Final Countdown of #30daysofnew Recap

Little behind on the recaps, but heres the rounding out / completion of my #30dayofnew challenge. Feels good to be done and not feel the pressure of always doing something, but in my time doing research of what is happening in the Nashville, I learned quite a bit about different activities, thus more on my list of items to check off...

Day 20 - Rock Climbing at Climb Nashville
COST: $17
Every Tuesday, Team Green Adventures teams up with Climb Nashville to have a beginners climb night with a discounted rate  for both members and non-members. My upper body strength definitely could use some work (hence the falling off the rock and landing on the ground), but I still had a grand time. It's hard to get to that part of town by 6pm, but I'd definitely like to re-visit this activity again.

Day 21- Nolensville Running Club

COST: Free ($5 toward pizza afterward) 

The last of my Nashville running group explorations! I was blown away at the large turnout for a Wednesday night- just shy of 100 people. There were a few runners who were at the Southside running group (day 16) I went to the previous week, and they were kind enough to show me around. This club is notorious for having some fast runners and some killer hills in their route rotation. I lucked out and the day I joined was the only flat route to the track and back, thus not an incline in site--- nailed it! Afterward they ordered pizzas for everyone and helped make signs for the Nashville Women's 1/2 marathon that was in town that upcoming weekend. 

Day 22- Jackalope trivia + cards against humanity

COST: Free ($11 for 2 beers + mac & cheese)

This is a classic example of why i wanted to do this challenge in the first place. I was near downtown getting my haircut when I decided to stay down there to see if anything was going on. I happened to see using the app Wannadoo --- best app for finding activities to do-- that the Jackalope brewery does trivia on Thursday so I texted a few people to see if they wanted to join. Michael (plaid next to me) said he would be interested IF I found others to go so it wasn't just us. I struck out with everyone else and made the executive decision to just go and randomly join someone's team. Since Michael knew I was going regardless he agreed to join and as I was waiting for him in walks Jesse (green shirt) who I met during my #30daysofnew on both day 4 and day 7 so I joined him and his friends. We rocked the first round and were in 1st place at halftime, but unfortunately dropped the ball on the last few questions and didn't place 

Day 23- Lightning 100 Friday Afternoon Live

COST: Free

I see a pattern with all the lightning 100 sponsored events! Every monday evening there is a 1 hour spot on their radio station starting at 6:15 (for those that don't know, Nashville area code is 615) featuring only local artists. During that show, they announce who their artist of the week is. The rest of that week they play them in heavy rotation and then on Friday that band plays a free concert for anyone that shows, along with plenty of opportunities to win tickets to other shows. I played rock, paper scissors for Broken Bells tickets, but I lost in the 2nd round :(   The band, Vinyl Thief was pretty darn good. I have to say the topper of the night was Becca walking away with the digits of the guy who I beat in rock, paper, scissors who happens to be an ex-lightning 100  worker and friends of my dj :) 

Day 24- Nashville Symphony free day of music

COST: Free

No idea if this is a new concept or something that is done annually, but the Nashville Symphony announced that they were having free music all day a few saturdays ago. I have never been to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, let alone been to the symphony, so I was pumped I got to experience this without spending a dime. In addition to the Symphony performing, there were a lot of local songwriters and performers who we were able to watch as well. When we went, most of the performances were outside and it was a SCORCHER that day, so we only lasted about 2 hours before meeting up with friends for dinner.  Occasionally we'll have big artists that team up with the symphony- Ben Folds is the most recent, so I'm going to make sure to be on the lookout so I can experience the true Symphony experience! 

Day 25- Sky High Trampoline Gym
COST: $14 / hr
So many of my friends have been to this trampoline gym, some even are on a trampoline dodge ball league, but for whatever reason I've never taken the plunge. A few of my PT friends warned me to be careful since they have treated several people who have been injured here, so I was actually a little nervous in going. Kristin and I went one sunday afternoon and it was kid birthday party central,so we decided to come back late on a weeknight- best decision ever! Between trying to move around in the foam pit and racing in the giant trampoline area, we were wiped within 40 min- no idea how people spend more than an hour here! After conquering my "your going to sprain an ankle fear", I think I may be ready for a pick up dodgeball game here soon! 

