Monday.Monday.Monday.

After a full day of classes it was off to practice.  Practice was good we just had abs and then a 45 minute run but I went on the eliptical to recover from my race this weekend.  The only good thing about the eliptical is at the workout center there are TV's and I watched Kourtney and Kim take New York!  Then I had to go to the training room to get my calfs worked on.  It was soooo painful.  One of the football players was shocked that I was in so much pain just from running.  He had a lot more respect for runners after that episode im sure.  After mindy (our trainer) demolished my calfs though they feel much better now!  This week in training we are doing some cross easy training to get our bodies well rested for a LONG outdoor season (all the way until midway through may!) It will be nice to have a week to do relaxing runs instead of intense track workouts!

Then it was time to do a date night with my roommate, Hilary.  We both love sushi so we were going to have a sushi date night! We also wanted to try this green tea ice cream cake from green mint asian restaurant so we got one of those!  The cake was super good I would definantly recommend it!
For sushi I got california rolls and tuna rolls (my two favorite)!  Then after our date night I had to go to chapter.  Because I had chapter I had to turn down a date dash with a fraternity BYX :( but I set the guy who asked me up with one of my friends hopefully they are having fun!

OH yes last night me and three of my teammates from Sweden went to see Cirque Du Soleil with my family!  It was a super fun night filled with appetizers before at my house, a great show, and dinner at Pei Wei after.  Even though I was exhausted, it was well worth it.

Now time for some well needed sleep.  Tomorrow I have two practices, a paper to write and a quiz to study for, but I will save that for tomorrow because really why do today what you can put off till tomorrow? In my opinion sometimes your brain just needs a break :) Tonight I will sleep!

I feel just like this right about now.  Could use a nap or a Diet Snapple Peach Tea.  If someone brought me an Ice Cold Diet Snapple Peach Tea right now I dont know what I would do.  Jump for Joy probably. Its the little things... :D

You just have to roll with the punches

Yesterday at the track SMU did really good.  Mary got third in the mile, Lovisa won the 800 and got Freshman of the Year award.  Klara got 6th in the mile.  Results of the entire meet are online at Conference USA website.  Its fun to watch intense races and cheer on my team again! its hard to do that in cross country because you are running the race also.  I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be on the team, go and compete at the college conference championship level, and be a part of such an amazing team and an amazing group of girls.  I never thought in a MILLION years this is where I would be.  I know this is probably like the 5th time ive said that in my blog but i really am so proud, appreciative, and happy to be where I am.  I just want to get better and better and train harder and harder to continue to compete on this level more competitively.

Yesterday also Me and Monika had a 60 minute run (25 I had already done at the hotel)  So we get going and know we cannot run off campus because it is too dangerous.  We were about 50 minutes away from watching mary and siljie's race in the mile so we gave ourselves plenty of time to get back.  LITTLE DID WE KNOW we would get so incredibly lost! we ran for about 55 minutes (the last 20 minutes being a sprint to get back for the race) right when we got back to the track the gun went off for the mile race (perfect timing!).  After that intense workout we did some abs outside since the weather was beautiful.  Then we finished the meet, packed up, and headed back on the road.  We got back to SMU at about midnight.

Then started my crazy day.  I woke up and realized I left my phone charger at the hotel :/.  So then I went to run 90minutes with Mary, Klara, and Lovisa.  My legs were so dead the first 30 minutes and the last 30 minutes!  It was a super hard run on the legs, body, and mind.  One good thing though is coach said we would have a somewhat easy week to get our bodies happy for our first outdoor meet of the season in three weekends from now! Then after that I had to quickly shower to get ready for sorority pictures.  I was on my way to pictures then was going to go to target to get a charger and it was then that I realized that my car battery is dead! So now im trying to get my car jumped so that I can drive home to go to cirque du soleil with my family and some of my teammates tonight.

