Colorado Summary

I've decided that Denver is an interesting place, and most likely not some place I would want to move to. Although the city seems fun and interesting, it is so much different than Florida. I did get to run in this city, although it's not as much as I would have liked to. Here's a summary of my trip :)

Sunday Night: my flight was delayed so I got in pretty late. The flight was pretty bad, and we had turbulence almost the entire time. I was exhausted by the time I got in so I just grabbed a cab and checked into my hotel. Before I left the airport, I did get a chance to see some of their famous art murals, which were pretty creepy. Ok, like really creepy. After I checked in to my hotel I walked to a nearby pizza place and ordered take out. By that time, I figured I'd call it a night since I had to be up early the next morning for a conference. 

Monday: my conference started on Monday. I attended this conference last year, but this year I was actually presenting in it. I know, scary right? Right away we got into sessions and for the most part they were pretty good. I love this conference because it's like a place for all of us nerdy I/O psychologists can get together and talk about testing. After the conference I decided to go running. I had asked the hotel about someplace to run and they recommended a nearby trail. I initially got lost trying to find it (surprising) but stopped a cyclist to ask where the Cherry Creek Trail was located... Hs response was awkward, and he took a long look at me before asking me why I wanted to go to the trail. I looked at him confused, and told him I wanted to go running. He hesitated giving me directions, but gave them to me anyways. Flustered and confused I went to the direction he gave me... This interaction should have been my first clue that this trail was not a good idea.

I start running in some general direction not really knowing where I'm going, when I stumble across the trail. The entrance of the trail looked scary and there were 8 homeless people congregated around it. Now, typically I'm not scared, but this caught me off guard. I contemplated about whether or not to go on the trail (the trail is located underneath the streets) and decided to go for it when I saw a cyclist cut through them.



Let me tell you something about running in Colorado. It was ridiculously hard. I was struggling to keep a fast pace and could only maintain an 11 minute/mile pace. I literally couldn't go any faster. Even though the trail was pretty, I was so uncomfortable by the amount of homeless people and drug activity going on by the trail, that I ended up running back up on the streets. I only ended up doing 3.5 miles, but figured that was good enough. Since they were having a conference social that night, I got ready to go out :)

Tuesday: since it was the day of my presentation, I could not fall asleep. I figured a run would help me get all of the jitters out, and so I set out to find a new place to run. I opted going down one of the main streets and figured I would just wing it. Since it was my second time in this altitude, I actually felt much better. I kept about a 10 minute/mile pace and was able to go about 4 miles. It felt absolutely wonderful. The weather was much better too. The day before it was in the 90s and that morning it must have been in the 60s.

        

After I got ready, it was the moment of doom; it was time for my presentation. I was so nervous. Like ridiculously nervous, but I had some familiar faces in the room so it made me feel a little bit better. I have to admit I had a rocky start, but after about 10 minutes in, I felt like I could actually pull off the presentation. Once the presentation was over, I was relieved and humbled by all of the positive feedback I received. I felt like I had just been on a roller coaster and was so excited. I celebrated by having a cheeseburger and milkshake at Sam's No. 3 which was featured in One of those Food Network shows.  The rest of the sessions at the conference were great and I couldn't wait to hang out with a group of conference people that night.

Since it was one of the girls birthdays from the conference she wanted to go out to dinner before we went to the Rockies game. She had actually own tickets at the social event we went to the night before and gave me the ticket! I was so ridiculously excited. The first game I ever attended as a kid was the Marlins versus the Rockies. The seats were amazing and we ended up having a blast! They dragged me to the hospitality suite that night, and I did my best to be social, but excused. Yield to go to bed so I could wake up early to go running!!

Wednesday: I woke up early to go on a run. I was actually met by two other girls who I spoke to the night before about the run: E and V. Now, I must admit, I didn't think they were going to make it to the run since I had left them to go to sleep. We set out on our run, and tried our luck at Cherry Creek Trail again. This time I could actually direct us where to go, and there was no group of homeless men congregated by the entrance. Once on the trail we came across some sketchy characters, but it wasn't as bad as the crowd I had seen on Monday. We ended up having such a fun time talking and laughing. Even though we only did about 2.5 miles, I had so much fun and was glad they came on the run with me. As a note, after we headed back to the hotel from the trail, there was someone getting arrested by the entrance, this, confirming the sketchiness of the trail lol.

