Big Girl YO

This is probably my most important post to date!! Why? Cause my dream came true! I PASSED MY RD EXAM AND I AM OFFICIALLY A REGISTERED DIETITIAN!!! This did happen a month ago today, however I have been having too much fun actually BEING a dietitian :). So about this test. During it, do I even remember any of the questions? Nope. Do I even think anything i studied for was even on it? Not at all. Was i freezing? Yep, my hands were purple. I had ear plugs in and kept thinking of how they weren't even working cause I still heard the architecture men flipping pages for their OPEN BOOK test. Ugh, shut up old men. After every question I was like "well, missed that one!" and finally after answering 150 questions, I questioned if I should just walk out and say "Hey, don't worry about telling me the results.. i'm good. See ya when I reschedule." Things like what happened next is why I know there is a God, he must have changed the answers as I clicked them. I swear it was the best feeling in the whole world after seeing "congratulations....awkjehfauihgae" I couldn't even tell you what the remaining text was because all I cared about was "congratulations". I literally hugged the test proctor and cried and she also cried and it was just a beautiful moment. I sat in my car in the parking lot crying.. so happy.. for a little more than an hour. Then I took it in. I passed. I passed something I went to school for my whole life.. I passed something I had been studying for for 4 months and did a 1 year internship for. I DID IT. I am out of jail. It made me feel as if I had been an obese person for my whole life and all of a sudden woke up one morning and lost all the weight.. like it was all off my shoulders and I was free. Top 5 best feelings I have ever had in my life.  I only hope everyone else has as much passion about their career as I do. Now onto my next steps with my current job, and I couldn't be MORE excited.

So anyway, I had my women's half marathon race this weekend! After this one, I'm just going to give myself a break. It was mentally and physically harder on my body than any other race i've been in. I'm not sure what really happened, but i've come to terms with the fact that I need to rest for a bit. I was training for this race as if I HAD to win and there was no other choice. I definitely think it's important for runners to remember why they're running. Not to win, but for peace.. that runners high.. etc. Not to feel like you're being chased by thousands of runners for 13.1 miles. That's what it came down to. 

In other news, my sister and I moved into our own new place!!! We are so excited to have moved out of the house (other than college apartments for 4 years, come on, we're not THAT lame..), and into a place where it's just me and my girl. WEEEEE!!!!! 

BIG GIRL STATUS!

Pranks, Yoga, and Running.

After finishing my internship a couple months ago, I took a much needed vaca for myself to Alaska (even though I was studying 78% of the time). It was beautiful!!! So glad I got to experience something 100% different than good ol' Florida, or even the United States for that reason. Alaska shouldn't be considered a state if we have to fly over another country to get to it. Like.. what? If I suggest anything, it would be to explore. Travel travel travel! 

Hot Springs

When I came back after 3 weeks, I started my new job as a Nutrition Educator/Nutritionist. I absolutely love it! Let me tell you, the people you work with can be all the reason you love your workplace, not even what you do. It's just a double whammy that really do I love what I do! On slow hours at the clinic, we play pranks (that some are not even aware of yet), laugh and snort the entire time, Halloween decorating, office yoga, eat candy, make fun of people.. I mean what more would you really want? It's like working in The Office. Seriously, it's that good sometimes. By the way, if you have any funny pranks for a workplace, feel free to shoot me some ideas. Some of my ideas don't work out too well. Listen to this one. I hid a piece of bread in the coffee grounds that were in the freezer (coffee in the freezer apparently lasts longer?), and the next morning I hear a conversation that goes like this.

$Dollar tree decorations!

"Hey, ___ did you put this bread in the coffee?"
"No, but I bet that's what makes it last longer!"
"I'll have to do that when I get home!"
"Yeah, Bread is buy one get one at Publix right now!"      ....  -_-   I mean, really?. So yeah, gimme some tips.


ANYWAY, work aside, I have my Dietetic Internship exam this week to certify me as a Registered Dietitian. Am I freaking out? Um.. no not at all. It's just an exam that test my 4 months of studying + 4 years of college + 1 year of internship. Not a big deal at all, we're cool here. I'll let you be the judge of that. I'm trying to stay confident though. Wooooosa. I actually don't ever say that word nor do I rub my temples to relax. It actually kinda hurts. What I DO do to relax is get an hour massage 1x/week every Friday after work. I'm always counting the minutes and wishing they lasted like 60 minutes each minute. Makes sense. I've tried yoga before but that just requires way too much concentration when my mind is like "What am I going to eat for dinner? How is she balancing? Why is there a guy in here? I have to breathe like WHAT?". My friends and I went to a yoga festival the other weekend. That was interesting. Please look at what this lady tried to have me do.

