Random Update

I suppose I should update since I haven't since Sunday.  Really that is not a long time, but I feel like it is right now.  If you're a cadet, you'll probably get really bored if you read my next paragraph, so I'd suggest skipping it.

I've been busy with school and my job, which right now involves planning a BBQ for our regiment (about 1,000 people) and getting beer for the BBQ.  At West Point this is exponentially more difficult than any other university.  Why?  Because first, we cannot store alcohol in our rooms, we can not store alcohol in our vehicles, and we cannot usually have alcohol in the cadet area AT ALL unless we get all sorts of approval.  So to get that approved I had to come up with a "concept of operation" to show how I would monitor alcohol consumption to make sure there were no underage drinkers, and so on so forth.  Luckily, the officers in charge of our regiment are actually pretty realistic about this stuff and don't make it that difficult for me to do my job.  There's been this along with several meetings about such things as safety in the Army when we are lieutenants (most boring brief EVER, by the way), and the policy implications of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell... I also need to put several flyers on our tables before dinner tonight advertising the blood drive we have next week.  Fortunately, I got a couple of people to help me so I don't have to do 400 tables alone :) 

Otherwise, let's see... running, yes, always running, except yesterday and possibly today.  I beat up my body pretty bad last week... not so much with high mileage, because I didn't really run THAT many miles, but more with the type of running I did.  My trail run was on 12.5 miles of hills, in snow, wearing a camelbak with some extra layers in it, so I was a bit weighed down... I actually did several hilly runs last week, along with that hike, and then on Monday, while still sore from the week before, I did a 4-mile run as fast as I could... or as fast as I could without running at a race pace.  I did it in 31:30, so a 7:52 minute mile pace.  I know that isn't that fast, BUT... for me, that's the fastest I'd ever run four miles, and I wasn't even racing, I was just running.  Then Tuesday I ran 8 miles.  So, yesterday I was limping because my left calf had a bit of a cramp, and today it's not bad, but it's a little sore still, so I'm trying to decide if I should give myself another day off, or just do a slow 4-mile run.  I think I'm leaning toward another day off, it won't kill me to rest, and I would regret it if I hurt myself.  Plus I'm tired and have other stuff to do...

We also have a physical fitness test on Monday, which involves running 2 miles as fast as we can, so I'm KIND of taking it easy this week since if we don't pass we don't graduate on time.  Of course, I've never even COME CLOSE to not passing... I mean, I can pass the guy's scale, and I pass ours by like 4.5 minutes, so I don't think it would be an issue to pass, but I would like to run a sub 14:30, so giving myself a little break might be good :) FOLLOWING the two-mile race, I have a ten-mile trail race on the 2nd of April.  My 3rd 10-mile trail race this year (academic year), haha.  But this time it won't be covered in snow.  Hooray!  I'm excited, as I always am about racing.  I would like to do some longer ones, but all the ones in my abilities right now (probably upto about 15'ish miles at the moment) are on training weekends.  There IS a half marathon coming up here in April that I'm going to sign up for :)  It is two weeks after my wisdom teeth are removed, so as long as I don't get dry socket, I should be good to go, though I will have taken a week off from running.  But again, even a week off won't kill me, as I discovered after I got that one random tooth removed followed by my eye surgery that kept me out of fitness for two weeks. 

I guess I have nothing deep or inspiring to talk about today.  Too much work and school work to allow myself to think creatively.  Though I did play my flute for awhile last night :)  It was quite therapeutic, especially since I didn't get a run in, which usually eases things up for me. 

ANNDD.  Nap time!

~Nina