First day of work

Today was the first day of work. I felt like a little kid again waiting for the first day of elementary school, except this time I was on my own. No parent to pack me a lunch and walk me to school.

I made my own lunch and drove myself to work. I feel like most people my age have gotten over the nervousness of driving by themselves unfortunately I'm not one of them. But no accidents or bad stuff happened and I made it there and back in one piece.

Actually taken after the run. I didn't dress in an old USC t-shirt to go to work. 

There were tons of new engineers, 20. This is apparently the biggest group they've ever seen of new hires all at once. This also means that there are tons of just out of college kids. Yay!

For the first time ever, I have a smart phone, because work phone is a blackberry. And for the first time ever I went and earned my keep. Sort of. I actually didn't do much, since it was only the first day.

After work, I decided to go for a run just because I got out early. I really wanted to run outside, but I felt like that might be suicide in the Luisiana humidity.

So I ended up logging 3.3 very uneventful miles in the apartment fitness room. Treadmill was boring, but it felt way easier than actual running.

I'm too lazy to memorize the numbers to log it when I get back home, so I take a picture of it. 

I had a lot to think about during the run. For example, the training coordinator at work told us that after dark, we should never make a full stop at a red light or a stop sign in the areas surrounding work. Because I'm a worrier, I then started thinking about what I would do if a group of people sort of boxed my car in. If there was one person approaching my car, I'd definitely high tail it outta there. My ass will be gone faster than you can say speeding ticket. But if a group of four people approached me from all directions, I have no idea what to do. Food for thought, what would you do? 

Not super relevant, but hilarious nonetheless. 

Good thing I don't have to worry about that for now since daylight is long during the summer.

Also, remember when I said that I practiced driving to work all weekend? Well, that was for nothing. Since the rest of my training is about 30 min away by high way. On the upside, I'm now forced to get good at driving. Yay?

I hope your Mondays were great!

I'm in Baton Rouge!

I also bought a car! BAM! Into adulthood. By buying a car, I mean I owe my parents ridiculous amounts of money for the downpayment and also to a car loan company.

I bought a ford focus if you guys are wondering. Even if you don't, here you go.

Clearly not my picture. It's too good. 

Instead of running, I've been busy driving the local route to my work place five thousand times. Practice makes perfect and hopefully come tomorrow, I'll remember the route and how to drive.

Luckily, my parents came with me to Baton Rouge to help me get somewhat settled. Mainly, they wanted to help me buy a car, since I've never done it before.

But now that they are gone, the apartment seems super empty. So if any of you guys want to run a race in Louisiana, my couch is open!

School was so much social. Now that I am living alone, there's really nobody around. I think it's going to take some getting used to.

Forever alone meme, always entertaining

On the bright side, this is a great time to do the whole get to know yourself thing that people in movies. I supposedly will have free time after work,  and I have the funds (limited but more than I had in college) to embark on various projects.

For example, I've always wanted to do a back flip, because it looks awesome. My next goal other than finding a running club is to find adult gymnastics classes.

Thanks for all your tips on keeping safe and finding friends. I really am looking into running clubs around the area. Wish me luck on first day of work! I hope your Mondays go super well!

Happy National Running Day

To be honest, I didn't even realize that it was today until I started reading blogs. If I had known, maybe I would have spent today's run thinking about something insightful to say. Although it probably wouldn't have been super deep.

Fitting for National Running day. 

Is it just me or does anyone else have this problem? Things I think about while running always seem so insightful and deep, but when I put it down on paper, it just seems so . .  . blah.

Unfortunately, in addition to having nothing amazing to say about the day, I also didn't have the most epic of runs. In fact, because I ran with my cousin (he doesn't run much), I moseyed along for 4.6 miles at a 10:14/mile pace.

Now on to more pressing thoughts in my mind. I'm flying down to Louisiana today!

Looks so nice in picture. 

