Random Thoughts

Not much to update.  Just felt like updating while I watch Fifty Shades of Grey for the umpteenth time.  I know it is a truly hokey film and storyline.  So what.  I still find it highly entertaining.  I love the soundtrack.  And as a single person, I enjoy the erotic scenes.  Yup.  Eye candy.  Mmmmm.  I also thoroughly enjoy watching Magic Mike.  Yessiree, I have little to no taste in films.  And I do not give a damn. :-D



At the doctor, I had the gumption to actually see my weight.  It gave me a smile from ear to ear.  Yes, it is just a number.  But now it is a number showing off my accomplishments and hard work.  In fact, as I type this, my forearms are quite sore from my modified brick workout that I did here at the retirement park.  I got a few funny looks from some of the residents as I was biking around wearing my ruck.  The best look was from a woman with her grandson.  I was in the pool, wearing my full gear holding my ruck over my head walking laps.  Her look of utter disdain makes me smile.  She made a point to ignore my existence for the rest of her visit there.  I enjoyed it.  Especially when running laps around in the park, followed by more bike laps and more pool PT.  Bwhahaha!



I usually try to abstain from writing anything political or hot-topic-worthy in my blog.  But I just have to say how happy I am that SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the U.S.) ruled in favour of gay marriage this past month.  If that statement makes any reader think less of me or not wish to follow me anymore, so be it.  I make it a point in life to surround myself with positive thinking people who wish for the world to be a better place and think with an open mind.  I would like to think I have accomplished that quite well, with the occasional outlier occurrence. Meh.  That’s life.  It happens.



With that being said.  I feel people should have the same opportunity to make their lives happy or miserable and that includes being married.  I could care less if people want to marry themselves, inanimate objects, never marry or marry someone of the same or opposite gender, or even gender-less.  This is close to my heart as a female who people oftentimes mistake or assume is gay.  I assume this is based on my appearance and general hobbies/interests.  Nor does it or should it matter if I am or not.  I dislike feminine-identified things such as dresses, make-up and the color pink.  I prefer pants, grease and the color blue.  I dislike cooking, submissiveness and using a filter in everyday speak.  I love off-roading, fixing things, being dominant and swearing ALL THE TIME.  Are those listed attributes masculine or feminine?  And why does it matter?  They are attributes.  They have their time and place in people’s lives and society.  And it should not matter in least if a man likes to sew or a boy plays with dolls or if a woman is a professional boxer and a girl likes to build with Legos.  People are who they are.  And if what they do makes them happy and harms no one else, then let them be.



I would also like to point out that even though I am a very masculine female, it does not mean I wish I was a man.  Nope.  I am a woman.  I identify as a woman.  And I am glad to be a woman.  Granted, I will be even happier after my anti-baby surgery.  Woo!  I just wish people/society did not hold such rigid norms so dear and seem to fight tooth and nail when they threaten to change.  Silly closed-minded people.  The world changes.  It progresses over time.  That is the natural way of things./endrant

In other news, I will be in a dear friend's wedding in Aug. She ok'd me to wear pants. Yay!  I am thinking something like this (but more me style):

4th of July: For the Love of My Country

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.  I find it very difficult to keep this consistent when I have no internet connection to my desktop.  But never fear, each day I think of things I want to write about.  And then a few hours later, I promptly forget them, hahaha!



First of all, I am very thankful for my neighbors and where I live.  My hose connecting my water to the main connection developed a leak.  I did not have time to get some sealant to fix the problem.  So the manager shut off the water for me.  And some friends here fixed the entire end for me.  And then, one weekend that I went out kayaking, I realized I could not close the doors to the Jeep with the kayak up there.  So my elderly neighbor across the street helped me take them off.  His wife later came over and said I totally made his day by asking him for help and making him feel useful.  This evening, it began to rain, so I had him help me get them back on.  I have great neighbors.  The wife across the street said that they enjoy me being around and that my spirit and smile makes their day.  I must remember to find more things for them to help me with to make them feel more useful.  I truly enjoy helping people, even if I am a curmudgeon.



It has been so long since I used this computer that my keyboard is covered in grime and dust, bwahahaha!



Last weekend, over the Fourth of July, I had one of the best experiences of my life to date.  I cannot begin to describe the tumult of emotions I went through and the pain and suffering my body endured.  But I would not change it for the world.  It was beyond words.  It was wonderful.  I completed my first GoRuck Challenge in Seattle, WA from Friday 3 July at 2100h to Saturday 4 July at 0900h.  It was 12h of the hardest  physical endurance I have ever done.  And you know what, my body pulled through!  In fact, it probably could have kept going.  There were times that my mind wanted my body to ease up.  To stop for a break.  But I endured.  And I have my team mates to thank for that.  At the start, I knew only four others in our group.  Five of us, all women, came up from Boise as a part of Team RWB.  The rest of the team consisted of men from the Seattle area.  By the time our Challenge completed, I consider each and every one of those people to be friends.  We all suffered together.  We held each other up.  We took weight from one other to carry the burden equally.  We worked together like a finely tuned machine.  And when we started to break down, our ever present Cadre was there to kick our asses back in line via PT.  



