I’m Flying! I’m Flying!

D took me up flying today. It was super cool. Here are some photos.

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Baby, I’m a Warrior

Last weekend, myself and some friends ventured into the backwoods of Pennsylvania to run the Warrior Dash.

And it was awesome! And harder than I thought.

The gist is this: 3.5 miles of rugged terrain full of various obstacles like climbing a cargo net, trudging through waist deep water (it was part of a river or lake), and jumping over fire.

It had been a rainy weekend, so by the 3:30 heat on Sunday afternoon the entire course was nothing but 3-inch thick mud. And that’s only where it wasn’t 8-inch deep mud. I’m amazed no one broke their ankle — or rather, am amazed I didn’t hear that anyone broke their ankle, surely someone must have.

I hadn’t been running in the past few weeks, so I was nervous about the race. Thankfully, my buds – D and R – stuck with me for nearly all of it. (R was the surprise force who ran through that forest like a gazelle on steroids, who knew?!)

My favorite obstacle? The Barricade Breakdown – a series of 4-5 foot walls that you have to get over. I was so proud I could do it and felt like a bad ass, except by the last one, there’s maybe 6 of them, my arms were killing me! Good to know I could outrun the cops if I ever needed to.

I also liked the water obstacles. It was nice to let some of the water do the work, and for whatever reason I was pretty good at making up loss time in these parts.

The jumping over fire, the stampeding across junkyard cars (I totally ran across a BMW!) were also pretty fun.

Least favorite obstacle? Scaling the wall, which is also partially my favorite one because I conquered it. I literally turned a corner in the forest towards the end of the run and just went Ooooh fuck! It’s a 2-story wall with a rope that you have to scale, turn around at the top and climb back down ladder-style. As you may know, I have a fear of heights. So when I got to the top and was straddling the wall, all of a sudden it was like Oooh shit. Mainly, I was worried I would slip climbing back down because everything was so muddy. But I didn’t! I made it down safe and sound and went on with the race.

My official time: 48:38.70 (which isn’t bad considering there were times I was just standing around waiting for my chance to get at the obstacle.) And I did run the whole thing, no walking!

For my gender/age group I was 84 out of 816 = 10%, and overall 1607 out of 6499 = 25%. Not bad for the second foot race of my life. Super cool? The top female finisher came in 26th and was a 15 year old. Damn. Fearless no doubt.

The Warrior Dash is super amazing and everyone should do it at least once. Even though certain things about it are a total rip off — like SportPhoto trying to charge $20 for a ONE digital image or WarriorDash not having any medals to give out to the Sunday afternoon participants (really, I paid $60 to do this race and you can’t give me a cheesy piece of plastic?)

Baby, I’m a Swinger

While in San Francisco, D and I and his two friends all took a trapeze class. I’ve been recounting this story every chance I can. It was amazing and I urge anyone to take a trapeze class if you ever the chance – mind you, I’m pretty terrified of heights!

Here’s where we took our classes: Trapeze Arts. The video on the main page – yeah, I did that. Yeah, that’s right – swinging around in the air. I’m part monkey. But one of those kinds of monkeys that likes to stay on the ground.

Yeah it was great. The photos don’t really show it, but the platform is 25 ft in the air, which is uh, high. The photos also don’t show that I was totally into the “catcher” guy who was helping us. He was being super nice since I was so scared and telling me I was doing great and that it was all about conquering fears etc etc. And I totally fell for it. Then I realized that this guy is the trapeze equivalent of a bartender – as in, has some pretty great banter and is flirtatious because it’s part of the job. Oh well. So, when we wrapped up and they closed down, I watched him ride off into the darkness on his motorcycle. Sigh, circus folk.

Photos of D and I rocking it on the trapeze bar.

Daily Delight #72

Feeling like wonder woman. I work, I cook, I clean, I run, I travel, I create. All in a lady day’s work, right? I am awesome.

