Stress-ercise?

It's difficult to let a perfect morning go to waste. This morning was one of those crisp, cool fall mornings that welcomed all those who wanted to venture out into the fresh air to forget about anything but the glory of the invigorating morning. That is exactly how I spent the morning. I forgot about the stress of upcoming exams while running and thought about how great this particular morning was with its beautiful colored trees and cool breeze dropping in from the bay. I also thought about how I could assemble a blog post on this splendid Saturday.

As obvious as it sounds, exercise helps you feel better. I mean, has anyone ever been angry or stressed right after they excercise? I highly doubt that. Angry before working out? Of course. You know that saying, the hardest step of working out is the first step out the door. Now I'm sure people can attest to that feeling! I certainly can. Whether it's walking, running, riding a bike or anything else, I'm willing to bet most people don't feel so stressed while participating. I don't mean that you may not think about a problem, or a test, or bad news, but you have a different outlook if you are exercising. Exercising can get that frustration out but there is a point when you are at peace thinking about one thing or another. It gives perspective to the things you haven't found perspective on, as well as making you think with a clear mind instead of being cooped up in your home to dwell.

In my nutrition class, my teacher brought up the process of pushing yourself through landmarks. For example, if you are running and want to go just a little further, tell yourself to make it to a specific tree. Once you get to that tree, can't you make it to the next one? Of course you can! I believe in you! In fact, I am guilty of pushing my self from tree to tree. It's rewarding. I highly encourage it! Next thing you know you will have been going for miles, the trees have become your friends, and you just ran 14 miles*! (*Results may vary) I'm kidding of course, but if you want to walk around a block or two, go for it! You may end up walking around 3 blocks because of a willow tree or a birch in the distance. Just don't use trees from the start of your journey or you will be counting a whole lot of trees! That is not OAKay.

Think about it and enjoy.

Best,

Anne

Oops...

It just sneaks up on you. When you are too busy to notice, or notice but make yourself busy. When you find a million other reasons to forget it. When you just get to the point where you stop and take a deep breath because you can no longer live your life this way. That, my friends, is when clutter wins the battle. For one reason or another, it is nearly impossible to keep your home, car, papers and more from accumulating with meaningless odds and ends. My problem is that I cannot find the time to get rid of some papers or vacuum for example. (Those are only examples because I don't want the entire blog to be taken up with my To-Do list. ) If I have the time, I tell myself things like "Just relax for a little bit" or "It doesn't get in my way, so I can clean it when I need to" or even "No one comes here...who cares!?" Well, of course I care but like I said, it's difficult to motivate myself when I come up with other things to occupy my time. I'll be honest, I would not let a soul into my apartment right now. Okay, that sounds alarming. It does not look so full of clutter that I could be on a tv show about Secret Lives of Clutterers or something but it's not...acceptable. I love a clean apartment. It feels so refreshing to be able to come home and admire the beauty of cleanliness. But it also feels refreshing to be able to come home and admire the beauty of my bed. It's an evil battle. One that will continue until the end of time. Henry David Thoreau (you may recognize his works from the game show Jeopardy! ) sums it up in one simply, but effective sentence: "Things do not change, we change". Why yes, that is true. A month ago I would have had all the time in the world to clean the apartment and appreciate the lack of mess. Now, school has taken over and changed my schedule. There is nothing I can do but surrender. I like to justify my ways of thinking, too. If I spent an hour cleaning the apartment, I could have taught myself how to decipher the specific geometric isomerism in rings. As much as I would rather clean the apartment than do that, I will benefit from the latter due to a lovely exam tomorrow. The cycle of justification continues day in and day out. Since I have successfully frightened you all and caused you to worry for my well being (and sanity), I urge you to rest easy. I will make every effort to clean up so that I can continue on until the next time I face this dilemma. "When life gives you dilemma's you make dilemonade."

Best,
Anne

This is your song, not mine.

I'm here, don't worry. I know it has been ages since the last post but I did not find any time in my week to muster something to discuss here. I may as well clear something up before you read too far. I still do not have a subject of great importance to type for you to set your eyes on and read through. I’m hoping that as I continue these nonspecific sentences, I will discover an exciting tale. Were you wondering what had happened to me? I apologize. Tests took over and I went into a demanding (demANNEding) mode! The week was such a blur of talking about muscles, ossification and much, much more and therefore I need a break (fracture) so I will spare you the time and refrain from explaining this chaotic week in deep detail.

More importantly, how are you? Yes, you! I can’t be the only busy one here. Are you doing well? Maybe we could take a deep breath together. One…two…three. Ah, much better. It’s fantastic that Friday has finally met us and we have a nice couple of days to rewind before the next week. Are you filling your weekend with exceptional activities? I think I’m going to run again. Do you know what? I’m not going to map out where I have to go. I’m not going to get up at 6 am to beat the heat while running. I’m not going worry about how far I go. I’m going to run until I do not feel like it anymore. That is the current plan for my exceptional activity. Finally, I’d like to tell you how much I appreciate you. Don’t forget! Take care of yourselves.