Many things seem to be going wrong today, but you just gatta roll with the punches... things could be way worse right now so count your blessings even when everything is not going according to plan.  Because if you truely think about it you have it way better than MANY other people around the world.  Even though my car wont start, at least I have a car.  Even though I lost my phone charger, at least I have a phone.  Even though I had a hard run today, at least God gave me a body healthy and able to run.  Even though im having a bad day, at least its another day god gave me to live.  Some people wont get today.  Just put in in perspective.

I must say I am not a fan of Houston!

We arrived Thursday night and I am rooming with Lovisa again such an amazing swedish roommate!  We arrived during the craziness of downtown Houston! Many people leaving to go home from work, reminded me of downtown Chicago just  a lot warmer and more ethnically diverse.  Then we went to the track as the sprinters did a workout (us distance girls did our workout early thursday morning).  After that we ordered Olive Garden to go and ate back at the hotel.  I got capaleni pomodoro (a new favorite at olive garden since we seem to always go there for track meets).  After dinner me Klara and Lovisa watched Hes Just Not That Into you before bed!

Friday morning it was time to wake up.  The conference is paying for our hotel but not paying for our breakfast! ugh.  So i had to go walk around to find some warm water for oatmeal! so annoying.  Then I did a little shake out run.  Next it was time to walk two blocks to go to Forever 21!  It was such an amazing and huge forever 21!  I got a pair of running shorts and headbands!  So much more amazing stuff there I just didnt want to spend money on it yet im waiting for spring break to shop for summer clothes.  After that it was time for lunch we went to Jason's Deli.  I got a turkey sandwich on a super good bread!  Me mary and Klara went and sat outside the pool at the hotel and ate lunch!  Super nice!  Unfortunantly the whole town shuts down at about 3 and on the weekends so tomorrow who knows where we will find breakfast and lunch! good thing we get to go to Kroger (kinda sketchy kroger) and grab some food for the next day.

Then it was time for the race.  It was kinda an annoying race because the girls I was competing against were SUPER good.  The first place girl ran 16:15 breaking the meet record.  she was of course from Kenya.  So it wasnt a very encouraging race.  My time was okay faster than the Iowa meet but still not a Personal best.  Then it was time to cool down, eat dinner, and wait for the distance medley relay.  Our team was stacked with mary, lovisa, gigi, and siljie. The race is a 1200m run, 400m run, 800m run, then mile run.  We won the race by the 20 seconds ahead of everyone else! They did so amazing less than a second off of the meet record!

Finally it was time to go home.  I didnt get to bed last night until like 1am!  Woke up this morning to a LOUD PARADE outside our hotel! its still going on...super annoying and loud!

Now have to get ready for another long day at the track then long trip home!

Stephanie on the road again.

Well after this crazy weekend I spend the last two days RELAXING! On saturday I had formal which was a lot of fun! I cant wait until our next one which is later this semester.  I got to meet new people and have fun with all my CHI OMEGA LADIES!

After getting in at 2 in the morning and getting about 4 hours of sleep, before I knew it it was time to wake up for practice at 7am.  Then I couldnt even take a nap I had to go straight from practice to sing song practice then to a track charity event where I got to meet NASTIA LUIKIN!  AKA Olympic All Around Gold medalist in Gymnastics!  She went to SMU for a semester that is why she came to the charity event!  

After that I knew it was time for some coffee and spent the rest of the night at starbucks studying.  But got a small study break for some frozen yogurt with Meredith.  I had two tests on Monday but after that I was able to enjoy my night by going to the mall and catching up on my shows.  Tuesday we had a recruit in town from sweden and had a big dinner planned for her with the entire team at my house, but she got extremely sick (we think she has mono) and so now she had to go stay in a hotel and cannot fly home until she feels a bit better! Poor thing she is over here in America all by herself on a recruit trip and now she cannot even get home!  Well so she couldnt come to the dinner so we had a pre conference championship dinner instead.  My parents (like always) did a WONDERFUL job of cooking amazing food! I am so thankful I have parents that will do that for me and my friends!  Now I am extremely tired and am thinking about getting into my bed before 9.  I need it I have had minimal sleep in the last few days.  Yesterday when I got back from my house I was sitting on the floor in my dorm room with my head on my desk chair and I fell asleep in that position.  I think thats a sign I need more sleep! So goodnight world!

