Category: regular

I just recently finished the amazing true story The Long Run about a New York City Firefighter’s comeback from a tragic accident to becoming an elite athlete.  

I love non-fiction, bios, true stories, comebacks…this one was amazing. 

Matt Long was an Ironman and NYC Marathon runner when he was run over by a bus while cycling to work in December 2005. He suffered terrible and life threatening injuries. Doctors think his top physical shape is what saved his life. 

As an athlete I could deeply identify with this story. I remember how I felt when I broke my Bionic Ankle, and I went through a wide range of emotions and struggles. But, my injury is not even comparable to Matt’s, although we both enjoyed external fixators ;) 

Matt dedicated himself to reclaiming his athletic abilities, be it at a slower pace, but no less amazing and inspiring. He completed the NYC Marathon, and an Ironman just a few years after his injuries. 

Reading his story and knowing how severe his injuries were, gives me great hope that I can achieve an athletic accomplishment in my own life. I have my own limitations and challenges but I have a new goal I’m focusing on, remember?! 

Road Bike Races!

I recently found the The Grape Fun Ride and 5K. I’m so tempted to sign up for the race on Jan 21…but I’m going to get a few more rides in before I pull the trigger. I have some time before the entry fee goes up. 

Matt created a foundation titled simply I will.  which helps athletes recover from injuries and accidents to reclaim their athletic abilities. It’s a great cause, and something I can identify with. 

So the motto for the New Year: I will. 

Warning, I’m going vain and girlie for a second. I am bored with my hair. I want, and need a change. 

For over 2  years I’ve been “growing it out.” And I think I’m done now. When I transfered from UCR to Chapman, I decided I needed to chop it off. And with playing Water Polo the less hair I had to deal with the better. Let’s take a little journey on my hair styles over the past few years:

Once upon a time:

Then I started doing more of this:

I’m in the white cap. Mmmmm, manshoulders. 

So I did this:

And I did a variation of that for a long time:

Ok. So let’s try growing it out:

So I did this a lot, since I hated my shoulder length hair:

And then some of this:

And then I hit this a few months ago:

So that’s pretty much where I’ve been and where I’m at. 

I’ve toyed with the idea of bangs…but then I remember my horrible child nightmares of growing them out. Still, should I give it a try…and spend my workouts with them plastered to my forehead?

Naw….

Or, do I go back to one of these, since they’ve worked for me so many times before:

Meh, I could. 

But what I really want to do is this:

FAUX HAWK! How cool would that be!?

I’m also leaning toward this:

Thoughts? Do I just jump straight from my long hair to a super short cut?! I’m never worried about drastic haircuts…hair grows, and it’ll grow back. If you don’t like it, meh. You only have to deal with it for a few months. 

On a whole other topic…COLOR? 

So, for weeks I’ve been talking up our big Thanksgiving camping trip. Manfriend and I spent hours and hours, packing and prepping. Getting everything ready for the trip. Only to decide on Thanksgiving morning that we were going to stay home. What?!

Ever have one of those days where you just feel like everything that happens is telling you NOT to go somewhere or do something? Yea, that was Thursday for us. 

Literally ready to go. Food and clothing packed. Dog in the car. Said our goodbyes to the family and we were off! Only to make it to North Hollywood and have some super scary freeway/trailer/weight action to have us stopped on the side of the offramp. I’ll spare you all the scary details, let’s just be thankful I’m here writing this post today. 

To top off an awesome morning, Manfriend got stung by a bee under his right ring finger. And that little bee did a number on him, we ended up going to the ER on Friday night (for 3 hours) because his hand was still super swollen and starting to blister. It. Was. Awesome. 

In all, it was still a wonderful weekend. We spent lots of time with Manfriend’s family and had traditional Thanksgiving dinner with them. We did miss our desert family big time though. We were both really looking forward to some campfire and dirt bike time. But, there’s always the next trip. 

Another issue with staying home this weekend? I have a fridge FULL of food and beer. Who wants to come over for dinner and drinks?