Tall Tara

It was time for something drastic.

I had heard stories of this CrossFit, whispered rumors about meetings in the basement of a former church, mentions of tough workouts, amazing results and top-notch athletes. A friend even suggested I check it out. Two years ago.

But recently, taking a different route home from work, I stumbled across a new CrossFit studio. Thinking it was a sign that I should finally find out more about CrossFit, I did just that. A week and one kick-ass introductory class later, I was a member.

And yes, they’re on Twitter.

Now, with the short-term goal of rocking it in Belize on my honeymoon, I’m about to embark on a brand-new physical adventure. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be doing CrossFit three times a week in the morning before work. I used to be very against the idea of paying anyone to help me with training, but fortunately have matured to a point where I’m okay with saying that I need someone to kick my ass coach me.

This is the last coach I had. I think I paid him in beer. But he helped me with my swim stroke in preparation for my first triathlon.

In all honesty, CrossFit is definitely an experiment for me and I’m a little nervous about the whole thing. But I’m also excited to have a new physical challenge to motivate me through the holidays. Not to mention getting me ready for an injury-free ski season.

When I told my husband about CrossFit, he was a little doubtful. As he is of anything that takes me out of bed earlier in the morning. He said that it sounded like a cult and that he was ready to call my mom if intervention was needed.

At least they’re a well-toned cult, I thought to myself. Also…calling my mom? Did he really think that threats would be effective?

Later that same week, I got my first CrossFit newsletter. In it, they featured an athlete profile, a CrossFit member by the name of Chad. He answered a bunch of interview questions but the last one especially caught my eye…

“Anything you’d like to add?
I’m glad that I’m CrossFitting now.  I was burnt out prior to joining, doing the same basic gym workout routines (with the associated repetitive injuries) and frustrated unable to run – I needed an new fitness outlet.  I enjoy being part of the cult now (except the Paleo thing – but I’m working on that ”

Did you catch that last part?

He enjoys being part of the cult now.

(And he’s using CrossFit as a verb–which brings up a host of other grammatical issues for me…)

With a wink and a smile, Chad may have just confirmed my husband’s cult hypothesis. My first session is tomorrow morning and I’ll report back with details.

If they let me.

Ummm…mic check, one, two, one two…

So, right, sorry about my silence. Honestly though, things were a little crazy in February, with less days and my birthday and a comedic presentation and a blogging conference.

There are no good excuses to be made about the blog neglect. But hey, I’m back and attempting to be better than ever. And? I’m getting married tomorrow.

That being said, why in the hell am I writing a blog post on the eve of my elopement? Basically, I am a week overdue in posting my birthday list of what I want to do this year. By sharing it now,  I can cross at least one thing off the list the day after tomorrow. (And if you know me at all, then you know how much I really love crossing things off lists.)

1. more yoga
2. run another marathon
3. elope
4. work on improving my green thumb by growing beans and helping with the community garden
5. pay down credit card debt
6. write more letters
7. perform stand-up at least once a month
8. incorporate strength training into my workout routine
9. reach out to my old friends
10. play another season of Ultimate Frisbee
11. do more push-ups
12. explore new parts of Colorado
13. give more bodywork
14. roller derby!
15. experiment with video
16. get scuba certified
17. blog more
18. learn basics of Photoshop
19. buy more vintage clothing
20. get rid of unnecessary stuff
21. say yes more
22. reach outside of my comfort zone
23. swim
24. throw a kickass wedding party
25. volunteer my time with a cause close to my heart
26. get the tattoo on my ankle redone
27. be sure my loved ones know how I feel about them
28. dance more
29. put money in my savings account every month
30. acknowledge gratitude daily
31. practice compassion
32. forgive and forget
33. learn how to juggle

Let’s see how I do. I promise it will not be another month until my next post. Especially since I’ll have rad pictures of a mod wedding dress to share very soon. (If that’s not a teaser, I don’t know what is…)

*Thanks to Caroline for being a constant source of inspiration and for sharing her own list.

**Somewhat interesting tidbit…Caroline and I have six things in common on our lists (almost twenty percent), which helps to illustrate why we’re friends in the first place.

Back in the day, I really got into documenting all the training I was doing. Whether it was weight workouts, excursions to the climbing gym, or runs around town, I wrote it down. Something about looking at all of my physical activity made me feel good.

I also blame it on not having a coach and being a later-in-life athlete.

In fact, not only did I write it down, I kept it all. Since I never received any awards for the races I ran, the binder represented a trophy of all my athletic achievements and fitness milestones. It contains approximately 4 years worth of training logs. Don’t worry, I’m not going to unload all of that on you but I would like to give you an idea of my OCD around this particular area.

Click to see the ugly details.

I think the records tell an interesting story of what my life was like then and what was important to me. Fast forward a few years and I’m now living more of my life online.  Why not transfer my race record-keeping to a more digital (and eco-friendly) form?  Welcome to my experiment.

I found a free tool that allows me to easily record my training online. There are lots of similar programs out there, but I wanted something that was going to have a dead simple interface without any unnecessary bells and whistles. No reason to make training for a marathon any harder than it already is.

<ulterior motive>In the hopes of keeping myself honest and accountable, I’m putting a link to my public training calendar in my sidebar. Gulp.  Should you ever be curious how I’m doing in working towards my goal of running a marathon, simply click on that link. Double gulp. It’s out there and I’m interested to see if my training transparency does the trick of getting me across the finish line.</ulterior motive>

If making my training calendar public doesn’t prepare me for the marathon I want to run, then five months from now, when I’m woefully unprepared to complete 26.2 miles, you can point to my digital training log and say, “I told you so”.

Yes, Mom, even you.

In the words of Gatorade and Jeremy Tanner, no excuses.

Last month, Adam and I ran our second Denver half-marathon. This is my favorite race distance because it’s the lazy man’s length. It’s long enough to challenge you but not long enough to kill you. (I got a crazy look from a friend when I said that at a recent party.) You can slack off in your training, maybe even drink too much the night before, and still pull off 13.1 miles.

I wanted to do something a little different this year by attempting to document the race in pictures. There were a few challenges because I don’t own a small digital camera and unfortunately buying one of these was not in my budget. So I went with a disposable camera, a running fanny pack (a little better than the tourist kind), and high hopes of catching interesting shots along the way.

[Before actually sharing any pictures, I feel that a few things need to be mentioned. Like how I sometimes forget just how shitty disposable cameras really are. And how horrible I am at holding the camera out at arm's length and trying to get myself in a picture. Finally, despite my wanting them to happen, not many crazy things actually happened during the race.]

So with all that mind, I present you with the Denver Half-Marathon 2008. And to make it even more fun, I’m giving you the pictures in the style of one of my favorites. And don’t ask where the pictures are from the start line. It was too dark.

13.1 miles in 2 hours and 22 minutes, minus the time spent in the Port-A-Potty line.

Beautiful weather, great company and local microbrew afterwards…what more could you want from a race?

(Insert snarky comment here.)