An Impact

Oh man what a day.  I have been through an abundance of emotions from sheer frustration, to joy, to anger, to sadness and the like.  I can’t help but share it with you all of course.  We’ll start off light hearted though shall we?

I woke this morning with a bit of a heavy heart.  Why?  Because I didn’t think I was gonna do what needed to be done: 12 miles on the treadmill.  Oh how I loathe that blasted piece of machinery, but if it’s gonna help me train without being killed in the below 30*F with wind blowing at 20+mph then so be it.  But I knew it would be hard.

So, like any other morning of a long run, I had a small bowl of cereal to get me pumped up for the run.  PB is hiding under there somewhere.

I actually thought about running in the cold, wind and snow and had some of my cold weather gear on but as soon as I started to really hear the wind, I decided it wasn’t worth hurting myself (I still don’t have all the winter weather gear I need) so I put on the shorts, tank and headed to the gym.

I got there around 8.30 and hardly anyone was there.  I had the intention of running yesterday but with it being the new year, I knew a lot of people would be there so I didn’t want to have to fight for a treadmill.  So today, I brought along a water bottle, an electrolyte drink, Gu Chomps, sweat rag and tunes and set out for 12 miles…within a 4 foot radius of myself.

I ain’t gonna lie, I wanted to die within the first 5 miles.  Not because I was tired, as I was running at 6.0mph because I was afraid for my knee (can you believe the treadmill upsets my knee?  strange, most people say it helps) but because I felt like I was going so much faster, than more time had lapsed, and I’d only gone that far.  I fought this battle for another 4 miles but then finally just zoned totally out and finished the run pumping the speed all the way up to 6.7 by the end!  I still had enough juice in me if I could believe it!

I finished the run in just under 2 hours, totally giving the woman running next to me a heart attack when she saw my stats (“OMG I can’t believe you ran 12 miles!?”) and hurried home to get out of my sweat drenched clothes and the cold.  It was painful just running from the car to the apt (don’t worry, I was wearing a jacket and pants over the workout gear!) but as soon as I got inside I jumped in the shower to warm up.  Now I know that many people jump straight into an ice bath after a long run but I’ve come to realize that they don’t do anything for me, but that stretching is what makes or breaks my muscles later that day and thereafter.  15 minutes of good stretching and I’m good to go!!!

I had to have my post run staple and dove into my favorite oats.  Hey, I’ve been varying up the breakfast foods lately, so don’t hate!  Besides, it keeps me full and satisfied…especially with the pb pockets I created for surprise.  Best.parts.Ever.

Then, I proceeded to watch this fall…and blanket the town.

Those oats were eaten quite late so I had an afternoon snack of one of my blackberry oatmeal bars with a banana I forgot to picture, and some Sleigh Ride Tea.  Nice and piping hot!

Then I went ahead to watch on of the most heart wrenching movies/documentaries I’ve ever seen…but I’ll get to that in a bit.

When the movie finished I was hangry and dove into a very fast microwaved dinner.  Try leftover multigrain rice medley, broccoli, curry cauliflower, a Dr. Praeger’s Burger and an egg and an egg white.  All together now!

I finished up the night with my chocolate fix for the day, and so tasty it was.  I made some TJ’s Chocolate Pudding with USVAB and threw in a slice of banana bread for texture…oh how I love thee.  Anything banana goes well with chocolate…makes me wish it were summer and I could make my own frozen bananas again.

But now, now is the time to discuss why today really racked the emotional side of me:

I can’t even begin to describe the pain I felt to my core while I watched The Cove.  Let me explain.

As you know, I’m a huge fan, advocate and researcher when it comes to birds.  I love all different kinds, but am especially fond of hummingbirds and hawks.  I have spent the past four years studying, volunteering and working towards their protection, conservation, perservation of their habitats and have a grand ol’ time with it all.  But before that, I was in love with something else, which has never really left me: Marine Life.

If you were to ask my parents, I was obsessed with the environment for a long time before I wen to college.  My room was constantly covered in pictures and posters of all sorts of marine life and I couldn’t get enough of it.  To this day, I still have the folder where I collected every newspaper article posted in my local paper about anything whale, dolphin or otter related.  I was in love.  I wanted so badly to learn about them and read tons of book, searched the internet and even declared my major of Marine Science before I even started college.

(Source)

Now even though I didn’t end up getting a degree in Marine Science and instead a more general degree of Environmental Studies, there is no way that I forgot about my beloved whales and dolphins.  They still hold a very special place in my heart.  I even spent most of my Spring Semester Senior year doing a research paper for my International Law class on the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and it’s regulations for Japan, Russia, the Native Americans and other countries.  It broke my heart then to learn about these natural beauties being taken out of their homes for food or entertainment (which was also when I vowed never to go to another marine park for as long as I live) when there are so few of them left.

That paper was one of the big reasons, along with studying abroad in Australia, to why I raised money for T.R.E.A.T. and their rainforest restoration projects.  I also donated money to foundations like the WWF, the Ocean Conservancy, The Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy and many more.  Even though they were small donations (broke college student at the time) it helped me feel like I could make some sort of difference.

Watching The Cove tonight reminded me of how I need to be more of an advocate and to participate in helping save the environment directly.  There is only so much I can do by sitting around and watching it happen in the news and theater.  It makes me cry and creates a wonder of whether my children will ever be able to see these creatures in the wild when they’re old enough to experience it.

So of course I’m still going to do my bird fundraiser during the SD Marathon, but want to do more…for so many others!  I need to get my body moving and braining working on ways to do this!

If you could help out the environment, what would you most want to do?  Which organization or endangered species/environment would you want to help the most?  How would you want to go about it?