I attended the last sessions of the day and wrapped everything up before heading to the airport. Even though I had to be at the airport for about 5 hours, I must admit it hasn't been that bad. I'm about to board the flight and I haven't been ridiculously bored. I'm hoping I can sleep or get some reading on the flight, but I doubt it. Although I'm getting in late, it's okay because I have the day off! However, I'm getting back on flight tomorrow night to head to Nashville where I'll find other trails to run... And hopefully safer ones too!

Frustrated Part II...

You thought the drama would end? Guess again. I got a phone call today about the incident that sparked this whole frustration. I didn't want to take the phone call but I figured I would go ahead and get this over with and address the situation. So I take the call and we talk. The talk goes better than I expected but I'm sobbing by the end and it's still not over; I'm supposed to make a mends with someone in my family. Before I make a mends, I reached out to my best friend and talked to her for a while about the situation. While I'm talking to her I get another heart palpitation and figured there was no way in hell I'm having a stressful conversation tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Have I mentioned I really hate family drama? Ugh, I hope this is all over soon. My little heart can't take it.

So, now that I updated you on my drama, let's talk about my workout: Orange Theory!!

Today was a tornado type of workout - every single workout is 2 minute intervals. After every two minutes you would move to the next station. This means I would start off on the treadmill for 2 minutes. then rotate to the weight room for 2 minutes, and finally end at the rower for 2 minutes. After those three station rotations, I would start all over again. Here were all of our 2 minute treadmill workouts: Run at a Push Pace (8.5MPH); Run at a Push Pace (8.5MPH); Walk at a 15% incline; Run at a Push Pace (8.5MPH); Walk at a 15% incline. - I feel like I'm forgetting one of my tornado workouts :(

Our 2 minute weight room workouts were: 8 reps of SBT muscle ups and 8 reps of tricep extensions on the SBT straps; straight kettle bell swings (I did 66 reps with a 20 pound kettlebell); dumbbell press step up with a step down bicep curl;  8 reps of chest presses and 8 reps of reverse flys; 8 kettlebell squats with something else.... - I forgot one of my tornado workouts :(

Our 2 minute rower workouts were : straight rowing; straight rowing again; 8 reps of row squats and 8 reps of bicep curls; 8 reps of V-ups and 8 reps of leg raises; 8 reps of pushups and 8 reps of mountain climbers; straight rowing.  - I forgot one of my tornado workouts :(

The last 3 minutes we have to do a core workout where we held a dumbbell. It was tough. I definitely channeled some of my frustrations from the past couple of days in my workout. I am already starting to feel sore. I'm not too sure what my workout will consist of tomorrow, but I definitely need to do something.

Frustrated...

I'm pretty frustrated right now. Actually, I'm angry. I know I don't blog when I'm frustrated, but since this blog mostly talks about my life, I figured I should just vent it out on here. I get pretty frustrated with my family. I know everyone has their family drama, and mine isn't any different, but it just sucks. I'm the only girl in the family so my whole life they've placed a protective shield around me and treated me like a princess. It's ridiculously annoying. Yet, they act like it's my job to always dote on them and reach out to them and just be plain submissive to all of their requests and well... I'm over it. I'm over doing everything for everyone else and reaching out to them while they fail to pick up the phone and dial my number. I swear I'm going to lock myself in my house and communicate by pigeon. Ok, I know I can't but it's fun to think about lol.

So, now that I got that off of my chest, I feel much better. I wish I felt this way before going to run club because I'm sure I would have torn up my run. I laugh as I write this because my old track coach used to try to get me mad before my track meets so I could shred my race. LOL. He knew me so well. Angry music also gets me pumped up. Give me some Linkin Park and Paramore and I can just rock out.

So today in run club we had a 3.15 mile run. I ended up finishing it in 23:05 which is a 7:19 min/mile pace. Not too bad; I'm so glad I went to run club. This week has been pretty frustrating and stressful and I just really needed to go out there today. I've come to love this run club. I've been running with them off and on for about a year and I'm so happy that there is something like this so close to my house. I've made a ton of friends, and just laugh a lot while I'm there. They've nicknamed me giggles since I can't stop giggling when my friend A is with me. Her and I hang with the faster group, and we are notorious for getting lost. It's come to the point that the pack no longer follows our lead when we pace them. I can't blame them lol.

