Like anything in life, running certainly has side effects. I'm not just talking about all the negative ones, although a few of those are on the list. There are so many more things that have come from training for this half. Here they are in no particular order.

-Thinking about life: Running gives me anywhere from two to six hours a week where I do nothing but listen to music and think. Unlike Jazzercise, where I'm expected to remember the movements and instruct people ahead of time, running gives me time to work out and focus on my life and myself. Sometimes I think about what's going right. Sometimes I think about what's going wrong. But running gives me uninterrupted time with myself.  

-Not thinking about life: On the flip side, some days I run and I think about nothing. At. All. I never before knew it was possible to zone out for 45 minutes straight. It is. I assure you. 

-Television: I've noticed since I started training that I'm watching a LOT less TV. Now, to be fair, I've never really been one to sit down and zone out in front of the TV, but I did always used to have it on in the background during the evenings I was home. Now that some of my evenings are filled with runs, I'm getting to watch way less Extreme Couponing and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. This might also be due to the fact that I don't seem to be home as much lately or my extreme addiction to Pinterest. But I'll give the credit to running. 

-The great outdoors: I'm not what you would call "outdoorsy." I truly believe this is because I am such a klutz and manage to hurt myself when attempting any sort of outdoor activities (examples: a black eye at a t-ball game (I was a spectator, mind you), a bruised tailbone from softball, losing a layer of knee skin while white water rafting, a bruised tailbone from cross country skiing, various cuts, scrapes, lesions, and bruises from mud runs... you see the pattern here). I LIKE the outdoors. I'm just bad at it. Running gets me outside, breathing (or gulping) in fresh air. Most of the time, I don't even hurt myself.

-Body aches: Sometimes my feet hurt, especially when I have to wear work shoes. And sometimes my calves are tight when I'm going up and down the stairs. And sometimes my quads burn just from standing up and sitting down. It's not necessarily pain... they're just aches. And sometimes I have a whole lot of them.  

-Abs: Have I mentioned the abs? Ohmygosh, the abs! This morning I was teaching Jazzercise, and I put my hands on my stomach to emphasize a lean for the obliques. And I thought, holy $%&#! My stomach feels like a rock! A little bit I wanted to ask someone to punch me in the stomach just to see if my abs are as strong as they feel right now, but I figured I should refrain. 

Santa baby

Although it's gotten colder, the South Bend/La Porte area is still blissfully snow free. I realize this is bound to last, approximately, seven more minutes, but it has been nice to make it to December without snow sticking to the ground. 

I ran two miles tonight on the dreadmill before Jazzercise. My hatred continues to grow. 

I AM excited for Saturday, though. Saturday will be my first race since September, and it just so happens to be with many of my best friends. The Santa Hustle 5K (http://santahustle.com/) boasts 5,000 runners. Who are dressed like Santas. Including hats. And beards. To be honest, I highly doubt any of us will run with the beards on, but it will be fun to see what we all look with white facial hair. 

One of the things I love about running races with friends is knowing that they're somewhere in the crowd. In a race of that size, it's almost impossible to stay together, but just knowing that somewhere along the course are friendly faces is comforting. Running, for me personally, is a solitary sport, so it's nice when I get to spend it with others. I'd really like to get a good time to prove to myself that I'm making strides, but the other part of me is just out for fun. It's hard to take myself too seriously when wearing an artificial Santa beard.

I'm attempting to put together my race playlist. I was thinking about Christmas songs, but I'm not sure they will have the oomph to really power me through. I may just shuffle and hope for the best. 

It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the most wonderful season of the year. No, not Christmas. 

It is FOOD season. 

My mom always says that there are people who eat to live. I come from a family that lives to eat. This can best be expressed by a story my cousin Amanda told me on Thanksgiving. That morning, she and her boyfriend were having breakfast. Jacob was imbibing on the usual breakfast fares. Amanda had half a muffin. Jacob said, "Is that all you're eating?" And Amanda gave him the look and said, "Do you know my family?" My cousin Dana told a similar story of how she had eaten only half a granola bar that day. She'd intended to eat the whole bar, but shared it in the car. No matter, there was plenty of food to go around (although, we did knock out a 24 pound turkey and the entire dish of stuffing before anyone had gone back for seconds). We looooooove our food. 

