me so tired.

guys. i'm in trouble, seriously. there's no way i can train for this race while working! i came home yesterday close to 8ish, with every intention to go to the gym after dinner. but by 9pm i was totally down for the count. why--it's a few things. 1. i am not used to working full-time. the last time i worked full-time was july 2006. 2. this cold is still not fully gone! do colds last almost 2 weeks? i've never had a cold go this long. this is outrageous. it's really making me feel fatigued. 3. i haven't been able to sleep well lately--probably because of a combination of 1 & 2.

i guess i'm walking this race. i know it's a good thing that i started work earlier than expected, esp. because only a small percentage of my class has been asked to come work so far. i guess i was just really looking forward to being consistent with this training and running a race successfully. i'm still going to keep trying but i know it'll be almost impossible to really stick to the training plan and i'll just have to do the best i can.

on the bright side, because i worked so hard for THREE FULL DAYS, i bought myself a nice bag. if this keeps up it's gonna be a very expensive habit. but i deserve it.

training DAY 7

ok well, i didn't really train because i didn't run. but i went snowboarding. that counts for something right? sat is usually a running day, and sun is usually an EZ day, but i just went snowboarding. my last feeble hurrah before i start tomorrow. i will try my best to keep up my running even as i start working.

wish me luck. imma need it.

training DAY 6 (very much delayed)

DAY 6: 1.5 miles
total run time: 15:40 minutes (10.5-9 minute mile pace)

i was able to finish the 1.5 miles without stopping. i wasn't as tired as i feared i would be--i was just really stiff. afterwards i did go into a coughing fit though. my lungs weren't too happy about the workout i gave them because breathing was a bit rough.

so i have some news. this whole blog was based on the premise that i need to be productive with all my time off, esp. because i felt that i hadn't been as productive as i could've been with my first 5 months off. so. my start date at work is april 5, and i have 2+ months to be a productive little bee until then. or...so i thought. i get a phone call from my law firm today asking if i could start...monday. this monday. like, in 4 days. no, 3 days. i'm not sure how this all happened because in my mind people are still twiddling their thumbs at their law firm desks all across america, but no, apparently that is not the case. at least at my firm. they say they're super busy and can't handle the workload with the people currently working so that's where i come in. i was in shock for a few hours. wait, i'm still in shock. i mean, this turns my life upside down. life is changing too quickly. but i'm ok. i just need to make the most of my next three days, buy some work clothes, and off i go. this is what i wanted, right? riiight.

so the real question is...can i still do my training? i hope i can. we'll see how work goes. no matter what i'm still running the race. i paid the $ so i'm going. whether i finish, well, we'll just have to find out on feb 28. 

hi.

hi everyone. i'm much better. it was a miserable miserable few days. i really don't remember the last time i had a cold this bad. extremely painful sinus pressure, major congestion, and that fuzziness all over in the head. anyway. i thought i could start up training today but i don't think it's time yet. i still have a cough and that tickle in my lungs that makes me feel like i won't be able to breathe well enough to do the run. maybe by tomorrow i'll be able to at least run/walk 1.5 miles.

i hate hate hate being sick. it's such a waste of time. it ruined my weekend, put me back almost a week in training, made me cancel dinner dates, etc. yesterday, i was feeling cabin fever from being cooped up at home and felt the need to be productive so i cleaned and reorganized the bedroom, walk-in closet and my makeup tray. maybe i should be sick more often. o_O

another roadbump

i am. so. sick. i haven't had a cold like this in a few years. didn't train yesterday. won't train today. going back to bed. adios.

training DAY 5

THIS is the power of a plan/goal: without one, there is no freakin' way i would've ran today. i had a ton of errands to run, and people were coming over for lunch and for dinner so i had to shop/prepare/cook for that. i basically only had a 1 hour window where i could go running--after i cleaned up the house a bit and before i'd start cooking for dinner. without the race looming over me, i would've settled for an hour of watching foodnetwork while snuggling up with sammie pants. but now that i've been running for almost 2 weeks, i feel it slowly becoming a part of my routine and i want to keep committed to it. this experience also makes me realize that when you want to do something, you will find time to it. i used the excuse "i didn't have time" so often for exercising, and i really meant it. today would've been one of those days where i would've used that excuse, and you know, it was a busy day. but i mean, i never have trouble finding time to eat dessert or watch foodnetwork or check hockey scores. it should be the same for running/exercising.

yesterday was rest or CT but i rested. i was exhausted after the few days in jersey helping out family with this and that.

