Friday, April 29, 2011

Allergy Season

It never fails. Every year, when all the flowers begin to bloom and the grass begins to grow, everything becomes so beautiful and happy and then comes that pesky cold which then becomes a sinus infection. It also happens during the fall for me, too. So count on it. Each year I will have at least 2 sinus infections.

I will say that I tried out something new yesterday in my attempt to take a more natural route in combating this, the Neti Pot.

Let me tell you sinus sufferers out there, it works great! Usually at this point I'm so stopped up in the head that I can't even talk without people wondering what I'm saying through my nasal congested voice. While I still have a nasal drip (ew) causing me to have a very soar throat, at least I can breathe somewhat out of my nose.

I also tried out a local botanical company's concoction made up of a highly concentrated mixture of garlic, habanaro peppers, onions, apple cider vinegar, ginger, and horseradish root. You can look at it here. Lastly, I consumed hot green tea constantly throughout the day as well as downing about 2 bottles of water mixed with Emergen-C. Then I went to bed hoping I would wake up rejuvenated and healthy...

Unfortunately, I woke up this morning still feeling miserable. Not too much worse, but still miserable. Normally I would have tried to fight out the symptoms with my "natural remedies" for a bit longer but with the OKC half coming up in just 2 days I gave in, called in sick to work and went to the doctor to get some antibiotics.

So here I am, home for the day and completely bored. Can't run, can't workout and the only thing that's on TV is the "Royal Wedding". I won't lie, I've been watching some of it since I've been up since 5:45 (I actually did show up to work today but at the advisement of my co-workers who were going to be spending at least 3 hours in the car with me, possibly not wanting to get sick, told me to go back home). So, yes, out of curiosity and possibly a hint of jealousy since I'm not becoming a duchess (remind me to complain to B for not being a prince) I checked out Kate's wedding dress and watched them do their 2 second kiss on the balcony. I won't comment anymore on it, except to say that they could have at least given that crowd a show! I mean, come on! A peck on the lips right after you are married? Boo. I'm obviously much more suitable to be marrying a prince.


 Anyways, here's to hoping I feel well enough by Sunday morning to run the half marathon!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Early run!

I finally got up early this morning to run! I have been making this attempt for the last 6 business days but without success because of my undeniable snooze button. On top of that, it felt great! The weather was crisp and cool and there was absolutely no wind. Not the typical weather for the end of March, here in Oklahoma! It was about time for me to get in a good run, too. The OKC Memorial Marathon is this Sunday but I'm only going to do the half since I've slacked off so much. It's going to suck when I reach the point where the half marathoners break from the full marathoners. I always enjoyed that point in the marathon because it made me feel way more hardcore than those poor halfers.

Unfortunately, I just found out that tomorrow I will have to be at work an hour earlier than usual and since I already go to work each morning at 8:30 I think I will reserve time for an afternoon run. Hopefully after the half marathon on Sunday my motivation will be back were it was when I started this blog because my last few posts have been rather lame.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Denver

It has been so long since I've posted and I feel like so many things have happened. I went to Denver for my PSO and met a bunch of really awesome people and even got to check out the town a bit. I also discovered how difficult it is to run in such a high altitude. I woke up early one morning to get in a run on the treadmill since it was snowing outside (in March? What?) and could barely make out a ten minute mile. I was so out of breath I thought I had lost function of one of my lungs. To be quite honest, that really made me not want to run very much on this trip and since I've been home I've only ran once so I'm now thinking of just doing the OKC Memorial half marathon. Boo.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Government Shutdown Scare

Yes, I had a freak out moment this weekend and here's why.

Everything started out lovely last Friday. I woke up, ran a few errands and waited patiently for the mail to come because I am anxiously awaiting my tax refund. The mail came, but not my tax refund, which is much needed right now, and so my mood went a little sour after that. I put it behind me though and made my way from Norman, OK to Dallas to see my lovely family for my mom's b-day.

And yes, I gave myself a mini photo session because I was bored sitting in traffic on good ol' I-35.

Of course I had little Sampson with me.



When I finally made it home I checked my e-mail to find out that my AmeriCorps pre-service orientation -- the one that I had just blogged about would be canceled if the government was shut down and rescheduled to a later date. So yes, I panicked. I have been waiting two months to start this job and could not possibly wait any longer. How relieved was I to learn that the a decision was reached and the government wouldn't shut down? You have no idea. Let me tell you what, I stress ate to the max. It was bad.


