funny stuff etc.

(disclaimer: this is longish so I have inserted funny pictures from my tumblr to ensure you keep reading 'til the end. okay then)

Right now I am feeling a little craaazy because maybe I just got back from running and the endorphins are coursing through my vessels. Although it feels more like 7Up at the moment. Many times in my life I have done stupid-ish things after a run because I felt invincible. Then, hours, weeks, months, or years later, I facepalmed my stupidity. Join me!

• (I'm pretty sure everyone's heard this story, but I think it's chilarious. I'm not sure which word I just combined with hilarious...I'll get back to you on that.) ANYWHO. Once after a particularly rough x-country practice, me and the Lizard were told by our coach to go home and eat a big plate of pasta with broccoli. You don't understand how much we did not want broccoli. Or pasta. We inhaled pasta most of the time. So what did we do? Just had her mom drive us down the road to Carl's Jr., where we both inhaled 2 burgers...each. One of the proudest moments of my life.
• Once I called up a friend to help me with a really embarrassing assignment after I ran 3 miles. It was one of the most embarrassing things I ever had to do for 20 points and an A. But worth it in the end. If you want more of this story, you can ask me.
  
• There was this one time I ran a 10k and accidentally ran an extra mile...so actually the crazy thing happened during my run. But oh well.
• Then there was the Ragnar. I'm not even gonna talk about all the locomotive stuff from that race. But let me just say that I ran my first leg, sat in a car, ate too many bananas and larabars, slept on a sleeping bag in an unfinished basement on a cement floor, then ran up a hill in the dark at 12:30am when I really shouldn't have been running. But I did it. Crazysauce.
• I remember one run in high school which I did on a summery night. Naturally, I was pretty hot after the run was over, so I simply jumped into the half-full kiddie pool in our backyard. In my running clothes. My dad came outside and gave me the weirdest look, and then went back in. Psh. He didn't know what he was missing!
  

As you can see, endorphins make me do pretty nutso things. But in the end they end up being really good things...so I guess what I'm trying to say is run instead of doing drugs. It's a natural high, and the consequences are a jillion times better.

So maybe this blog will end up being a good thing later down the road...because right now, as I'm writing it...it just feels like some half-crazed idea spawned by another run. Excuses, excuses.

Another funny thing I'd like to share is the google searches people have done to happen upon this blog. P.S. I love saying "happen upon." It makes me feel British, almost (if that wasn't stereotypical, I don't know what is). Here is a sampling:

redhead nerds
the truth about gingers
(a British person totally did this one, who else says "gingers" instead of "redheads"!!!!)
ugly coveralls (wait, it gets better)
bob dylan can't sing
wearing those overalls (again with the overalls...)
pigtails redhead
fat redhead nerds (watch it)
redheads are my weakness (oh really...)
barf meaning (this one kills me!)
go back to mexico (I will, someday)
Thanks to google my blog is being read by people in Sweden, The Netherlands, India, Brazil, France, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, and Punjab (that was the barf one...haha). Please make yourself known, lurkers!

And last but definitely not least, I'd like to introduce my dear friend Tessa. She and I have the greatest conversations. Here's a little taste of what I get every day on my phone.

me: "We found a rattlesnake and my uncle shot it three times. Ick."
TP: "I've never seen anything get shot besides the air."

TP: "Once again I think it's a for my own entertainment crush."
me: "Oh you mean like ____ and ____ and ___ were?"
TP: "Yeah....uh..."

Me: "We just went to Macey's and ate ice cream and talked about relationship problems."
TP: "Oh dear. Well a club should be made called dating drags."

TP: "I can't believe I forgot about that! [a funny incident which cannot be shared on the www]
me: how'd you forget a gem like that?!
tp: I don't know but it was funny when I got reminded.
Me: I have a funny bank. I make deposits into it regularly. Then I remember it later and withdraw.

me: Why'd she have to get pregnant?
tp: rude
me: I can't wait until you're pregnant and then when you can't hang out with me as much anymore I'll just say you're rude.
tp: haha and i'll do the same to you.
me: thanks! Glad we could be there for each other.

me: When you kiss someone it should be right after you eat ice cream or something sweet like that.
tp: Mm or chocolate! Not ice cream...it makes your lips cold and then they feel like they're kissing a dead person. Which is super funny when it isn't one of your first kisses with them.
me: maybe I should just say I'm allergic...but that would be a horrible lie because ice cream is my favorite food. boys and ice cream, that is.