DAY 5: 1.5 miles
total run time: 15:45 minutes (10.3 minute mile pace)
the training plan takes it a little easier on wednesdays, so today was just 1.5 miles. i ran at a slightly faster pace to try to push myself, and i think this is my first time breaking 16 minutes. but you know, sometimes i worry because i'm almost 1/4 of the way done with training (2 of 8 weeks) but running hasn't gotten all that much easier. i mean, today's 1.5 miles definitely was easier than last week's runs, so i guess that's progress. but i still get pretty tired by 1.25/1.3 miles...but that's like 1/3 of the length of the race! zort! 

the other thing is that this training plan is for a 5K, which is only 3.2 miles. somewhere along the way i'm going to have to up the mileage a little more to account for the fact that i'm running a 4 mile race, but i'm scared of jumping up .5 miles in one week. i guess i can try it and if it's too much scale back?

i've actually been pretty good about not eating too much dessert lately, and this is a surprise. i thought that since i'm working out consistently, i'd rationalize and let myself eat more dessert. but. it turns out that since i'm working out consistently, i don't want to sabotage my chances of getting in shape so i'm being more careful about what i eat. although...i did make molten chocolate cake for dinner tonight which was yummy. the recipe is here.

i'm seeing more and more the benefits of consistent physical exercise, and it's only been 2 weeks. makes me sort of regret all the time i've wasted not working out, but i know i can't dwell on that. i think what's hardest for me is that i still think about my high school days when i played hockey 4 times a week. getting in shape was not this difficult objective--it was a natural by-product of playing a sport that i absolutely loved playing. fast forward 10 years--hockey is prohibitively expensive and inconvenient in nyc. and even if i could play it, playing it once a week isn't enough exercise. so now, i have to deliberately do things just to get in shape--boring things, like being stuck in a smelly gym for an hour jumping from one machine to the next. this is extremely annoying, and this is why i've never worked out consistently in the past 10 years. my lofty dream at the end of all this is that i find some sort of joy in running. people talk about running being their haven, their getaway. i'd love for that to be true of me one day. but for now, let's just stick with finishing this race without passing out.

training DAY 4

i drove down to nj yesterday to help my mom with various things. so since i'm down here, i decided to drop by dick's sporting goods to see if they had any good deals on cold weather running gear. god must've known that i won't be running after feb 28 and thus buying expensive running gear is foolish, because they were having a 50% off sale for all of nike's cold weather running gear. i scored running tights and a running shirt for $25 each, and i was able to also buy a pair of running shorts for $7! awesome. too bad they don't come with longer legs and bigger lungs. 

this morning i woke up, had breakfast, took care of some things for my mom, and then realized that my day was packed. i had to help my aunts with various "i got this in the mail, what does this mean? is it free?" issues, go to my cousin's parent-teacher conference, and take her to the doctor. by the time i got home, it'd be dark. so i realized that if i wanted to stick to the plan, i'd have to run...now. the idea of running like the wind outside is one thing. doing it is, well, quite another. doing it is just so not as glorious as it looks. i wonder at those people who you see running on highways. i mean, they are either fooling us and live in the shack on the highway, or they're really running like 10-15 miles. anyway, again, i had no excuse. so i slowly got my nice new running gear on (new shiny things really do help with the motivation factor though) and went outside. 

DAY 4: 1.75 miles

total run time: 21 minutes (12 minute mile pace)

since there is no gym here that i can use, sh told me about a website that measures outdoor distances for you. it's so amazing. go to www.mapmyrun.com and check it out. there's a walking path around my parents' development and it turns out that it's exactly .5 miles. so i had to run that 3 and a half times to reach my 1.75 mile mark. halfway through the first loop i wondered how i'd finish. but as hard as it was, i think i did find some sort of a rhythm. if you look at my pace though, you realize that that rhythm was much slower than my treadmill rhythm. i think it's just a lot more work to have to actually move yourself instead of run in place on a treadmill. it makes me wonder if i'll be able to run the 4 mile race at the 11 minute mile pace i'm aiming for. it sounds so slow. but...i'm slower.

training DAY 3 for real

it's really hard to go to the gym in the evening. you're all settled in and cozy at home--pj's on, check--heater on, check--tv on, check. so i was writing the next blog entry over and over in my head ("my tooth still hurts"--which would be lying, or "the treadmill's broken"--which would also be lying) and i couldn't find a good excuse. so i went, and let me tell you. it was hard. i don't know if it was because i took a day off or because i wasn't feeling well the past couple days (or probably a combination of both) but i was sweating like a pig and breathing like an asthmatic and in pain. i think this is why running is so inspiring. it is the most basic sport there is. it's just you. nothing else. just your legs and your lungs moving you. and it's all about being strong and persevering despite your desires to do otherwise--to be weak, to quit. there's a reason why it's the analogy used in the bible for pressing on in our lives. too bad i suck at running. too bad there are no skating references in the bible.

