(1) You know how they say that when a tornado is coming, it sounds like a train? Well if you didn’t, that’s what they say. A few weeks ago (shortly after we just had a tornado touchdown in North Minneapolis), I was out on a ride. The weather had been kinda iffy when I left the house, but it wasn’t actually raining yet. Just humid, windy, and HOT. But I had miles to get in and riding the trainer in the summer is against my religion, so off I went. And I’m going along on my ride, just trying to pedal through the wind and stay aero and upright, when all the sudden I hear a train coming. And immediately my mind jumps to ohhhh $#!&. Saying prayers. <<And the train is getting louder.>> Wondering who I last told “I love you.” <<And louder.>> And I decide it’s pretty much over and sure enough…

A train passes me.

A real train. I was riding the north Cedar Lake regional trail, which happens to run parallel to a rail road track. Which is still used to carry stuff. By trains. Which sound like…. trains. Fortunately I’m not neurotic about dying in a thunderstorm or anything…

BTW, if you want to make sure you don’t get hit by a train, or a tornado, you can check out this sweet Hennepin County trail map (PDF).

(2) I watched this video of a little kid doing bowers – a super advanced pushup, done from a plank, requiring ridiculous amounts of balance and jacked triceps. I used to be a gymnast, I thought. So I go on the porch and try to recreate the bower. And proceeded to crash and smack into a wooden futon leaving a rather large bruise. For the next hour I was trying to put together a strength program from all our old gymnastics workouts.

(3) My month-long intensive physics class started on Tuesday, and I have already skipped lecture. Twice. On the first day we got out early. On the second day, I left after lab and went on a bike ride with my boyfriend. And on the 3rd day, I left after lab and went on a run. !! Parents of college students (including my own who are reading), please do not turn your back on my blog! In no way am I condoning or promoting skipping class – especially class costs money, and tuition is expensive. BUT, when you’re covering the very basic of basics like UNIT CONVERSION, and the professor gives permission to leave to those who have already covered such material [in 5th grade], then by all means, go enjoy your day outside.

Reader Qs:

You know how to play. Let it out!

And with that, my friends, “I said GOOD DAY sir!” (Bonus points for the original reference!!)

-E

But that does confirm that: yes, I am still here. Possibly buried under a stack of PubMed articles and lab reports, but here none the less. I have had pretty much zero guilt or shame in admitting that the blog has been at the very bottom of “the list” this semester… that is until my amiga Betsy over at Earning My M-Dot called me out in one of her posts for slacking. And then Susan, my long lost friend in NY emailed me saying she was coming to Minneapolis and where the truck was my blog?

Guilt is a powerful emotion. Guilt about skipping that long ride because you were SPENT from being at the office till way late the night before. Guilt about not being cleared to play in your stupid 1-credit tennis class, when your doctor is clearing you to run as much as you please. (You’re a LINEAR athlete!! Don’t risk it for something so small!) Guilt that the Twins just lost 10-5 and yes I did just snap on someone unintentionally. (Oh… guilt that this was written last week and never hit publish? Twins won their last two games BTW.) Guilt that yes, that is a Costco sized box of Starbursts in my drawer. (Cheap, long ride fuel?!) And then it crept in – guilt from blog neglect.

I’ve still been reading though – I know that Julia went on a sick training trip, Betsy is planning (are you serious??) a freaking amazing racing/spectating trip, Steve is an overunder pronator and yes damnit we will ride soon, my teammate Matt posted a SOLID  race at Oceanside 70.3. I haven’t been able to post, but I’m definitely still reading!

ANYWAYS. Long story short, this is my life right now:

[ETA: we're back to the current date - April 19th.) There are a total of 16 days until my last class of the semester, and then ONE WEEK of finals with my Ex Phys exam on the last possible day – Friday May 13th (we can’t all be lucky) – and then I’m donnnnnne!!

Or at least done for 9 days until my May term class starts. Don’t feel too sorry for me – it’s PE 1012: Beginning Running. And my LAST PE course ever of my Kinesiological education. ( <- That’s the outcome of my degree. “Kinesiological.” Really?) I will, however, accept condolences from July 4th through August 4th when I’m sitting through 4 hours a day / 4 days a week / for 4 weeks of intensive Physics. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little…

Training? It’s going. I had probably the slowest ride of my life yesterday, but I’ve also had lots of great rides so I’ll write that one off as “one of those days” and move on. I’ve also been swimming consistently – 95% of which is contributed to having someone to consistently swim with! Running…? Not quite ready to comment on that one just yet. The racing season will be here in a blink of an eye though, so I better own up and take whatever I’ve got!

