Technology hates me

Just testing to see if I can get this to post without a white background behind my letters. I pretty much am technologically impared...

Here's a list of reasons why:

• My Villanova computer is officially dead.
• My work computer is on its way out
• I threw my camera on the ground last weekend. Despite my initial reaction to scream, "I THREW IT ON THE GROUND!" it was not as amusing as the Andy Samberg video once I discovered my camera no longer works.
• My iPod shuffle just died on my run this morning.
• My iPhone barely works. And does strange things.
• I dropped my old throwback bring iPod in the toilet
• I'm notorious for losing running watches including losing one the day after I purchased it.

The list goes on. I'm fairly certain technology has haunted and will haunt me for my entire life.

Oh hey again...

Despite my claims that I would be good about keeping up with this blog when I started it, I have failed. But it’s a new year… academically speaking of course. Almost a new calendar year… and this is my new resolution. Quick highlights of what I’ve been up to since then:

·    I got a stress fracture in late Spring and missed some outdoor races. It was totally my fault for jumping back into workouts too soon. Will not make that mistake again this year.

·    Did lots of swimming and Alter G running.

·    Came back from that fracture to have a successful summer season. I pr-ed by almost 30 seconds in the 5k to run 16:06 at the USA 5k Championships and get 7^th. I also ran 4:38 to win the 5^th Avenue Mile Metro Elite section.

·    5^th Ave was way fun, though mighty painful, and my Mom and Dad even flew up from FL to cheer me on!

·    I moved to Dirty Jersey.

·    I started a fellowship with Johnson & Johnson. I’m working in their Corporate Social Responsibility Department and manage all sorts of awesome programs that really help people.

·    I started pursuing my Masters in Corporate Communications at Rutgers.

·    Even though I am now a Rutgers student, I refuse to buy a Rutgers sweatshirt or bumper sticker because I will always be a Villanova Wildcat. I wear my Villanova gear all over Rutgers.

·    I turned 25 and had an awesome birthday party planned by my awesome boyfriend in Atlantic City.

·    I still tell people I’m 23 because it sounds way cooler. Plus I still look like I’m 19 so no one questions it.

·    My little sister runs for Villanova and it’s only a matter of time before she starts beating my old records. At least I still have more state titles than she does ;-)

·    Our team got bigger and I love the new additions… Ashley, Stephanie, Annick, and Nicole. And some boys. Watch out for NJ*NY TC… we are actually kinda legit now!

·    I especially like palling around with Nicole Blood and being Nicole Squared. It’s a lethal combination on various levels.

Well that’s about all I can think of. Back to more paper writing… but stay tuned! There may (or may not) be more posts coming!

First race in 8 months!

Quoting from Frances' dad on the NJ*NY TC page... I made my official "professional debut" at the Columbia Last Chance Meet at the Armory in NYC. I split a 2:06 on the DMR Friday night and ran 4:39 in the open mile on Saturday. All in all, it was a good weekend of racing but I still have tooonnnnsss of room for improvement. 

It was fun to be a part of a DMR again and to run a relay with Frances again- although totally wierd to not be wearing a Villanova uniform and to even race AGAINST them! (... and get beat by them). I got the baton a little bit behind the leaders, went out in 28 (oops), chilled for another lap, and started moving up in the 3rd lap. With one lap to go I weenied out and didn't go with the leaders, then on the back straight away realized, "WHAT THE HECK AM I DOING?!?!" and proceeded to kick like hell and catch up by the hand off. Fran ran tough and was way out front by herself, but alas the deadly Sheila Reid kick caught us in the last lap. Awesome showing for them running one of the fastest times in the country! Can't wait to watch that race at NCAAs!

I experienced a similar "WTH?!?" moment in the mile the next night when I was actually in last place about 400 into the race (yea I dk either). I moved up over the next 3 laps, but by the time I got close to the front, the 3 leaders were already long gone and I was left just chasing them. Oops. I ended up closing big time on 3rd place over the last 2 laps, but ran out of room. I ran a bit gun-shy in both races and scared that I would totally die at the end, but I suppose that's to be expected after not racing in 8 months. For being hurt all Fall, not running over 45 miles a week, and really only having 5 solid weeks of workouts - I'll take an 800 PR and a sub 4:40 mile. What was even better was getting to hang out and race with a team again of Julie, Frances, LaTavia, and some of the guys. Plus Christine, Sean, and Delilah came to watch us run/cheer. I even got to see Gina, Meghan and some of my old teammates. 

