hello from sunny california!

here i am sitting at the library in our little town checking my email...it's weird to be w/o internet at home, but really nice at the same time. i forget how consuming it can be...especially facebook! haha

haven't been doing a whole lot while i've been here. most kansans are terriblly jealous that i'm here in the sunshine state...but really, it's not that exciting! it's just like going home for a break. my sister's beach trip was cancelled since none of the kids brought money, so instead we went to my little bro's baseball game. it was just as hot as the beach...w/o the cool air and ya know, ocean.

still, it's been really really good to relax. especially after 100 miles to nowhere. i didn't figure the actual miles would kill me, but the sitting in place almost did! the first 60 miles were pretty laid back...painted my nails, had to take 90 potty breaks, chatted, sang songs with the girls...then i realized all the boys were going to finish and leave us in the dust. i couldn't be sitting there for hours while they waited on us. so, i moved my bike into the sun, put in my headphones and averaged 27mph. felt pretty good to kill those miles, besides enjoying raising the money for livestrong :)

like i said, it's been really good to relax. i hadn't realized how stressed i've been (and probably continually a little overtrained) till i finally got my heart rate down to 53. i've just been riding my step-mom's crappy huffy (yes, you can laugh now), and jogging, not worrying about keeping muscle or anything, just enjoying it. i forget to do that alot. imagine that ;)

my family's been great. of course, driving me crazy half the time, but that's what family's for right? this weekend we're going to my friend's wedding and hopefully the mountains before i head back monday. getting a little stir crazy and ready to hit the ground running...i think haha.

one thing i do know: I CAN'T WAIT TO GET BACK TO MY BIKE!!! gosh i miss her!

well, until next time!

Thank God the end is near

Life's been quite a whirlwind lately. Last week of school and internship for the semester; and crazy defines it pretty well. Last weekend I went to the Lake Wilson race with my pals. I had planned on racing, but once I prerode a bit of the trail, I realized how mentally drained I really was. I don't think I've spent enough time alone lately and that tends to wear on me after a while...especially when you work in the mental health field. I probably could have raced, but I just didn't have the mental capacity to muster up the courage to concqur the really big rocks on this course. So to stay on the safe side, I took on the water girl status for the day.
I was proud of myself for saying no to the race, but I was pretty frustrated about not being able to get my head in the game. It feels so great to accomplish something like a mountian bike race and prove to yourself you can handle tough stuff. On the other hand, it feels pretty pathetic to have the physical strength but have to back out because of something in your head. But, sometimes I really need to be humbled, and this was a good way to be put in check.
Last night I got to get back to our Camp Alexander Trails. I got to show a newbie the trail and once I was by msyelf I took several minutes off my average lap time. It was nice to prove to myself again that I'm not a wimp haha
This weekend is our 100 Miles To Nowhere fundraiser where a few of us will ride on bikes in place for 100 miles to raise money for the LiveStrong Foundation. Should be a fun time. I might be tired afterward.
Monday I fly to California to my Dad's house to stay w/my family for 2 weeks. I'm really looking forward to the break in the craziness. I mean, they're crazy too ;) but it's different.
Once I get back, the Aquatics Center opens for the summer and I have one week to move out of my apartment and to a new pad and I immediately start internship back up and some summer school classes. Again, you can see why I'm looking forward to the 2 weeks out of state.
One thing I have learned in my many years of college: it always gets done. It's just a matter of getting there! I can make it...

race #2

well this weekend i went to my 2nd mountain bike race. it was called the bone bender in smithville, mo. it was a 3 or 6 hour endurance race...which ended up being a 4 hour race for me since i was in the middle of a lap at 3 hours lol. that was the point i really wanted someone to come pick me up cause i was sick of being on that stupid bike! (i had a heart to heart with my bike and later took back those words)

really i enjoyed it alot. i did cramp up for most of my first lap...which was probably my fault for not being hydrated well enough last week. so at my pit stop i downed a bunch of pickle juice...you think i'm crazy but it's wonderful and workds! on the way out for my second lap my little friend donovan wanted me to wait on him, but i quickly reminded him i wasn't going to be last. he argued with me, but i won by leaving without him. (i also later apologized to donovan for yelling at him and then leaving him in the dust)

