Adventure time

4 1/2ish hours from now (that would be 2:30 AM EST) I will be on my way to a great adventure. I know I can be overly dramatic sometimes, but I don't think it's too much of an exaggeration when I say that I just might die in the process. I've made mention of this activity before, but the day has come when I will literally run up a mountain. In the middle of the night. When it is really dark. When there might be bears. When I am recovering from allergies and/or a cold and/or sun poisoning. Adventure just might be an understatement. I'm super excited and super nervous and super crazy. But don't worry, I'll tell you all about it. That is if I don't get eaten by the wildlife.

I really hope my mom doesn't read this until tomorrow morning. I don't think I've given her enough time to do the research necessary to fill me in on the dangers of mountains. and bears. and sun poisoning. You'd have to know her to understand. xoxo

Thursday Tunes

I feel like it is every single present bearing occasion all in one today. I discovered a (new to me) music website that has the most incredible stuff on it, complete with free downloads(!), called 3Hive. Their tag line is "Sharing the Sharing", so I'd like to share the sharing that was shared, with you. I'm just recently discovering music websites and blogs like this one that open my eyes (and ears) to amazing music that I otherwise miss out on by listening to my ipod all of the time, or even my Pandora radio station (which by putting in one artist, spewed forth pretty much every single dancey song already found in my ipod, which doesn't help expand my horizons).

So here are a few of my new favorites:



Unseen Sights - Alias w/Markus Acher. I found most of the songs I'll post here in the "beats" archive, and many of them were no longer available for download, which was a bummer, but I found this one, as well as Dr. C, worthy of my $0.99/each. My other Alias faves? What You Gave Away (I MUST check out the original The One AM Radio version!) and Exodus Damage remix. Fantastic stuff, check them out here.



This is Ghislain Poirier. He sure knows his way around a good beat and has some pretty rad rap remixes which are, in my opinion, better than the original. Find them here.

I really love the song In A State by Unkle, and I found a mashup of it, along with the song Consequence by The Notwist, done by Mojib. The beginning doesn't quite fit, but then all of the sudden the puzzle pieces snap together and it's just lovely. I also really like Upside Down Reconstruction. You can listen to them here.

Another fun one is Mirando by Ratatat. When I listen to this one I feel the urge to play atari while wearing a sari.

Ok, it's late, and I'm tired, and tomorrow night I have to wake up at 2:00 am to go run up a mountain in the dark, so I should probably rest up while I can. But do me a favor and check out 3Hive. Soooooooo much good stuff there.

botox

If I ever wondered what I would look like if I got botox injections in my lips (er...lip), I now know. Check that sucker out!! Don't you just love that natural pout?? This is what I've woken up to the last few days thanks to allergies or a sunburn or some other strange reason. What do you think, is it a good look for me? Should I be saving my pennies to have a little "work" done?

2 out of 3

Provided all goes well tomorrow as weather.com predicts, there will have been 4 days of blue skies and 4 days of swimsuits. However, I don't need a meteorologist to tell me that my attempts to avoid looking like a human sized lobster were unsuccessful...

Trust me, it's 10 times worse in real life.

SYTYCD

My favorite show of all time is back on the air!! This was, by far, THE coolest routine ever. I know it's long, but completely worth watching. I love the judges reactions in the background. Enjoy!!

New Musak

I have some new tunes for the marathon machine and thought I'd share my finds:

Through the Fire and Flames - Dragonforce I find the lyrics a little cheese-o-rama, but how could you not pick up the pace with this song pumping through your headphones?!



I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness This song has always made me giggle, thanks to the ridiculously funny fight scene in one of the Bridget Jones Diary movies. I'm surprised I'm just now getting around to buying it



Insistor - Tapes 'n Tapes this one makes me want to wiggle my hips, which I might be doing right now while the video is playing...



As the Rush Comes - Motorcycle this one has been playing over and over on my Pandora radio station, and every time it comes on I mean to buy it. Finally I did, although I like the Tiesto mix better, but dumb iTunes doesn't have that version. Boomer!!



$20 - M.I.A. I have the whole Kala album, which is incredible as whole, but this one is my favorite.

is it Friday yet???

Only 5 more working hours until I'm off for 4 days to enjoy this...

Hopefully we'll have 4 days of this:

So I can spend 4 days wearing this:


And try to avoid ending up looking like this:

ps, thankfully, this is not me! image courtesy of some random website.

DCFit

I might have mentioned this before, but I have joined a marathon training program called DCFit to help me get ready for the Marine Corp marathon. My mom is super happy that I'm doing this because it greatly reduces the odds of me turning up in a ditch on the side of the running trail and I'm super happy about this for many other reasons such as:

1. The guilt factor. My friend Tina picks me up each Saturday, so I can't exactly hit the snooze button

2. I'm running in a pack of 30 people that run at a similar pace as I, so basically:

a. It's like running a race every single weekend

b. Because my pace is somewhere in the middle of my pace groups collective pace, I'm never the slowest person...

c. In fact, I actually pass a lot of people (booyah!!)

3. Most of these people are training for the Marine Corp Marathon, so I've got this huge support system before and on the day of the race.

