UPDATE: Moving On Up To The Wordpress Side

UPDATE: I have moved my site to wordpress site. Come on over and see all the new content.

Small Goals for Big Goals - August ????

A completely random picture of my beloved Flatirons taken with my dream camera

As it has been a few months, well actually a lot, since I last did one of these posts I think I will do a check in with my goals for the year.

Personal
- Get down to 125 lbs
      - Loosing weight is so incredibly hard for me. I have given up paying attention to a number on the scale
        and have been focusing on eating healthy and staying active.
- Write at least one non-phot blog post a week
      - Yup this one is very obviously not happening as there is rarely new content. I am planning on changing
         this now that I am done with my master's degree and am on the hunt for a job.
- Finish my reading plan for the bible
      - This has been put on hold as I do some thinking about what I believe.
- Learn to listen to my gut
      - I have been so much better at this than I was last year. I may not always change my current course, but
        I have been stopping and trying to figure out what my gut is telling me.

Professional
- Get a website and blog up and running
      - This has been slow. I have both done, but have yet to launch them. I am a little afraid of what the effect
         might be. I have been using the excuse that J needs to help me with coding.
- Put together a portfolio
      - I have the pictures printed, so now I just need to buy something to put them in.
- Get a big girl job
      - I have been putting in about 2 applications a month with no bites. Now that I am done with school I am
        going to be putting all my time toward finding a job.

Fitness
- Run a 5k in under 35 minutes
      - SUCCESS. My fastest time so far has been 32:10.
- Go on a 50 mile bike ride
      - I are still working on this.
- Hike at least once a week and once a month with Jason 
      - I have decided that running 2 - 3 times a week is enough foot moving to count.

30 By 30
6. Get my dream camera 
      - Done. I bought it in February and have been doing lots of playing and learning.
15. Read 4 classic books
      - pride and prejudice
      - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
      - Jane Eyre
      - Anne of Green Gables
18. Make my own hard cider
      - If I can find a place to get a lot of apples and find the money to buy the equipment this will happen in
        October.
20. Become and amazing telli skier
      - I'm calling this a success, but the true test will come in late November and December when we head
        back out onto the slopes.
25. Volunteer 100 hours for a cause that is in line with my beliefs
      - I have been volunteering at the Women's Wilderness Institute, but I have not been keeping track of my
        hours.
26. Climb 6 14ners - We are planning on climbing Longs peak in about a week so I will be able to check
                                 that off, but I doubt any more will be climbed this year.
      - Longs peak
      - Mt. Evans
      - Mt. Bierstadt
      - Greys
      - Torries
      - Mt. Elbert
27. Get over my fear of falling
      - Never went climbing so I haven't had the chance to work on this.
28. Volunteer for a race
      - I have volunteered for one of the Dash N Dines so I could do another for free and I also volunteered
        for the MS 150 Bike ride.

So it is the 17th of August and I am just now getting to the point of setting my goals for the month. I am thinking the list will be short.

- Write one blog post a week. I would like to have my wedding post up by the end of the month.
- Finish putting my portfolio together
- Go on a 50 mile bike ride. I would like to do this on Sunday.
- Climb Long's peak. We are planning on doing it next weekend.

Racing: My Second Love

Coming out of the water at the Southern Hills Triathlon 2012

I love racing. I first discovered my love of racing when I joined my high school swim team. I loved standing on the blocks sizing up my competition, waiting for the gun to go off, diving in, taking a quick peak to see where everyone else was compared to me. After I quite swimming I really missed those times. Some point during college I discovered triathlons. It wasn't until the year after I finished by undergrad that I got balls to finally sign up for one.

Finally finishing the Southern Hills Triathlon

After moths of searching I finally found a triathlon close to where we were living in South Dakota, the Southern Hills Triathlon. It took me another month to get the guts to sign up. When I signed up I vowed that I would do some real training. Haha, yup I thought I would magically change get my butt off the couch and do some running and biking. The swimming part was easy, I have always been drawn to water. Training for the bike leg was something I thought I didn't need to do. Apparently I thought my mountain bike and I were invincible. Running, oh running how I uh love you. I have always wanted to be a runner, but knew absolutely nothing about it. So all this to say I swan a bunch, biked none, and ran maybe twice. The time for the race finally came and it just so happened to coincide with our move to Colorado. So we packed up everything we owned and drove to our friends lake house where the race was. The next day we got up took the boat across the lake and I raced in my very first triathlon. The result was mountain bikes are not good at going fast, I suck at running, rock at swimming, and fell in love with the sport.

Fast forward to this summer, a year later, and I am living in the home of triathlons. If I wanted to I could probably do a triathlon every weekend during the summer and have to drive less than 5 miles. This summer I have done two weekly race series. I started with the Dash N Dine a Tuesday night 5k followed by yummy food. I competed in the last 3 and got to race with some of the best runners out there, think 15 minute 5K. The next series was the Stroke and Stride, an aquathon. Every Thursday I have been swimming a 750  in the Boulder Reservoir and then running a 5k. I have been struggling with this race every week, until tonight. I finally had a good swim and run.

For the first time ever I ran the entire 5k. No walking for me. Say what. Yup I finally got my brain to shut up and let me run the whole time. I felt an amazing high the whole run. I have finally gotten that excitement from swimming back. I can't wait to attack the Southern Hills Triathlon for a second time in a few weeks.