We definitely veered off the path again today, but luckily we got back on track. I'm sad I'm not going to be able to run with them next week, but I'm sure I'll have some great runs while I'm in Denver :) Yup, I'm going to Denver for a conference. I'm presenting in it too. I'm really nervous about it. I might workout the morning before the presentation to get my jitters out. I don't leave until Sunday, so I'll resume my normal workouts until then. I can't wait until tomorrow: Orange Theory night. I'm hoping I can get all my frustrations out in the gym.

So Very Sore...

The past couple of days I've been non-stop moving around. Typically during the work week, once I get home after a workout or from work, I'm super lazy. I only cook out of necessity and minimally clean-up around the house. Don't get me wrong, our place isn't a mess, but I save the big cleaning jobs for the weekend.

So you can get an idea of my life the past couple of days, let me recap my last couple of workouts:

Friday - I worked out at the gym at work. Since I skipped my workout on Thursday to go to my church meeting, I figured I would just get my workout in right after work. I started off the workout with a 1 mile run (7:45 min/mile). After the run, I worked in an arm circuit that included 3 sets of: 12 reps of military presses (15 pounds), 12 reps of dumbbell deadlifts (22 pounds), and 12 reps of tricep raises (20 pounds). My next arm circuit included 3 sets of: 12 reps of bicep curls (15 pounds) on each arm and 12 reps of bent over tricep extensions (15 pounds). My last circuit was targeted for my abs and included 3 sets of: 50 reps Russian twists (20 pound weight), 12 reps of V-ups and holding a plank for as long as possible (just over a minute). It was a pretty awesome workout I'm not going to lie.

Saturday - I went to Orange Theory and crushed it. I took Gatorade gel chews right before the class since I was starved. Once I got to the gym, we encountered annoying man from the gym. Annoying man is a guy who occasionally ends up in one of our classes during the week. He's the type of guy that thinks he's better than everyone else and gets satisfaction from putting others down within earshot range. I don't like him, and I make it a point to act like he is invisible. Since I was feeling especially feisty that day, I decided to turn up my workout a notch. The first block on the treadmill was distance based and looked like this: .40 miles at 1% incline, .30 at 3% incline, .20 at 4% incline and finally a 200 meter row. I ended up getting in 2 rounds of this workout before they called time. The second time around we had to start the distances from the bottom and work our way up. Now, as horrible as this sounds, I don't remember the rest of the workout, but I know it involved a lot of jumping.

After my workout I came home and finished the yardwork for my husband. Since he's not a fan of yardwork and has been helping out around the house, I figured it would be a nice surprise! Once I cleaned up, I went over to my friend N's new place so we could paint and get stuff done around the townhouse. Not only did we paint, but we hung up curtains and shelves. We definitely got crap done that day. Since I had my Fitbit on, it let me know that I took over 15,000 steps.

Sunday - I was super sore all over the place. I figured all of my craziness from the day before caught up with me. I still wanted to do something active, so I only ran 3 miles. I'm not sure how long it took me, but I'm pretty sure it was under 27 minutes.

Monday - Orange Theory Night! So I'm still sore from this weekend, but was excited to get to class. We started off the class with 21 minutes at the treadmill. Our trainer had 3 separate treadmill blocks each 7 minutes long. The first block we had to alternate between base pace and push pace with an all out sprint for 45 seconds at the end. The second block it was all about incline. We had to spend a minute at different levels of incline with a 30 second sprint at the end. The last block we had to row for 400 meters (2 minutes or less) and then alternated between base pace and all out sprints for 30 seconds.

The next 21 minutes was dedicated to the weight room. We had three separate blocks each 7 minutes long. The first block we had to do 10 reps where we had to sit down on the bench with a jump up; 10 maneater reps (weight in each arm - plank; row on one arm; row on the other arm; pushup with the dumbbells; get up; and, bicep curl). The second block we had to do 10 reps of dumbbell deadlifts and 10 reps of  side squats with a press.
The last block we had to do 10 Pikes on the SBT straps and 10 mountain climbers (for each leg) on the SBT straps. We actually had our choice between the SBT straps or on the bench. Since I never tried the SBT straps before I figured why not. Big mistake. It sucked....awesome workout though.

 You would think the insanity would stop there, but it didn't. Once I got home I folded three loads of laundry; made a pile of things to give to my mom; cleaned the kitchen and swept around the house. Once I was finished, I passed out in bed. You would think I slept like a baby, but I woke up at 4AM with neck pain. Today I put Icy Hot on it and a heating pad, but I'm still in pain. I guess that's what happens when you move nonstop.

