#40

I spent the weekend up north visiting an uncle who was in the hospital. I also picked up my grandfather who flew in to help. In between hospital visits, I squeezed in my 40th half marathon on a beautiful course with rolling hills. I am still running very slowly and my finish time was a nightmare.

But I did get to run with Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block fame. He was standing right next to me in the starting chute and I heard all these cameras go off and the announcer say that Joey McIntyre is here to run a half marathon. Being the perpetual junior higher, I kept yelling "Joey McIntyre, I love you" and chasing him down for the first mile. This only made him run faster, as in faster away from me.

I like to think I personally got Joey McIntyre his best half marathon time. You're welcome Joey! I think you owe me a thank you letter complete with an autograph.

On a side note, I am in love with someone else. His name is Tom Hardy and there is a nice youtube clip of him here. I've really liked him since I first saw him in Inception, but now I saw him in This Means War, which is my new favorite movie--all because of him. I am a huge sucker for accents.

Where are these beautiful men??? Not hanging around me, that's for sure--actually they are even running away from me.

#39

I finished my 39th half marathon this weekend on a hilly course. I am still not running well. My dad thinks it is all mental. I think he is 50% right. I think half is mental and half is I've lost my ability to run. I'm just not in shape. It took me over 40 minutes off of a PR to finish. Granted it was a tough course, but I'd give myself 20 minutes tops off my PR pace at worst.

Onto sadder news, my favorite singer of all time passed away. Whitney Houston has been and will always remain my favorite singer. The first record-yes, record-I owned was Whitney Houston's I Want to Dance with Somebody. I uploaded an image. My favorite song of all time is the Greatest Love of All.

Very few people are blessed with such talent and I'm glad that Whitney Houston shared hers with the world. Her music is timeless.

RIP.

#37 and #38

I ran half marathon #37 and #38 less than 24 hours apart. #37 was on a cold, wet morning in Temecula, CA through vineyards and started at a winery. Too bad we had to run through mud and trails in a rainstorm. #38 was in Pasadena, CA and was almost a complete trail run up a very high hill that I had to climb. It was more of a hiking/running half marathon. I am still running horribly and got my worst times. I struggle to run at all. My dad thinks it's all mental. It think he's right. It's hard to watch my racing times fall to over 35 minutes of what I am used to finishing. It's depressing.

I did go to LA and did touristy things after my races.

Project Jennifer 2012

I decided 2012 would be known as Project Jennifer. I would be more social, get back into running shape, take my vitamins and have happy things happen to me. Because I've had enough of bad things.

On New Year’s Eve, I went to California Disney Adventure Park, Disneyland’s other park. Because it was so crowded at Disneyland, Disney offered a free day pass to use at Disneyland anytime in the month of January if you bought a one-day pass to Adventure Park. I was already planning to go to the Adventure Park, so that was a nice surprise. It wasn’t even 2012 and already good things were happening.

Then I got sick and had to go to the first aid center for medication. Then despite being sick, I ate a hot dog and went on a roller coaster—and got more sick. And on the roller coaster I lost my hair band.

Then I drove home at midnight down to San Diego in the deepest fog I’ve ever seen. My visibility was two feet. I’ve driven in blizzards with better visibility. I ended up accidentally driving off the freeway and onto an exit because I couldn’t see the road. I got back onto the freeway and drove 2 miles/hour until I found another car driving with its hazard lights on. So I followed him for 10 miles, but then he took off on another freeway. I was totally stuck. It was like driving through a cloud. I found my way down to a city and got off the exit, but couldn’t see anything. I drove right up to a brick wall because I didn’t even see it. I finally found a sign for a motel, which was super seedy.

But it said “Vacancy” and all I wanted was to wait out the fog.

I asked for a room, got to the room, only to discover it was occupied by squatters. So I went back to the front desk and said there were people in the room. The guy called the room and someone picked up. Obviously they aren’t intelligent squatters. He then called the police and I was just standing there wanting a room. I finally got a room only to find a prostitute in front of my room. So I had to go around her. Turns out she was in the room next to mine and had plenty of work to do…all night long. So I slept with the TV on. I was afraid to use the bathroom because I was afraid of getting an STD. It was gross.

The next morning I got back on the freeway and felt super sick. There was carnage and dead animals all over the freeway, obviously hit from people who couldn’t see them in the fog.

Welcome to 2012.

Then I got a phone call from NYC producers asking if I’d be interested in taking my case from small claims court, in which I am suing a guy over spilling liquid and breaking my laptop, to reality court TV. That is my dating life. Entertainment for the masses.
And I’ve been sick for 6 days straight.

I need to rename Project Jennifer. Any ideas?

Happy Holidays!

I've been feeling particularly un-Christmasy this Christmas season. I think it is because it's my first Christmas completely away from any type of family. So to lift my holiday-plagued spirits, I went to the best place I could think of--the happiest place on earth. Disneyland had the most beautiful decorations and rides that were transformed into a holiday theme. A fireworks show at night was set to Christmas music and it snowed on Main Street. It was magical.

The next day I watched a boat parade. The harbor shined with plenty of lights strung along loads of boats.

I drank peppermint hot chocolate and tried to feel Christmasy. It worked for two days.

#35 and 36

I capped a year of racing--the worst racing year of my life. I've watched my fitness fade into oblivion and I don't know how to get it back. It's really frustrating. I'm struggling to run. It's like I've just stopped being able to do anything physically. I struggle just to run 2 miles.

I raced my 35th half marathon and got my 32nd worst time. I did my first nighttime race. It took place in Vegas, my first trip there since 2008. Race officials shut down the strip and we all raced down it at night under the bright lights. I did not run fast and the race was pretty disorganized, as you can read about here. But it was fun to run at night. My brother also happened to be in town, so I hung out with him. We even hit up a Vegas club right after the race.

Exactly seven days later I raced my 36th half marathon in Los Angeles county. It was a nice, pleasant course, but I finished 28 minutes over my usual time, making this my 31st worst time on a fairly easy course. It's sooooo frustrating. I don't know how to get my running back. But I did get my all-time favorite medal. It was called the Holiday Half Marathon and the medal was in the shape of a snowflake. Pretty cute. But where or where did my running ability go??? How am I running two minutes per mile slower than I've ever run, even slower than when I first started running. It leaves me feeling very depressed.

So that was 2011--20 races total and my slowest times ever.

Thanksgiving!

I spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix. Here are a few random things that have happened lately:

1. Some jerk spilled hot tea all over me and my expensive Mac laptop that I hadn't even paid off yet. I understand accidents happen, but it cost me over $800 to fix and the jerk split, never even apologizing. I hope karma comes back to him. So now I am going to be living in my car because I have no money to pay for it.

2. I got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the 610 Stompers were my favorite part.

3. I finally joined Skype. I'm a little late in the game, but it's really awesome.

4. I got to see some good friends in Phoenix and makes me realize how much I miss it.

Here is the new pride of America.