A Decision Has Been Made

First of all, I want to say thank you to my devoted readers. I started this blog when I started training for my first half-marathon.  I had planned to keep this blog devoted to fitness, working out, being healthy, and documenting all the ups and downs of training for a long distance race.  After I trained for my first half-marathon, I was injured from training so fast that I was not in the mood to run another race anytime soon.  Then one year later, I ran in my second half-marathon.  I wrote about training some of the time but my blog was mostly filled with posts about my boring life.  And yet you all continued to follow me and my obnoxious I-Know-All blog posts.  Thank you for continuing to read!

Today, I write to inform you all that I will be following my title and topic a little bit more closely than you are use too.  This blog was started with one goal in mind: to one day run a full marathon.  With polite bragging from some of my crazy running friends, my competitive spirit got the best of me and I have decided I too am capable of running a full marathon.  Since I have moved to Washington, DC my miles have decreased but my heart has gotten stronger for the love of running.  If I wanted to there are races every weekend within driving distance that offer all different distance races.  It is hard to not want to join in on all the fun (for me, at least).

The marathon I have committed to running is the Rock N Roll Marathon in Washington DC on March 16, 2013.  Yes this is far away, date wise, but it is right around the corner with the 22 week training program I have decided to train with.  This is going to be a long, grueling road.  I will start training in October with this 22 week program.  Until then, I need to build up to the mileage it starts with in order to keep up with the program.

I have read a Marathon Training for Dummies book twice now.  Along with millions of running blogs, running articles, and many more running tips.  The first rule of thumb when training for a marathon is support.  You have to have support from your family, friends, and loved ones in order to complete this journey.  There is only so much the runner can do for his or her self to keep their mind, body, and soul into running 26.2 miles!!  It will take a lot of personal time to run the distances required of the training program.  That time could be spent with family and friends but instead I'll be running.  Since I am in DC, mainly by myself, I think this is the perfect time to do it.  But I will need your help.  The more I put my end goal out there, the more likely I will be able to complete it.  I wanted to write this blog post so you all know 1. where the direction of this blog will be for the next year and 2. to ask for your support while I strive to do what less than 1% of the US has already done.  Thank you in advance for your support.  I hope you will follow my journey and share with your friends.

Friends

Friends will come and go but your true friends will always be there for you.

College has been an amazing experience for me and it still isn't over.  I didn't have many "true" friends in high school.  There were a few that were always there for me in my lowest times and can I just say high school had some of the lowest times of my life.  But most of those friends were either younger or older so my senior year was a very lonely year for me.  I waited for months and months to finally get the letter saying I would be attending Auburn University.  When that letter finally came, all I could think about was getting out of that awful town and moving.  I knew that once I came to Auburn my whole life would change and man did it change.  My first week at Auburn I got into a minor car wreck.  It was pouring down rain and I had NO ONE to call but my mother who couldn't do anything for me two hours away.  Thankfully, a few days later, I met a girl who changed my life and made me realize what a true friend was.  Soon after that, I met six more girls that formed my support system.

These girls mean the world to me and without them I wouldn't be where I am today.  We have been through some troubled times, we have been through some silent periods, but no matter how bad things got or how long we had been without talking we picked right back up where we left off of being best friends.

I write this short little blog to say that you cannot get through life without friends.  You may think it's hard to find friends.  You may think that you don't have any true friends.  But if you ever have a problem and you call that person you think "isn't a friend" and they are there for you in the waiting room of a hospital because you have flipped your car and your parents are driving two hours to make sure you are alive...  That is a true friend.  That is who will always be with you no matter what.  Through all the guys you will cry your eyes out over, for all the not so true friends stabbing you in the back, and for all those happy times, like a 21st birthday.  They will never disappoint.  Count your blessings.  Most people aren't even blessed enough to even have one true friend and I can say I have eleven girls who will always be there for me.

-Kayla

Nothing to Something

I have erased the first line to this blog probably six or more times.  I don't have anything important to talk about (do I ever?) today but felt like blogging.  It's probably because I'm postponing my homework.  Auburn has cancelled class for tomorrow due to a winter storm advisory.  Personally I think they knew nobody was going to come anyway because of the National Championship but I appreciate them finally canceling.