Day 26- Checking out old theater, Sinema, turned restaurant/bar
COST: $5 for beer
The Nashville restaurant / bar/ local scene is absolutely exploding. Everyone is trying to take a unique spin on venue or food to get one step ahead of the rest. Ever since I've lived here there was an abandoned theater on 8th just screaming be be renovated, and earlier this year thats exactly what happened. I'm told its extremely hard to get in, so we winged it by going late on weeknight to avoid the dinner rush and were able to walk right in. Unbeknownst to us, we were actually crashing the tail end of a Ferrari party and were severely underdressed, but no one gave us grief until we got to the bar to order a drink. Apparently we missed Taylor Swift and two of the cast members from Nashville (Chloe and Gunner) who were there earlier--- timing is everything! I took full advantage going through all the rooms each with their own unique twist, perfect for lounging and having great conversation. I'd like to come back to actually enjoy a meal and not feel like all eyes are glaring on the girls in jeans. 

Day 27- Joining a random pick up game for night kickball.
COST: Free
My gf Danielle had texted me earlier in the week that her bf's team needed 2 girls to round out there male dominant kickball team and asked if we could join. I've been on a kickball league before, however I'd at least known / met/ or talked over email with my teammates prior to a game. Showing up only knowing Danielle + completely different rules from what I was used to was intimidating, but I  got in the swing of things and actually played outfield pretty well. We ended up losing so it was decided we can either be in our 30s and have the time to practice and dominate in kickball, or we can show up do our best and not care if we lose because we have more going on in our life--- the latter is the better option ;) Since then they've asked me to sub in twice more, however I had conflicts both times and was unable to make it. 

Day 28- Trivia at 3 Crow
COST: Free
I'm convinced now that not only could you play trivia every day of the week in Nashville, but also choose from different venues on the same night.  I REALLY did not want to go out this night, but Kristin mentioned a bunch of her friends were meeting up in East Nashville and she had wanted to play since she's never taken part in trivia, whaaaaat?? I've played at a LOT of different venues with many different announcers and this was probably the most annoying of them all as it took extra long to play since they were slow with calculating points, waiting for the entire song to be over no matter what before next question, and even doing half time giveaways which ate a big chunk of time. This was also one of the first times I've played where I didn't know many of the answers, so I felt like I wasn't contributing.  I'd go back once more to see if its any better, but otherwise I'll stick to the Thursday night triva at Jackalope instead. 

Day 29- Full Moon Pickin' Party
COST: $20 (includes entry + 4 beers)
Starting in the late spring one Friday a month when there is a full moon, Percy Warner Parks hosts their pickin party for anyone to come enjoy live folk / bluegrass music. This one  was the last pickin' party of the season, so I was determined to go, rain or shine.... and yes it rained on all of us! I always enjoy live music, but what I loved most about this is how you can walk around, pet some horses, watch pop up jam sessions with other music lovers who brought their own instruments, and mingle with others. Event was both kid and dog friendly, hence a lot of families, which adds to the laid back environment. Unfortunately for us this was a pop up FREEZING day so between the rain + not being equipped for cold temps we left early. I'm anxious to go back this spring when its dry and warm to see how that changes the crowd and atmosphere entirely. This is worth at least checking this out once if you're in the greater nashville area. 

Day 30

I received a lot of suggestions of different grand finale items to close out this challenge, but ultimately I decided not to 'officially' do a 30 day. I wanted this to serve as a reminder that we should always be striving to try new experiences since that helps us grow and meet new people.  I've done quite a few more activities that are new to me since this challenge ended, so I don't think i'll ever close the book on this concept. I've noticed my attitude has changed toward going out as well. If someone asked me to meet up for dinner / drink / etc and I was tired, I would immediately just take a rain check. Now I feel like Jim Carey in the 'Yes Man' and remind myself you never know what will happen or who you'll meet when you venture outside the home. 

I highly recommend this challenge for anyone looking to get outside their comfort zone, expand their social circle, or just get out of a social rut! It is exhausting as well as challenging to constantly be looking for items last minute, but in the end totally worth it!