Looks easy, right?

Not so much. Nothing like face planting the boobs of a stranger.

2012 

So I have my Women's Half Marathon in St. Pete coming up next month EEEEK! This is MY race. Every year, this is the one I bust my heart out for. I've gotten First for my age group the passed 3 years, and 4th overall outta 3070 last year! I know I just tooted my horn, but I feel like that's something to brag about. I'm so ready to get out there and beat my PR. I'm hoping to get 1:29 or better. I've been working my legs more at the gym this year so I really hope it did more for me than make my pants tighter.

2012

2012

Haha, my first race ever. I was 13.
Just truckin along.

2011

2010

  okay, THIS FORMATTING IS DRIVING ME NUTS. That was my attempted timeline of the Women's Half Marathon but i've had up to here with it!! 

And that's that.

Dietetic Internship GLORY!

I never thought I would be saying it, but THIS IS MY LAST WEEK OF MY DIETETIC INTERNSHIP!!!! I couldn't be MORE relieved! This has been the longest year+ of my life. I think the hardest part about it was that I had to do everything on my own (oh, and not get paid for a full year).

 FOR ALL INCOMING/CURRENT DIETETIC MAJORS: Just know, if you do the ISPP program (distance program), you will need to solely depend 100% on yourself. No homework, no exams, no follow up questions, no preparation, no contacts.. no nothing. You basically create your internship. This can be a good thing if you have to stay in a specific area, but it can also be super hard on your spirits if you're not getting feedback or even people to refer to in the area. Message me on facebook if you're having trouble with your distance internship, cause i'll be happy to prevent anyone at all from having to go through something so difficult.

Furthermore, I'm just SO happy! I can't wait to finally be a real dietitian and not have someone check my work every dang time I have a load of patients/clients. I can't wait to sign my own name with the "RD, LD/N" after it. It is going to feel soooo good having doctors, nurses, supervisors etc refer to me after all that I've gone through! :D yeeee!! 

I have an interview today for my first dietetic related job and I was thinking of possible questions they may ask me. One thing I realized, and wanted to make note of, was that running has helped me gain SO much self confidence. It has made me believe in myself to the point that I feel so strong where nothing can bring me down. Few examples include when I'm in the final few miles of a marathon, currently caught in the pouring rain and lightning, or 8 miles away from my house but so thirsty I could faint. These situations build my brain to feel like the strongest part of my body, regardless of my legs that are actually doing all of the work. With that said, I'm not worried about a single thing. I know I will be able to get through ANYTHING because i've felt that pain before and i've heard those thoughts in my head telling me I need to just stop, find shelter, or get water. That's just like someone telling you that you can't do something that only you have the ability to ignore. Don't listen to anyone but yourself, and once you keep going at it... prove em' wrong :) 

:D

What does May mean? May means reminiscing about when JT wore turtle necks and purple shades and we thought it was hot. But May also means it's Mamma's bday, Mother's day, Jay comes home :)!!!!!, Jay's bday... AHHH come on, who else's bday?! A busy intern who doesn't get paid can't spend this kinda money!  Hopefully the money aspect will catch up with the life aspect later on.

Currently I'm trying to stay positive no matter what is going on. Honestly, I'm not even TRYING to be positive, I think i've adapted this lifestyle and I am loving it! Yeah, I don't get much sleep every night, I wake up when it's still dark in the morning to get my work out in, I bust my butt during my internship yet still feel useless somedays while I take a break to cry in the bathroom, I miss my boyfriend who has been gone since freaking January, I have no idea what state I'll be living in or what I will even be doing in the next few months, and I barely have time for my friends anymore.. and yes that may have sounded like a pity party but yano what?! I am still happy as a bee (..Are they even happy? I would probably hate being a bee. Except if I got to eat peanut butter with my honey..) !! 

We don't always need to know where we will be in 2 months, next week.. tomorrow... As long as you're happy where you are in life and continuing to take the steps to reach your personal goals/dreams (even if they're baby steps) you should give yourself a pat on the back. Seriously. Life's too short. Yeah we're busy, we don't get much sleep or have much money.. but it's temporary. And you have your whole life to figure everything out, no matter how old you are :D

The Boston Marathon and my sensitive side.

Whenever I go to expos for my races, I get so pumped knowing I will be in a building surrounded by "my people". These people GET ME. They love running as much as I do... and I'm not crazy to them, because they are just as crazy as me!

