Alphabet Soup

In an effort to keep blogging, I'm going to try something new. Over the course of the week, I'm going to fill in the alphabet with random stuff that happens/comes up/seems interesting. It's going to get choppy and ugly, but at least it's content, right? I'll put the date at the end of each one, to give a rough timeline of when I wrote it. Maybe that'll help.

Anatomy...it's fascinating, but I'm having a really hard time getting myself organized. Last night I made flash cards that may work. This morning I flipped through them on the bus. Didn't retain a damn thing, but I'm not giving up hope yet. (6/14)

Buses. Or more specifically, bus schedules and directions. Yesterday I decided to try the route that I'd need to take if I ever wanted to stay on campus past 6:15 PM (like, say, if I wanted to go to the gym ever). The first bus went ok. There were some colorful characters and I fell asleep for some of it, but it was ok. I got to the transfer station and ran across the street to run right onto my bus. At some point an hour or so later, everyone got off the bus and the driver just stared at me like I was supposed to do the same. Turns out, I'd gotten on the right bus going in the wrong direction. My stop is the last stop....in the other direction. So I rode the 31 from the middle to one end, then back to the other end. 2.5 hours after I left campus, I walked in my front door and made undercooked frozen pizza for dinner. It was a super day. (6/14)

Cooking. On that note, my cooking skills/motivation have gone from cooking from a new country every week to "that looks microwavable, let's just eat that." (6/14)

Damn. 26 is a lot of letters. (6/16)

Even if I don't finish all the letters by tomorrow, I'm still posting this. Because you guys deserve some kind of post, even if it's a crappy one. Look at T though...it's worth it, I promise. (6/16)

F

Gluconeogensis. it happens in the liver but not the muscles. Thought you'd like to know. (6/14)

House. Hasn't sold yet. It's only been a month and a half, but still. It'd be nice for Nick to be out here. Somewhere along the line I got a little attached to him I guess. Go figure. (6/14)

Iliocostalis. It's one of the words that's been stuck in my head all week. That and thoracodorsal. Apparently, spell check doesn't include the medical dictionary. Go figure. Dammit is somehow a word though. (6/16)

J

K

L

M

N

Old Bay. Just found some in my brother's spice rack. It literally just saved dinner. Winnah. (6/16)

P

Quizzes - we had 2 the first weekend, which was conveniently the same weekend as the CO Tough Mudder. I may as well have been drunk while taking them Sunday night. Good news is, I got 100 on my first one and 70 on the other one...so that's ok-ish. (6/11)

Rabbits. There are rabbits on campus. Lots of them. I'm not sure why this is so novel to me, but it is. I love it.

Sleep...turns out it's necessary. Less than 6 hours and I'm a puddle of sobbing mess by the time I get to campus. The day goes downhill from there. Last night I forced myself to be in bed by 11 (I get up at 5:30 now...seriously) and so far today feels better. Keep your fingers crossed. (6/14)

Tough Mudder. You knew it was coming. Enjoy:



Unexpected bummedness. My 10 year class reunion is tonight, and I'm at home (in another state, mind you) making tape outlines of the arteries of the arm (not to be confused with the brachial artery, which is just below the teres minor).

Yup, I'm that exciting now. (6/16)

V

W

Xyphoid process. There it is:

And now you know. (6/14)

Y

Zero ability to finish this. Sorry. Maybe next week I'll be more interesting. Or I'll find something better than the alphabet to keep me motivated. Who's got a fun phrase I can use instead? Sub 20 letters plz.

Tough Mudder CO

Ran another Tough Mudder this weekend. My best good friend flew in from MD to run with me, and it was awesome.

The pics are all from driving up and the start of the race. Don't worry though - epic video montage to come.

Exploring the concept of fisheye.

Longer post about other stuff is pending. Probably end of the weekish.

Hairwell

Get it? Like farewell, but with hair? Because tonight's playlist is hair metal all the way baby.

Final count down - Europe
Nothin' But A Good Time  -  Poison
Poison  -  Alice Cooper
Rock You Like a Hurricane  -  Scorpions
Its A Long Way To The Top  -  ACDC 
Welcome To The Jungle  -  Guns 'n' Roses
Jump  -  Van Halen
Twisted Sister - Were Not Going to Take It
Mighty Wings (Album Version)  -  Cheap Trick
Feed my Frankenstein  -  Alice Cooper
Devour  -  Shinedown
Ave Maria - Hitman Soundtrack
Dreams  -  Van Halen

I had a good time finding this stuff, and there's a LOT that got cut simply because it's only a 45 minute class. I'm a little tempted to tell everyone they're welcome to stay a full 90 minutes if they want to...I'm not even sure what I'd do for that time, but I'm sure no one would like it. Worth it? Sure. But filters come down around minute 32.