DAY 3: 1.5 miles
total run time: 16 minutes (10-10.5 minute mile pace; incline = 1)
since it was my third day running 1.5 miles, i thought maybe i could make things a little more challenging by introducing an incline. and like i said--i was totally beat. i could feel that my body wasn't at 100%. i felt achy and sluggish. my lungs burned for the first time (they didn't for days 1 or 2). i was reaaaally tempted to stop running around 1.3 miles because i started feeling queasy but i knew i'd be really disappointed at myself if i didn't keep going. but every second starting from then on felt like an eternity. i'm glad i didn't throw up--i really felt like i might at one point. i skipped strength training due to the queasiness.

tomorrow, i'm going down to nj to help my mom pack. my parents are moving. i'll be there till wed, and i'm a little scared because when i'm down there, there's no gym i can use so i'm going to be forced to train outside. we'll see how it goes.

food
eating well goes hand-in-hand with training, and i've been trying to be more conscious and deliberate about the foods we eat. i think that more than what we eat (because i generally cook pretty healthy meals), it's how much we eat. it's often about portion control. i told sh that i'd start putting smaller plates of food in front of him and that he has to resist the urge for seconds. so far, it's been working pretty well. now stopping ourselves from snacking is another story...

today, i "made" shabu shabu for dinner. it's such an awesome meal. you don't have to cook anything, you eat tons of vegetables, it's cheap, and there's very little clean-up afterwards. if you want to try it sometime, here's how to do it:

necessary equipment:
large pot (dutch oven works well, i used my le creuset)
butane gas tabletop grill (koreans are all about this. if you don't have one, they sell them at all korean supermarkets)

ingredients:
dashimah (or kombu in japanese)--these are the big sheets of seaweed used to make broth
dried shiitake mushrooms
bokchoy or shanghai tips (cut off the ends so that the leaves are separate)
firm tofu (cut into 1 inch cubes)
harusame (or mai fun)--thin clear glass noodles
napa cabbage (cut into 1 inch slices)
inoki mushrooms
scallions (cut into 1 inch pieces)
super thinly sliced sirloin/ribeye (probably will only find this at korean/japanese markets)
shabu shabu sauce

1. fill the pot 3/4 of the way with water, and put it on the grill with the heat turned high. put a piece of dashimah in (about the size of half a sheet of paper) and about 3 shiitake mushrooms. let this boil for about 10 minutes. if the water is evaporating too quickly, you can add some more. this will create the broth.
2. once the broth is a light yellow color, you can turn the heat down to medium high. start dunking whatever tickles your fancy into the pot. once it's cooked, take it out, dip into the shabu shabu sauce, and eat! it's so healthy, so delicious (cue albert's mom's voicemail).
3. you can save the leftover broth for later. i used it to make another soup.

let me know if you try it. or if you're too lazy, come over. we can have it together.
after all my hard work "cooking" shabu shabu, i treated myself to a large piece of homemade pumpkin pie. i said snacking was still a work in progress.

training DAY 3...postponed. i hate teeth.

it's true. today should've been day 3 but it's not. i got a root canal yesterday and pretty much ever since, i've been in pain. i've gotten root canals before (as the unlucky recipient of the genes responsible for my dad's bad teeth), but they've never hurt. yesterday, during the procedure, the dentist was drilling and i was happily listening to 'beat it' coming through the radio when BAM. i felt the drilling. i yelped, and the dentist said, "oh you felt that, sorry." so he pumped me with more anesthesia, but throughout the rest of the procedure i could still feel a slight amount of the drilling. so i was immensely relieved when the root canal was done. i thought it was all over.