I couldn't sleep last night cause I could hear my heart beating. Yesterday put me at a loss of words, but today I feel like I want to speak my feelings. "Runners" don't just run as a form of exercise. They don't hate running.. and they sure as hell don't complain that they "STILL have to run today..uuuugh...". We incorporate running into our lifestyles. It molds us, helps us grow, helps us grieve, meditate, whatever it may be. I have runs where I could smile the whole time, jamming to my music. I also have runs where I cry and pray out loud the entire time. I'm usually hoping cars passing are assuming i'm singing to my music, even though I'm actually crying so it probably just looks a bit odd. Honestly though? I never care.. cause i'm running.. and most of the time that's the only time I feel like I can be 100% free. I know there are milllllions of people out there that share the love of running that I do. I know that most of them were in that race yesterday. 

You don't just run the Boston Marathon. It's not a very casual thing to do. You have to train for it. For months.. years.. You need a specific time to even qualify for it. That means you need to have run a full marathon once before AND get that awesome time. Yesterday's runners were at that starting line at 10am.. nervous, chills, excited, wanting to pee their pants I'm sure. 4+ hours later, devastation. What kind of SICK people do this? I was at my internship and the second I heard, I ran around the hospital trying to find a TV, computer, anything to let me know what's going on. My heart sank for all of the runners, families, and people who were hurt :(. One of the dietitians I work with was actually in the race, so knowing she was already in the hotel was so good to hear (yes, she's incredibly fast).

Each day there are more deaths and more injuries being heard of. It makes my heart sink to have this happen to a group I feel so close to. Runners are family.. the 23,000+ people out there are family. We all share this desire to run like there is no tomorrow (no pun intended.. no, but really). 

I feel so fortunate to be able to keep running and continue doing what I am so passionate  about. I encourage ALL runners to never give up, even though I already know they won't. Runners aside, we have a strong country and we'll find these fools. Now more than ever do I feel blessed to have a soldier as my boyfriend. It makes it that much more real.

Allllright. Venting is over. 

Keep on truckin'

Aylo! April 4^th huh? Today is Thursday but I really don’t know why it’s not Friday or Saturday because I am SO TIRED and drained that I just want to lay in bed and watch Ellen Degeneres all day with my best friends. I really feel as if Ellen’s standups can correlate to everything that happens in my life every single 
day. Nothing compares to that woman.

WORK/INTERNSHIP UPDATE: So why I am tired? Hmm. Well I do spend about 10 hours of the day at the hospital for my internship and I work my little butt and brain to the highest degree possible. That is all the complaining I will do about the internship because once again, I will say that I LOVE WHAT I DO. Each day is still a field trip where I am excited to learn more and more about different patients and the individual illnesses or complications they are going through. Love the interaction and seeing them smile. I can’t wait to become a real registered dietitian! Only a few more months!! I still can’t believe today is only Thursday though. How am I going to get through tomorrow? Mehhhh, I think I’m becoming immune to coffee :’(

My FSU internship director meets my
 Hospital Director

This happened this month too. March 13th!
Yes, I'm aware there is a toilet in the background.

CRAZY UPDATE: Jason just got his orders to where he will be stationed and myyy oh my am I (or we) in for a real treat!!! I don’t know if he wants me saying where he will be going yet, so I won’t relay it, but let’s just say it might as well be out of the country. Time will tell! I go up to visit him in Georgia for Family Day in a few weeks! Yeeee!

FREE TIME UPDATE: So I got my gel kit for my nails! No longer will I have to go to the nail place every 2 weeks and get a crappy job done that only lasts a week! Now I can get a crappy job done that lasts a week FOR FREE!! :D ha. Just kidding, but seriously.  I have to work on my skillz as well as my left hand precision. How do the oriental people hold so dang still?! I’m working on it. I really want to do my friends’ nails and charge 5-10$ each time that way they don’t have to go and spend 30+$ somewhere else! If anyone is interested.. seriously.. don’t just “like” my statuses .. MESSAGE ME! I’m really not that bad. Doing someone else’s hands is like using two right hands of my own so I’m much better.

WORKOUT UPDATE: I’ve actually been trying to correlate different moves into my regime. Is it reSHIME or reggie-man? I don’t know. But I have been incorporating ARMS! What?! Why. I mean, I don’t really know why. The only arm exercise I ever get is going tubing which is about once a year. I don’t want huge arms but I guess I wouldn’t mind having some kind of definition in them. Not huge though, so B frey and I keep it to a minimum every Thursday. Want the work out?

