Externing, Race Medals, and Abs by April Challenge

That first day of school feeling
Yesterday was the first day of my spring term externship. After 18 straight years of school, I really couldn't stand another term only in the classroom, so I interviewed for an intern program at a regulatory agency in the fall. I ended up getting an offer for a division that I'm very interested in! Since my externship is subject to confidentiality rules, I can't really talk about what I'm doing, but the project I've been set up with is interesting so I'm looking forward to working there two days a week.

Despite not being nervous about starting since I already have a job offer post-graduation, I still had those first day jitters and had a hard time sleeping last night. Well, one of my cats may also be to blame... She's been very needy since I got back, meowing loudly for attention. She's also been kneady -- she kneads me if I'm sleeping and not giving her the proper amount of attention. This does not make for a restful night.

Miss Kneady
this pic cracks me up, she looks like she's posing for her  nude portrait a la Rose from Titanic

My school schedule is actually pretty light for my last term since I'm externing. I have busy Fridays and two evening classes, but Mondays and Wednesdays I have lots of time to work on my pro bono projects, train for all those half-marathons I'm signed up for, and try to take advantage of my last few months of studenthood before I'm a working girl permanently.

It's too bad that people tend to have plenty of free time when they have no money, and then when they're working and making money they have no free time. Someone needs to work on that... I guess that's what retirement is for! Is it weird that one reason I eat (relatively) healthy and work out is so that I'll be in good shape and able to enjoy my retirement? I've always planned too far ahead, but this might be extreme even for me.

My first medal!

I realized I totally forgot to post this when I recapped the New Year's Eve Half-Marathon! I guess the overall rottenness of the race made me forget the fact that I'd gotten my first race medal. The medal was actually awesome because... there's a mountain on it (that's Mt Baker). But as if that wasn't awesome enough?

There is a sasquatch on my medal!!! This may totally make up for the shitty race. Also, I lost my Oiselle runfinity scarf at the race, and the race coordinator drove to meet me two weeks later to make sure I got it back. Local races are great, y'all.

Abs by April Challenge

Megan over at Run Like a Grl is coordinating a fun core-centric challenge called Abs by April. I've been neglecting my core over the past few months so I'm participating to try to change that! This week's challenge is to do a plank every day (AKA "plankaday").

I started on Monday and made it to 2:00 by playing with my phone and checking Twitter. Tuesday I got to 2:10 after completing my speed workout for the week. Woot! My goal is to be able to do a 5:00 plank by April! Let me know if  you decide to do it, too, and we can encourage each other. Use the hashtag #AbsByApril to tweet your progress!


Are you going to join the Abs by April challenge? What's your favorite race medal you've received? How often do you get that first-day-of-school feeling?