on training, ii.

Today was a 13 mile run. I went with friends who were going 11, so I parked a mile away from the meeting point to get my extra two miles in.

The run today was just...hard. It was hot. I wouldn't say I've gotten an ample amount of sleep in the past few days. I started out fine, being a cheerleader to my friends and trying to end any negative talk. But in the second half of the run, I was the negative nilly. My breathing was heavy. I started to whimper like a sad puppy at stoplights. A whiny voice in my head said, "I don't wanna run a whole marathon! I don't want to even run half!"

Somewhere a bit later, the breathing got easier but it was like my legs couldn't move. By this point we were going pretty slow. We passed a family on the sidewalk, who were of course taking up the whole thing with their strollers and what not. The guy had the nerve to say, "Come on, you can go faster than that!" It took a lot of strength not to say, "Shut up." Instead I just said, "11 miles," the tone implying, "Hey bunghole, talk to me when you've done the same." My friend smartly muttered "Fuck you" under her breath.

And after all of this, I somehow pulled it around on my last lone mile. It was slow, but not awful. The good news: next week, my long run is only ten miles. (haha. haha. What have I gotten myself into? I don't know either.)

master of what?

This AIM snippet pretty much sums up my week:

Me: god. grad school makes me whiny and crabby.
Me: don't i sound important?
Me: GRAD SCHOOL
Me: OH I'M SO BUSY
Friend: oh yea.
Me: GRAD SCHOOOOOOOl
Me: hahah
Friend: although it doesn't sound like it makes you charming.
Me: i don't need to be charming! i'm in grad school
Me: !!

6 more days until I am a Master, folks. Just you wait.

on biking.

I have classes at the U this week and next, and after perusing my many options of getting there, I decided to try out biking. Well, it's been two days and I am exhausted. It's kind of hilarious, I'm training for a marathon and a 7 mile, relatively flat bike ride makes me feel as though I'm going to die? I feel rather pathetic slooooowly climbing a rather meager hill in the lowest gear possible while the smug spandex boys glide past me effortlessly. Hey, I know I look like I'm out of shape but I'm NOT! It's just these unformed biking muscles! You want to feel my rock hard quads? HUH?? ...My craigslist bike also leaves something to be desired, but it gets the job done. I'm thinking about a shiny new bike with more gears...but not now. Later, perhaps.

Class and biking have definitely ruined my training a bit, so tomorrow I'm taking the bus. The bus is expensive and slow but at least I can get some reading done. Hooray for transport adventures!

clicky clicky.

Today is a good day for the internet. Yes, other days are bad. Sometimes very bad. Look what I found already!

Super cute Parisian girl at the Sartorialist
Even her cigarette is stylish! How is that even possible? (and omg, the shoes. the shoes.)

The World's Best Candy Bars? English, of Course. [NYTimes]
It's so true. I would eat a cadbury milk bar nearly every day and still managed to lose weight while studying in London. (Again, how is that even possible? Answer: lots of walking and soup. And chocolate.)

Is My Hybrid Turning My Kids Into Eco-snobs? [Slate]
Funny. I don't know if it's just one of those selective observation deals or what, but I feel like I see Priuses everywhere now. While reading that I also confirmed an earlier discovery that my nytimes login, taken from bugmenot, is a New York Times SELECT ACCOUNT. Take that, New York Times! I am not thwarted by your little orange icons!

food, once again.

My dear, it's been a whole week since I made my friends dinner and I have not told you all about it! (Don't you love that I write this as if I have more than 2-3 regular readers of this blog? Oh, you care, you person looking for "pictures of ______" in google! YOU CARE!)

One paragraph done and I'm already off track. Let's just get to the menu of dinner last week, which looked like this:

(you can click that if you want, and around it you'll find close-ups if you really care. Which I know you do, dear reader!)

Appetizer: Gouda and organic cheddar with no-knead bread and crackers.
Salad: Mixed greens with grapes, craisins, toasted walnuts and feta (with balsamic orange dressing).
Additional Salad: Beets, carmelized onions, and goat cheese. (oh my god, this was yummy. Also, half of my friends didn't like beets. More for me!)
Other thing: Yukon gold mashed potatoes with pesto.
Dessert (not pictured): fresh strawberries (really, we were all full).

So, I didn't really have a main course which I feel is fine. I thought I did a pretty good job at showcasing local produce and my friends were happy with the results. Success!

In other food news, I'm starting to realize how much fun this cooking from scratch thing is. I've always enjoyed cooking for myself, but cooking for myself hasn't been quite as labor intensive or creative since I started forcing myself to use seasonal produce. I can easily spend an hour constructing the perfect salad and vegetable side for lunch and be completely happy. I'm almost completely off of processed foods and feeling good. What's the problem? I will not have time for a lot of this when I have to work again in the fall - I will have 22 minutes to EAT, let alone prepare anything (which is why I live for leftovers). In the meantime though, I'm inviting more people over for dinner.

p.s. places like this make me wonder why anyone buys cookbooks anymore.

synergy.

I don't like to babble on in here about my personal life, as in "I went here with so-and-so and then we ran into what's his name..." That gets boring, and you, dear reader, do not know my friends. Probably.

But Tuesday night was one of those great nights where everything just worked. The evening started with having friends over for dinner, then heading to the Taste of Minnesota to see Tapes n' Tapes, watching the fireworks, and drinking overpriced beers on a rooftop patio. We were having a good time when it was decided that it was imperative that we go to U Otter Stop Inn, a divey bar (with karaoke!) in Minneapolis. It was one of those moments where we collectively became very excited about possibilities, and our expectations were thoroughly matched. I fell in love with the bar the minute I walked through the door. It was the energy, the atmosphere, the lighting that, although a little too bright, allowed me to view everyone in the open room, singing along in various states of inebriation. It was the gay boy complimenting my dress. It was everything magically coming together to make the night fantastic.

Monday madness!

Pedicures
I decided to get my sister a pedicure for her birthday, and figured I might as well get one for myself too. My feet are nice and soft from the scrapings (although I tend to do that pretty well on my own), but now my formerly naked nails have GIRLY PINK ON THEM. (A poor color choice on my part.) They are so pretty and GIRLY I kind of can't stand it.


Suburbia
The nail place we happened to go to (which did a fine job for a decent price) is in Coon Rapids. Coon Rapids is a suburb with a horrible name. Coon Rapids also has this frightening maze of a shopping complex which has, by my estimation, every American chain store/restaurant in existence. It's so big it spans two exits! We took the wrong one, looped back, and in driving around trying to find the nail place came back to the same place. Surreal. (No really, my sister didn't believe me when I said it didn't make sense that there would be TWO PetSmarts that close to each other.) There was also this hilarious sign: a crossed out pedestrian, like a no parking sign! YOU CAN'T WALK IN THE SUBURBS!

Links
Buying Into the Green Movement
I like this one, even though I think it kind of polarizes the issue. Someone suggests to buy one normal pair of jeans instead of buying 5 pairs of organic cotton jeans, to which I ask, "Who is buying 5 pairs of organic jeans??" And hell, don't compare a hybrid Lexus to a Yaris, that's just nuts. But they do address the conflict of trying to decide how much one can actually do on a personal level, which I appreciate.

Tread Lightly, Fly Directly
Similar stuff, but in a nice list format! Mmm lists.

Response to NYTimes article from WorldChanging
Good stuff here, too.