5K Run...or 42 minutes of hatin' life

I ran a 5K this weekend. (Just a friendly reminder that I don't "run" run, I jog. And rather slowly at that.) I have this crazy idea of running a 5K a month. However I decided to make this resolution in the middle of February, making me behind from the start and with little time to pick one for the month of February. I carefully researched Houston running events and so I picked the one on the last Saturday of the month and the closest one. It also seemed interesting. It was down in Kemah, which I had only seen briefly after the hurricane, so I figured what better way to see it than run 3.2 miles all around? Silly me. I know everyone uses excuses but work and my personal life has been ridiculous lately, so training was almost non-existent. I'd figured, I ran the first one without extensive training, surely I can run this one. However, I didn't get to do my practice run til Friday evening around 5pm. Just a little more than 12 hours before I would run again. Probably not the best idea for someone who hasn't run on a regular basis in over five months.

Saturday morning was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect. Just a little chilly, but I knew I would warmup when I started running. The was TONS of people there as opposed to the Czhilispiel run. It was "offical" with chips to be placed on the shoe and a loud speaker, there was police lining the route. Quite the opposite from Flatonia where a guy drove in a truck to get us started (not that I'm complaining at all). I placed myself towards the back-middle of the pack. I had planned to run all the way at my slow pace. I knew, on average, I can run a 14 minute mile. Killer speed, right?

The gun shot, the herd took off. I felt fairly confident in my placing of myself. I could keep up the runner. Pass the lady in a stroller. Check. Pass the ladies in their mid-40s. Check. Keep up with the fairly healthy looking guy. Check. Pass the old lady....Not-so-check. Then the runner-looking guy took off. I decided to use the old lady as my pace point. About minute 10, I began to think, "Why am I doing this? I had to wake up super early to get here and I'm not enjoying this as much as the last time." Oh well, I kept running with the old lady a few feet in front of me. FINALLY. Mile 1. A water station, yes! Slow down to drink, but wait, do I really want to start running again. *Sigh* Off I went. However, my brain started sabotaging me. "Why do you want to keep running? All the runners have separated from you." I glanced back, a good ways back were the walkers. I was stuck in the middle with about 4 people keeping my pace. I gave in and walked about 1/3 of the second mile.

Around a turn right before mile 3, I heard shoes. What is this? Someone trying to pass me? Ha. Time to start running again. (I'm a bitch like that, I know.) Mile 3 is where the course lapped back on itself. I was REALLY hating life at this point. I began to see the "fast" people coming the other way. How could this be? THEY looked like they were hating life too. I saw 150 go by me; not one had a smile. Which proposes the question, WHY were we all there?

To be honest, I don't know! For me, part of it is about being able to say I can do something that not many other people can/have done. I'm not gonna lie, it takes incredible mental stamina to run any distance other than a sprint. I'm trying to stop giving up on things and pushing through and conquering them. Running is one of those things I plan to conquer. Not only do I consider running a physical sport, but it's also mental training. Of course, there's the health factor too. If I actually trained on a regular basis, I'm sure my run would become easier, I'd have more aerobic stuff, blah, blah, stuff you already know.

In spite of all of this, I crossed the finish line at 42:05 which is BETTER than my Czhilispiel time. Imagine that! I was being such a negative nancy the whole run and my time was better! So I'm motivated to hopefully start semi-training soon (baby steps right?) and running another one in March! Woo! (I'll post the rest of my stats when I get them.)

Facebook Friends!

I've been told before that I have too many friends. Facebook says I have 543 friends. When my aunt joined Facebook, she was astounded at that number and exclaimed, "How can you have that many friends?" Well, I am proud to say that I actually know every single person on my friends list. I don't just meet people one time and add them as a friend. I can tell you a story about every single person on there. Some of them I haven't seen in years and some I see everyday. Although I'm not an 'active' facebook-er (that's kind of like the -y words, I add -er because it's my blog and I can!) and message or post on people's page everyday, I do check status updates to see what's happening in everyone's life. However, yesterday, I saw TWO people from high school which I haven't seen since high school and both of them remembered me. It's always awkward though, there's that moment when you're like, hmmm, I remember them but do they remember me. One in particular was visiting with another friend, then walked away. I was thinking, HEY! he's my friend on facebook, why the heck didn't he say anything? (Of course, *I* didn't say anything until the exact moment when he walked away. He was wearing a hat and it was low light for pete's sake.) Later that night, he walked back to the table and was like, Amanda?...Amanda Reynolds?! At this point, there was high pitched noises coming from me and hugs exchanged and what not. He said, "I thought it was you, I mean, we're FACEBOOK FRIENDS!" It made me laugh because it validates the fact that I'm not the only person who stalks other people on facebook. (Jenna, for the record, this person was Matt Wolfert!)

