I will now ramble on about what I’ve been up to this summer…

Rather than write separate posts about what’s been going on, I’m just going to ramble and meander my way through the last couple of months.

June was graduation and I wrote about that here and here.

July was a blur. I had my baby girl for 2 whole weeks! We went to King’s Island on the hottest day of the summer. That was only because no one else we were going with (my mom, younger sister and nephew) would listen to the voice of reason (me lol) when said voice of reason said it was too hot to be outside all day. We also  played at the park and the pool and spent a lot of time inside in the A/C watching movies and reading books and painting our nails.

I also worked my butt off to get ready for the adventure race. I wrote about it here before I ran the Gauntlet. I. Was. NOT. Ready.

The course kicked my booty. The day started off cold and ended freezing. Race time was 9:20 and by 9:30 I was wading through knee deep water and then crawling through knee deep water to navigate the “barbed-wire” (really, it was just rope).

I don’t even remember most of what I did or the order in which it happened. I know I crawled under rope at 4 different points in the race but I couldn’t tell you where they were in relation to anything else. There were 3 different climbing obstacles that I can remember, a couple of tunnels to crawl through, the rope bridge (which was my absolute favorite part), walking on logs, and jumping over a fire pit (which I walked around because at that point I was also carrying about 2 pounds of mud and water in my shoes and could barely walk, let alone jump).

It’s been 3 weeks since the race and I still have scabs on my knees from the dirt, twigs, branches, I-don’t-even-want-to-know-what-else-was-in-that-water, and rocks in the stream bed.

I can’t wait to do another one!!! Maybe next year, I’ll remember more. I will definitely be more prepared. I need to spend more time trail running and not just running on the bike path and I need better protection on my knees and elbows.

My average run time has significantly dropped in the last 3 weeks. I had been running at almost 15 minute miles and am now down to about 12 1/2 minute miles. If I push all out, I can run 2 miles in almost 23 minutes (23 minutes and 28 seconds, personal best, thank you very much) but I can’t keep it up longer yet.

Monday was also my first day back in class. Bachelor’s degree, here I come! I am taking 5 classes this semester (which is weird because I’m used to quarters) and will also take 5 class Spring semester then 4 classes Fall semester 2014 and then I will graduate again. I’m getting used to a whole new school (Wright State University vs. Sinclair Community College). It was bizarre to go from being one of the youngest in a classroom (Sinclair) to being one of the oldest (Wright) but it doesn’t feel weird anymore.

If you don’t hear from me, I’m probably buried under economics or finance homework. Or human resource management. Or possibly supply chain management. Let’s not forget information systems. I’m off to read a school book or 4!

Be the change you want to see!

Update on my goals

It’s been while since I wrote about my goals so I wanted to share some updates.

I will work out every other day to get my muscles back and tone down those 15 pounds that came back from being lazy. I will lose those 15 pounds by October 15, 2012. (I’m pretty sure this one will happen sooner. Power 90 kicks my butt and makes the weight fall off so fast!)

That was my original goal but I have since discovered I am happier when I work out almost every day. I usually take Saturday or Sunday off since I have my daughter every weekend. She doesn’t usually let me exercise but the more I do it, the more she sees how much fun I’m having!

I have only gained muscle weight so far and not lost any fat weight so I currently weigh more than I did when I wrote my goal but I know it will come off. My heart and lungs are stronger. I ran a mile and a half Monday night with no pain at all. Before I started working out, I could barely do a half mile. I am training for a 5K  (3.1 mile) run on August 11 of this year and I’m feeling confident.

I am doing the Apache Troop 5K Gauntlet. Go on, go watch the video. It’s awesome….

Did you see that? Mud pits, rope bridge, tires, and more! I’m going to do that! This will be my first run and I’m excited. There will be 11 obstacles set up. Some based on military manoeuvres, some just because of the trail itself.

The Bachelor’s completion date may need moved. I still haven’t been accepted into Wright State yet because Sinclair is taking forever to send the transcript. But otherwise I’m doing good on my goals!

Bye-bye Summer

I’m actually not ready to say that at all yet. Most of the early summer was very rainy and didn’t feel like summer and now it’s a week until September already which means fall is fast approaching. I do like the colors of fall, but I’m still not ready for short nights and cold weather. The best part of this fall is that it’s the last fall I’ll go back to school. After this year, I’ll have my Associate’s and will probably stop there. I’ll be the first person in my family to have any kind of degree and I have a job that doesn’t require a Bachelor’s. Insurance is its own little world of training and schooling that can be done in pieces as I need to enhance my knowledge. But I want some more summer. Maybe I’ll have a July in December party instead of Christmas in July like some people do. That sounds fun. I’ll keep you guys posted. I definitely need more summer in my life.

My first vacation

I should qualify that as my first vacation as an adult. You see, I’ve never taken a vacation from work. Usually, I can’t afford to take time off (and really can’t afford to take time off this week, either). My family used to go on vacations when I was a kid, but I’ve never taken one as an adult. I remember Myrtle Beach when I was like 7, but I really don’t remember much. It rained every night and we went to play putt-putt one day and I remember sitting in the sand on one afternoon with my Granny as the tide came in and we kept having to move farther up because the water was washing the sand out to sea.

I also remember the trip my Aunt Linda took me and my sister on to Michigan. We traveled around the exterior of the state but the places that stick out are Mackinac, Mackinaw, the Sleeping Bear Dunes and Holland.

But, my ex got remarried today and I told him (before I found the new job) that I wanted to use this as one of my weeks with my daughter for this summer. There was no way in hell I was gonna let him leave her with his parents or with whoever is watching this other woman’s children.

And yes, I will continue to call her other woman, because other than the fact that I know her name is Stephanie and she has two kids, I know NOTHING about this woman. I haven’t even been introduced to her. And my ex thinks I’m just gonna roll over and not take him back to court for violating the divorce decree? What do I look like? An idiot? Per our agreement, I have to approve ANYONE for ANY child care of our minor daughter. He also thinks he can switch school districts without my approval as well. TUFF LUCK, COOKIE!!!

So this vacation isn’t really a vacation. I’m not going anywhere except maybe the lawyer’s office to sign paperwork so I can submit it to the courts and take his ass back in for contempt. I’m sure my daughter and I will spend a lot of time at the pool. And maybe I’ll finally finish War and Peace, which is an amazing book and I’m only half way done. It’s really long, but if I wrote a book that covered 15 years and half a dozen families, it would be long too.

Maybe I’ll also be able to post some more this week. Working the two jobs is really draining. I come home and just go to sleep to wake up and do it all over again.

Until next time! Bandia

Summer reading list

I love Summer because I have so much free time to read for pleasure. During the school year it’s usually all school books. And don’t get me wrong, I love learning in school, but those books can sometimes be so dry and technical.

This summer, I hope to tackle my list of classics. I have started with Percy Bysshe Shelley. What an amazing poet. I plan to read T. S. Elliot, Poe, Blake, Shakespeare (more of him anyway lol), and hopefully find a complete version of Canterbury Tales.

I read Anna Karenina last summer and am going to attempt War and Peace this summer. I also picked up a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray from the library. I love the library. I love walking through the stacks and smelling the old papers.

I also hope I can find a copy of Mort d’ Arthur. I’ve actually wanted to read that one for years and keep forgetting to search for it. Maybe writing it down like this will help me finally remember lol.

What are some of your favorites summer reads? What does your “need to read” book list look like? Do you have a favorite author the world needs to know about? Share your comments!

Be kind to each other because we are all related

Bandia