I haven't written because the humidity makes me grouchy...

The title says it all. I've been DYING this week. Even on the treadmill. I took Sunday off and Monday night was alright, but then Tuesday, WHAT a nightmare. I ran later at night and that may have screwed me up, but it shouldn't have. I almost passed out in McCann yesterday trying to do my 800m repeats on the treadmill. It's been 80 with HIGH humidity and pollen levels. AKA disaster for me and running. I have MAACs next Saturday and I can't train. I'm stuck on the treadmill and even doing 10 miles on that has been torture because it's so HUMID in the gyms. I am pouring sweat eery time after just 1.5 miles. That's pathetic. I also become really, really tired. The race was kind of a disaster last weekend. It never spread out and I was running in lane 3 the entire time and pretty much beat myself up with that. Some Georgetown girl almost mowed me down in lap 3. she just shoved everyone and I almost face planted over the rail. I just never settled in to my pace and on top of that, the race was so jumbled because we were all seeded the same pretty much. All 33 of us.

I think I just need a break. I've been training really hard up to this point. It just stinks that I'm wearing out now when I only have a week left. Two workouts, one race and then I get a week off.

Easter was nice. I ate too much of my Aunt Pinky's Gnocchis and made myself feel sick. ha.

I'm just overall exhausted by this point. I'm going to take a shower and then I'm off to RIT for the weekend for Paul's formal. :) He just told me last night that he's leaving for Pittsburgh next December for co-op and he'll be out there until September. So almost an entire year of him being 10 hours away. He got mad at me for crying about it because I was upset and yelled at me for keeping him from taking good opportunities. I wasn't doing that at all. I know he has to go do this and I'm just upset I won't be seeing him. I want him to take it. It just sucks because I'm going to be graduating and then need to figure my life out. I feel like we've come to a major cross road and we need to enjoy the time we have now. I want to not think about it. I don't even really want to deal with it. But I need to stop running away from my problems. I'll survive. It'll be tough at first. But maybe once I start work out of college, and if it's for my Dad, I can go visit him one weekend after I graduate. I just feel like he'll find someone else out there...You can't control who you meet and end up falling for. But then again, if we make it, we make it. Ok. Enough. I can't think about that anymore right now.

We're getting a monster thunderstorm right now. Wait, scratch that. It just stopped. Crazy weather. As long as the humidity goes away, I can deal with 70 degrees. I think.

You MUST watch this.

http://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_mcdougall_are_we_born_to_run.html


That's right! Women marathoners. Tough as nails :) This 15 minute clip is incredible.

"we're really good at being sweaty and smelly". Amen.

Suby

The sun is shining and I'm going home for Easter break this morning :)
Princeton is Friday night. Hopefully my legs decide to wake up and stop being little babies about everything because there's only two races left. Time to man up, legs. Seriously.

I went to a 7 Eleven for the first time ever last night. Sad, I know. The coffee was too strong. I couldn't sleep. But I got fruit snacks. Saving grace of the night.

Andd....when I get home...baby car will be IN THE DRIVEWAY.

This isn't mine, but it looks exactly the same. Super excited. Named her Coco. Really not caring that it sounds like a stripper's name anymore. Coco fits. Dad just wants to call her the "Import". It burns his eyes to look at a car that isn't American made. Sorry, Papa John.

I think the sun being out just made me happier. But I'll be complaining again when I go outside and it's hot, sticky and there's no breeze. And allergies are supposedly worse than ever. What a cruel joke. My lungs will be dying in my last few weeks of training. Even summer. I need the super inhaler if it exists. Mike makes fun of me. He does a nasaly, nerdy voice saying, "My inhalerrrr!" Yeah. I have to laugh otherwise I'd seem like a complete poor sport. But still, I hate that I need one now.

Otis soon :)

Picture from Jenn

From Summer 2010 on the Moltenbrey boat. Oh, summer

"I watched a worm slime across the track today..."

Can I just say that Poughkeepsie has been having the shittiest weather ever this week? Fo' realz. haha. Sorry. Just had to let that out.

I need to add "people watching out my Fulton window" as an activity on my resume or info page or something. It truly takes up so much of my time. It's great for providing a good laugh as well. Sometimes I like to make up conversations between people who are walking together or I make up what they did for the day. I'm a pro procrastinator.

