Going home

Before I begin my rant on life.. 
Let me update you on my 365 project. 

Running every day has felt overall awesome. 
But let me tell you, i think I am seriously in for a rude awakening because, YES. IT HAS BEEN HARD AND IT'S ONLY DAY 15. 

There have been some nights that i've just been like…

Like, I really really really didn't want to. 
Buuuuut, I have to say-- Once I did it…. I was so glad I did. 
those endorphins…. they'll getcha. 

 01/10/15

As soon as I woke up I called Sage and begged him to take me to the beach. Why does it take so much convincing for people to go to the most beautiful place in the world? Anyway, i'm glad he lives right door to me, made it a lot easier :) We rolled down the windows of his little sports car and let the morning roll in… it's an indescribable feeling. Happiness.

It feels so good to spend time with an old friend. 

You know what else was really freakin awesome? Being at the beach. Salt water is an amazing thing… 

Today I took my shoes off, rolled up my pants, and ran as hard and far as I could with my feet just barely in the water, pushing off from the sand from every step… 

it's true, saltwater really does heal everything. 

01/11/15-

Today I was running.. I was just running forever and all over the place, not really having a destination in mind. I didn't know when or how to stop.. I couldn't stop. It was like no matter what direction I went, something was always in my damn way. 

I am currently working on varying my pace throughout my run. 

Like, sometimes I fall and bust my ass on the ice and have to stop for a minute, 

but then I try to keep going…

I can't wait until I don't have to run like a penguin in fear of my face being busted.  

I am excited it's been two weeks, buuut i'm really reallllly looking forward to week #3. 

They say 21 days makes a habit.. I'm praying to God that one's true. 

I've had some people ask me about just how healthy it is to run 365 days in a row… to be honest, it's probably not. But I just want to clarify, I'm not doing any hard core training or trying to lose any weight or trying anything in any way. I'm simply just running. I'm not exhausting myself or my muscles every single day. It doesn't take much to go outside and jog for 15 minutes. That's the beautiful thing about running, you just have to get up and do it. 

That being said, to keep myself motivated, I am working on some interval training. I've never been able to interrupt my pace once i've started a race. I would like to practice recovering my breathing after a sprint and into a long haul. 

I'm about to rant about life (mine in particular): 

As you may know, I recently took a trip home to the sunshine state. 
There is something weird about going home.. 

I haven't been home since my grams passed away. Let's just say that this time I was a little nervous. 
You always have this vision in your head of what home is going to be like.. because it's always been that way. It's home. 

This time was different.  Actually, now that I think about it, 
every time I go home is different. When you leave home, you don't really think about life continuing after you're gone. It's weird..I mean, of course you know your friends get jobs or when they're graduating, but you don't well, I'm sorry, I don't*, keep up with who is hanging out with who and doing what and where and blah blah blah… 

So when you get there.. it's a little different. You have to learn who everyone is in conversations, and you have to be introduced to people, I don't even know where the hell I am most of the time,… it's not as "homey" as you pictured. But you know, we have to think about ourselves and how much has happened to us in the past year, HOLY COW, of course we don't know everything! 

I'm so proud of all of my friends, I can't even put it into words. 
I'm always so excited to see where life has brought them since i've seen them last. 

I just want to take a second to say that your family isn't always made up of people you share DNA with, this is a lesson i've had to learn the hard way.. 

I just want to thank all of the people that have been brought into my life and have stayed there. 

Thank you for consistently answering the phone when I call (even though you haven't heard from me in months), thank you for supporting me no matter how far away it may take me, thank you for always reminding me of your love, thank you for encouraging me when I probably should have been encouraging you.. and thank you for being proud of me when I say I want to run 365 days in a row, which is sounding more crazy the more days that go by. 

You people are my family. 

You know who you are….

You're the people who've been brought to my life by some rare circumstance or a marriage, or random elective class, or through another friend we don't know what happened to or whatever,

I just want to thank y'all for making our relationships so loving and encouraging. 

I don't know where I would be without you all

OKAY I'LL STOP BEING MUSHY. 