If you guys can just hang with me for sixteen more days… I promise my life will be about 75% less packed and stressful, and we can hang out like we used to back in the old days. In a shameless attempt to KEEP any readers that I may still have, I’m going to be posting a giveaway sometime this week, so make sure you check back! I have several to give away, and they rhyme with depression leaves. Only they have nothing to do with Prozac or botany.

Reader Qs:

Can I get a quick collective rundown from the people who are still out there – how is training going? What races do you have coming up? (I know a lot of you have already started competing – how did the 1st of the year go?) Any big trips – racing or otherwise – to look forward to this summer?

Train hard, train smart, train often!

-E

(Sorry if I just offended anyone – of course there are plenty of amazing triathletes who are also great swimmers. But in the scope of the whole triathlete pool, let’s face it… >75% are more like manatees.)

[(Bad example - while manatee's usually swim around 5mph (still fast!), they can hit up to 15 mph in short bursts. And swim on their own an hour after being born. Thanks National Geographic!)]

ANYWAYS. I have gotten the sweet opportunity to witness a lot of amazing swimming, and it’s only just getting started. The University of Minnesota has had the honor of hosting this year’s NCAA DI Men’s National Swimming & Diving Championships! Today (Saturday) is the LAST day of competition, with prelims starting at 12:00 and finals beginning again at 7:00. There are around 50 schools competing, and they all remembered to bring their game – I lost count of how many new records have been set, but I expect more to come today! There are several students who have competed in the Olympics (and will be returning for 2012), so the bars are set high!

If any of you are in the Twin Cities metro and interested in checking out the REAL fish I’d encourage you to head over to the U of MN and check out the LAST day of competition!! Today schedule is:

NOON – PRELIMS

• 200-yard backstroke
• 100-yard freestyle
• 200-yard breaststroke
• 200-yard butterfly
• 400-yard freestyle relay
• platform diving (trials start at 1:30)
• 1,650-yard freestyle (all but last heat of time finals)

7:00 PM – FINALS

• 1,650-yard freestyle (last heat of time finals)
• 200-yard backstroke
• 100-yard freestyle
• 200-yard breaststroke
• 200-yard butterfly
• platform diving
• 400-yard freestyle

I know what I’m the most excited for… but truthfully this is all amazing, fast swimming! This is also a great event to bring your kids and get them excited about the sport of swimming. I talked to a couple little tater-tots last night who were standing front row about their favorite strokes, and you could see the excitement in their eyes. So if your free and in the area, come on down!

READER Qs:

If you’re a triathlete – did you swim growing up or not until you picked up tri? What is your favorite stroke?

I swam on a club team from 5th-8th grade, and varsity in 9th grade. Took three years “off” (in my strictly-running days) until my hip surgery forced me back in the pool! I usually swam breast and back when I was on the team, and actually hated free until I started swimming with my tri team. (Once in 9th grade my coach put me in the 500 free, and like 300 yards in I said &#%@ this! and started swimming breast. Hahahha he was heated!)

GO GOPHERS!

-E

1. GIVEAWAY!!

Open until Monday, February 7th at midnight. Don’t wait until then. Go. Enter. It. Now.

2. ATP

These guys did a really good job. And the song has been stuck in my head all morning. ♪ Krebs makin CO2 and oxy oxidatin… why you think they call it cellular respiration ♪

3. HIPPOCRACY

I’m going to be trying out a new (to me) product… and reviewing it… and there may or may not be some retractions of previously made thoughts/statements. I know a ton of people who love em’, and an equal number of people who think ‘those guys’ are out of their minds…

Adios,
-E

But there is one item that is definitely ABSENT from that bucket list. And that would be moving. On the 15th of December. When it’s snowing. Below freezing. With one other [my sized] helper. Smack in the middle of finals week.

Good planning…? FAIL!