4. I have a coach, which kinda makes me feel important!

5. They have a check-in system, so if I end up in a ditch on the side of the running trail during a run, they'll eventually find me.

6. I'll (hopefully, provided my shyness doesn't get in the way) make new friends with similar interests as me. The only bummer is that while there are several cute guys in the club, the only way I'll get to know any of them is if I shave 5 minutes or so off my average pace time, because they're all in a faster group than I am. Yeah, good luck with that!

7. I get discounts at the local running store. Sweet!!!

On the docket

Great Falls with Tess

Tess and I went out to Great Falls tonight to try out my new camera and enjoy mother nature. No buyers remorse here!

Tiger (lip) balm

If you haven't read it, my sister left a comment on my tiger balm post saying that when she was younger she put tiger balm on her lips for a dare. It's 1am and I'm not tired, and even if I was I'm a little scared to go to sleep thanks to watching The Orphanage in my pitch black room all alone (I finally had to pause the movie to turn the lights back on). I just finished trying out a smokey eye look on myself (HOT STUFF) and while I was figuring out what to do next I saw my tiger balm sitting on my bedside table. So what did I do? I put some on my lips of course. I'm kind of in heaven right now, that stuff is awesome, so cool and tingly. If I'm not careful I'll end up using more of this stuff on my lips than on my sore muscles. I'm such a weirdo.

Catch up

I've promised my mom I'd put up this post, but to tell you the honest truth, I'm not really in the mood to write about it anymore. How 'bout a visual journey through the last few weeks?

My brother came into town two weeks ago. We stuffed our faces, relaxed, and saw art:

This is me in the art if you couldn't tell...

Artomatic started last week, so Tess, Erica, Kaitlin and a bunch of girls I don't know went to check it out. See this blurry building? That is twelve floors of art! It's super cool . It seemed the IT thing to create were robots. They were all over the place! I only saw 4 floors. I need to go back.

Did you ever see this video?



Well someone recreated it with peeps!



Going to this sort of thing makes wish I had lots of money that I could spend on cool original art pieces. Anyone want to contribute to the fund?

Don't be silly!!

Of course I didn't buy this bag of Reece's milk chocolate and peanut butter bats just because Batman aka Christian Bale was on the bag...

Iron Man

Coolest.movie.ever!

Tiger balm

As you know, I have had a need for some muscle rub lately. Well my friend Jon swears by this stuff so I went out and bought myself a jar. I put it all over my calves and it is awesome. However, I might as well have just rubbed it directly to my nostrils and eyes because this shiz is STRONG!

Legs

I have things to blog about, like my brothers visit and Artomatic, but I am at work and don't have pictures, so mom, you'll have to wait for that.

I do, however, have something to talk about that doesn't require pictures. Running! Surprised? Didn't think so. I am now 35 days away from running what will likely be my craziest race ever. Training is going well, in that I'm getting out there and running, but since my sprint workout on Sunday my calves haven't quite been the same. I can run the first mile and a half of a run no problem (and at a pace of 10:40, incredible for me) but then my calves decide to revolt. Every step is a killer and cause many a curse word to slip silently but forcefully from my lips. My awesome pace turns quickly into an embarrassment. I'm hoping that this is just a case of "Anne, you are a fool to think you can run and not stretch and we (your calves) are pissed at you" than something more devastating. Last night after my "run" I saturated my calves in icyhot and rolled them out with "the stick." I'm hoping that my run today will be better. It will just have to be. And I will try to stretch before and after my run, but thanks to my parents genes which, when combined, created the most inflexible human, it's not going to be pretty. I think I'm going to stay away from those sprints for a while. In other training news, I'm finally going to get a chance to recreate a little of what I think the WB will be like when my friend Ben and I wake up at 2:30 am(ish) to drive an hour and a half or so to the Shenandoah National Forest to run up Old Rag before sunrise.

We got our leg assignments for Wasatch Back and I am lucky runner #4. This means my legs are as follows:

Leg #4 Paradise to Ascend Avon - 5.10 moderate miles



Leg #16 Milton to Littleton - 3.1 easy miles which, depending on our start time, I might be running in the middle of the night. Sooooo exciting!!



Leg #28 Jordanelle Reservoir - 5 hard miles


I'm really excited to be able to look at the legend and know exactly what to expect. I think my assignment will be the perfect amount of challenge for me, and I'll be honest, I'm super glad I don't have to run the leg named "You gotta be kidding me!" When it's all said and done, I will have run a half marathon. I'll let you know which is easier, running 13.1 consecutive miles, or breaking it up into three segments with little/no sleep and relaxation in between.

Oh, and does anyone have a mini-van or SUV I can borrow for the race? Just thought I'd ask...

Go Titans!

Marti is making me do this! (not that I mind of course, you all know I love talking about myself, but this kind of highlights how lame I was in HS)

1. If you could go back and tell your teenage self one thing, what would it be? Live a little! Skipping class every once in a while is NOT going to kill you. Oh, and I would also tell her that hair cut at the ear lobe is not flattering. I would also teach her how to pose for pictures without appearing to have millions of chins.