After the race Frances and I went to Hoboken to go out with Sean, Dan, Austin, Paul, and Cody for our "last hurrah" before a tough month of workouts. Highlights from the evening include:

• McDonald's! Mighty Kids Meal for me, Fillet-O-Fish for Frances, and a lettuce for a bun burger for Julie. After Julie proclaimed that I am the worst girlfriend ever, we discerned that Sean wanted nothing and actually refuses to eat at McDonald's. The only fast-food place he will eat at is Taco Bell... questionable??? I think yes.
• Neither Frances nor myself wearing any green despite the fact that it was a St. Pat's Day party. 
• Some dude asking Frances to get him a beer because she "looks Irish."
• Frances testing a pharmaceutical student with talks of statistics and T-tables to ensure he was actually a pharmaceutical student. 
• Unidentified bruises on my foot and thigh. 
• LOTS and LOTS of dancing. 
• Making friends in the girls bathroom and taking hair advice from one of them because she is a hair stylist. I think she led me astray because after taking a "quick-and-dirty" shower after my race, my hair did in fact not look good.
• A big sleepover followed by Dunkin Donuts. 
• A quick drive back to Philly with me chatting the entire time and Sean listening and most likely thinking I'm nuts

Can't wait for more races this outdoor season and more time with the NJ-NY Track Club!   

Faking it through lululemon classes...

Last weekend was an active one for me! I began with a lululemon pilates class in the store on Saturday morning at 9:30. I'd like to add that I've never actually done pilates before, but my doctor has been trying to get me to try it for years highlighting is positives for overall strength and injury prevention. The class was at the Wayne store - they move all the displays aside and everyone sets up in the middle. There was actually a girl there who plays Field Hockey for Villanova - so she became my "Don't know what we are doing" buddy... though I never actually informed her of this.

Overall, the class was good. The teacher was really nice and helpful. It wasn't too strenuous, lots of stretching, a few difficult series of exercises. The hard part is to get your body to move in a controlled manner, not the willy-nilly method I typically fall back on when stumbling through most coordination-involved tasks. Best part about the class is looking at all the lululemon clothes that I want to buy. Only I made a vow to not shop at all during the month of February (I've almost made it...) so I had to refrain from actual purchases.

At noon I met Marina for our long run and tempo. We can finally run at Haverford again which makes my shins veerrryyy happy. The Main Line area had some freaky winds on Saturday with gusts up to 50 mph... so we tried to tempo through this sheltered neighborhood. It was great - except for one stretch where you ran directly into the wind for about a quarter mile. We're 16 minutes into the tempo, everythings going great, and we hit a wall. For about a minute, Marina and I are struggling into the wind when I pretty much just start walking. No really... I know my legs were moving foward and I was trying really hard, but it felt like running the wrong way up an escalator. I may have even been going backwards. To make it more embarassing, we had to pass in front of a police officer who had the road closed due to downed powerlines (it was that windy!). I'm fairly certain he almost got out of the car to offer me some sort of life support. Or an ambulance. Once we turned the corner out of the wind, I looked at my watch and we were at 18:30 (yes it was less than 2 minutes into the wind that had me seeing the light at the end of the tunnel)... so of course I preceeded to sprint and catch up to Marina for the very end of the tempo. It's all about the kick... right??

Sunday was my day off from running - so I swam laps in the morning and then went to a lululemon sponsored yoga class in Wayne. One thing they forget to mention about these classes is they are not beginner classes. I walk in to a room of everyone laying down with their eyes closed. I chose to saddle up next to this guy about my age who doesn't look really look like he knows what he's doing either (because who really wants to be next to the best yogi in the class??). I should mention the only time I've ever done yoga before was once in high school with Jessica when we went to an advanced class and proceeded to giggle/fall through the entire thing and once at Wake where you pretty much just did Downward Dog over and over again. So the class starts out with the leader telling us to go into "Rabbit" position. I'd like to ad that I know what NONE of these positions are - cobra, cat, rabbit, etc. - and our instructor had a heavy accent which made it hard to understand his limited descriptions. Add that to the fact that I'm generally hard of hearing - and I was clueless. Lucky for me, guy next to me actually did know what he was doing. So I proceeded to suppertisiously copy him for the entire hour while trying to look as yoga-esque as possible [heavy breathing, closed eyes, calm facial expression, and the works]. Not sure if I got away with it or not...

I know I said I would never do it but...

TA-DAAAAA!!

In an effort to market myself as much as I market my company… Here is my official blog!

[I’m still hesitant about Twitter… I just don't comprehend theneed to update the entire world on what I'm doing at every second of every day. It's seems stressful.]

For those of you who had the unfortunate pleasure of reading the high school blog that Jessica and I created detailing our high school lives – I promise I will try to make this one better. Essentially that mean less inside jokes, no references to Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (and how Jessica and I may or may not have thought we were them), and fewer full song lyrics devoted to our current high school crush (or crushes since there were typically more than one – more than five, for that matter).

Instead, you will read about all my exciting stories about running, working, and life antics in general! Sounds awesome, right? Be prepared for tales of me dying in Gag’s workouts, trying to gain flexibility and balance by taking lululemon yoga classes, partaking in adventures with my Villanova girls (Ali and I currently have going to a honky-tonk bar on our list), and epic tales of me trying not to shop and how I then attempt to justify my shopping to my boyfriend with some elaborate story on how I got “lost” and wound up in Urban Outfitter, The Gap and American Eagle and how it was absolutely essential that I purchase that dress! He usually just laughs at me.

Note to women like me everywhere: If you ever get “lost” and wander into The Gap and happen to find a dress on sale for $12… just buy it. Not only will you love the dress but you’ll love thinking “This was only $12 dollars!” every time you wear it.

So here goes nothing…