Is There A Fast Forward Button On This Thing?

And by thing, I mean life. And by fast forward, I mean to this weekend. I have quite a few fun things planned (maybe more things than the weekend has time for) to get me pumped up again. :) It is October  which = my favorite month…for now (not my birthday month but I don’t particularly like the month I was born in…it’s too cold to do anything!). There’s so much to do in the fall, especially when you live in the desert. Fall means cooler temps which (for me) means more hiking, running and basically any outdoor activity. Awesome. And this year, I have a whole new way to celebrate my favorite time of year…racing! 

First off, I am running a race this weekend! Nothing like a race to get me pumped up again. :)

Joann @ Teach. Mom. Run. (my sister!) convinced me to drive up to Phoenix (she knows I can't pass up a good race, even in the midst of school/work overload craziness) and run with her in the Race For The Cure. I love races with a cause, especially something that effects so many people. I recently found out (at my last Race For The Cure in April) that my grandmother was diagnosed with it. I never knew this! My sister told me it was probably because I was young. I figured no one wanted to trouble a kid with something so horrible. And then it just never came up again. Until last April. So, now I feel way more connected to this race and its cause. I'll let you know how it goes, of course.

This Friday night, I'm doing something really spooky. I'm getting together with a few friends and going to a haunted house! It's called Slaughterhouse and it has a really interesting location. The Tucson Screamers (our local haunted house operators) took over an old...wait for it....slaughterhouse. So, this old, abandoned slaughterhouse (called Farmer Johns) has now been transformed into a HUGE haunted house. AWESOME. I'm excited to go and I plan to take a lot of creepy photos (unless I'm too scared to take out my camera). 

This is what it used to look like. 

Lastly, for my activities this weekend is an extra credit geology field trip with my class. Not too exciting for the running world, but very exciting for someone who loves rocks. Like me. We'll be collecting samples in the field and crushing them later in the rock lab (sounds way cooler than it probably is). 

Now, I'm really REALLY excited for this announcement. That's why I saved it for last. 

RAGNAR RELAY!!!

That's right. Ragnar Relay Del Sol is almost here (or at least the early registration date is).
A team is forming and I'm in it and we need your help.
We need more runners.

Here's the quick and dirty version:
---Teams of 15.
---202 miles from Wickenburg to Tempe.
---Each runner will run three legs ranging between 3 to 8 miles.
---About 24 Hours.

That's the scoop so far! I'll put up some more details later.

Finally (I swear this is it), I went for a quick run today on the mill. I had about 20 minutes of free time and I took it!

Miles: 2.4
Time: 23:00
Avg. Pace: 9:36

It felt pretty good using my time wisely. :)