To and Fro

After walking to and fro, and to and fro, and to school over the last three days, I decided to go for a run in my break between classes today. I know I said I wasn't going to walk fro school on Monday, but I did anyway. My class got out about 5 minutes early so I got to the bus stop just in time to see my bus leaving. The next bus, that I would have taken anyway, wasn't going to be leaving for another 30 minutes and then another 10 to get home, and as close as I was at that point I decided that I might as well walk. I got home just in time to see my bus drop people off at my apartment. Job done. I have started to really like the walk. The first time I did it I listened to my iPod, but the last few times I have just walked. Yesterday on my way home I saw a baby snake in a puddle. Maybe it was my run in's with three water moccasins this weekend that made me think it was a baby water moccasin, I don't know, but I tried to get it to slither off and instead it attacked my shoe. I decided it best to just walk on.

Anyway! My run today was really great. I forgot my hair tie so I ran hair down and in my face. I run like the wind (a 5 mph wind) so it wasn't that bad. I didn't know exactly how far I was running but I timed myself. When I got back into my office I checked it out on Google Earth. 2.37 miles in 26:38 (11:14 per mile). Not too shabby of a time for me.

For lunch today I brought some Craisins. I usually put the Craisins in my salad with goat cheese, spinach, and walnuts - I love it. The craisins sans all that stuff are TERRIBLE! I'm going back to my raisins if I am not going to eat something with it.

Today is my second to last Landscape Ecology class (or regular session). I motivate myself to go by buying a hot chocolate with a splash of hazelnut and steamed milk to drink on my way over. It may be too hot to drink it today, but I think I will keep it up simply because it is so hard to make myself go over there. I am part of the presentation today (AGAIN) so I have to go and be knowledgeable. The funny thing is the person I am presenting with told me today that she finds me very focused. I laughed because yesterday while trying to do the readings for the presentation I fell asleep for awhile. Then I woke up and stared at the ceiling for about an hour. I have hit a bit of a lull in the school work for a few days, which has been very nice, and it is the end of the semester so I know that I am lacking in focus - but this whole year I haven't felt focused at all. Maybe it is the way I handle life now that is different and it makes me feel like I am unfocused compared to how I use to be. She even told me that she listened to me in class more than the teacher because the way I said things about the readings and in response to his questions made more sense than anything he said. I think I have just learned over the years how to B.S. my way through life instead of being focused. That perception of me is hilarious, but who am I to correct her. I tried, but she still thinks I'm focused and driven and can't believe I am not going to go on and get my Phd. No thanks. One Dr. Morgan in the family is enough. I guess though in about 23 days I would be a Dr. Beitz!

I think I have rambled long enough. Now it is time to start gearing myself up for my class, making my way over to the hot chocolate place.

Walkabout

This morning I decided to walk to school. I don't know why, I just felt like doing that rather than taking the bus. My hip and knee have kind of been bothering me so I didn't think I would be running today, so I thought a walk would be good. It is only about 3 miles and it took me about 50 minutes. Not sure that is a good time or not but it is farther than I usually travel by foot these days. I guess I didn't tighten up my shoes enough this morning due to the 20 or so chigger bites on them so now my feet are a little road weary.

I can't really complain about this day. Sitting at about 60 outside and after 8 months of trying I finally have a desk in an office at the school. I now feel like an official grad student rather than a nomadic sheep herder. I will finally be able to move a lot of my books over here so that I don't have to carry them back and forth all the time and that will also clear my drafting table at home to gather other things like mail, trash, and other junk I just lay on top of it. I think this desk has been empty for quite some time so I came to it to discover it covered in Wal-Mart bags full of food and drinks. Either I will be having a snack later, or they are having an end of the year party and this is the food storage spot. I just moved it and sat down. I don't really have anything to mark my territory except to pee on the corners of the desk right now, so I suspect the stuff will all be back in it's place tomorrow when I come in again.

I will not be walking home today because my class gets out at 5 and I need to get dinner going by about 5:30. This domestic transition may kill me . . . not in a bad way, it has just been hard over the last few months to think about the fact that I can't just eat whenever I feel the whim to do so if that is at 5, 7, or midnight, there is someone else who wants to eat with me and comes over about 6ish to do so. So instead of eating egg and broccoli burritos for 10 nights in a row I have to think of something else to fix because I am the only person who can eat the same thing every day and not really care . . . until I grow tired of it and don't eat it again for 4 months. All this to say I will probably continue this trend of walking until the end of the semester (a whopping 2-3 weeks) until I move to about a mile and a half away where I WILL be waking for the most part unless it is a blizzard or monsoon outside and I will be taking the bus (that will stop a block away).

Catching A Trend

I ran this morning. 1.8 miles in 21:20 minutes. That is a poor showing of 11:51 per mile. The difference? Not on a treadmill. Treadmills lie. They are good for actually running when there is snow on the ground or you can't bring yourself to run when it is 20 outside or even the perfect 55, but they lie on how fast and far you are running. It is all about the movement. Outside you have to push up and forward, on a treadmill just up. Anyway, it was also poor because it has been over a week since I have run. Well it is time to start kicking into gear.

A bit of it all

Doing a little Google bombing for a car place in San Antonio. Why? Because it is fun for me and I need all the fun I can get out of life right at this moment. So click on the link or even put the link in your site and type the name just like this so that it links to his web page:

Kastis Automotive Repair in San Antonio

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Biked on Monday. That was way harder than I thought. 30 minutes 10ish miles. Ran yesterday:

Run Time: 33:30

Run Distance: 3 miles

Feeling: Great! I ran about 6 minutes at 6 mph which I haven't done in . . . well probably ever. Maybe I did at the 5K last year but I lost track.

Sitting on 36 days left. Actually 35 days 20 hours 49 minutes. But who is really counting?

I did not

. . . work out at all last week after Monday. My plan is to work out at least 3 days this week. I knew the second I published that I would work out at least 4 days a week maybe 5 starting after my running study I would fail. Because that is how blogs like mine work.

Anyway, on my iGoogle I have a little count down and it looks a little something like this:

So soon, so excited, and still in awe that this is actually happening to me and that I actually had these feelings for another human being. I didn't think it was possible.