tp [while watching sound of music]: The weeeee! scene just happened. So good. Along with the one right after, favorite things. Remind me to say weeee after my next first kiss.

me: hahhaha ok...if i"m there I'll remind you. Which might be awkward.

tp: I just changed another diaper...
me: Oh I remember those days!
tp: oh the joys of poop.
yeah....that happened.

tp: I just swam...swam is a loose term because I don't remember the last time I put my head under water.
me: That's the traditional way...otherwise it's called drowning.
tp: ahha that's quite true. By head up I just meant not in water...ever...
me: true.

I've been calamined

The first three weeks of summer have been just what I imagine my perfect summers to be. It makes it hard to want to go back to school in September. However, it will be the fall semester, which many of you know is my favorito.

Would you like to know what I've been doing? Okay...well if you want the pictures, go look at my facebook (unless you are stalking me from a foreign country, which many of you are....then I guess you don't get to see any pics right now. And I'm not really sorry about that. I don't even know you....ok, moving on).

Here's what a summer of mcfrenzy consists of:

• lots of biking (pretty much every single day)
• hiking. I recently decided to do one every week for the rest of the summer. Last week it was Silver Lake/Lake Solitude. This week, I intend on finding one in Twin Falls when we go to the reunion. Who wants to come?!
• cooking, lotsa cooking (thai tomato soup, yes?! YES.)
• running (maybe I'll write a blog about saturday's run in particular...it was like running on the clouds, baby. And someday I'm really gonna know what that's like.)
• walks, walks, mosquito bites (hence the pink paint/calamine lotion all over me right now), and more walks
• collecting more songs for future playlists (listen! listen! listen! listen!)
  
• reeeading. So far I've finished 1.5 books. Sue me. I have a habit of starting 5 at once.
• letting my hair do itself (aka wavy-crazy, just the way I like it)
• more freckles plus a much worse sandal tan than I had in Mexico
• watchin' some good cinema (if you're thinking of the smurf movie, I'm kind of offended)
• using way too many parenthetical phrases (what do you think this is?)

oh..sidenote, something funny just happened. So Ellie came upstairs with some asian cookie thing and told me to try it, which I did. It was yummy (it had chocolate in the middle, hellloo). Then she came back later and said, "Did you like it?" I said, "Yep." "So, you kissed it?" "Wha?" "Well, if you loved it, you kissed it, right?" RIGHT. I like the way you think, girlfran.



adios for now, amigos and stalkers!

I must confess...

someday soon I'm gonna sleep just like this.

• Confession 1: I may or may not have gotten choked up multiple times at the finish line of the Teton Dam Marathon this past Saturday. Seeing the 80 year old finish, or the mom with the child in her arms, or the woman who was obviously in pain…man I’m a baby.
• Confession 2: because of aforementioned finish-line-drama, I decided to run a half marathon in September down Spanish Fork Canyon. Cause I’m crazy and all that good stuff.
• Confession 3: thanks to Amy M, I’ve been stalking this blog lately. Guess what? I’m gonna travel ‘til I die. Not really groundbreaking news…but I’m putting this in the “confession” category, meaning I am slightly embarrassed about how often I talk about it. When the travel bug bites, it bites hard. And leaves scars.
• Confession 4: I love everything pumpkin (you’re thinking “aaand when is this confession-session actually gonna get juicy?!). And I may have made pumpkin oatmeal, a pumpkin pie smoothie, and pumpkin pancakes all in one week. It’s not even October, McKenzie. Geez.
• Confession 5: Without a bike I feel nekked. Yeah, you heard me. That means without clothing. Ahh yah, look at me now, I can do a confession session, alright!
• Confession 6: I would very much like for my children to have freckles, and if they don’t, well, guess I’ll take them back for a refund...oh I'm just kidding. Sort of.
• Confession 7: I plan what I’m gonna put on burned CD’s before I give them to people months in advance. I hear a few songs and then I think, “Hey, ___(name of one of my friends here) would love this!” Bing-bang-boom, playlist created, CD burn-ed. Yeah, I’m efficient.
• Confession 8: Justin Timberlake is obnoxious. Why do girls like him still? Yugh. (yugh=yuck+ugh, a word I just made up, and yes, I do that often)
• Confession 9: I went to the taco bus not once, but dos veces last week. In a row.
• Confession 10: I listen to the “Sigh No More” album about five times a week. Problem? I think so.
• Confession 11: I am excited for Harry Potter 7.2! {and can I just say that adding the “point two” makes it sound like an updated software…except it’s Harry Potter…so maybe it’s Harry Potter—the updated version! AKA the last version, AKA the version when **** DIES! Sorry for all of you who haven’t read it yet and don’t know what I’m talking about. You’re sort of behind the times…just sayin’.}
• Confession 12: There have been multiple times this semester when I’ve dreamed about dropping out and moving to the woods. It’s a scary thought, huh? Me, in the woods, with my bike, and my Chacos…this is starting to sound like a really bad version of “Into the Wild.” But then again, there wasn’t really a good version of that anyway.
• Confession 13: I’m indecisive about my hair. This is an annoying idiosyncrasy of mine which others have noticed (*cough*Chelsea*cough). It may look awesome to you but to me it’s like Mufasa’s mane! I don’t want to be one of those people who hates their hair and everyone else loves it. So I’m trying to change my ways.
• Confession 14: I don’t like computers. Let’s just leave it at that.
• Confession 15: I introduced my younger siblings to Bob Dylan and The Beatles. And they like it. Oops. Wait…I mean…I’M AWESOME!
• Confession 16: I want this confession session to be over before you all realize how much you really don’t want to know all of this information about me. Am I too late? Anyone?? (crickets…)

