Friday, January 25, 2013

Throwback: Fitness Accomplishments

Over the past few years, I have done some pretty great fitness challenges.  I feel so fortunate to have built up a body with such strength and endurance.  Sometimes, I felt like I never wanted to step a foot inside the gym again.  Many times I dream about living in the mountains of East Tennessee or West Wyoming, & I say to myself, “If I lived there, I’d always want to be active.  I’d always be outside.”  But I don’t live near beautiful rolling hills or glacial peaked mountain tops.  I live in the great Midwest, the farmlands of Indiana where it’s corn, more corn, soybeans, and corn.  And you know what?  It’s actually not that bad. 
  
In Evansville alone I have done two of my all-time favorite races!  The first was in 2010 with my wonderful dad and beautiful puppy Sasha.  We ran in the Fido Walk, Rock & Run 5K sponsored by the Vanderburgh County Humane Society.  And guess what, we each got first place!  Sadly Sasha didn’t get a trophy, but I fed her treats like a princess!
 
One of my other favorite races was in 2012 at Evansville’s Viking Assault.  It’s similar to a Tough Mudder.  It’s an obstacle course full of muddy events and challenging jumping, climbing, running, or crawling activities.  You can see the full re-cap on it here.

Neal and I signed up for the race as a 2 year anniversary outing.  You could say we like to get dirty.  For our 1 year (2011), we went Spelunking over at Marengo Cave.

Some other fun fitness challenges I have done outside of Southern Indiana:
Urban Dare in 2010. That’s Brittany and I posing at one of the many stops you had to take pictures at for this event around Nashville TN.  This is a fun race if you really know the layout of the city.  We didn’t, but still had a great time!

The Music City Half Marathon in 2011.  I was aiming for a time under 2 hours and boy did I make it! For some reason, I didn’t write down my exact time, but I know it was between 1:55 – 1:57!
 
Miami Turkey Trot in 2011.  My brother, now brother-in-law, and I all ran the Turkey Trot when we went to Miami for Thanksgiving. My mom and her then boyfriend, now husband, hosted a great Thanksgiving week of fun!  We got to go to Disney World too on this trip!  Sadly, Neal had food poisoning, so he wasn’t even able to come watch the race.  Yuck!

Climbed the Grand Teton in 2012.  This was the BEST experience of my life in terms of fitness goals.  Sure, we had some challenges and it wasn’t all easy, but we climbed a freaking mountain.  That’s a really cool accomplishment in my book!

 
 
What will 2013 bring in terms of Fitness Fun?  I have high hopes for this year.  I have truly started it off  well by doing the Tone It Up Love Your Body series.  I have some ideas of what I am going to do, but that’s a post I will save for tomorrow!

What are some of your favorite fun fitness activities?  Have you taken a long hike, a color run, a mini triathlon, a cross-fit challenge, ooh the Krispy Kream 5K, or maybe the polar plunge (brrrr)?  I’d love to hear what fun activities you are doing in your life!

2 comments:

  1. Love hearing a bit about your Grand Teton climb! Summitting a particularly challenging peak is one of the best feelings in the world!

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    1. Thanks Natalie! It was an almost inexpressable feeling of joy, pain, fear, pride, glory, amazement all at once! Looking forward to following your big trek this year :)

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