Trails, Trivia, T25

Trails
If you haven't heard already, Elizabeth has organized a great group of ladies to round out the Nuun sponsored team to run in the inaugural Ragnar Trail Atlanta. Unlike traditional Ragnars, there aren't some locations that are easy flat terrain  and some that are hard... all trail Ragnars are filled with hills, rocks, sand, and whatever other obstacles can be challenging. This particular one is held in the Georgia International Horse Park which is laced with all the above. Here is a preview of what is to come

Barely a flat part in sight. I don't mind hills, but hills on dirt that you need to grab on to tree routes and constantly look at the ground so you don't fall, that is another story. I found a too good to pass up deal last week on clearanced out trail shoes, so I decided to hit up our local tough trails, Percy Warner, with a few of my friends who are on another team for Ragnar Trail.  With walk breaks included in our time we had an 11 min pace for our 4 miles and I felt like we were flying. Considering 2 of my runs for Ragnar Trail Vail Lake in November were 11:51 and 11:59 total pace... I call this a huge win. 

I was excited to go again this week and meet (for the first time) my teammate for Ragnar Cape Cod, Betsy, but it's supposed to rain. I'm not the most coordinated on trails, add rain to the mix and I'm pretty sure I might hurt myself. Come on mother nature please play nice!

Trivia

If you've been reading these past few months you know I'm an avid trivia player. Back in November me and a few friends who traditionally aren't on my weekly Tuesday trivia team decided to try the first ever Preds trivia  which was held at Bridgestone where our Preds hockey team plays. Everyone gets a discounted ticket that plays, and if you win first place your seats get upgraded to ICE seats and if you get 2nd you get the lower bowl. The first time around we tied with another team and won the tie breaker to get the ICE seats!!

A few weeks ago Sarah and I received another email stating they were going to do it again. Our November team actually consisted of an ex and all his friends, so I hardcore recruited all my weekly trivia members that were available, and a few others to get a diverse team. The result- again tied for first and broke the tie breaker to WIN ICE SEATS AGAIN!

The game we all chose is 4/10 and we actually were able to get all 9 seats together on the ice (last time they had to split it up into 4 and 3) It's nice to know how facts you think are useless that are in your brain can reap big rewards!!! 

T25

Today marked the end of my 4th week of T25. At first I didn't think I was noticing many results aka 'why aren't my abs chiseled yet', but luckily I've been tracking my weight and inches every Saturday. I don't have results yet from this week (obviously its friday) but as of last week I was down 6lbs, 2 inches off my waist, and 1.5 off my chest. I think the best part was one of my guy friends who I hadn't seen in a few weeks commented the other day that my frame "looked smaller"- I'll take it. Aside from results, I've learned 3 things about my body:

1.) My legs are strong. I've always had strong legs (mostly quads and calves) so some of the moves don't bother me. Just call me the squat queen. 

2.) My upper strength is very weak in comparison, but I have come a long way. For me pushups are not comfortable- its not the arms part, its actually my back. Yesterday  I was so proud that I could do 3 oblique push ups before I needed to modify-- baby steps. 

3.) I am naturally uncoordinated. After 4 weeks I'm finally able to do some of the moves that just seemed "awkward to me" I've also been trying to learn the dance /workout to Katy Perry's "Dark Horse"--- maybe someday I'll record myself doing it and post it. Let's just say I don't look sexual at all doing it and instead that I'm trying to hard. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about- here is the you tube video. It's definitely a leg workout, but the challenge is can you look coordinated while doing it? Some day...

Weekly Recap 2/10-2/16

Monday

Yoga

Weights at home 

Extremely busy day at work to prep for our site visit to San Antonio the following day- didn't get finished tying up loose ends till well after my run group met (and it was freezing) so I skipped the run. Watched the Olympics with the roommate and commentated on the awesome butts on speed skaters and the lackluster excitement of the 1500 skating. Then this happened...f

I might have never mentioned Leah is friends with Sara and Ryan Hall - used to run with Sara and went to their wedding etc. Slightly jealous and definitely ups the roomie's cool factor

Tuesday

No workouts- travel day to San Antonio, TX for work. Naturally as luck would have it we were welcomed with 40 degrees and pouring rain whereas the rest of week was full of sunshine and 70/80 degree weather. Spent the bulk of the day meeting colleagues who will be working on the account I work with, as well as learning the differences of their protocol / processes vs. Nashville. I got hit on which was pretty funny. Rounded out the day with dinner and tons of great food and beer- they even carried Alaskan beer (only certain states carry it) 

