Half-Marathon Update!

So today the Boston Marathon is going to be happening, and while I'm not running in that (or anywhere close), on Saturday, I finally ran my first half-marathon--time to check that off my bucket list! It was so intense but also so fun, and I want to run another one as soon as I can, probably in late June. I think it would help me to have something physical to prepare for this summer to help balance me out while I study for the bar exam. I ran pretty much nonstop for the first six or seven miles, at a nice slow 13-minute-mile pace, and during that part of the race I was thinking, this is so easy! Why didn't I do this a long time ago? I want to run another one of these tomorrow! But then . . . reality set in at mile 8. And it's like, I'm SO hungry. And my legs hurt. And I'm really sweaty and I just want to go take a shower and eat a bacon cheeseburger and some fries (which is exactly what I did when I was done). Then I ended up getting off course at mile 8.5 and turning around at one of the water stations when I was supposed to keep going beyond it. The next mile marker I saw, instead of being 9, was 12. And I knew something was wrong because I had skipped 3 miles . . . I definitely considered just going on to the finish line, but I just couldn't. I was determined to do it right and do the whole thing, so I went back and got back on the trail and walked/ ran the rest of it. So ultimately I did 14.1 miles instead of 13.1, but that's ok. I came in last in my age group, but that's also ok. The main thing is that I finished. That's all I set out to do. And now I'll be in recovery mode probably for the whole week, and then I'll start running again next week. I'm going to do some low-impact exercise this week like swimming, but there is no way I can run for a few days considering that I can't even walk like a normal person right now because my knees and legs are so sore. But I'm already in substantially less pain than I was in on Saturday afternoon, so I know I'm on the mend. I have at least two more of these races in mind to do this year because this has now become a competition with myself--next time I'll want to beat my time from Saturday, and then keep getting better from there. But overall, it feels so great to finally check that goal off my list!

Homemade Energy Bar Experiment

Today has been pretty much the perfect day, besides the fact that I have (yet another) cold and have been blowing my nose and sneezing all day. (Seriously, if you want to dramatically weaken your immune system, go to law school. I feel like I have a cold about once a month). But other than that, it's been great. I was able to sleep in for the first time in two weeks. I woke up around 10, checked my email, then basically went back to bed, dozed off, and woke up again around noon. After a week of getting up at 6, it sure was nice! Then I went down to the mall, bought some much-needed new foundation as well as some soaps from Bath and Body Works, and went to the library for awhile. Then I came back, read one of my library books, took a nap (clearly, I needed to catch up on sleep), and journaled. I've been around people almost constantly for the past few weeks, so it's been really nice to have a day to do my own thing and to not feel like I have to go out and to just have a girls' night in with myself. So tonight, I ran over to Walmart and picked up a random Nicolas Cage thriller from the $5 DVD bin and a few ingredients to make homemade energy bars, something I've wanted to try for a long time. I just whipped them up and they are delicious. Mine have natural (no added sugar, just peanuts) peanut butter as a base, mixed with oatmeal, finely chopped medjool dates, a bit of vanilla extract, flax, and some blueberry-flavored Craisins. I mixed them up and let them chill in the fridge for awhile, and they're going to be my go-to healthy snack this week. They taste a lot like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, except with a lot more nutritional value. I'm sure you could do tons of variations on this basic recipe--add other kinds of dried fruit, or chocolate chips, or a little coconut oil, or whatever. I also have chocolate milk, bananas, and peanut butter to make workout recovery smoothies, because I absolutely have to get the half-marathon training in gear this week. I've been slacking off big time, and if that doesn't change, I will never be able to complete the race. So this week, I'm just going to need to be going after it, starting my long runs and speed workouts and cross-training in earnest. I just have to make time/ energy for exercise, and I know eating right is the first step in that process, so hopefully having some healthy and protein-rich snacks around will help. I also really want to start swimming again as part of my cross-training. There was a time in college when I swam 3-4 times a week, and I loved it. I have no idea why I stopped doing it, but I need to get back into that too.

OK, well I'm off for a little quality time with my Nicolas Cage movie and my Lisa Scottoline book. :)

Haiti and Half-Marathons . . .