so then...imagine how unpleasant a surprise it was when i started feeling major throbbing and pain once the anesthesia wore off a few hours later. then the headache came. i popped aleve like candy but it didn't really make the pain go away. i was so happy this morning when i woke up and there was no pain, but it came back around 3pm. i took a nap for a few hours and just woke up, but it still hurts and my head's still pounding so i'm going to take today off. it's a little disappointing to be veering "off track" (pun intended) already in week 1, but if i feel ok tomorrow i'll just make tomorrow day 3 and i'm guessing it won't be that big a deal.

i hate teeth. and for the record, i think any pain in the mouth is the worst kind there is.

training DAY 2

yesterday was a rest or CT day but i took the day off. i didn't mind the break at all but it also wasn't really by choice. i had a million things to do with my mom, who arrived at my apartment at 10am. we didn't get back to my apartment till 10pm, because we picked my aunt and monster up from the airport. i wasn't about to work out at that hour. i think the rest was good. i actually felt excited (inconceivable!) to go back and see how my body felt for day 2.

DAY 2: 1.5 miles
total run time: 16 minutes (10-10.5 minute mile pace)
i wanted to try running the 1.5 miles a little faster to see if i could do it. i was between 5.7 and 5.9 (mph) and did ok. again, i was getting pretty tired by 1.25 miles, but i consider this an improvement since i was going faster and still felt about the same amount of tired as day 1. any improvement to encourage me along. -__-

strength training:
1. 20 pushups
2. dumbbell figure 8s
3. tricep workout with dumbbells

barcelona
i'm continuing to do research on barcelona and malaga. i have a pretty good sense of where the barcelona neighborhoods are now, and i'm starting to sketch out a rough itinerary for the 3 days we'll be there. 
question: i'm thinking of buying a travel waist pack to hide under my jacket while i'm there to thwart any would-be pickpocketers. any suggestions? 

training begins. DAY 1

(i rolled around in bed longer than usual this morning. if i get up, that means the day has started, which means i have to start training: day 1. in my half-awake state i wondered what i had gotten myself into. i am not good at running. i am not built like a runner. i don't have a long or lean body, and i have feet that resemble those of an aquatic bird more than those of a human. but this is the power of...announcing your plans to "the world". it's much harder to disappoint "the world" than just yourself. also, i paid money to sign up for this race. that helps too.)

DAY 1: 1.5 miles
total run time: 16.5 minutes (11 minute mile pace)
it's so cold these days so i'm going to run on the treadmill for now. eventually i'll also up the incline on the treadmill to mimic the unevenness of the outdoors, but today is just day 1. so i just aimed for 1.5 miles on the treadmill with no incline. i was really scared that i wouldn't be able to do it, but i'm proud to report i was able to run the whole 1.5 miles without stopping. the shoes really make a difference. with my old shoes, i'd start feeling the pain in my ankles by .5 miles (so i never ran more than .5 miles at a time). i started getting really tired around 1.25 miles so the last quarter mile i really had to push myself.

strength training. i don't want to ignore strength training while i run. again, i started out lightly today. i did 3 workouts: 
1. tricep workout with dumbbells 

2. dumbbell squat + lift

3. dumbbell figure 8s

once i start feeling stronger in my legs, i'll incorporate more leg-intensive workouts like squats. holla for a successful day 1! do i deserve a carvel ice cream cake now?

some thoughts.

1. why is running gear so expensive? socks for $20 each? i need to date a nike executive on the side.

2. i picked up a barcelona travel book today. buying plane tickets and booking hotels--it's all virtually done nowadays. no one gives you real tickets, no one sends you your reservation papers. emails don't really make you feel like you're going on vacation. but buying a nice, new, tangible, crisp travel book--that makes the trip seem real. the book i bought is frommer's "barcelona day by day." i went through every single barcelona travel book at barnes & noble. i think this one had the most to offer while still being small and portable. it also comes with the subway map and street maps. i always wonder at the tourists who carry around the 5 pound travel tomes with them. i guess it could be helpful for folks like me if i need a boost to see myself in the hotel mirror.

so while tickets may not be tangible anymore, they are essential, and they are booked. i'm going feb 18-25 with my mom. 3 days in barcelona, 3 days in malaga/costa del sol in andalusia. if you have been to barcelona or malaga and have any tips, please let me know, esp. if it's for restaurants. living in nyc has made me realize that i really don't want to be that tourist who only eats at olive garden, bubba gump, and ruby foo's, then declares that new york city, and hence america, has amazing food. in order to find good authentic spanish/catalan food, i've been searching for restaurant reviews in spanish, but it's not really easy to sift through them. i can't stress how important this is. we only have 9 meals in barcelona and we must make the best of them. there is no room for failure.

