Birthday, Sunburn, Iphone and more..

Alright folks, there’s a lot to cover in this blogpost so uhh…try not to fall asleep while reading and I’ll try not to bore you into oblivion :). No promises though. I’m a rambler as we all know (and hopefully love).

a) Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. A little surprised at how many people wished me happiness on my special 25th birthday, even IF many of them were informed about it through Facebook. Still takes a little effort to dial in that text, pick up that phone to call or send in that FB message ya know? Quarter of a century old….wowza. But I feel surprisingly happy with the way things are in my life. Mainly because I’m excited about the future. Don’t get my wrong, I’m very proud of my accomplishments so far, but I’ve got my eyes set on quite a bit more. Looking forward to see what else life has in store I guess that’s all.

There used to be a point in time around senior year in college when I was absolutely terrified of the future. I felt like life was forcing me to sprint ahead, faster and faster, and there was nothing I could do to pull back on the reigns. Scared of failure, scared of settling, scared of not accomplishing enough....I wanted time to sit still so I could just have a minute to sort things out.

Now, I feel good about the future. Still don’t know what it has in store for me, still don’t know if I’ll accomplish all that I want to but here’s what’s different: This time around, I do know that as long as I try my best, keep my eyes open for opportunities and work hard, I’ll be happy. As long as I’m always pushing, looking for new ways to grow and keep life exciting, life will be amazing.

I’m a very goal oriented person; I’ve found this out about myself over the years. And the realization of this ridiculously obvious fact, believe it or not, has helped me have a much better outlook on life. Having goals to work towards is what makes me tick day in and day out. I need to keep on challenging myself and defining new goals to reach and new milestones to accomplish in order to lead a fulfilling and successful life. And that is exactly what I plan on doing :)

b) Enough heavy stuff, onto the fun stuff! Iphone 3G did indeed get launched on my birthday (thanks Apple!) and will be here July 11th (why you gotta make me wait Apple?). You best believe I'll be procuring one as soon as I can get my hands on it. Twice the connection speed and a full GPS system and half the price! ahhhh! I can’t wait!

c) I got sun burned for the first time ever on Sunday! I’m actually kind of excited about it. This is my third summer in good old A to the Zona and I finally got burnt! I didn’t know that I was actually capable of burning until Sunday :). I think of it as God’s little prank birthday gift to me haha. The real one’s coming soon right God?

Here’s how I got it:

Mama went for a nice long 3.5 h bike ride and forgot to put the good old sun-block on. 95-100 degree temp + no sun block + sun blaring down on your bare shoulders = sunburn.

Good to know.

What? Were you expecting a long, dragged out story? I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of being succinct when needed! In reality though, there really isn’t an exciting story to tell so I’m sparing you the fabricated details. Now, if only my shoulders would stop itching.

d) I haven't done much else to prettify my blog besides changing the backsplash and putting up a banner cuz let's face it I'm a little lazy and also, I can't find my stupid book on blogging! Oh well, I'll get around to putting more pics and links up one of these days. For now, my attempts at humor and my irreverence for grammar will have to suffice as entertainment.

e) Whine session alert. This part of the blogpost is dedicated to whining about stuff. You’ve been forewarned.

I hate being a slow runner! I feel sooo much slower than I did last year! When I run, my legs are telling "me go faster go faster you can do it!" But my heart rate sky rockets when I put in even the tiniest little kick in my legs and I, being a mere mortal slave to my heart rate monitor, reluctantly comply and go back down to my boring, long slow, slow...slowwwwww pace.

Yawn.

This results in me always having lots of gas left in the tank after my long runs (which is good) but it also leaves me with this sad empty feeling (which is bad). Good lord I’m being forced to go 11:30min/mile pace! Am I really that much of a slow poke? Could I have completed this 9 miler if I had gone faster?

And then I immediately feel like an idiot for even questioning these things and instead, I try to focus my attention on my amazing ability to be able to go out and run for an hour and a half when it's a blistering 95 degrees out and still have gas left in the tank. Take that suckas! By suckas I am referring to the negative voices inside my head. Yes, I do have little voices inside my head. Make fun all you want folks but you and I both know that everyone has little voices inside their head whether they admit to it or not.

I couldn't do it last year. This running in crazy hot weather thing. The heat and dehydration would always get to me. I'd end up walking quite a bit during my runs, barely staggering through to the finish and on the verge of puking afterwards. I could never gauge how much fluid to take down or what pace to set for myself. But this year, things are just clicking, and, as slow as I may be, I know I have heart rate monitoring to thank for it.

Having a heart rate monitor is helping me be more cognizant of how much water I need to take during the runs. If I’m dehydrated, my HR climbs and that is a very clear indication that I need more fluids. As a result, I’ve been stuffing more of the little 4 oz water filled bottles into the waistband of my shorts when I go on my long runs, even though it’s cumbersome to run with the little buggers. Surprise, surprise, this strategy has actually been working for me. That and I’m probably adapting a little better to the nasty hot weather this time around.

I know I'm slow now, but it’s just a matter of time and miles before I get faster while maintaining the same heart rate. At least that’s what people tell me. I just need to have patience and faith that this whole following the Heart Rate Monitor training thingy will work out. After all, virtually every pro and half way decent triathlete trains with them! Apparently I have to force myself to be slower now to get faster later..or something like that.

Sigh.

Patience young road-runner, patience.