So, I have a lot of exciting news to share with you all tonight! First, Catherine and I won first place in the regional client counseling competition, and our 2L teammates won second place! We are incredibly excited because we never expected for the competition to go that well, but we are thrilled, and are now looking forward to participating in the national competition next month in Oklahoma! (And if we win that we get to go to Puerto Rico for internationals, but let's not get ahead of ourselves here . . . ) I am also so excited to have an excellent team of 2Ls who can do well in this competition next year, as well.

Next piece of exciting news: I've decided how I'm going to spend my 25th birthday, which is rather rapidly approaching on May 16th. I am going to spend my birthday week in Haiti volunteering with Mission of Hope. This Christian organization works in Haitian villages to provide health care, education, food, and the Gospel to the people there. Late one night the first week of January (the night I wrote this post), I started researching organizations abroad to do a mission/ volunteer trip with and found Mission of Hope, and just in the past week took the plunge, committed to going, and reserved a room at the mission headquarters for the week of May 14-21. So I'll walk across the stage at graduation and then hop on a plane four days later, and I am SO happy about it and so glad to be making this a reality. And also, my sister is coming with me! We are both very invested in this sort of thing, and very passionate about doing the Lord's work in the developing world, so this is definitely our cup of tea. I just kind of realized that it's now or never, you know? Of course I can always say that "sometime I'll go on a mission trip," but if you put it off too long, life and other responsibilities get in the way and it often doesn't happen. I decided that it's time for me to practice what I preach, put my money where my mouth is, and DO what I always say I am so passionate about. Life is just too short to wait to do important things later--we need to do them now. So I can't wait to ring in my 25th birthday in Haiti in a few months.

Applying that same "it's now or never" attitude, I also signed up to run my very first half-marathon on April 19th! I have wanted to do this for YEARS and have written about it on this blog many times and had it on my list of goals for a number of years. I know that I'm not in shape yet, or anywhere close, but I realized that I need to register for a race first and then get in shape after that. I need the time pressure of a race date to push me to get where I need to be physically to tackle 13.1 miles. So I have approximately 9 weeks, and somehow, I will be ready. It doesn't matter how long it takes me to run this half-marathon as long as I simply finish it. (Finishing alone would be accomplishment enough for me. I don't really care about my time.) So I'm doing this, and it's going to happen, finally!

I decided the first week of January that 2014 is going to be the year that I make things happen, dust off some dreams that have laid stagnant for far too long, and do my part to craft a passionate and fulfilling adult life. I decided that I need to be more assertive about pursuing the life and career I want. It's not going to just "happen," I have to be willing to work for it and to do things I haven't done before, especially in the job arena. I've realized that the whole idea of someone randomly calling you and telling you, "You know, this position just opened up, and you would be perfect for it," is 100% not a thing, and that you have to network like crazy and make opportunities happen instead of waiting for them to fall in your lap. So that's exactly what I've committed to doing, and it's beginning to work (more about that later), so I'm very encouraged. But just in general, my mantra lately for life has been this: "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." And that's just not good enough for me. What I've always gotten just isn't good enough anymore. The same old results aren't going to cut it for me in 2014, because this year I'm just pursuing more. I honestly just want to claim this year for Christ, to declare over my life that this is the year of the Lord's favor, the year that I watch God work in ways I've never seen Him work before, the year that I watch Him do immeasurably more than anything I could ever ask or imagine. I've been tapping into that for my strength and inspiration, and it's been more than enough, because He is more than enough. Make this your year, too. Claim the favor of God over your life, and go out and let Him work through you, because He is the God of new things, of second chances, and of making a way where there is no way. This IS the year of the Lord's favor.

"See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." 

Isaiah 43:19 

"He has sent me . . . to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 

Isaiah 61:1-2

5K Day!