that lap would have been wonderful butttttt the guys who were actually fast started to lap me in places on the trail that were too tight for me not to just hop off the bike and wait...for a long time! i ended up walking quite a bit because of that, which was really frustrating, but i made friends with the 13 year old kid (yes, i was keeping pace with a 13 year old), and cheered on the guys who looked like they were tired and needed the cheerleading :) dang, i shoulda been passing out my number...why do i always have good ideas in retrospect? lol

bobby says i placed somewhere in the middle of my class...i think he was a little fuzzy in the brain when he looked at that but anywho, i had fun and rode alot longer and harder than i have on a technical trail like that so i was proud of myself.

school is currently attempting to kill me one day at a time. really i only have 2 more weeks, but i'm just spent. not to mention i'm pretty tired from spinning and then racing...ie: i tried to drive my car yesterday without starting it. brilliant. i also got the giggles in class tonight and got in trouble...i don't know if it's ever happened, but i think i very well could have gotten a detention in grad school!

but, only a little over 2 weeks till california w/the fam and that'll be just what i need.

peace out girl scouts!

i'm a lifeguard, but this is just silly...

this weekend's weather was excellent for riding. i think even non-cyclests could agree with that one. yesterday i was in a weird mood...probably because i had told myself i couldn't ride my bike till i got my taxes done. which meant i had to say no to a race that woulda been fun. i did however finish my taxes and head out on the bike. wandered around, checked out the campus trails, and finally got my mind in the game to get to camp alexander. just had time for one lap but it was perfect for getting me out of my funk. didn't even wreck! course, i walked a bit more than usual. hadn't been to the trails since fall, so i didn't want to risk it. greatest thing was i wasn't nervous like i usally am. maybe part of it was getting alot stronger than i used to be b/c of spinning. that was rewarding.

today's weather was even better. headed out to meet my buddies at camp and began the fun again. or mostly, until i got the shakes and reached back for my gu at a terribly inopportune time: right before a bridge that was intended to guide me over a ginormous puddle. needless to say i endo'ed yet again and landed face-first in that mossy, muddy puddle. course, i wasn't hurt thanks to the mud, and laughing hysterically at how often i do ridiculous things like this at this point. my friend jed asked if i was ok and had to detach my foot from spokes because i was gonna be stuck in that face-down in the mud position until someone saved me. i was completely drenched in mud and smelly pond water and loving it...until i realized my phone wasn't where it was supposed to be...

yet again i have taken my phone swimming. my friends laughed at the fact that i wasn't worried about getting completely covered in mud or about crashing my bike, but that my phone fell in water. but really, i got it 3 weeks ago! at the moment, i'm drying it out in rice, as i've been instructed by others who've had unfortunate water+phone combinations. as a lifeguard, you'd think i'd be more educated on saving things that drown or at least preventing these crisis, but i guess not! i'm hoping the works...oh well, there are worse things...guess i coulda broken a bone or something ;)

welp, off to bed. enjoy that weather and keep your phones dry!

mag link!!!

http://www.theadventuremonkey.com/Magazine/Issue_One.pdf

spring break with spinning, solo rides and snow

this week was spring break and honestly, i wasn't really looking forward to it. everyone else gets to leave and at least go home, but even if i dropped everything to go home, i'd be walking 2 1/2 blocks to get there...lol. because of needing to get in 300 internship hours by the end of the semester, i really needed to stay here, do that and work.

but with the advice of friends, i decided it'd be a good idea not to do homework for a few days and just relax. so what else do you do when you're 26, single, and have some free time? why build a fort of course! that's right, my roommate and i reverted back to childhood, pulled out the sheets and blankets, built a fort and watched pocahontas. my parents always taught me to be young at heart...that's one lesson i've taken pretty seriously. we had mentioned how our forts always fell down when we were kids about half way through whatever we were doing...and ironically, ours did the same. except, when i was a kid i didn't have a cell phone that could drop into a cup of water and stop working. back to being an adult and having to think about things like that. blek.