Oh the joys of PT.  Our Welcoming Party was a lovely 90min of pure hell.  Ninety minutes of non-stop PT.  I realized a few things about myself during that time.  That no matter how much I trained, I was not ready for that level of PT.  It kicked my ass.  I wanted to vomit so badly.  I also learned that I need to work on my buddy carry.  Attempting to pick up 190lb man wearing a 40lb ruck, while I am also wearing a 40lb ruck was not easy.  Our Cadre eventually had us do the carry on the ground.  One partner had their ruck on their stomach while lying on the ground and looped their hands over their face while the other partner fit his/her head through it and pulled the one on the ground forward.  No easy task.  And absolutely no sense of personal space when your face is mere inches from the other person’s and you’re gasping and grunting and sweating all over them.  I call it team building.  And that’s exactly what it was.



We each took turns being a pair of team leaders throughout the night.  We had to navigate the city from one check point to the other in a set amount of time.  If we arrived late, then there was a PT penalty.  If we arrived early, we got a break.  And oh man, I have a new hill of hate and discontent: Queen Anne St.  We climbed the whole damn thing.  Our end goal for that march was Carey Park.  And the view leaving it was utterly spectacular.  Seattle at ~0100h lit up is breath-taking, especially when you are shivering cold from standing in the spray of frigid sprinklers having an MRE eating contest, losing and then doing PT.

 Each of us carrying some additional weight: 

· Slosh pipe: PVC pipe ~10-15’ long filled with water.  Carried by no more than 2 people at a time.

· Two 5-gal tan water containers.  They started out full at the beginning and were gradually emptied as we filled our own water supply at each break.

· Team weight: 25-lb 5-strand loop of heavy chains

· Driftwood log: this was a shorter term carry, but weighed a fuck ton.  Up to 4 people helped carry it.

If any of the weight fell or touched the ground before approval, we had to stop and do PT.



Sometime, after our silent march, we made it to the bay and did PT in the water (Pacific Ocean?  Seattle Bay?).  That was after we did a fairly hellish PT on the pebbly beach.  Emphasis on pebbly = painful.  The LOVE TUNNEL.  This is where you are in the bear crawl position in a close line.  The person at the end then crawls on their stomach under everyone else until they get to the end and then get back into the bear crawl position.  Everyone does this as we go down the line.  Oh, keep in mind, everyone is still wearing their ruck.  Yes, everyone.  Not easy.  At all.  Blood ensued.



One of my favourite parts was when we made it to the Space Needle.  Daylight finally occurred.  But we still had many hours left to go.  Cadre had us do the bear crawl sans rucks around a round ball-like water fountain.  We got wet.  It was nice.  It was a break.  It was fun.  I stripped down to my sports bra.  First time in public doing that and comfortable enough to do so.  It was a monumental moment.  It was with people I trusted.  People like family.  Together, we are billy badasses!



After that we marched around some more.  Climbed up to the Fenton Bridge Troll.  Took group photos.  Impressed the general public and then one more leg left.  A few more miles.  YES!  And of course, the cadre throws a doozy in there.  A casualty carry!  FUGH!  At the end of our strength, we now have to eliminate one member, carry them in a sling AND their ruck.  It nearly broke me.  I only made it halfway before I tapped out to carry something else.  I felt incredibly bad.  I ended up being the final flag carrier.  We marched into Woodland Park, me in the lead proudly flying the American Flag.  We did a victory lap singing “God Bless America” (terribly) in the park.  When almost done, a car we were approaching stopped.  The driver got out.  She stood at attention and saluted us.  It was amazing.  I felt so privileged at that moment.  It made the grueling pain worth every second.  We were working and building together as a team for the American Dream.  To honor those fallen to give us our Freedoms today.  Not just those recently fallen, but those that fell in the American Revolution.



I thank you to the bottom of my heart for your service, to both those that have fallen and those still engaged in their service to our country. J



I had so much fun, that I plan to do more GoRuck adventures.  Hannibal’s athletic life goals (in no particular order):



· Make it to the World Games for the Highland Games

· Complete a GoRuck Heavy event

· Complete the Normandie GoRuck event

· Finish a Half Ironman (relay or not)

· Get my Spartan Trifecta (I could care less if done in the same year)



This is a totally doable list.  It will involve a lot of prep work.  And pain and suffering.  But that is part of the path to the goal.  Wooo!