Tuesday Tidbits - April 2, 2013

This is going to be a bullet point list because I feel like I’m not writing as much that way and my grammar can be awful, but it doesn’t matter with a list! ;)

- If you’ll notice up in the right hand side of my blog, I’ve added a countdown to… [duh, duh, duhhh] … GRADUATION!!!  As of now, I have 37 days 21 hours 48 minutes and 15 seconds (that will definitely be less time by the time you all are reading this post!)

- That works out to about 10 more days of class, 8 more days of my internship (same days as classes), 20-30 hours of driving, 2 more big projects, 5 articles to read, 3 more quizzes, 8 more homework assignments, and lots of procrastination before I become a professional adult ;)

- I also added a “Giveaways” Button to my sidebar instead of listing out the giveaways right there on my sidebar because blogger’s link list app-y thing-y majig is not working… no big surprise that blogger isn’t working… right?! ;)  I should so switch to wordpress… I just don’t have the time or knowledge to do so right now…

- This week is spring break (as I mentioned in my weekly roundup) for the school I’ve been doing my interpreting practicum at.. which means I have class on tuesday and thursday from 4:30 – 7:20pm and maybe sub/work 2 days at the end of the week (county schools are on spring break til Wednesday) and that’s it…woohoo!! 

- That means that I’ll be working out, doing some reading, knitting/crocheting, maybe cooking/baking?!  AND… a little more blogging this week too!!  Just don’t get used to it ;) tehe

- My computer is still sick (wireless network card went caput) … the only time I can get on the internet is if I go out to the family room (opposite side of the house from my room) and plug it up with the blue cable… it’s so inconvenient and now I can’t multi-task by watching my shows and deleting them off of DVR at the same time I blog/do homework… so inconvenient! :-P

- This morning I woke up to temperatures in the teens with the windchill… that doesn’t seem right… where is spring?!  I remember it being in the low 80’s last year on spring break… crazy weather! Bring on the sunshine and warm weather!!!

- Ok, I think that’s it for me… no pictures in this post… sorry!  I’ll try to take more pictures! :)  BTW, did anyone get pranked yesterday for April Fool’s?  What happened?  Did you fall for the Bacon-flavored mouth wash?  totally disgusting! ;)

Giveaways

 

                                                         

Thursday Thoughts and Fuel Belt Winner!

First of all, wow!! 96 followers?!  You guys ROCK!!  Hello and thank you to all of my new followers!  I love making new friends! :D

I had 131 entries into my giveaway!!  I plugged the numbers into random.org and this is what it came up with:

Congratulations Alanna!!  Please shoot me an email with your address sometime this weekend!  I hope to get your handheld and GU to you sometime in the next week Lord willing! :D   runners.luck@hotmail.com

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Now onto the “Thursday Thoughts” portion of this post!  I’ve been thinking about a lot of things lately and don’t really have time to write about all my thoughts.  Of course, a majority of my thoughts are about running and blogging and everything else life has been throwing at me!

1.  I have been working extra hours the past couple weeks… 15/week to be exact and it leaves me with no time to do anything unless I stay up late.  Which I did on Monday.  4am late to be exact and mostly because I was too lazy to get up out of the recliner from watching tv with my dad to walk back to my bedroom to go to bed.  I can’t be the only one that does this right?!

2.  I’ve been feeling crappy lately.  I do believe it has to do with a lot more than just the late bedtimes.  It took me a week to get back to running after my half marathon… A WEEK!!  And still… I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve been running since then!  It’s pathetic really.  It’s not that I don’t want to.  I really don’t like getting up early.. I’ve never made it a habit to because I didn’t have to.  My work schedule allowed me to run in the afternoons or evenings most of the time and now since I’m working more, the only times I have to run are early morning or late night… ugh!  So, that has a lot to do with why I’ve been feeling crappy PLUS I’ve been eating crappy too!  You are what you eat right?!  Ok, so I did have an excuse for last weekend because of the fair… but seriously… I  haven’t been eating any veggies or fruits and I’ve been eating on the go … ie: fast food!  GASP!!!  so… lack of sleep, lack of running/exercise, more hours of work, and a crappy diet have all come colliding down on me this week and I’ve felt like a bad human being lol…

3.  It’s not like I don’t have any motivation… ok, I don’t have any lol.  I do have a race on OCT 30th and my goal time for 5k is sub 25 right now and I really want it in my head lol… but I still don’t have any motivation… and its probably because of #2!  So I have decided to stop wallowing in my self proclaimed laziness and business and make some changes!