So the big news today is that I SURVIVED! my mile repeats workout with Britt. This is the very same Britt who just ran a 16 second PR over her own school record in the steeplechase out in Cali. Yes, the girl is incredibly fast and I was shaking in my boots, well sneakers, about doing mile repeats with her. To make matters even BETTER it was 42 degrees and raining today. It also got windier as our workout went on. Fabulous. Well, Britt and I warmed up and the workout ended up going well. Our first one was too slow. Like 5:41. We were supposed to be running 5:36-5:40. I guess our legs were just cold because after that we ran a 5:36 and finished off with a 5:35. And Britt pushed me to actually kick it up another gear on the last 200 meters. She has a phenomenal kick and she started rolling away and I had to really push to get after her. It helped though. Pete was happy. haha. And he put things into perspective for me. I ran UMass, the 10k, like 10 days ago, so less than 2 weeks. and then 6 days after UMass, I ran a 5k at Rutgers. Plus I had two solid workouts in there. So he said I should be feeling a little roughed up. I just need to chill the next couple days before Princeton. It'd be nice to go for a rip and feel like I used to on that track.

I watched a worm slowly make it's way across the track lanes while we were running today too. Each lap it made its slimy way to the other side. I think I ran faster because I wanted to see how far it got and if I could run a mile before it crawled across 6 lanes of rubber. He was a brave one though. I think he beat me. I need to sleep more. 

My parents are the best and said I can drive home Thursday morning and then they'll rive me down to Princeton Friday afternoon to watch me race. I definitely made sure I told my mom about the really great shops and the really great restaurants (those were more for my Dad. He needs to focus every trip around where we're going to eat). But I feel so much better being able to go home now.

I'm at 7,972 miles on my mileage tracker that I started on 2/14/07. Almost at 8k. These legs have traveled pretty far by now.

We're making Easter baskets for the little kids tonight in our house. The college is reimbursing Andrea for getting everything and we're going to assemble them tonight. I'm excited. I can actually relax and have fun tonight because I got the majority of my work done. I got up early to finish my Ethics paper, do my law extra credit and work on my forum replies. I'm just happy Easter is coming up. I need to decide if I want to take Saturday or Sunday off. ha. Probably Saturday.

And I officially decided on my dress for Paul's formal. hehe. Black on black on black. Car lingo. But seriously.

Ok. I'm reading this terrific book right now...well, so far it's good. And I have a feeling I'm going to crash any second.

Jasper...love him

Palm Sunday

I ran. Outside. Well, for 7 miles of my 12 I did. ha. Winning.

What made me sad today was the fact that it was Palm Sunday. Every year, I remember dressing up nicer than for usual Church days and I would go to Mass with my family to receive Palms. Then we'd trek to the grandparents' homes and bring them palms or my Nonna would try to teach me to braid the palm into a cross. I failed every time. I still cannot, to this day. And she's no longer alive to continue trying to teach me. I guess I just miss my family. Isn't that what the holidays are really about though? They're not about presents or food or stupid traditions. They're about being with your family and having that group of people who hand out free hugs for whatever reason. I am not a fan of Church, but I would be willing to sit through an hour plus long Mass if it meant a Sunday at home with homemade tomato sauce, pasta boiling on the stove and my big, smelly yellow lab slobbering all over my hands. As it is, I have a race Friday night and while everyone else will be home with their families, I will be sitting track-side by myself. Saturday cannot come soon enough.

Howling wind

I really should run outside. But a bridge run in 17 mph winds is not enticing at all.
We had a monsoon last night. 30 mph winds, torrential downpours. I was MORE than happy to curl up in my bed and just pass out. Maybe Brian was right and I am getting old. BAHAH NOT! I did fit in a lot yesterday with ethics, running and random other things. I would like a break really soon though. The end of the year always gets so hectic. This year especially because I'm racing again. Planning out weekends around homework, races, visiting Paul, visiting home. I don't sleep anymore. So this weekend was perfect to catch up on that I guess.

This year we've had more wind than ever before. It's crazy. I don't ever remember it being this bad. Freshman year was perfect. Barely any wind at all.

Otis got 1.5 inches of rain last night. Come on, fill up!!!

