Face Lift

        Hey, blogettes! It's Smiles here, and I just thought I would let you know about the new face lift that was done to the blog today by my cowriter and best friend with awesome fashion advice and personality Music Marvel. I thought I would also let you know that we are here and still alive just crazy busy as we are coming up on the end of the school year and then once again I will not be able to have access to a computer very often or even at all but I don't know about Music and what she can do on the blog but I promise we will try our best for you to keep it as updated as possible and then get something worked out for next year as we will have iPads instead of laptops and I am sure that this will work then but it might be blocked and it also may be hard to write posts and pages on. She is also my track buddy.

       Anyways here's the back story on how the new face lift came to be, and believe me it's a better one than I just thought something was needed on the blog because I now have another person in it with me so there is a joint effort going on to make image and page things happen for you guys. I was done with my social studies early so I decided that I would come onto the blog and either toy around with some things, and see what looked good or make a post even though I have nothing to really write about at this time because the weather has been really rainy and cruddy lately impacting our track meets, and not letting anything fun happen. 

        As I was doing that I said that I thought that the blog's background at least needed a change because it was like that for a while now and I was growing tired of it although it was refreshing and relaxing and set good toned vibes at least for me as well that it needed to be something else and I didn't have anything in mind as I was asking Music about this she said something and even though she was working on social studies still she stopped to get the face lift done to save me the job, and I think it looks great. The background image came from a website called Subtle Patterns. It may not seem like much while your looking at it but when you add their images to something believe me it changes the impression to awesome and cool and something totally different. She said that this face lift reminded her of mints and I couldn't agree more. I mean it looks sleek and fresh in my opinion and something that is clean. 

        I thanked her for doing that and I think that you guys too, and let us know what you think of this new face lift in the comments below. This blog is your blog after all and we are just writing on it and doing the upkeep for you to enjoy and have a place to come and just be middle school girls again that are having a good time and out of the crazy way of life of middle school because it does get crazier than what you may think at times and then you just feel like you need an escape and that is the goal of this blog is to be your go to thing for stress relief and get you back into life again. 

Cramps

        Hey, blogettes! It's Smiles here. The first meet did not go well for me. I did not get good stretches in before my first event, and I wasn't drinking enough and I was pushing way too hard and therefore I got a really bad thigh cramp and collapsed in pain as my thigh felt like it was on fire. I wanted to push through but my leg had other things in mind. It would not calm down and I ended up having to be carted back to base camp against my better will. I wanted to slowly walk over there because I thought moving it would be good but the athletic trainer said that I was so tense at that time that walking could cause me to tear something and then I would be out for the rest of the season and not this meet only.
        To keep me distracted she kept on asking me the randomest of things like what school I go to, what grade I am in, what we are learning, and what I like to do. She also asked me what my name was. I was shocked by how nice the other teams were to me about it but also shocked at how some people on my own team were acting about it. I mean yelling at me to quit because I always hurt myself, okay, no I came into this season with an unclear concussion. I knew what I could do and couldn't do. That wasn't an injury and this was just a freak thing because I didn't do things well enough to make sure that I was safe from issues. Help didn't come until like half the runners were finished, and I was sitting there screaming out in pain with everyone watching me. It was weird, and I looked stupid I just know it.
          The first person to show up was a guy. He touched me on the shoulder and I looked up. He asked me what had happened and I said that my left leg felt like it was on fire in the thigh area. He said that this was one for the athletic trainer, and she came quick. She asked me what had happened, and I said that I felt tight at the starting line but thought nothing of it but when I got to the goal it got worse until I made it here and it was on fire. She started to massage my leg and that felt really good. She just said I was really tight and had a bad cramp. Nothing to worry about but something that I should rest for today, and use ice on and drink water too. I told her that I didn't stretch since I was late checking in for this event and she said that was also part of it. I was still crying but now it was because I didn't finish this and that was bad news for my team.
             They were ready to start the second heat of the same race, so they moved me off of the track all the while with me wincing in pain. I wanted to walk back to base camp but this guy pretty much made me sit on the back of the gator because he was blocking my way. I had to imagine how stupid it probably looked, but it hurt and is something I never want to go back too. I have learned my lesson no matter how late you show up to a running event you should always take the time to stretch because a little bit is better than nothing. I rode the gator back to base camp and plopped down. The coach came and got ice out of the go bag and gave it to me.
               I broke it and stayed down a little while longer and then I was getting stir crazy so I had someone tape the bag to my leg where the bothersome spot was. I was still tight, but the fire sensation had stopped so that was a good thing. I bent my leg a little bit as I walked to ease myself into loosening it up. It felt nice. It was also nice because I could go down and wherever to cheer on my team. I called my parents to let them know that I was hurt and they were scared, and I just said that it was a bad cramp and nothing too bad. I said that my leg did feel like it was on fire so I went down and got a ride back to base camp on the cart. I'm looking to be back on Tuesday with a good stretch in it and the proper hydration to blow them away. I want to show my team that I can do this. I want to show them the real runner in me even though track is nothing like cross country. Wish me luck!

