Improving & Making it Home

It's been about 2 months since we arrived here in Texas. And honestly, even though I miss my family....it's starting to feel like home. We've done a lot to make this house our home. Painting was our first project, but here's some before & afters!

Tango supervised all projects, just to make sure they were done on a professional level.

Leaving 757 Behind

We've moved. We're in Texas. I'm happy. So this post is a long-winded vent/exploration of how I felt about leaving. This is my "journal" entry that may be of no interest to others, but I need to get out.

After getting engaged, drooling over my ring for a while, and returning home to announce the great news, it was time to get ready for the big move. We'd already closed on the house (from 1600 miles away, might I add), and the date for moving was set for the day after Memorial Day. I had approximately 3 weeks.

I'd like to say that being unemployed for the last month of my life in VA was relaxing and fun. And it was, at times. But let's be real. I've lived in VA my entire life. I went to college 20 minutes away, and most of those years - I commuted. Even the calmest days were splattered with moments of complete confusion and fear.

"Life takes you unexpected places, Love brings you home"

 - in the entryway to my new home

I never envisioned meeting a man and moving away with him. I told myself I'd never leave all I'd ever known, that I'd grow old (maybe alone) in the area I grew up in. Maybe I'd get rich and move to Williamsburg. Maybe I'd live with Grandma forever. I don't know, but moving to Texas wasn't in my "Plan".

Ehrmehgerd!!! We're Engaged!

After our visit to Texas, we felt a lot more relaxed about moving....knowing that we had a house waiting for us instead of a search ahead of us made life easier. The entire month of April was just a countdown to quitting my two jobs! By May, I was unemployed for the first time since I was 15 years old.

To fully enjoy my lack of responsibility, we planned a hiking/camping trip in May on the Appalachian Trail. (A short one....let's be real...I might do a few mud runs but I'm no hiker or camper!). Well.....and this happened!

(My Facebook announcement, inspired by Success Kid memes.

 My mother was horrified, my friends were amused. Mission accomplished!)

Instead of recapping everything that happened before we left for Texas, I'm just gonna tell you that we got engaged. But in story-form. Duh.

Visiting Texas

Now that the events were updated.....

We found out last year that we'd be moving to Texas. In March, we flew down to visit.

Being from green Virginia, this sight from the plane window over Texas was not very welcoming. Neither was the crazy wench two seats over talking about how everyone was going to die because San Angelo is in a drought.

We decided we wanted to buy a house and stop throwing money into renting. So this trip was to find a house to buy. We were pretty much on the same page with what we wanted. At least 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a yard, and a garage. We're pretty easy to please I suppose.

Races of 2013-2014

In 2012, I met my now-fiance. In March 2013, we decided to run the Shamrock 8K.

I assumed that he had done organized running events before. I honestly thought that if someone was in good shape, they had run in a race. I thought that I was just behind on this whole running with other people thing.

I was wrong. My fiance had never run in an organized event. So that made the Yuengling Shamrock 8K so much more fun!!!

I hate running, still. 

Tough Mudder MidAtlantic 2012

TM MidAtlantic 2012 was scheduled for the day before my 27th birthday. Which was pretty good, because that meant that 3 of my best friends were forced to hang out with me on my birthday weekend, since they'd already committed to being my TM Teammates that year. 3D and I were ready.

Team DTF!

(Down To Finish....duh)

Races of 2012, Moving to Texas

Here I am....almost 2 years after my last entry...starting again...

A lot has happened since April of 2012. Obviously. A lot happens every day.

I came back because I'll be moving from Virginia to Texas in May 2014. Since I don't know anyone there yet, and my family will still be here in Virginia...blogging might be a good way to keep track of the adventure and keep family and friends informed!

But let me recap some of the fitness stuff I never got around to posting. 

Here's some stuff I did: 

May 2012
I ran my second ChickFilA 5K, which was another great event from FlatOut Events. Even better, my cousin ran it with me. (Well...she ran it as well...not with me...she beat me!)