4.  Not only am I making healthy living changes, but I have thought a lot about changing around my blog.  First of all  I don’t believe in LUCK… I never have.  I believe that everything happens for a reason because God has a plan.  So… I have no idea why my blog is named “Runner’s Luck” other than it sounded cool and I had ZERO creative juices flowing the day I created my blog.  Also… I ran my half marathon on September 25th!  I think my blog needs a new tagline!  I also want to give my blog a little makeover starting with a cool picture header… except I have no idea how to do that … help?!  And maybe a new background?!  What do you all think?!  I would appreciate any opinions you guys have about changing anything on my blog or any help you can give me on creating a photo header!

So those are just A FEW thoughts I’ve had… I’ll save some of the others maybe for greater in-depth posts…  As always I love advice/opinions/comments from  you all! :D  I know a lot of you feel somewhat like I have after running a big race… I think making healthier choices will make a HUGE difference in the way I’m feeling though!  So starting tonight… I’m going to bed before midnight!! :D 

Three Things Thursday

1.  Jodi over at RunJodiRun has a weekly “Thumbs up Thursday” where she spotlights a runner by interviewing them.  This week she honored me by asking if she could interview me and I said yes!  Jodi, Thank you so much!  It honestly made my week!

SO… go check out her blog post featuring me and say hi to Jodi!

 

2.  I wanted to remind everyone about my Fuel Belt, GU, and chocolate #9 giveaway!  If you haven’t already entered, CLICK HERE!

 

3.  When it comes to blog awards, I am a terrible receiver!  It takes me forever to write about them and pass them along so without further ado…

The most recent award I got was the Versatile Blogger award from One Crazy Penguin!

*Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award
* Share 7 things about yourself
* Pass the award onto other bloggers who you know are fabulous

1. My name is Zaneta
2.  I LOVE ice cream!
3.  I spend too much time blogging
4. I have 3 siblings
5.  I secretly miss school
6.  I wish NIKE would sponser me!
7.  I don’t wear makeup

Another award that I received way back at the beginning of September (whoops!) was the Happy 101 Award from Char over at My Life’s a Marathon!

*Thank the Giver
*State 10 Things you like
*Give this award to 10 other people

1.  My family
2.  My boyfriend
3.  Sunny warm days
4.  Ice cream
5. Running
6. Laughing
7.  Knitting/Crocheting
8.  Fall weather!
9.  Realizing that I am growing as a person
10.  My blogging friends!!

Thank you so much ladies for the awards!  It really is an honor and makes me happy to know that people read my blog and like it enough to give me an award!

Seriously… I follow and have MANY amazing followers!  If you feel like grabbing one of the awards (or maybe have nothing to blog about or are having writers blog) than feel free to grab the awards!  You all deserve them! :D

What makes you happy?!

Random Things on Thursday

Well, I was tagged by Quinton, Q, The Guy who loves Jersey Shore, or the Sick Wuss (whatever you want to call him is probably ok*) over at Q on the Move.  I guess this means that I need to come up with 10 random things about me and then tag a few other people…

1.  I’m 23 and sleep with a teddy bear… my boyfriend got it for me for Valentines Day before we were actually dating and I was crushing on him majorly!  The bear’s name is Charles Peter II.

This picture was taken a couple years ago

2.  I have broken a total of 5 bones, all sports related! My 4 front teeth, yes they’re fake now (basketball), My toe (playing barefoot sand soccer, yeah… smart), A bone in the top of my foot (basketball), My collarbone (basketball), My finger (flag football)… yes, basketball was good to me 4th grade through college!