3. talking about running to excellent dumpling house in my last post made me crave it so i went today. i will go out of my way to eat things i want to eat (this is in direct contradiction to the "path of least resistance" principle i usually follow). thus, even though it's unpleasant, i will go to edh by myself to eat my chow fun chicken dumpling noodle soup. why unpleasant? because they seat you with strangers. ok now, i know. i don't expect you to give me a 4-seater to myself. this is chinatown, not per se. i get it. but they don't just do the staggered-2-strangers-to-a-table-for-4 deal (which i'm ok with). they seat strangers IN FRONT of you. i mean, where are you supposed to look? i end up just staring down intently at my bowl of soup as i eat it.

today, i thought i'd try to increase my odds of not having a stranger IN FRONT of me by going at 2:30pm. so i take a deep breath and walk in. they seat me at a table for 4 where one guy is finishing up his meal. no problem. the guy finishes and leaves. my soup comes and i'm happily eating away when another guy comes in 2 minutes later. they "stagger" seat him, as usual. still, no problem. i go back to eating my soup. then i look up and i can't believe it. this guy...he VOLUNTARILY sits IN FRONT of me. why is this happening? what happened to him as a child for him to think this is ok? how do people live without a basic understanding of social dos and don'ts? why why why!? when there are only 2 of us?? i just stared at him in complete disbelief and horror for a while. it gets better. i sprawled my things in front of me, assuming that there'd be a stagger situation going on. so, my teapot was right in front of him. does he ask for me to move it? no. does he apologize for breaking social norms? no. he takes the liberty of moving my teapot next to me. he touches MY teapot. at this point i'm in shock. i just sit there for a while wondering what i'm going to do. i really want to eat my delicious food but i can't go on like this. so i move my soup over to the next seat, stand up, make more noise shuffling over than necessary to express my disapproval, and scoot over. and now for the best part. he looks at me with this confused expression on his face, sort of a "what's the problem hm?" in response, i gave him a "i know something that you don't know but you should know" look and said, "i feel very cramped." but, really? you don't get it? i mean, is it just me? someone please tell me that my disbelief is warranted.

this experience makes me more uncertain than ever about my flying-solo future at edh, which is really sad. can you get similar dumpling noodle soup somewhere else in chinatown? until i find a replacement, i might just have to stick with a takeout-only plan for edh.

4. training starts tomorrow.

training begins (soon). think positive. think rocky running up the steps.

i bought my running shoes today. after reading a million articles and reviews online about the right running shoes for flat feet, i felt dizzy and decided that this is one purchase i should make in person and not online (the bing commercials are so on the money about me--i read 3983402 reviews before i buy any product). lucky for me, there is a runners store close by, so today after church sh and i went to buy my running shoes. the guy helping me was an endearing sort of geeky. a little overeager in a socially awkward way, but very good at explaining the different types of running shoes out there. they had one of those setups where they take a video of you running on a treadmill, and afterwards they analyze the way you run frame-by-frame to see what kind of shoes are best for you. in the end, he helped me decide on the brooks gts shoes. on sale too! off the hook. that's a phrase we should bring back in this new decade. if we all do it, it'll become cool again, i promise. go say it to your boss tomorrow.

btw, if anyone wants to join me in this race (liza), the sign up info and online registration app is here: http://www.nyrr.org/races/2010/r0228x00.asp. i prefer...slow people. or if you're fast, come run the race, go home, shower, eat something, then come back and wait at the finish line for me.

training plan

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Rest	1.5 mi run	CT or Rest	1.5 mi run	Rest	1.5 mi run	20-30 min EZ
2	Rest	1.75 mi run	CT or Rest	1.5 mi run	Rest	1.75 mi run	20-30 min EZ
3	Rest	2 mi run	CT or Rest	1.5 mi run	Rest	2 mi run	20-30 min EZ
4	Rest	2.25 mi run	CT or Rest	1.5 mi run	Rest	2.25 mi run	25-35 min EZ
5	Rest	2.5 mi run	CT or Rest	2 mi run	Rest	2.5 mi run	25-35 min EZ
6	Rest	2.75 mi run	CT	2 mi run	Rest	2.75 mi run	35-40 min EZ
7	Rest	3 mi run	CT	2 mi run	Rest	3 mi run	40 min EZ
8	Rest	3 mi run	CT or Rest	2 mi run	Rest	Rest	Race!

