Feelings from a year of "Personal Worsts"

I see the giant red numbers on the clock by the finish line. 02:14:4x My heart sinks and I know I haven't made it. Sub 2 hour is out the window. But no time to start the negative self-talk now (that'll come later), I have to dig deep and finish strong!

I lengthen my stride little by little to get myself into my usual finish line sprint and take a deep breath. Nothing. No air. I exhale quickly and try again. But again there's no air and I choke a bit, panicking. What is happening? What's up lungs?! My legs keep going and my arms keep pumping. I gasp and finally get a bit of much needed air. Ok. Small breaths work, keep doing small breaths.

02:14:54! Push! You can do this! You can cross under 02:15:00!!

Dear My Saucony Hurricane 14s

Clockwise from top left: Grouse Grind (Vancouver, BC), STWM Half Marathon (Toronto, ON), R2EP 10K (Kingston, ON), Seongsang Ilchulbong (Jeju Island, South Korea), Barrie Waterfront Half Marathon (Barrie, ON), Guide running in Hong Kong, Goodlife Toronto Marathon -Hot Potatoes relay team, Sporting Life 10K (Toronto, ON).
Center: My Saucony Hurricane 14s. =)
It was hard to find photos that actually showed my shoes. XP

Dear My Saucony Hurricane 14s,

We met in late July 2013 and for nearly 2 years, you've been supporting me along every step of my journey in learning to run. (Beware, more puns comin' your way!)

I ran the Barrie Waterfront Half Marathon!

Earlier this month, I ran the Barrie Waterfront Half Marathon on Sunday June 7th. ^_^ It marked:

• My 1st race in Barrie!
• My 2nd half marathon!!
• My 3rd running race this year!!!

Finished my first half marathon of 2015!

My First Relay Marathon!

I have never been involved in team sports. Not in my childhood or highschool years. My participation in a university intramural dodgeball team could be described as "persistent" at best, since I was usually the first one hit. But last December, when I saw that the Toronto Goodlife Marathon had a relay team option and I knew I wanted to do it.

But I am only one person. And I actually don't know have any friends (in Canada) who like to run. So I asked friends if they knew of any runners. And reached out to these runners. Some ways of reaching out were a bit 'creepier' than others. But in about a month, we had enough people for a team! I was so excited! XD

After some people bailing out, finding new recruits, finally meeting the whole team, naming ourselves the Hot Potatoes, meeting up for group runs, motivating each other throughout training, lots of spamming to coordinate race day details and some unexpected delays during race day... 

Team Hot Potatoes finished 13 out of 69 relay teams!!! We ran a full marathon in 3:38:11!!

Not bad for a first time as a relay team, and it being two of our teammates' first running races!!

Almost an Adult: Not everyone will get your version of Life and that's ok.

This all started with a microwave.

In all honesty, the microwave alone couldn't have motivated me to write this post. So I guess you can say it's the microwave and my current "almost an adult" mindset that led me to sit down to write a story about this incident.

First Outdoor Run of 2015 and Supporting Camp Ooch!

Last weekend, my ears perked up when radio hosts announced the possibility of above zero degrees weather coming to Barrie. I've had my eyes on the weather forecast the past few days and today, I finally made it out for my first outdoor run of  the year! I think this may be the earliest time of the year that I've gone out for run! Starting my season early this year! (I don't count indoor training as part of my running season.) I've been feeling so excited to run outdoors the whole weekend!!

On top of this, I've been promoting my fundraising campaign as part of the Sporting Life 10K for Camp Oochigeas the past week or so. I have set a goal of raising $250 to help send children with cancer go to Camp Oochigeas! ^_^

Almost an Adult: Do what you love, not just what you're good at.

I've never thought of myself as an athlete, yet I run.

I don't always like to be the leader, but I often find myself taking the initiative to plan get-togethers.

I don't have the greatest voice that's waiting to be discovered, but I sing to my heart's content whenever possible (and appropriate...).

I may not be good at any of those things, but I've learned that I can do things simply because I enjoy it. :)

My Happiness Journal- January

Gretchen Rubin used "Vitality" as January's theme for her happiness project. She wanted to start her year off with more physical and mental energy, which sounds like a logical idea to me! Her first chapter touched on how she went about doing that with these action items:

• Go to sleep earlier
• Exercise better
• Toss, restore, organize
• Tackle a nagging task
• Act more energetic

So... What did I do this month after reading January of the Happiness Project? Watch out, this is a LONG post!

Almost An Adult: Clean up after yoself (first)!

This little thought nugget about adulthood may seem straight forward to some of you, but it's something that I still struggle with more often than it does me any good. The struggle comes from the fact that there are two parts making up this thought.

Living back home: Am I moving towards being an Adult or back to being a Kid?

What does it mean to be an "Adult"?

As I find myself trying to survive through the swamps of "post-graduate-job-hunting-while-living-back-home-with-the-family" life, the question of whether or not I'm now an "adult" comes to mind. Sure I'm an adult in legal terms. Besides that though, do I feel like one? As much as I like to think that I've become more independent since moving out for 2 years, and having traveled and lived alone in a different country, the truth is: I don't feel like a full fledged Adult yet. But don't go calling me a kid.

Trying Something New: A Happiness Journal for 2015!

Hello and Happy 2015 to those who have stumbled on my first blog post of this year! Aka my first blog post in over 2 months...

So I found myself not knowing what to do with "blogging" since I had no "ongoing adventures" to write about after my placement abroad in Hong Kong and checking off my goal of running my first half-marathon. But I do like to write! I find it both calming and stimulating at the same time. Just like running, writing helps me think and allows me think harder about the things that are in "the back of my mind" in the everyday routine. The latter is probably what deterred me from blogging when I felt like I had nothing worth writing about. Since I'm a slow thinker, that makes me a slow writer as well. *sigh* But I digress... I'm writing now and this will be a Happy post!

Maybe this will be a year of shiny new things for this blog!