13.1 miles

so this morning, i ran my very first half-marathon. it was pretty much the hardest/most awesome thing i've ever done. i don't have any pictures of it yet, but in 72 hours some [really really ugly, i'm sure] photos will be on marathonfoto.com, and i will share. until then, a detailed log of my day will follow.

5:15am-alarm ringing, dad coughing lots. my thoughts: i want to go home, why did i sign up for this?
6:45am-waiting in the longest line i have ever seen for disgusting bathroom.
7:00am-starting gun goes off.
7:10am-cross the starting line. [i was toward the back of the 16,000 runners]
7:15-8:30am-miles 1-7, rockin to my new playlist on my pod.
8:30-9:00am-miles 8-9, stopped to eat some sport jelly beans and drink some water, didn't want to start running again. walked for awhile.
9:00-9:25am-miles 10-11, mostly running with some intermittant walking when i got too tired.
9:25-9:45am-mile 12-13, wanted to kill myself, seriously contemplated riding trax to the finish line, first marathon finishers passing me. awesome.
9:45-9:50am-last .1 of race, lots of people, felt like it was at least 3 miles long.
9:55-10:15am-they made me walk a longgg way to turn in my chip, then i cut through the barrier and found parents, took more pictures [even uglier, i imagine], legs felt like they were on fire.

so that was my first half-marathon experience. it really was quite spectacular though. i can say that, now that it's over :) but i could see myself doing another one. and probably going through the exact same emotions the morning of the race.

dating? no thanks.

forewarning: this may or may not turn into a bit of a rant.

in time magazine in 2005, an article was printed about people age 18-25. it has become "a distinct and separate life stage, a strange, transitional never-never land between adolescence and adulthood in which people stall for a few extra years, [postponing] . . . adult responsibility."

i have never really felt like this was the stage of life i was in. i have always felt like i am older than i really am, and i'm not sure why. perhaps because i have older siblings, with whom i always want to fit in, so i maybe i adapt my personality to fit the stage they are in. or maybe it's because i've always worked directly with people who are much older than i am, so i feel like i have to be more mature, so that they would take me more seriously.

but whatever the reason may be, i never have felt like i fit perfectly with people my own age. at my current job, i have been told many times that i seem so much older than 22, and several guesses have been made about my age, ranging from 26-29. i'm never sure whether i should be flattered or bothered by this. but that article makes me think that maybe i'm doing something right.

i have been thinking about this lately, because in my class we discussed this article and it brought up a particular issue that is bothering me right now. i see no need to go into a lot of detail as to why this particular talk struck home for me (my sisters will call me for details in the next week anyway... :) but it did. i completely agree with this speaker. the boys with whom i am in contact seem to be so afraid of commitment, or really of anything that could potentially lead to having to commit. and yet, most of the boys i refer to do harbor a desire to ultimately get married. so why are they so afraid?

i often have dinner with my cousin, who i feel is an impartial and nonthreatening male partisan and can help me decipher the mysterious habits of boys. if i put good food in front of him, he lets me ask him lots of questions about the male mindset, and i think this has helped me some. mainly what it has done for me, however, is realize just how different boys and girls are, and how we will probably never understand what the other is thinking.

i'm sorry that this post is probably vague and cryptic and maybe a little feminist, but i promise i'm not trying to attack. just thinking...