a first time for everything

I've been in school for a long time. Many, many years, covering multiple graduations. (And another to come, hopefully.) But in all those years of school, there is one thing I have never experienced.

Summer school.

Until now, that is. For the first time ever, I am enrolled in a class over the summer. And that means that last Monday after I submitted my final project for the spring semester, I started reading a book after work for the summer session. Luckily last semester was pretty easy, and I counted it as my "break," though I was still driving up to Fairfax every Monday for class. Now I only have to drive up every other week for class, but I also have to read three or four books for each one.

First up, almost 900 pages of Howe, plus two more books.

This reading is happening at the same time that I am working full time, running a lot, trying to maintain a social life, and spending time with family an hour away. I'm going to need to work a little more on my time management skills, but I think I can handle it.

Work hard. Play hard.

fun times

I've had a good past few days y'all. Not to say that most of my days aren't good, these past few ones just had lots of fun things happening.

Thursday after work I went to hear a friend read poetry in a garden at UVA. It was lovely except sometimes I couldn't hear very well over all the noisy birds and squirrels. Afterwards there was a reception, and then several of us went out to dinner.

Friday a few of my co-workers and I went to the outdoor crepes place downtown for lunch. I had never been there, so it was nice to finally go. That was followed with a quick stop at the bakery before heading back to work. After work I met up with people to watch a church softball game (a real nail-biter that went into overtime!), and then went to a party.

Saturday I stayed in and worked on my final project for school most of the day. (Did you remember I'm still in school?) Then I went for a warmup 3+ mile run, followed by a 2-mile race at 8pm at a high school track. I ran the same race last year. It's very small and mostly filled with walkers, but for those of us who want to do the marathon training program over the summer (that's right!) it's the perfect way to get in a 2-mile time trial without going to the track at 5:30am on a Wednesday. I shaved 1:05 off of last year's time, and once again got third woman overall. (And speaking of running, the local running shop named me one of their "runners of the week" a couple weeks ago for my marathon, and my coach mentioned me and my marathon in his weekly running column in the paper. That's kind of exciting.) After the race (and a shower) I went to another party, followed by a drink downtown.

Sunday I slept in, worked on my project some more, and then met up with a friend for lunch. After that I finished my project (It's a website, if you must know. I'm getting a PhD in history but they make us learn html and css.), then went to church at 5. And church was followed by going to another friend's for a crawfish boil! So I ate my first crawfish. Plus a lot more crawfish.

It was an excellent weekend.

Montalto Challenge 2013: a new PR!

Saturday I ran my fourth Montalto Challenge. That's the all-uphill 5k that rises almost 900 feet in elevation and ends with the best views around.

Every time that I've run it I've had the same goal: finish in under 30 minutes and get up the mountain without any walking. The first year I made it in 32:02 and walked some (yet still managed to place second in my age group). The second year I got up in 31:04, but still had to walk some. The third year I was only recently back into running after my injury, so I knew I wouldn't make any goal. I made it up in 33:49 and did some walking.

But the fourth year? The fourth year I finally did it! I finished in just under 30 minutes and never had to walk. It felt great.

Proof of my sub-30 time!

The race started at 8am. I got to the Monticello visitor center to sign in and get my bib, and found my friend R who was running it for the first time. In the past we've always parked at the bottom of the Saunders-Monticello Trail, but this year they had us park at Monticello and take shuttles down to the start. But I wanted to get in a good warmup so I ran almost two miles down the trail to the start instead. Once I was down I still had about ten minutes to wait, and then we were off!

I was able to keep up a good pace (for me) and just kept pushing steadily up the trail. Shortly after the turn up Montalto (the really steep and hard part that starts around mile 1.75) I stopped at the water stop long enough to take two sips of water and a couple deep breaths, but then I started up the mountain. After my marathon I knew I would be able to get up without any walking (and in fact I had hopes of a Montalto Challenge PR in mind the entire time I trained for the mountainous marathon), but I wasn't confident at all that it would be fast enough to make my time goal. I know in the past when I've finally gotten to the top of the mountain but still had a little ways before the actual finish line I've felt so dead and out of breath that I haven't been able to pick it up very much. But this year I really pushed myself to keep up the pace and go faster when it leveled out some. I saw the big timer up ahead at the finish line and was actually a little surprised to see I could make it. (I had neglected to reset my watch after the warmup run down the trail so the time was off and I thought I was already over my goal). So I pushed it, and made it in 29:41!

At the top I had to catch my breath, but then I went back to watch R finish. Once we met up we grabbed a snack and drink, picked up our goody-bags, and then walked around to enjoy the view.

Documenting our happy selves and the awesome view. Monticello is peaking out behind R's head.

Fun music at the top.

The crowd at the finish.

It was actually pretty chilly at the top and the sun never bothered to come out, so once I'd cooled off I was grateful to have my jacket. We stuck around for the awards ceremony, but everyone was so cold that it wasn't all that fun and the crowd was thinning quickly. I'm glad we stuck around though, because it turns out I won third place in my age group! So exciting.

My 3rd place prize!

I really love the Montalto Challenge. It's definitely a challenge and can even feel a little miserable at times, but the sense of accomplishment at the end paired with the amazing views makes it all worth it.