The profile is going to be one of those "winging it" kind of rides. We'll see how it goes, but mostly...hills. Duh. I might actually switch Mighty Wings and Feed my Frankenstein so MW is last...that's a pretty epic final mile song, if you ask me. FmF is a solid heavy climb too, so...that works.

For the FIT class I'm teaching before spin tonight, here's what we're looking at:

That's pretty much what I do every week, by the way. Same notebook, same pink Sharpie (every week I look for a black one...never find it), same blue pen. As I put the moves in the boxes, I note what equipment we'll need up at the top, so it's easy to see what we need when I get to class. Tonight's not got a lot of toys but I don't think that's going to mean it'll be easy. It's probably not as much cardio as Karol usually does, but hey...it's my last class, so whatever. :-P

Oh, and PS for all you doubters out there (*coughLaracough*), here's as much proof as I've got that I ran Tough Mudder VT this year:

 Before

 At the end, immediately after crossing the finish line.

 With Calvin, our adopted Expendable.

 Hailing Jeremy.

 More hugging.

 Team after pic. We are fabulous.

 Monkey duck?

Pure, unabashed happiness. It was glorious.

For TM CO in a couple of weeks, I'm definitely planning on picking up a disposable waterproof camera of some variation. 

FIT, More Pics, and Working out in high heels

Just got to work after my first training session with Sharon, who's teaching me the ins and outs of FIT/Strength class instruction.  I had no idea it would really be like marching band with weights!  Guess I'd better shed this "white girl got no rhythm" image of mine, and fast, if I want to keep up with this.  Eep. I'm super pumped to check out powermusic.com and their clickmix.com affiliate though. Maybe I'll have a review up on that shortly.

First though, pictures.

Yesterday was another damage control day, so I did my pushups in the morning with Nick and then dips in the conference room (not the full round though...still couldn't do them with good form so I bailed rather than attempt injury).  No situps though because I'm lame. Literally, I can't walk straight.

Pushups:

Set 1	10
Set 2	12
Set 3	9
Set 4	9
Set le max	13

Yes, those are heels I'm wearing. This is proof that, on occasion, I can get gussied up if the moment is right. Today, the moment is not right. Yesterday, the moment was.

 Good form, even in fancy clothes. No excuses, guys.

This was sad little me, waiting for Sharon to arrive this morning.  Ok, I actually wasn't sad at all. I just felt a little dwarfed by the room.

 Zoomed in.

 We have lots of equipment.  LOTS. This is only half of one studio.

Yay weights. They smell like weights, look like weights, and hurt like weights. Must be weights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On to more epic things, the professional pictures from Tough Mudder are back!  I'm a little annoyed that I had to sift through 20k+ pictures to find even these few of myself, but whatevs...they caught me jumping off the plank, which is really all I wanted.

 Oh right, that girl and her ankle.

 Again.

So what happened here is one of these guys (I think the one in blue shorts) came barreling around the corner and WIPED HER OUT.  Like, flat on her face, wiped out. So they took over and helped her to the finish while Julie and I tackled the wires on our own.

I'm not crying, I had a massive brain freeze from the icy water. Ouch.

And now...the plank!!

No turning back now...

Scream started here (note open mouth).

Continued, but you can't see my mouth.  You can finally see Julie though, who, because she was gracious enough to hold my hand on this one, ended up being blocked by my massive pinkness.

Mouth still open, scream still happening.

Landing gear down, still screaming.

COLD! Quick gasp before we went under!

And that's it. There's at least one more floating around of me with my bear face on, coming out from under the barbed wire, but I have to find it again.

Gimpy

NOTE: I'd hoped the official pics would be up by now, to post those too.  As of right now, they're not, but I'll update this when they are. Enjoy.

UPDATE (got a little introspective after I published this the first time): 


I'm starting to feel a little bit like I'm in Fight Club. I've run into a few coworkers who have similar bruises and faint outlines of numbers on their foreheads and legs, and the response is always the same...a quick double take then a "wait...did you do Tough Mudder this weekend? Holy crap, so did I!" And then an hour or so reliving the experience with someone for whom you have a whole new respect, knowing they put themselves through the same hell you did. It's the mud that binds us, if you will. Anyone who walks in on the conversation responds with a vague "oh that's cool..." or "wait...why would you do that??" but without experiencing Tough Mudder, you simply...don't get it.   


