Pumpkin Spiced Chai Tea Lattes, galore!

Greetings from Pittsburgh! I've managed to get one run in so far and boy, let me tell you it was killer. My max elevation gain in Charleston has been 84 feet. Today, my max elevation was 164 feet! Yowza, my butt is going to feel that one tomorrow. However, my massage afterwards helped to relieve some tension. Oh how sweet fall break has been. I have been obsessed with everything pumpkin during this trip. I have had my fair share of pumpkin spiced chai tea lattes from Starbucks, as depicted below. I highly recommend you try one if you haven't yet, it's a wonderful fall treat. 

Yum! Happy Fall!

Fall Break, finally!

So 11 days ago I had some really good intentions. What's that saying again? "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." I believe that is exactly how it goes. Needless to say, after that Friday 11 days ago, any thoughts of free time went out the window. Any time I had a free 30 minutes, I spent them watching an episode of Friends from season 1 that I bought on Amazon to assist with study breaks. I love that show. It's been nice to start from the beginning and I have 8 additional seasons to look forward to! I wonder if they will make it through Pharmacy school with me? I'll probably finish them off before 3rd year at the rate I imagine I'll be going through them. The episodes are the perfect length, not an hour long commitment but 30 minutes of pure enjoyment before back to hitting the grind.

I digress. But NOW I have made it through to the other side!! 5 exams and 2 tough quizzes later. That's right, it's been almost two weeks of straight studying. However, the one thing I did manage to achieve was not ONE but TWO long runs. So I have kept up with my half training. With only two more weekends left, I am starting to get antsy for my first half marathon! The furthest I have gone has been 11 miles, I'm hoping to do 12 the weekend before and then that last mile (13) of the race, I hope will just be run on pure adrenaline. If I can cross at 2:10, I'll be happy with my first half (well, I'll be happy finishing at all!). I all ready want to sign up for another one and focus on speed. For this first one, I have just been fixated on distance since I have never run this far in my life. But if all goes well with this one, then I want to do another one soon-ish. Things to ponder.

In about 3 hours I am getting on a plane to Pittsburgh to visit one of my best friends and enjoy my fall break!  I hope I can get at least 2 or 3 runs in while I'm there but it's a whole different ball game in a hilly area. Yes, I live in flat Charleston, SC. I also need to do hill work, did I mention that? Well, we'll see how this week goes. I'm mainly focusing on RELAXATION! I can't wait for a massage, wine, girl nights, shopping, beautiful fall weather, carving pumpkins and eating yummy food!

Happy Tuesday everyone and Happy Fall Break to me! :-)

Friday musings

Yes. I know. It's Friday evening and I'm blogging. Don't judge. This is my life now. My free time on a Friday evening is spent doing something I really enjoy. Either hanging out with friends or spending some QT with my couch. Fortunately for me, I can blog and sit on my couch at the same time. How 'bout that? Pretty fantastic to me. Believe me when I say the past few months of my life have been a whirlwind. I finally feel like I'm making it really close to the other side. Finally! So, if you need a night on the couch with your favorite hobby (writing) then why not take a moment and breath.

I learned an important lesson today. Someone I know helped me to reflect. She told me that sometimes it takes a repeated pattern for you to recognize an issue. It might sound really simple to you but it was a huge relief to me. Do you ever feel guilt for not realizing something that when you look back and realize it later seems so obvious that you wonder how you missed it? I know, this is very obtuse but just go with me here. Either way, I'm learning some very valuable lessons and it's not from Pharmacy school, imagine that!

So, that baking I was thinking of doing? I think I'm going to make these:

Source: houseofhepworths.com via Holly on Pinterest

Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing!

On tap for this weekend: 2 runs, tons of studying for my 3 (that's right, three) exams next week and probably some more QT with my couch. Have I told you how much I love my couch? What's the countdown to Fallbreak? 11 days...

No Theme

So, I still don't have a theme, but that's okay. Sometimes it's just enough to be yourself and put yourself out there.

It's fall. You should know, that's my favorite. I'm feeling the need to make some pumpkin muffins or some chocolate chip pumpkin cookies. Maybe I will be able to squeeze that in while studying my life away this weekend. Along with fall comes midterms. Just got to make it through this round and then I'll be well on my way to the end of my first semester of Pharmacy School. I'm sure I'll reflect on this later. Right now, I'm just trying to make it through. Nine times out of ten it's just merely mind over matter.

Oh and remember that running goal? I'm running my first half marathon in November! November 5, 2011 to be exact. This weekend will be my first 8 mile run, maybe 8.5 miles if I'm feeling ambitious. The weather has just started to cool down here in steamy Charleston, SC which makes running even more enjoyable. I can't tell you how many buckets of sweat I've poured out this summer when I started the training proc
ess. G-ross.

On another thought, kind of loving these right now and thinking I should hold off on purchasing my Toms until these become available:

Source: google.com via Holly on Pinterest

Alright, back to studying and...dreaming! :-)