paints me blue.

Good morning!
One week left in La Crosse then it's home for the summer. For the past month I've been counting down the days but now that it's so close I'm starting to get sad. I'm gonna miss the beautiful river, Hixon forest, Riverside, the bluffs, & my roommates. But home is good too, it'll probably just take a little while to get used to.
I've been keeping pretty busy with running, school, watching races :), hangin' with my Mom, and biking. It's been a pretty awesome last couple of weeks. Good news on my leg: It's no longer numb!! It's so exciting but my running is no where close to where it needs to be for the Marathon June 20th. I registered for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on May 31st, we'll see how the half goes then I'll decide if the full is a good idea or not. I increased my mileage 2 weeks ago and I paid for it last week. I was in so much pain, knots in my calves, tight knees, and shin splints. I backed off last week and did a lot of biking and I'll ease into it again this week. I'm excited to spend the summer running and biking in beautiful northern Wisconsin. :) My goal is to be injury free for a long time, my sanity counts on this. ha!
Spring is such a beautiful time, it seems like everyone is in such a better mood. I know I am! Spring & Summer are my busy time of the year due to finals and working and it's so easy to push God to the side. I can't let myself get so involved with my own things, I need to remember the importance of reading my bible everyday and prayer. I know it's normal to go through spiritual highs and lows but I was hoping I could avoid that. But, It just takes a work.. like any relationship. God has blessed me with a wonderful family, great friends, and the joy of running. He deserves my praises every single day, it's because of Him that my life is filled with so much love and joy.

Well I need to get to class but I'll end with one of my favorite verses. :)
Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step.
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-26

10.18.08

Event Staff at cross country meet this morning. The inside joke here is to cover my mouth to avoid spreading Mono :(

Adventures with Mononucleosis

Sleep.Take pills.Drink juice.Feel nauseated.Drink juice.Sleep.Try to eat.Sleep.REPEAT. <<- My current life in a nutshell. However, I am keeping a positive attitude about this entire situation & why should I not be keeping positive? I'm still extremely lucky besides this whole setback. It could be worse
What I am looking forward to:
-Doctors appointment Monday for a check up and change my meds. (I've been getting extremely nauseous and feel just nasty taking the ones I'm on). The joys of being allergic to penicillin.
-I'm looking forward to ROCKING my Spanish Exam on Monday. Whole extra weekend to study, HECK YES! (The test was actually on Friday but because of my good friend Mono, I got it postponed until Monday) Speaking of Monday, I dont know how my exhausted body is going to handle Monday. Here is my schedule: Class: 7:25-10:50, Spanish test:11:00-11:55,Doctors appointment:12:00-12:50, Spanish class:1:10-2:05, Tutoring:2:15-7:00 & from then on i'll probably pass.out.cold.
-I'm looking forward to running again and actually being healthy this time around. This time off (i'm hoping it's only two weeks) will not only heal my Mono but maybe it will give my leg time to fully recover. I'll be a running machine when I get over this. Heck yes!!! After I recover from this it's vitamins daily, health food EVERYDAY, plenty of sleep and smart training. I REFUSE to get injured or sick again!
-Even though I'm sick i'm still able to hang out with my buddies this weekend so that's awesome! We had so much fun last night, even though afterwards I felt like I had been run over my a large semi truck.
-Amy and I went to the Cross Country race this morning. It was AWESOME. I'm 100 % positive that i'm running for the team next year. I just love the cross country atmosphere so much! I miss it terribly. Racing is such an insane, amazing feeling. We "volunteered" but mostly we just ran around wearing the spiffy bright yellow jackets and pretended to be important. We had a lot of good laughs this morning.
-I'm looking forward to one last thing but that's a surprise, Can't talk about it yet :)!


I've had a really productive day so far. I'm doing a terrible job getting ten hours of a sleep a night though which is why once I finish this i'm going to nap like i've never napped before. ha! I did finish my concert report and did a little Spanish Studying. I'm so happy that I have all day tomorrow to just get myself organized. I'm going to sleep, study, & relax. Stress-free day before a stressful week! I feel so much better just knowing what is wrong with me instead of just wondering and thinking i'm just lazy & dumb. Ha! This too shall pass. Just like my hip flexor injury, asthma, pitched nerve, fractured spine....
Hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. Someone please go for a run for me! :)

10.15.08

HOLA!

