Too Good To Be True! & Couch to 5k

I get the itch to run away and travel to some where outside of Indiana, um, every day. I'm a restless gal, what can I say?

My dearest friend in the whole wide world lives in Boston and she and I had planned to go somewhere over the summer. Like Vegas or NYC or Miami. But she was unemployed and, well, I'm not exactly rollin' in the dough, so, sadly, we had to cancel those plans. I then resigned myself to not going anywhere for the next couple years unless I shimmy down to Florida for a bit while my parents are there this winter. Was I happy about this? Um, no. But when the money is tight and you have things you MUST pay for, you do what you gotta do, right?

Then I got an email from a blog friend that was totally out of the blue (the content was out of the blue, her emailing me wasn't). She lives in DC and said that she recently won a trip through her company to NYC, airfare and hotel were included. She asked if I wanted the airfare since she could take the train or drive into the city. Then told me to pick a weekend and it'd be a done deal.

Jaw? Meet floor.

Seriously, I was speechless. And then emailed her back:

"LAKSFJALNAKGALSGKNGSF! OH MY GOD! YES!!!!"

So I'm going on vacay with someone I've never met in person and I couldn't be more excited. My mom was all, "What if she isn't who she says she is?" To which I replied, "I'm pretty sure she's legit, Ma. But even if she wanted to sell me into the sex slave industry, she'd realize quickly I'm not what those nasty clients would want. I've aged out of that system already." My mom looked at me like I was crazy. What else is new?

But seriously, Rosh and I have communicated A TON and have a lot in common. I don't see how it could be anything but a good time. And even if we don't hit it off as well as we have virtually, who cares. We're on a mostly free trip in an amazing city-- we can make it a good time, no matter what! Oh, and guess what! Since my best friend lives in Boston, she's going to try to head into NYC for the weekend, too!!! YAY! Reunions are my fave!

November 4th, I'll hop aboard a plane, go to my favorite city in the world and annoy Rosh to death with thanks you's every five seconds because I can't believe the graciousness and luck of the entire scenario. Rosh is like the angel of sanity I so desperately needed and I really don't know how I'll ever be able to repay her.

Now if only I could manage to find the funds to go visit a friend who is most likely moving back to Maui in a couple months...

Couch to 5k: Day 2-- Word to the wise, if you plan on starting this program, BEWARE OF THE WIND! Oh. My. Gosh. It totally just kicked me in the butt. Then, while I was down, kept kicking. It's relentless, that wind. So I had to use my rescue inhaler again and will deal with wheezing and coughing all night, but I was able to complete the challenge again and, aside from having to take an extra 30 second walk to relieve a cramp in my ribcage (any tricks for preventing these are getting rid of them quickly?), it went fine. Also, you can laugh at me all you want, but exercise induced rhinitis is a very real thing and it's plagued me yet again. I was hopeful after not getting the sneezes Monday, but that hope was shattered today and I sprinted upstairs to pop a zyrtec as soon as I finished.. So I'm a wheezing, coughing, sneezing mess... but at least I can run!

Oh, also, if you're interested in this program, I found free podcasts online. The man tells you when to run and when to walk so you don't have to keep track of it yourself. When he isn't speaking, music is playing. You can find them here, but just fyi, you have to download one for each week (total of 9).

*All photographs were taken by me in NYC 2005