(Free sammiches for the runners!!!)

Workout Buddies

I spent the weekend house-sitting and dog-sitting while my mom was out of town. And when I say that, I really mean that I intended to literally SIT all weekend. It was a long work week, and I was totally exhausted. My body aches with stress.

(How could you want to go to the gym when you could just SIT with this guy all day?)

So Saturday, I woke up and had every intention of chilling out all day. Until I got on Facebook, and one of my friends who is a very avid gym-goer IMed me. He has been trying to get together at the gym for some time, and asked if I was going since he was on his way there. Initially, I said "naaahhh". But after thinking about it for about five minutes, I decided that he had the right idea. Plus, I hadn't actually seen him in almost ten years, so this was a good opportunity.

I got my ass in gear and headed out to the gym.

Roadblocks!

Having gotten my Tough Mudder recap out of the way, there wasn't really a lot that followed. I'd like to say that I stayed on my game and got in better shape, but admittedly, I fell off the fitness wagon. I ate what I wanted, rarely worked out, and traded muscle for several pouds of fat.

I ordered Insanity. Let me tell you how that worked out for me....it lasted 2 days.

I finally got a little motivation, and decided to switch gyms. I went from Planet Fitness to OneLife. Planet Fitness, though an admirable establishment for those who are self motivated, is...well, it gets boring. There are no classes, limited variety of cardio machines, and frankly I was just not motivated to go. OneLife is more pricey but I consider it worthwhile since I have much more equipment, classes to choose from, and a number of amenities.

VS










I also got 3 free Training Sessions with a certified trainer. My first consult was just an intro to the options and logging my goals and info. No big deal. Goal: Get in shape for Tough Mudder 2012.

Tough Mudder VA : Wintergreen, VA 10.22.2011

I gave up the couch (not completely) from February '11 to October '11 and challenged myself. I set a goal for myself, and recruited friends to go along for the ride, and to support each other in the goal. Four of us ended up making it to the end, signing Death Waivers a few hours away from home.

Tough Mudder VA 2011 had arrived. The four of us on Team UMADBRO? Arrived outside of Charlottesville, VA on Friday night. After a decent meal, we hung out in the hotel room, anticipating the next day's torture. I was super confident....and I was so wrong.

The next morning, we were up bright and early, trying to eat a quick breakfast, throwing in some supplements along the way. We headed to Wintergreen, a ski resort about 15 minutes away, where we caught a bus to the top of the mountain and waited for our start wave.

At this point, it's about 55 degrees at the start line, at best. Getting pumped was the easy part. I OD'ed on some supplements, so shortly after the start line, I was already dizzy, looking like a wimp, and keeled over trying to throw up. I look happy here, but this is after diving into over-the-head ice water within the first two miles. (No, really, they were bulldozing ice into it). I skipped two obstacles involving water because I couldn't feel my legs. About this time was when our friend Deryk (taking pics) told me that he'd kick me down the mountain if I was trying to quit.....I kept going....

So at this point, we've done a Braveheart Charge, run through fire hoses, climbed giant hay bales, carried logs up and down a bunny slope, gone under fine cargo nets, jumped over and gone under logs with barbed wire, balanced on 2x4's over cold water *and fallen in*, monkey bars over cold water *and fallen in*, and literally waded through ice water over our heads. This is all in about 2 miles.

Then there were the first set of Berlin walls (about 8') each, the water obstacles I skipped, one that was closed for maintenance, and then "Death March" and "Cliff Hanger". Let me just say, these are supposed to be distinct obstacles of hell-like ascents up the steepest ski slopes on the resort....However, about 70% of the course was just that....up and down the mountain.

Tough Mudder states that our elevation gain was 1250 feet. However, if you add up the amount of distance we actually went down and up in those multiple climbs, we actually descended about 4500 ft, and ascended about 4700 ft. from everyone's technical gear that I heard from. There is literally no stair-stepper machine to prepare you for this multiple times:

Then there was more mud to crawl through under barbed wires, cargo nets to climb while the men hold them steady before we wiggled to our deaths, more logs to jump over in the woods, crawling through sand under barbed wire, a mystery obstacle slide that many were injured on, and some dark wooden tunnels. Next, this charmer: Turd's Nest. Simple enough, until you realize someone's holding a fire hose and aiming at you as you try not to lose a leg through the cargo net!