Best,

Anne

Pleased to meet you.

Before I began the school year I gathered that I would have to introduce myself many times to many people. Introductions are bound to happen anytime, anywhere. At times it can be difficult to remember a person's name just seconds after he or she has recited it, but I usually just wait until I hear someone else call out the name in that sort of scenario. Yes, introductions are pretty basic in our society but somehow they are quite important...or so we're told. I have managed to introduce myself to dozens of people so far but have faced a hindrance during this important process of meeting a person. Don't blame me yet...

Anne. Short and simple. Even shorter if you spell it incorrectly. I need to state my hypothesis here. When introducing yourself, adding "I'm" before your name may cause confusion to the person receiving the introduction. An example of this would be "What's your name?" In response, the other person would say "I'm Anne". This is a true example, by the way. It happened and has happened many times. Now, that doesn't seem difficult or confusing does it? No, it does not. I must assure you that my articulation does not falter as I say that either. That being said, when I do respond with "I'm Anne", I have yet to meet a person who understands the complex separation between "I'm" and "Anne". I normally get the response that is hard to put into words because it would be better to hear the noise but it's a combination of the puzzled look with a furrowed brow and a "wait, what is it"? Other times it has just been "huh"? A girl in chemistry didn't even question it she just said, "Okay, Leanne!" Whoa whoa whoa. Since when is Anne a difficult name to comprehend? Are single syllable names outdated? Do I say "Anne as in Anne Frank" or "Anne like the Raggedy one"? I could understand if I included my last name and someone was unsure what I just said, but "I'm Anne" is just natural for me. My conclusion to this? The "I'm" has to go. I will just reply with "Anne" loud and clear. I'm sorry my name is not Jubilee like the girl in my Nutrition class in which case everyone thinks it is awesome so they don't question how she introduced herself. (It is awesome, by the way. Very cool!)
I'll have to settle for patience during introductions and remember that saying "I'm" will only get a disoriented look. I know what you are thinking, but a name tag would create even more puzzled looks. Not because of my name, but because I'm wearing a name tag in the first place.

Best,

Anne....like Anne of Green Gables.

"Friends, Romans, Countrymen..."

I took a double dose of procrastination today. As painfully daunting as Sunday is, I found myself distracted by millions of other things. It's very difficult to work around here. There are odds and ends that could keep me occupied (purely out of boredom) for hours. I figured it would be most beneficial to move the coffee table and clear an open space for all my papers and books I had to get to. Personally, it helps me! Stay tuned: Techniques for Improving Study Time and Feng Shui will be hitting your local bookstore soon! I normally go somewhere else to study or complete homework but it was just a different circumstances sort of day.

I woke up quite early this morning for I had much to do! First I began working for a couple hours on delightfully dull Anatomy. (It hasn't gotten interesting yet! And for as long as it runs me into the ground, it may never get interesting!) While I was working I ventured off into the land of wondering the origin of a phrase. I'm continuously telling people I'll "play it by ear" when it comes to plans or a decision that cannot be deciphered at the moment. Why do I say this? Not because I am being practical and waiting for further notice of availability but because there had to be a person who was smart enough to put that phrase to good use. I decided to slide the books aside and see what the internet would teach me. Well, I know I cannot believe everything I read on the internet but this makes sense. It turns out, the origin started back in Shakespeare's day. When he said "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears", he wanted their attention from the functions in the ears that make them hear. Then, people used it to describe how great a person was at hearing music and being able to play such as a person being able to "play it by ear" after listening to music. "The saying has been taken yet another step further away from anything literal when people use it to mean doing something in an extempore way, without planning, according to circumstances as they arise. "(http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-pla1.htm) I suppose I fall under that category considering I cannot listen to a song and use an(y) instrument to play it. Ah well. I love to learn about phrases. Is there a major for that?

Anyway, I worked on that blah blah blah and then I was able to take a break in order to see my dear friend, Teresa, play in a soccer match at the University of Washington! I had never been to the campus but my mom says "it's a beautiful campus. It looks out on Lake Washington" so I had to trust her judgment. She was right about that! The perfect fall day made me forget about all of my school woes and I just wanted to hang out there for the day. It was a fantastic afternoon away and always pleased to see a familiar smiling face!

I headed home and HAD to do a few things before looking at homework again. I mean, the laundry HAD to be done. The dinner HAD to be eaten. The blog HAD to be posted. Here I am now. Time to end this because, whoa, it has been an hour (things have interfered with the simple task of posting a blog!) so I must depart. Have a fabulous week. I will speak to you when I can. I simply cannot specify the time because I am not sure what will interfere with that. So, we'll have to play it by ear...