Run Club Was Comical..

I'm laughing as I post this. I mean, honestly, who gets lost during a group run? Obviously I do. Let me tell you what happened to me last night.

I met up at the run club location like I typically do and say hi to everyone that I recognize. Since it was a smaller group they were having two pacers go out instead of three. The first pace group was 9 minute miles and above, and the second pace group was under 9 minute miles. I head out with the second group and sprint to the front of the pack. Since it's a route I had never taken before, I automatically got lost and had to turn around after getting yelled at by everyone (I should never be a pack leader).

About halfway through the run I was close to the front pack, but we had a decent stretch between us. Two of the people I was following turned off to another road, but I decided not to follow them. I swore that they were the ones going the wrong way, and I knew the route better than they did. Giant fail. Apparently, that was the road you had to turn off of. I didn't realize this until a mile later.

Since I know the area pretty well, I knew how to get back, but it was just going to take much longer than the original route. I kept silently cursing at myself for being stubborn and always believing that I'm right. As I'm approaching the end, a police officer pulls over and yells at me to get on the sidewalk instead of using the bike lane. Yup, I got freaking pulled over with lights and all. As she drove off I glares at the back of her vehicle.

When I finally got back, two of the other runners asked me what happened. They thought something had happened to me since I ran almost 2 miles more than our original route (making it 5.31 instead of 3 miles)!! They laughed at me as I told them the story, since that night was the planking competition. I had a short recovery time before starting the planking challenge. Once we had started my arms turned into jello and I ended up holding the plank for almost 3:30 minutes. It was insane. However, the girl who came in first held it for over 6 minutes.

Overall, last night was epic..

I Love My FitBit,,

Sorry babe :) I know that you are tired of hearing about my FitBit but you know I had to blog about it.

So what's a FitBit you may ask? It's a tiny device that tracks your physical activity by clipping to your bra, belt, etc. It takes all the activity you've done for the day and uploads to the program you download. Then at the end of the week it provides you with details about your physical activity for the week. My best friend, A, has been hounding me to get one and was super excited when I got it this weekend.

So far I've gotten 10,000 steps every day. I even had a dance party in my living room so I could get to 10,000 steps (it tracks when you run in place). IT was hilarious. My husband was laughing at me as I danced around our living room like a total idiot. Here's a picture of my FitBit:



So enough about my FitBit. I actually did some sort of physical activity today besides dancing like an idiot in my living room. I cycled while watching one of my favorite shows: Pretty Little Liars. Yes, I'm a 12 years old teeny bopper living in an adult body. Even though I only cycled for 30 minutes it felt good! I can't wait to go to run club tomorrow. We're having the planking challenge again so I'm hoping I do well!! Wish me luck!!

Fab Fit Fun Box!!

So before I talk about my last two workouts, I wanted to blog about my Fab Fit Fun box that I received in the mail :) This box costs about $50 (I had a $15/off coupon) and has over $200 worth of products. I was so excited when I opened this box; it felt like Christmas!! Here's a picture of the box:

Here is a list of most of the products:

1. Purlisse Pur-Protect Moisturizers SPF 30
2. Full size bottle of Sonya Dakar Flash Facial
3. Zoya Nail Polish
4. Water Infuser Bottle
5. Balanced Guru No Frizz Hair Oil
6. Thursday Friday Mini Clutch 
7. Kisstixx Strawberry & Chocolate Spf 15 (2 Balms) 
8. Popchips

My favorite product was the water infuser bottle!!!! So far I've put strawberries and grapes in it (tomorrow I'm putting in pineapple). I giggle when I take a sip out of the bottle because it has a quote on the bottom that says "Grab life by the exercise balls." Hehe!!

Ok.. So now for my workouts...

Sunday: I wanted to get in a nice 5 mile run. My Garmin died after the first mile which really bummed me out. I did track my first mile at 7:06. I slowed down after the first mile, so I wasn't too sure of my pace. It sure was ridiculously hot and I was glad I woke up early to get my run in. I definitely think that running longer distances in the afternoon are a no-go for the rest of the summer.

Monday: Orange Theory night! My trainer remembered my triathlon and asked me how I did :) I was excited to tell her I kicked butt. She is so cute. Before I knew she was married I was trying to set her up with my cousin lol. Yes, I'm ridiculous - this should be a surprise to no one.

