advice for running, training, cross-training, healthy lifestyle, etc.
01/02/2009
12/31/2008
the end of 08
i can't believe 2008 is already coming to a close. it has been one life-changing year for me. i have been through quite a lot, and some people don't even know the half of it. i think about how this year started off and everything that has happened and changed in the past year, and it's exhausting to think about. new relationships, new friends, old friends, fun memories, bad memories... it has been tumultuous. i think that overall, it has been good and if anything, a learning experience. one of my goals is going to be not to take things too personally, and while i'm at it, enriching my soul. what i mean by that is developing new talents and making myself a better person all around. i think that in some aspects, i care too much, and some people don't appreciate it. therefore, i'm going to put my energy into something that enriches me, but i'll still care about those who want to be cared for. does that make any sense?
i want to kick my running up another notch this year. i should join a runners' club like saint pete road runners or west florida y runners club. maybe turn myself into a triathlete. my goal is to do the MS-150 in may on the 16-17th, for CAS. before i do that though, i need a good bike that fits me. cycling is kind of an expensive sport, so i am hoping that i can keep up a job either with feet first or hollister and save up for a bike. oh or reffing soccer games on the weekend. then, eventually, i'll have to train for the swimming portion. if i get a membership with the ymca, then i can train for the swimming-- therefore cross training for my running. i have slacked about doing races. so i really need to find some, register, and stick to training. i think that when i'm training for something, it makes me feel better, look better, and keeps me on track with everything including things outside of exercise like school and life in general. i just feel better. maybe that's how courtney is always in a good mood. i'm envious of her. she's always exercising... i think that's the key. on top of that she seems to be generally a healthy eater. which i'm also striving to be. one step at a time... ive been drinking more water. at least 1 27oz bottle of water, if not 2 or 3 per day for the past couple days. i have had minimal amounts of soda, and i told my dad not to buy me any more coke. to not completely get rid of it, i asked to get canada dry diet cranberry soda. it's still soda, but i need something without as much sugar until i get more used to drinking water.
in the new year, i also want to take a hip hop class. i miss dancing. i danced for a couple years back in middle school, and goldfever was fun. i don't want to become some amazing dancer, i just want to have fun and do some cross training. it just keeps me active, and i like the music that goes along with it. haha. i'm not sure where to find one around here, but it can't be super-expensive. i also want to continue blogging at least once or twice per month, but certainly more than that is better. it's a good release and it's a healthy way to vent. i don't really care if people read my blog, it's more of a personal thing. it's also amazing how much progression there is from even one month to another. i just read some of my entries from sophomore and freshman year-- wow. how things change! i think it's mostly maturity, so i guess that's good.
i also need to continue focusing on school, CAS, and SAT. it's really important to me to get into the school i want to. i'm not sure what i want to do yet, but the medical field is what i'm leaning towards. running is my passion, so sports medicine would probably be a good choice for me, but i'm still open to new fields. i also want to keep volunteering whether it's part of CAS or key club at school or just on my own. it's fun to help other people out!
races that i want to do:
january 17- st pete beach classic 10k/5k
jan 24- ringling bridge run IV 4 miler (ONLY $10!)
march 15- bay to bay 12k
february 14- suncoast classic 10k/5k
april 4- iron girl 10k/5k
february 28- gasparilla weekend 15k/5k
february 15- 26.2 with donna marathon and half- marathon
march 29- max bayne 10 miler
march 21- stair climb in tampa (42 floors)
sunset at pier 60 series starting in june (5k)
may 10- miles for moffitt 5k
feb 1- tallahassee half marathon
march 14- gate river run 15k (jax)
march 7-9- disney princess half marathon
april 11- escape from ft desoto triathalon XXIII (expensive!) - relay?
april 19- FAU triathlon
that's enough for now.
note to self:
http://www.usatriathlon.org/
and the above 2 links.
i must get on this triathlon stuff soon! they are expensive and fill up quick.
12/29/2008
12/28/2008
honeymoon island
today erica and i made an adventure to honeymoon island. we woke up around 6 and i picked her up and we went up to dunedin, where the island is. the state park opens at 8 and we arrived there around 7:45. we were the third car waiting for the park ranger to open the gates. by the time they finally opened, there had to have been at least 12 cars waiting. i didn't realize how many people wanted to visit the park. the whole idea of taking the trip had come from my want of a new place to run that was fun and exciting, and exploring information about the itchnetuckee river in northern florida. i stumbled across honeymoon island because i had done a race up there for 4th of july and i wanted to see the island that my parents had mentioned visiting often. it's quite a while up there, but it was so worth it!
