Christmas Break, Running, and Things.

This blog has gotten a bit dusty, so I’m here to bring some life back to it!! Somehow the fall semester slipped away from me slowly… Cross country races came and went, and there were successes and failures alike. Somehow, though it seems it just begun, my senior year of this beautiful sport came to an end. 

My last race was D2 Regionals on Nov 22^nd in Montana. The race was just okay. It definitely was not my best run of the season - that came about a month earlier at a random 6k in Portland. I tend to do better when I don’t put pressure on myself, and that means that championship races are typically not my best races. This is obviously something I am working to fix, but I am still grateful for the races that it does click. The Portland 6k was like that: I locked into a pace, ran as hard as I could, and pushed past the post of exhaustion. I was nauseous, dizzy, and THRILLED when I finished. I had reached a new pain threshold.

At Regionals I ran hard, but I didn’t quite reach that threshold again. I guess it is not possible to do so every time. But I did give what I had, and I finished my xc college career on a good note.   

The academic portion of the semester ended on a good note, as well. I loved the classes I took -  I was studying religion, philosophy, psychology and sociology and eating up every last bit of it. I’m going to miss being a student if I don’t go to grad school next year. I seriously love learning and love this season of life.

Christmas break has been nice. I have occupied my time with training, catching up with friends and family, and babysitting jobs. Typical of my “go hard or go home” mentality, I have been training harder than ever. And I haven’t led the cold stop me. It is initially daunting to head out the door for a morning run in 15-degree weather at six a.m., but it’s actually quite exhilarating. Then I do workouts in the afternoon and lift as well. I want to give everything I have to these last two seasons of running. Indoor track is right around the corner, and I have goals for outdoor track that are ALMOST unattainable… but I believe I can accomplish them.

I have also purposed to spend this Christmas break looking for internships/jobs/opportunities for after I graduate – so essentially “future-planning”. This is almost impossible during the semester because I am so invested in my classes, running, and my social life. So I hope to do some investigating/planning in the next couple of weeks. Emotionally, it is difficult. I still have such big goals for the next four months, and I don’t want to be so future focused that I miss out on the present. Still, it is exciting to think that I could be moving to Boston or London or L.A. (I’m craving a big city at the moment) within the next calendar year.

Within the next calendar year… that is 2015! It’s only two days away… Which means that it has been over four years since I went to Paris. How life has changed… how I have changed….

That’s all for now, but Christmas break has left me with [a little] time to sort my thoughts and write. I have been journaling quite frequently, but nothing has made it to this blog as of yet. I hope that will change. Here’s to 2015!!!