welcome to crazyville

this has been an intense week. who knew being engaged would send time into a spin and you wouldn't know which way was up? we've gotten all the big details planned, i got my dress :) and i've successfully created major drama in my family. well, i'm sure i'm not the one who created it, my wedding just happens to be the catalyist of crazyville and my family thinking it's their day. course, i can't say it's my day or i'll be labled a bride-zilla. i've been really thankful for the people in my life who've been supportive of whatever decision i make. they have NO IDEA how much it means to me! not to mention how patient joe is. i'm more thankful for him every day.

i have this habit of getting sick when i'm stressed out. so guess who's sick? i tried to lay low this week, but i had to take the national counselor's exam yesterday so i was kind on edge all week. i think it went pretty well, so thanks for all of you who prayed for me. but who knows, i can't make any assumptions till i have my results in 6 weeks.

i had registered to race at the bone bender today thinking it would be an awesome stress reliever. it would have been if i hadn't woken up last night terrified because i wasn't able to catch my breath several times and had to cough it out. i shouldn't have pre-registered, but oh well, maybe they'll refund me. if not, it's not the end of the world.

we have, however set a date! november 5th, 2011! we didn't want to do it any later because of weather and holidays, and any earlier would be financially impossible, so that's what we picked. the awesomest thing is i've realized november 5th is a memorable day for several reasons: if you've seen v for vendetta, the key phrase repeated in the movie was "remember remember the 5th of november", and, my personal favorite, back to the future's flux capacitor day of 1955! memorable our day will be for sure.

school gets out in 4 weeks and i'm almost done with all my assignments. being done with school is kind of a crazy concept since i've been in school for 20 out of 27 years of my life. i'm really looking forward to it though.

until then we press on! and who knows, maybe i'll get better soon and get to ride my bike :)

BIG LIFE CHANGES!!!

i'm beginning to understand why there aren't many ladies to race. or at least one reason. while men can compartmentalize really well and tend to take more time out for themselves, women tend to be the opposite extreme. everything in our lives runs into everything else and we usually spread ourselves too thin. especially in the area of family.

i always knew i'd have to give up riding as much once i had a family, i just never knew it would come so soon...because...

I'M GETTING MARRIED!!! joe and i got engaged yesterday! i thought this day would never come for me! lol

we've been talking about it a while and i've been adjusting to learning to be a step-mommy to his 3 year old little girl who's just amazing :)

while this new life is awesome and everything i've ever asked for, it's also a HUGE adjustment. i've been really independent for a really long time. so now i'm really admiring those wives and moms who have so much going on! being in grad school probably doesn't help the situation too much haha doing internship, school, and work, job hunting, and then joining joe's world every weekend is a pretty intense lifestyle.

i take the national counselor's exam next saturday so pray for me please. after that, i have a few assignments and then i'll graduate! woo!!! pray i get a job too please! you laugh, but the economy has not been kind to the mental health feild.

the great thing i've been learning about riding is that i just can't do everything. i had to quit spin because i was getting overtrained all the time. stress kinda keeps you from recovery apparently. i've done little bits here and there and have been working on not feeling guilty for not riding when its beautiful or when i should. bikes should be happy right. i want my rides to be because i love bikes and its a perfect time to take out for myself, not because i feel like i'll get fat if i don't ride, or that i won't be able to keep up with anyone later.

that being said, i've gotten some really awesome trail rides in this past week. i've been stronger not going to spin class than i was when i was going 4-5 times a week. who knewwww!? haha i've conqured some spots that i haven't ever been able to do before, and i've had a blast!

next weekend, to celebrate taking the nce saturday, i will race at the bone bender in lawrence. i may not be as fast as i could be if i were training all the time or didn't have stress, but i'm going to have a blast. i've been very blessed and it's time to celebrate that!

get out there and ride because you want to :)

i'm baaaaaaack!!!

tuesday at spin class sam mentioned something about me never updating my bike blog...which i think is a bit of an overstatement ;) but if the people miss me, i must respond.

yes, you've heard it correctly, i'm back. to spin class that is! i'd quit sometime in october because i couldn't take the stress of living out in the county and therefore packing my day from 5am to 9pm. but recently i've moved back in with my mom during the week and was real excited to be able to join the gym again!

now i know many of you think i'm crazy for actually liking to wake up at 5am and torture my body with the intensity of a spin class. but i must remind you of a previous post in which i explained to you all that i am extrinsically motivated. therefore, i was stoked waking up the other day at 5 knowing some of my spin friends would be faithfully attending and happy to see me again! that, and i love routine when it comes to a work out. it keeps me working toward outdoing myself.

i also know some of you think i'm gonna outdo myself in a bad way. but don't you worry, after being overtrained for most of last year, i'm gonna keep myself to only 3 spin classes a week :)

have a great superbowl weekend friends!

never say never

i've watched alot of my friends fall off of the face of the earth when they get into relationships. heck, i went to a bible college, so i was kind of a pro at guessing the exact moment a friend might fall into the abyss. sometimes it was kind of irritating and although i understood, i always said that would never happen to me.

