I know that this blog was supposed to be about my road to the marathon, but today's entry is not really about running--more like my lack of running these days.  At the moment I just feel so overwhelmed, useless, and all round tired (emotionally and mentally more than physically).  I haven't slept more than two nights in my own bed since July 29th and won't sleep in my own bed again until August 25th.  My diet is thrown off and I can't eat where or when I want.  Am just worried about if I will actually fulfil my goal and my dream at this point.  Agh am way too emotional.

If you ever find yourself in Austin, Texas definitely check out Zilker Park for its great running trails. Beautiful routes, great water fountains, and even a couple of showers to wet your head if you are too hot! Fantastic! Did my 10km tempo run there (although not too sure if it was really tempo...)

Even a statue of Stevie Ray Vaughn to check out along the way...

Training for this marathon will not only involve me doing a lot of running distance-wise, but will also involve me doing a lot of running in hotel gyms. Had my first hotel treadmill experience--considered running outside, but is super humid here in San Antonio and have no clue where to run, so just decided to bite the bullet and run in the hotel gym (Holiday Inn Riverwalk in San Antonio= not the best gym)....But I managed to do the 6m I was supposed to do tonight and also managed to calculate what 6kms is in miles...well, had some help with that...otherwise known as conversion calculator.

Apparently by the time this marathon training is over I will have run from Toronto to Quebec City which according to Google Maps is 796 kilometers. Kind of nuts.

I never gave much thought to feet before I ran- just liked them to squeeze into pretty shoes. Now, have a lot of respect for my feet and what they are going through. They are now tired feet.

Sunday morning run through one of Toronto's trail systems. Felt a bit fast at first, but got into the pace more midway through. It is also nice to get on the trails as it is cooler and better for the joints.

Then when the run was over grabbed a bite to eat at Cfood which is awesome- great place to grab a brunch that lets you have the best of both worlds- you get to choose three items on their menu!

So, I'm only going to complain once as I figure why would I complain about summer and heat when I long for this season all year. Anyways, ran 10km tempo in the heat and it was hot. The group this year seems to be characterized by those who want to qualify for the Boston Marathon and those of who just want to cross the finish line. So, there seems to be a bit of a difference in paces!

Is actually kind of a good learning experience being towards the back of the pack! I spend so much of my time being concerned with being the best and in running I'm not the best runner- I just attempt to do my best which I have come to realize is also a great achievement. So, each time I'm on a run I really do admire those people that make running look so easy (you know those types that just fly by you looking like they could do this all day long and hardly breaking a sweat), but I'm also proud of me as I know that I am running the best that I can for my ability.

First 6km run tonight with the group- feel excited and also happy that I stretched with the group. Am going to try and keep this stretching thing up although all I want to do is bolt after there after the run. Is so weird but I can run for ages but not be bothered to stretch for 10 minutes- mmm, think it is something to do with my impatient personality or just the fact that I have horrible flexibility.

apprehensive. nervous. excited. all of the above apply right now.

You read it here first- tomorrow is the day I'm giving the up. Figure I need to start cutting out things that are not good for me. So, if anyone who knows me sees me with a bag or even a mere chip in my hand take it away from me. I may be mad, but I'll thank you later.

I had an interesting conversation last night with a friend of mine. We recently had gone to watch the much-talked about Sex and the City Movie and after watching it we hadn't had time to discuss what we really thought of it. Anyways, there were some flaws in the move, but the one that my friend pointed out was something that I hadn't really thought of. Turns out that the reason she thought the movie was unrealistic was because of the enduring friendship the four main women had. She felt that this wasn't really the case and as she said the older the get the more distant we get from our friends. There isn't enough time to spend together. For her, it would have made more sense if a couple of the women hadn't spoken in a few years.

It got me thinking though and this has been something that has been on my mind in recent years. When you are younger your friends are everything- I remember how my best friend and I used to do everything together. Now, I'm lucky if I see my closest friends once every two weeks. Life has just sort of happened and the life priorities have changed. Like my friend said I think that my closest friends would always be there for me when a crisis occurred, but in daily life they aren't there as much for me and to be fair I'm not there as much for them.

Just some thoughts- is funny how life changes though sometime.

There is always a lot of things going on at TakingITGlobal and I wanted to just share with you all a few of my favorite things to check out this week on the TIG Community!

1. We just launched this month's Featured Issue which is Freedom of Expression, so be sure to check it out! Just click here

2. On December 10, 2008, the world will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What does this declaration mean to you? Check out the Discussion Thread!

3. I also just discovered Pedram N's Photo Gallery and there are some pretty neat images there, so is definitely worth checking out! Go to http://gallery.takingitglobal.org/Pedram

I'd love to hear some of your suggestions as to what I should check out this week on TIG!

A snapshot from a trip to San Francisco- simply put I just liked the message.

Technology has really opened up the doors to the sharing of creativity! The YouthForce has a couple of creative projects on the go that wanted to make sure you were aware of!

1. "AIDS in Focus" Photography Contest is a way for you to share your photographs. Learn more about the contest by going to http://www.tigurl.org/contest!

2. The other thing that we are doing is collecting artwork! Follow this link to see some of the great pieces that have already been submitted!
Click here!

In the recent weeks, I have been receiving a lot of e-mails from World Youth Congress Delegates- many of the e-mails are asking me the same thing, so I thought I would write a blog about it in the hopes that it may help!

1. If you have any specific questions about the Congress please write to info@wyc2008.qc.ca as this is where your questions should be directed to! Although I would love to be able to help all of you out I just don't have the time to answer and I also want to make sure that you DO get responses to your questions! (The reason some of you may be writing to me is that I have been helping to send out the newsletters and giving Congress up-dates!)

2. Many of you have written wanting to know how to get a visa to Canada and other things like this. I am not an expert on this, but I think a great place to get some information on traveling to canada is through the Canadian Citizenship and Immigration Web site which can be found here http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/ . Hopefully you will find answers to some of your questions here!

3. I know that some of you have been asking where your letters of invitations are. We have sent out all the invitations to the short-listed candidates at this point. However, there may still be a chance for you to receive a letter of invitation, so please check back! We received so many applications that it was difficult for us to narrow them down- even if you can't physically attend the conference, though you will have the chance to follow the Congress through its virtual activities!

Anyways, that's it for now! I will be organizing another Live Chat soon so I hope that this time we can get more delegates to participate!