I have to be honest... I've been putting in my miles. I've been drinking gallons upon gallons of water. Where my training could use some improvement is in the food department. It's not that I'm eating too much. My weight is staying consistent, which is swell, because I don't even worry about what I eat. But, therein lies the problem. 

I know what I'm supposed to eat. Runner's always talk about how they eat tons of healthy carbs and a low fat diet with tons of fruits and vegetables. Oiy. This is where I'm missing the mark. 

You see... I like cheese. And peanut butter. And I really, really love ice cream. So, this whole, "low fat" thing isn't really working. 

Additionally, I don't like a ton of protein. Okay, correction, I don't like COOKING a ton of protein. 

A conundrum, I tell you. 

I keep thinking that if I REALLY want to commit to this process, I should give in and make the diet follow the plan too. But now is the WORST time for that because it's food season. 

There will be holiday parties (at least three, that I know of). There will be holiday spritzers (mmmm, spritzers). There will be holiday cookies, lovingly made by my mother, the most glorious baker/chef known to man. There is a wedding to go to. There's Teresa's birthday in Chicago this weekend and a night with my dear friend Nancy next weekend. There will be numerous opportunities to eat. And imbibe. And eat some more. 

What's a girl to do? It's the most wonderful time of the year, afterall. 

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

It's a rest day for me (glorious, glorious rest day!). The weather was fairly crummy today, so I spent my Sunday cleaning the house, doing tons of laundry (how does one person make so much laundry, and how do those of you with more than one person in your household keep up!?), setting up the Christmas tree, and meeting baby Dom (Mandy and Alex's beautiful baby boy). It was a pretty fantastic Sunday if you ask me. 

The next few weeks will be packed -- lots going on at work, lots of holiday gatherings, lots of celebrations. I'm slightly concerned about the running schedule, especially since it looks like the weather is about to turn (specifically, Tuesday night) and the thought of running not just IN snow but ON snow and ice freaks me out. I'm also worried that I will get sidetracked by Christmas cookies, or that sitting on the family room floor wrapping Christmas presents will become more appealing than a brisk five mile jaunt in winter gloom. I suppose the best way to approach it is just to take it one day at a time, yes? 

Today's favorite Pinterest pin: "I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything else seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day. And I believe in miracles." -Audrey Hepburn

"You're supposed to wear a helmet!"

Still on my 110 minute high from yesterday, I was sittin' pretty this morning. When that wore off, I convinced myself that I had Ebola and a broken leg, and therefore couldn't go for a run today. But, then the weatherman said today would be the LAST NICE DAY EVER and runner's guilt got the best of me, so off I went. 

Today's running mistakes, in no particular order:

1. Eating Jimmy John's 90 minutes prior to running.

2. Overdressing -- apparently 60 degrees for Angela equals capri pants and a long sleeve shirt

3. Racing the rain... as it was scheduled to start at 4 p.m., I decided to run for 45 minutes at 3:30

4. Did I mention the Jimmy John's? Holy gut pain, Batman. 

Today's running highlights:

1. During my last mile, I heard a child screaming at me over my iPod, "You're supposed to wear a helmet!" 

2. I got a little concerned that this child either knows me personally (as a giant klutz, of course) or is a psychic when he yelled loud enough AGAIN for me to hear him, "I said you're supposed to wear a helmet!" 

Whether it was fear that the child's premonition was going to come true, the fear of the weather, or something else entirely, I ran my fastest four miles today. 

110 minutes

Get the title? It's like a play on "127 Hours" except this was way less time and I didn't lose a limb by the end of it. 

First and foremost, I survived running for 110 minutes, and although my body may be pained tomorrow, my sense of humor is still in tact today. This is a win, in my book. 