At this point, we'd gone about 8 miles. Really, there were mximum of 3.5 miles of straight running and thank God it was at the top of the resort, through the golf course. It was a great portion, because those people in the condos at the golf area were outside adding extra water stations for us, cheering us on, and really contributing to the true sense of comraderie that this event has.

I never hit an obstacle that someone wasn't willing to help me with. Sure, we had our team, but people literally waited around to help the next wave. It was amazing. And we really needed their help for the next obstacle: Everest.

This is a basic quarter pipe, probably about 15 to 20 feet above ground...slick with mud and water from those who ran up before us. Apparently we were supposed to form some sort of human chain to climb up, but what happened to be working best was taking a running start, and reaching for those waiting to pull us up on top. This was actually one of the simpler obstacles, in my opinion, but those getting punched in the eye, pulling friends up, and having to attempt 4 times probably would disagree. They had the Degree photo station here, so our pics automatically posted on Facebook.

The last two obstacles were much advertised, and feared by many. But I'd do Firewalker and Electroshock Therapy 10 times each to avoid that ice bath. Seriously. What's a little smoke and fire, followed by a hose-down of water, then a shock of up to 10,000 V electricity? No big deal, right?

Tough Mudder was literally the most difficult physical challenge I have ever been through. My team was awesome but I really did hold them back by being underconditioned for it. But we finished, drank some protein shakes, and some Dos Equis. My recovery time was approximately a week, given that I was dehydrated, kidney infection, sinus infection, and every muscle was strained in my body.

We're signed up for round 2 this year. Different team, but I am super excited to do it again. MidAtlantic 2012 in MD, Team DTF (Down to Finish, get your mind outta the gutter!!!)!!!

Anyone else out there done TM?

Revive the Blog

After almost a year, I'm going to restart my blog. Maybe it will help motivate me to stay on track for fitness and be a destressor. A friend of mine has also started a blog about her fitness journey, so being blog buddies might help.

No one really read this before, but if you come across and decide to look back, you'll see that last year I had some fitness goals and did some events. I guess this first post is a good place to recap on those.

While training for my overall goal of Tough Mudder, I set a goal to run the ChickFilA 5K.

Busy Weekend

It was a great weekend, but very busy. However, I got my workout in, so it's okay!

Friday was a social evening, so I didn't work out at all that day. But Saturday was rushed!

Congrats to my brother, who graduated Saturday morning! After watching the commencement, we all met at Red Lobster for a celebratory lunch. I did good. I limited myself to one delicious cheddar bay biscuit, and had a salad before the meal came. Shrimp scampi and crab legs, with a side of broccoli instead of fries. I knew I'd be running after lunch, so I didn't want anything super heavy, and keeping the exercise in mind made me make a few decent decisions at the table.

A shoe is a shoe is a shoe, right?....wrong

So I love my shoes so much that I decided to write a blog about them. Hahaha. Well, I figured if anyone looked for a review, I could speak up for the non-athletic people trying to start working out....

Actually, I've never been super active before. So when I started working out, I basically had my Nike Shox everyday shoes to use in the gym. I started to notice that my hips and knees were really taking a beating when I ran. I chalked it up to being out of shape and kept trucking on.

Unfortunately, this tactic didn't work.Someone told me to go online and check out Asics.

I was skeptical of high praises for Asics. I mean, I'm sure they're great, but some people literally acted as if NOTHING out there was suitable for my feet. Whatever, I found a pretty pair and ...

So, behold, my Asics Gel Noosa Tri-6.

Fundraising

Let's talk about money, shall we?

Money is always an issue when it comes to big athletic events. Whether it's a sponsorship thing or fundraising for a cause, the event costs money just to put on.