Today has just been such a good day! Catherine and I had our 5K to end homelessness today. I know that I'm not in the best shape right now because I didn't run very much over Christmas break, so I only had one goal: to run the entire 3.1 miles without stopping, regardless of how fast or slow we went. And we both did it! I know that's not really very far at all, but the thing is, when I go for runs, I usually either go solid for 2 or 2 and a half miles, or do 4-5 miles but with some breaks to stop and walk. I'm just not very good at any kind of real distance running, and never have been, as much as I do enjoy getting out there and running as much as I can. So it's rare for me to do 3 miles without stopping, and that definitely felt like an accomplishment. The temperature this morning when we started? Approximately 16 degrees. It was SO COLD that we were seriously considering just skipping the whole race and going out to breakfast instead--the kind of cold where you can't feel your fingers and toes and your breath is coming out in gusts and your skin is getting chapped from the wind. I was like, what HAVE I gotten us into, since doing this race was my idea! But of course once we started running we got a little warmer. And it was worth it A) to be able to sprint full-speed across the finish line and B) together with all the other runners, to raise over $38,000 to fight homelessness in this part of the state.

And then we got to go out for breakfast. We went to this fantastic little hole-in-the-wall cafe that neither of us had ever been to before, and were so hungry that we ordered, between us, fresh-squeezed orange juice, French toast, some of their delicious coffee, an amazing omelet with red onions, garlic, and veggie cream cheese, fried potatoes, and their specialty sage-quinoa grits. It was so delicious, and we're definitely going to remember that spot to go back again!

Then this afternoon, we practiced for the client counseling competition for a few hours with our 2L teammates, and we had a very productive practice and it's all kind of coming back to me from doing it last year, so I feel like we will be ready for Jacksonville in two weeks to do regionals. And now, I'm basically sitting on my couch watching Friends but I am so tired/ sore that I think I will be heading for bed very soon.

Hope you all had a great Saturday!

Final Semester

Well, life is officially back to normal, which actually feels really good. While I love the whole stretch of time between Thanksgiving and going back to school/ work after the new year, it feels great to just get back into my normal routine after the annual month and a half long break from that routine due to exams and the holidays. And I might be in the minority on this, but I LOVE January. Sure it's cold, but it's brimming with new possibilities and is goal-setting heaven for a Type A person like me.

So, here's what's going on with me now and in the next couple of months:

1) Yes, this is indeed my last semester. I graduate in May, and even though I know this term will end up being just as busy as any other, at least at the outset it's academically the lightest semester I've had in longer than I can even remember. I'm taking advanced litigation drafting, divorce mediation, trial practice, torts II, and a family law seminar, and I will only have one real exam and one paper, so that's good. Most of the classes are skills courses that will involve things like putting on an entire trial and writing court documents, rather than the normal law school class that involves learning tons of case law and legal theory. So it will still be a challenge, but a different kind of challenge, and all of those classes are incredibly relevant to my future career. I've also had exposure to most of the subject matter at some point already, so this semester is mostly about nailing down the advanced skills. For example, I already know how to write almost all the types of documents on the syllabus for litigation drafting because there's not much I didn't write last summer at work, but I know I still need to get a lot more comfortable with quickly pulling together things like pretrial orders and ante-litem notices. I'm also hoping to audit one of the bar prep courses (I can't actually take it for credit because I can't take any more credits than I'm already taking.)

2) I'm doing Moot Court this semester and am really excited about it! We have the best people on our team and I'm already good friends with all of them, so I'm excited to work with each of them. Our competition problem is about the legality under the Fair Labor Standards Act of unpaid internships--incredibly relevant, timely, and also something that matters personally to most 20-somethings who have taken on at least one, if not many, unpaid internships. And best of all, we get to go all the way to Seattle to argue our case at regionals! If I literally had gotten to pick any city in the U.S. for our regionals to be held at, I would have picked Seattle.

3) As of today, I'm jumping back into eating healthy and exercising. I'm not going to be obsessive about it or go paleo or anything like that, but I just want to be conscientious about trying to eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. Today, for example, I made salmon with honey and cracked black pepper and glazed carrots. I am planning to have smoothies for breakfast almost every morning and I am stocked up on Greek yogurt, juice, and frozen fruit to make that happen. And Catherine and I have started training again because we are doing a race soon! It is a 5K that raises money for an organization that fights homelessness, and it's in just two weeks. This was something I signed up for in my "I need to do something that matters with my life" moment about a week and a half ago. I made some other exciting plans then too, such as what I want to do to celebrate my 25th birthday, but more about that later. I'm determined to get outside my own little bubble this semester and volunteer more and do more for others. There's a whole big world of needy people out there, and I can't continue to stay comfortable in my own little corner of it.

