Productive Mornings.

I know, I know... I'm sure some of ya'll looked at this title and thought "what the hay is this girl talking about!"
But it is true.
Mornings are the most productive time of day for me....

Take for example this morning:
Between the hours of 5:13am and 8:24 I managed to:

• drink half cup of coffee and read some blogs
• study for a chem quiz tonight
• assemble some "over 3 hour oats"
• run 7 miles
• shower
• blow dry AND straighten my hair
• make my bed
• make today's lunch
• make tonight's dinner large snack before class
• enjoy my 3 hour oats ... in a *premature empty jar of peanut butter

.....ALL while watching the Today Show :)

The most I get done after work is putting my dinner dishes in the dishwasher...and that's on a good day :)

Promise Pictures Soon,

Pumpkin Season

This

Is

Why

 I Love

 Fall.

Headlines and Breaking News

If I wasn't so lazy I would have updated my blogs 3 times this week.... but since I AM being lazy, here are some headlines and breaking news...you know.... if my week was a newspaper:

25-Year Old Returns to School

Tonight After 3 Year Hiatus!

BREAKING NEWS!!!

Little Sister of Erin bought PLAIN Oatmeal

and Plans to Eat it for BREAKFAST!!

10 Miles DONE before 7:00

Roommate loads

dishwasher and STARTS it!!

Last Week Before the Taper Begins...

TGtomorrowIF,

Columbus.... We have a Problem....

 A CRICKET PROBLEM!!!!!!

These are not actual pictures... are you kidding me... I would never get this close to these guys.... but the pictures do do justice. These things are scary...scary enough to warrant 2 25-year old girls to jump on couches, scream like their getting killed, spray cleaning spray on them and throw towels and hand weights on top of it:

no judging. these are big. they are ugly. and they jump.

Back to normal blogging tomorrow. 

Until then.... sleeeeeep well.....

Chaos

I was talking with my roommate last night, and we were both expressing how out of control and unorganized our lives feel. Between money, work, aspiring life and career goals and just that general "I'm 25 years old, what the heck am I doing in my life" feeling... things are just, you know, *meh.

I've gotten to that point when all you want to do is scream. How much more positive can someone be when nothing ever seems to roll in their favor...

....not a lot, but I'm trying. I promise.

It would just be nice, ya know... if I got one of the million, okay 4,  jobs I've interviewed for, or if I didn't have a nagging ex-boyfriend who makes me feel guilty everyday, or if my running 30 miles a week could make my stomach flat, or if I could actually get a boyfriend to make me the center of their world (believe me - everyone around me is getting engaged, married or in serious relationships...bah!) OR I could be happy as a clam all day, everyday....

but until then...

I've got my running.

I've got my bengal beer.

This is purely on the blog for show. I love the can but I would much rather sip a pumpkin beer or an october fest.

and I've got my watermelon.

and fall temperatures are on the way!

Stay Positive,

Short and Sweet

well... sorta... short and sweet referring to this post.


I got the pleasure of enjoying this pre-run:

YEP! 

Oatmeal with a lil' peanut butter - dark chocolate kiss swirl.

(breakfasts like this make me dumbfounded on how people cannot enjoy oatmeal)

Then I get the pleasure of dominating 18 miles :)

Have a wonderful and lovely Saturday,

Done and Done!

Better late than never, right?! 

Here is how my evening panned out last night:

Ideal Plan of Events:

5:00 - leave work

5:30 - do not stop at Giant Eagle to buy food for dinner oops. I had to stop and get things to make muffins for a going away party at work tomorrow.... and might have bought a bag of salad.....for dinner. 

6:00 - finish out my scheduled 9 with 3 additional miles

7:00ish - eat dinner

7:30 - do not think I need a huge dessert.... I've had enough at work this week

7:30 - fold my laundry that is sitting on my floor from last night

8:00 - sit on my living room floor, blog, watch a recorded Teen Mom with the roommate, and obviously talk about vampires made apple spice muffins for work tomorrow

9:00 - sat down on my living room floor, blogged read blogs, watch a recorded Teen Mom with the roommate and talked minimally about vampires.

All in all it was a decently productive evening! I got everything done I wanted to get done with a few added extra thrown in there. 

It's Friday!

Blogging for Accountability

By now I'm sure you all know that I live for schedules. They are my guilty pleasure and my comfort. Life seems sensible when I have a schedule.

But ask any mental illness professional or pyschologist, and they will say that schedules may not be all so great as we originally thought - especially when they starting controling peoples' lives in a negative way. Case in point - me. As much as I LOVE schedules, they often become the demise of my mood or my ability to socially function. However, there are instances when schedules are great, wonderful and necessary... like tonight, for example. 

So for my own accountability purposes,  I'm blogging my ideal schedule of events for the evening.... followed, later, by my success, er, or, failure.

