to suffice for the week to come.

Caio!
-E

say shhhhh.. minneapolis minneapolis minneapolis

Hmm.. guessing most everyone will NOT know the title reference. Man, you’re missin out!

Dear blog friends, compadres, homefries, homeskillets, buddies, amigos, and all the rest,

I have not forgotten you. No, no… it is once again my ever-so favorite time of the semester. Midterms. The joy of back-to-back tests, the sleepless nights, the post-it notes covering everything in sight, the highlighter marks permanently staining my hands.. what could be better? (Read: kill me now.)

I know what could be better… MINNEAPOLIS.. and three days and 2 hours from now I will be on a plane headed home sweet home. Please excuse my absence until further notice. And by further notice hopefully I mean FRIDAY. 

Goodbye, bonne nuit, hasta luego. 

-E

P.S. Running is going GREAT! I’m up to 4 miles.. which means when I’m home.. I can RUN THE LAKE!!

reunited and it feeeels so gooood…

Erika + Gomer = <3

I gotta go find a tree to carve that into….

OK guys.. I need some tech help here. I brought out Gomer (my child, my lil love, my Garmin) for the first time yesterday since that dreadful rainy “last run” on September 29th. At first it looked like it wasn’t connecting to the satellites.. and I was just like “whatever.. I just need the clock today anyways.” But then… a while into my run I heard the “mile beep” and looked down, and it looked like it was picking up signal. It beeped for the other two miles.. but when I finished my run and reset the timer and looked in the training history, it wasn’t there!? I know I didn’t delete the run.. cause that actually takes a lot of steps. I just cleared the time like you always do after any run. Anyone know what’s up?

My Garmin hadn’t been charged up this whole time.. so I am wondering if that has anything to do with it since I just fully charged it like 2 days ago. I have the 405, if it makes a difference. Any help would be great! I’d much rather get it from you guys than wait on hold with tech support. Buut they’re not open today anyways I’m guessing, since it’s a Sunday. I really want to get this figured out though.. if you guys remember, I kinda love my Garmin. A lot.

Other than that.. how is running going? Wonderfully.

I ran in the Fens yesterday in shorts. If I see on the news that anyone was blinded while walking their dog, I’m truly and deeply sorry. Gotta start somewhere though, right?!

Adios chicoritos.. until next time.

the first day…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning, and ERIKA RAN – the first day.

- Genisis 1

Comrades, the day has finally come – I HAVE OFFICIALLY BEEN CLEARED TO RETURN TO RUNNING. 

That would be the legit note from señor Dr. Denis Clohisy at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, and I have also been cleared by dear Dr. Millis here in Boston, as well as my physical therapist (who I haven’t talked a lot about, but he’s amazing too ), Ian.

Now let’s be clear on some things… “Return to running” does not mean return to where I was at when I stopped. It does also not mean intervals, or tempos, or 400 repeats on the track. It does not mean that in 10 weeks I will be toeing the line at Boston, no matter how badly I want to/how much I think I “could”/how many times I look over at this posted on my wall next to my desk:

Running Boston THIS YEAR is out. You better believe I’m keeping my number though.. because while you can “defer” your time for a second year, you can’t “defer” your payment, and that is $110 I will not be getting back. More than the money though, being able to run, but not being able to RUN, is going to kill me. It already is. Going to watch is going to be ridiculously hard, but there is no way I’m not going. I have two people from home that are flying out here to run, as well as 3 friends from here that are running it this year too. I will be there to support them for sure.

While the news that I get to run again is honestly the best thing I’ve heard since, “Hi, this is Marathon Sports. Your Asics just came in…” it did come with some setbacks. (Oh wait.. so did the Asics situation. Pink? Really? The website said RED.)

Hearing I can run? I’m ecstatic. Thrilled. Elated. Overjoyed. Over the moon. Top of the world. I don’t know how many ways I can say it.. but it couldn’t make me happier. EXCEPT.. I was/am scared. So scared. I’m scared that despite how great my hip (/hips) feel, I’m gonna get out there, and be like, “Shit. It’s not supposed to feel like that.” That hasn’t happened yet, and I feel that with each new run I go on, that fear will dissipate,  but that fear is real. 

So what.. 5 mile? No prob? Mmm… not quite. My doctor cleared me for 10 minutes/2x per day (ideally, or just 20 minutes once). As much as I want to take what he said and be like, “Sure.. no probs.” I honestly know that it’s a bit much. Not that I don’t think I could do that, but because I don’t think I should. The coach here.. even after little stress fractures, he starts his runners out at 10 minutes, every other day. 20 minutes every day.. kinda a big step up from that. I’m sticking to every/other right now for this first week, and I’m planning on evaluating with my PT tomorrow at my appointment. 

So yes. I’m back. Lots is going on right now in my life… I have this huge “Project Lent: 2009″ thing that I’m doing.. more on that later maybe, and oh yeah, that little thing called college:

Sad story – my roomie put my absolute favorite from-home Caribou Coffee travel mug through the DISHWASHER. And the hot water melted the seal. And melted the red outside color. And now its dunzo. She offered to buy me a new one, and I bring to you:

I know I’m all “RunRoamRECYCLE”, but this is kinda overkill. It was the only one that had a solid closing though.. and I need to be able to toss it in my bag, so there you go. “Made with 28% post-consumer recycled content”. Yeah.. it says that.. plus a lot more lil recycle-happy quotes. I am ALL FOR being environmentally conscious, but I don’t like to preach. You’ll never see me wearing one of VS’s “Think Pink, Go Green” shirts. NEVER. 

Oh.. and that lil guy.. I got a new tattoo. It was kinda one of those last minute decision things.. and I’m not so sure about it now. Sorry mom. 

Love to you all, and to all a good night. GREYS!

and now your feature presentation…

… orrrr maybe tonight. I promise I do have a post coming up though! In the mean time… this sweatshirt is pretty dang cute! I wish I could do giveaways!!