Biggest brownie ever and I'm still in awe that I couldn't finish it

Wednesday

p90x Core Synergistics

Travel back to Nashville, was fighting a major headache since the night before so worked from home rest of the day. Roomie and I met up with some folks for dinner and drinks and I added this awesome addition to my pint glass collection (I have over 40) 

Thursday

R.I.P.P.E.D class

Busy day at work. We had our hardest ripped class to date (finally learned what it stood for: resistance, intervals, power, plyometrics, endurance, distance) Usual Thursday routine, come home, unwind, watch "The Taste" while making different items in the kitchen. 

Friday- Valentine's Day

Yoga

My Valentine this year (and who am I kidding, every year) was my parents. Mama J made me heart cookies and the parents bought me an awesome daughter necklace. Shaun T was delivered, and I had a bunch of chocolate at the Hot chocolate 15k expo. We won't even go into how I had to pay for parking, $8, and thought I'd use cash- only the machine doesn't dispense change and took my whole $20. (I hate downtown parking) The celebration / anti-celebration would commence on 15th, so 14th was a quiet night at home.

Saturday

Hot Chocolate 15k - Recap to come. Short version- it was incredibly cold and ridiculously hard course. 

Probably the sexiest photo I've posted on this blog to date- promise I'm not that pasty, chose a bad filter

Got my nails did

Started day 1 of T25 with roomie- definitely will be waiting to share the 'before' photos until I can show some progress- day 1 went well, calves a little sore from the run earlier in the day combined with all the jumping in the video.

Rounded out the day by preparing for our Single's get together later that evening. We thought it would be a great idea to embrace our inner college self and make pink panty droppers- 10 beers, half handle of vodka, 6 lemonade concentrates- sweet, but good (although we had several, 1 was enough) 

Sunday

Woke up incredibly sore, but it was in the 50s (compared to day befores 20s), so I had to go for a shakeout run and enjoy the temps. 

4 miles 8:40 pace

Waited for roomie to finish her bike ride then did day 2 of t25. So far the moves aren't terrible, its just some of them are awkward and seeing as we both run, we only work certain muscles. We had a rolling gab session together afterwards- quads, it bands, calves galore

Finished the day by heading to our regional championship trivia tournament... yes sounds silly. 50 teams around Nashville (top 5 teams at each location) were battling it out to make it to the ultimate championship in Tunica, MS in 2 weeks for the chance to win $25,000

Team "Coming in Hot"

Yes I'm the only female. For the championship you're only allowed 5 people, and since I've been around the longest I made the cut, whew. It's nice to know my random knowledge can come in handy at times. I also think its because of my awesome whit and humor I bring every week

It's a "party for your entire mouth"- seriously, who doesn't love these?!?!

:sidenote: proof I'm not pasty white 

At half time we were in 13th place, by the end of 10 rounds we were in 4th (top 6 go to MS). The "final" question is always putting items in order and you wager up to 30 points (if right you keep, if not you lose). I had to pull the executive / bitchy card and say since we were not 100% sure on our answers we were not going to wager any points because since the stakes were so high (and the questions were so difficult), the only teams that would wager are those trying to guess to make it in top 6. Leave it to the female to be right and we only dropped 1 place (an underdog team bet it all and lucked out) and we ended up 5th!!! 

March 1st we're heading to Tunica, MS to play amongst 119 other teams to see who is the grand winner (I'm told told top 3 actually get cash) It will be kind of nice to travel without having a race to run! 

On that note, all my spare time shall be spent studying the internets about presidents, geography, and literature- my 3 weakest categories. 

Total Workouts for the week

Runs (2)13 miles

Yoga 2 days

Weights / videos 5 days

Anything noteworthy in your week?

Fan of poprocks??

Had a hilarious / bad experience with watermelon, but love the other flavors

Do you have any obnoxious drink that takes you back to college?

I'm a beer snob and that is typically what I stick to, however in college it was all about what you could afford. $10 diluted bottle of vodka, 1L of mt. dew, few packets of kool aid and you have "razzle". I might puke if I were to attempt to drink that now. 