when we got into the park, past the $5 dollar admission fee, and into the parking lot, we got out and took pictures at the beach with the sunrise. it was beautiful and so peaceful. i felt like we had discovered a well-kept secret. we had intentions to run so after our quick photo shoot, we set out to find the nature trails. we backtracked on the road and found the osprey trail. it said an hour and 15 minutes walking time, so we figured that it was about 3 to 3.5 miles around the whole trail. we ran for a bit and it seemed to be such a wonderful change from the normal route i didn't care that the running on the sand/loose pathway was a little more effort that the pavement. it's better for my body anyway! eventually, we ran into the bald eagle nests. apparently, two eagles have decided to put their nest in honeymoon island. there was orange tape around the area, but erica and i saw lots of bird watchers and photographers coming into the trails as the morning passed. we took a detour... or two. we ended up on the pelican trail that connects with the osprey trail. it took us out to a deserted beach. absolutely no one in sight. maybe it was because it was early, but there was no one around. it was so exciting to feel like we discovered this new little area. it was hilary in the wilderness part 2! we walked on the shore and saw a few little fiddler crabs... and then a few more... then we saw hundreds and hundreds of them migrating towards the mangroves. it was a large army of them. i think that they heard our vibrations of our footsteps and crawled out of their holes to hide from us. it was kinda scary, actually because i didn't want them to attack! haha. we continued on the path, and as we were walking i felt something on the top of my shoe on my ankle. i screamed. it was one of those freaking little crabs on me! i shook my leg to throw it off. i immediately started running and announcing that "HILARY IN THE WILDERNESS PART 2" was over!!
we ran until we finally escaped the nature trails. it's like a huge maze! at one point, we ran through sand so thick it was like trying to walk through snow! it gave us quite the workout. so at least we got that accomplished! we decided to walk back to the car just around the bend in the parking lot to eat. we were hungry and knew that we had burned some calories. erica had packed pb&js for us and some other little snacks like carrots, gummies, and i brought goldfish (of course)! we drank our water and ate on the little boardwalk-type thing that connected to the bathrooms/changing rooms that was almost like a mini-pier. it looked out over the water and we just got to talk and enjoy the sound of the waves. it was only around 10 or so by the time we were done, so we changed our clothes and walked out on the beach a little bit and back onto the trails. we found a new way to the nature trails! we just hiked around the trails for another hour and a half and took more pictures and talked. it was very exciting, and we saw lots of people by that time. everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves taking a morning stroll with their friends and families. it was kind of amazing how many people were there after we had seen no one for so long. there was even a wedding at the main beach (that we didn't find until we passed it, leaving)! i got to take lots of nature pictures, which is one of my favorite things to do. i love that i discovered this nice little, well actually, big, park. it was SO worth getting up at 6 on our break and worth the hour drive. i want to go back there sometime in the near future, before it gets too hot. i recommend this little day trip to anyone looking for a change of pace that enjoys new places and spending some quality time with mother nature!
i was curious about the history of its name. here's my findings:
HISTORY
The men and women of the Tocobaga tribe were its first recorded visitors. By 1530, Spanish explorers had scanned the island's coast. For the next two centuries, pirates, traders and fishermen came and went. The Tocobagans, wiped out by foreign diseases, stayed. Their bones reside in the low-lying mounds on the adjacent islands. With the advent of exploration and settlement, the island's metamorphosis quickened. By the 1830's, it was finally on the sap as Sand Island. The Hurricane of '48 drove five feet of water over it, and a faltering hog farm was at least successful enough for a name change to Hog Island by 1880. In 1921, another hurricane split the island, forming Hurricane Pass and Caladesi Island to the south.
Americans got their first glimpse of Honeymoon Island in the early 1940's through newsreels and magazine ads which promised undiscovered pleasures for newlyweds. The palm-thatched bungalows, or cottages, subtropic climate and balmy breezes seemed perfect. It was until Pearl Harbor. America went to war, factories operated around the clock. A New Yorker who had purchased the island in 1939 for $30,000 saw his vacation paradise recommissioned as an R&R site for exhausted workers.
By the 1950's, man was a major competitor in the reshaping of what was now Honeymoon Island. A causeway bridged the gap between Honeymoon and the mainland by 1964, and the island passed through the hands of several development corporations.
Visitors can observe one of the few remaining south Florida virgin slash pine stands along the island's northern loop trail. These large trees serve as important nesting sites for the osprey.
