Updates

I think a majority of my blog titles are updates... I know... I've been slacking. I've been busy lately... not sure with what though... just haven't been around much to update. But, since today is freakin' cold in Chicagoland, I've been spending most of the day here inside my apartment and figured I should finally update my blog... haha!

So, the last blog was before New Year's... so I guess I'll start there. I had a little New Year's gathering at my apartment... there were 6 of us... there were supposed to be a few more, but the weather was pretty bad that night, some people were sick, and some decided to go into the city instead. We all had a good time. I made sangria... which was REALLY good... but then made me produce some "word vomit" later in the evening. Basically, I guess I became a little overly sensitive and emotional and said things that I was feeling about a certain person that should never have been said. At least thing between us haven't changed... at least not for the worse. I will leave the explanation at that.

I hung out with Nancy (a friend and roomie from undergrad) about a week and a half ago. I went to her place for dinner while her husband was out of town. It was nice to be able to talk and bond just the two of us... we haven't been able to do that since I've moved back. I ended up staying at her place until almost 11 (which is late for me... I'm usually in bed between 9 and 10 on the weeknights)... and was REALLY late considering I had a friend over that Tuesday night until 11, was out on a girls night on Wednesday night until nearly 11, and then at Nancy's on Thursday until nearly 11... it was some late nights in a row! Last Saturday night I went and saw my friend Sandy's band Track a Tiger at Schuba's downtown Chicago. There were a bunch of us there from work... some people weren't able to get in because the show sold out! Kudos to the band! They rocked... of course... I've been to several of their shows and they've all been really good... I think I'm becoming a groupie. My friend Megan who lives in Wrigleyville came with me... I hadn't seen her since early October so it was good to hang out with here again.

This last week I've been taking it easy... well, at least with the going out. I've decided that if I'm really going to do the Shamrock Shuffle (which, by the way, yes, I'm signed up for... did that on New Years!), I need to get a bit more serious about my training. So, I've followed Bethie's example and have been logging my runs on Runners World and have even developed a training schedule on there. So here's the update on my running and weight loss... currently, I'm down 15 pounds since I started the whole thing. I'm proud of that, but need to keep going... haha! As for the running... I started running a consistent mile about two weeks ago... hit a 1.5 mile on January 15th (which was the deadline that Patrick and Tina had set for me)... 1.75 mile on January 17th... and today I ran 2.5 miles without stopping!!! (And then another mile later... so of my 5 mile run I had to do today, I did 3.5 miles.) So... I'm halfway to my 5 miles that I have to be able to run. The miles are starting to come a bit faster now, which is good. I figure that after I have my mileage, then I can start speeding things up (I'm only running at 4.5 to 5 mph because otherwise I can't sustain it because of my breathing). And... at the beginning of next month I'm going to have to start running outside more. I did a few weeks ago when it was in the 60's (I ran outside for 3 days straight)... but since it's about -3 degrees outside right now, I'm going to pass!

I guess that's the update for now. I will try really hard and be better about updating... but you all know how that goes with me!

V