Sweetwater 420

What a better place to update y'all on my 365 project process than sitting in the Atlanta airport drinking one of my favorite beers… next to 3 middle aged men talking about another guy who generously offered to cary his wife's hot pink vera bradley bag. Im sitting here thinking I know damn well if these men had a hot momma asking them to carry her bag they would bow down and flaunt it proudly.

The last few days have been great! I haven't really had much of a struggle, the opposite of what I anticipated. 
Y'all-- I really can't stand running in the snow. It's the resistance of sand with the slickness of an oil spill. And it seems like only when hot guys are letting me cross the road do I almost fall but sorta-not-really gracefully catch myself. 

But, as promised---

At first I was a little discouraged because my pace wasn't the fastest in the world, and then I haven't been going very far… but then I was thinking about it and if I make the effort to change clothes in the middle of my work day to go run 3 miles in the snow, i'm ok with that!

I have to interrupt to just say- I freakin love the airport. 

i'm nervous for this trip home.. It's going to be a challenge to get all my runs in. I'm usually pretty involved with social activities. It will be nice to take at least 20 minutes a day to myself. And it's supposed to be sunny! 

It's the people that make me worry about being here.. I haven't talked to my mom in at least 6 months. She's usually my go-to girl. I won't have a car.. my friends all have crazy girlfriends and jobs (thank goodness). 

So, y'all just wish me luck and I promise I'll post something more inspirational tomorrow. 
:) 

New Year, New Everythaaaang

Oh, New Years……
It really brings about a different spirit in people. 

Now people are actually encouraged to make some kind of positive change in their lives. 
Im not gonna lie, 
I totally love the idea. 

I have a hard time starting better habits when I don't have a "starting point." 
I know a lot of you can relate because we hear it all the time:
"Starting my birthday i'm not going to…."
"After Christmas no more…"
"Starting whatever day i'm going to start…"

It's like setting yourself up for a 1, 2, 3, JUMP

Almost 8 months ago I decided to pack up and drive across the country with my dog and my boyfriend. 

Matthew didn't have a job, we didn't have a place to live… we just did it. 

We packed up our tree house in less than 12 hours, just the two of us. 

We barely scraped up enough time and money for a Penske truck, 

it was an adventure, that's for sure. 

We used walky-talkies to talk to each other about the days of corn fields we were driving through.. passing off the cigarettes at every gas station... then at night we would stay in some random hotel and sneak in our, then 50 pound, german shepherd/pit bull mix, who.. oh yah! has severe anxiety issues. I think ranger really grew as a person on that trip. 

On the last day we wasted no time at the continental breakfast… we were out of there. I remember it was raining and I was so mad we didn't stop at the state line.. THE ONLY ONE I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE OF…

Ranger was all over me, crying at the cows we were passing by…

Through everything I heard Matthew's voice coming through the walky-talky, "We made it babe." 

New Years Eve this year…

We went to a CSU basketball game that was just awesome. Seriously, it was one of those really close call the whole entire time games. And everyone was so into it! I'm glad the guy behind me was mediating everything his baby boy was doing on the court, I successfully followed the entire game! I was also surrounded by the best company a girl could ask for. I hadn't laughed that much in a long time.

There was a big win and then the game was over, 

as we were leaving I noticed all these girls dressed up in their NYE attire and thought about what i was wearing, I wasn't even wearing mascara... I couldn't help but to think about how many times I left a basketball game and went straight out to the bar after to dance with friends.. I really miss that. 

I miss being a college student...

There is a fine line between "teen" and "adult" and it's called a college student. 

When we got home I got so mopey about being grown up and hating it! Sometimes it's hard to be so responsible all the time.. it's exhausting. 

Matthew started talking about the bittersweetness in living in so many different places. He explained to me how his friendship with his high school friends and his friendship with his college friends were two totally different things, but equally important to him.. and if he would've stayed in High Point he would  more than likely only have that relationships with those friends. Thats the beauty of living in so many different places. 

I think I would've been in the same boat. 

