2008: A Year in Review or, Where the hell have you been?!

And rightly so. I mean, if you were actually wondering where I've been. Well, I've been here and there. You know. Doing things. Not blogging. Feeling slightly guilty about it. But I guess sometimes you need some time away from something you like before you realize how much you like it. And blogging, I just want to tell you this one thing: I missed you! I'm glad we were able to work on the problems we were having. Let's never fight again <3.

Honestly, though, I sort of went through a bit of a slump (surprised?) during which I didn't really feel too much like broadcasting anything. But now I'm feeling better, and I feel like egotistically and self-indulgently rambling about my life on the internet once again. Bless you, internet, for giving everyone a chance to feel important. You're the greatest. I mean it.

So, what have I been up to since September 1? Well, the past four or so months have been full of change for me. First of all, there's the new job and the fact that I am no longer living below the poverty line as a graduate student. That is some fun stuff. Second, I am still trying to weight train consistently. But come on, if you read this and found out I had all of a sudden managed to start lifting three times a week with the dedication of a zealot, you would probably be disappointed and possibly (actually, let's say definitely) incredulous. So why lie to you? I'm still working on this. But I got these really cool books for Christmas that I think should answer some questions and set me on the right track. More about that later, I promise. I have big plans. Third, I successfully completed my second marathon and although I had thought my training was lackluster, I managed to shave around fourteen or fifteen minutes off my time. I call that an awesome win, all around. I also picked up about fifteen pounds (one for each minute off my time? I am not sure I think that's fair) which I am hoping to shave off. I mean, I feel like I am just carrying around extra baggage. It's so uncomfortable. The weird thing is, I don't think you'd really notice a difference if you'd seen me before the weight gain and after. But it is definitely there. And it needs to go away.

Right now, I am training for my third marathon, the National Marathon in Washington, D.C. on March 21. I'm a bit nervous about this one, considering what happened last time I tried to go from one marathon to the next without a significant break in between. It remains to be seen whether I will manage to pull it all together and not somehow sabotage myself into not being able to run this one; if I do run it, obviously this will be a pretty significant achievement for me, psychologically. Stay tuned, folks, this is bound to be a fascinating journey.

To cap the year off, I am running a 5k this afternoon with my mom. Recently my pace has begun to speed up for reasons I do not completely understand. For the longest time I felt happy if I could average something under 10:00 minutes per mile on a run over three miles. Now I'm (fairly) easily maintaining sub-9:00 min/miles on six-mile runs, and feeling really, really good throughout. For some people, I know this is still a tortoise-like pace. For me it's a really big deal. I'm excited to see how the race this afternoon plays out. I mean, not that I expect to place at all, but I don't think I've ever raced a 5k faster than 28:xx minutes (this may also have to do with the fact that I rarely run 5k races). I'm shooting for around 24-27 minutes today. I know, that's a pretty broad range. But I have a chest cold and I'm not sure how that's going to affect my ability to, you know, breathe. I hear that oxygen is kind of important.

Anyway, that concludes my rambling. For now, anyway. I hope everyone has had happy holidays and enjoys the new year!