sailing in the rain again - day 5.
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: hot digidy
Topic: Active
went to school today. We had a better instructor today, Joe. No wind again and rain. Wish I had a camera on me - there were three rainbows at night at sunset, two to the south, and one to the east of us, as the sun was setting behind the stormy clouds and burining in the horizon when it cleared some. Never knew you could have rainbows at sunset like that.

3 days to BF
Mood:  amorous
Topic: my own bachelorette show
talked to BF for hours tonight. can't wait to see him friday.

I won!
Mood:  bright
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
Today I ran my longest and hardest race ever. Universal Sole Rock'N'Sole Trail Challenge. 4.75 miles of hills, forest, ditches, logs, and low dence foilage. This is now my favorite race and most fun. This is why I want to be in shape - I want to do more races like this. They are great. Weather was perfect 74, dry, and sunny.

This is how the race went. In the 1st minute I didn't think I'd be able to finish. My legs felt like led and everyone was passing me. Very competitive race. It felt great all the way through. In retrospect I wish I pushed myself harder - but I had no idea what I was in for when I started.

Next time I got to remember to bring some antiseptic wipes for people - a bunch of people crashed out on the course and the checkpoints didn't have 1st aid kits.

My adventure running shoes were comfortable till the end. The dry-fit shirt I got from Sports Authority was worth evey penny. I stayed dryer there then in my face and everywhere else. It really does work!

The heart rate monitor did its job and paced me well. I was in my 80-90% of heart rate zone, zone 4, for 29 minutes, and the rest of the time I was above. My goal was to try to stay in that zone the entire run. Problem was that uphill, that's impossible. I guess I'm really out of shape because my walking uphill after running is zone 4. I'm also learning about recovery - longer you run, longer the recovery. My average bpm was 174 for the run, which is roughly 89.5%. I gunned the last .75 mile. I could have gone faster but I wanted to be safe on the path and to get the benefit of the training. Plus it was longer distance and uphill, I didn't know what I was capable of doing without killing myself and I wanted to make sure I finish the race without injury.

Bejoy ran too. My final time 52:48.8 I think. Bejoy 58 something.

I won the raffle for an addidas Tshirt - they had great sponsors like coors beer -free beer on tap for all, Caribu coffee, clif bar, yoplait, naked juice, and that P something overhyped performance water (which actually tastes really good), really good! and some other energy drink too that tasted like rotten broccoli. The trophies were "shoes" really neat idea. Then addidas gave them a lot of merchandise for the raffle. Only about 150 people ran, if that. Maybe 100? Not sure. Not many. So no wonder I got my first medal - 3rd place in my age group.

oklahoma
Topic: Day to Day
Today after the race, I went to visit my friends (2 sisters and one brother) and their new puppy Pig, in order to meet their mother who was visiting from Ohio. She's really cool and I enjoyed meeting her. Then I went to my other friend Jen's house, and she made me lunch. We talked for a few hours (she wanted love advise), and then I went home to pick up Gina and my parents and go see Oklahoma, the musical. It was just so-so. I have season tickets to Broadway in Chicago. The plays are hit or miss.

strawberry visitor
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Day to Day
Originally sent to BF. Look who was visiting my strawberries! too bad he didn't stay for me to get a better shot.

BF later told me this is a katydid. And it is. I'll try to scan in the pix I took with a different camera soon.

Uno!
Mood:  a-ok
Topic: Day to Day
Went to a party Saturday night at NI's house, where we watched an old Jet Lee movie, ate Indian food, I learned how to play Uno from GP, and that she is a sore winner, and then we traded scarys storie, then watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre (had to leave early so I still haven't seen the whole thing - like horror movies OK, more into thrillers though). I should write down the scary stories sometime because they were great. My friend PK is a master storyteller. I avoided going to T's house. Also, I temporarily hid my keys from myself and went into a search frenzy. And in the day I went to Katusha's and bought $220 worth of clothes. That store's just soo cool.

Go NTE Go
Mood:  quizzical
Topic: Joblog
my coworker found an old NTE cheerleading uniform which is my size. I'm keeping it. weird.

loopy parents
Mood:  quizzical
Now Playing: ocho ocho
Topic: Family
my parents lost their minds. They have been handing around me quite a bit. Ok, not a problem. But I noticed that was weird. So last night they called me 3 times while I was in class. When I called them back, they said they need to come over and talk to me RIGHT NOW. I was freaking out all the way home. They couldn't just come out and say it. They think I have a thyroid condition because they noticed my hands were shaking twice. They lost their minds. They want me to go get a blood test from this endocrenologist. I am like, what? I know my hands don't shake, unless I've got them on a bad angle or if I'm nervous or something. So whatever. I'll get the test done for their peace of mind. Then I'll never take them seriously again, and I'll ask them to in return get their heads checked, and stop watching cable hospital shows.

1st day riding the 420 with Erin
Now Playing: My Bonnie
Topic: Active
My bonnie is over the ocean
My bonnie is over the sea
My bonnie is over the ocean
Oh bring back my bonnie to me
Bring back bring back bring back my bonnie to me to me.

One of the first songs I learned in English. Back in the Soviet Union.

Class today was great. I'm pretty sore from it though - great workout. When we got in, we walked straight to the dock and rigged our boats. Erin and I named our boat "Oh Shit!". Because that's what we said every 5 minutes while we were on it. The people in the class are really cool, lots of them are European college students.

Anyway, we got in the water and Erin made me play skipper. We did ok - no capsising, but Erin refused to drive. We switched and she panicked shortly after. She was shaking. She told me she was in some crappy boat accident and how people forced her to learn when she was younder. I took back over. Wish she said something before we embarked, maybe Kristin, our instructor, could have talked her through it. When we disembarked, Erin promiced she'll drive next time. She's skipping the class Wednesday - too bad.

7.48
Topic: On the way to Triathlon
ran and swam today. ran a one mile lap in 7 min 47 seconds. Gave it all I got. Afterwards, I didn't have much left. Did the other laps to the 5K in my usual 9:30. But at least now I know I can. Got a little better with the swimming, trying Dave's advice to roll and the S curve. Needs much more work.