November 2005 Archives

A week or two ago I posted about certain goals and whether or not they were actually attainable. I still don't know the answer to that, but I'm making a go at it. I've reevaluated my training, reevaluated my nutrition, set the bar a little higher and am waiting to see if it pays off.

I found a new training plan that seems pretty bike/run intensive, which is what I need. I'm now biking and running four times a week each. The workouts are far more focused than anything I've done in the past and include a good bit of interval training. Interval training sits well with me as thats how i trained for 10 years when I was swimming - it makes sense. No more mindless spinning or trotting. I'm refocused.

I'm supplementing this new training plan with a new strength training routine. My trips to the gym have always been sort of sporadic and for the past four years have always involved the same set of exercises. This is all new stuff. Not a lot of actual weight involved in the exercises, but a whole lot of using my own weight (and I've got plenty of that!) for resistance. Based on how sore I am every single time I do it, I'm pretty sure its working.

I've been riding on the road a lot more, especially for this time of year. I was in the bike shop the other day and there was a sign hanging up that said "There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing" and that has sort of become my motto. I've always run in pretty much any weather but the bike is a whole nother story. Last weekend it was 44 degrees out and raining and I went for a ride. It wasn't too bad. Yesterday it was 50 and sunny and there was no wind and I was in heaven. I think that might be the perfect weather for cycling.

Its been an interesting couple days in my family. It all started last week when I got an email forwarded to me from my aunt in regards to this stamp, available from the USPS. The email included a picture of the stamp and the message seen here.

I was outraged. She sends me all sorts of right wing propaganda, most of which I just laugh and shake my head at. This one really got to me tho, and I had to respond.

My response was as respectful as possible, included facts that the original email left out, and my opinion on the matter. She took it as a personal attack and flew off the handle.

I won't go through what was said because its not really important. I'm sure my view on the matter is not hard to discern, and hers pretty much supported everything that was said in the original email, along with statements that this is a slap in the face to the troops and lots of "but God Bless You for having your own beliefs" type statements.

The best thing that came out of all this, and the reason that I am writing this post to begin with, is that I saw how completely supportive my parents are of my opinions, and I couldn't be more grateful. My family runs the spectrum of religious and political beliefs. My aunt who sent the email is an extreme scary right-wing Catholic. She and her husband re-found God 10 or 15 years ago and haven't had an opinion of their own since. The true tragedy of this is that they have two children, both in college, who are highly intelligent and well-educated ... and are not allowed to form their own opinions. Its very very sad. I'm on the other end of the spectrum (altho I'm not NEARLY as far to the left as they are to the right) ... the liberal, agnostic, heathen of a niece who they probably pray will find the path of God every night. Not likely.

My parents seem to straddle both sides of "moderate". My dad being a little right of center (largely for fiscal reasons) and my mom being slightly to the left (based on social issues). I have always felt however, that they have taken my opinions seriously and want to hear what I have to say. During the 2004 elections, the boyfriend and I spent many a dinner with them drinking wine and talking politics and it was always a lot of fun.

When this whole thing with the stamp went down, I thought they would be upset. Not because I had the opinion that I had (which they both very much agree with) but because I was "stirring the pot". I thought they would have said "we agree with you, but you probably should have just let it go ... not emailed the whole family with your response". Instead, they have completely rallied around me. They have sent out their own emails supporting my opinion and my right to have my opinion and basically saying that if my aunt is going to send out right-wing propaganda, she should expect a response. And the thing is, I know they would feel this way even if they didn't share my belief on the matter.

Makes me feel pretty damn lucky.

So its been almost a week and my pure elation from landing the internship that I wanted has not yet worn off. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

I didn't apply for many jobs, in fact, I only applied for one. I pretty much knew exactly what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do and tailored my job search as such. And the more I think about it, the more I'm pretty damn proud of myself. Many many of my classmates came in wanting to do certain kinds of work, and have since been lured away with dollar signs in their eyes. Admittedly, many of them don't really have a choice - they are looking for glitzy internships because they need the money. This is one of the times that I feel that my decision to stay in-state paid off as far as my options go.

