I haven’t done a general, life-type post in a while… mostly because my life right now consists mainly of running, working, and sleeping. Here are things I’ve been up to in the little smidges of time that I’m not doing one of those things. I’m linking up with Amanda for Thinking Out Loud to catch you up on the little bits of life lately…

1. Feeling old. My big brother is engaged. Two of my best friends are pregnant (on purpose). I told a student he couldn’t use 9/11 for the “current events” portion of a project because it was too long ago for him to remember.  And an assignment for kids in the college-level intro-to-research class I teach was to research what happened on the day they were born. Their findings included such gems as the OJ Simpson trial,  The Spice Girls releasing an album, and people wearing baggy pants and listening to portable CD players. Or, you know, my early adolescence.
   
   And Titanic came out, and we all mooned over Leo…
2. New diet. I finally decided to stop whining about feeling crummy all the time and do something about it, so I went to a dietitian last Friday. She put me on a low-FODMAP diet. If you’re not familiar with the acronym, it stands for a bunch of different types of naturally-occurring sugars that some people can’t tolerate. We’re eliminating those sugars from my diet to see if that helps. Among things I can’t eat right now: beans, wheat, dried fruit, apples, broccoli, onions, garlic, legumes, almonds, pears, stone fruit, soy, beets, cabbage, mushrooms…. She looked at my food log and said, “So… basically everything you ate yesterday.” But the strict elimination phase only lasts a few weeks, and then we’ll start reintroducing different things to see what I can tolerate. And if it helps, I don’t care if I can’t eat any of those things again. I just want to feel better.
3. Making vacation plans. J and I have booked a week-long Caribbean cruise for this summer! Sure, it’s still several months away, but I’m still excited.
   
   Toot Toot! That’ll be us soon! (image source)
4. And not making running plans. I’m halfway through this training cycle, and honestly, I’m already a little burned out. I want to try to kill it in Lincoln, and then spend the summer running whatever I want, doing whatever other workouts I want, and getting outside as much as possible — without a training plan.
5. But kind of toying with the idea of an ultra. Yes, this contradicts what I just said. But trails are fun (and I like fun) and people like Logan and Heidi tempt me every time I read their blogs. AND I just found out that Chase the Moon (which we did last year) and the Wild West Relay (which I’ve heard is a kick) are BOTH the weekend that I turn 30. Those are both relays, too, so  I wouldn’t actually have to run an ultra…

That’s about it in my world right now. What’s new in yours?