Photo that I took of Paul wakesurfing. Yeah. We need water to do cool things! haha. Rain dance commence!

Rutgers update

http://www.khanacademy.org/about

Paul just sent me that link. It's an incredible site! Math made easy! Finally!

We JUST got back from Rutgers. Remember I said there was going to be sunshine? Yeah, NO. It was cloudy, really windy and on the chillier side. 5k didn't go off until 5:45...Sooo...it was a long day on the bus. I mostly played UNO and BS with Matt, Vess, Kelley and Billy. And then I slept. Buses are the most uncomfortable places to take a nap. I had my head like upside down in the aisle. And I had a BIZARRE dream that I was washing my face on the bus and started like choking on soap. So weird. And our bus driver was cranky. He must have hated us by the end of the day. haha. I also got chased down the road by some random Rutgers kid who thought he was HILARIOUS because all his cronies laughed when he did it. It kind of pissed me off. A lot. But if I said something who knows what would have happened. So I just ran faster. ha. I got 2nd in the 5k though. Ran a 17:50 I *think*. It's alright. Still much better than running mile repeats by myself. Sooo yup. I need to shower and then I'm going to bed. I have to run and write an ethics paper tomorrow. I have other homework too, like the nonfiction critiques and trying to get somewhere with the final touches on my reckoning essay.

My new car is home. 2008 Subaru Legacy :) My dad tried sending me a picture but it was failing everytime. So I'll see the new baby when I get home for Easter.

Ok. I REALLY want that shower now. And I'll leave this picture I got of Jack and Jasper this winter. Adorable :)

It was one of those perfect timing photos. I got lucky


And congrats to Britt and Will on their school records and stellar races!! :)

musings

I feel like the guy sometimes...Am I afraid to say "I love you" first because I'm putting myself out there just to be hurt?

Part of me feels like I need to pull back. I believe Cosmo called it the Rubber Band effect. Leave it to them.

I'm chugging Emergen-C like a champ. Rutgers tomorrow in the sunshine. My freckles will be making an appearance.

Treadmill rant

I get that McCann is busy Wednesdays at 11 a.m. It's activity hour and every dutiful college student sees themselves as the picture of health for the fact that they trek down there to work out. In many cases, they walk on the treadmill. Well, I got my butt down there before 11 for practice and had to do a run on the treadmill. STANDING BEHIND ME and HOVERING will NOT get me off the treadmill any faster. I've seen girls walk on it for an hour. 10 miles doesn't just happen. So I'm sorry. But I wait for you when you get there first. Please stop hovering and muttering. It won't make me go any faster. The belt is usually at a set speed.

Ok, sorry for the rant. I just get annoyed. I have just as much right as anybody. and I usually clean the machine and get off it immediately when I'm done. I just find it hysterical that people stand there and think the world should end or step aside for them. Everyone else waits. It's common courtesy. And who's to say that THEY won't then go on for an hour themselves? Exactly.

The sun's out today. Little hot for my taste. Supposed to hit 68 degrees. But I just have pre-race since I decided to run at Rutgers Friday night. I had a workout Tuesday. 3 sets of 800-400-400. 3 minutes rest between sets, 3 minutes rest after the 8 and 1 and a half minutes rest after the 4's. Chuck wanted me to run 2:52 for the 8's and 83-84 for the 4's. Well, the 8's were 2:47, 2:45, 2:44. The 4's were all in 80, with the very last one in 79. I felt pretty decent, especially with my legs still acting up a bit. Just need to remember my inhaler Friday night. I would still much rather race than have to do mile repeats, by myself, on Friday afternoon.

10K Tackled

So I haven't written in a few days. The week got a little hectic and my laptop crashed, sort of. I had to bring it home Friday morning and it ended up having 29 viruses on it. Yeah, my life. But Rich managed to fix it as best he could. Hopefully it can limp along through senior year. But like he said, he can remove the viruses, but the damage is done. It stinks. I'm just happy he didn't have to completely remove my word files and photos because I had school work that I need. Especially all my Creative writing documents. Oye.