I will never regret moving anywhere because of all of the amazing people I have met along the way. I mean, people that have changed my life and have been a part of it ever since then. I'm so appreciative to have had the opportunity to meet these people. 

SO anyway, 

Matthew and I were in the process of cleaning out the liquor cabinet and I got all upset because I wasn't getting all dressed up to go out.. 

…but why not?

This was mine and Matthew's fourth New Years Eve together. 

I was a little disappointed that we weren't anywhere super cool and exciting like we have been before… but after a beer or two I guess it didn't matter where we were going. Of course it was 11:40 by the time we left the house but we made it!

We ended up going to this place downtown called the Sports Station. This bar used to be an old train station, it's right on the tracks! As soon as we walked in we were getting bumped into by all these drunk people, obviously in their own world. We made it to the back where the bar was and squeezed into this little table with no stools. 

I wish I could describe the feeling of this place. It's the perfect size with these friendly bar tenders that are just hilarious, it's like one of those bars that you would see on a TV show, everyone was definitely considered a regular. Hug and kisses all around! 

About 5 minutes til midnight I asked Matthew what his favorite part of 2014 was. I started to think of my best moment while he was thinking and then we both kinda said "the road-trip out here." 

When the ball was about to drop, everyone stopped what they were doing and counted down the new year in unison. It was the most amazing thing i've ever been a part of. I couldn't stop laughing just because everyone around me was so happy… it made me so happy! After the kisses died down, "Don't stop believing" by Journey comes on… THE WHOLE ENTIRE BAR STARTED SINGING. I was so overwhelmed with the feeling of home and belonging. In that moment I knew I was exactly where I needed to be. 

Loveland, Colorado

Maybe that's why people make resolutions on New Years, it's a starting point the whole country is in on. We're all in it together! 

It's inspiring when we all come together and do something good for ourselves. And good for us for cheering others on in the process. 

A couple years ago I, Matthew and I were in Italy for New Years and I decided I wanted to run my first half marathon in April. I had the registration up on the computer, ready to go. We talked about how much training I would have to do and how hard it would be to run in the cold…Well, since that half marathon, i've ran 5 more… It was a crazy sounding thing in the beginning but before long, those crazy impulsive goals became a reality.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do differently this year. I wanted it to be simple and realistic, something I could actually stick to effortlessly... 

Yesterday I was reading Facebook and I saw something about someone successfully finishing last year's resolution to run 365 days straight. 

I thought about this all day long today… it was haunting me all day at work. Something was just telling me I need to do it. This challenge would definitely not be simple, and it's not very realistic. But something in me lit up about it.

I came home and talked to Matthew about it and at first he thought it was crazy… but asked me if I was serious and then told me to go put my shoes on. 

If you're reading this blog, thank you, it's a compliment that I could keep you interested this long.  But more than likely it's because you have some kind of interest in my life. 

So, I'm going to use this blog to stay accountable through this journey. 

Also, I will try to use my Jawbone app, so if you got one for Christmas, let's be teammates! 

I understand that committing to running for 365 days in a row is absolutely crazy sounding. 

I understand that it gets cold in Colorado in the winter. 

I understand they make clothes for that. 

I also understand that 88% of new years resolutions end with failure. 

I'm not planning for that. 

I'm going to be keeping track of the miles, just to see.. I'll be posting my runs on here as often as I can. 

I know this is crazy, y'all! But i'm really excited about the challenge. 

If you feel like joining, you don't have to tell anyone or post it anywhere, just get up and run. 

Make it your personal thing. 

Running often has been a time when my mind just completely focuses on God. I'm surrounded by his beauty, releasing endorphins, and I can't help but to be so thankful for my life and everyone in it. I'm thrilled to see where the next 365 days takes me on my journey with Christ. 

i ran today:

1/365

It was freezing cold, maybe around 20, my face hurt, there was a lot of snow. They have a law here that you have to scrape your sidewalks within 24 hours of a snow storm-- thank you people for doing that! At first I thought it was ridiculous but today I was so thankful! The air felt great after warming up,   I was excited to be out running again. Matthew and Ranger were right behind me. :)