Other important coastal plant communities found on and around the island include mangrove swamps, seagrass beds, salt marshes, tidal flats, and sand dunes. Honeymoon Island has more than 208 species of plants and a variety of shore birds, including several threatened and endangered species.Resource management efforts include the removal of exotic species of plants such as Brazilian pepper. Ecological burning keeps accumulated fuels to a minimum and helps reduce exotic plant life while preserving fire-tolerant native species.
credits of history: http://www.abfla.com/parks/HoneymoonIsland/honeymoonisland.html
you should check it out sometime! :D
12/27/2008
i've been exploring
heyy everyone!
well, christmas was a couple days ago. nothing too interesting, just a new phone, running stuff (including my stainless steel water bottle), and some other odds and ends. we had the maliks and dave morrison over. they left fairly early, so my family and i went to see marley and me. i had my doubts going in, but it really was a good movie! anyone who has had a dog and loves it, will understand. especially, according to my parents, couples that started out with dogs before kids, like they did.
since christmas, i've been playing with my new phone (i got a different one from the touchscreen, and my number is back to normal!) and hanging out with erica. yesterday we went the mall, and i exchanged my pj pants for a new denim skirt at AE and i bought her a hollister shirt. i also got my first shift at hollister last night. surprisingly, it was not too bad. i worked the dressing room, and the people were friendly. i got to give advice! one big black guy was looking for his wife, after he had put on a shirt, and i asked him if he was looking for someone, and he said his wife. and i looked around and said that i didn't see her. he goes into the dressing room again for a second, and then comes back out and says "can i have your advice?" and i say "sure!" and he asked how the polo looked on him. it looked good! so i told him that it was not too big or not too small and that it was great! another person needed help with their daughter and i helped her decide whether the shirt looked good, but the whole time, i made sure the people knew that my opinion wasn't what mattered in the end. it was how it felt and looked on them. it was really fun, and all the people seemed to be nice and friendly and to like me! :D after work, i picked up erica and i got a sub and we picked out a movie: the house bunny, and eventually made it back to my house. we watched it and then went to bed after some talking.
today, all i've done was ate breakfast, biked to melissa's with erica (she rollerbladed), looked at melissa's phone (which i got the same one but in greeen!), got new ringtones, and went exploring. which has been the highlight of my day. on vox here, you can post your accounts to different websites. i decided to check out some of the options, because hey! if they're on here, people must like to use them, right? well i found 43 things, my new favorite. its a site that you post a "life list" of things to do/want to do. then it shows you how many other people want to do the same thing. then, you can see how those people are doing by clicking on their entries about what they're doing to achieve the goal. there's also an area of people that have already achieved the goal, and they write about how they did it, tips and tricks, pictures, how long it took them, how it made them feel, etc. it's quite the motivator. i also found that you can have them send you an email to remind you to achieve your goal. my primary two right now are drinking more water (and in the process, less soda), and running at least 4 times per week. that should get me going, and feeling good. i know, because at one point, i know was doing that. maybe less water though. haha.
i probably shouldn't find too many new more sites, because i'll have an account EVERYWHERE! i also got twitter, updated my pandora, del.ic.ious (a bookmarking site), and myxster.
let's see... i also have started saving for a bike. my dad gave me $77 from the team in training recommitment money, and money from the phones. so i've got about 100 or so towards it. i should get at least 600 to be set for the bike and other materials for it.
i'll add more stuff if i think of anything.
NOTE TO SELF: put money into savings account.
12/24/2008
christmas time <3
it's winter break! :)
school's out, it used to be cold, and it's time to be with family and friends.
i've already kicked off the break with our camping trip. it was a pretty small thing. just erica, courtney, and wannee. we went to fort desoto and set up our tent, went fishing (kinda), made hamburgers, ate s'mores, talked, went raccoon hunting, etc. i would love to go back. as courtney said, the album will be called "hilary in the wilderness" a rare sight. :P it was a good day for camping, cool but not cold, and the sunrise was beautiful. i was actually pretty worried that the raccoons were going to attack in the middle of the night. we kept all the food out of our tent, and in the cars. oh, and about 5 o'clock in the morning, the kids in two sites over started yelling/talking. they were so obnoxious. it's kinda ridiculous. they became apart of whatever dream i was having. at around 7, we all had woken up. we yelled at them to "SHUT UP." I don't know if they ever did. i think it would've been fun if we had spent a couple days out there, and brought bikes and bathing suits and headed out to the beach. next time, next time. :) fishing, or what we called fishing, was also another experience. whoever was there last, had put palm fonds in the little walkway that led out to the muck of water. it was like a separation in the mangroves. we walked out there, and starting sinking. court and i were wearing rainbows and they were disgusting. erica was in running shoes and it seeped through those too. our feet were black. when erica tried to teach me to cast the line, the line got all tangled in the mangroves and i nearly put someone's eyes out. I also kept throwing the bait down to the ground instead of out in the water. *sigh* oh well, another time and in a different place might go better.