To make this a little more enjoyable, I will be equipping myself as best as possible to not turn into a cranky &!$@# at the end of the day. These tools include:

• An extra hour of sleep last night
• Ample supply of caffeination during the move
• Good music playing to try and stay upbeat
• My warmest of warm gloves so my hands don’t freeze solid
• And lastly, turning this into a workout

I know I didn’t surprise anyone with that last one. Today would have been a crazy day without moving involved: I have a test, a presentation, and a final – all before noon. UHaul will be picked up at 12:30, and from then until 8pm it’s GO TIME. That being the case, I wasn’t going to make practice this morning, and I definitely wouldn’t be at the double tonight.

I will however be reminding myself throughout the day of proper exercise techniques – applicable whether you’re lifting weights or lifting a king sized bed 4x your weight into the back of a truck. 8 tips to keep in mind:

Before anyone thinks that MONO got the best of me, I thought I better get my butt back here. The epstein-barr virus is tough, but it’s got nothing on this angry little redhead.

Happy to report that I am back to sleeping my regular 8-9 hours a night, compared to the 15 that I was getting for so long. So funny… because looking back on the goals I made at the start of 2010, my #1 issue was not getting enough sleep!! I’ll come back to the rest of my 2010 goals soon enough, but HELL YES. I am finally getting enough sleep. And the excess 7ish hours I was getting each day, although necessary in the moment, I feel like definitely brought me to an “in the black” status. Whattt now Mr. Sandman??

(Hahah! Ok I’m pretty sure I’m the only one who just laughed out loud. It’s ok if only I’m the only one who thinks I’m funny….)

In addition to being free of mono, I also got the clearance to return to “exercising” last week Tuesday. Although I did hear my doctor mention something about the word “walk”… I am just thankful to be back in the gym, breaking a sweat, and starting to work myself away from the Michelin-man status that the last 4 weeks off has left me in!

Not pretty.

Because I only have 8 days of class left, five finals ahead, and four weeks of catch-up to do from being sick, you will not likely see much of me until the 19th of December. However… I may be popping in here and there with little random tidbits.

Which is in fact, all I have for you today. Please enjoy:

Minnesota is cold… and winter is definitely upon us. But every morning I get up at 5am, and am coming home just in time for the sun to rise. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.

You can kind of see my P.O.S. Honda in the background. What you can’t see is the hole created by rust, the brakes that didn’t break, or the BUMPER that fell off recently while driving home. Ummm… long overdue.

I love Peace Coffee. And I love Team Ortho Races! And I definitely definitely love playing with the overpriced Adobe software I was required to buy for Architecture when I was in school in Boston.

Important notes: Peace Coffee recently opened a coffee SHOP in Minneapolis! If you live in the area and haven’t checked them out yet, please please do because their coffee shop is awesome! They have this amazing piece of art tiled into their floor when you walk in. The smell is amazing. The fooood is amazing. And the coffee…. well you already know how I feel about that.

So yes, definitely check them out if you can! http://www.peacecoffeeshop.com/ And if you’re trying to come up with a good gift for hubby/girlfriend/aunt/grandma/whoever… I’m just sayin’.  At least I would love to get a bag of beans in my stocking!!

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’ve updated my Link love page! It still is “under construction” – there will be several companies added to it in the near future – but it’s a start!

And I think those are all the pieces of random information I can share with you today. (Read: I have church to get to in 15 minutes!)

I sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing thanksgiving, and for all my fellow STUDENTS – hang in there! Just a couple more weeks and you will be hommmmme free. Keep truckin through these final weeks and don’t let the stress get the best of you!

Take care amigos!

E

p.s. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER! I can’t believe only one person guessed this right! The “W” sign to the lips is signing WATER! Congrats to Janine who was the only to pull that up. Hydration is so important when your sick!

p.p.s. For whatever reason…. “resizing” photos is a skill that was lost when I updated my blog templates. Sorry my pictures are so huge!

]]> http://www.thetriathlonrx.com/2010/12/mono-0-dr-trirunner-1/feed/ 9 http://www.thetriathlonrx.com/2010/10/friday-confessionals-a-lot-to-let-out/ http://www.thetriathlonrx.com/2010/10/friday-confessionals-a-lot-to-let-out/#comments Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:17:27 +0000 The Triathlon Rx http://www.drtrirunner.com/?p=1912 Wowww – there are still readers out there!! You guys are amazing.

This is a strictly business post… cause’ it’s Friday afternoon and this girl got bidness to attend to! As I’m sure every single one of you does as well. If you’re not familiar with the practice of Friday Confessionals, I suggest you take a quick tutorial, and then come back and let it all out. (Yes… this is where we all get to be the friend holding the hair back while you’re doubled over the porcelain throne.) I feel like I have a lot to get off my chest today, so here is a thanks in advance for the proverbial ponytail holder you all provide.