Tough Mudder cost me about $123.00 to sign up. It gets more expensive as the event gets closer. I don't mind paying it, though, since the Tough Mudder benefits the Wounded Warrior Project.

Team Running #2

Last night's run was okay.

Another run approximately 3 miles, but this time on a paved trail. I found that the nature trail was a lot easier on my knees, which I've had trouble with in the past. But it wasn't horrible.

As a team, we run at about a 4 mph pace. Last night, there were 5 of us and we did the 3 miles in about 50 minutes. It took a little longer, but we tried to stick together as a team, and we did some pushups and situps at every 1/2 mile marker. Also, it was a little warmer yesterday than it was Sunday.

The good thing about the paved course was the mile markers. Every 1/4 mile was marked on the path, so that was helpful.

I tried a Gatorade "Prime" gel thing. Supposedly it's supposed to give you a beginning spurt of energy with B vitamins to jumpstart your workout. To be honest, I just got really hot really fast. Didn't really feel that different. Maybe it's because I've been so sedentary and these things are meant for active people. Who knows, but I won't be paying $1.99 for one again. I'll be asking friends for nutrition and energy advice.

I know that as a beginner it's good to give your body a break in between runs, but I'd really like to go back to the trail tonight. Sadly, it's rainy outside.

Maybe I'll do it anyways. Tough Mudder is going to be disgustingly cold, wet, and muddy. What's a little rain gonna hurt?

Starting to Train: 6 Months to Go!

Tough Mudder training, GO!!

I pitched the idea of the Tough Mudder to a lot of my friends, and suprisingly, some of them are super interested! So as of right now, I'm the only one officially signed up, but we've started a training group. Because a lot of us are out of shape, it's not really a big deal that we're not all on the same fitness level.

I'm really excited to have company training for this challenge, because I can't do it alone.

Just this past weekend, I have been way more active. On Friday, I did my usual 30 minute cardio workout and small upper body weights. Then, my friends and I went and played football on the beach. Let me just say, it wasn't much of a game, it was more like stumbling around on glass shard-like sand. Ouch!

Goal-Setting

I didn't just sign up for Tough Mudder thinking I could train alone and be ready. Didn't you read it? I've NEVER played a sport! I was the academic, not the athlete!

So I figured the first step is to set goals. I mean, that's what I did when I had a big school project.

I started by signing up for my first 5K race. I have no intention of winning the race, but I need to have short-term goals in order to push myself the right way.

In one month, I will be running the Chick-Fil-A 5K in our area. It's a relatively small race, and I think I can handle it.

First Step: Fitness

Here I go again, trying something new. I want to try a new, more active lifestyle. I've been telling myself I'm going to get into great physical shape, but lacked the motivation to do so. So I joined a gym in February, and have been going fairly regularly. With the exception of the last two weeks, in which work was rough and I moved, I was doing cardio and small weights at least 3 times a week. I'm trying to quit smoking, and have cut back from almost a pack a day down to about 5 cigarettes a day.

It's been hard to be motivated when I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I've never played a sport, and most of my friends haven't played sports or "trained" for anything in years. So I'm starting from scratch.

But I found a little motivation. Someone mentioned to me this ridiculous challenge that they will be doing in October. Anyone heard of the Tough Mudder? I hadn't....check it out:

http://www.toughmudder.com/

New Beginnings

Here I go again.

I blogged for several months last year and had lots of followers...then life changes happened. We all know life changes are always a struggle, but being surrounded by people who truly care has brought me to see one end as a new beginning. Cliche, I know, but true.

I've decided to re-start my blog because...well, I enjoyed blogging. I enjoyed connecting with other bloggers about weddings, and hopefully can connect with others on different topics again. Writing is a beautiful release, and a healing exercise in itself. Even though I've come a long way since January, I feel like documenting some of the joys and sorrows of life still has it's benefits.

I leave you with a quote that has inspired me to move forward, from Don Quixote:

"The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise."

So here's to rising again.