Or at least in flat shoes.  All the time.  My left foot appears to be developing plantar fasciitis, though I'm hoping I can kind of stop it...  That's what my right foot had for the longest time :(  Then it got tendinitis, which seems to be going away.  One would think I should stop running.  But I refuse.  Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt when I'm walking around barefoot, in my running shoes (which are mostly flat), or in high heels (weird, I know).  No... they only hurt when I am walking around in my darned uniform shoes.  Those low quarters with weird heels on them.  Or my combat boots. 

Anyway, I did a bit more running the past two days and my left heel was bothering me today.  But not anymore... because I haven't been wearing real shoes for the past two hours.  It's quite contrary to traditional wisdom on plantar fasciitis.  Most sources you would read say you should wear arch support all the time if you have PF.  Well, I disagree, because the only time that has been helping me is if I wear my orthotics in my low quarters...  Also, I would like to say that my silly foot ruined the beautiful weather for me today!  All I wanted to do was go for a nice 5-6 mile jog in the 55 degree weather.  Yes, it's mid-February in New York, and it was 55 degrees.  Oh, it was so gorgeous and amazing and all I could think about while walking to classes was how nice a run would be.  Except I was mildly limping.  I also took pictures from my window this morning of the brilliant sunrise that I will likely post at some point.  So anyways, I ended up NOT running today because I am doing that race on Saturday morning, and I'd rather not have to drop out of ANOTHER race that I've all ready paid for.  I mean, this one was half the price of Disney... okay, actually like a THIRD of the price of Disney, but still... it's a race.  That I'm super stoked to run!!!  I suspect I may do quite well too :)  Though I haven't run on hills in quite awhile, so that could be interesting.  I'll trust my months of training last semester to help me through this one...On another note: super stoked for the weekend!!!! Hence the four exclamation points.  A weekend with Poughkeepsie nightlife (which is infinitely cheaper than NYC nightlife) + New Paltz hippiness with my awesomely unique friends = just straight awesomeness.  I seem to be liking that word tonight. 

And now I have to go to my usual Monday night meetings where I talk about fun things like basketball, BBQs, and hopefully beer.  Yes.  The three essential B's of the second semester at West Point.  I just made that up.

Oh, Happy Valentine's Day!  I keep forgetting it's today, except for the chocolate that is EVERYWHERE.  I gave up on trying to eat healthy today... too many chocolatey temptations.  I suppose if I'm going to gorge on unhealthy amounts of chocolate to the point where I don't really want it for at least a week (or a few days... or... yeah...) I might as well do it while it is plentiful.  It's a darned good thing I like to run so much, haha. 

P.S.  I started this thing and finished it at separate time.   IT's bed time now.

Love,

Nina

For some reason the month of February is always a difficult one.  February and March.  For the most part I usually feel pretty good until this period of time.  I suspect it's the weather... I never thought it really affected me, but looking back at the past three years or so, I'm always pretty cheerful until mid-February.  Then it's somewhat of a struggle for me to keep spirits up.  They call the time between January and Spring Break here at West Point the "Gloom Period"  because everything is very gray and cadets all get depressed.  The buildings, the sky, even the snow once it gets dirty.   As long as I can keep running, though, I think it will be okay :)  And also, thinking about graduation!  Perhaps I should have chosen somewhere sunny for my post instead of somewhere with even less sun than we get here. 

Speaking of running, I have a ten-mile trail race next weekend.  I'm excited!  There were several distances, 10 miles was the shortest.  I wish I could have done one of the longer runs, but unfortunately, I still have that tendinitis.  I can easily run eight miles right now, so I don't think ten will be a problem, though it has been over a month since I last ran on a trail (when I was home), so... we shall see. 

I all ready wrote about this didn't I?  Oh well :)  Anyways, I did get my new trail shoes in the mail yesterday and I'm incredibly excited to try them out.  I'm going to for a run as soon as I finish sitting here with my door open, on a Saturday morning, not allowed to sleep.  I suppose I could work on analyzing my counselig skills as well...  For our counseling class we had to record ourselves in a counseling session and then we have to analyze our skills based on the video on Monday as part of our exam.  I suppose I'll do that when I finish writing blogs. :) 

Alas, I believe tonight I'm going to have a ladies Valentine's dinner.  I would say a single ladies Valentine dinner, but really... it looks like only three of us will be going, and one is not single (my roommate).  At some point I'm going to make a trip to a music store and buy more flutey music for mah flute :)  Go figure, right?  I played yesterday for the first time in a few weeks.  First I had one of my wisdom tooth removed, and then after surgery I couldn't really read music well without tiring my eyes out quickly.  Actually, my eyes still get tired when I play for awhile.  Reading music is a little straining on new eyes :)  Anyways, it was pretty nice playing for a little while yesterday.  I didn't sound very good because I hadn't played in so long, but it got better.

Now I'm just rambling.  I suppose it's time to do work.  *sigh*.

Love,

Nina