Onto track. Training was a little hairy for a while. After the stress fracture scare, I took it easier in the sense I mixed in a treadmill run and went to Brian every day. So painful. He literally made me want to cry whenever he pressed on it. Icing felt amazing. So I went home Friday and ran with my high school team, sort of. More like I ran my 6 mile pre-race run and then met up with them during practice. I found out my coach, Mr. Walker resigned literally as I was out on my run. It was a disrespect issue. some of the kids, I won't name names, can be so disrespectful. He has a lot of teenagers to keep in line and train and he's a one man show. They give him no respect or help. It's all me, me, me. I used to get mad because I wanted to run more and he kept my mileage low, but I knew he was looking out for me. He was a great coach. I don't think I would have been prepared for Marist running if it weren't for him. It's just sad that 3 kids manage to ruin it for the group. A lot of the kids were quitting on the spot because he was leaving. I guess the problems started in winter track. My brother was especially upset. :/

I went to Otis Friday night to meet Paul. I only saw him two weeks ago, but it was still really nice to see him. He gave me a big hug and we mostly sat and talked when I first got there. He was coming to the meet with me the next day so we went to sleep early.

Saturday --> 10k at UMass Amherst!!!!! We left early and got there no problems. We were almost tooo early. and I thought the race was actually supposed to be later because no one was getting ready or attempting to get ready. My parents watched along with my aunt and uncle. It was really nice of them to come cheer. It gave me more incentive to keep going when I got an awful chest cramp about halfway in. I stuck it out for 4 more laps and it eventually went away. But yeah. I'm an idiot and forgot to take my inhaler before the race. Completely forgot. I made it though. My time was a minute slow. So I was mad about that. But I won by almost 3 laps, I think. I also qualified for ECAC's. I just need to see what kind of shape I'm in by then. If the weather keeps up this garbage about being 82 degrees in April, then the treadmill is going to have a new best friend. Seriously. I went back up to Otis with Paul afterwards and Patty was there working on her dock. It was SUCH a nice day. I was bummed I couldn't enjoy it more because I was so tired. I promised Chuck I wouldn't overdo it the next day and give my legs a chance to rebound. So I mostly hung out at my house with my parents for a little while, went to the barn with Paul to play with the excavator, and then watched him help Patty move something for her raft. It was getting cold by then. Once that sun goes down up there....I love it, but I think I was just so tired that my body was shot. We went to dinner and then to Westfield State with Seth. Taught some girls how to play Asshole and then one of the boys at the table decided he wanted to learn all of our names. He kept forgetting mine and somehow came up with Adrian. I figured that was close enough seeing as my full name is Adriana. So I was Adrian for the rest of the night. Amusing. It was fun hanging out with Seth. I hadn't seen him in over a month. He seems to be doing pretty well and his track team seems like a fun bunch. I fell into bed with my clothes on when I got home because I was so tired. I didn't want to move. Paul woke me up because he knew my contacts were in and I'm pretty sure he just didn't want to hear me complaining about my eyes the next day. haha

Sunday I got up and went to see Cheryl! We talked about work for the summer. I told her I thought it would be a GREAT idea to get a soft serve machine and then realized that I'd be the one cleaning it and always smelling like spoiled milk. Yup. I still think it'd be fun. ha. I ask for it. Paul and I cleaned his car when we got back. I vacuumed the inside, threw out garbage and then armoralled it for him. Very nice. I think we're going to have car cleaning parties this summer. My new car is going to be immaculate at all times. I can already tell I'm going to be neurotic about keeping it clean 24/7. So when he wants to wax his car or vacuum the inside, I'll be the first to offer my company. ha. I let him read my Reckoning Essay. It was about him, mostly, and our relationship. I thought he was going to hate me because I really just went outside the box and used full on honesty in every situation. It's raw and tough to handle in some spots. but it was the truth and I think he was ok with how I ended it, on the way he leaves me post-it notes in my room to hunt for after he leaves. Or I randomly find them in notebooks with little notes saying things like "I love you". Saying goodbye was tough. I don't think I'll see him again until formal and that's over 3 weeks away. :( And for Easter, I'm racing Princeton that Friday night. I'm trying to convince my parents to drive me down and back so I don't have to stay in Fulton by myself on Friday night because we'd be getting back late. It also means I can't leave early for Easter break. I dunno. Frustrating. I wish Paul would be home for Easter because we're in Greenfield that Sunday and I would stop in on the way back through to say "hi", maybe even go see a movie with him on the Saturday before. We were just talking how we don't go see movies anymore and we used to go ALL THE TIME. It's just funny how your life can get so busy and out of control that you want those quiet moments and sitting on a deck watching the lake seems like the perfect thing to do.