Track & XC Are Two Very Different Things

        Hey, blogettes! It's Smiles here with a little extra screen time from the day to make a post for you. I have learned now from personal encounters that distance on a track is way different than distance in cross country. For one thing it is the same surface and it seems longer and everyone is more close together without a change in scenery. It makes for a good shin splint creator even more than what cross country did to me. Every part of my body even hurts worse than it did with cross country. 

        I think what I will be doing next year is cross country, and basketball and then have this as my off season instead of going from shin splint injury to shin splint injury in pretty much two back to back seasons when you think about it. I am an okay basketball player once I get past the fact that the buzzer can be kind of scary when you aren't expecting it. I hate those things so much. I mean I like to be aware of things and have warnings, instead of it coming out of the blue. I hate loud surprises. 

        I have decided though for track that even though it hurts and is hard for me right now that I am sticking to distance. I am also doing discus and long jump even though I have got no clue how you even throw a discus just yet but I learn fast. I am hoping that the same happens in track. Everyone looks at me like I am crazy when I say long jump and discus but hey, I have just as many rights to do that than everyone else does. I am sick of people looking at me like I have four heads. I just want them to see that I can do it, and have fun doing it which is the real point of this is to get into shape, and have a lot of fun, not be really good at it or anything like that because right now that doesn't matter since you are just starting out. I mean it's middle school track. 

         I am also excited because I get out of school at 11 today to watch our high school jazz band represent class one a at state today, and we are going to kick some butt I hope. I have heard them and I think that we can go all the way and win again this year. I mean when people from bigger schools hear what all we have done they grow dead silent and really listen hard to what we have to offer and then their applause is just wild I have noticed like they are shocked that such sounds can come from small schools. What can I say, our school is pretty awesome when it comes to fine arts. Now we just need a place where we can keep that going and have a place that is good for us instead of a gym to do everything in we need like an auditorium because that is something that everyone deserves when they have a fine arts program like us and I hope that our schools sees that and sees the need for that place and invests in it within the next few years. 

          I think that we also need to have a track. I mean it stinks that we have to travel and do it every now and then and have a set time limit of when to be there and what we can and can't use when we should be able to learn and use everything. I mean we do track and we need to practice our things so we aren't lost when it comes to meets. We need to show people that we know what we are doing and that we are ready for things like this and without a track that can be pretty hard sometimes, but Lisbon still knows how to rock it, and we still appear in the field as a pretty strong team that everyone has heard nothing but warnings about. I mean their good warnings like about how we run and stuff and what they need to do to get themselves ready. 

Wattpad & Concussions

        Hey, blogettes! It's Smiles here and ready to write a post for you guys to tear into. First off sorry I haven't written in a while. There has been a lot going on in my life lately. It's finally slowed down for a bit though so I have decided to log on and get you guys caught up. Here it goes. 

        I joined Wattpad in the middle of March, and I love it. I already have one work published called Graceful Wind under nonfiction and the short stories sections, and it is about what happened to give me a concussion and what I am doing about it. I hope that people learn from my stupid mistake and enjoy the book because it gave them a fair warning of the results and what it does to a person. Honestly concussions are a huge headache that also makes you feel like crap and have trouble with school and social interactions for awhile. 

        I remember coming home from the hospital on Wednesday and just crying for like an hour straight for no real reason. It was very sad, and then on Friday I cried because I was learning things but then when it came to putting them into action I didn't get them or I didn't remember what I had studied for so I either have to take the test at a later date or use my notes or even the full textbook on a test was also embarrassing. Then lunch comes along, and I have to eat it in the high school office alone with the secretary because the lunchroom is too loud and I am too embarrassed by this injury to ask my friends to come along. I don't know why I am too embarrassed because this has happened to at least two of the people that sit with me at lunch so they would understand probably but I just am. 

          Another thing is I have had to limit my screen time. I'm now up to four hours total, and right now I have about another 2 and a half hours left to do what I want. It's nice though because you have time to do other things since you really can't  be glued to your computer doing whatever. Wattpad has had to wait and so has Twitter and this blog due to my health. I am slowly recovering and getting better, and I have a Doctor's appointment on Wednesday to see if I can be cleared to do lifting and full outside practice with the team again. Believe it or not, I already miss it a lot. Running is my buddy and it makes me feel really happy. When I am without it I feel lost, and down. 

        They only thing that has me pumped up is the first track meet is a week from tomorrow and I have to be ready and better by then, so I'm fighting and fighting hard back from this concussion doing whatever I can to make sure I am in shape and ready still even though I was benched for pretty much a week of legit practices. I mean I did light on Friday but light isn't the same as full practice. The thrill level is different and the feelings that you have are different too. You want to push harder but you know what you get when you do and making your doctor unhappy is never good news nor the right answer to anything.