Tomorrow Stephanie is on the road again to Houston.  I will be competing in the Conference USA championships running the 5k.  I have has some good training the last few weeks so hopefully it will pay off.  I will update you how the race goes after it happens.  I run at 5:30 on Friday night.  Wish me luck.  I will be running 25 laps around a 200m track.  This should be interesting.  But I am also excited! so we will see what happens...

Along with Chi O, School, and everything else I have track updates!

So last weekend I competed at IOWA and did not find out until today that I actually qualified for conference! So this next weekend I will be going down to Houston to run the 5k for the Conference USA Championships!

After finding that out I had to put my mind back in track competition mode.  This means hard training and getting my body ready for a meet.
Tuesday we had a hard workout of repeat 1200's on the track.  I didn't do as well as I thought I would but still did better than cross country season which was good.
Thursday we had a tempo 20 minute run then 5 200's after.  My body was so tired I felt like I was running through sand.
Today we had another repeat 400 workout.  I thought they were going to be so hard because my body was sore and I had a late night the night before BUTTT... I actually did super good.
Last time I ran these I averaged 88 seconds for each lap but this time here was my times
83", 90" (oops), 87", 86", 86", 86", 86", 86", 87", 85", 83", 81"!!!! Super good and super encouraging for conference track meet!.  If I ran these split times in my 5k without breaks I would be UNDER 18 minutes for my 5k time. Woah! So this was encouraging and our last hard practice until Conference
Sunday we have a long run, monday abs and a short run, tuesday weights and a medium practice on the track, wednesday break, and thursday short run! We leave Thursday for Houston!

AH I could use a little time to just BREATHEEEEE!

Okay so this week has been super fun and CRAZY!
Okay so first I will talk about big little.  First Night was a candy gram here is mine and I must admit my Big did a WONDERFUL job not using chocolate!

Second Night was food.  My big got me candy, gum, MUFFINS, BAGELS, GRANOLA, magazines, a shirt, sweatshirt.  This was my favorite night.  It felt like Christmas! I must say my big did sooo good on this night I am so thankful for everything she did for me this week! I know she had a crazy week and she put so much time and effort just for me! I love her and I feel so loved!

Then it was bin night where a bin was delivered with lots of shirts and other Chi O goodies in it!

My room is now DECKED out in Chi O! 

Then last night was Big/ Little Reveal.  At this point I has a small clue as to who my big was but not really.  Then when I opened my present It was a picture of me and my amazing teammate Jennie who I love!!!!! Im so happy she is my big! she is such an amazing person! YAY!!! soo happy :)

Then after reveal we ate dinner and went bowling!!!! LOVE MY PLEDGE CLASS, BIG, FAMILY, and everything CHI O :)

Busiest week ahead!

Want to hear my schedule?!?!

Tuesday -
7am - practice
12 - lab
(spend alll day studying for big biology test tomorrow)
2 - VERY hard practice from what coach hinted at
8 - First Big/ Little surprise must be at chi o house

Wednesday
Full day of classes from 8 - 4 including a biology test and a biology lab :/
9:30 pm - Chi O house for second big little surprise

I also have one test on friday, two next monday and a paper due monday.

Thursday
Double practices
Roommates birthday dinner
Third Big little surprise at 9:30

Friday:
Full day of classes including a test in EE.  Practice at 2.  Big little reveal starts at 7:30.

Saturday:
Practice in the AM after a long night of being out doing big little stuff!  Then sing song at 3.  Then formal at night.

