Race Day 1.5

Why 1.5 you might ask?? This is my very first post about a race! But it's actually my second race, I ran a 5K in the spring which I did not blog about because I did not blog. Made sense to me. So I realized this spring that while I hate running I actually love race day!

It's so fun, there's so much energy and suddenly you're part of this group of people all doing the same torture. But what I learned this weekend is how unprepared I was for a trail run. I did OK with the distance but by the end I thought my quads were gonna give out. Probably gonna do it again next year.

5/3 River Bank Run (5/10/14)
Distance: 5k

Time: 27:10

Best Kilometer: 1st, 4:47

Worst Kilometer: 4th, 5:56

Weather: Spring time degrees, dry, sunny

# This Wk: 3

Song I Finished To: Olympic Fanfair

Dirty Duel (11/15/14)

Distance: 6k

Time: 47:51

Best Kilometer: 1st, 6:10

Worst Kilometer: 2nd, 9:08

Weather: 26 degrees, cold, traces of snow on the ground

# This Wk: 2

Song I Finished To: Olympic Fanfair

Thoughts: It's cold, I'm doing OK, keep it up, wait WHAT, seriously if this is the easy way what was the hard way like?!, just need to finish, I'm really sucking at this one, wish I had know what to expect, I'm not running up anymore hills, run just gotta cross the finish line running

Did You Know I Hate Running

Readers I have come to a decision. When I don't like things that are good for me, or have to do anyway, I make them into a game. Real life - I need cardio. So running it is. I do all the fun things like count steps and calories and map my run etc. but I'm in a slump and I need to make it even more fun for myself. So I plan to blog about my progress. Don't worry they will be short! Stats mostly and maybe some of the thoughts I think along the way or even some of the struggle moments. So here we got!

Distance: 5k

Time: 34:44 (min:sec)

Best Kilometer: 2nd, 5:57

Worst Kilometer: 3rd, 7:10

Weather: 46 degrees, drizzle

# This Wk: 1

Song I Finished To: Olympic Fanfair

Thoughts: I hate this; Why does it hurt so much today?; Saturday's gonna suck balls; Maybe blogging abt it will help; Break my ankle in a pot hole or get hit by a car?

The Question of Small Towns

This weekend I ventured out to the East Coast with my mom to visit my brother and sister-in-law. The 10 hour drive from Grand Rapids, MI to Littlestown, PA is nothing short of exhausting. That is not to say it is with out bright spots. There is nothing like the rest stops on the Ohio turnpike, they are fully stocked oasis dotting your drive through hell. If it was not already clear, Ohio is low on my list of states to visit. Back to the bright spots, if you are driving this way and have the opportunity to drive through Pennsylvania and Maryland in the day light, do it. It is beautiful country side through the mountains with forests and rivers, it's really quite lovely. 

Each valley reliably has a small town of some kind, even as you move into the flatter terrain closer to the coast you will find small towns almost evenly spaced through out the country side. And with the exception of our visit to D.C. we spent the majority of the weekend in small towns. This got me thinking, "What would it be like to live in one of these tiny towns?"

I grew up in a moderately sized city that is no NYC or Chicago but it was a proper city with many of the perks and pitfalls. I have visited many cities and lived in several others learning that, I love cities. They are full of life, culture, food, impressive skylines, and there is nearly always something going on to do or try. I am not blind to their faults though, they are loud with higher crime rates, and people are mostly out for themselves. Not to mention questionable smells. But weekends like this make me wonder what the flip side is like. I really appreciate small towns as an adult. They are cute and charming. No one is ever in a hurry, even the most high strung of individuals are forced into a slower pace. There is also good food, some of the best breakfast potatoes I've ever had were in small New York town. There is always that little show that sells the strangest combination of useful and non useful items. History and tradition is sometimes more preserved because it's not just history it's family.  But each side of the fence has its weeds and small town life can not be as simple as it seems.

If I had grow up in one of these quaint little places that I enjoy exploring would I like doing that still? Would it have made me different some how? Would I still like cities or would I be afraid of them? Would I be more of a homebody and travel less? Would I place more value on traditional values or would it have the opposite effect? I love retreating to small towns and I enjoy playing the "What if?" game in my mind but the truth of it is, I am a city girl and I think I will be for some time yet. Perhaps when am retired I'll try out small town living...

Here's To All The Fangirls

I have commented several times in some of the My Thoughts on Media posts on my opinions about why people now love television and movies and stories in general. Some recent events have brought a further question to my mind. What makes a fan girl?

***** two things need to be said before I continue. 1. I recognize and understand that fanboys are an equally influential and prominent but for simplicities sake for this blog I will be using the term Fangirl, please understand I do not consider it gender specific. 2. Now this is important, all things I write here I write in love and solidarity for I consider myself a Fangirl on several accounts*****

Because sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious it should be stated that a true Fangirl is more than just a fan. More than just someone who reads a book because it's on a featured table, or sees as movie because it's at the top of the box office. A Fangirl doesn't go through "phases" they stay true, their love and dedication out lasts trends. 

