Keep on truckin' . . .

I am sooooo sorry, my avid readers, for not posting this sooner. I wrote it on Sunday but wanted to read through it before posting but didn't have time . . . and now it's super late. Ah, well. Here goes . . .

Finished all the workouts on the agenda this week! Here is next week's schedule:

Monday: Run 4 miles and light upper and lower body weights
Tuesday: Run 12 miles
Wednesday: My choice of cross training and light upper and lower body weights
Thursday: Run 6 miles
Friday: Run 8 miles and light upper and lower body weights
Saturday: Run 6 miles
Sunday: Rest day

It's exactly the same except the long run on Tuesday is up two miles. It goes up two about every week. Except every fourth week is an easier week to give my body time to recuperate and heal.

David finished his last day of school on Friday! Woohoo! And I will see him in . . . three stinkin' days! Pretty stoked for that.

Today I have half a mohawk. I spiked up the back of my head with gel and bobby pins. It's kinda weird, but I like it. Guess I'm kinda a true drama kid at heart. Somewhere deep, deep in my heart. Eh.

Hoooookay. What has happened to me this week . . . My mom's been awfully sick so I've been picking up the kids from school and doing a lot of errands for her. Cleaning a lot too. I would have done that regardless--clean freak. She's feeling a ton better which is super lucky since tomorrow I start work and I don't expect to have much free time . . . Add that to all the hours I have to spend at the gym training and having a life. . . busy, busy!

Tomorrow I must leave for the gym at 5:20 in the morning to complete my stinkin' workout before work. Normally I won't start work until 11 a.m., but tomorrow is orientation so it's earlier . . . I cannot wait for my normal work schedule to pick up. I feel like I'm dying without a set plan of activities every day!

Okay, so back in the first semester of college, my roommate bought us a fish and a crab for our dorm room. Except they died. Luckily, we had a 9 week warranty so we just brought the bodies back to Walmart and got new ones. Which also mysteriously died. I swear on my life I remembered to feed them!

After much deep thought, meditation, and careful study of the fish tanks at Walmart, we discovered the reasons for our woe.

The darn creatures needed warm water and were dying of cold. Sheesh. We stopped replacing them then because we couldn't afford to waste the money needed to buy ever a cheap water heater for our mini jar-tank. But a few days ago I realized I still had the fat jar and tons of goldfish food!

So I said to my sister, Catia: "I have a jar . . . and a LOT of fish food. I need a fish," and promptly went out to remedy the situation.

I bought a male Betta fish and named him Spongy. And then I felt bad about his tiny, boring, lonely enclosure, so I bought a little tank, some fake coral, a little 'no skinny dipping' sign, some fake greenery, lots of little pebbles for the bottom of the tank, some big pretty jewels for the bottom, and another fish! A female Betta. My sister named her Katie. I also ended up buying special Betta food and blood worms for them to eat after realizing that there was a reason my goldfish food said 'goldfish' on the bottle. Who knew all kinds of fish didn't eat the same thing?

Apparently Bettas are really violent fish. Which I had read about online and was the reason I bought a female to keep my Spongy company. Because the males are supposed to be the violent ones. But when I stuck the two together, Katie tried to eat Spongy's tail! I thought maybe it was some mating ritual thing but after a quick internet search discovered that was NOT the case, stuck my finger in the tank and gave Katie a little flick.

Male Bettas are GORGEOUS, p.s. The females . . . not as much.

I ended up having to stick Katie in the jar I had originally had Spongy in with a few sparkly jewels to liven up the scenery.

The sexes just can't get along in any species, can they?

Life Is Easier With No Goals Or Aspirations

Alright, it is time to start working on number 6 of my list of 21 things to do before I am 21 years of age. Number six is . . . Drum roll, please!

Run a marathon.

I am going to run the Heart of American Marathon on September 6th, 2010, in Columbia, Missouri.

I did a crap load of research about how to train for a marathon and then combined what I had learned/gathered from different sites, and made my own training schedule. Posted here at the end of the week will be the schedule for the upcoming week. It is an 18 week ordeal and starts this Monday.

P.S. I am not crazy by jumping into the training so fast--I already run seven miles a day. This schedule actually decreases my weekly mile total. It just is to get me used to running for longer. Building up mental endurance and all that.

Monday: Run 4 miles and light upper and lower body weights
Tuesday: Run 10 miles
Wednesday: My choice of cross training and light upper and lower body weights
Thursday: Run 6 miles
Friday: Run 8 miles and light upper and lower body weights
Saturday: Run 6 miles
Sunday: Rest day

And there you have it, folks! Wish me luck! I'll cross off the days as a complete them . . .