Ok. Bye…

p.s. "confession" is a weird word.

november the first

I'm done crying over October. It came and left just like that, and all I'm left with is a few orange leaves and frost on the windows in the morning. *Sniffle.*

I have been Miss Slacker Face when it comes to these Monday Happy Lists. I would apologize, but I know you guys aren't really offended. You just missed them a little bit, right?

This morning [as in Monday morning] my bike ride to class was cloaked in darkness. That's right, cloaked. But the soggy leaves I ran over reminded me that it's only the beginning of November. No worries. I still have 1.5 months.

And now for that list you've all been waiting for:

Tutoring a native Spanish speaker (de peru) and helping him read English. Is this supposed to be a coincidence? I think not.

playing spoons for FHE....just reminds me of my freshman year at NEHS. We could play that game for hours. And yes, I champed everybody.

eating a BET sandwich (bacon, egg, tomato) for breakfast. ¿como se dice DELICIOUS?!

opening a new bottle of shampoo which just happens to smell like POG (pineapple orange guava juice, best thing that ever came from BYU and that includes John Beck)

running into Miss Courtney Gopp in front of the Taylor Building and watching as she does a pelvic thrust in front of everyone walking by. no guile, people, no guile.

clean sheets+shaved legs. in the celestial kingdom, we'll have skintimate. obviously.

pandora radio, for introducing me to way too many good musicians. I have saved 250 songs thanks to them. and that's 250 less than I need right now. sigh.

watching people's expressions when they bite into one of those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies i make. that's the whole reason i do it. :)

quote from Tessa Perry in a recent email: We're all in a crazy land and stuck in it being crazy.

have you ever noticed someone's face right before they sneeze? how many of them have had a super-attractive look on their face? that's what I thought. You know it's funny.

making funny faces in the mirror to wake myself up in the morning.

freckles. hopefully they come back after the winter.

running around porter park semi-late at night during a football game. as I ran around the 4th time, one guy shouted "I love you." I thought about responding but didn't think they were talkin' to yours truly. Until another one said, "Not as much as I love you!" Run faster, Kenz, run faster.

question: how come so many people insist on listening to christmas music the day after halloween (thank you, Kosy 106.5)? I don't see anybody wearing masks the day after September 30th. Just sayin'.

love, the mckenzers

talk about an overachiever

Folks, I've done it again.

When I was in middle school, we had to do a project for my social studies class. It involved researching a country in Europe of our choosing and basically learning everything there was to learn about it. We had to make ourselves a travel itinerary using well-known sites within the country, give a speech on what it's like to live there, and make a culinary masterpiece from the country. I chose Sweden because, well, have you looked at me lately?