Our workouts tonight consisted of 7 minute blocks. My first block was:

• 2 minutes at Push Pace (8.5 MPH)
• 2 minutes at Base Pace (6.0 MPH)
• 1 minute at Push Pace (9 MPH)
• 1 minute at Base Pace (6.5 MPH)
• 30 seconds at Push Pace (9.5 MPH)
• 30 seconds at All Out Speed (12 MPH)

My second block was a continuous loop of:

• 12 Tricep Extensions with Calf Raises (15 pound weights)
• 12 Butt Tap Squats with bicep curls (10 pound weights)
• Hand to Elbows Plan Walks (6 on each hand)

My third block was a continuous loop of:

• 100 Meter Row (less than 30 seconds)
• Reverse lunges on the rower (10 on each leg)

My fourth block was a continuous loop of:

• 12 Muscleups on the SBT straps
• 12 Highrows with bicep curls
• 12 Spider planks

My fifth block consisted of:

• 3 minutes of push pace (8 MPH)
• 1 minute of base pace (6 MPH)
• 5 Close grip Pushups
• 5 Wide grip Pushups

My sixth block consisted of:

• 20 Jumping Jack Presses (8 pound ball)
• 24 Scissor kicks with a static lunge
• 12 One leg V-ups on each leg 

I really tried to focus on form today instead of speed and I have to say... I'm definitely sore. I'm hoping that I'm not super sore tomorrow. Regardless I'll be off for a swim!! I can't wait!

Happy Birthday America!!

I love three day weekends! Especially when it involves celebrating our great country :) I took full advantage of this weekend and packed in a bunch of fun stuff to do! Let's start with a recap of Friday! This is a long post full of pictures so I'm sorry!

Friday: Fourth of July triathlon!! This triathlon was much bigger than any of the other triathlons I've done in the area. It was pretty awesome seeing all those people who love participating in triathlons as much as I do. One of the best moments of the triathlon was listening to the Star Spangled Banner being played just before the start. After the song ended, the crowd erupted with applause and cheering; it was incredible.

I had three friends participating in the duathalon (run-bike-run) and met up with them before the start. For some of them it was their first time, so I showed them where to place their race numbers and looked over their gear to make sure they were good to go. I was so busy focusing on helping them that I almost forgot my goggles and ear plugs before the swim. I raced to the transition area just before they closed it and was momentarily flustered lol.

My friend G came to cheer us on and was able to take some sweet pictures. Here are some of the swim pics:

So brief history about this venue. I've raced this venue before: it was the labor day triathlon last year and I was sick when I did it. I did pretty decent overall in the triathlon, but had a brief scare in the water. I had a full fledge panic in the middle of the lake after I swallowed a bunch of water, couldn't breathe, and started violently coughing. I began flailing my arms and was trying to grab the kayaks attention because I felt like I wasn't going to be able to tread water while I was trying to recover. I actually caught a grip of myself about 30 seconds later and was able to breathe. Another 30 seconds later I started to swim again (I was totally shaken up but figured I should try to get out of the water as quickly as possible). It was the scariest swim I have ever had (not even my half ironman swims were ever that scary). Since this was the first time I was swimming in the lake after my scare, I was a little nervous.

I made a friend right before the swim and it was nice to be distracted while we waited for the start (when I get nervous I talk and laugh a lot, so it made sense that I made a friend). The race started and I was off. You never really get a chance to think once the race starts, you pretty much go on automatic mode trying to finish each sport. I typically start in the back of the swim because I hate running into people and getting kicked. I should actually start near the front because I'm one of the better swimmers, which is bizarre. Who would have thought that I could actually swim? From my race stats I placed 3/17 on the swim from my age category and 15/124 on the swim out of all of the females. I actually enjoy swimming and found a new place to train so I am going to work on my swim a bit more. My overall time on .25 was 07:34.

Once I got out of the water I ran through the transition area to where my bike was stationed. Here's some pictures of my transition!



Since I don't clip on to my bike, my transition time is slower than a lot of other triathletes since they don't have to put socks and running shoes on.  I make up for it on my second transition time since they have to put their socks and running shoes on and I don't. Once I put all my stuff on, I grabbed my bike and I was ready to go! I forgot my Garmin during this triathlon which sucked since that's how I track my time on the bike and run. My motto for this race was just: go as fast as you can lol. Here is a picture of me coming out of the transition area right before I started the bike.

