Okay so this is starting to freak me out

That deja vu I was talking about has gotten bad today.  Like REALLY bad, and then I've had several really dizzy spells followed by "out of body" feelings.  It probably wouldn't freak me out so much except I had a seizure once last February, and this is how I felt before my last seizure.  After that last entry I wrote, I went to a briefing for a class (in the same place I had my last seizure), and I got that really weird feeling I was talking about and told Amber, who was sitting next to me.  I got up and walked to the restroom and rinsed my face with cold water and was okay for awhile until my next class, where I had to go and do the same thing.  It went away and then just now I tried to sleep and I felt the same weird deja vu followed by dizziness, and I got up.  I realized that I was doing the same thing early this morning, or maybe I wasn't... and now I'm just going nuts, lol.  No, not really.  Like I told Mel: if I was going crazy, I wouldn't actually realize it.  Hopefully a good nights sleep tonight will help :)  I'm also going to get dinner at the Firstie.  I don't know about much alcohol if my body is freaking out on me, but maybe a couple of drinks will wind me down (I feel like I'm bouncing off the walls right now, which makes no sense because I only slept like 3 hours last night - if even that much).  Haha, and people wonder why I say I need a lot of sleep!  This is like the third time a severe lack of sleep has caused me to feel this way, but the other times the doc attributed it to diet pills, which I did not take this time.  I dunno if it was the pills that did not so much as the fact I took them when I was really tired to try to keep going, and I'm really tired now. 

Okay, I'm done for now :) 

~Nina

Deja Vu... (or is it Vous?)

Do you ever get these random recurring thoughts and you cannot for the life of you figure out where they came from?  I guess they are sort of like deja vu, but they make no sense.  In deja vu you might feel like you've been somewhere before... But, it's not a fact of where I've BEEN, it's what I've supposedly done, but it makes no sense.   You think maybe the thoughts MUST have come from a dream in order to KEEP having them, but you don't remember any such dream?  So this keeps happening to me these past couple of weeks.  I keep thinking that something happened, but it didn't, because it makes no sense whatsoever that it could have possibly happened.  I think the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation must be hitting me hardcore right now.  Or maybe I'm just going crazy.  Too much caffeine + not enough sleep + other various factors = a very strange combination.


Alas, I should finish this Law homework that's due in a few short hours... They say there is no minimum word count, but the maximum is 1800.  I have 1,520 words right now.  I know they (they being the Law department... tricky graders they are) SAY there is no minimum.  But really, the Army also has minimum scores for the APFT, but if you get that score, you're actually sucking.  I think the same goes for papers...  I feel that I'm missing something if I have over 200 words UNDER the minimum.  *Sigh*.


~Nina

And the results are....

Two miles in 14:25 (really the only thing I cared about), 90 situps in two minutes, and 53 pushups in two minutes.  The pushups have decreased since the summer... I guess because I've been working more on running and less on strength.  The two mile time, however, is the best I've done for the physical fitness test :)  I mean, I've run faster than that on a track (well, a 12:50 3000 meter... which would've likely equated to a 13-something minute two mile).   So, I'm overall pretty happy!  I'm also happy because that was the LAST APFT I have to take as a cadet :)  Meaning, last graded physical requirement that I needed to pass to graduate!  WOOOHOOO!  :)  <---- see, lots of smiles.  I'm happy!  Hehe. 

Next up... Law homework due tomorrow... bleh, followed by a ten-mile trail race on Saturday, several assignments due next week, crown lengthening surgery on the 6th, and then the rest of my wisdom teeth the following week.  And then of course more assignments, and the West Point Half Marathon on the 23rd :)  BUSY MONTH!  In a good way, of course, because it means I'm even closer to graduation.  BOOM!  Okay, now I have to get to our weekly staff meeting :/ 

~Nina

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

Procrastinating

On going back, that is... I don't want to go back :(  I'm only a few hours from school, and really I could wait another 3-4 hours to leave and still have plenty of time, and I finished packing awhile ago.  I wasn't even going to wake up for almost another hour, but then I woke up around 8 (and was up til 2 reading), and I started thinking about everything I had to get done and couldn't fall back asleep...  oh and the birds chirping quite loudly outside my window didn't help... and then I saw how lovely it was outside, and I REALLY couldn't sleep.  Quite a bummer since I will be going back to school with dark circles under my eyes.  They had finally disappeared and I looked so alive for once!  I guess West Point + looking awake just don't go together.  You can compare them to oil and water.  Oh I so want to graduate!  I'm so tired of the constant pressure of that place.   I know life is pressure, and I've lived in the "real world," but knowing someone can come to my room anytime between 5:20 in the morning  and 11:30 p.m. and tell me they need me to do something is just too constant.  That's why this break was so nice :)  Mountains, fresh air, actually reading my own books, sleeping as late as I want... nobody telling me what to do/where to go... SOOOO nice! 

I suppose I SHOULD completely finish packing though and head out... I can always take a nap at school, and then go for a run... though this bed is SO much more inviting with its big fluffy comforter and six big fluffy pillows. Okay I'm done :)

~Nina

NOT getting wasted on St. Patty's Day???