3X10 Bicep curls (w/ 10 lb DB.. actually all of this is with 10 lbs)

3X15 Bench Dips (legs straight.. touch butt to ground)

3X10 lateral raises

3X10 Front raises

…lol and yep. There we have it! BOOM! Getting huge! It literally takes us about 10 minutes, but it’s fine. Better than nothing. It’s more of a bonding time anyways, which I’m fine with. I took a progress picture when I first started. I would post it but yano, I’d rather not. Okay, nevermind, I will.  

2 months ago

Yesterday! Not even sure if I see a difference lol

Yep. We asked someone to take this for us while they were changing.

Other than this new arm thing I have going on, whenever I run, I just turn on my RunKeeper and try to squeeze as many miles as I can into 1 hour. My PR is 7.34 miles. Now, granted.. races are totally different. For some reason I turn into a cheetah when in that environment (like 9+ miles/hr) but when I’m on my own, eh, not so much. It’s hard pushing yourself when you’re only running against… yourself. And when not on a treadmill. How the heck are you supposed to know how fast you’re going? So I give myself props… and feature it on Instagram from time to time ;)

:)

April fools was Monday and nothing happened to me, so that was cool. Last year on April fools I found out that I didn’t get about 10 internships that I applied to which was a sick joke that wasn’t a joke. I guess I’m grateful (greatful?) nothing really happened.

That’s all folks!

Marchin' on in.

It's the beginning of a new month.. that only means one thing! NEW POST! And its my birthday month, and I finished another race last weekend. Annnd... I just realized I totally ruined my "no sweets February" goal about a week into it. So! With that said, I guess I won't be giving anything up this month as it results in failure lol. Also, I just learned yesterday that lent had passed a few weeks ago so I messed up on that one too! Welp. Life goes on.

As I look back at my last post about diuretics and Caffeine not being one, I stand corrected. Caffeine is in fact a diuretic, but coffee is not. Nor is tea, soda, or any liquid. This is because the liquid counteracts the fact of you losing fluid since you are really taking it in. But yes, caffeine is a definite diuretic. Just wanted to clarify.

I started interning at the hospital this month and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I feel so passionate about it everyday. I don't even care that i am not getting paid for 5 months, I am so excited to learn new things everyday and make a difference in people's lives. I love working with all the different kinds of patients we have. My oh my is every single day different or what? I have seen several colonoscopies, PEG tube placements (where we put our tube feedings) and a few other surgeries. Why do they have me looking at all of this stuff? Because my director wants me to know what exactly everything is when we read all the doctor's notes and whatnot. Also, I think its cool! Not the whole engaging in procedure deals (which I do have to do sometimes and I lose my appetite for the rest of the day), but just seeing real stuff go down and learning how the human body works is fascinating to the max. A lot of our patients are amputees and it is just crazy to see things like this because i'm not used to being in a setting where everyone is sick, sad and lonely. I now have a new respect for nurses. They do everything you can possibly think of that is gross, tedious, messy, tiring, smelly.. all of the above. Props, peeps. That's not to say Dietitians get all the glory either, though. We don't. It can be very exhausting on my brain to be honest! Good thing i'm a smart cookie. ;) Thanks FSU.

My set up in the Cafeteria

Food Show!

Presentation on Presentation on Presentation..

SO... MY RACE. I ran the Gasparilla half marathon last weekend. I tried a new strategy so I wouldn't get so sick this time and it worked!!! I was so happy. I didn't stop drinking the day before the race in hopes that my sickness was maybe just dehydration. LOW AND BEHOLD... I figured it out! Is low and behold the actually phrase? I've never actually typed that before. Anyways, the race was freaking hot. Not only that, but it was muggy and just.. not okay. We started at 6am.. (which means we had to wake up at the wonderful time of 3:30 when 1/2 the nation is probably still out partying.) We --meaning my sister, her boyf, and my mamma-- ran along Tampa's bayshore for 13.1 glorious miles. It's funny cause I like to eye down these women as if i'm searching for my prey. I get up in the first line, right before the starting line before every race. It's exhilarating to think that soon enough, I will be ahead of the thousands and thousands of people around me. 