When the guy called to tell me they were going to offer me the job, I flipped. All semblance of professionalism was gone and I couldn't do much but stammer "oh my god... thank you! thank you! thank you!" over and over. He was cool - told me to go out and celebrate. He said "You don't have to thank us! We're SO excited to have you!" And I couldn't help but think really? Wow.... And then he said "We interviewed a LOT of people, and you were one of the best!" To which I couldn't help but think Really? ME? Then he told me that they called all my references who gave me glowing recommendations. Note to self: Thank references.

I'm just so excited. I originally was dreading summer this year. Last summer was amazing and I figured this summer would be pretty brutal - having to work and all. Now I can't wait.

I got the internship!!!!!

That is all. :)

the leaves seen through my window pane remind me that its time to move my life again,
november sun is felt by none, a chilly breeze has blown my thoughts to what's to come
a cup of warm coffee, some vitamin C,
a bowl for the cat, a bowl for the dog, a bowl for me ...

This afternoon with my head spinning with thoughts of Kona glory, the dog and I headed out for a run. It was only supposed to be a 30-40 minute trot through the neighborhood in which I live, but that plan was quickly derailed when I decided to take an alternate route home.

I hopped onto a gravel road, sure that it would take us where we wanted to go, only to realize, a good thirty minutes later, that we were nowhere near home. Our run had long since turned into a walk, and instead of turning around and heading in the direction in which we came, I thought we would push on, despite being pretty much completely lost.

The dog and I ended up running/walking for a good two hours, almost entirely on gravel roads in the middle of nowhere. We walked on beautiful tree-lined winding roads past adorable little country houses. It was late afternoon by this point and the sun was starting to set low. The whole world had that sort of golden glow that comes just before sunset. The temperature had dropped enough so that my nose and fingers were a little chilly.

I love the way the world feels just before winter starts to really set in. The chilly temperatures, the orange and red leaves, the way it seems like everything and everyone is out soaking up the last bits of warmth and sunlight.

We passed a cute house with a little corral out front. The corral contained a brown and white alpaca, a chocolate colored teeny tiny miniature horse, and two pygmy goats. When they saw us coming all four of them ran to the fence to greet us. Maddie and I walked over and I petted them while she sniffed their noses through the fence. I felt like I had just stepped into Charlotte's Web or the set of Babe or something. It was pretty sweet.

Twenty minutes or so later we saw a rather large herd of deer up the road. There were does and little babies and one very large buck with a HUGE rack. Very very cool.

Two hours after beginning our jaunt, the dog and I managed to find our way home. Her normally jet black coat was powdered with white dust from the road. We were dirty and tired and hungry and very very happy. Now she's curled up at my feet sleeping with a full belly and a look of complete contentment. I feel pretty much the same way.

Yesterday I watched NBC's coverage of the Hawaii Ironman. I've watched this every year for a while now, and for the first time I thought to myself ... it would be REALLY cool to be there ... I wonder ... IS it possible?.

For those of you who don't know, qualifying for Kona is very very difficult. To get to race at "the big dance" you have to qualify at one of the 20+ Ironman events around the world - Wisconsin, Couer d'Alene, Lake Placid, Brazil, Australia, Germany, etc. Unlike trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon, there is not a time standard you have to make. Qualifying for Kona is based on your placement at the races. In my age group at Coeur d'Alene last year, you had to place in the top three. To put it in perspective, two of the three 25-29 year old women who qualified ran BOSTON qualifying times in the marathon ... AFTER 112 miles on the bike ... thats crazy fast.

I'm a long long way from ever being able to qualify. I'd have to take FOUR HOURS off my Ironman time to even have a shot at it. I've got the swim for it, but unfortunately, the swim doesn't count for much. The bike and the run are my weakness and that is where you have to be especially strong to have a shot at qualifying.

Qualifying for Kona would have to be a long LONG term goal for me. I'm not even sure if its doable - seems like these people, along with having a crazy work ethic, also have to have some sort of genetics working in their favor. But is it worth working towards, in the long term? I wonder what the farthest anyone has come to qualify for Kona is ... and I'm not sure that I even want to ask - does it really matter? Who knows what is possible.

Of course there are those 150 or so lottery spots that allow the average athlete a chance to race with the sport's elite. I've never even considered entering the lottery - if I ever get to race in Kona, I want it to be because I earned it.

How much room do I have to improve? I can certainly get faster on the bike and run - but do I have four hours that I can take off? Maybe I'm a better athlete than I give myself credit for, and maybe I have more potential than I know. I know that I could have trained harder and more consistently for my last IMs. I'm not saying that I didn't work my ass off, because I did. But I know I have more to give.

