All of the cauliflower in the world

That is what I had for dinner tonight at 11 pm, along with a bit of grilled tempeh, a slice of sprouted flax bread and a big cup of coffee. Ah, finals, the best excuse to eat weird crap at even weirder times of day. The final final is tomorrow, followed by a 20 page paper to write on Wed and Thur, and then I can bust out of this place, head to my parents' for a week of Christmas and laziness.

I decided to dust off the old blog and see if I can transform it to suit my new plans and goals, although I haven't ruled out a new BFL challenge starting around the beginning of the new year. But goal numero uno for the moment (aside from surviving the last 3 days of finals) is the Reykjavik Marathon 08! Running a marathon (and a half-marathon for that matter) is a major item on my life list, and evidently it is also on my roommate's girlfriend's life list as when I announced to her that I was running the marathon in Iceland, I found out that she is also running the very same one, in celebration of her 30th birthday. So, now I really have to do it, unlike all those other times I said I was going to run a marathon.

I kicked off my training with a 4-mile road race (my first race ever!) in 25 degree weather with a chest cold. All of these factors, along with the fact that I hadn't run more than a mile at a time since August (and then it was in 70-degree comfort), make it impressive that I finished at all. According to the official chip time, I made it in 45:24, which averages to an 11:21 mile. Not too shabby considering, although for my age group apparently that puts me in 858th place. Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to beating that time at the next Roadrunners 4-mile race, in February. By then, if I stick to my training, 4 miles will feel like nothing.

Tonight was training run number 2, a 3-miler on the treadmill. God I hate the treadmill. I think I am going to have to get friendly with the indoor track, which isn't much better but I can't imagine it is worse. If it's at least maybe 30 degrees outside, sunny and not raining or snowing, I can do my training outside, which is preferable, but of course that's not going to be the case every time if I'm running 4-5 days a week all thru the winter.

So, that's the plan, stick to the running and make it to the marathon in Iceland next August. In the meantime, I'm also going to (a) get my diet cleaned up again - have started eating like crap and gained back the 8 lb I lost in the first half of the semester; (b) get back with the weight lifting; and (c) try to also cram in some interval training for fat loss. This all seems to indicate I may try to do the BFL thing while also doing the running thing. We shall see - I am planning a MUCH less rigorous semester in the spring, and I think it might be nice to treat it like a little sabbatical where I focus most of my energy on being healthy and enjoying life. That's the goal!