Daily Delight #68

I’ve been known to rock some video games, particularly the fighting games. See, unlike some people, when I’m rocking Panda into a Deadly Claw attack, it’s no button-mashing mistake.

When my brother-in-law told me that he had Xbox Kinect – which lets you fight using your body instead of a controller – I was all about it. He had this game Fighting Uncaged. It was a lot of punching and kicking and dodging. It was awesome and after about 30 minutes, I was seriously sweaty and tired.

Then my brother-in-law pulled out some boxing/weight/martial arts gear and he showed me a bunch of defensive moves. Now, I’m hoping I get attacked because I think I could mess someone up/defend myself as long as I keep a cool head. Hmm… it’s probably not a good idea to tell the Internet, “I hope I get attacked.” Ha.

Me in all my gladiator gear (and knee socks lol).

Daily Delight #49

James Ransone is my new Adrien Brody. (I clearly have a type.) I’m absolutely ga-ga for him. He was Ziggy in The Wire, Season 2. And even better, he is the super quick witted, silver-tongued Cpl. Josh Person in Generation Kill (which has turned out to be an incredibly amazing mini-series depicting the complexities of war. You thought you hated 9-5 office bureaucracy? Imagine it meaning life or death.) I’m trying to figure if he’s the face on the DVD/posters? Ransone also played Steve-O in Inside Man.

Dear entertainment industry, we need more of Mr. Ransone. Stat. Photo from Life.

30×30 Update: #10 Down

Mayhem, mayhem, mayhem!

I was super excited that while I was in Portland with M, we got to go to a roller derby bout. I never even knew roller derby existed, other than the occasional mention on Clarissa Explains It All – someone’s mom played roller derby (Dangerous Debbie). But lo and behold, roller derby is alive and thriving in America.

I never made it to a bout in Baltimore, but after seeing Whip It, I was pretty thoroughly assured that it’d be right up my alley. Cute-skanky, skivvy-bearing outfits, racing around all fast, drinking, badass nicknames, physical contact and skinny rough neck boys – yeah, I think I might be into this.

The Portland bout was great. It was the Axles of Annihalation v. Slaughter County Roller Vixens. The AOA (which are the Rose City Rollers B-team) had the home team advantage but sadly they lost it to some out of towners from Washington. Ouch.

Highlights? The badass names. My favorites: I’maeat Yurbabies; Itsallova Yaface; Viagrra Falls; Twat Rocket; Scuttlebutt; and Mistress von Trample

And On Da Sligh has got to be one of the best roller derby players out there. (Turns out she was a hockey player, it showed.) She was flying by the others girls and got past any jam like it ain’t no thang.

There was the occasional bad hit, one girl ended up on the ground for a while. The hush that fell over the crowd didn’t help anything, because all you could hear was her. Awkward.

Part of me wants to step up my 30×30 challenge, to include making it onto a team. But with all the other things I have going, I think I’m okay settling with getting rowdy from the stands. My derby name? The Nether-Regions, I’d wear a blonde wig with thick braided pigtails – you know, very Dutch-esque. Wonk, wonk, wonk.

A few very bad photos.

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30 x30 Update: #25 Down

I am dangerous with a deadly weapon. Or at least in a 15 foot range I am. 30 feet? Not so much.

My cousin, M, and my other cousin’s girlfriend, K, and I went to the firing range while I was in Atlanta. Things I learned? Guns are loud, casings are hot and clips are hard to load. We shot a 9mm Glock with Winchester 9mm Luger bullets. While, I don’t think I’ll be a CIA assassin anytime soon (damn it), I did hit the target – even the ‘x’ once! I sent my dad (a hunter) my target, hopefully he’ll be proud, ha. Pictures below.

NOTE: I’ve decided to update some of my 30×30 items, check it out.

My first attempt. 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

My cousin, M’s damage.

Look, you can see the gun going off!

Loading the clip is really, really hard. Seriously.

K looks like a shooting pro.

My dad would be so proud.