We picked out housing for next year. It seems really nice and it's  little shorter walk to class which is always a plus. Mike got into UConn for Engineering. So my whole family is a little happier. He still has to choose between that, Embry Riddle, and RIT. But I think he'll really love UConn. And if he decided he doesn't like engineering, then he always has other majors. And it's a lot cheaper. More bang for your buck.

All is pretty good here. I'm just trying to survive this last month. My shins/ankles are kind of a mess. but I jsut have Princeton and then MAACs left. Definitely a rebuilding season this year :/

 Credit to Erin O'Reilly for this great shot. 10k.

 Looking super cool in shades. hahaha. It was realllly sunny though

 Mhmm

 Finish

 Aquaturf from last week for Mike's dinner.

Family shot at Aquaturf

We can pretend to like each other pretty well! hahaha

And congrats to Isaiah for qualifying for Junior Nationals in the 10k! I had fun running with all the Marist boys. It was a nice way to start off my first 10k in a year. Glad they combined it.

Stress Fracture

So I finally get back on the track, but my shin/lower ankle/posterior tib. is still bothering me. Well, it's from the lovely McCann center indoor track and it's horrible surface and sharp turns. How we love to hate it. So...this has been bothering me for a while. I've been running through it and icing A LOT. So I go to see Brian today and he thinks that if I don't stop, it = stress fracture.
I have a MONTH left and then I get the week off that he wants and I can slowly start building back up. I'm just sick of sitting on the sidelines. He's willing to treat me through it. I have to go in every day. I'm just really pissed off. Fuming.

:( :(

I worked my tail off for UMass this weekend. I can't bear to see all that hard work just get thrown away as I sit in the bleachers...again.

"I think she needs another strap"

I can't believe that I completely forgot to write about this!
So, my mom and my aunts went to a fundraiser for our family's nonprofit organization that my Aunt Ginny started in my Nonna and Poppa's names. The Marie and Pat Ciochetti Memorial Fund. She helps out families that are in need of any kind of aid in the Greater Waterbury area. The program has received some great recognition in the past few years. My Aunt has poured her heart and soul into this program with the help of my mom and other aunt, as well as the generosity of other women in the area.
Anyways, they received recognition from Family Services and were invited to a recognition dinner and silent auction. This younger woman was there working a jewelers display, showing off this new diamond that had just come in. Her dress was a very beautiful one shoulder affair that was a rich color. However, as my younger brother Jack put it when the picture made the paper the next day, "She needed another strap". His way of saying, "Holy %&$*#! Her boobs are hanging out!" hahah.
My mom and Aunt Pinky were actually in the picture speaking to her. My mom told me how she noticed the dress was slipping down but didn't want to embarrass her. Well, what's more embarrassing, Mom? Having your boob exposed in the Monday morning paper? Or having someone politely inform you that you might want to pull your dress up? My Uncle Paul opened the paper the next day and yells, "Deb! Look at this girl's tit!" And she walks over, slightly amused and goes, "Paul! Your sisters are in that picture too!" And he looks at her and goes, "Oh yeah. You're right!" He didn't even notice them. Jack, on the other hand, went about his comment in a much more diplomatic way.
         "Mom, What's that lady wearing???"
          My Mom tried to answer it as best as she could. "Well, it's a one-shoulder dress. See?"
          "I think she needs another strap"
My whole family lost it at that one.

So my Mom calls me and I'm thinking this girl's whole boob is exposed. Well, it was NOT that bad.
I'll post a link to the picture. Its copyright belongs to the Waterbury Republican American newspaper:

Does she really need another strap?

But like I said. Completely over exaggerated. I guess to my parents and aunts and uncles, that was exposed. It just goes to show how different each generation views things. I mean, I have Hatters where girls "cookas" are always hanging out. Thank you, Snookie, for creating that new word of reference. Gotta love Jersey Shore. 

That's my inappropriate post for the week. Sorry if I offended anyone.