5 for Friday - Trivia, Oklahoma, Wallstreet Journal

ONE: After 4 weeks of trivia, we finally hit the jackpot. Normally I play at a restaurant / bar near my home every Tuesday, however this week The Nashville Predators (our hockey team) was hosting a new trivia challenge. Basically you get a cheap predator ticket with your team registration and get to watch the Preds on the big screen in the stadium since they were playing in Detroit. Long story short we actually won out of 20 teams and got upgraded "ice tickets" aka sit right behind the hockey team. I'm basically a genius... 

Team "We're Down to Puck"

Also got these shirts and I think someone gets to ride the Zambonie during the game.. I called not it. 

TWO: It's Friday and I've only ran ONCE so far this whole week (although I did get in a kettle bell class). My calves and ankles were still a bit sore from Ragnar Trail Vail Lake, so I took some much needed rest days.  I've noticed over the last year that my calves have been taking quite the beating and are constantly sore and it makes me wonder what I'm doing differently compared to the previous 2 years. I'm assuming different gait??

THREE The one run I did get in this week was actually a large group run (about 10 of us) for an article in the Wall Street Journal. They're writing a piece on the culture of our company and needed photos of people working out. It was actually really fun running back and forth with folks, and from what I hear from our PR rep, the photos turned out great. I'll be getting the photos the photographer doesn't use for the article, so I'm hoping to post some in the next few weeks once the article has been published. 

FOUR Tomorrow I leave for Oklahoma (whoopee). I'm going to be honest, who the heck is every excited to go to Oklahoma? Well I actually am for a very good reason. It's freaking # 

!!!

Man has time flown by.  The big 5-0 is celebrated with my folks, but 49 will be with my travel ladies. 

Top: MN in front of our state flags, on the Jersey Shore shortly before Sandy, South Dakota

Bottom: 4 of us in Tx (1st time meeting Kim), Back at it in CO 

Originally started a lot of my travels with Becka and her sister Laura, but Livestrong Austin,  State #24,  is where I met Kim and then all 3 of us traveled for a bit. Shortly after  Kim and I took off (since B & L were basically done). I'm going to miss all our adventures and hope that I'll still want to meet up with Kim for some of the states she has left (OK is #30 for her, so I've got some options) 

FIVE: Temperature for OK will be in the 30s with a chance of snow- yikes. I like running in cold weather, but maybe not that cold. My brother Eric texted me last night informing me that it will be 20 degrees in Ohio for our annual Turkey Trot 5 miler... guess OK is a preparation for OH... stupid O states. It was 65 yesterday and 60 today, sigh. I guess I need to come to grips that it is almost December and it does get cold. 

Do you have any travel buddies you meet up with for races?

Ever play trivia? Strengths / Weaknesses?

I'm not the greatest with President ?s

Weekly Recap - DC trip!

Monday
4 mile run with Fleet Feet Crew

Tuesday
Les Mills body combat class
Trivia night with team "Coming in Hot". Last week we placed 3rd, this week we came in 2nd... basically we're either ridiculously smart or know a lot of useless knowledge.

Wednesday
4 mile lunch run with 6 co-workers. 1 mile in it ended up working out that everyone split off in 2s and had a running partner. Its been a very long time since I've ran with someone and had a conversation the entire time-- way overdue.
Kettle bell class after work.

Dinner at my FAVORITE Thai Place, Smiling Elephant where I embarrassingly ordered 2 entrees, followed by concert of my all time favorite Nashville band that made it big, Kopecky Family Band. I've seen them at least 7 times and each time I'm amazed.

It's neat to follow them from the beginning and watch as they start to make it big. They were on the Tonight Show a few months back and I'm so grateful despite their growing success, that they always make time to do a show in Nashville when they can :) 

Thursday- Quick 3 mile run followed by packing for trip to DC 

Friday- Flew to DC by way of Chicago (why is it so hard to have direct flights!) Hung out with my college bestie Kim and finally got her out of the house for dinner and drinks (she's a stay at home mom and rarely gets a night sans child)  Horrible blogger as I didn't take photos, but dinner we ate all the unhealthy things followed by a wine tasting a few doors down. After 3 glasses Kim was 3 sheets to the wind and my entertainment for evening. 