Sunday: practice - STUDYYY for my two tests on monday!

Monday - full day of classes, practice, then dinner with a recruit coming in from sweden at my house!

So that is my incredibly busy week!  Theres lots of fun to be had but also lots of hard work studying and at practice :/

Time to Fly home!

Back to Dallas we come!  Our flight is at around 3 and we will probably get back to dallas at like 5.  This morning we had a 90 minute long run (about 11 miles) we ran for so long on the longest boring road with about 5 houses and about 10 cars.  There was just road and it went on FOREVERRR! But after that we got another amazing hotel breakfast filled with fruit, muffins, eggs, bacon! yum! Now for the airport.

Hopefully this is not our pilots... look in their window if you dont see it.

Oh and the track meet went super well overall lots of Personal Records set, school records set, and even a meet record set! Yay! Track is so fun when your team or yourself does well!!

Competition is done!

This morning I woke up and had a WONDERFUL breakfast filled with loads of fresh fruit including raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, grapes then had to keep it healthy with some oatmeal and toast.  BUTT the good thing is that I get to have that wonderful breakfast array for two more days!

Then after some much needed rest in the hotel it was off the the meet.  The track was so cool Wish I had my camera so I could take pictures of it but I forgot.  The track has a lower section which is a full 300meter track with a warm up area on the inside.  Then on the upper level theres another 300 meter track and lots of bikes, weights, tredmills, etc!  Such a cool facility!  After warm ups it was time for the race...there were two heats and I was in the second heat.  Before our race I had to get rid of my nerves...so of course I made friends with the gun shooting the gun and two girls from arkansas (one which I competed hard with the whole race but she beat me in the end :/).  Then the gun was off.  My goal was to average 67 - 68 seconds every 300.  The first 7 or so laps (I lost count - thank goodness they have signs)  I kept pace at like 65-67 but then after that my pace started to hit 70 - 71 ending me with a 19:20 time.  I dont think that time will qualify me for conference unfortunatly but I wasnt too upset about it.  My fastest was a 19:04 and I know im not in that good of shape since when I ran the 19:04.  Plus my week being off with the flu then a week of wierd training ability with the snow I wasnt in the best racing shape.  Coach was not too upset I competed hard It was a constant race between me and two other girls where they would be in front of me, I would get in front of them, they would get in front of me, and so on.  It felt like playing cat and mouse the whole time so Im sure that wore me out since it wasnt a constant pace the whole time.  So im not super happy with my time but not super upset either.  Just makes me want to train and compete again so that I can get sub 19 soon!

Then after the race it was time to eat dinner.  We took take out at Olive Garden and ate it back at the hotel it was super yummy! I love PASTA!

Then after I took a nice warm shower because the weather here is cold :( Then an ice bath unfortunatly)  And now Im sitting in the lobby with my teammate chillin and doing homework (well she is at least im blogging) and we are sitting by the
fire!

On the agenda for tomorrow:  Wake up eat the lovely breakfast.  Go to the track at about noon to watch mary and klara run the mile.  I will have some type of workout to do to recover from today.  Then watch the rest of the team compete and cheer them on.  Plus will do a bit of homework during long breaks also.   Hopefully something exciting happens in this boring town of Ames, Iowa tomorrow....but i have my doubts.

Oh and FYI I have discovering this wonderful thing called stubleupon.com and that is where all these cool pics are coming from!

Now time for bed. Goodnight :)

Race today at 3:30!

I can't wait until it is over and I can just chill and watch everyone else compete...and get some homework done. But for the next couple hours i must concentrate on the race...If the elephant can do it so can I!

Off to Iowa

I feel like this picture epitomizes all that will be in Ames, Iowa.  Nothing!  But we will have fun with it and run through random fields!  Im nervous and excited all at the same time!  My ankle has been bothering me also which is not good so im going to the trainer today before we leave.  Hope that is alll better for the race tomorrow!