1 // A girl walking up the stairs in front of me this morning was listening to her ipod AND texting… and she completely ate it. Like face first into the stairs. I would like to say my first inclination was to say “oh my gosh are you OK?” but I totally laughed as that came out. And I couldn’t stop!! What an @ss. Sorry chicky…

Multitasking FAIL

2 // That human physio exam? Killed. It. That’s not the confession though… in my next class – Motor Development, I went to see my exam grade after class since I had been at a doctors appointment the day we reviewed the test. My TA said, “You don’t need to check it….” and I was thinking… Watchu talkin about Willis?! Then he says allowed that I was the only one in the class that got 100 on the test. At first I was almost embarrassed. But then I realized how dumb that was, and that quickly changed to a #%(& yeah!! So my hate to be the smart ass confession… I kinda like throwing off the curve.

Love this textbook!

3 // My running is KILLING ME!! Don’t get me wrong – any running is forward motion – better than no running, better than being booted and pool running ’till your eyes fall out. But seriously… the pace and my PRE are making me want to cry. A) my rehab/training/come-back plan is way less miles than I have ever attempted to race on in my life. So I am definitely not expecting any sort of PR. Not that I could even if I wanted to, because in the three+ months that I took off, I think I lost ALL of my fast. Not even kidding. I had a easy recovery run yesterday (which btw, pretty sure all my runs feel the same. Kinda hard. My anterior tibialis is starting from square one. Julia – strengthening tips?? Please?!) and this guy passed me along the river. He was wearing basketball shorts and a hoodie!! COME ON ERIKA. I feel like I want a shirt that says “please don’t judge – I’m rehabbing” on the back. Which all of this essentially leads to the confession that running has a huge impact on my mental stability.

Any running is better than no running!

4 // I guess #3 was a two-fer’. I wasn’t going to put it out there that I actually am training.. for a race. Something about the verbal (or written in this case) commitment makes me feel more vulnerable to injury. Totally not logical, but that’s what these confessions are for…

Time to get that race face back on…

5 // I busted out the sweats for the first time today. The running attire that I wear ~70% of the time is not considered sweats by any means. It’s form fitting… it usually even matches… I’ll go out on a limb and even call it cute. Today was a day for legit sweatpants. Not only did I take 11 solid days of 5am wake up calls, and today I decided it was a day to sleep in. So sleep in until a whopping seven am I did before the morning Peace Coffee finally won me over. (Currently drinking their Mexican Dark Roast. LOVE it.) And then I checked the weather and it was all of 30° or something unnecessarily chilly along those lines. AND then I realized I only had two short classes, the last being a midterm review for Monday’s exam. Sleeping in + chilly mornings + study sessions = sweatpants. Big. Comfy. Sweatpants. I say this only as a confession because it is alllll too easy for me to get into the habit of not really caring what I wear to school. Believe it or not I actually do wear jeans. Occasionally.

I know. My cell phone photos are gallery quality.

Hahaha I actually looked through my iPhoto to give proof of this jean-wearing I speak of. I think the last picture I have of me in jeans is from my last trip to Philadelphia to visit my dad in AUGUST of 2009. Wow. I promise I have worn jeans in the mean time.

Reader Qs: What are you Friday Confessin’ this week? No judgements – promise! From my other runners perspective… what’s your “athletic” wear to “real” clothes ratio? I think I’m somewhere like 6:4. Haha… 7:3?

Oh wow look at the time. I’M OUT chiquitos!! My pops is visiting and he gets prime time up until the second he leaves for the airport!!
-E

Monday – 2 midterms
Tuesday – Paper due
Wednesday – Paper due
Thursday – 1 midterm
Friday – review for last exam on ….
Monday – LAST midterm!! (Sort of… there is another “midterm” project+presentation due a week later.)

Add to that, I found out about this amazing internship on Tuesday night. RIDICULOUSLY amazing. I haven’t been able to get my mind off of it!! And as it turns out, the deadline is TOMORROW. With all the exams and projects (and oh yeah… job? training?) I’ve had this week, I was definitely in one of those “are you kidding me?!” modes at seeing that. But please believe, there is no way in hell I’m letting this opportunity pass me by without even trying. So immediatiely following my Human Physiology exam today, I will be writing a cover letter. A jaw-dropping cover letter. During Motor Development lecture.

