I'm a glutton for punishment...

Currently on Spring Break... and currently sitting in my office, feeling the Ritalin wearing off after trying to get some work done... Spring Break and I'm stuck working on 3 papers/assignments (one of which I did today)... So, 1 down, 2 to go... I guess I'm writing today as an excuse of sorts... perhaps as a way of convincing myself that I actually did something today instead of pissing the day away (like I did Monday and Tuesday)... I just can't seem to bring myself to do anything but be tired... I took my Doc Comps last Friday and since then, I've been in this decompression mode where all I want to do is be lazy... Clearly, with a race coming up this weekend (which I'll write about later) and NOLA being only a month away, I can't afford to be lazy.... not now... So, Comps went fairly well... I don't think I wrote my best answer to the question, but I think it's passable... which is all I'm shooting for... hard to believe that I'm almost done with year 2-- this time next year, I'm hoping to be defending my dissertation and exiting the world of poor grad studenthood... After Comps, I loaded up and hit the road to Charleston to present a paper at a conference... In short, I drove 9 hrs to talk for 12 minutes, at the very end of the conference... After my session (which I shared with two other people) was over, everyone got up and bounced... Needless to say, I was a little pissed at myself for having driven all that way on an "empty tank" so to speak... After Comps, I was brutally exhausted, but alas, I chose to go be academic... Dumb The trip wasn't all bad though... I got to see my friend Kassie, whom I haven't seen in about three years... I had never been to Charleston either, so that was an experience too... I managed to get in a decent long run on Sunday before I left... Kassie is training for the Music City Marathon in Nashville and trains with a Team in Training... After several beers (and an oyster shooter- yeah, it's as bad as it sounds), I committed to running about 9 miles the next morning with Kassie and her crew... I figured I needed to do something while in Charleston to keep up with training, since I hadn't done much the week prior due to Comps... Managed a nice 8.5 miler with Kassie, followed by a delicious brunch... Hopped in the car and made my way back to Ttown.... thus began my Spring Break and you, dear reader, now find me in my office doing schoolwork...

(me and Kassie after our Sunday morning run around Charleston)

So anyway, like the title of this entry says, I am a full on glutton for punishment... as the last two or so entries have detailed, I'm stubbornly chasing this goal of going sub 2 in a Half Marathon... I've fully recovered from Mercedes and have had some "ok" long runs since, managing to only throw up a few times... I am still not listening to my body like I need to and not keeping it fueled, so it's fighting back... I'd like to say that I've made some progress on this, but the real test will be this coming weekend... Back in the fall, my friend Darby came to Ttown for a football game... Darby used to work in Greek Life at GA Tech and I met her years ago at some random conference... While she was in town, we started talking about running and how we both hate it, but do it anyway, and enjoy racing and accomplishing stuff.... She made the suggestion that I should come to ATL and run the Publix Half Marathon with her in March, at which point I did the "oh yeah, totally, I'm in" statement... Come to find out, Darby didn't forget... So I'm headed to ATL this weekend to run this Half, and honestly, I have mixed emotions about it... I've heard the course is hilly, which makes me wonder if I'll even have a shot at a new PR or going sub 2... I'm also dog tired and can't seem to get excited about the race... I guess I'm looking at this Half as a "training race" or just another Sunday long run... with thousands of people... in a new city... on a course I've never run on before... whatever... I'm going to attempt the same pace plan that I had for Mercedes and Frostbite, so we'll see how that goes.... the elevation map doesn't look too brutal... long climb (1.5 miles or so) right around mile 9, which as you probably know now from reading the last 2 race reports, will be where I go to pieces.... And the kicker is that the last 4 miles seem to be all uphill... ballin... So, we'll see... I'm going with a very "laissez faire" attitude... whatever happens, happens... It'll be nice to get outta Ttown one last time before Spring Break is over, it'll be nice to see Darby, and it'll be nice to do another race.... Wish me luck... Thanks for reading