The topic the last few days with some of my friends is how there have got to be some really messed up people in this world.  For the past couple of days that thought just keeps reoccurring and popping up everywhere.  I watched Sister, Sister yesterday and the episode was about people pretending to be someone they weren't on the internet.  The night before I was flipping through the channels to find the movie The Last House on the Left. Though I have never seen it, because I hate scary movies, my friends were telling me about how messed up it is.  Last night, my friends and I watched this awesome movie called Lord of Wars with Nicholas Cage.  While it was a pretty awesome movie, it was very disturbing to know that this stuff really happens.

It got me thinking about how there are some extremely messed up people in this world.  The people that come up with these movie plots and then the people that don't even come up with it but actually do it and then the movie ends up based on true events, are so far out there that it's hard to think about people actually doing crazy things like rape, robbery, killing, etc.  I like to give most people the benefit of the doubt which is not always a good thing.  A lot of my friends like to call me naive and are for the most part right.  

I am an internet queen! I love social networking, blogging, YouTubing, etc. etc.  My parents use to tell me all the time, "Be careful what you put out there.  There are some creepy people in this world." It never really occurred to me that this kind of stuff can happen to anyone.  I see myself as invincible, but so does every other teenager.  Well seeing how I'm 21 now, it's time I start wising up.  People get raped everyday, people get stalked everyday, people die everyday because of crooked people.  I can't prevent myself from dying but I can protect myself enough to live my life.  

I know this is a very different blog for me but I guess it was just what was on my mind.  Be careful out there and know that while you may be a good person there are some seriously crazy people in this world.  I may only be 21 but I have started to see just how crazy this world really is.  Guard yourself and don't be naive enough to think that nothing will happen to you because in the blink of an eye your world can change drastically!

Sincerely,

Kayla

College Teachings

It's been a crazy few days.  I can't seem to get my thoughts straight.  This semester I have been very distant from my friends and super close with my boyfriend and his friends.  While boys are nice, a girl has always got to have her girlfriends around for some things.  I reconnected with a lot of my close friends after finals.  It's like we hadn't been apart this whole semester.  We were right back to cutting up and gossiping just like we always do.  Girls nights are a must next semester.  Monday nights were so relieving with them.

While I have spent some time away from the girls and spent a lot more time with my boyfriend and his friends I can't say it's a bad thing.  They are some of the most genuinely nice guys a girl could ever have in her life.  They tolerated me through thick and thin.  I have learned to appreciate nice people because their aren't many of them out there.

Coming home is always a joy because I am such a family person.  My brother had to head back to Auburn the day I got home from Auburn so we won't see each other until a day or so before Christmas and then I leave for Jamaica.  My mom and me are so much alike.  We were really close in high school and have stayed closer through college as well.  My dad and I were not close in high school.  I got on his nerves!! Thankfully, college has opened my eyes to make me realize how important a father/daughter relationship is.  I need to call him more because I can't imagine not having him there to talk to.  My sister and I are at two different places in our lives right now.  I love her to death and hate that we can't see eye to eye.  Hopefully we will both mature into civil adults and be like a sister relationship should be.

Like I said, I love my family very much I just hate the pressure we put on each other sometimes.  Everyone expects so much from everyone and it's so hard to make them happy.  Growing up has been a hard lesson but I've enjoyed the battles I have faced (not many yet, but I feel them coming).  I have learned that you have to make decisions on your own and for your life.  Being an adult means that it's your life, not anyone else's.  If you go through life making decisions for everyone else's sake you will be miserable.  I've also learned that your parents really do know what they are talking about (DANG, I'm that girl! My grandparents always said I would be).  I turn to my parents for advice on almost everything.  I try and talk to my parents daily just to see if there is anything else I can learn from them that day. And definitely not the only other thing I learned but the most important thing.  Trust.  People are not out to get you (most of the time the aren't at least).  You don't have to put up a wall and tear people down just to get a reaction out of them.  When people say they love you, they actually mean it.  When people say, I'll be there for you whenever you need me, they really will be.

It's amazing how much college teaches you, outside of your major.  Life lessons are some of the best things I will take away from college.  Moving on and discovering different things is what's going to make you who you are.  Without that adventure you will always be that high schooler that thought they were the best thing to walk the campus.  You will never understand what the real world has in store for anyone willing to embark on it.  Take a chance and discover life.  It's pretty amazing what will happen when you just open your eyes.

Until next time,
K