Sometime you gotta do what you gotta do. And you might as well have a positive self-efficacy attitude while you’re at it!

Leaving the gym this morning at crazyearlyo’clock, the sky looked something like this:

Oh wait, you probably can’t even see that because my cell phone camera is worth about a nickel and a stick of gum. (Wanna trade?) But if you squint real hard, (and ignore the two UFO looking things my camera decided to throw in…) you will see a full moon in the distance. OK, a full full moon isn’t until this Saturday… but work with me here. After several years serving at a restaurant, I can say with 97% accuracy that crazy stuff happens with the full moon. People take other peoples’ orders… other peoples’ reservations…. the frequency of lying about your age to order alcohol skyrockets. I’m telling you – crazy stuff. I’m going to say that it’s due time for this full moon to mean crazy GOOD, in that I will kill my physiology exam today, I will rock that Sports Psych exam on Monday (as opposed to having it rock me…), my run today will feel effortless, and I will hear only good things from my sports med doc this afternoon.

Best news of all… my DAD is here from Philly!!

That’s what’s up. The end.

-E

What am I saying – NOT the end!! While working the Twin Cities Marathon expo a few weeks ago, I did a little networking, and met a representative from Arctic Ease. You might think I have a cryotherapy fetish or something after hearing me talk about all my icyhot, bags of ice + saran wrap, lunch box ice packs + head bands, etc. I’ve come up with some interesting solutions to icing while on the go. But Arctic Ease solved my problem, and they will solve YOURS too! They want you to be able to try their cold compression wraps, GRATIS. (That’s “free” my amigo.) Also known as: giveaway time. Look for my review and details to come!

Here’s we go:

You may recall me mentioning I was going to tag on some themes to the days of the week, in hopes that I might be able to post more. [*cough* Post more... mental note.] As a matter of fact… that’s the real reason you haven’t seen me since September 3rd. I’ve been so busy coming up with creative weekday themes.

MEDICAL Monday

See that Dr. part of my title? Mmm, yep. I’m still workin’ my way there. And because I am in the field of Kinesiology - also referred to as sports and exercise science, exercise physiology, exercise science, movement science, sport science…. I think you get the picture – my medical tidbits are likely to be weighted towards that area of interest. Which is fortunate for YOU because I believe about 97% of my readers either consider themselves an athlete or active on some level. It’s a win-win. I learn, I share, I do well on my finals. You learn, you…. well, you learn. The end. Kidding!! I know I have some other pre-med/pre-PT/pre-health professionals out there, right? Say hi!!

TRIED IT Tuesday

Reviews of all sorts – products, gear, workouts, you name it!

WORKOUT Wednesday

I don’t think you’ll need too much assistance with this one. Whether it’s new to me, or new to you, you can look for a new workout, drill, or activity to shake up the routine. Contrary to the beliefs of my youth ( ), just because your a runner, does not mean you should only run. In addition to swim sets, ladders on the track, and intervals, you’ll occasionally find new playlists or power songs. Lord knows I don’t mix music and running… but my underwater mp3 player changed my life!

THOUGHTS ON A Thursday

You already saw an example of this one a couple weeks ago. It was pretty random. It will continue to be pretty random, but I can promise there will always be thoughts of some sort involved. Given my outlook on this fall semester… don’t be surprised if you see findings in sports psychology, motor development, amazing accomplishments of the human body, or Big 10 and NCAA news. Then again, you could also wind up with Buffalo Jerky, Sports Illustrated, or a giveaway. Oooh the suspense.

Friday CONFESSIONALS

You didn’t think I’d let that go, did you? I know it breaks all the alliteration I had going, but Friday Confessionals is a well established tradition, and I think ‘Fess up Fridays’ sounds lame.

WHERE’D YA GO? Weekends

That is the million dollar question. Being that weekends are so cherished, and yet so short lived, I make an attempt to disconnect on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s my goal to spend those two days catching up with family, friends, teammates, and the big man up top. OK… and maybe a bit of homework.

Can you feel this surge of optimism? No post for two weeks… and now I’m laying out a weekly schedule?! Let me tell you, if there is one thing I have learned about myself over the years, it is that I function 110% better with a plan. Whether it be for school, for training, for my closet, or anything else… give me my color coded sharpies, my fancy-shmancy 3 ring binder, or my iCal, and let me Martha it up! (Can we make organization a Olympic sport, please? THAT, my tibia can handle.)