My long run needed to happen today or tomorrow. Looking at the weather forecast, today looked far superior, so I thought I should be smart and go do it. Plus, I needed a focus today... something that would get me active and moving and give my brain some down time. 

I decided today's long run would have to take place somewhere other than my part of town. I am tired of looking at the field, the golf courses, and the road kill on the highway. So, Notre Dame seemed like a good choice. One, it's Thanksgiving break, so campus was mostly deserted. Two, I figured if I did indeed die, I was THAT much closer to God. Three, I was already out, and it seemed like a good idea to put on my running clothes and not allow myself to come home until I actually did the run. 

I parked at Saint Mary's and started through campus. I ran past Holy Cross (shout out to my room 19 roommates) and then ran down The Avenue toward ND. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a run -- 55 degrees, wind, and sun. Perfection, especially for late November. 

I got onto ND's campus and decided to run the perimeter of the campus first. I did a lot of thinking today. Idle thoughts in no particular order:

-Yesterday, my Uncle Phil, an avid cyclist pointed out that bikers are smiling and happy at the end of their rides but runners always look like they want to keel over. Generally speaking, I find this to be true, so I tried to look cheerful as I scurried around campus. 

-Gee, the last time I was in the Library Lot, I was taking pudding shots out of Diane Healy's ziploc bag. Ahhhh, sweet memories. 
-There's the Backer! I really need to start doing more on this campus than just tailgaiting...

-I wonder if Aleve can be considered a food group. I totally think it's a food group. 

-Boy, I can't wait to get to the Grotto to get some water. I'm thirsty.
-I wonder if I went to Let's Spoon if I could get some yogurt AND water and then keep running without a stomach ache. 

-(Five minutes in) Crap, I totally should have gone to the bathroom before I started running. Good thing I don't have water. 

About halfway through my run, I went to the Grotto. For one, I wanted to drink some water there, but the wouldn't you know, the drinking fountains have been turned off for winter. No water for Angela. For two, I decided it would be a good idea to pray not to die during the second half of my run. For three, I had intentions to talk to God about, people. 

After I finished up at the Grotto, I started back the opposite direction for round two of the run. At this point, a nice British man and his gaggle of children asked me where the Grotto was. I took this as a good sign, meaning, I must not look like I'm going to vomit since someone willingly spoke to me. On my way back, it had cooled down a bit, and the sun was starting to set (after all, it was, like, 4:30 p.m.) so I was glad I had on my long sleeve running shirt purchased this morning at Kohl's. 

Surprisingly, the rest of the run went very smoothly. And as I neared my car again (my little Civic never looked so pretty!), I thought, I could keep going if I had to. Maybe that's just the fact that I don't have to do a run this long the ENTIRE MONTH OF DECEMBER talking, but it was a great feeling nonetheless. I survived. And I was even sort of smiling at the end of it. 

I'm not one to toot my own horn, but today feels fantastic. So just for tonight, I'm going to allow myself to feel like a rockstar... and eat an entire pizza. 

Thanksgiving Day

Today is the best holiday of the year, Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving for so very many reasons. Here are three:

 

1. I have the best family in existence. Seriously. No other family can possibly compare. There are always around 25 of us (plus two babies-to-be this year!) talking, laughing, and filling the kitchen for snacks way before it's time to eat. Plus, we clap at the end of our prayer every year. How many families do THAT? 

2. One word: Football.  

3. The day is crafted around food. Food! Glorious, glorious food! And the Saoud family, we can eat, my friends. 

Yet another wonderful thing about running is the massive amount of carbohydrates I get to eat. Today's plate was loaded with stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, turkey... and there's no guilt there. I get to eat a crap ton of carbs. All the time. 

Now, according to Runner's World, there's a proper way to carb load. I've sort of read about it. Mostly, I just eat carbs and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure I could eat an entire pizza right now, and not gain weight. THAT is a beautiful thing. 

I have to run for 110 minutes either tomorrow or Saturday. I can't decide when to do it, but am thrilled that the weather is still so beautiful. This may have been the most perfect fall ever to train for a half.