Saturday- sight seeing monuments in  DC with Kim! (my first time EVER in the area)  It was humbling and lucky for us to be there Veteran's Day Weekend. I almost cried when there was a TV station interviewing a Vet at the WW II memorial and he was relaying his account of events... truly humbling and puts things in perspective. I'm glad I didn't go on the 8th grade traditional trip to DC as I don't think I could have truly appreciated the sacrifices and history as I can now. 

Showcasing the Potomac River

Korean Vets Memorial 

Reflecting Pools 

Representing Ohio at WW II Memorial 

View of the entire WWII Memorial


In front of White House

Sunday- Woodrow Wilson 1/2 (recap).  Enjoyed the laid back run, gorgeous views, and of course knocking off another state! 

Mileage for the week: 24.1- highest in quite some time + 2 classes. I'm getting slightly better about consistency and balancing exercise, work, play time, and travel. One thing that I've learned over the last few months where I've had more time at home is that there is ALWAYS something to do in Nashville- if I'm bored, feeling lonely, etc, I have the power to get out and do something with day. I've made it a small goal of mine with these quick recaps to always do SOMETHING each day that is noteworthy- it can be an activity, or a workout, but something that was accomplished. So far so good :) 

Is that a tube of Nuun in your front pocket??

Since the Franklin 1/2 marathon (up until yesterday) I ran once. I wanted to rest my calf, + we had a large conference in town last week where all our remote colleagues in our Direct to Employer Market came in for training. I was co-chair of organizing said training and MC'ed the whole thing, so needless to say, last week was a blur. I did manage to lead a group run Wed morning-- they asked for something scenic and hard, so I took them to Dave Ramsey's house... man I have a love/hate relationship with that route.

Only 3 of us wanted to pose with his house

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Last night I went to our Monday night fleet feet crew and managed to do all 4 miles WITHOUT taking my shirt off--- quite an accomplishment as of late considering I can barely make it a mile anymore before stripping. Afterward we stuck around for Nuun Trivia. Ok so they didn't ask ANY questions about Nuun, but the Nuun rep was hosting and the winning team each got a Nuun pint glass with 2 tubes of Nuun, some gift cards to Fleet Feet and the bar we always run at, as well as the grand daddy of a prize, the large Nuun trophy. 

Leah and I have our "wall of awesome" in our living room (aka where we have both of our medals and trophies) so we REALLY wanting to add this to our collection.  The team with the most creative name won a prize (hence the title of this post), but they said in the words of Ricky Bobby "If you're not first, you're last", so 2nd place in trivia got diddly squat. 

Apparently we suck at movie trivia and song lyrics when they are read out loud in a monotone voice, so we got 2nd- wah wah. I would like to note that one of the questions was "Which state is known as the equality state for being the first to allow women to vote"- With 100% confidence I told my team it was Wyomming and we were the ONLY team to get it right... traveling for half marathons across the country, finally paying off- BOOM

We happily took all our tubes of Nuun and oh so maturely posed to represent our team name (only Leah and I didn't have front pockets so the chest area was just as good)

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This morning was my first official day of speed work group training. Last week it kicked off with a 1 mile time trial to base the rest of your workouts off of. Due to training mentioned above I wasn't able to amke it so I had to do my time trial solo on the track Sunday morning. 6:01 was the official result which is kind of funny considering that is exactly what I ran last year when I was curious how fast I could do 1 mile. I'd like to say that it would be cool to break 6, but honestly... when am I ever going to run just 1 mile, therefore I'm happy with my time. 

Today called for progressive 1 mile warm up, some drills, then 8 400 repeats  at your designated pace with 60 sec of rest in between. My repeats were supposed to be 90 sec... yowzas. First one I went out too fast which is pretty typical for most- 82 sec. The next few were spot on 90 sec, and naturally the wheels came off and I was averaging more around 94 / 95 sec. 

I haven't been so happy to finish a workout in a LONG time. Thankful I brought my sweat rag. Saucony was there to sample out lighter shoes (they had my beloved mirage 3s), but since you can't get much lighter than the virattas, I just wore them and they did just fine. 

I'm hoping over the next 10 weeks my love for the track will return, but as of right now, I still dread 400s. 

Do you have any favorite track workouts?

"back in the day" i used to love 300 repeats bc it was just enough to sprint it all and not get as winded in 400. I'm pretty sure they would suck now.