Car Faces?

Hi! Thanks to finals, we had a day off school today. My Mom and I took the oppurtunity to practice my driving by driving to the outlet mall. It was scary!

Am I the only one who notices happy car faces? The headlights are the eyes, and the front part is the mouth. Like, this is an angry car face:

And this is a happy car face:

At the mall, I bought some chocolate chips at the Ghirardelli outlet. Only $2.50 a bag!

We also stopped at the Nike store. I looked for some racing shoes, due to my dislike of track spikes. They have no arch support, so they make my feet hurt reeeeally bad. I know they're supposed to make you go faster, but if I'm dying of foot pain, the lightness of the shoes doesn't matter! Plus, they remind me of these. So here's that I found! They're super lightweight and have a nice, stable sole. I'm planning on wearing them for track meets and races, but hey, they're cute enough to wear every day! I absolutely love the color.

Finals are over!

I feel so relaxed now- the tests are taken, the grades are in, and there's nothing I can do about it now. I didn't do as well as I had hoped =(, but I'm trying to look on the bright side and remind myself that I still have a whole other semester to get my grades up. After my last test (French, it was pretty hard!), I ran home. I live about 4 miles from my school, so this was a perfect route. I haven't run by myself in forever, and this felt pretty good. No music, no conversations, just me. It was a great way to decompress after a week of tests. I'll need to remember this for next semster!

Here's a recipe for you, in celebration of the end of finals...

Fudgy Brownies:

3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 stick unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, melt the butter and chocolate for 30 seconds in the mcirowave. You can use a double boiler if you're so inclined. Stir, then microwave it again until it is just melted. Add the sugar, and let the mixture cool slightly.

3. Stir in the eggs, flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread the batter into the pan, and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Haha get it?? Tachy = tachycardia = fast heart rate? I like this thing. =)

Courtney the Neurologist?

Guess what?? Guess what?? Actually... you'll never guess.

:/

I *might*, emphasis on the *might*, be going to neurology summer camp! (In case you haven't yet realized, I'm kind of a nerd...) You see, I want to be a nurse or a doctor, so when I got a brochure for this "educational camp" and saw that they had a neurology program, I was super happy! It said you get to learn about nervous system disorders (of which I have!) and just a lot of awesome stuff! It'll be really fun! =)

Love this 'lil guy. And speaking of science, I've got my AP Chem final tomorrow (oh joyyy) and I'd better get to studying. Sorry this was such a quickie post, but just know that I'm literally pulling myself away from my laptop to study! Have a great day!

F-F-F-Finals!

Happy Sunday everyone! Sadly, it's been a not-so-fun weekend for me. =( Lots of studying, a not-so-fun run, and more studying. But more on that in a bit. In the meantime, I've been listening to lots of this.

[Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson]

Perfect brain music. Of course, when Tik-Tok comes on(I shuffle the songs), I feel I have the liberty to get up and dance. Which is often followed by a study break. I have no attention span, fyi.

Anyway, back to that run. My 2 friends and I decided to go for a run today. We didn't realize it was 12 degrees outside with a bad windchill until we were already at the start. So, we decided to go anyway. Bad. Idea. :\ We ran for a whopping 13 minutes before calling it off and going to Einsteins. I'm still chilled to the bone right now! At Einsteins, I got a toasted double chocolate chip bagel. It tasted almost like a brownie... so yummy! I didn't take a picture because I ate it too quickly and I didn't bring my camera. Two wonderful reasons, if I do say so myself.

[Ummmy carby goodness]

[Study Snack]

Yes, I am one of those people who eats Nutella straight out of the jar. In my house, there's "Courtney's Nutella" and "Everyone Else's Nutella", to prevent cross-contamination. Its just too good by itself to mess up the flavor by spreading it on toast. Anyone with me on that?

I'd better get back to studying... or not. Everything in moderation?

PRs

Now let me tell you, I'm not an incredibly fast runner. I'm *good* on my school's XC and track teams- the "second seven" if you will. I'm not bragging about these times- I just want to post them so they're all in one place, and I know when I've improved! =D

5K: 21:42
3 Mile: 21:38
2 Mile: 13:24
1 Mile: 6:23
800M: 2:55

And, my favorite record...

Distance Record: 12 MILES!!!!

Finals?

It's almost final exam time, which can only be described as...

I don't really like finals. (Does anyone?!) I want to get an equal number of A's and B's so I can be on the honor roll, which means I have to study a lot. =( Thankfully, track starts February 9th! Yay! I've decided to make a workout calender so I can get in shape for the team. As always, the coach informed us that there are still spots open for the 2-mile race. Last year, there were about 8 people who ran it, but this year it's only my friend and I! Two people! I'd better get into varsity shape. =/ So, I'll try to get that calender set up. =D Happy Thursday, y'all!

Question of the Day:

What's your favorite kind of exercise?

Clicking My Heels

I love my Asics, I really do. But when I saw these in my Roadrunner catalogue, I fell in love. I mean, the pink sole?? Awesome. It's too bad they're racing flats. =( I bet every runner has a story about their feet, and I have mine, too. Want to hear it? Great!!

So... it all started when I was a little ballet dancer. My feet have always rolled in (overpronated), and I had to strengthen them A LOT for ballet. I used resistance bands, foot exercises, everything! I wanted to be a professional dancer (oh, how I loved to dream) and the only way to do that was to have perfect feet. In 8th grade, I finally got my pointe shoes. I loved them- they made me feel so strong. My first two years en pointe (yes, it is spelled with "en") were great- my teachers were very experienced and were able to tell me exactly what I was doing wrong and whether my shoes fit correctly. My 3rd year, I switched dance schools, and that's where things got bad. My feet were callused and messed up, and my teachers didn't spend time helping me with them. Not good. =(

Of course, this affected my running. I started noticing a sharp pain in the ball of my right foot, and when I went to the podiatrist, he told me I had sesamoiditis. He said that my sesamoid bone had shattered, and if I hurt it anymore, I would need surgery to remove the shards of it! Ew! We tried everything- gel inserts, custom orthotics, even steel plates in the bottom of my shoes. Nothing worked. My breaking point was when I ran a community 5k- my feet hurt like never before. I thought my arches were literally going to break in half! It was horrible. No shoes fit "great" and whenever I tried a new shoe store to get more opinions, they always had me try the same one! I'm still looking for that perfect shoe- one with enough arch support to keep me from pronating, but enough cushioning to keep my sesamoid bones from breaking again. Anyone have any ideas?