they say never to say never for a reason. i've recently fallen off the face of the earth and am spending a big majority of my spare (and studying) time with joe. now i do have to give myself some credit and remind myself that i am in grad school. and that this happens to be my last semester. if any of you have known anything about last semesters, they tend to be ridiculiouly chaotic. for example, i'm studying for the national counselors exam that's in april, looking for jobs, and well, all but one of my projects for the entire semester are due by the end of february. oh yeah, and i have a job and internship and classes to go to. it's pretty neat.

i do have to admit life has taken on a new focus. i am riding the trainer, and i plan to head to the trails a bit this weekend when i'm not doing homework, but i'm not quite as much of a workout-aholic as i used to be...which they tell me is a good thing. my focus has switched from keeping up with the boys on bike rides to this weird transition into grownuphood. though i hate that i won't be able to ride quite as much for a while as i would like, it's about time to get this crazy life of mine settled down a bit for the sanity of everyone concerned.

so get out there and ride for me friends! and think of me while i'm busy transitioning into grownuphood. it can't last forever right? :)

no bike-talk

tomorrow begins my last semester of grad school and thus the last semester of school i will ever have in my entire life. really. kick me or something if i ever talk about getting my phd cause this is it folks. i'm not really looking forward to the crazy busy lifestyle i lead when i'm in school, but the idea that it will be over is...i think a good thing. i say i think because it's a pretty overwhelming thought to have to be a grown up again. life inside college is pretty squishy, no matter how often i complain about being busy and tired. but i started studying for the national counselor exam and am going to start looking for jobs. it seems so far away but i think that's because by the time may is here, it will no longer be freezing temperatures and below. praise God!

i'm tired of winter. for the first year ever i just don't really care about snow. i think i might have the winter blues...perhaps i should find a sun lamp or whatever. the sun was out today and i was extatic. a good indication i need more of it. another indication is that i don't really care about talking about bikes. although i think that fascination left a while ago...when i moved into a house full of boys who rarely talk about anything but bikes. so, in this post i will not talk about bikes.

i did, however, win my december exercise competition and am hoping to begin another to get me out of my winter funk. so if any of your are interested... hopefully this can get me through until spring break when the weather is semi nice and i can stop hibernating. i think i'm getting tired of resting :)

motivated.

for the past few months i've really had no motivation to ride or really workout at all. i love to sleep and my body just can't seem to get enough. i was a little worried i had mono or a thyroid problem, but was checked and have no issues with those, which is probably a good thing. i recently went to the chiropractor because i haven't been able to move my neck to the left very well for like...a few years. plus my right side has been bothering me since i fell down the stairs at my house and knocked myself out due to the pain...oh yeah, maybe i forgot to blog about that...anyway, the chiropractor got me all fixed up and set on some herbal suppliments for my fatigue and crappy immune system. i'm still tired alot but steph says its probably because i was doing so much riding for over a year that my body needs to recover a while. otherwise, i really do feel alot better. but i was still haivng a hard time with motivation.

i'm an externally motivated person. i never realized it, but it's the reason i've never liked working out at home. if i go to a gym or have others around, i have something to compete with. mostly myself, but i just go with it. so since i quit the gym i've been having a really hard time just getting motivated to get on the bike at all. but i had an ingenious idea: i decided to have a competition with a friend of mine to see who can get the most workouts in before the new year. loser buys winner dinner. 40 minutes equal a workout. i've gotten 8 over 5 days of working out. who knew i was so competitive? i guess i should have figured that out racing lol. anyway, i'm just thankful for motivation! although i've been pretty tired this week and having to re-think my food intake. oh well, i feel better and it's worth it.

today i'll head to the trails since it's so nice out. got out there a couple weeks ago with my boyfriend to show him what i do. not sure if he really wants to try to start riding or he just doesn't want me to be able to beat him at something :) this week i'll head to his house in garnett to spend christmas with him and his family. no trainer or treadmill there, so we'll see how well i do on the rest of this competition! merry christmas everyone!

guess who's a slacker...? this girl!

"what? you quit spin class? did you break your leg?" those words spoken to me by my former roommate i caught up with a few days ago who watched my entire spinning addiction begin last year. that's right friends, i quit the gym. it's been an idea for a while for several reasons; mostly because i live out in the country now and packing to leave the house at 5:15am and take everything for the day with me had finally kicked my butt. that, and my membership was up and i was broke from vegas...which turns out was a f.a.n.tastic trip. i know they say what happens in vegas stays in vegas, but i happened to bring back a groomsman i'm pretty crazy about :)

school, work, internship and new manfriend have kinda taken up my time lately so i haven't gotten out to ride much...or even work out :( i did, however, get out at 5:30 the other morning to ride a bit in the freezing weather and promptly decided that was the worst idea i'd ever had! not only was it cold and windy, but my headband was pressing on my eyebrows and making my sleepy eyes close. not good at that hour. needless to say, i've put my bike on the trainer and have been working on trying to get myself motivated to workout alone.

well hopefully i'll get back into a good workout regimine soon and will have more exciting stories to write about. you all get out there and ride, since i don't have time to!