New Year, New Kait

I've never been a resolution girl.   Every day should be the first day of the rest of your life, and if I want to make a change, I should seize the carpe then.  That being said, I'm feeling a little lax.  School sucks the life out of me, yadda yadda.  So, I'm taking this cliche moment to check in and reevaluate.

1.)  I've fallen off the gym wagon.  I'd rather sleep until the last second than get up a second early - but, endorphins make people happy.  And happy people don't just shoot their husbands.  And there's a reason Elle Woods managed to make it through law school with so much grace and style.  And pep.  Ergo, 5 days minimum each week have to involve sweat, even just a 20 minute shake out run before work or after class.  No excuses.  In 2012, I'm getting hot.

(Side note: Santa brought me Zumba for the wii!  Me + Pitbull + dance party in the privacy of my living room?  Fair warning to all visitors to call in advance.  I butchered the Cupid Shuffle on NYE... that should give you a picture of my moves.)

(Second side note: an interesting turn of events in a raucous yankee swap graced our home with a shake weight.  It's so wobbly?  It doesn't really feel like it's doing anything.  I think the instructional DVD is full of it.)

2.)  2012 needs to be the year of understanding money.  I've never invested, so (in all my spare time) I will start reading up on stocks.  True story: I won the sixth grade, year long project where we fake invested money and tracked stocks all year.  12 year old Kait had her money on her mind, 27 year old Kait needs to take some of her advice.

3.)  I'm getting out of my comfort zone.  Whether it's new activities, new foods, new friends?  Let's go.  Case in point, I went on a mini day hike yesterday on New Year's Day.  I bought a jicama and a pepino at the grocery store.  I'll keep you posted on how both of those actually go - cuz they're foreign territory to me.  When I studied abroad I tried crazy new things every single day, and until I can hop on an avion and have a fresh guanabana whenever I want, I'm taking advantage of the new and exciting right here.

Feel free to hold me accountable.  I'll need it.  Happy New Year friends, let's make 2012 one to remember.

Falmouth Road Race/Butt Kickin'

So, the problem with popular races that require you to sign up four months in advance is that I am very optimistic about my future abilities.  And there was a time when I could go out for a 7 mile run without much fanfare.  Likely, I'd set out just to run and all of a sudden an hour and a half had gone by and I'd been listening to my jams and hadn't noticed.  Woops, it's getting dark.  Or woops! I missed my fav TV show.  Or woops, I'm never going to get to sleep at this point.

But no more.  Now, it seems about two miles is my peak.  I'm out of breath, my legs don't want to go, and my knees hurt.  I can elliptical for a good period of time, but my midget legs just won't go the way they used to in college.

I peaked early; I'm learning to accept it.  In most ways, I'm pretty sure it was in middle school.

But, I'll keep signing up for races and being optimistic.  There's no better way to realize how far you've fallen then to be surrounded by a bzillion people zooming around you.  Then my pride starts to overrule my legs, and there's this internal struggle where college KK tries to fight back against truck KK of today.

So, at the Falmouth Road Race this year, I started off like a champ.  I was zooming along, passing people, feeling strong and proud about keeping up with everyone.  I even snapped this pic of the guy in front of me at the very beginning... Sully's Tap is my jam.  I like you.

I was full speed ahead for the first 3.5 miles... then the wheels fell off.  I could run a song, walk a song.  I tried to put on the pumpiest of pump up music, but the blister I got during this race?  Epic.  The crowds and energy were amazing, especially at the end of the course, but my "how 'bout I don't run and eat my feelings about law school" workout plan would not exactly have done Kanye proud.  Whatever.  I'm part lawyer now, I'm pretty sure they won't admit you to the bar without being pale and round.  And I refuse to be pale, so something had to give, and it was my endurance in running.

Falmouth, you were fun, and I think you were a good bellwether to motivate me, but you hurt like ski pre-season, and I didn't miss you.

And fun facts?  Mr. Sully's Tap, despite me losing him on the course, passing him off the bat, then apparently him blowing by me somewhere when I was sucking wind?  I sprinted at the end (gotta look good for my fans) and ended up limping along after the finish line right behind him again.  Looks like he and I have similar lifestyles/training plans.  I'm A-OK with that.