Real quick - I had a 9 miler scheduled for this morning  I had a 9 miler scheduled for Tuesday but moved it to this morning. Due to laundry and dishwasher unloading, I didn't get to bed until 11:00... which means I slept through my alarm - but did manage to alarmingly hop out of bed and hit the road.... I got 6 miles in... at a pretty slow pace...here is my proof:

lots of sweat and humidity to show off!

Ideal Plan of Events:

5:00 - leave work

5:30 - do not stop at Giant Eagle to buy food for dinner

6:00 - finish out my scheduled 9 with 3 additional miles

7:00ish - eat dinner

7:30 - do not think I need a huge dessert.... I've had enough at work this week

7:30 - fold my laundry that is sitting on my floor from last night

8:00 - sit on my living room floor, blog, watch a recorded Teen Mom with the roommate, and ovbiously talk about vampires

Stay tuned for the results.....!

Personal Hygiene, Chocolate Milk and Ice

Evening guys! Hope you all had an easier transition into the workweek after the 3 day weekend than I did...


I started off the day by sleeping through my alarm which led me to missing my scheduled 9 mile run, which then led me to deciding against taking a necessary shower... 


I thought all was fine and dandy (you know - after using dry shampoo and blow drying 3 days of accumulated grease out) until I walked into work, and within an hour of arriving, this conversation went down:

• male co-worker: "Hey Erin, did you get a haircut this weekend?"
• me (sheepishly laughing) "noooo..."
• male co-worker: "Oh, it looks different today."
• nosey female co-worker: "she just didn't wash it!!"

Really!!!!? Who does that?! Isn't there some sort of unspoken girl code that when you notice someone who didn't pay particular attention to personal hygiene that morning you keep your mouth shut! Sheesh!

Despite my embarrassment for the rest of the day and my conscious effort to keep my hair fluffed and not greased to the side of my face.... I got myself together and came home and rocked out 7 miles at a 9:20 pace.

My run was capped with this deliciousness:

and finally with a more than necessary shower....

And an even more important ankle icing:

My previous ankle injury isn't happy with my increased milage. 

Just wait until I put 26.2 miles on it... 

Good Night!

17 Miles.

Good morning!
I really had all intentions of posting this yesterday.... but the excitement of college football (or in my apartment the mandatory excitement of *Ohio State football) and the opportunity to hang with my posse... (aka the roommate and her bf) took precedence.


Yep, but before all the lazy day shenanigans took place, I met up with my running group yesterday morning for a lovely 17 mile labor day weekend run... in 90 degree weather and 80% humidity... at 7am. Helllloooo central Ohio!


THE GOOD:
-completed 17 miles
-I felt awesome 
THE BAD
-my running buddy needed several walk breaks
THE UGLY
-my running buddy couldn't finish the last 1.5 miles. I ran ahead for a bit then returned to finish the walk back to the store with her... she wasn't feeling too hot whatsoever :(


Then came THE BEST:

Post-run mango smoothie.

It was awesome. Amazing. Just what I needed. 

But just NOT what my wallet needed. Oops... it's a holiday weekend, right?! 

Have a wonderful Sunday,

Marathon Training Update

Hi Guys! Hope your week is going great, and more importantly, fast!

So jumping right to the point: I got a facebook newsfeed from the Columbus Marathon the other day, announcing that there were only 500 spots left for the October race.... when I read this, I immediately to-do list  jumped, and made signing up for the marathon my #1 priority of the day - I've already put in too many long runs and have gone through too many bathroom emergencies to not do this thing - so as of Tuesday, I officially have my spot on October 16th for 26.2 miles. 

Random Thoughts on Training

(in no particular order, of course)

I did my first, what I like to call, big kid run last Saturday - 16 miles.

My ankle is holding up well. It looks a little swollen but 

causes me no pain or hinderance in my runs.

I ran 8 miles on Tuesday morning and have 17 miles this weekend.

Things are getting serious, lol

I am feeling totally awesome during my runs, although I need to concentrate on more mid-run fuel and hydration during my weekday runs.

I am constantly starving.

I am eliminating all nights that wind up with me consuming more than 4 alcoholic drinks and climbing into bed after 3:00am.... at least until after the marathon :)

I am starting to feel pressure on my race time. I ran my first marathon in 4:08. My running group thinks I can do the Columbus in under 4 hours. At 20 pounds heavier and with an actual social life.... this seems like a stretch. Running is my stress reliever...
I am not going to let this get to me.

I think my thighs have doubled in size.
Sorry Abercrombie, jeggings just aren't in this girl's wardrobe options. 

My running group is awesome. 

I'm sticking to my speedwork schedule and my pace has been great.

 

I'm knee deep in training. No turning back.

No desire to turn back. I'm pumped for this.

Happy 3 Day Weekend!