Heart

"There's no magic to running far or climbing Everest. Endurance is mental strength. It's all about heart." - Bear Grylls

Today's quote actually picked out by my dad! Well, this should have been yesterday's quote, but I totally forgot. That and I've been sick. As such, there is no news on the running front, since it's a particularly nasty chest cold and running generally requires breathing. So let's get down to the nitty-gritty of this past week, starting with Thursday of last week.

Thursday nights are swing dancing nights, and this past Thursday was a blast. It was the weekly dance before our big exchange, called the Champaign-Urbana Lindy Exchange (AKA CULX) so we had some new faces. The atmosphere was fun and energy was high. This lasted with me into Friday, which was interesting.

First of all, the McKeon family came down to show Megan the campus. I was really excited to see them and was happy to have the chance to show Meg my dorm. They were kind enough to bring down a bunch of food for me and to take me to dinner with them. Again, thank you SO much McKeon family! Once they'd hit the road, some girls from the knitting group invited me to go to Mexican food, but I'd already eaten.

...but hey, that doesn't mean I didn't go! I went and munched on chips and salsa. Unfortunately, while I was there drama reared it's ugly head. As some of you know I got in a bit of a disagreement a while back with a friend of mine and as such, she and her boyfriend haven't been on such good terms with me. But once I came back from Easter, we spoke and I thought we were good. In an effort to extend an olive branch, I posted on his facebook wall to congratulate him on an internship. The comments were deleted and I received a rather unpleasant text from him on the subject.

For everyone's sake, I'll leave it at that. But it really upset me and ended up kinda ruining my night. Which sucked, since the first dance of CULX was that evening with a live band! But I woke up the next morning determined to have a better day. As the evening dance drew near, drama reared its head again but I was able to put it behind me and dance from eight to midnight. It was an excellent evening.

I know that some of you will want to know what was said and the specifics of what happened, but I'll leave that for a private conversation. What was said was said, and I'm moving on from there. That's all I can do.

Sunday I woke up losing my voice, which sucked, but it was a quiet weekend. Monday evening was fun, since I went on my first bar crawl! The knitting group and I went to two bars in downtown Champaign, one called Blind Pig and the other called Radio Maria. It was a blast, since we sat around talking and knitting. Unfortunately, this did nothing for my cold, since on Tuesday I could not talk AT ALL. I was coughing up a lung and my throat was nothing but pain.

Today my voice is much better, but I'm still under the weather. Been chugging tea, sucking on Hals, and taking it easy otherwise. Last day of classes was today, which was nice. And tonight is the Allen Hall Boxer Run! Rest assured, cold or no cold, I'll be there to run. Finals begin on Friday, and then I'm home for summer!

This all leads back to the quote for today. These past weeks have been a test of endurance for me, and it's not necessarily about muscles. It's about the heart and will to keep going no matter how bad things can get. I'm so lucky to have such great friends and family to stand by me and encourage me through it all. I even got some flowers from my parents, and I LOVE them. What a great surprise. So much love goes out to my family, Ashlyn for our late night art chats, Bobert for being awesome, the entire knitting crew for assuring me that I'm not indeed crazy, Jimmy Trevor for our weekly chats, as well as Jenna, Hannah, and Audrey for great dinner company.

No sign of Clive since last week. But one of his smaller cousins hit me in the head on his way past. But I'm sure Clive is having fun wherever he is.

School reading is DONE! Holy cow! As such I've been able to start in on some non-school reading. Up first is The Mind Hunter by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker. Douglas is one of the men who began the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and is the inspiration for a character on the TV show Criminal Minds. So far it's fascinating, but this sort of thing is up my alley.

Weeks Till Summer: 1.5

Song of the Day: It Happens by Sugarland

<3 Erin