My first mile was 6:25.. where I was like WHOA. COOL. Soon enough, 3rd mile about 19:40, 6th mile below 40:00. That's when the sun started creeping through. Right when that happened, I felt my face just burning, my body getting tired, and everything just going weak. I had never been so hot during a race! I felt like it made me lose my mojo. So anyway, final time was 1:33. I wasn't too happy with it... so I won't say much more! All that matters is that I fixed my sickness, and I was actually able to eat/take all of the free granola bars, bananas, powerbar gummies (YUM), and free stuff they give out afterwards because I wasn't searching for a port-o-potty ;). Yep, it's fine.

I think this is wrong that I have these proofs.. lol

Put em up!

Gotta have the headband!

Me, Mamma, Britt and Mollie :)

Well, like I said before, it's my birthday month! I don't really care to be honest, lol.. just something to say I guess. I have realized that my age doesn't even matter to me anymore. Yeah, 23.. okay. cool. I find that if you are happy where you are in life, it doesn't matter how old you are because you are living it up just the way you want to anyway! Those who don't want to keep getting older may just not be where they wished they would be right now but no worries, their time may come soon :)

Okie! Love y'all!

Coffee as a 'diuretic'?!

Just wanted to share some cool info, plus a little insight of my own.

I recently read coffee and tea are actually not diuretics. A diuretic is a food/drink that basically flushes the water out of you and is said to dehydrate you because it increases the urine production in your body. Some drinks that were thought to be diuretics include your caffeine drinks like coffee, tea and soda.

The reason why i researched this was because i really wanted to know if the coffee i was drinking before my races was the reason why my dehydration was happening, thus, leading to stomach issues after the race. Now i know that it couldn't have been from the coffee.

P.S. Are you wondering why you may pee more after having your morning coffee? I'll explain my theory. We drink coffee for an incentive, right? To get energized, to help with bowel movements, to have something warm, the taste... whatever it may be! So obviously we are going to drink excess amounts because we think we are actually benefitting from having this beverage. More benefitting than water, at least. So if we are consuming more coffee/tea than we would water, obviously we are going to have more urine production and have to pee more often. Make sense? It does to me.

Also... when we have water, we usually just sip on it (rather than chugging the thermos of coffee or tea we make/buy). If we don't sip on it, we drink a lot of it because we have just worked out or we are thirsty. When we're thirsty, our body is telling us that we NEED the water, therefor we won't have much urine production because that water is getting absorbed by our organs which are in need.

K that's all. Just wanted share these thoughts :)

Keepin' busy!

So wadup 2013? I'm going to stick with this once-a-month blog thing I have going on here, because that's all I have time for! One blog is better than no blog :)

January was a cool month. Not literally.. It's basically a sauna here, and i'm not sure why. Much different than Tallahassee winters, that's for sure. I don't even mind it.. running in the morning before work (5 am) is much easier while it's muggy than when I can't feel my fingers and my toes go numb. My only problem is that it is so freakin dark! I have reflectors that I can attach to my legs and arms but I feel like they don't work so I never use them. I should, but they are so tedious to put on. Kind of like the tedious-ness of bringing mace with me while I run which I highly regretted not taking the day I got chased by a pitbull 2 weeks ago. He was barking and growling and jumping and all I could do was stand straight with my arms crossed (like a mummy standing up) and my head facing the sky so he wouldn't jump and bite my face off. Or my arms (cause they tend to go for hanging things). This dog came out of no where too! I was running on Little Rd. and it literally came out of the bushes where there were no houses or people around. He even had a harness on.. that's when you know he's serious. Anyways, I freed myself by sprinting across the street while he ran back into the bushes. I was pretty far away now.. sprinting about 11 mph (for real) and I was hoping he would get hit by a car if he was to chase after me. None the less, he DID chase after me again and dodged all of the cars while doing so. I kept sprinting -- way out of breath -- and ran into a 7-11 where I stayed for a good 10 minutes while reading the latest celeb mags :) Lol.. bittersweet. Moral of the story? Bring mace and reflectors? lol.. I don't know, maybe I just wanted to blab.

So other events that occurred this month? I started my next internship rotation at a nursing home and I surprisingly LOVE IT. I love feeling important and taking control of these patient's diets. I do all kinds of things! Make sure they are getting the types of food they like/need/crave and also making sure the consistancy is one they can manage. Mechanical soft is like grinding up their food in chunks, puree is obviously having a mashed potatoe-like consistency (for ill-swallowing/chewing patients), and TPN (which is.. :( .. tube feeding). All of the food tastes exactly the same because really the only addition to the recipe is putting it in a food processor. It just looks um.. gross.
The older generation is just so cute. I love lending a helping hand to those who can't open their sugar packets, pull up their covers, or can't stand having their tea just below 212 degrees. No, but really.. I do love helping them, just because I know I am making a difference in their day. It's really fun figuring out which field of dietetics I am going to pursue! This week is my last week at the nursing home, and then I am off to a hospital for 20 weeks. 9 hours a day. 5 days a week. No pay. WHOA. 