So, tomorrow I leave for Denver and I could not be more excited. Now I just need that check to come in the mail.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Jobs and Life Plans

I feel like I've been on one gigantic summer vacation except all alone!

It's been pretty boring to say the least but I gotta say I have really bonded with the dogs. We hang out all day together, going on walks, hanging in the backyard, laying around in bed... we've even developed a pretty strong sense of communication. But luckily for them and for me my vacation is almost over! Tuesday morning B is dropping me off at the airport for my 4 days of pre service training in Denver and then I get to start my job. FINALLY!

I know my life sounds completely lame right now because it definitely feels lame to me. I guess I just have to remember to be patient. Patience is something I am not gifted with. As soon as I graduated I expected to land an amazing job dealing with foreign affairs and traveling the word. Ha! Yeah right! With no experience except for my college degree in international studies, I found out my "dream job" was a little out of reach. And then I looked at my actual job, as a waitress, and thought about how much I hated it, how every time I stepped into that door and saw the crusty old owner I wanted to turn around and break for it. It was my desperate need to quit that place that put me into job search overhaul and made every rejection letter debilitating.

So, I went completely haywire. I started re-evaluating my life plan. I thought that maybe I should go back to school for nursing or something health related because I would have no problem finding a job then! Or even becoming a teacher because I have plenty of friends who have gotten jobs at that! I even almost accepted an offer in telecommunications software sales. Say wha? It took a lot of convincing from friends and B to tell me to chill out, that I just needed to wait a little longer and work a little harder to get where I really want to be. It's probably a benefit to the rest of the world because I would honestly make a horrible nurse and an even more horrible teacher. I decided I need to look at things as rungs (are they called rungs?) on a ladder and take small steps towards the direction I want to go. This is where I am now. I would say I'm on the second rung with the AmeriCorps job because completing my degree would probably mark the first rung. So yeah, this is where I'm at. The second rung of a 100 ft ladder. Great.

As for my workout yesterday, I changed it up a bit. The day before I went on a short and sweet 30 min run and it felt like my legs had 10lb weights attached so I decided I would visit the gym and do the elliptical and weights. Then I went home and took a walk with B and then another one with the dogs because the weather was so gorgeous. I'm going back down to Dallas later today because my mom's birthday is Monday and we're celebrating it over the weekend. So Happy Birthday to my mom!

Here's a pic from about 2 years ago of us the afternoon after we completed the Dallas WhiteRock Marathon. I was having to work that night and had to drive 3 hours back home. Not the best way to recover.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Tummy ache

I still haven't gotten a good run in since my last post. It's a bit discouraging because I was on a consistent workout regimen until recently and I'm afraid I have lost all of the endurance that I had worked so hard at building up. I seem to have come down with an odd stomach bug though which has kept me in bed the past two days. Yesterday I thought for sure it was the flu because I was achy, had the chills, and had no appetite. Today I still don't have an appetite and am just soooooo tired! Thankfully I have my 2 wonderful dogs that don't mind cuddling with me in bed all day, pretty sure they actually prefer it.

B did get me out of bed for a little bit with the allure of going to Sam's to look at all of the gardening stuff yesterday. Hopefully we'll start working on that sometime this week since I'll be in Denver all next week.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be all better and maybe the wind will decide to die down so I can get back on track with running.

Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fools

I went out yesterday and ran 6 miles at a not-so-great pace and ended up even walking for a bit because my knees were really bothering me. I've taken a week off and my knees are still bothering me? I've never had this problem before! I guess I'll just take it easy and keep icing although I'll be honest, I haven't been doing too well on icing in the first place.

On another note, here in Norman the medieval fair is in town! Nothing like walking around with people dressed up in clothing from the middle ages and enjoying a beer...or two... or three. Alright, because I'm counting calories I'll try to keep it at 2. Also the weather here is fantastic!

I'm so excited April is finally here. In 10 days I will be flying to Denver to begin my pre-service training with AmeriCorps and in 18 days I will be starting my new job. From that point on I anticipate on being busy with the Oklahoma City Marathon training and planning the bridal shower and bachelorette party for my sister's wedding. On top of all of that I have to be studying for the GRE or LSAT and hopefully in a year I will be out of the state of Oklahoma! We'll see where this year takes me. I have good feelings though!