3.  I have major issues with my body… I think my butt is too big and I have never found a pair of jeans that fit like I want them to… If I get them to fit my waist they’re too small in the butt, If I get them to fit my butt they are WAY too big in the waist… you get the picture…

4.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Frank Sinatra music but REALLY LOVE Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly movies!**

5.  I have worked part time job #1 for 6 1/2 years and part time job #2 for 5 years… they took me through college DEBT FREE! (with the occasional side jobs like babysitting and assistant basketball coach etc…)

6.  When I was in Jr High, my orthodontist took an x-ray of my hand and told me I’d be 6 feet tall or taller… I made it to about 5’9” and was disappointed because I wanted to be taller.. I’m still tall for a girl.

7.  I have a twin… I’m 4 minutes older…we don’t look alike, and we don’t have a secret language.  I’m about 4 inches taller than her and have curly hair.

 This is the most recent picture I have of us

8.  I LOVE to knit and crochet!  My boyfriend likes to tease me and tell me I’m an old woman.  I have a blog that I started when I started teaching myself how to knit and crochet… BLOG HERE

     

I crocheted Charizard for my boyfriend and knitted a piano tote for my mom for last Christmas.

9.  I want a flex friendly body!! I get jealous when I see women with big, cut biceps!  Starting next week I’m going to start a more weight friendly workout plan!  (keep me to my word k?!)  We’re not talking HUGE biceps… but bigger than my skinny arms now.

10.  In high school, I was on the dance team and on the dance/kick squad for marching band… I dont see how I made either because I am VERY uncoordinated and very clutzy!  I end up with bruises on my thighs and arms from running into things and I trip over lines in the sidewalk a lot.

                                  

Wow… Senior year (2005)

People I tag are:

          1.  Tressa @ Track Coach &Adorable Wife (Coach, feel free to do it too!)
          2.  Rae @ 5k Rae (I’ll get you the info about the shorts sometime this weekend!)
          3. Pam @ Thirty Schmirty (Thanks for the kind comments on my blog!)

Now, go forth and create random lists!

Sorry for not naming everyone… You all are awesome, I just picked a random 3! So feel free to make random lists about yourself even if you weren’t named! :)

*******HEALTH UPDATE*******

I had my follow up cardiologist appointment today.  It went really well!  He came in and said he had looked at the results more in depth since my echo-stress test and my heart was really healthy!  Exact words:  “You are in really good shape!  Honestly, we rarely have anybody that goes as long as you did in that test!”  (ok…I may have added the exclamation points) but… that made me feel good that my heart was in such good shape!  He said I could run 30 miles this Saturday if I wanted to! haha! 

He said that he thinks it’s just a muscle sprain that caused all of these problems and that he would recommend taking Aleve not only when my chest starts to ache but he would go ahead and take a couple before my race on Saturday.  Does anyone have any opinions about this? 
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I also went shopping today as you can see in the picture! My grandma got me a gift card for my birthday (I think she forgot I was born in July)… it was to Kohls.  I usually don’t shop at kohls, but I did find the cute running shorts there!

 

I couldn’t pass up the Under Armour fleece at Dunhams!  It’s so soft and comfy… it’s like a hug when I put it on!  I also picked up the only running book they had in our local Borders… “Born to Run”  I figured I could read it in the car tomorrow on the 6 1/2 hour trek to Nashville. 

That’s right… I’M LEAVING TOMORROW MORNING!!!  That means 1 day and like 11 hours til my race!!  I’m so excited I could cry, puke, hug someone, smile, laugh… judging by those actions, I would say you can tell I’m pretty nervous too lol.  We’re going straight to the Expo and then heading to the hotel and dinner after that… So, with that, I bid thee adieu!  I have to finish packing!

Don’t forget to ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!!  I know I said you had til today to enter, but really… you have til tomorrow night by the time I get to the hotel for the night! 

 

* Q is actually a pretty cool dude… his comments usually leave me feeling motivated and like I can do anything… AND he thinks my 3D glasses are hot

**If you don’t know who these people are, please go google it or something!

Reactivated!

