its october: post race stuff and things

its been about a month since i posted anything, so here we are.

my last entry here was when i deleted my meta account. safe to say, havent had any urges to go back, and my life is a little quieter now with another distraction eliminated. i love it. i do miss seeing updates from certain folks but at the end of the day, why the hell is anyone still using facebook? ugh haha. i dont want to get too much into it, just wanted to reaffirm my stance/position on my decision. i urge everyone to delete their meta account for the sake of sanity and privacy.

i completed all of the races that i signed up for 2026. in july, i ran the second race of the signature race series (the 5km "northwood hills foot race"). i was in top form for this one. i was running with 2 women (not intentionally, we were all going at the same pace give or take) and when it came down to the last leg with the finish line in sight, i was like "cmon! lets give it all we got!" then i ended up sprinting as much as i could. started to slow down and then one woman bolted past me! haha. then the second one passed me. not for long though because i threw everything on the line and bolted it passed her. it was such a close race! i found her after the race and congratulated her. i felt like i was gonna die; i was out of breath. if i was still smoking weed, i would have been fucked and not have been able to pull that off in the end.

in september, i ran the 4km "chippewa challenge" race. i was smart in selecting 4km; i predicted around this time that i would be tapering off from running every morning to every other day instead. i was feeling nervous leading up to the event, but then told myself to just run for fun and have a good time! and so i did. i wasnt trying to beat anyone, just ran at my usual pace. after finishing, i ended up having to go on an after-hours service call for work. later on i received an email from the Metre Eaters that they had called my name as the winner of the men's 4km race category. hahahha what the fuck? i was shocked but i felt awesome after hearing that! i won a $25 Fresh Air gift card (which i still have to go and use soon). wow. no way. that made my day afterwards.

with the races over, i collected the 3 medals that were attainable. they connect to each other with a center magnet. i thought it was a cool and well thought-out design.

all of my hard work paid off. i started trying to take care of myself January 2nd 2026, running every day after school for an hour. the first 3 weeks were tough, my lungs feeling it the most. my body was feeling it as well, particularly in the legs. i just kept on reminding myself of how i felt in 2024 and that all of the work will pay off and that i will feel good about myself physically and mentally. i would say about 6 weeks in, i was feeling great. my body learned to get back into the routine again, and my lungs were happy with me (for the third time; i tried to quit smoking weed in 2024 and 2025, failing both times after the 10 mile road race by smoking a "victory" joint - bad idea!). i could breath again. breathing control was a huge thing for me as when i do the hiking thing and have to climb a straight hill, i dont want to feel like death and tired, or have to stop for minutes to catch my breath. nope.