Best,

Anne

Busy Beaver

Whew! First full week of classes are over but I'm hardly ready to take a breath! Life went from trying to pass the time to being fully consumed with school at every waking moment. I knew this would happen but wow, it's madness! In my first full week I recited the whole Appendicular skeleton and that's not just the femur, radius, feet but every aspect of those bones! Overwhelming but I have to get used to that because I have one a week until December. Up next: The Axial Skeleton. Let me tell you, the head is going to be a piece of work. Why do I have to use my brain to remember the skull? Yikes...very hectic (not humerus)! Anyway, that's why I have been lacking in posts since the marathon. I recovered fully after three days and have not been on a run yet but I'm sure I will when I have a moment. If you plugged in your Anne GPS tracker you'd currently find me in a coffee shop. I expect this to be my third home after the apartment and the biology lab. Oh, and I am aware that it's Friday and I should be enjoying the cool, breezy day but let's face it...I have much to do! Enough about the busy schedule and more about October. It's one of (maybe the best) months of the year! Fall is in full force and leaves are more beautiful than any other time. It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, too. Keep it in mind and continue prayers for everyone who is fighting an illness!

Oh, and happy birthday Ghandi!

I will try to make my next post more interesting than this but I thought I'd let you know that I haven't fallen off the planet (yet). Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Anne

“God put me on Earth to accomplish a certain number of things”

That's it. Hunched over and completely out of it, I am seen here after completing 26.2 miles yesterday. This is the outcome of four months of training and enough for one more blog post about the whole running experience. I should probably mention the details from the start (not the starting line). My alarm buzzed in my ear at 5:45 in the morning and I hopped out of bed as I would any other day. I knew what the fateful morning had in store for me but I was not nervous. Surprised? I was. I thought I'd be shaking in my boots! (I mean, running shoes...) Au contraire! I made sure I had all the essentials: Bib with the number 9 (I wish I could say it was because they predicted me to finish in 9th place...but it's just random. Sorry to disappoint), IPod, Ellen t-shirt, running shorts, two pairs of socks, and a running chip for my shoes. I was all ready, set to go! As my parents drove with me to downtown, I was still not nervous but curious. I wasn't sure what to expect but as I saw people warming up with quick little sprints or jogs, I grew more and more eager. I didn't have much time to contemplate running back home before it was time to line up. Within moments the crowd of 1400 runners were counting down from ten.

Bam! We were off. The weather was perfect and even though my hands were frozen, they quickly warmed up. The beauty of the town surrounded me. I ran places I'd never seen in town that were simply charming. I was approaching mile six and greeted with some friendly faces. My aunt, uncle, and parents were smiling and cheering for me as I dashed past. I flew through the first ten miles. Honestly, I could feel my legs gliding. I flew through the first ten miles. Honestly, I could feel my legs gliding. I knew my spectators were waiting right before mile 17. I had something to look forward to and when I approached them, I couldn't help but smile wide. A lady with a very loud cheering voice was standing right next to them and my mom told her I was coming and said my name was Anne. All of a sudden, a friendly woman screamed "Go Anne!" louder than ever and rang her bells for a little background music. It's incredibly helpful when people are cheering for you. Unfortunately, they cheered for me thirty seconds before I was faced with the ultimate battle. Climbing a hill that was steeper than a wall (practically) knocked me right down. I was unable to run that wall because I knew I had nine miles to go and would lose my steam. I walked up and it cost me a few minutes. I only saw one person run up the hill at the time I approached it so that tells you something about this monster. Around mile 20 I was ready to cry. It felt good to know how close I was but 6 miles is only close when you think about the whole race, not after you've completed 20 miles. The final miles were brutal. That is the only word to describe it. Absolutely brutal. It hurt to run. It hurt to walk. It hurt to move any muscle whatsoever. I saw two signs toward the end. The first said "Pain is temporary" and the second said "Pride is forever". I kept repeating that to myself until I saw the finish line. People surrounded both sides of the shoot and holding back tears, I pushed myself through only to see familiar faces waiting for me. It was incredibly emotional to complete the marathon. Although, I was utterly out of it. I could not think or talk or express my immediate thoughts. Regardless, I was achingly magnificent in every way. 4 hours and 8 minutes later, I went home to rest for the day.

It's strange to think such a major feat could be over in a single morning. I will remember it forever. I like to run but I think I'll stick to casual jogs throughout the neighborhood. I also believe my knees are plotting revenge on me so they would not be thrilled if I tried another marathon. What's next? School. Life. Running may fall in there but only when I feel like it, not when I have to. It's been a great and grueling time in my life. I couldn't have done it without the support though. Alright, I sound like I am accepting an award now, but it's true. So many people have been nice with their positive thoughts and I thank you all. I'll be there to cheer for you when you run your marathons! Finally, it has been great to blog about the training experience. I was able to have a comical outlook on a long, hard process. It was worth it. I feel elated, but my legs would surely disagree...

Best,

Anne