Sunday, December 6, 2009

smile like you mean it.


Life is good right now. After a great Thanksgiving break with family & friends I realized that I've been missing something. I feel like I secluded myself in La Crosse in a way. I stopped putting myself out there to make more friends, I'm not exactly sure why I did this but I'm guessing it's because I just got tired of making new friends after transferring colleges two times. I am my best me when i'm surrounded by awesome people. I prefer to be in a group rather than be alone. I'm not saying that I've made zero friends here, because that's not true at all. I've met awesome people here, I just have only established concrete friendships with about three or four of them. So i'm done being the shy girl (and for those that know me Mom, Grans, Auntie, Kara that may sound hilarious because you KNOW i'm not shy;) ) I'm going to keep things interesting, one of the great parts of life is meeting new people. When I traveled in Spain and France last semester I had a special page in my journal just for the people that I met to sign and on the top of the page I wrote the quote, "It's not about the places you go but the people you meet." Which is 100% true, my European adventures wouldn't have been half as memorable without the people I met. So cheers to los amigos, new & old :)

I'm also trying to change my outlook on running. Sometimes I put too much pressure on my running, I let it define me in a way. I feel like I give it too much power in my life, so i'm taking a step back. I'm still going to run, race, and continue to a live healthy lifestyle. I just want to keep it a small portion of my life. If I can't run a day, oh well. If I completely bomb a race, shake it off! I need to have running in my life but I don't want it to be anywhere near the top of my priority list anymore. There's so many things that constitutes me: Spanish, music, education, travel, photography, writing.. I'm a runner, but I'm also many other things. So, I'm keeping my mileage at 30-40 miles per week, running only 5 days a week, and doing it because it makes me smile.
Tonight I ran with my friend Cherie before I had to run off to the Library. It was great to have someone to talk to and it's a lot less difficult to run in freezing weather when your not alone. We are going to try to run together more often, keep each other motivated throughout the chilly months.

Things I'm obsessing about this week:
  • Grooveshark.com Death cab, Johnny Cash, John Mayer, Old Crow Medicine Show & Ben Harper have been playing non-stop. <333>
  • My Costa Rican Vacation is only 22 days away & as of right now the only thing I have is a plane ticket.. it'll make for a good adventure right?
  • Ecotopia - Great book
  • My new blog layout (not really layout just change of picture. haha) I struggled with the correct way to spell "travelling". Traveling is the American way to spell it and travelling is the Britain way. Since I'm miss international wanna be, I decided the Brits way trumps ours. :)
    And, that's all for tonight.
    -A

3 comments:

Jeri said...

I love the new header. Very pretty and fitting. :) Glad you had some great "a-ha!" moments about your life. That's the best part of growing up really... :) I'm jealous of all of your traveling though, that's for sure!

Unknown said...

Alyssa,
I like your outlook on both of those things. You are definitely NOT shy... I remember you talking to those weird neighbors of ours when I wanted to run and hide. haahaa channel that energy! It can be so easy to fall into a slump... whether that slump is settling for just being cool with the stiuation you are in friendwise, or allowing runnin to be a top top priority. Everyone gets like that, where it is much easier to sit at home instead of going out and doing things with people. I guess I am that very same way! Part of that is growing up and being happy but if you got the spunk girl, use it! It's hard to make the transition from a serious runner to not running with a team (although you have made the transition so well because you are sooo passionate about running, which is something I look up to you for) but it is refreshing when you don't give the run as much power because it doesn't have to be! You are so much more than that. You can even use your love of running to branch out and meet som kick ass runners that are just out there for their love of the sport too. I see that running group full of oldies out at 6:30-7ish. If you want, I can hollar down to them and ask if you could join! (But seriously, I bet there are so many people that are out there pounding the pavement with amazing stories, and you are a great listner so go find them!).

And also, I can't wait to see your pictures from Costa Rica! You're camera better not break. haahaa

Unknown said...

Oh yeah.... and back to that running thing. All this stuff goes in waves. You are going to be the woman that will randomly decide to run across the US (like Forrest Gump) or do an ultra, or do something super crazy/awesome. So you don't know what is in store for you, but go with the flow and something will ignite you (it always does!)