hmm, after that we came home. i took a nap from not getting a good nights' sleep in the wilderness. I went shopping for christmas gifts for my family in the rush hour traffic. ughh! then, erica and i met up with shannon and her dad for a holiday bike ride. bicycle outfitters was hosting it. everyone had flashy lights on their bikes or themselves and we rode up the trail then to 102nd ave to bryan dairy and all around seminole. we ended up in a neighborhood that had their houses decorated, and they had a little route mapped out and everyone was in their cars driving around while we were on our bikes. it was fun, but i am sure that i saw my life flash before my eyes a couple of times. shannon lent me a bike, so i could actually try to keep up. i really want a bike for christmas, but i doubt i'll get one. :/ oh well. maybe when i start making money.
let's see... i also got my hair cut yesterday. when i first got it done, i hated it. but everyone else said that it looked good. it's growing on me. i mean, it kinda has to because i'm stuck with it either way. i guess i like it, but it's a change for me. i got it shorter like a tad past my shoulders. i'll put a picture here.
last night, i went to shannon steel's house, helped make empanadas, and went on a holiday picnic with canterbury picnic and then some other people from st. pete and shorecrest. who was there: me, erica, shannon s, emily, max (it was their anniversary!), iman, courtney, sidney, josh m, lee, nic cerf, serenity, annie, ashmit (sry i don't know spelling), nico, hmm... a couple other people. sorry if i forgot you. it was pretty fun. COLD. my mom lied-- it got colder. lol. the boys played football while the rest of us just sat/walked around and talked. we were in north straub park. there was a cool drummer dude that played beats on painter's tubs? idk what they were really. they were buckets. it was fun, and a change of pace. maybe emily and shannon will put on more things like that! :)
today's christmas eve, and erica spent the night last night after the picnic. so, this morning we made breakfast (pancakes and eggs) and went on a run. then, erica was picked up by her dad. omg it's been like a week since i've ran. :( i need to run more. it was so hot today. we went around like 11:30AM and got back around, 12 something.. so it was like in the middle of the day. instead of energizing me, it made me exhausted. i think it was the sun and humidity. and the lack of running for a week. i want to get back to it, now i've had a couple days to recover from school and camping. we cleaned and just relaxed mostly all day. we went out to dinner around 6 and now we're enjoying our night. im only semi-excited for christmas. it's all so anti-climatic. the weather is warm, like summer, and the holiday spirit just hasn't been there. hopefully some of it will appear by tomorrow! :)
Merry Christmas, everyone!
12/19/2008
12/16/2008
lunch bunch & camping
well first of all, OMMG I'm GOING CAMPING THIS WEEKEND!! yay!! at fort desoto. i'm soo excited. it's just me and my friends and the wilderness... and apparently the racoons. i'm a little nervous about that. i was doing my spanish homework and all of the sudden i had to write "ir de camping" and i was like OMG what an amazing idea! i was sooo ready for this. so i talk to erica and she is totally in, and we talk to shannon and wannee, and later courtney, dylan, & company...and we're all excited. i get my parents to agree and erica to book the site and then we're set. we're going this sunday night. i really can't wait. i hope that we can make a fit and roast marshmellows and such!
anyway, today i also had another brilliant plan. i wanted to not go home for lunch, and i know that we havent had lunch bunch in a while so i decide that we should plan it if we can, and then i go to starbucks and read fiela's child since i won't have much time tomorrow night because of the cross country banquet. so then dyl, erica, and shannon and i all go to carmelita's... kinda breaking the rules since most of us had been there. i got my usual (california) and then we sat and talked. i won't lie, it was awkward. but i really miss hanging out with dylan. she's like such a dork when she's around us and not other people, and that's what we like about her. shes true to herself. i feel like she doesnt miss her "old friends" much because it seems like she never makes an effort anymore, but to be honest i think we've stopped trying also. we invited her camping-- hopefully things will rekindle themselves there. hope so!
today, while i was sitting in starbucks (3 hours of reading. fuckk.) i saw a sign about them hiring and i inquired even though i knew that they only hire at 18. the guy saw my shirt (hollister polo) and said i should work there. he said their interviews were a group setting, and if i want a job i'll probably get one and they're hiring. so erica's coming now so we can pick up her clothes for hunnicutt's class and we are gonna go to the mall too so i can hopefully return my pink pants. i need some money for christmas gifts and i have been hesitant about the pants since i bought them. that's a bad sign so i'm just going to return them.
i've been trying to stay true to my food journal and blog and running. so far it's going okay. i don't really have all that much time, so i'm going to sign off.
adios!
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