(CT means cross-training, like elliptical/biking and EZ means...take it easy...)

this is a chart i found online. it says it's an 8 week plan for beginner runners wanting to run a 5K. ok. so. what do you call someone who's lower than a beginner? because i don't think i can run 1.5 miles straight right now without stopping. so...yeah. we'll see what happens. if i don't write in this blog again...

training: day 0
i didn't really train today. it was just a day to try out my new shoes (what? the chart says training starts monday. also, i'm sore as hell from yesterday's workout. note to self, don't bike while listening to rhcp). the shoes felt pretty good, but the higher arch support will take some getting used to. you know what my problem is? i am lazy. or even when i'm trying not to be lazy, i still follow that "path of least resistance" principle. or even when i'm forcing myself to not to take that path, i do everything i can to make it easier on myself. for example, rewards. (i'm a big rewards person. to get studying done in law school, i'd tell myself that i'd get an ice cream break after every 30 min. of studying...and kids, this is why i can't run 1.5 miles straight without stopping. no, of course not! it's my flat feet.)  not 5 min. after i signed up for the race, i thought about all the restaurants i could run to while i train: excellent dumpling house is 2.7 miles from home, nha trang is 2.7 miles from home, veniero's is 3.6 miles from home. don't worry. i'll burn it all off! it'll be glorious! i'll leave you with the inspiring lyrics from eye of the tiger: "risin' up, straight to the top / have the guts, got the glory / went the distance, now i'm not gonna stop / just a (wo)man and his will to survive." don't say it's cliche. you know you're singing it in your head right now.

let's start at the very beginning. a very good place to start.

actually, i'm not starting at the beginning. the beginning would actually be...well, no one knows for sure, but some say the seeds for this monumental economic collapse were sown as early as the 70s and 80s, so, potentially before i was born (and thus, none of this is my fault). either way, it's here. it has happened. people want jobs, and they just aren't there. i supposedly have a job, they just don't want me quite yet. hence my deferred status and all this time on my hands. so maybe it's not the real beginning of this story. but maybe it's a pretty good beginning. it's now a new year and also a new decade. (2010, and we still haven't figured out how to teleport?) and i have to say, i am extremely thankful that i have a job lined up at all. and i've learned to be thankful for this time off too.

so i've been in housewife status for 5 months already and have 3 more to go. and while it's been a relaxing time, i also felt some stress. it's my esfj-ness. please, don't judge. i constantly feel the need to be productive. while i love being a housewife (cooking, cleaning, and organizing satisfy my anal/ocd nature) and while i love training sammie and seeing her learn new commands and slowly (sloooooowly) becoming more obedient, they weren't enough. i think we like to say things like, "oh i'd LOVE to have months and months off" but the truth is very few of us have had much time off as adults. we go to college, we get jobs, maybe we go to grad school, etc. etc. so for me, when i did find myself with all this time, i was caught "flat-footed" (please refer to title) by its reality. i really didn't know what to do with it--too little structure and too much freedom. 

the solution? 3 projects. (doesn't project sound so much more pleasant than resolution? like, a gardening project, or a painting project. martha stewart, la la la) more importantly, projects have set deadlines. i always made new yr resolutions like "RUN 4X A WEEK FOREVER" and they don't really work, now do they? this year, it's a different approach. 3 projects to complete before i'm supposed to start work in april. after that, well, i hear i won't have a life to work on "projects" anyway. 

the 3 projects are: 
1. go to barcelona and the south of spain for a week in february, and plan the best possible trip on a very affordable budget. brush up on my spanish so i can get around without sounding like a complete idiot. 
2. run a 4 mile race at the end of february: 1. without collapsing, and 2. in under 45 minutes. this blog is called flat-footed also because i am extremely flat-footed. i HATE running because it's always been painful. but hopefully i can find the right pair of running shoes soon and successfully run the race. i have exactly 8 weeks until the race, so i'll follow an 8 week training program and keep track of my training here. 
3. train sammie to bestest puppy in the whole wide world. who am i kidding. she already is the bestest puppy in the world. but even the best need some help sometimes. :) specifically, i want to train her to stop barking and also to lessen her separation anxiety.

godspeed...me. (and sh--since i will no doubt be whining to him about my training)