I've been looking for other races/runs to do that would come close to what TM was, and nothing seems good enough. Too short, not enough obstacles, on flat roads, allow entrants under 18 (a sure sign that the course is meh...sorry Spartan)...and yet, the next VT TM is almost 14 months from now, and who knows where I'll be then?


Also, other coworkers have asked about doing TM and whether they should go the full Mudder or try something else "to see if they like it" first. I have a hard time with that...maybe it's elitist or something, I don't know, but I figure...if there's any doubt in your soul, you should not be doing Mudder as your first mud run.  But then again, I've always been a "go big or go home" kind of girl, so maybe that's just me. 

Holy moley you guys, today hurts. I'm actually using my arms to get myself out of my chair to walk to the kitchen. No bueno.

That said, I wanna do it again. I'm so hooked, and I can't wait until Tough Mudder comes back to town next year. I also just found out that a coworker ran it on Saturday, so I'm trying to convince him to run the one in NJ in November.  We'll see how that goes.

Until then, a few notes on the obstacles.

1. Braveheart Charge

This one was fun. Everyone was amped up and ready to go. We sang the national anthem and there was an awkward thing involving a picture of Bin Laden with an X through his face. Unnecessary, but whatever. The moment wasn't lost. The initial charge was downhill and everyone was smiling.

2. Death March

This was probably the first time we started questioning what we'd gotten ourselves into. It wasn't a little slope, guys...this was a red at best, which is more than I'll snowboard down, even on a good day. The mist is from the snow making machines they had blowing on us...not warm y'all, not warm.

3. The Killa Gorilla

Coming down the hill to see this, we were laughing. It was so absurd to look at. This was the first obstacle that I got to help someone else. There was a girl I was about to pass who was losing steam and fast, so I grabbed her hand and said "let's go" and pulled her up some. She sped up as soon as I grabbed her hand, and I felt faster too...that's just Tough Karma. :-)

4. Devil's Beard

This one wasn't so bad. It was annoying, but we all wound up giggling most of the time, especially since I got clotheslined more than once. I was the tallest one going through it at that point, so I earned that.

5. Boa Constrictor

I saw pictures of this Saturday afternoon and my heart sank.  They put them at an angle, into a large puddle that was probably knee-deep to stand in....which is roughly eye-level when you're in them. I have HUGE issues with small, dark spaces and with murky water, so I expected this one to be an issue.  However, right before this one we saw Nick, who then ran ahead to meet us here and cheer me on.  I love that boy. His cheers made me so happy I forgot to be nervous.  The tubes weren't completely dark either, which made it better.  However, there was a good chunk of it that I was under water completely (as far as breathing is concerned) so that was unsettling.

6. Tired Yet?

I think the website might have these slightly out of order, but I honestly can't remember. I remember laughing at the tires because they were right after an uphill trek. They weren't so bad, but they weren't great either.

7. Tree Hugger

Now I know these are out of order.  The Tree Hugger was definitely after the mud mile, and I'm pretty sure after the Ball Shrinker. But whatever, it was there. It was rough, but not impossible.  Fortunately, the ground was miraculously dry, so that helped a lot.

8. Ball Shrinker

The first of the water obstacles...all I can say is misery. The water was <40* and they had a snow making machine blowing on us for over half the way. In the description they make it sound like there was a choice about going in the water...there wasn't.  The top rope was maybe two feet above the water, which made the whole thing under water up to your neck. One guy fell here, since his hand started cramping up...he didn't look like the kind of guy who screams easily, and I've never heard genuine screams of agony before, so that was a little unsettling. I hope he's ok.

9. Mud Mile

Here we fell in sync with a group of maybe 6 guys in navy shirts who were hilarious and kept us laughing the whole way.  Stupid jokes that I'm told aren't funny out of the situation, but I'm still giggling.

Q: What's blue and smells like red paint?

Answer after the next obstacle.

10. Kiss of Mud

This one was almost disappointing...until the end when the mud got about 6 inches deep.  Then the girl in front of me laid down 100% and said she was taking a nap, right there.  Loves it.

A: blue paint.

