Anne, who graciously linked to me the other day, got me thinking about my appearance because she always looks so sassy with her great hair and cute accessories. I, meanwhile, have been shlubbing around with too-long hair, “looking like a damn hippie,” according to Rob, and generally not giving a damn about whether or not I look nice – my main concern being “does this t-shirt have a stain on it?”

*sigh*

So I was thinking about this while I was going over to see my hairdresser, and when I got there I said, “you know what, Jackie? Just cut it all off. I trust you.” And she whooped and said yay, and I squealed like a… like an I-don’t-know-what, really… but I squealed, and she set to work on cutting my hair down to about an inch long, all over my head. And gave me bangs – little ones that swoosh to the side! And you know what? I f*cking LOVE IT!

Two days later, I’m putting together different, more daring outfits, looking awesome, and wearing ridiculous shoes. This is where the stupid part comes in.

See, I can’t wear ridiculous shoes anymore. I really can’t. They’re bad for my feet, my back, my calves, and thus, my running. But do I learn from this? Do I say, “no, Annalisa, you cannot wear 3″ stacked-heel, navy suede boots with tan leather piping that are oh-so-cute but totally impractical and will make your bursitis worse and worse and worse?”

The answer is No. I do not say that. I wear them anyway and my feet hurt. Because I am stupid.

So with that, I am off to change into my “emergency shoes” – my not nearly as cute, but still kind of cool green & blue retro Saucony’s, and schedule an appointment with my podiatrist for a cortisone shot.

The good: I had fun, ran with my friend Elissa, no blisters, ran the whole thing without walking even 1 step, and beat my 2004 time by 7 minutes!

The bad: I didn’t meet my goal time, and I am a slow, slow runner.

Chip time: 1:09:34

Elissa and I met up at Park Street Station at around 10:30 and then walked around for a while, getting some free samples at the booths, pinning our numbers on and then stripping off layers before checking our bags. We hit the porta-potties a few times, donned our trash bags over our singlets, and tried to stay warm until the start. While Chicago was having record heat the day before, it was raining and cold the morning of our race.

At 11:30, we made our way over to the start and ran into my friend Caitlin, which was a nice surprise. Caitlin had her game face on and she was ready to rock Tufts as a warm up for her half (Baystate) in a few weeks. We ditched our trashbags in a nearby trash barrel and lined up just ahead of our actual pace group (they lump 10:00 and over together, which includes strollers and all the walkers, so we lined up at the back of the 9:00 group). After a bunch of announcements that we could only somewhat hear, a choral group sang the national anthem and then the horn sounded and we were off… walking. :) About 1:40 later, we crossed the starting line and I started my watch.

Tufts is, by far, my favorite course. It runs down Charles Street in Beacon Hill, over the Longfellow bridge into Cambridge, then down Memorial Drive along the river. After the turnaround at the BU bridge, runners come back up Mem Drive and then cross the Mass Ave Bridge, then run down Commonwealth Ave and around the public garden to the finish. It’s a very scenic course and there are not that many hills on it. We saw Deena Kastor coming back as we were on the outbound side of Mem Drive. That was cool. Everyone whoops it up when you run under the bridges, too, especially the HS XC teams, who are about as adorable as you can get.

Elissa said she tends to go out too fast and then has to walk, so I tried to pace us at around 11:00. With all the traffic, we got jammed up the first mile and ended up running at about 11:30, but made up the time later. We talked some and tried to take it easy and have fun. The miles kind of flew by and all I could think about was how much easier it was than the last time I ran it, in 2004, when I knew nothing about pacing and ended up having to walk a few times. It was also nice having someone to run with, as I’m so used to running alone, or with my iPod. Elissa said she’s never run without hers, so I think us running together was a good thing, although the chatting didn’t help with our pace, which averaged about 11:10 – 11:15 over the next 5 miles.

We finally hit the second turnaround and headed across the Mass Ave Bridge. I was starting to feel tired (about mile 4.5) but kept trucking along and made Elissa laugh a few times by being a goofball. We turned onto Comm Ave and she got a second wind and started to speed up. I told her to go and I’d meet her at the finish.

I ran the last mile confidently. I was so happy to know I would finish strong and beat my time from 2004. At the end of Comm Ave, a bunch of boys, maybe 8 or 9 years old were holding their hands out, yelling “FREE HIGH FIVES” and slapping the hands of all the women that ran by. They were a riot. I was laughing about that the rest of the way in. On the final stretch, I turned it on started passing people. I crossed the line and there was Elissa, who had finished about a minute ahead of me.

We walked down the finishing chute area, grabbed some water and stuff, removed our chips, and then went to stand in the long-ass line to get our bags. She was elated about her race, and that made me really happy.

I’m not a fast runner, but I was really proud of my performance that day. And I’m looking forward to the Firefighter’s 10K that we are doing on the 21st!

Another 6 miler on Saturday, and another blister – a bigger one, this time. I am going to try lacing up my shoes a bit tighter and applying some Body Glide this week, because this is pissing me off. Also, Rob is sick, and while I seem to have escaped the full blown cold, I am fearful that it will get me in the end.

Every little sniffle, the morning stuffiness that comes with fall, the sore throat that goes away once I’ve been up for a while — all are causing me to panic. It’s almost comical… except that it isn’t. It SO isn’t. And I don’t have time to be sick and sitting around playing Halo 3 all the time, like SOME people. Ahem.

My class is going OK. I finished up my first assignment and will proof read it again tonight before sending it in. Yes, I send my assignments to the professor via email. That, to me, seems so modern and high tech in the context of school, which used to be all about formatting your document and printing it out, putting it in a special sleeve thingy and handing it in at a specific day and time. Ah, the old fashioned days. How quaint. :)

But yes. School and running, and walking the dog. That is pretty much my life. And it’s a good life. I’m happy. I feel like I’m accomplishing some things that I’ve wanted to do for some time. I don’t feel stuck any longer, and that is very much a good thing.