These are not the people you casually chat at work or on the subway with about last nights episode or your general thoughts on your favorite book. Fangirl conversations go deep and get intense rapidly. You might think this would make them easy to spot, and if you did you'd be right. There are several tells that you are observing a fan girl the first is a failure to speak in complete sentences. When fangirls encounter each other there is a moment of testing each other out before recognizing their shared passion. At this point English is no longer suitable their connection requires a faster and more intimate form of communication: Fangirl Telepathy. Fangirls are also easily identified by the pitch of their squeals of excitement, because sometimes it's so exciting that your vocal chords exceed even your own expectations. If you are thinking that you've seen teens around the world display both of those qualities  the last tell is indisputable. The Fangirl Arms. You know the ones, where they wave both hands back and forth in front of their chest & face rapidly as if they are about to sneeze out fire. 

http://www.rots.com/video/10837/david-attenborough-observes-fangirls

If this is how you recognize a Fangirl I repeat my previous question, what makes a Fangirl. What takes someone from casual enjoyment of something to cosplay? What prompts someone to start writing fanfiction so they can further emerse themselves in the world of their choosing? This is not to mention the clothing, and jewelry, even tattoos of a specific interest. Does fangirling qualify as obsession or is it something else? Some would say that fangirls have their origins on Tumbler, but I would argue that people were fangirling before that even if the label didn't exist yet. So was the beginning on My Space? Or did this all start before that with say Beatlemania? 

The reality is I don't know. But I have been thinking about it a lot in the last two weeks because of two events the first was one of the teenage girls at work telling me out right that I am too old to Fangirl. Whether or no that's true I do it anyway and I don't feel bad about it! The other was two different teenage girls fangirling so hard that they actually wrote a physical list of reasons why I should watch Supernatural, which a good friend of mine saw and felt compelled to add to. I have good friends :)

I will leave you with this list because while I may not know what started fangirling but this made me so happy when I read it. I suppose that's why us fangirls do it. Fangirl (or boy) on my friends! 

Reasons that I should watch Supernatural as written by 2 teenage girls & Michelle:

1. Dean

2. Sams hair

3. Sam

4. Crowley - King of Hell

5. Deanmon

6. ❤️Cas❤️

7. SuperWhoLock

8. Destiel

9. Moose

10. Squirrel

11. '67 Chevy Impala 

12. JENSEN ACKLES

13. JARED PADALECKI

14. MISHA COLLINS

15. Demons

16. Angels

17. Bobby is a nice guy

18. Charli

19. "I have genital herpes" - Sam in Hepexia

20. Lots of killing

21. Everyone dies

22. 5 people die in first episode

23. Becky

24. The Supernatutal books

25. Slow change of Sams hair

26. Both been to hell like 7 times

27. Purgatory 

28. Heaven

29. Hellhounds

30. Abbadon

31. Matt Cohen 

32. Genevieve Padalecki

33. Misha Collins ice bucket challenge

34. Puppy Sam 

35. PLAID

36. Cas' pimp car

37. When the car turns into a girl

38. Binge watching

39. Yellow eyed demon

40. GABRIEL 

41. Metatron >:(

42. Garth & his cowboy hat

43. Things that go bump in the night

44. The time the guy died from eating too much

45. Winkies

46. Meg the demon

47. Megstiel

48. Deans love for burgers

49. Zombie burgers

50. Sam & his vegatabes

51. Deans love for pie

52. Dean with babies & kids

53. Krissy chambers

54. Krissy & dean relationship

55. The wedding chapel

56. LUCIFER❤️

57. Adam Winchester 

58. Dean dying because of a chihuahua 

59. More plaid

60. Trench coat 

61. CAS IN THE SUIT

62. Fake FBI stuff 

63. Ellen, jo, ash

64. Dean & Sam getting drunk

65. Croatoan

66. When the animals talked

67. Multiplepacolyses

68. Classic rock

69. Mishapscolypse

70. Cas having the leviathans in him

71. Dick roman

72. Greys Anatomy spinoff-thingy

73. Filmed in Vancouver 

74."You don't understand I NEED PIE" 

75. FANGIRL

76. Luci torturing Sam 

77. Crazy Sam

78. Pie

79. 4,000,000,000,000 Tuesday 

80. 4,000,000,000,000 deans death

81. Soulless Sam

82. Angel Sam 

83. Leviathan Sam 

84. Leviathan dean 

85. Halloween episode

86. Christmas episode

87. When Sam decorated Xmas tree w/ air fresheners

88. Fat Santa 

89. Bela talbot is rich & cool

90. Ellen & bobby relationship

91. Jody mills

92. Jody mills & bobby

93. Bobby killed his wife

94. Satan is cold

95. Supernatural fandom

96. The casts kids

97. The casts families

98. THE CAST

99. exorcisms

100. Rituals

101. Lots of lambs blood 

102. Killer tree

103. Young John & Mary winchester 

104. Hunters

105. Dean is snorts!!

106. Dean as a teacher

107. Sam as a janitor

108. Mary is dead

109. So is John

110. And bobby 

111. And Ellen

112. And jo

113. And ash

114. And all of Sams girlfriends

115. Sam and Dean in Lansing 

116. Pranks

117. Sam as a yoga teacher

118. All the cool monster lore

119. Sarcasm

120. John Winchester/ Jeffery Dean Morgan