Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed. --Charles Schulz, P

Today, I ran my first 5k in over a year!! http://www.pvtc.org/20100221.html Check it out (I'm number 24 out of 30, all the way at the bottom! Not all that shabby for my first 5K.) ....and I "qualified" (by two seconds) for the national marathon. (haha...uhm, right).

I also got a job this summer, teaching English and directing a SHAKESPEARE play, to advanced non-native English speakers at Georgetown Preparatory School for six weeks. I'll also be teaching a "yearbook" class, where the students write articles for an end of the summer booklet about their experiences in the program. (Not to mention this also translates (haha..get it?) to a rather hefty paycheck and my first "real" alone-in-the-classroom teaching gig).

So, as for an update on other goings-on:

I've been spending a lot of time out of my apartment--running, going to Maryland for random errands with friends, finding some really neat jazz bars on U Street, and spending way too much money on dinners out...and booze. (all this working out, has left me ravenous...and thirsty?)

I think, for the next couple weeks, I'm going to take it down a notch and re-group (after all, I am an introvert, and we introverts need regeneration time). I'm looking forward to catching up on some reading, spending some alone time in my apartment, and doing things like laundry and dishes, which I have avoided for far too long. I have also been drinking way too much lately and have rationalized it as "carb-loading" for my big runs. (bullshit yep). It's time again to start eating more veggies and drinking more water.

I've been talking to mom about Florida and Connecticut and, beside seeing family, I can't wait to run along new landscapes. I can't wait to run down Clint Moore Road in the HEAT (mmm) and end up at Starbucks for an iced coffee. (The snow and ice in DC have made outside running dangerous at best and darn-right frostbitten at worst). And I've already been on google maps looking up Uncle Marc's address (creepy?) and looking at which neighborhoods I could run through from his house. I am loving how strong I feel and the endorphins post-run are fantastically addictive.

What else? Well, I miss Zan pretty terribly, but that's nothing new . This semester is zoooooming by. Good things to come, including another 5K perhaps.

love,
Allison