4) In addition to the whole running thing, I really want to do a lot more strength training this year. There are few health benefits I can even think of that can't be acquired by regular visits to the weight room, even though I know a lot of women who are scared to try it for fear of "bulking up." (But ladies, that's not even a possibility because we don't produce enough testosterone. Just putting that to rest.) But the best thing about strength training is that it makes you burn more calories at rest--like, while you're sitting on your couch watching The Bachelor--than you would if you weren't doing it. What's not to like?

5) Catherine and I are also going to Jacksonville in a few weeks to compete in a client counseling competition! The topic is First Amendment law, and I know we need to prepare for it, BUT it's hard not to look at the trip as a beach vacation on the law school's dime. But we need to try to do a decent job at the actual competition, of course, and then there will be beach time.

6) Possible trips to Chicago, Albany (GA), and the beach are also in the works over the next few months. LOTS of traveling about to happen.

7) I want to read 50 books (or more) this year. I just read The Rainmaker by John Grisham, and it was excellent. Now I'm working on his book The Street Lawyer, and also Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House.

8) I'm going to at least test out becoming a morning person this month/ year. I'd like to try at least three weeks straight of getting up no later than about 6am and immediately diving into early morning productivity. If I'm not into it after that, I'll just go back to being a night owl and sleeping in a little later, but I've heard so many people rave about the early-morning thing that I have to try it.

9) Anna and I talked about this while she was here--we want to celebrate our daily lives more. Not just the big things or the big accomplishments, but the little things too. I'm calling this my "celebrate because it's Tuesday" philosophy. Every day deserves to be appreciated, not just, for example, weekends or vacation days. So we're going to try to stop and smell the roses more/ watch more sunrises/ light more candles/ wear the pretty jewelry and use the pretty dishes just because.

Thanks for reading!

Runner's High

Catherine and I have been on a major workout kick lately, and we don't plan on stopping it anytime soon. We've been going to the gym pretty much every single day for the past two weeks, no excuses, and working out a whole lot harder than I normally do--I've run more, done more pushups and lunges and ab exercises, and lifted more weights in the past two weeks than I have in such a long time. This girl, who's normally content to just do a Zumba class or jog some or shoot some hoops, is getting used to running a few miles basically every time I go to the gym. It's often the last thing I actually want to do after a long day of school work, but I know it's good for me.

And I feel great. I have so much energy (as in, I feel slightly caffeinated, without the coffee, pretty much all the time and am naturally more alert and focused) and I just feel strong and physically capable, which is a really good feeling to have. And there's nothing quite like the endorphin rush from a good run. Today I was actually quite satisfied to realize that I'm going to need to buy new running shoes because I've basically cracked the soles on my old ones. There's something really satisfying about realizing that you can lift 100 pounds, or run for one minute longer than you could last week.

And I don't believe I would have the energy to do all the work I need to be doing right now if I weren't exercising so much, so I'm telling myself, I think truthfully, that I don't have time not to work out. Today we went to the football field and ran up and down all the bleachers, and ran sprints, and did pushups and crunches, and came up with all these other random cardio exercises. I think this coming week, we're going to add some swimming and biking to the mix. We've already run the stairs in my apartment building once before, and I think we'll definitely do that again (yep, all 10 floors of it). Catherine's trying to stay in shape for her upcoming army physical fitness test, and I'm just trying to get in shape for, you know, life. I want to be able to haul heavy grocery bags and books around with no trouble, and be able to run up two flights of stairs when I'm late to class, and know that I could defend myself if I ever needed to. So anyway, I think this is going to become my new lifestyle. I will probably never be one of those women who jumps out of bed on the weekends and goes and runs 10 miles, but really big and profound lifestyle changes start with really small ones. So I'm starting now.

Fitness Challenge Week 1

Mile time: 11:36. I know that needs some major improvement, but that's why I'm doing this!

Well I'm leaving for Fort Lauderdale today for a client counseling competition and my mind is going a million miles an hour . . . this is going to be the busiest weekend EVER. I will update you all when I get back!