Thank god I am busy right now though because my boyfriend, Jay, left for the Army this past Sunday. It was the saddest thing but ya know what, the rout he is taking is probably the best thing he could have done. Plus, makes me realize how special he really is. MUSHY MUSHY!! 

Last month I gave up Facebook for my new years resolution and this month I will be giving up sweets. How freakin hard! I went from saying just "milk chocolate" (cause I really only eat dark), to "ok, fruity flavored candies", to "ugh okay. All sweets. Here we go!". I literally just threw away my baby stashes too so this is serious business. I'm trying to keep up with the fact that Jay won't be eating like this either while at boot camp (he's a huge sweets person, too. HUGE.) Plus, this is the best month to do it as February is the shortest month of the year ;)

Winter Festivities!

It's been quite some time! Lets see.. more than a month! Wowzers. I have been super busy lately. In late December my internship/job at the District School Board Office came to an end. Really gonna miss the Food and Nutrition family I have come to know and love! 

This is the card work had given me as a goodbye. As well as my ice cream party mm!! 

I am on to new adventures now though! Wanna hear (read)? Good, here we go.

• I have a new internship rotation lined up for me to start at Bayonet Point Hospital for about 5 months. I heard it was one of the hardest internships but I am a determined little gal and I'll try to dig all of that hardcore FSU studying outta my noggin to help this process! Also, I'll be completing a few other rotations at nursing homes and WIC clinics. If anyone has any great contacts with either of those, please let me know! 

• Since I was in the system of the district school board I decided to start substitute teaching little youngins while I had any breaks in between my internships. I have already taught kindergarten (HELL!!!) and 3rd graders (ntb..). Let me just tell you that if you haven't babysat before, you are in for a real treat. I'm talking poopy-pants, biting, screaming, crying, paper cut up all over the floor, tattle-tailing, spaghetti-sauce-faced CHAOS. But hey, its 65$ a day and thats 65$ I didn't have when I woke up. Plus, I don't get paid during my internships so something had to be done!

• Listen to this, though. My family has great contacts with a coach who used to coach football at Hudson High, Tom Shaw. He has his own sports performance camp at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando and while their main sports dietitian is out of town, they wanted me to fill in and help counsel their athletes! Now, it's true that I have NO idea who these guys are, but once I look them up and see that they are all on the verge of the NFL draft picks or maybe getting signed with the Braves, I realize this is pretty impressive business! We'll see what the future has in store for me with this amazing contact because it seems pretty promising as of now.

In Tom Shaw's training room!

• So work/careers aside, my running life has been splendid! I completed the 12 mile Tough Mudder in December and it was honestly the most exhilarating thing in my life! I loved everything about it. Challenging myself like I have never challenged myself before gave me a kind of high i've never felt before (nor have I ever really BEEN high! lol). I never work my arms out.. except 10 pushups/day.. so I was pretty nervous about how demanding it would be to climb 4 walls all by myself. Mission completed.

HURT like heck

Electrical Shocks!

Barbed Wire

Half Pipe climb.. and me being saved by these gentlemen.

I don't even know what this did for me except making me feel uncomfortable.

Cliff Jump! wee

Monkey Bars.. which I fell 1/2 way. The only obstacle I didn't fully accomplish.

Other than these pictures, there was also 3 15 ft walls to climb over, mud piles that smelled like cow manure, dark and wet underground tunnels, freezing cold ice bath we had to submerge in.. face under.., and army walks with your partner. Doesn't sound like an awesome time but once you accomplish these things, you feel like you can do anything. I am convinced it is the coolest race ever. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. :D

PHEW! Other than running/work, I also went to Virginia for a few days this break to catch up with the cousins before Christmas! It was frigid as ever. Not a fan of the cold nor do I think I ever will be. It feels like my insides are dying.

Cool shot of me and Britt on railroad tracks during a VA run!

                        

Last but not least, we just got back from Ft. Myers for my next door neighbor/2nd brother's wedding. It was beautiful, and I cried. I definitely got some good tips for when I am ready to tie the knot, but Lord knows when that will be. I am not worried about it right now, but it was such a nice feeling to experience true love. Plus, the DJ was amazing, food was great, drinks were better :)

She cried too ;)

And that's all she wrote! 

Byee