Surf City, Baby!

I signed up for my very first half marathon last week! I'm running the Surf City Half on February 1st, 2015 in Huntington Beach, CA. Running a half marathon is something that has been on my bucket list for a long time, but I was always too scared to sign up. I finally bit the bullet (and paid too much money) last weekend. I'm a little nervous...

I have been a swimmer my whole life, so I've always had the mindset that I am better in the water than on land. I also despised running for my first 18 years of life. However, once I moved away to college and found that a) the pool was super far away from my sorority house where I was living and b) it was cold, especially in the winter/rainy months in Seattle, to swim and then walk back to my sorority soaking wet, I started running for exercise.

Since then, I'm a pretty consistent weekly runner, but my mileage never goes over 5 miles. I usually stay in the 3-4 mile range, one to three times a week. Obviously running 13.1 miles terrifies me.

I come from a family of runners, so it should be in my blood, right? Probably wrong, but I'm going to to keep telling myself that. My little brother was an awesome cross-country runner in high school. My mom is a Ironman Triathlete and has done her fair share of marathons (even qualifying for the Boston marathon DURING an Ironman... so after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112). Thus, I decided to suck it up and stop freaking out.

I will keep my blog updated on my training efforts and schedules (my mom is helping me put together a training schedule that is very gradual) but right now, I decided to post about how I choose the Huntington Beach 1/2 Marathon, as opposed to any of the other million marathons Los Angeles has to offer.

Why did I choose the Huntington Beach 1/2 Marathon? 

1) It's in February, which gives me approximately 5 months to prepare. Most training schedules start at 12 weeks before, so I'm totally giving myself extra time which makes me feel a lot better!

2) It's in February, thus the weather down here in Southern California (hopefully) won't be too hot! And it gives me perfect weather to train during (except this week, when temps are supposed to be 99 until Tuesday and when I go back to Seattle for Christmas...that's going to be cold and wet).

3) It's in Huntington Beach, which means the course is flat! And next to the water, so the views will  give me some extra motivation.

4) It's only an hour away from my apartment, so I won't have to splurge on a hotel the night before (I am a poor law student, remember)

5) The medals they give to finishers are apparently very coveted, so at least I am getting something cool for my $100 entry fee

6) There is a beer garden at the end. Self-explanatory, right?

Surviving Law School Stress

I thought I would do a post on my top 10 tips on how I manage stress in law school. I think one of the the hardest part of law school is attempting to stay calm when everyone else around you is freaking out. This especially happens towards the end of the semester when everyone starts going crazy because finals are approaching. This list is geared towards finals, but these things apply everyday too!

1. Take time for yourself everyday. You need to do something that you love to do for at least 30 - 60 minutes of your day that has nothing to do with law school. Watch that terrible but amazing reality TV show that makes your brain go numb. Surf the internet. Bake. Plan a vacation you want to take somewhere someday. During finals, I would watch one of my favorite TV shows every night before bed to attempt to silence my mind before I went to sleep (sometimes it worked, sometimes not).

Fiction books > case books 

2. Exercise: The best way to handle everything is to get your heart rate up and you will feel so much better afterwards. If you don't like going to the gym or are not a runner, just go on a brisk walk! It's a perfect study break and keeps you from going crazy.

Taking advantage the year round sun in LA by hiking

3. Always have something non-law school to look forward to on the weekend: Before finals started looming (i.e. November/April), I would make sure that I dedicated either a full day of my weekend or at least half of the day to do something fun. I usually used my time do explore LA, watch football, or de-stress on the beach with a good book. But you need that large portion of time to unwind. And something to look forward to during the week!

My boyfriend and I went on a brewery tour of LA

4. Keep your non-law school friends close: I love the people I've met in law school so far. I know that they will be close friends forever. However, sometimes you just need to vent to people who do not know what you are talking about to make you realize that your problems are much smaller than you think they are. A good vent session with my best friends back home or my boyfriend does wonders for my stress level.

My best friend from high school visiting

5. Remind yourself of the big picture: During 1L, you will be bogged down in reading appellate cases upon cases and you can forget what it actually means to be a lawyer. Volunteer with a clinic, go watch a professional talk at lunch, do something to remind yourself that you will (probably) not be spending the remainder of your life reading cases from 1902.

6. Remind yourself why YOU came to law school: If you go to school that really stresses OCI (on campus interviews for large, private law firms), it can be easy to forget why you came to school in the first place and get caught up in what the school seems to be throwing at you. If you want to do criminal law, public interest, government work, don't give up on that because you feel forced into the private sector.

7. Reward yourself: I usually choose chocolate to reward myself! Food always makes me happy. And during finals, do whatever it takes to make yourself happy.

The best gelato 

8. Once you take a test, move on: I think that one of the worst things that you can do is talk about an exam with your friends afterwards. Every administrator and professor will probably tell you this. You will probably ignore it and as soon as you exit your first final, you will run up to your friends and talk about what you were unsure of. Then your friends will mention something that you did not write about and you will start freaking out because you think you are wrong. It's a never-ending cycle and so pointless because the test is over and there is nothing else you can do about it!

9. During finals, consider finding a different study location away from the library: During finals, that place can just be swarming with extra stress. Sometimes, I feel like the minute I walk in the door I am 10x more stressed than I was before. Coffee shops or public libraries are good alternatives!

10. Do what feels right for you, not what everyone else is doing! What may work for everyone else (and me) might not work for you.