Author: thehungryrunnergirl

Goodbye, OVS.

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Wow. Did this year just end?

I’m sitting in my empty room on a sunny day before graduation, looking outside of my window thinking how OVS made me a happy person.

It’s still unbelievable that I’m here today at Ojai Valley School. Everything just happened all of a sudden in one week during last summer after I met Mr.Alvarez.

First of all, Mr.Alvarez. I don’t know how to thank you. You made my year. If I wouldn’t have met you, I would’ve stucked in New Hampshire being cold, wondering why I run and when and where I can be happy. It’s so strange that you know me very well; you knew I was scared to race, you knew I had to slow down and take one step at a time. I really couldn’t have achieved anything this year without you. You’re the best coach I’ve ever had, and it’s such a blessing to meet you. I will never forget the lessons you taught me, and in college, I want you to be at the Olympic trials in 2016.

Second of all, Serry. You have no idea how much you influenced me. When I first met you, I thought you were just being super nice because I was new to this school but you never changed and found out that you’re just nice from the bottom of your heart. And we have the exact same humor. Everyday, every morning, after lunch, before dinner, we never stopped laughing at the lamest jokes. At that moment, I realized that I’ve met the person who I will keep in touch for the rest of my life. I’m so fortunate that I could have you as a roommate. And I love you so much.

Third of all, all my friends at OVS. Seriously, I’ve never seen a group of people being very friendly and super nice. I am not even exaggerating but when I first came here, I couldn’t believe how nice they are. I was actually wondering why they’re so nice to me… but that’s OVS.

I really can’t express how fortunate I am to come here.

I just realized that this is the last blog of the year, and I think this is the last assignment of high school…

I love you OVS. You changed me and you made me so happy as a person.

A week without running

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… is killing me.

Track season ended so my college coach told me to take 10 days off of running. A lot of runners take a couple days off between the seasons to mentally and physically rest.

For the first 3 days, I was all down from the last race. After that, I was a little happy that I have more free time but today is my 7th day without running and it’s literally killing me. I’m getting stressed out and I don’t feel like I’m alive.

I can feel that I lost muscles. I have way less appetite from not working out. It’s just so strange; The last time I stopped running for a week was probably more than 4 years ago.

3 more days and I can run again!!! But I’m starting the workouts given from my college coach… I can’t believe the next race I’m running is a college cross country race… I will be the youngest and will be competing with college runners… Nervous but exciting. I have no idea what my next 4 years of running would be like.

the best proposal

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So I was on yahoo.com this morning and I found the cutest video. So I’d like to share.He is so creative and cute!!! This is like a movie and she is so lucky!!!

Oh, and of course she said yes.

I don’t know what getting married or being proposed feel like, but it’s one of the life-time changing moments because you decide that you will be together with the person who you love for the rest of your life. And I think that’s just so wonderful.

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”

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Last Saturday, I had my last race of high school. I still can’t believe it’s over.

It wasn’t my best race. I was so overwhelmed with the atmosphere and I lost confidence in myself. I realized that I am still an inexperienced runner.

Afterwards, I was very disappointed in myself for finishing the season like this. I wish I could just rewind time…

But one thing I can say in spite of my performance, is that I made every effort since last summer and I never gave up. I kept my eyes on my goals. I trained and thought about running everyday like I madly fell in love.

So now I want to work to be mentally stronger because long distance running is more than 50% mental.

Running has always been a great teacher in my life and allowed me to grow as a person. I met a lot of people who inspired me. Whether I loose or fail, I get up again, look back at what I could’ve done better and start running again. I gain toughness and guts from tolerating the pain during practices.

This year was very meaningful to me. I am so lucky to have met Mr. Alvarez. I couldn’t have achieved what I did this year without him. He has given me some awesome running experiences.

This is not the end, but just the beginning. I have 4 more years of running in college and right now I don’t see limits.

So I want to say, Mr. Alvarez thank you thank you thank you so much for everything. You are my two third brother hahaha!

I won’t be sad because it’s over, I am happy for what happened and appreciate god and people who supported me.

