It’s not about the years, It’s about the mileage…

Today was such a fun day! Annemarie is a new friend who is dating an old friend from Santa Barbara, Brett.  She is in town for the week and asked me if I would like to go up to Solvang with her to take some pictures. The weather was beautiful and we had a fun morning and afternoon enjoying the scenery, taking some photos, eating some delicious tri-tip, and getting to know each other more.

Some of the photos from the shoot are below on Annemarie’s blog. Thanks Annemarie for a great day and for the photos! You are truly talented and I can’t wait for you to be here for good!

My Story: The California Girl

They say you learn something new everyday.  I originally had high hopes of posting on my blog daily the thing that I learned that day. That got to be a very overwhelming thought so I did not go through with it.

However, I am posting today what I learned because I found it to be very interesting…

I was talking to a friend last night who put the conversation on hold because he had to “Pee like a racehorse”.  Now I have used this phrase on more than one occasion but last night it finally hit me…why is racehorse used? What is the significance of a racehorse?

So, what better way to find out the answer to my question than to look it up online.  The results I found were quite interesting.

The article I found basically said that racehorses are given diuretics which draws more water to the bladder causing the horse to have to pee which causes them to lose weight and thus makes them faster. Here’s the kicker…

The horse could move several gallons of urine in an hour and lose up to 10 pounds! GALLONS! 10 POUNDS!  That is a ridiculous amount.

So, that is what I learned today…why people say “I have to pee like a racehorse”.

I have also been thinking what else could be used in the place of racehorse. What do you think? ” I have to pee like (a) _____________!”

It’s January!! …and in my world that means it is time for an injury. This time it is especially hard to take because I was finally getting back into the swing of things after my hip surgery. I had hit my 1st week of 70 miles and was looking forward to getting up to 90 within the next month. I guess I can say bye to my 90’s now.

I was just thinking about it the other day, and I have had an injury that has required at least 2 weeks off in January for 5 out of the past 6 years.

Has anyone else experienced a common trend of injuries like this?

I do not know why it happens every January. Maybe my body just doesn’t like the cold or something…or maybe I eat too much during Christmas…or maybe my body knows how long Track season is and it is forcing me to rest. I  am yet to figure it out and it is driving me craaaaazy!

I am in the unique position of being with a coach and training with the athletes at the same time. It is exciting to hear how hard everyone trained over break, yet frustrating at the same time because I was unable to. It is hard to go out to practice and watch all the workouts while I have my choice of being stuck in a weightroom sweating my butt off on an eliptical machine or in a pool freezing my butt off while I aqua jog.

My friend came up to me the other day and said…”I don’t need a calendar anymore, I just know that when you get injured it is time for the new year.”

Sorry for the depressing tone this bloglette has portrayed, but I needed to vent somewhere and that’s what blogs are for, right?

On a positive note, I know that as much as it sucks not being able to train now, I have plenty of time before I really need to run fast and I know I can be ready since I have done it in the past. It would just be nice to see what would happen if I actually got in a solid pre-season base.

Warning: This post is about running shoes. So, if you don’t want to hear me ramble on about them than you can stop reading now…and I won’t be offended. I am just very excited about my new shoes.

I have been wearing the Adidas Supernova Classic running shoe since my freshman year of college. That means I have been wearing the same style of shoe for the past 5 years. I was devastated when I found out about a month ago that they are being discontinued at the end of the year. That may not seem like a big deal to most people, but to me it is a huge deal. Finding the right shoe for someone who runs 70 miles a week is extremely important. So many injuries happen just because someone is wearing the wrong type of shoe.

So, the process of finding a new shoe for me has begun. One shoe I am currently trying out is the Adidas Supernova Sequence. When I first tried them on, I really liked how they felt and they are pretty looking too which is always important. However, about 2 weeks ago I started having some knee pain. The sequence has more support than the classic. So, I think when you pair that with the support of my orthotics it creates too much support which caused an imbalance.

Today, I was at the Nike store just looking around. I went over to the shoe area like I always do because I personally feel that they have the coolest looking shoes. I noticed on the sale rack a pair of Nike Lunar Trainers. I first saw these shoes a few months ago in a magazine and they definitely captured my attention. I thought they would be a fun pair to have but was too cheap to pay full price for them. They were the only pair of Lunar Trainers on the sale rack and they were my size, so I knew that they were there for me. So, I bought them. I am super excited to try them out.

The foam that the shoe is made out of was developed by the aerospace industry and adopted by Nike. It is super light and you are supposed to feel like you are “running on pillows”. Basically, the cushioning absorbs more of the impact and takes it off of your legs (or so they say).

Tomorrow is going to be my first run in them so we will see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I got a new pair of cool-looking shoes to wear.

Tonight was a new experience for me. My mom told me yesterday that she was going to a Christmas party and asked if I would like to come along. She said the party was called Kazoo Fest and we would be caroling. As you may have guessed by now, kazoo’s would be used instead of our voices.When I got there I was immediately immersed in Christmas decorations:

and handed a kazoo that looked nothing like one I had ever seen before:

before I knew it we were off on an adventurous night of kazoo caroling:

I did not make a very good kazoo caroler…I was too busy laughing at how ridiculous it sounded. Needless to say it was a great night filled with fun and laughter!

This is Zak’s morning routine. He comes into my room just as I get out of bed just to find the perfect spot. It just so happened to catch it on video this morning. I love how he spends so much time trying to find the perfect place to snuggle up and ends up just lying on top.

Now that the Men’s Basketball game vs. UNC is over and Men’s soccer is done there is not a whole lot going on in the office these days.

However, December has arrived which means that it is time to put up the Christmas decorations in the athletic building. The lady in charge of decorating asked if I would help. Since Christmas is pretty much my favorite holiday and I LOVE to decorate, I did not hesitate at saying yes. I put some Christmas music on and let my creative juices flow and have brought the Christmas spirit to UCSB Athletics.

My job is so stressful.

A few weeks ago, the Shinns acquired Rock Band for their Wii. JP, Garth, and I quickly figured out that we make the perfect band since each of us has a different favorite instrument (JP on drums, Garth lead singer, myself on guitar). Being that we live on Walnut St. in the “Nut House” we came up with the perfect name for our band…”Nut So Good”. However, we forgot to put the “d” at the end of good when entering it in the game, so now our band is called “Nut So Goo”. Anyone who walks by the house while we are playing gets front row seats to the concert since there are no longer curtains on the windows.

Some highlights of Nut So Goo’s World Tour:

• Garth’s outfit on night 1 (see picture below)
• Jen singing Sabotage by the Beastie Boys
• Nut So Goo playing Foo Fighters (the night the Goo met the Foo)

I cannot wait to play with Keaton and Kinsley (I’ve heard they rock Dirty Little Secret…over and over and over again

I found this opportunity on AP’s blog this morning and just had to share it with you all. Soles4Souls is an organization that facilitates donations of shoes to those in need. I have heard about this organization before and have always wanted to contribute. They are currently trying to raise 50,000 shoes in 50 days and we can help. A mere $5 will donate 2 pairs of shoes and make a difference in someone’s life. I love this idea and want to encourage you to check it out.

http://www.50000shoes.com

Thanks for the heads up AP!