School is stressful, i'm sick AGAIN, i've got a million things on my mind, & endless homework (which i'm lacking motivation to do)...the joys of being a college student. Good news is that I did a 7 mile run yesterday pain-free/no numbness.. Yay! Hopefully the recovery process keeps going in the right direction. I'm adding a half marathon to my racing schedule for the spring --May 3rd -E.C. Half Marathon! My spring is packed with races, hopefully I can find some for the remainder of fall, even though i'm not in the best shape right now due to injuries. I'm hoping to do 7-9 miles this afternoon with Amy but that all depends how I feel in a couple hours. I've got a sore throat, i'm super tired, and achy. Not good.
Not much else going on in my life. Spanish test Friday, lots of friends coming to visit this weekend, and a run club & CRU tomorrow. That's about all my plans, I need something exciting to happen in my life. & I need a Halloween costume! My friend Amy & I are going to Madison for Halloween to be with my other good friend Steph. I can't wait, it's always such a fun time when we get together. Steph is actually one of the visitors this weekend. :)!

Since I have nothing else to say. I'll post some pictures!

Amy & I


My Best Friends & I in MEXICO!

10.13.08

"This time we're not giving up, let's make it last forever. Screaming Hallelujah..Hallelujah."

How adorable is that picture above?! I snapped that while I was on my bike ride yesterday. It's one of my new favorites!

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[[PLEASE WATCH VIDEO BELOW, IT'S AMAZING]]

My leg is feeling surprisingly better, I learned from HERE that the numbness MUST BE coming from my lower back, since i'm still going through chiropractic treatment, maybe it's just not completely healed yet (??). Who knows, but I am investing in new running shoes, maybe that will help. If not, oh well.. I love new shoes. :) I'm planning on doing 30-35 miles this week. It'll just continue to gradually increase my mileage, i'm getting restless. I just want to be injury free, i've been battling injuries for far too long.
Today is another busy day. I've had three classes already, one more to go, tutoring my latino first graders, then celebrating my BFF's 21st birthday! Busy, Busy, BUSY.

PiCTURES: Scroll to see more.

Whitney and I.

The three roomies. Left to right: Me, Whiteny & Steph.

I love fall. This is my bike route, beautiful, isn't it?

Mississippi River.

Live the live you love, LOVE. THE. LIFE. YOU. LIVE.

Buenas dias!

Nine hours of sleep = a very refreshed ME! :)
I had a terrible week so i'm excited that it's over & done, now i'm just looking ahead!

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RUNNiNG

I'm injured once again. This injury is just extremely complicated and I can't figure it out. I'm going to by some new running shoes to see if that helps & I'm going to student health services first thing on Monday. What's nice about this injury is that I can still run on it, there is no pain involved; my leg is just NUMB. I'm aiming for 28 miles this week, I took 2 days off because of the numbness in my leg and I got a terrible cold. Hopefully next week i'll be back up to 40 miles. I'll keep my fingers crossed. After I finish writing this i'm going to hike up the bluffs (they are BEAUTIFUL, I'll take pictures!) & then i'm planning a 8 mile run. Unless my leg tells me otherwise....

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Mi vidaaa

Besides my horrific week (3 papers, 2 exams, endless homework, tutoring, stress...etc), I did have some good things happen. McCain came to my town and my ONLY republican friend and I went to his rally. It was AWESOME! 4000 plus people were packed into this building to listen to him speak. There was protesters everywhere outside the people,people chanting U.S.A inside, signs everywhere, and security guards every which way. It was AWESOME!. -- Thursday night my friend and I went and saw Nights in Rodanthe, AMAZING! Highly recommend it, I was all out bawling. :)

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WEEKEND

Not a whole lot planned this weekend. Just relaxing enoying beautiful fall! I just finished up my pumpkin coffee (ohh! TIP: Add some pumpkin pie spice to your coffee grounds and then brew it, it's tasty!) Now i'm going to hike the bluffs, run, make pumpkin pie with the roommates, go to the football game.. then who knows. Tomorrow though it's HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK all.day.long

BESiTOS!

My bestest friends & I at EC HOMECOMING!