Hey guess what?

O to the M to the G, can you believe it! I don't want to make a big deal in real life because I can't figure out any way to say the phrase "working on a novel" without sounding like a jerk but seriously I'm so proud of myself right now I can hardly stand it.

Make no mistake, it stinks so out loud that if I printed it it would actively smell bad, but I think it has good bones and I think I'm going to pursue making it into to something I wouldn't mind if other people read. But even if it never leaves my computer, I literally cannot remember a time in my life where I haven't wanted to write a book, academic, fiction, whatever, just a book. In fact, I used to write Ninja Turtles fanfic when I was a kid (seriously, my little brother illustrated them and I think my mom still has them) but when I got older and learned to doubt myself I gave novel writing a shot several times and always crapped out after like twelve pages. But something about having to cram all of this into such a short time period took all the pressure off and it just came out. I did the last 10,000 words in 48 hours.

So, in summary, Today is a pretty good day for walking around like I own the place.

I ran in front of people...

and nothing bad happened!

I ran my first 5k this weekend. It was such a wonderful experience, I can't wait to do it again. I have never in my life run any significant length outdoors where everyone can see me and due to my unfortunate PE experience I was really anxious about that aspect of it. Also, I knew it was going to be cold and hilly which I don't have to deal with on the treadmill so I was concerned with how this would effect my performance.

The first hill appeared about half a mile in and when I saw it I immediately thought "I can't believe I'm going to crap out in the first mile." It was steep and winding and I have never been good at climbing. Even when I was spending four hours a day at the gym right before my wedding, and could carry my husband from the back of the Walmart parking lot to the door, an incline on a treadmill or 2 minutes on a stair climber would kill me. Those muscles just seem to be the last to respond to anything I do. For a moment I even considered stopping before I reached the hill in an effort to avoid the eventual disappointment/humiliation.

But I kept going and before I even knew it I was at the top high fiveing the boy scouts who were cheering us on at various points along the route (So cute!) and on my way down again. And that just kept happening, just up and over. It wasn't easy, but it was doable and sustainable, and I'm just crazy proud of that because I've never been able to achieve that before.

Oh yeah and I placed 3rd in division and got a friggin medal! So, yeah I'm hot stuff right now. I went to Kohl's and got a fancy running jacket and I'm going to try running outside once a week now in my neighborhood which has got some impressive hills in order to improve for next time. I'm hoping there will be something going on around my hometown in late December so my mom can come.

Sorry I'm not more articulate but it's late and I'm doing NaNoWriMo because I'm crazy so I'm at the end of my writing rope for the evening.

Cheers!