In other triathlon related news, Ironman Coeur d'Alene, the race that I did this summer, will be airing on OLN today at 2 p.m. (CST) and again on Tuesday. Watch for me riding my snazzy new white P2K and running in the a super cute pink SheBeast top!

Proof that we abuse our dog:

A couple times last week on my way back from a run or the gym or whatever I came across an adorable little grey and gold cat hanging around the apartment complex. I always had the dog with me (yes, even when I went to the gym!) and the cat is not too fond of the dog, so I was never able to do much more than pet her. I noticed tho that she was very skinny so I went to the grocery store and bought a couple cans of cat food. I started putting food out for her every night. Last night at 7:00 I walked outside to feed her and she was sitting on my porch waiting for me. The boyfriend and I sat outside with her for a good hour and a half petting her and giving her treats and watching her eat. She curled up in a little ball on the boyfriend's lap and went to sleep. Every time he would try to move her so he could get up she would readjust so that she could continue her nap. It was adorable.

It was cold and damp out last night so we put out a makeshift bed for her. I filled a clothes basket with old towels and blankets so that there was an area in the middle just big enough for a kitty. We put her in it, and she curled up and went to sleep almost immediately. When we noticed that it was getting colder out we filled a Nalgene bottle with warm water and put it under the blankets to keep her warm. She looked oh so content - and must have been seeing as she was curled up in the same spot this morning!

I'm not really much of a cat person, but this is a GREAT cat. I would love to keep her but I am pretty allergic to cats. I can hold them and play with them and stuff - but living with them is a whole nother story.

So we are in the process of trying to find her a home. If anyone knows anyone in the greater Looneyville area looking for an adorable and friendly little teenage cat, let me know.

A few weeks ago I had an interview for *the* internship that I want this summer.

I've been going crazy waiting to heare back from them. They said I should know "mid-November" and now mid-November is here. I went for a run this evening and when I returned home I saw that I had a voicemail from a number I didn't recognize. I call my voicemail and I hear "Hi Jen ... this is interviewerchick ... we talked a few weeks ago and ... *heart pounding* ... we are in the process of making our final decisions ... and we need a copy of your transcript".

D'oh!

My grades aren't terrible but they could certainly be better. After first semester last year I was in the middle of my class - right smack in the middle (literally... 83/166!). Second semester I worked my butt off and was on track to pull the GPA up quite a bit when disaster struck and I lost a lot of focus. Considering the hell that we went through during finals last year, I'm happy to have gotten the grades that I did, but they certainly didn't help my GPA. Its not like I was slacking off ... my best friend in the whole world was very sick and potentially not going to make it and we were very very distracted.

I was feeling so well about this job ... but now the whole transcript thing has me all in a flutter.

I called said best friend this afternoon somewhat paniced and she said "umm ... if they made it to the point where they are making their final decisions and they are just now asking for your transcript, there's a very good chance that they liked you so much they didn't care about your grades and they just need to check to make sure that you are not failing". I'm hoping she's right.

*Edited: Why the hell didn't someone tell me that this thing was so riddled with typos as to not make any sense!?

Much to my mall-loving mother's chagrin, I have never been much of a shopper. I mostly do it out of neccessity, and I do admittedly enjoy looking good ... I'm just not one who really enjoys the process of getting to that point.

Having said that, I am completely and utterly addicted to the Athleta catelogue and website. I'm not sure how I started getting the catelogue in the mail, but its like Christmas when it arrives. I literally could spend hours pouring over the 20 pages of outdoorsy-girly-athletic clothes. Thank GOD they don't actually have a store, or I would be even more broke than I am now.

The funniest thing about this is that while I LOVE looking at the stuff, I have yet to actually order anything. Too expensive for my no-income lifestyle. I think I am going to break that streak however and order this hat. Its a little pricey, but very cute and the description of how it is made pretty much sold me.

So I'm sitting here listening to the new(ish) Ryan Adams cd and I can't help but think damn, this is really good.

If you're into alt-country type stuff (and even if you're not), I highly reccomend.

I started a blog for my Noah's Wish fundraising efforts. Check it out here. Feel free to pass the link on or link to it on your own blog!