I can't believe my days as a student is over. Now, I have to look for a new place and find new friends. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to connect with any runners in Baton Rouge yet. Fingers crossed that I'll meet some soon.

I also want to keep on running down in Baton Rouge, but I keep on reading scary articles about how the city's homicide and crime rate has jumped ever since Katrina dislocated New Orleaners to BR. It apparently has higher homicide rate than NYC or LA. Yikes! At least it's better than Detroit?

Anyways, that poses a challenge to the whole running outside thing. But I plan on running early in the morning and scary people only come out at night, right?

I hope you guys had a wonderful Running Day! Anything I should do to keep safe while on a run? 

Test driving

Today I test drove my legs and did a "long" run . . . of 5 miles.

I had originally planned on doing 6, but that felt stressful. And I really plan on taking it easy for the next few months to build a strong base and to keep running a fun thing.

But I'm calling it a long run because it happend on a Saturday at my usual Californian long run loacation (the beach).

True story. I need to invest in some body glide. TMI? Probably. 

After not running for a full month, now with three days of running, I'm ready to call tomorrow a rest day. 

I've actually been trying something new while running. When I ran the Seneca 7 relay, I met Jamie's mom who recommended that I wrap my high arches with sports tape. She told me that it has helped her become a life-long runner with minimal injury. 

So I've actually been trying it out. 

That's the way I've been doing it. I tried to do it in the way that she showed me. 

So far, it's hard to tell if it's better or not. I think I need more time with trying it. It does feel better when I'm walking barefoot inside the house, but with my shoes' arch supports, I'm not sure how it feels. Since it's not hurting anything, I'll try it until my roll of tape runs out. Anyone else try this? 

I also test drove a car for the first time in my life. 

After looking through everyone's suggestions and my parents suggestions, I liked the look of a Wrangler and Hyundai's Elantra the best. 

I was actually able to test drive the Elantra. The only car I've ever driven was my mom's Jeep so the quiet and short Elantra felt really odd. It was also weird to have brakes that work super quickly. 

Now all I have to worry about is haggling. How does one bring the price down of anything? 

Tomorrow, it's on to driving practice on a freeway. I wish I learned to drive like normal people during high school and college.

Hope everyone got their planned workout in during the weekend! 

Dante says hi!

I ran!

I've finally started running again!

It's disheartening to think about how much fitness I have lost, but exciting to think that I'll be building it up again. I can't wait to cover double digit miles again.

And to get a dog. It'll be nice to have a dog to come home to. 

Luckily for me, I'm currently in California so the runs are way flatter and at a lower elevation. I think Louisiana is also pretty flat, which means I'd probably do terribly in upstate New York races.

Yesterday, I covered 3 miles at 9:28/mile pace, which felt way harder than it should be. Before I stopped running, 3 miles was nothing. Oh body, how quickly you forget.

This morning, I convinced my dad to join me on a run. I had mentally planned on another 3 mile run, but we ended up running for 4.67 miles at 9:42/mile pace. To be honest, I don't think either of us were in a running shape, but being super competitive, we couldn't back out. I'm sure we'd have run longer, out of pride, if our route allowed it.

Another picture of my dog! I know it doesn't fit, but I have tons of pictures of him with no where to put it. 

It's slow going to get back into running again, but it's a start.

Other than starting to run, I've been trying to get ready for my big move to the south.

I signed up for my first ever non student, non joint, bank account. I even have a savings in case I budget well and manage to save money. (Doubtful for the first few months. There's so much to buy like furniture!) I even inquired about an auto loan at the bank. Because adults have cars and have a plan to pay for it and stuff.

I still need to decide on a car. How do people decide to buy a certain car? Do I pay more money for the car that I think I would want or stick with a fairly cheap one until I'm more settled?

I also need more work clothes including steel-toed boots.

Despite tests and homework and all that, school is definitely much easier than real life.

Happy Friday! What cars are affordable and good? Key word being affordable. And by affordable, I mean a car that's in the lowest price range.