CIF preliminaries!

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Last Saturday was CIF Southern section division 4 preliminaries track meet at Carpinteria high school. It was pretty cold and cloudy, but perfect for running.

I ran the 1600 at 1 O’clock, and the 800 at around 3 O’clock. There were so many schools there which made me nervous. However, in the 1600 I could run my hardest and I was satisfied with what I ran. In the 800, I feel like I should’ve done better, but I think I did my best, so it’s all good.

I’d like to thank (krapyrres) and (r3t5nom) so much for coming and cheering me on. You have no idea how much it helped me and pumped me up.

Thank you so much for (thebrownguy) for taking me there and calming me down.

One more to go!

Photo credit : (r3t5nom)

Gastric acid

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Gastric acid helps digest food we eat, control propagation of viruses. The body secretes 0.5 liter of it, which is the size of 500ml bottle for every meal. When you’re hungry, its acidity becomes very strong that it can even melt metals!!!

But if the acid could melt metals, how does the stomach membrane remain unhurt? It’s because when the acid is secreted, simultaneously it secretes viscous liquid to make a protection of the surface. The viscous liquid is alkalinity, which neutralize the acid!

Makes sense!

League final

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Last Wednesday, the Thacher School held the final league meet for track and field. The weather was perfect for racing; cloudy but not too cold, about 68 degrees. Starting from 4 x 100m relay, which Ojai Valley School took the 2nd place! I ran the 800m, 1600m, 3200m and the 4 x 400m relay. There’s only about half an hour to 50 minutes between the events, so I had to recover as soon as possible. I was exhausted by the end of the day, but I had so much fun.

There were runners from Cate, Thacher, Providence Hall and us, Ojai Valley School. It was such an exciting meet! My favorite event was 4 x 400 relay, which was my first and last relay of the season.

Nice job OVS track team!

Thank you for all the people who came to watch and support us!

Time flies

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Dang. It’s already spring break. Which means, 6 weeks already passed since the last break. I can’t believe it.

After this 10 day break and 6 weeks of school, I’m going to graduate. I feel like it’s still the middle of the year.

It’s so sad to think that this is my first and last year at Ojai Valley School. I really wish I could’ve come earlier.

I believe in destiny. I think I was meant to meet thebrownguy, krapyrres, therightliberal and other great people here.

Every time I listen to Samson, which my roommate krapyrres sang at the begging of the year, it makes me miss OVS.

You have no idea how much fun I’ve had here, and how fortunate I am to be a part of OVS.. I wish I could stop time, so I could stay at OVS longer. People are just way too nice.

Save the dogs and cats of Japan

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In Japan, all the street dogs and cats, the ones that get lost are picked up and sent to public animal health centers. Some of them were sent because their owners couldn’t handle them anymore.

Moreover, the dogs and cats never know what’s going to happen.

Normally, they have 3 days to wait for their owners’ call, or to look for new owners.

If the dogs and cats can’t find a new family or their old owners, they get killed. It is brutal. But the way they kill is more cruel. They put them into boxes and make the boxes full of carbon dioxide and wait until they die… More than 1000 dogs and cats are killed per day.

How brutal is that? United States protect animals very thoroughly and they can arrest animal abusers. However in Japan, it is easy for animal abusers and shelters get away from being arrested …

I wish Japan was more protective and caring towards animals especially dogs and cats. I hope the number of pets being killed will decrease in the future.

Concentration

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When you’re driving, taking a test, in class getting sleepy… You need to concentrate on what you’re doing but you can’t and everybody experiences that all the time.

However, there’s one thing you can do quickly to refocus.

Put your hand between your ears, on your chin and feel for the masticatory muscle. Then start moving the muscle. You don’t have to open your mouth but start trying to chew. Repeat for 30 to 50 times. You’ll feel your brain refocusing.

But… why? There’s a cluster of veins that sends blood to your brain which is located near the masticatory muscle and every time the muscle contracts by chewing, the veins are pushed and blood rapidly will be sent to your brain. Also, extra oxygen and glucose are sent to brain so you can concentrate more.