Some of you may notice that there is now a "19" under a mileage tracker to the left.  Well, I joined Dailymile, and that is my mileage as of Tuesday when I joined.  I thought it would be a cool way to motivate myself, though I haven't gotten any comments on my... two... entries :)  Today was about seven miles, the first portion was uphill, but the rest was downhill.  My legs were still quite sore from my trail 12-miler the other day.  Man, I can't wait until 12 miles STOPS being the point when I start hurting.  Even when I was training for the marathon, I got sore after about 12 miles.  And then the last 4-6 would just SUCK.  I suspect maybe I was running too fast, but slowing down didn't seem to help.  Maybe I just need to get my weekly mileage up... I was at 35 miles per week before I got injured, and that was with an 18 mile long run.  Now I'm around 25-30 miles per week for the past few weeks, but my longest run has been 12 miles, so I've upped my weekly mileage while decreasing my long run. 
So the plan for the next couple of days... tomorrow, drive out to a lovely little reservoir and go run (I think).  It's supposed to be 61 :)  I know for those of you who are in warm, tropical places (or were, in the case that you read this AFTER Spring Break is over), that doesn't seem terribly warm.  However, for me, that is quite warm!  Actually during today's run, when it was only 55, it felt almost TOO warm in my shorts and t-shirt, which, by the way, it felt GREAT to run in ONLY shorts and a t-shirt without being cold.  Though the allergies that start hitting me in March make breathing a bit difficult... *sigh*...  And sadly it won't be as warm Saturday, but I intend on hiking around one of the mountains near here... probably the one that's a 5-minute drive from where I'm staying (this is the mountain where I ran halfway up the road to get to the trailhead), but perhaps one of the others.  Today I went for a drive - oh how I love having a car that gets AWESOME gas mileage!  I drove out to some of the mountains that were Northwest of where I am staying.  It reminded me of Tahoe, except not as high in elevation, and back when I lived in Tahoe, I used to LOVE going for drives with my family :) 

So I suspect I'm one of few not out getting wasted for St. Patty's Day right now.  Readers, no need to worry that I don't act like a semi-normal college student because I drink plenty when I'm at school, and I drank plenty the last two St. Patty's Days... but this year, I guess I just wasn't feeling the party thing as much.  I suppose because I drink plenty when I'm with my friends at school :)  When I can drink whenever I feel like it, I just don't have the motivation to spend a lot of money to go somewhere else just to drink a lot in another setting.  Besides, most of my friends are scattered among the country/world with their families/various school functions.  I suppose I know enough people that I could have found people who I'm semi-close with to party with in a foreign country, but again... just no motivation to spend thousands of dollars on something I've probably all ready done (keep in mind I lived in Europe for over two years, and travelled quite a bit while I was there).  Honestly, this has been the most rejuvinating and most stress-free Spring Break I've had of my college career.  Besides, I have wine :)

 All right, I suppose I will get back to reading about Vampires.  No, not Twilight, but The Historian.  It's really interesting as it is somewhat of a mystery that involves Dracula and a girl who has gone to find the history of Dracula (Vlad the Impaler) after she finds a mysterious book in a library that her father also found, and his advisor in graduate school ALSO found.  Her father is a historian, hence the title, and he goes searching for the history of Dracula in Istanbul and where Dracula may be burried after his advisor disappears.  See, it's quite interesting.  I did read most of the Twilight series, and this is much more interesting...   And then I need to read Into Thin Air... and then a biography of someone for one of my military classes, and a book about Vietnam, and a self-help book (rather, a book about positive psychology) for my Colloquium class... sigh... the only one I'm looking forward to actually reading out of those is the one for my psychology class, though I think reading about disorders is much more interesting than reading about happy feelings.  Maybe that's why I struggle with my own "happy feelings" lol. 

~Nina

Today's adventure - with pictures!!!

Okay it wasn't REALLY an adventure, but it felt like one :)  I took my new Yaktrax out on the trails today!  For awhile I was doubting whether I needed them, because the first portion of the trails I ran were fairly snow-free.  Luckily, I had asked one of the mailing groups I'm on if they knew the trail conditions, and one of them responded that he'd been on Saturday and that there was indeed snow on the trail.  And there was!  First, about the Yaktrax - for my running readers who might be interested in running in the snow :)

 I actually liked them quite a bit.  I had read a few negative reviews on them... a couple of people said they came off, they didn't grip well, etc.  They worked well for what I was doing, and they were pretty light!  I all ready wear pretty light shoes (the trail version of the Kinvaras), and I didn't have a problem with them.  I also had no problem with them falling off, which may be because I have such small feet that they were not over-stretched on my feet.  I might suggest for someone else who wants to try them to get one size up.  They worked very well on hard-packed snow and ice, not so well on the semi-slushy melted snow.  I just wish I'd had these for my trail race a few weeks ago!

With the Yaktrax on

Secondly I used my Camelbak Octane 18x for the first time on a run... I'd used it on hikes before, but never on a run.  I will say I wasn't terribly impressed.  It was great for hiking, but I just couldn't get it to fit right for the run... But I am glad I brought a larger camelbak, especially if my run would've turned longer, or if I'd added some more hiking.  I was able to fit a fleece shirt, my camera, my cell phone, and I was able to put my Yaktrax in the bag for when I wasn't using it. 

One portion of the trail :)

 Anyways, it was a painful 12'ish miles.  Much more painful than my last twelve mile run.... The combo of the snow, hills (my last trail run was the trail race I did a few weeks ago), Yaktrax, the extra weight of the Camelbak, and still being sore from my last two runs all hit me I think.  And yet I made it, though I didn't think I was going to make it at the end, lol.  That was actually the longest TRAIL run I've done I think since the time I got lost in September and accidentally ran 14 miles, while the intention was for 11 miles (it was supposed to be my first time running that distance since my first injury back in 2007!) , and even during that run, I'm not sure even 12 of it was on trails.  So I guess it would make sense I was sore :)  I think I'm going to save my next trail run for melted snow though... I think it's all melted at school, so that shouldn't be a problem :)

And nooww... PICTURES!  Any of you from this area may recognize the location :)

 

Nice View... one of MANY

So, okay.. bad running form doesn't work in those Yaktrax.  Oh, and that's my one tattoo.

Yep... this is what I got to look at during my run today.

I have tons more, but they get kind of repetitive.  Those were my favorites :)