Well, I was going to post yesterday, but I was having major internet malfunctions, so now I’m just going to post a bunch of random stuff including a recap of my first run back in business!

1) I went running on Monday, which was my first run in almost 2 weeks since my health issues.  I woke up kind of expecting wanting to be back to 100% normal … wasn’t the case... duh! I still had some chest pain… but not as bad, and my breathing is getting easier… just not as fast as I had hoped.

The run itself had me feeling tired and really out of shape.  I ran for about 27 minutes… I dont know how far I went, but I wore my new shoes and used my new fuel belt handheld… you can see it in some of the pictures I took before the run I took them just because I felt like it…  (the outfit is probably my race day get up, what do you think?)

 

**I tried to flex… I dont have much muscle lol ;)  and yes, i love nike, and yes…i am a complete goofball, thanks for asking ;)  glad we cleared that up…

2)  I also ordered GU last week for my half marathon and got it in the mail today!  I was sent some GU last month to try out in exchange for a review so look for that in the near future… I have one more flavor to try.

3)  I got my bib # and corral # in my email this week… wait for it…..

BIB #2203
CORRAL #2

I’m actually kind of nervous… my race is in 4 days!!  Judging from my run yesterday, and how sore my quads are today… I don’t think I’ll be running it straight through like I had planned… I may have to run/walk it.  But, I’m super excited I get to go still! :) 

4) Also, I thought of a bunch of questions regarding my first half marathon… but now I kind of forget them.  It could be in part due to the 4 hours of TV I have watched because of season premiere night of my favorite shows including NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles (2 new episodes!), and Glee… woohoo! What are your favorite shows to indulge in?

5) Since I forgot all my questions… feel free to still give me some advice or fun little tidbits or your favorite things about racing… stuff like that!  If I remember my questions, I’ll post them later!  But, for now, off to bed I go! 

PS – Don’t forget to enter my Clif Bar Giveaway!!  ENTER HERE!

Three Things Thursday - Jumping on the Bandwagon

So, I've been around the blogging world for a couple Thursdays now and keep seeing "Three Things Thursday" ... interesting and kind of cool that everyone does it... Thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and try it out tonight because I'm exhausted!

1.My whole body is tired right now... I ran a 5.5 mile tempo run on Tuesday on the treadmill after getting home from work at 10pm and did a little core workout. Wednesday, I ran 2.3 recovery miles and did core and lunges holding my medicine ball above my head... my arms, legs, core, and now feet (from working on my feet all day today) are screaming at me!! But I am glad that I am keeping to my schedule this week so far :)

2. I joined the 100 day challenge over at Run, Courtney, Run and I know I already told you that, but I wanted to share my goals... they may seem silly or dumb or whatever... but they're MY goals, not yours... so get over it!! ;) As posted on Courtney's blog:

Zaneta
http://zanetaruns.blogspot.com/
twitter.com/superwoman4002
superwoman_4002@yahoo.com
Goals: Read Gone with the Wind (I've been wanting to for the last year), Run a 5k in less than 25 minutes, Run my first half marathon in under 2:30:00, become a substitute teacher, eat more fruits and veggies

I shall do a progress report in the near future :D

3. I am meeting up with another friend tomorrow to go running... I haven't seen her for nearly a year so it'll be fun... and she's about my pace or a little faster :D We have 7 miles planned together but if you remember I have 9 or 10 miles planned for my long run, so I'll be running 2 or 3 miles by myself after we run together tomorrow :D We're meeting at 7:45am... unlike all of you hardcore toughies out there... I do not like getting up so early if i dont have to lol... i'd rather run in the middle of the day or the evening ;) lol... so this shall be interesting!!

Sorry this is a boring post... just wanted to check in... I'm still writing my internship paper which is due tomorrow night... but I'm almost done :D And... my mind is also a muscle that is tired... its telling me to go to sleep... So, I think one more page and then i'm gonna call it quits...

What do you usally do if your running buddy can only run 3 miles less than you planned? and how long between running with your buddy and completing your run?