2. Did you do any extra curricular activities in high school? Sure did, Tribunal (kinda like the house of representatives maybe), Volleyball, Concert Choir, HUGS club, PTSA

3. Coolest thing you did as a teenager? I can't think of anything. Seriously.

4. What did you do with your free time? Hung out at Trish, Melissa, Kate or Katie's houses, but mostly just made out with my boyfriend. (Hi Scott!)

5. Did you have a boyfriend in high school? My senior year I did, see #4


6. Bands that come to mind: U2. In fact I don't think I listened to anything except U2. Ok, now I know why I can't stand U2 these days!

7. If you could change one thing what would it be? I would have talked to more people. I was super duper shy...well I still am, but not that bad. Also, I wouldn't have given up playing varsity volleyball to work at the dry cleaners. I think they wore hot shorts that year, and we all know how much I love hot shorts. Don't worry, I had the legs to wear them back then, see (mine are on the right):

8. What did you think you would be when you grew up? I was convinced I'd be married and have kids before I was 21, so a SAHM. I also kind of wanted to be a teacher.

9. Picture of self...

Sophmore and Junior class photos

10. Craziest thing you did in High School: I honestly can't think of one thing. I was convinced that if I did anything even slightly against the rules I would get caught or die or something. Well, I guess I did stay out past my curfew a few times...

11. Other great memories were: "Pro beach bench!" Parties at Kate's, listening to all of my friends recite Adam Sandler movie lines and not having a clue what they were even talking about, Gravity Hill and Scott smooth talking himself out of a ticket, driving around town in Scott's red mr2 looking at big houses, not cruising around town in Scott's mr2 if you know what I'm sayin' *wink*, root beer burping contests, making out on the tour bus on the way to Disneyland with Concert Choir. Really, once I had a boyfriend I didn't really do much other than make out with him.

Well I hope you guys had fun taking a stroll down memory lane with me. What were YOU like in HS? Do you even recognize me with the long hair?!

6:40

At the suggestion of Eric (via his friend Mike) I tried something new for my run today. Check it out:

1. run a mile to the nearest high school track
2. run 100 meters as fast as you possibly can
3. briskly walk another 200 meters
4. repeat steps 2 and 3 as many times as you possibly can. In my case 7. It would have been 6 but pride got in the way. I had an opportunity to pass some girl who could clearly jog faster than I can, so I did. It felt really good, even though I passed her at a pace I can barely sustain for 30 seconds.
5. attempt to run a mile home.
6. quit running after a few minutes when quads start burning.
7. walk the rest of the way.
8. get home and roll out quads with "the stick"
9. Upload workout onto Nike+. Notice that sprint intervals don't look like little spikes on the graph, but one big plateau. Kind of a bummer.
9. sleep

So, during one of my sprints I checked my pace to see how fast I was going. It appears that the fastest my legs can go is a 6:40 pace, which is pretty awesome if I say so myself, although I couldn't help but think that the very best runners in the world not only run faster than that, but sustain that pace for 26.2 miles. Pretty freaking incredible if you ask me. I can't even begin to tell you how exhausting this workout is. I am not a fast runner, so sprinting, if only for 30 seconds at a time, really took its toll on me. I am completely exhausted. I think I'll keep at it though, it can only make me stronger, and I can definitely use the challenge.

Oh Nike+, how you flatter me!

I have a new toy on my sidebar, check it out. I've seen this on a few of my friends blog and wanted to get in on the action. My only hesitation was the fact that this graph clearly shows my inability to run without lots of walking breaks and how very slow I can be. But you know what?! That's how I roll, and there's nothing wrong with that. I can't say enough nice things about the Nike+ chip. It's amazing how cool it is to see your runs after they're said and done. Watching your mileage increase and your average pace go down (well not in my case but whatever) is quite motivating. If you're a runner, I highly recommend this little gadget! And when you get it, you should challenge me in a duel (figuratively of course), which I'll totally win (but I promise not rub it in your face). *wink*

P.S. I bought a new chip today because I misplaced my old one a while back. I wanted to calibrate my chip (to record my natural walking and running pace) and drove all over town to find a track to run on. I couldn't find one that wasn't being used for a lacrosse game, and I wasn't about to parade around the track in front of a grandstand full of teenagers, so I ran with the chip and it's factory settings. Apparently the average person has a longer stride than I do, because the marathon machine (the second) calculated just over a minute faster pace than I really did run. I only wish I averaged a 10:13 pace!!

More Holga

I had the rest of my holga film developed a few weeks ago, and also got some 4x4 prints made of my favorites from the first batch. I can't wait to mat and frame them! Mand, can you help me out with some matting if our paths cross after the race in June??

Check em out...




Here are the pics from Moab. I am less than impressed with the results. Maybe because the colors aren't very vibrant, I don't know. I do love #9 though. I think I might be obsessed with silhouettes a little bit.

This was a mystery roll that I found in the back of my sock drawer. They're pictures from my trip to the Duke Gardens in NC and Meadowlark Gardens in VA. They're alright. If you want, you can click on the pic and it will open up bigger so you can see more detail.