Miss me?!?!

So its been a while since I have been on this thing I took a short winter break.  It was kinda nice not to do this everyday so I probably wont do it everyday anymore but I will defiantly update when interesting things happen in my life.
Lets have a short update on my life shall we?
Lets see winter break was amazing!  It was lovely to just be home with the family, train, hang out, and relax.
I came back to school and went right into rush and track.  Rush went well after a horrible 6 day process of standing out in the cold, (WITHOUT JACKETS FOR PART OF THE TIME) our schedules for the day revolving compeletely around rush parties, and being around a lot of stress with girls upset or anxious about their choices.  But after all that is said and done I got the house I wanted from like the beginning of the year and I am proud to say I am a Chi Omega!  This semester has been wonderful so far I have a new group of hundreds of new friends from my sorority some that I am becoming very close to and I love it!  It also has kept me very busy with meetings, dinners, parties, sing song practice, etc. but I wouldnt change it! Next week is Big/ Little where we will get swamped with presesnts all week!  Then next saturday is Victory which is our first formal.   I still do not have a date but I have some ideas just have to go ask.  Might get set up on a blind ish date for it so that would be interesting but if not Ill just take a guy free so you should soon hear about that situation.

Despite all the sorority fun to be had this semester has been crazy.  My class schedule is ridiculous.  I have 5 classes in a row on monday wednesday friday and NONE on tuesday thursday.  I am taking Macroeconomics, Statistics, English, Biology, and Electrical Engineering.  I actually am enjoying all my classes.  Macro is with one of the BEST teachers I think SMU has I had her last semester, she actually makes me interested in economics.  Statistics is math so of course I love it!  But my teacher speaks little english which could be funny and frustrating at the same time.  English is English and I HATE writing papers but it wont be too bad my teacher is preety cool we are studying the importance of humanities courses in higher education.  Biology is biology for non majors so its not terribly hard but obviously the content is difficult but my teacher seems to dumb it down for us pretty well.  Electrical Engineering - now that may sound hard but it is known for being one of the easiest classes at SMU.  I somewhat enjoy it too because its more math YAYY!  Still trying to figure out my minor.  Im sure my major will be something in the Business field like either finance or accounting but I am going to either minor in education or math.  Whichever one I want to be able to get my teaching certificate sometime and be able to have the option of teaching one day I just need to find which minor would best support that dream!

I also feel like I have not been in school much.  For a whole week I had the flu and went home IT WAS MISERABLE.  Im not sure if I had the regular flu or stomach flu to begin with but either way that was terrible.  I also feel like I havnt been in school much because SMU took 4 days off school for snow/ice days.  It was the worst weather Dallas has ever gotten in my lifetime.  It was so cold outside and you could not walk you had to slide.

And the last update is track.  I have started indoor track I competed earlier in the year at Oklahoma University running the 3k but then I got sick but now tomorrow I leave for Iowa for another track meet.  This will be my first track/cross country meet to travel by plane!  I run the 5k on a 300m course which means I will have to run a little less than 17 laps around the track!  Lets hope it goes like clockwork.  My last couple of practices have gone extremely well so hopefully it pays off.  This meet will determine if I qualify for the next meet which is conference USA championships.  My best 5k time is a 19:04 (on cross country terrain)  and my coach told me if I got my time under 19:00 then I have a chance of qualifying.  Im nervous but also determined I hope I can do it!

My smile after my 19:04 PR now lets do it again but since im on a track this time hopefully it will be sub 19!

Now I am off to bed well to watch one episode of greys anatomy (I have a mission to watch all 140 episodes and I have completed about 15 - this is what I did with my snow days).  Tomorrow I have to do a 30 minute run and strides at 7am.  Then come back and shower.  Then have a conference with my english professor at 10 - 11.  Then get on the bus to the airport to go to Iowa at 11.  Crazy busy morning.  

Goodnight, Its good to be back.