What I Ate: Yummy room service from the Colcord Hotel after my half marathon! A delicious cheeseburger with crispy and salty fries. There was even a fancy little jar of ketchup (unfortunately not pictured).
Prosperity Place 5k Race Recap
Last night, I got the impulse to search the Dallas race listings while making cookies (what a strange coincidence). I found a 5k happening 15 minutes from my house that had a pretty low entry fee and looked small and cute. You can probably guess what happens next.
I dragged myself out of bed at 7:20 am on a Saturday (the sacrifice all runners must make), threw on a top and my Nike running crops (because I knew they had a little pocket for my car key—necessary when you’re racing alone), found some cash and hit the road to Frisco.
There were less than 150 people running, and this was the first race I’d ever run with velcro, non-throwaway timing chips! I strapped it to my ankle, pinned my bib on straight (which I am a champion at now), and hit the pavement at 8:30 am.
Running such a small race was pretty fun, but I had a few complaints. There were no mile markers, which was bad for me because I pace myself on knowing how much I have left to go. Also, the race results reporting is odd. I saw the time on the clock when I finished…and the official results are like a minute slower? Um. The clock is supposed to be slower? Isn’t your chip time supposed to be the faster one? And here’s a complaint about myself: I went out way too fast because I thought it was a small race and I would have a chance at placing. Which I would have…had I not gone out too fast.
It was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning. Afterward, I showered and my parents and I saw Iron Man 3. It was a good day.
33:19/3.1 miles
What I Ate: delicious eggs with mushrooms, peppers, and a heavy handful of feta cheese (as you can see). The only thing that could have made it better would have been creamy slices of avocado. I’m drooling just thinking about it…
Photo of the Day: Finally got this up on the wall! I went to the Goodwill down the street from my house—it’s huge, full of great home goods, and usually not very busy! I picked up this frame for $2. It has a chip in the frame but you’d never notice unless I told you (which I just did, oops…). Already envisioning some wall art clusters a la Young House Love in my new apartment with this prominently displayed.
Photo of the Day: Some shortbread cookies I made for B and his family a few months ago! While they were incredibly difficult to roll out, once they managed to form into recognizable shapes they were delicious! The blue is actually white chocolate, too. Yum yum.
What I Wore: Photographer Style
Sweet mirror pic, right? The DSLR makes it even better.
I shot photographs for a formal event a few weeks ago, and I struggled with figuring out what to wear. Pants would have been ideal (for rolling around on the floor getting a good shot purposes), but I didn’t feel like they were formal enough. Luckily, I picked this dress up from H&M in England on my trip! For a cool 10 pounds, this silky dress with delicate beading on the sleeves was perfect. The thigh/leg area was roomy enough and long enough for me to move around easily and even kneel on the floor.
The only thing that this outfit needed was a silver belt, perhaps like the one I spotted at BCBG a few weeks ago! It was plated silver and had intricate stones formed into flowers.
Oklahoma City Memorial Half Marathon Race Recap (Part 1)
Much like the deranged sorority girl email, y’all better buckle in. This might be a long (but ultimately fulfilling) post!
When I drove into Oklahoma City for the race expo on Saturday, the whole city was buzzing. People were swarming everywhere, armed with their clear gear check bags and expo swag. Traffic was terrible. As K put it, “this city [was] crapping itself”. It took me 15 minutes from when I exited off of I-40 and finally pulled up to the valet station at the Colcord Hotel, also known as paradise.
I felt so fancy as I handed the valet my keys, checked into my room, and ascended to the 11th floor. My room was nothing short of fantastic.
Fabulous, right?
After I squealed a little, I headed to the Cox Convention Center for the race expo. The line appeared to be ridiculous, but it was because they only let a small number of people into the packet pickup area at once, which made that line nonexistent. I was also able to pick up the packets for my family with no wait!
After I got my bib and such, I headed to the real expo area where I bought all my 13.1 swag. I got a sticker for my car, a RUN OKC tech tee, and a fuel belt for my race fuel (more on that later).
K arrived shortly after I got back to the hotel, and we walked over to a Subway because she skipped lunch. Then we watched some trash TV until it was time for dinner at Iguana with my entire family! Best pre-race meal. I was even able to resist loading up on chips and salsa (mostly due to nerves).
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, where I perfected my playlist and waited for my last roommate to show up, Kristen! She was running the full marathon so I offered her my floor so that she wouldn’t have to drive up from Norman at 4 am. We hit the sack at 10 pm to prepare for our 5am wake up call. K gave me a melatonin pill which made me sleep beautifully, and I woke up only slightly annoyed at the world.
Me!
Me and K!
Kristen!
Part 2 coming soon.
Love my home state!
(Source: sollinero.com, via blairbot)
Fashionable Friday: Manicure Style
Fashionable Friday: Got bored last night and decided to do my nails! My friends Emily and Alyssa got me this pretty blue Revlon nail polish for my birthday last month, so I did 2 coats of that and then tried to layer just a bit of blue sparkle along the edge, almost like it was fading out.
Memoir of a Long-Distance Relationship
My race report is coming after finals, I promise! This post is not as happy, but you should read it all the same. It’s been in the drafts folder for a bit. Still having the nightmares I write about, by the way.
In the past week, several people have told me they’d like me to write a post about what it’s like being in a (temporarily) transatlantic relationship.
I responded to one of them by saying “it would be too sad”.
Because it is really sad sometimes.
The nights are the worst. After B has long since gone to bed, after all of the day’s distractions are done with, I am alone in the silence of my bedroom. Every creak in the floor is a robber. Every light outside my door is a fire creeping up to my room. My pillows never line up the right way. I’m too cold or too hot and it’s too quiet and it’s all too much and I panic. God bless B for not dumping me when he got the first panicked text at 4 am. And God bless him for not dumping me for all of the panic since then.
Lately it’s been the nightmares. Extremely vivid and creepy nightmares that rocket me awake in the middle of the night.
It gets routine after a while to not see B even through a computer screen. We’re both busy, social people. I still get a twinge when he goes out because I am so disgustingly jealous that other people can be in the same room as my boyfriend. I realize that I am completely ridiculous in this feeling. I also realize that B feels the same sometimes.
I spend a lot of time alone, but also a lot of time with new friends. I’m glad I took on the half marathon battle this semester because it gives me a new way to kill time, but it kills me that B won’t be there to see me complete what I have worked so hard for (and what he has unfailingly encouraged me to do since I began). I offered to have my mom Skype him in on her phone, but he said that would be too painful.
Soon, this time apart will end, and we are lucky to be able to reunite in a few short months. But sometimes every second is a battle.
When I read that North Korea was pointing nuclear weapons at us all I thought about was dying without seeing B again.
I know I’m crazy. You don’t need to tell me.
But these are the things I think about when the silence is too loud.
When B is asleep and no one responds to my panic messages and I see kidnappers at my windows.
We both know that flying home tomorrow is not a possibility, so we persevere on, on to the next Google Voice message, the next Skype call, the next panicked text begging him to tell me he loves me just one more time, the next plane ride to a country that is not our own, and the next part of a journey that will eventually lead to our future.
It’s just the middle of the journey that hurts.