Another thing I’d like to feel out with this new surge of inspiration is upping YOUR contribution. That’s right buddy… I’m lookin’ at you. You might be a blogger, a reader who has never commented, a company, or anywhere in between. If there’s something you want to share – a guest post, a race, an organization, a product, let me know, and we’ll hop to it! I have met so many amazing people through Dr.TriRunner… and I just want to spread the love.

SO. If you have any ideas, anything to share, any question, send it on over! Either leave it in the comments section, or shoot it to me at drtrirunner [at] gmail [dot] com!

THREE DISCLAIMERS…

#1 – I just gave you a Monday through Friday. That does not mean I will be posting all of those days. In fact, I can tell it to you right now that there is no flipping way. Unless you want to give me college credit, or money. This “schedule” simplifies my life in that it a) enables me to write ahead of time and schedule some posts, and b) gives me a basis on where to START, rather than “oh wow, I have so much to catch up on I don’t even know where to begin…”

#2 – Just because I said I disconnect doesn’t mean I’ll never jump online or throw up a post. Don’t try and call me out if you see me tweet!

#3 – You can ask any question you want, but I wont promise I’ll answer it. There are somethings I can’t share just due to contracts, and there are some things I wont share cause ya’ll have thrown some crazy stuff at me in the past. I guess in sum, just don’t be afraid to ask. 97% of questions I’ve received thus far have come from common sense, or logical curiosity.

ALRIGHT.

Now that I’ve given you THE weekly rundown, I want to give you MINE. Maybe because I feel guilty for not posting for so long, but also because I want to share my schedule! It is WAY different than the schedule I was operating on during the summer, and WOW was it a rough adjustment. You will see that I have practice at 6AM, meaning my wake up time is 5 and I [am attempting to] go to bed around 9. In comparison to the summer when we didn’t even close the restaurant till 9:00, and I was lucky if I was ready to sleep at midnight. Yeah… first week was rough. Here’s what a week in my life might look like now…

I think you should be able to click it to enlarge. Why do I show you this? Two reasons… 1) to show you that it is possible to fit your work, schooling, kids, homework, fitness, church into your busy life. This doesn’t show some of my committments, like bible study, time spent on homework, or oh hey – time to relax? But it is doable. 2) To tell you that while I would love to say I make it to every single practice session, or every meeting or group I’m a part of, I don’t. Sleep is one thing I know that affects me more than anything else, and if I don’t get my sleep, 6am might not happen. I have finally learned the difference between ‘ahhh… but my bed is so warm!! It’s dark out!’ and knowing that a workout just wont be productive. I’d rather spend the hour catching up on sleep than wasting time in the gym not doing anything beneficial. Capish?

Because it is my first official Wednesday “with a schedule” … I leave you with a

WORKOUT Wednesday

And because I’m writing this from an elliptical, with a sport psych journal that I really should be reading, I’ll chose a quickie. My current POWER SONG of the moment… is Power, by Kanye West. Check it out!

POWER on YouTube

Reader Question: What’s your power song of the moment?

Hope I didn’t loose to many of you in the Dr.TriRunner drought! Catch ya SOON!

-Erika

First of all, IT issues. And that would be IT as in I – T, not it. If you’re reading via Google reader, you may not have noticed that my layout and heading have CHANGED. This was not exactly intentional, but in updating my previous theme, it wiped out my custom header and personalized settings. FAIL! However, it did force me to spruce things up a little around here. So if you’re reading ing Google Reader, please (!!) click on over and tell me what you think of the new header, the layout, what am I missing (?), and any other comments. Minnesota Nice comments though – that constructive criticism.   Here is what I have noticed, and would love your help if you are blogging/internet/html savvy and know how to fix it!

1. When you are on the main homepage, just reading the posts through scrolling down (versus clicking on each individual post), there is no link to leave a comment!?!? This used to be linked down by the tags, at the bottom of each post. How/where do I edit the html code to put that back in?
2. When I list things… the text is all squished together. I don’t like it. How could I make it 1.5 spaced like the rest of the text?

Um… that’s actually all I can think of that’s different. My pages tabs have moved to the right side bar, my “fueled by” sponsors/links have moved over to the right side, and so has my search bar… what am I forgetting about?