 

Now the bike always gets me flustered. I don't ever cycle so I'm not confident in this sport. Plus, you see people at these things with over $5,000 bikes who look at you and your bike like you're garbage. It sucks. I know it's not about the bike but the rider, but it's hard to not get intimidated.

Let me start by saying that I initially went down the wrong way when I started the bike. I made a right on the sidewalk instead of the road (who does that??). Some of the spectators got out of my way (since that's where they were standing) and laughed at me as I had to cut across the grass and yelled out "my bad." I also had to laugh as I got on the road and started making my way on the course. I tried to find someone that I could pace off of and did my best to try to go as fast as I could. I ended up feeling good about my cycle. My overall time for the 10 miles on the bike was 32:01 (18.7 MPH). This is probably the fastest time I've ever had on the bike. I chuckled to myself when I got to see my time. I remember the time when I was proud of being able to hold 12 MPH on the bike. Here are some pictures of my dismount.

 

I got off the bike and ran straight to the transition area. I felt great and I wanted to finish this thing. I had been passed by a bunch of girls on the cycle portion and just wanted to go on full attack mode on the run lol. I sound like such a predator hahaha!

One of the women who finished right before I did on the bike had started the run at the same time I had. Her pace was ridiculous and I figured I would try to keep up with her as much as possible. She took off after the first mile, but I had a pretty decent pace at that point and tried my best to maintain it. Not having a Garmin really does put you at a disadvantage since there are no timers on the course! The run was pretty hard and I was really pushing myself. Overall, it was a good run. I did have one irritating moment near the end of the run when some woman was hell bent on not letting me pass her. She got right next to me (like literally breathing down my neck) and tried to maintain my pace as she pounded her shoes on the pavement. I typically don't care if people pace off of me (hell I pace off people), but this woman was literally on top of me and it seemed to me like she was determined to just try to beat me. Luckily her breathing was heavy and I knew that I was just about to pick up my pace, so I figured I would lose her soon. I eventually lost her after a couple of minutes and sprinted it in. The end of the race was funny because one of the men I passed told me I had to pick up my pace since I was 28 years old and I was still young lol. I grinned as I reached the finish line; I had PR'd. I couldn't believe it. My overall run time was 22:40 for 3 miles (a 7:33 min/mile pace). Like I said this is where I attack; I finished 2/17 of my age group and 16/124 females. Here are some of the pictures of the run.

I ran back to find my friend C and cheer him on!!

My overall time was 1:04:51. I beat my previous time on the course by almost 3 minutes. I couldn't freaking believe it. I had to laugh because I was wearing my lucky socks. Almost every time I wear them I beat my previous time. I ended up placing 3rd in my age group and made it to the podium. It was such a great race!!

That afternoon my husband and I had two parties to go to. They were both pool parties so I just got to relax in the pool and tread water. This was probably the best way for me to recover. I didn't work out today at all and slept a heck of a lot which was nice. I will however try to get a nice long run in tomorrow.  Hope the rest of you are enjoying your Fourth of July weekend as well :)

Pace Leader!

So today they asked me to be pace leader for the 7:00 min/mile group!!! AHHHHHH!!!! I was so excited. I know; I'm lame. I just felt like it was such an honor and they picked me!!! Ok, granted I am not the fastest runner in that group. Honestly, I'm sure I didn't maintain a straight 7:00 min/mile (I was pretty close though I think), but I sure as hell kept up with the boys. At the very end of the run one of them even waited until I caught up and pushed me to the end. It was awesome. Sorry, I get so excited when I hit moments like this. It's so surreal.

It was only about a year and half ago when I broke a 24:00 minute 5K. Now I'm breaking a 22:00 minute 5K. It's taken a lot of hard work and dedication, but to me it's worth it. I am proud of everyone who gets out there and does the best they can. A part of me wonders how much more time I can cut off, or how much more I can accomplish. I hear that women peak in their 30s for running and I'm not even there yet, so I hope it happens to me :)

My real dream is to get sponsored. It's ridiculously hard, but I feel like it would be so cool. Not only that but I would get tons of cool stuff! Who doesn't want cool stuff? If you say you don't, you're a liar. I'm not even sure how you would go about this whole getting sponsored thing. I was hoping that if you did enough races and were decently fast someone would pick you out of a crowd and offer to be your sponsor, but I'm pretty sure that's not how it works lol. I also think I need to be a heck a lot of faster. I'm working on it. Who knows? Maybe one day it'll happen. Until then I'm going to keep doing what I love doing: running...