Me and my teammate on ESPN!!

Remember when I told you about being interviewed by ESPN?  Well, my friend Blake saw this video posted on ESPN's website today and shared it with me: 

ESPN looks at running craziness of Ragnar Relays

That's me and my "Girls Gone RAGNAR" teammate, Tammy! 

How cool is that?!



Girls Gone RAGNAR

June 17-18

Logan to Park City

12 runners

192 miles

Team #629:  Girls Gone RAGNAR

45th out of 90 all-women teams

32 hours 42 minutes 4 seconds

Winner:  Far Out Fashion (Best Costume)

I had so much fun running the Wasatch Back this year!  I had an awesome team, and all of the girls in my van were SO much fun - none of us knew each other hardly at all going into it, and yet we were instant best friends, it was so cool! Not to mention that we had some AMAZING athletes on our team - holy crap these girls are fast and in the best shape ever!! 

We knew our costumes would be a hit but we had no idea just how BIG of a hit!  Within 5 minutes of arriving at the starting line, Tammy and I were asked to be interviewed by ESPN!    Then when we arrived at the first major exchange (where van 1 passes off to van 2) we had people run up to us and say, "Hey, its the naked girls!  We've been hearing about you - you guys are famous!"  hahaha  We literally had over 200 pictures taken of us by the time we finished.  (The ironic thing is that even though our costumes were nude suits, we were the most covered people there!)

As far as the actual running was concerned, I felt really good the whole time, which was a huge relief.  My most difficult leg was, unfortunately for me, my 3rd leg.  It was 8 miles with a very steep uphill for the majority of it.  There was a guy that kept playing tag with me which made it more fun and bearable to get through.  And each time one of us passed the other we would joke around and count it as another roadkill, which gave us each about 17 kills just for that leg. haha  It was so nice of him though:  when we were about a mile away from the exhange point and he caught up to me for the last time, he said, "How about we cross the finish together?" :)  I tell you what, runners are some of the best people around.

Speaking of amazing people, Joe also ran RAGNAR for the first time this year!  He was on a mixed team (men and women) called, "Saving Bryan's Privates" which was a team that our friend Agnes won and was sponsored by the American Cancer Society to support her brother-in-law that has testicular cancer.  Joe did really well and he had one of the most difficult legs: runner #5.  He is such an amazing runner - he plowed right through it all with some really impressive times.

It was another amazing experience and I am so proud of myself and all of my friends for doing it again.  I love RAGNAR!!

Mama didn't raise no fool

I love great music and luckily for me, Joe does too - we've been to a lot of awesome concerts this year and we've still got more to go!  I can't think of very many things that I enjoy more than live music. 

...except maybe sleeping.   And food.  :)

March 5:  Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton is Joe's favorite.  We saw him at the MGM Grand in Vegas and it was a great show.  It's funny how the music legends don't need flashy lights and dance routines like the new generation of performers do... they just bring out their guitar, sit on a stool in front of a mic on an empty stage and sing.

March 22: Bon Jovi

Holy cow.  Bon Jovi has the most amazing smile.  Have you guys ever noticed that?!

April 8:  Tesla

Wow.  This was QUITE an experience. haha  There was a very large girl in the seat next to me... except she wasn't in her seat - she was standing up the whole time, busting out these really erratic stripper moves while I ducked and dodged her flying elbows and hips and leaned as far away as possible to avoid her hair from whipping me in the face as she swung it around in typical rock n' roll fashion.  Who knew a girl her size could move like that, let alone have the energy to do it for 2 hours straight?!  Her husband is one lucky guy! hahaha 

Oh, and you have to see the awesome t-shirt I got for my future rockstar:

No, not near future.  I just saw it at the merch stand and fearing that I would never have the opportunity to find something this cool again, I couldn't resist - I used the $30 I won with one pull of the slot machine about an hour earlier and I bought it. haha  The coolest part is:  we ran into the lead singer the next day and had him sign it!  My kid is going to be the coolest kid on the playground. hahaha

April 13:  Jeff Beck

This one wasn't really my cup of tea, but Joe really loved it.  Jeff Beck is an amazing guitarist, but considering that I was exhausted from a long day of work and I didn't really want to be standing for that long surrounded by old smelly drunk guys, I went out to the Jeep to read my book and let Joe stay inside and enjoy a few more songs before he eventually got tired too.

May 18:  Susan Tedeschi

HO.  LY.  SMOKES.  Susan Tedeschi is AMAZING.  This was easily one of my all-time favorite concerts.  I love her voice, her style, her writing, her awesome guitarist husband Derek Trucks, and all of the talented musicians in their band.  You've GOT to check them out:

May 24:  U2

This was such a cool show!  We took my dad and Jen to it and we all had a really good time. By the end of the night, I had developed a rather substantial crush on Bono.  After confessing this to Joe, he said, "It's ok, I have a crush on 'The Edge.'" hahaha

June 11:  Black Country Communion

Most of you have probably never heard of this band, but wow, they are awesome!  They are a pretty new band comprised of the lead singer from Deep Purple, guitarist and blues-man Joe Bonamassa, and drummer Jason Bonham (son of Led Zeppelin's Jon Bonham).  Quite a combination of talent!

June 19:  Ani DiFranco

A.K.A. Les-fest 2011.  :)   Nope, I'm not a lesbian, but I can appreciate their taste in music. haha  I love Ani.  She is brilliant as a writer, singer, guitarist, activist, and human being.  SUCH an amazing concert!!!

Skirts

5 completely different ways to wear skirts, and yet I love all of them!

1.  Monochromatic pencil skirt

2.  Bright florals

3.  Denim on bottom

4.  Denim on top

5.  With boots

I've been duped

I had an epiphany the other day.

But it wasn't a good epiphany.

My epiphany came to me after studying for my math class for 5 hours on Tuesday night... only to find that I got 60% on my assignment.

I was shocked - that couldn't be right!  How could someone study the material for that long and clearly not know it?!  I mean, I know that it has been at least 5 years since my last math class but COME ON.  I was a straight-A student in high-school and math came EASY to me.  A 60% just didn't make sense when you considered all of these factors.

So what was the epiphany, you ask?

That the only thing high school did for me was trick me into believing that I am smarter than I actually am.  :)

 My first year of college was a huge adjustment:  going from getting straight-A's in high school with very little effort, to working 10 times as hard in college and barely scraping by with B's and C's.

Honestly - as crazy as it sounds - sometimes I wish I could earn my Bachelor's degree all over again.  I learned so much in college and I feel like I only just started to get the hang of things when I was in my Senior year and that if I could have started out like that I would have learned even more. 

I guess that's why I'm still taking classes (and still trying to prove to myself that I am as smart as I think I am ;) ) even after getting my degree - I'm a true nerd at heart. haha

(Side note: I got 100% on my next assignment, so I'm feeling a little bit better about myself today, knowing that at least some of my education was properly absorbed.;)