show me your he♥rt

I tried to do this little game thing like a month ago, but couldn't get the formatting right...but I decided in honor of 2 awesome years with the BF, I would try to make it work today. :) the name of the game is:

with as much creativity as you can muster, show your he♥rt in: a picture, poem, a song (or piece of music), a phrase (or quote), an item of clothing, a place, and (just for fun) a disney princess.

So...here we go!

Picture:

This pic was taken ~2 days after the BF and I started dating, and to this day it's still one of my favorites of the two of us. I worked a little photo editing magic on it last year so it brings out the other heart in the picture...Badger red!

Poem:

"The Song of the Ungirt Runners" by Charles Hamilton Sorley
We swing ungirded hips
and lightened are our eyes
the rain is on our lips
we do not run for prize
we know not whom we trust
nor witherward we fare
but we run because we must
through the great, wide air

The waters of the sea
are troubled by the storm
the tempest strips the leaves
and does not leave them warm
does the tearing tempest pause?
do the treetops ask it why?
so we run without a cause
'neath the big, bare sky

The rain is on our lips
we do not run for prize
but the storm the water whips
and the wave howls to the skies
the winds arise and strike it
and scatter it like sand
and we run because we like it
through the broad, bright land

Song: "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey [at first I thought this one was going to be hard, and then I realized it was a TOTAL no brainer! :)]

Quote: "Every passion has it's destiny." ~Billy Mills

Clothing: My Wisconsin Track Club jacket that I designed and distributed out of my dorm room as a freshman...such a ridiculous undertaking, but I adore that jacket. And the WTC! You can also just ignore how ridiculous I look in this picture...it was at a very cold XC meet...

Place: Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI

I decided to make this one NOT involve running...there is nothing in this world like BADGER GAMEDAY!

Disney Princess: Jasmine! Mostly just because I was her for Halloween...and she's pretty badass :)My friend's cat was "Rajah"...the BF was Aladdin...obviously :)

So there you have it...that was fun! Anyone who actually reads this blog and hasn't done it already...go ahead, it was a good time. :)

In other news, I ran for 35 minutes today with NO KNEE PAIN!! After my endless frustrations the past couple of weeks, I decided to take a few days off, and then just start running every day and adding on a little time each day, seeing how much my leg would take. I also vowed to STOP if I started feeling any pain at all because obviously that would just make things worse. I started out with 20 minutes, when that was cool I moved up to 25, then today I mean to go for 30 minutes but it...uh...*accidentally* turned into 35. I took it pretty easy but I was thrilled that I had zero signs of the problems I've been having lately. I'm still cautiously optimistic and am going to try to rein in my glee this coming week and keep things to 45 minutes or so and easy...but I think as far as I can tell...I'm Back! With a stretching and massage regimen to add to my training fun. :)

I was actually thinking about it, and I realized that the last time I had IT band problems, it was in a similar situation - right after XC season ended, so I had just finished a pretty hard training cycle with a lot of miles, and I was just running suuuper easy...then it flared up! From everything I've read on it, ITBS generally flares up when you increase mileage too fast...not decrease it...so either I'm some kind of mutant or my body just really, REALLY loves running lots and lots of miles...I think I'll take the latter. :)

I was lucky enough to celebrate 2 years with the BF last night and it was just perfect. Last year we went out for dinner at a super expensive restaurant, but obviously this year we're slightly poorer haha. So we decided to go out to dinner at the Sunset, which is a bar/restaurant that we've been to to drink [cuz...ya know...like 500 different types of beer!] but never to eat. We got dressed up even though it's kind of a casual place and had just a wonderful time sampling a couple of beers [including a blueberry ale that came with real blueberries in it...YUM!], eating, and then coming home and just hanging out and watching some episodes of Lost. Pretty low key, but wonderful.

I've generally been in a much better mood this week than the past couple...finally starting to get over this injury has helped a lot...seriously, being able to run does WONDERS for my personal happiness. :) I'm also excited about the gorgeous fall weather that we've been having...I LOVE crispy weather between like 40 and 55 with the leaves falling and just that fall smell! I feel like I've taken so many stupid internet surveys over the years that ask "what's your favorite season?" and I could never decide, but I think I can definitively say now: I LOVE FALL!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)