I'm not gonna lie. I stalk people online. Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, even just plain google. I'm interested in people I've connected with and want to see what they are doing. Unfortunately, there's just simply not enough time in the day to connect with all of them. I even lost touch with someone from middle school and found her through google. I haven't had the nerve to message/email her because I don't know how to approach it, but I now have her blog on my google reader. Does this make me crazy? Probably yes. Am I the only one who does it? HECK NO! Ask anyone who is on one of those sites and they'll tell you the same. They're all closet stalkers. I'm just open about it. HOWEVER, my powers are now being put to use and I have a super secret stalking assignment that I'm excited about. All that hype and I'm not even gonna tell you what it is. I just wanted to let you know I can use my powers for good too.

Disclaimer: I don't really STALK people like in the textbook definition of the word. I don't go to their houses and park across the street and watch them eat dinner. That's not for me. BUT I will go find my ex-boyfriend's wife's facebook page and look at her pictures. That's all. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. :D

On to the road to healthy...

I'm having a difficult getting back into the healthy swing this year. Actually since the hurricane, I've just had a lack of motivation. But tonight! one step forward. I had grapes instead of the usual cookie or chocolate. I've had a ridiculous craving for sweets in the past 5 months. I usually never eat sweets and these days it seems as thought I can't get through the day without a fix. Another thing is that I had kicked my caffeine habit. I had a coke about once a month, usually around "that time of the month." But now, with all my travels, it's way easier to grab a large soda to last me the trip rather than a bottled water. So the reason I'm posting is that a) I'm really proud of myself for reaching for fruit and not sweets. I know it's small, but baby steps, right? Second, I'm gonna start exercising more often. I think I'm gonna aim for 12 5Ks this year. Roughly, that's about one a month. I'm already a little behind, but I'm sure I can make it up. I think I'm gonna try and do one this Saturday in Kemah. And thennnnnnnnnn....

Sunday I'm seeing "Legally Blonde: The Musical" with two of our favorite ladies!! I'm way excited. I'm looking forward to enjoying the evening and catching up. And Kristen, in case you're interested, I updated my food blog. You (or Justin) might find it interesting!

Things I've Discovered in My Travels..

(...that I *REALLY* like) should be the sub-title. If you follow me on facebook, you'll know that I have driven all across the state of Texas in the past two weeks. I am now at 2100 miles since two Fridays ago. (I got my oil changed then, that's how I know). I have stopped at MANY gas stations along the way. If you become the traveler like I am, there's certain things you look for in a gas station. Number one is ALWAYS a clean restroom. I can you the best gas station to stop on your way to almost any destination in Texas. Buc-ee's in Luling would rank number one on the top of the clean restroom list. I have NEVER seen it dirty. EVER. Period. In fact, I would almost rather use the restroom there than in some people's homes I've been in. True story. Next is a good fountain drink selection. Diet Dr. Pepper is a plus. Cherry coke is an extra plus. And syrups are extra double plus. There's other things like homemade food and distance in between destinations that can factor into the ranking.

Here are two things that I have found in the past two weeks that have sky rocketed their respective gas stations to the head of the pack in their gas-station-worthiness. Hold on to your pants...

The Most Awesome Hand Dryer @ Stripes in Riveria, TX

I cannot tell you how much I love this thing. I HATE air hand dryers with a passion. I can never ever EVER get my hands dry and I end up wiping my hands on my pants as I walk out. And then I have wets spots on my hiney. Not cool. However, this bad boy rocks my socks off. You just stick your hands in and pull them out, bam! dry. No joke. One pass through and they're dry. You can go two if you doubt it, but it works. Even better than paper towels I would say. If I owned a convenience store, I would buy this. Or maybe even two. Heck I might even put one in my next house.


Clean Lids! @ Shell by Baylor Campus in Waco, TX
So I have to admit, I'm kind of a freak when it comes to germs. I get easily grossed out by people sneezing, coughing, touching gross stuff and then wanting to touch me or something that I consume. Blech. I could seriously throw up just writing about it. Needless to say, I get a little nervous and the sweats when I have to pick out a drink lid in a fountain drink setting. Do you pick the one on top? What if the inside is up? Has someone else already touched it? Where were their hands? Did they wash them like I do? AHH! So this handy little inventions puts my heart at ease. OH! If only every gas station would invest in one I could drink my fountain beverages in peace!

Be on the lookout for these handy new inventions. I'll keep my eyes open for more!