Just to note in the mean time, you CAN still comment! (haha, no pressure though.) You just have to on an individual post page (click on the title of the post) and scroll to the bottom. Frustrating, I know, but hopefully I’ll have it figured out soon!

OK, now we begin.

In all of seven days, I’m going to be renewing my student status and heading back to campus at my dearly beloved University of Minnesota. And trust me, this girl will not be dragging her feet. Summer 2010 will not exactly be looked upon “fondly” in my books. Alright, no B.S. – it was truthfully the worst summer I have ever had. I’m looking forward for this summer to be done, and I’m ready to just leave it at that – close the chapter, and turn a new page.

ANYWAYS.

What am I looking forward to other than summer ending? A lot. Copious amounts. Heaps, loads, MUCHO!! But for the sake of time (and your sanity) I betcha I can break it down to three:

SCHOOL

Yes. I am looking forward to school. Class. Homework. Cadavers, textbooks, exams – bring it. I know my major is the right fit for me because I get out of bed and I’m excited about it. Every. Damn. Day. And AMEN for that, because I went through that year and a half of unsureness when I started out doing architecture. (THROWWW BACK POST! I look so young! [Edit: that was only two years ago you doof!] I miss my dad!!!) And that’s OK – if I have any young guns out there going off to college (or still in high school!!), let me tell you two things. A) Say HI!! One of my new favorite people in the world left her first comment recently, and I love that girl! I want to hear from you!! Oh yea… B) You do not need to know what you want do do/be “when you grow up” when you go to college. That’s what college is for! Take classes outside your comfort zone. Use your general eds to explore different fields and see what really lights your fire. [That sounded dirty when I reread for editing. How old am I??]

On track… on track.

I’m excited and looking forward to school. Here is my schedule for the fall semester – classes only. I may or may not be adding on one more 1 credit class (another PE – Kines needs 5 to graduate, and I’m at 3) but I need to wait and see how some other things (that I’m also looking forward to!) pan out.

1. Into to Kinesiology. Yes. I am taking this way late in the game. Oops!
2. Sports Psychology.
3. Intermediate Swimming. Will get to do my own workouts, since the prereq for “intermediate” is “PE 1007 or equiv, proficient ability to swim 100 meters or instr consent.” 100 meters? I think I’ve got it covered.
4. Human Physiology + Lab
5. Motor Development Across the Lifespan
6. [Potentially.....] another PE, Monday nights, 6:45 – 8:30

TRAINING

It probably doesn’t blow your mind that I’m looking forward to training, but when you hear that I’m still not running… it might. Its true – I was SUPER down about not being able to run – pretty much this whole summer. And I’m definitely still bummed about that. But I am in the hands of some of the best sports medicine doctors the Twin Cities has to offer, and for that, I am so grateful. I feel so solid in the decisions I’ve made about racing and training this year, so solid in my coach, my goals, and the plans she has given me to help me reach them, and more solid than flipping Fort Snelling in having given this one over to God.

And also pretty solid in rocking my new prescription sleeve. It makes me feel like I’m almost still a runner. Did I mention I love my sports med team?

Note: nope – I’m not on the UMN XC team. Just a groupie. :/

MY FUTURE

I will tell myself over and over again, until it’s permanently engraved in my mind. I can do anything through Him who strengthens me. I’m entering the new school year with a good attitude, a solid head on my shoulders (jeeez, you’d think I like the word solid or something… [note the official sarcasm color]) and a strong hand of faith on my shoulder. There are plenty of opportunities out there just waiting to be seized, and oh man, do I plan on seizing. In fact, I plan on going pro at it, so watch out! This summer blowed, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the year has to.

Life is only what you make of it my friends. If you’re questioning whether or not your makin’ of it… I ask you this: If not today… then when? (That is a direct shout out to YOU mama bear! I love you!!)

Alright kiddos… [I do realize the majority of my readers are older than me... I should change that out. This editing-post-writing is a good thing. Highly recommended.] Scratch that. Alright compadres, it’s time to wrap. The Twins just beat the Tigers. The world is right. (Or is it solid..?) And it’s bedtime.

READER Qs: Are you tech savvy//very empathetic, and can help me fix my html to make the comment link reappear? What are you taking this semester if you are still in school? What was your favorite course in college if you are all done?

Sleep tight!
-E