As I sit on my butt and begin the "one week from now..." countdown clock, I feel... lazy. Time to Taper. After 15 weeks of running, even when I felt there were other things to do, 4-5 times a week I am being told to sit this week out. Just when I felt like I should be out getting 20 miles in (yesterday for my long run) to "make sure I'm ready," I was told to run 5 and then meet at Starbucks for hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll. On the agenda for the rest of the week? Not much. I'll go to track on Wednesday but don't intend to do anything too speedy. Then: a plane ride, finding my way around the city capped by a run THROUGH the city!

So, now that I am supposed to be thinking of anything BUT running, here are some things I've learned while training for the big marathon:

*Since ditching the iPod I've become a much calmer runner.
*Although Phoenix is a big, bustling city, there are plenty of quiet trails in the places you would least expect them.
*Even though I may "eat to live" during the week, on Saturdays I fully admit to "running to eat."
*As afraid of the marathon as I was (am), I do like telling people that I'm running a marathon... IN ONE WEEK!
*Counting calories on Saturdays has a whole different meaning than what you'd normally think; I'm thinking, "how in the heck can I cram 100 calories in during the next hour?"
*It's a great feeling to be laying down for a nap on a Saturday morning at 11:00 knowing that I've already been up for 7 hours and burned between 1500-2000 calories.
*Lemon-lime really is the best flavor of Gatorade ever invented.
*Some movies are good "nap movies." My favorite this season? Elf, Two Weeks Notice, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Run Fat Boy Run, Hitch, and 50 First Dates.

The most common question I'm getting lately? "Are you planning to run the Rock 'n Roll in January?" My response? "I'll tell you on November 3rd."

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Paper or Plastic?

Usually my trips to the grocery store do warrant a blog, but I tend to get side-tracked by the time I get home. Not the case today!

While checking out at the local Safeway I asked politely, "could I get paper?" (The little kiddos are going to be compiling their Greek work into a paper bag fold-out thing... too hard to explain or define here!) Anyway, I need 25 paper grocery bags. Now, before I tell you what actually happened I want to tell you what PROBABLY would have happened if I wouldn't have specified: I would have ended up with 8 plastic bags to hold my 7 items, (the wine most likely would have been double bagged). What really happened? I got ONE paper bag for the following: (not kidding or exaggerating)- 1/2 gallon of milk, 1 box of cereal, 4 apples, 1/2 gallon of apple juice, 1 bottle of wine, 1 shrimp dinner thing, and 4 single-serving containers of yogurt. Not kidding. So, not only was it too much for one paper bag so it was awkward to carry, the paper bag has now ripped and I can't even use it for the aforementioned class project.

Stupid.

Some Things...

Here are some things that you may (or may not) want to read about, having to do with my day:
1.) I know that I spelled "wake" wrong in my last post. Just a small piece of evidence that it really was 3:32 in the morning.
2.) I found $10 on my run this morning! It was a good sign because last night when I went to Sports Authority at 7:45 to replenish my GU supply my total came to $6.66 which I immediately took as a sign that my run was going to be plagued by troubles. Hopefully, between this new $10 and my $6.66 total, I'm back at "zero," or the score has been evened.
3.) 2 of my meals today were pizza. (Some sort of veggie mix the first time and then pepperoni and jalapeno the second time.)
4.) We're experiencing a bit of a cold snap here in the desert. As I met up with the old roommates (including the new one - who replaced me!) downtown for a drink this afternoon in my capris and t-shirt, I decided it was way too chilly so I had to go down the street and buy a long-sleeved shirt to wear for the rest of the evening. Yes, I'm a true desert dweller.
5.) I spent all day thinking about doing report cards, but not doing them. On the same note, I thought about how I should not go out and "party" but ended up doing sake bombers at RA. You can see where my motivations lie...

Now that you know those 5 important details from my day you should pretty much feel all caught up!

Phew... 2 posts in one day...
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Wkae-Up Call

I'm blogging at 3:32 on a Saturday morning. Ahh, the joys of marathon training in the desert! We're trying to get an early start today (4 am) so my alarm went off promptly at 3:05. This gives me plenty of time to eat, drink and digest. If all goes well this will be my last 4 am start of the season! See the following calculation:

Cooler temps + the sun coming up later = me getting to sleep in until 3:45!

And I seriously look forward to the day when sleeping until 4 on a Saturday becomes a reality again. Maybe even 4:30 by the "dead of winter!"

Despite the early hours there are a few things on my mind:
1. I don't think my up stairs neighbors EVER sleep. Seriously. They're up right now. I think I just heard their car start. Don't worry - they'll be back soon to bang up the stairs and slam doors shut.
2. I'm interested to see what 16 miles on less than 5 hours of sleep looks like...
3. Ask me what I'm doing in 22 DAYS!!?!
4. I turned the TV off in the middle of 20/20 last night, completely missing the whole Brittney story. And then I ended up not being able to fall asleep for at least 2 more hours. The most upsetting part of all of this? That it's actually a little upsetting to me!

Well I have effectively wasted 7 minutes. I guess it's on with the running gear and out to run!
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