monday started off just like any other monday. i woke up for my regular routine at 5am to go to spinning. lifted weights, then warmed up on the bike...while we waited for garret (yes, you can laugh...its still better spelled with 2 t's :)), our instructor, to show. since we're friends, everyone asked if he'd been alive the day before and i went to go try to get a hold of him. you may recall my dropping my phone in a cup of water? yeah, the gym didn't have his number either. a few people left to do a different kind of work out, but the rest of us just stood there like calves stairing at a new gate. we couldn't miss spinning! that'd just throw off the whole day! my classmates asked if i had an ipod...and, because i'm not shy, i think they knew if they kept asking, i'd teach class. so i hopped on the saddle and jumped right in to save the day...ok, it took me a while to start yelling commands, but i got the hang of it. i'm not sure if everyone else had a good workout, but i felt like i was gonna throw up, so i figured that was good enough. lol now, since i know garret felt bad about missing, i didn't tease him or rub it in, but i think his mourning period is over so, how amazing am i?! if i were him i'd probably be finding ways to express my appreciation of my a$$ saving...in monetary forms, food, acts of servitude ect, ect. ;) regardless, that was a pretty good way to start off my pretend spring break.

the next few days i did the work and internship thing, but then came thursday. 65 degrees, sunny and incredible! there was no way i was going to internship for an hour and a half that i could be outside. after work i hurried down to the bike shop, got some new handlebar grips i'd needed and headed north. got about 9 miles out and my ipod died (if only i hadn't had to use it for spinning), but i kinda didn't care, it was just so great to be set free. i was like a flower soaking up the sun and just thrilled to be away from responsibilities. i got about 20 miles north to bushong, still felt amazing, so i cut across, past burlingame road and started south. i knew i'd be skipping spinning for the evening...figured i was testing out of it. south wind did plenty of kicking my butt. yikes. but once i rolled into town with 50+ miles under my belt, i was feelin pretty good...ya know, aside from starving. haha that was the best spring break day i could have had hands down. bikes always seem to save the day. :)

this morning i woke up to find several inches of snow on the ground. welcome to kansas spring! oh well, i need to get back to the homework grind. tonights the release party for "adventure monkey: the magazine". i wrote an article for it, so i'm pretty stoked to see it and see what happens for it in the future. i promise i'll post the link so ya'll can check it out.

peace out girl scouts ;)

not as warm as anticipated...oh well!

well i started my internship last week at the mental health center here in town. i'm really thankful i got a site here so i didn't have to travel out of town every week. it's been going really well. i love all the people i work with and i love what i do, so it doesn't get much better than that...course i could get paid :)

while i am loving doing intership, it does make me really anxious to be done with school and have a real job that i can leave. internship+school+work+spinning makes for several 18 hour days during the week. but ya know, i've learned that a big part of fatigue is all in your head. you can make yourself do a whole lot more than you think most of the time. i love pushing those limits. of course, i usually end up getting sick or overtrained or something, but it's worth seeing how far i can push myself.

yes, i know what you're thinking: spinning is an option i could leave out to get more rest during my week. but honestly, its one of my favorite things to do. it's like, if i get to start the day with spinning, the rest of the day can be crappy but at least i know i got in a really good workout and had fun doing it. yeah it's at the butt-crack of dawn and some days i wake up and wonder if i should have one of my classmates give me an assessment for my sanity, but it also makes me really happy. bikes in general make me happy. and since i'm an advocate of doing more of what's working and less of what's not, i'm gonna keep that up.

today was the first day in i think a month that i got to actually ride outside. i was so thrilled when the forecast said it'd be in the 40's. too bad today the sun decided it was time to take nap. i was gonna go on an easy ride with renee and chris/matt (we call him that b/c renee thought his name was matt for a very long time) to americus and back, and then meet up with steph and ride hard the 2nd half. but after riding with a sinus headache i wasn't so sure of that 2nd half. steph was ok with it though because she'd gotten really sick of the cold wind on her 1st half solo. so, it wasn't the ride i was looking forward to, but it was still a good time, and it was outside.

happy last day of february everyone! don't forget to change your calendars :)