Blog Fitness Challenge

First, a confession: I've been trying to get in shape for pretty much FOREVER. The thing is, I haven't really been trying all that hard--which is probably why I haven't succeeded yet. And tonight at the gym, I just got tired of it, and I decided it is time to do something about it.

I want to be able to go for long runs without having to stop and catch my breath soon after I begin. I want to be able to do half-marathons, play sports, do strength training, etc., without being held back anymore by my overall lack of physical fitness. I want to go to my high-intensity training class (which is like boot camp) and do every single exercise without an issue. And perhaps most of all, I want to actually get into a truly consistent and challenging exercise routine, and I want to do it now--because I don't want to realize a few years down the road that I've turned into a totally sedentary adult, because at that point it may almost be too late to change my habits. Looking further down the road, I want to be that 85-year-old that still plays tennis and still goes to the gym every morning (well, that may be kind of hard since I don't actually play tennis now, but you know what I mean: I want to be active and healthy no matter what age I am.) And I also know that physical fitness is probably the biggest factor--I really think even more so than diet and nutrition--in preventing conditions like heart disease and diabetes (and these conditions are much more likely to affect sedentary people whether they are at a healthy weight or not).

But the problem is that I always push exercise and caring for myself to the bottom of my priority list when life gets busy. You can always be too busy to work out if you want to be! And really, the busier I am, the more I need to exercise, because it is such a good stress-reliever for me.

That said, the challenge: I want to be more accountable about health, fitness, and my efforts to get in shape, especially in terms of stamina and endurance. One of the biggest specific goals I have in that area is to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes me to run one mile (last I checked, the best I can do is a slightly embarrassing more than 10 minutes. That's not anywhere near half-marathon-ready, and I really want to improve). So, I am planning to start running, and exercising in general, a whole lot more. I'm expecting that the more active I become, the more time I can shave off that run.

And for the accountability part? Every week, I'm going to time myself running a mile on the treadmill or the track. And every Friday, starting this one, I'm going to post my time on the blog. Having it out there for the world to see will hopefully motivate me a lot to make it the best I can do! So check back on Fridays and we'll see how I'm doing. :)

90 Days to a New You

So today, my sister and I started this multi-faceted self-improvement program called "90 days to a new you." We picked today to start because: 1) it's the start of a new week, 2) and the start of a new month, and 3) the start of the latter half of 2012. Technically, the challenge will end--as the name suggests--90 days from now, on September 28th. I'm trying to pursue some self-improvement during this time in terms of intellectual, spiritual, social, physical, and financial goals. For one, my sister and I are both using this time to pursue a challenge where you read the Bible from cover to cover in 90 days. Here's a link to a reading schedule if any of you want to give it a try.

I'm also trying to become much more consistent with exercise and physical fitness in general. Like a lot of people, I tend to go through these periods where I work out 24/7, and then suddenly slack off for about 3 weeks, rendering me completely out of shape all over again when I start back up again. So I'm trying to do a variety of different workouts this summer to keep me motivated, including going to a bunch of fitness classes at the university's main campus that I can take for free, as a law student. In the past two weeks, I've sampled kickboxing, Zumba, and body sculpt classes, and also tried out the university's pool for the first time since I started school here. Swimming is basically the most stress-relieving workout you can do, and I used to do it a lot in college, but I pretty much stopped doing it during 1L year. Well, now's as good a time as any to take it up again. I'm also planning to start keeping a "workout journal" where I keep track of when I exercise and what I do, just as a way of keeping myself accountable to stay active.

And then I'm planning to use these next 3 months to try to get a lot more organized in a lot of the day-to-day tasks of my life: cleaning, cooking healthy meals, paying bills, filing papers, running errands, etc. I'm also planning to read a lot of books I've been wanting to read for a long time; to be intentional about spending quality time with friends and maintaining relationships; and to keep blogging (I am hopeful that reading the Bible in the next 90 days will give me a lot of writing inspiration).

School starts in a month and a half, and I anticipate being very busy during my second year of law school, so I think it's important for me to use the rest of the summer to pursue some personal improvement and get some good systems in place so I won't be overwhelmed by the hectic activity of 2L year. I'll keep you all updated as the challenge progresses!

But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded. 2 Chronicles 15:7