(there's white, and then there's Kenzie)

Back to my Sweden story. Another part of the project was to make a full-size map of the country and color it, complete with major rivers, cities, landmarks, and mountains. Most of the students used crayons (like any normal student would do, and I really wanted to be one of them sometimes) and did a pretty basic map. But not me, oh no. I had to use sharpie to outline Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Then I used watercolor paints to paint it all, including the ocean (which took up a major part of the map). When I brought it to class on the day it was due, I didn't think much of it. Using paints made it way easier to color. I figured other people would have thought of that.

Wrong-o.

I lived up to my overachiever reputation once again, one which I didn't think I'd worked too hard to get. I've just always done my best on school projects. Just the way I am, I guess. But honestly, people, I don't try to be number one. I'm not a competitor. So my "110%" is actually just normal for me. It's not monumental to go above and beyond. I hope this doesn't sound cocky...

So when I signed up for the Rolling Hills Classic in Rexburg exactly 2 months ago, I was skeptical.

I'm not a competitor, so racing??? I actually paid money to run for 6 miles?

Race day was today. It's been rainy and cold for the past few days, so I was worried my first experience of racing (since running x-country 5 years ago) would be wet, which equals major chafing.

If you don't know what chafing is, just imagine scraping the inside of your leg with a fine-toothed comb until it starts bleeding.

I woke up this morning (actually, as you can probably guess, I was already awake...sleepless night for McFrenzy) feeling pretty ansy. I ate an apple, toast with peanut butter, and drank a little bit of water. The sun was shining, the sky perfectly clear. One less thing to worry about (just remember the fine-toothed comb...).

My old roommate Courtney and her friend Abby signed up yesterday, which was not only crazy-spontaneous but also really awesome for my morale.

After the 1st mile, the route started to curve uphill, which I expected (hence the name Rolling Hills Classic). But the hill didn't end. It kept going, and going, and when I got to the 5K turnaround, I almost said, "Hmmm, that looks like a nice idea for the sake of my lungs." But I didn't. I kept going, alllll the way up past the temple, past the water tower, to the end of what is probably President Clark's neighborhood. At the turnaround, the volunteers told me I was more than halfway done. That seemed about right.

That's when my burst of adrenalin kicked in. I started feeling good (minus those pesky blisters that live on my feet), and it helped that the rest of the course was downhill. I got back to the bottom of the temple and the cones hadn't moved, so of course I went back the way I had come, down the curvy hill. It was the longest 6 miles I'd ever run, and I've never even run 6 miles.

As I crossed the finish line, people were walking away with their medals and bread and bananas. Lots of people still cheered for me, though, which felt good because I felt like I had gone a tortoise's pace.

But wait...it gets better. If you're still reading this, I commend you for waiting until the sort-of climactic ending.

Courtney asked me if I had gone straight down the hill from the temple. I thought, "Straight down past the temple? You mean it was that easy?"

Yep. I went an extra mile. 7.4 miles, on accident.

So I'd like to echo what I said when I signed up for this race: what have I done?

Hot dog, I just ran 7.4 miles on accident! That made my piece of bread and 1/2 banana so much tastier. I would also like to put in a plug for running "naked," which is runner's lingo for running without music. I thought about taking my iPod with me this morning, even made a playlist, but I knew I'd do much better without headphones in my ears. Even if it is Queen singing "We are the champions."

Oh yeah, and did I mention I got a t-shirt? Without holes in the armpits, thank you.

if you'll excuse me, I shall now sleep all day.

-mcfrenzy-

New Blog(s)

So...I decided that this blog wasn't big enough for all of my thoughts.

Nevermind my six (that's right, six) actual journals which I keep on various topics outside of this blog.

So far I only have one blog that's up and running...which is an accidental pun because the blog is about--you guessed it--running! Apparently it's a good way to keep track of your progress and get all of your "running angst" on paper...virtual paper that is.

If you are brave (which I think you are because you're already reading this blog), click here to find the newest branch of this crazy blog tree.

p.s. this blog is still under construction, so I apologize in advance for its lack of coolness and gadgetry. Just you wait...

Next look out for a food blog (yep, I finally caved) and a writing blog...wahoo!

What Have I Done?

Yep.

I did it.

I registered for a 10k on September 11th.

9am.

And it's the same day/time as the X-Country tryouts.

Do you think they will count the 10k as my tryout?

My legs already hurt.

Bring it on.

oh...and I think I might as well name that blister.

Since from now on it's going to have

a permanent home on my foot.

Dangit.