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August 16, 2004
Butterflies......
They are doing flip-flops in my stomach right now. I just returned home from buying my books for the semester and was pleasantly surprised to find that one of my classes does not have any required texts. That saves at least $100.00! Of course, because I am paranoid, I am going to look over the course schedule and make sure that they did not change the course number and forget to tell us (happens all the time at big universities). Tomorrow marks my official "orientation" into the graduate program. Just from a few minutes of wandering around on campus today, I suspect freshman orientation is going on all this week. I curiously watched what the "kids" were buying in the bookstore and was shocked at how old all of these 18 year-olds look! When I show up second semester to teach, they are going to laugh at me. I still look like I am 16, not almost 25. B. says my students will either A) get upset that they are paying a bunch of money to be taught by someone who does not look legally old enough to drink or B) think it's really cool. I am keeping my fingers crossed for option B!
On to running....
B. and I ran about 19 HARD yesterday. At least, it felt a little more taxing on my body than it should have. We spent most of the run at a 7:00 - 7:30 pace with a few 8:00 minute miles interspersed. Neglecting the long run has been a huge mistake on my part. I used to get so excited about long runs that I could not sleep the night before. I wish some of that youthful novice marathon enthusiasm would seep back into my heart and ignite my legs. It's not that I dread long runs, but that they have become more mentally challenging to get through. I think my training has become increasingly harder mentally because I am more aware of pace and what times I need to hit in order to break the 3 hour barrier. I almost wish I could forget about it and just run. If I bomb Chicago, that will - ironically - take a lot of pressure off and then I can bust loose my next marathon and relax (no expectations!).
I am rambling. One more ramble, B. is going to run somewhere between 3:10 - 3:15 and he has no idea! I used to get upset on our runs because I misinterpreted his ability to keep up with me as "I must be out of shape." Hardly. B. could break 3 before me - if he trained. He is a great training partner :)
Easy 8 tonight. Thursday's workout is going to kill me, but I welcome the challenge!
Posted by bridget at August 16, 2004 02:10 PM