11. Hold your Wood

Another man fell here...apparently he had a stye in his eye. Ouch. We got to the top of the hill and watched as a guy accidentally dropped his wood, which was a round log.  Guess what happens when gravity meets a round log on a steep hill?  Near disaster, that's what.  In the end, some guy ended up diving in front of the thing to save the village. It was epic and the whole world heard us all yelling about it. Good times.

12. Hey Bales

It was as advertised...hay bales in the middle of the course. Itchy, itchy hay bales. Hay + soaking wet clothes = mega itch.

13. Evil Knevil

This was actually a half pipe we had to run up the grab onto something (usually a hand) to pull ourselves over. It was kind of badass because it felt like you were about to flip over completely. I helped 2 people up, including one girl who we had to pull up one limb at a time. Boom.

14. Spider's Web

Shockingly painful, this one. It was a net that went straight up and straight down, and you had to climb over it.  Turns out, chicks can also suffer when metal wires are introduced to the tender areas. Just saying. I didn't even know Nick was there, which is why I don't even look up when he's cheering...and why I look like Frankenstein.

15. Mystery Obstacle (Fish n Chips)

Basically, you crawled through a vat of maple syrup and vinegar, then through wood chips.  Would have been dirtier but more painful the other way around, IMHO.  It wasn't that exciting since there really wasn't much maple in it.

16. Walk the Plank

I know for fact this came earlier, but I couldn't tell you where. I think before Spider Web though. Anyway, this was...mind blowing. This was the only obstacle that I really hesitated on.  I'd never jumped off a high dive before, and this was HIGH.  If I'd known how gawdawful cold the water was, I probably would have hesitated more.  Julie, god bless her, held my hand though and we jumped in together. The water was about 35 degrees, and I've never felt my body seize up so completely before.  It was terrifying. I could hardly swim to the side, and I'm a pretty strong swimmer.

17. Underwater Tunnels

This was more like "hip deep muddy water that smelled like cow poop with really low pipes over it".  It was really damn cold, I got a brain freeze every time I came up, and I nearly lost my contacts.  The guy behind me pointed out that's what my goggles were for.  Oops.

18. Glacier

This was the first time I wish I'd brought gloves. Climbing up wasn't awful, but you ended up sliding down, which meant all that cold, icy snow rubbed your hands raw. No fun.

19. The Gauntlet

More hay bales and a guy in a mask with a fire hose. And some snow making machines. Translation: more cold. We decided to run to minimize exposure, and the guy took pity on us and didn't even hit us. Thank god.

20. Cliff hanger

Uummmm...I'm not sure which this one was. Maybe this was another snow one? Probably. There was no motocross slope though, so I'm going to go with snow bank of doom. Again.

21. Blood Bath

They shoveled ice cubes into this water, to make sure it stayed just barely above freezing.  Again, brain freeze.  Julie went over, I went under. Oh and our tank was green.

22. Funky Monkey

Won't lie, I climbed over the top of these.  I had no upper body left at this point and  no real burning desire to swim it. So I cheated.  But really, if I'd fallen it would have hurt a lot more.  Just saying. And 80% of us were doing it that way, at that point.

23. Berlin Walls

We looked at this one...stared for a long time. Then decided broken limbs were not what we wanted, so we walked around.  That's right folks, technically I didn't finish.  I'm sorry.

24. Tower Hurdle

My shins are just now turning blue and purple from this one. Seriously, major damage points here. They were fun though. By the time we got to them, they were wicked slick with mud and the pits on either side were deep, so I think they were harder than, say, on Saturday. Just saying.

25. Fire Walker

Warmth! Oh, and smoke.  A lot of smoke.  Didn't stay here long, just wanted to finish.

26. Turd's Nest

This one was almost easy, comparatively. The fact that it was so late in the run is really what made it hard. Mentally, I just wanted to be done.

27. Greased lightening

Don't be fooled...this sucker hurt.  The water had had time to carve really deep, narrow ruts in the ice, forcing you down the bumpy ride at top speeds.  At the bottom, it made a few nasty turns, which meant bruises.  And for this girl, a busted  ankle.

28. Electroshock Therapy

Not as bad as anticipated, but mostly because I took it slow and avoided a lot of the wires. One got me good enough to know they meant business, so I kept out of it.

The finish!!! WOOOO!!!!

Overall, I have to say that this is the first run/race/whatever that I really truly regret nothing. I gave it everything I had and then some, but most of all I had FUN. I didn't quit and I didn't let my fears get the best of me.