Situation: Normal; All F*cked Up.

Bless me dear non-existent readers. It has been over 6 years since my last post

Over the past 6 years, I’ve been tempted to re-vist and reboot this blog. But it never seemed the right time to pour things out. Partly because so much has changed in the last few years, that the previous focus of the blog doesn’t apply as much. Well, in a way it does because I’ve always held the platform that it’s all related - change in your life uses the same principles, and it doesn’t matter where you find the inspiration as long as it helps reinforce the changes you’re making, and also clears the path in front of you.

But the time is right for now, so I’m jumping in.

I won’t rehash the last 6 years, because if I did, we’d be here for days and days, and I don’t have the brain power or memory to go over that… but here’s the highlights:

• Lost a few people that I loved and were very close to, including my dad. Some were lost  to “natural” causes, some because life became too much. 
• I crashed. I burned out. I had a breakdown. Whatever you want to call it, I overdid and my body all but shut down on me. Adrenals, thyroid, hormones - all crashed and went haywire.
• I got a ‘new’ diagnosis to go with my hypothyroidism and chronic fatigue: Fibromyalgia.
• My best friend, followed by my husband got diagnosed before me with Fibromyalgia.
• My husband, after 2 years, was finally approved for SSDI 
• We moved from our town house in the middle of everything, to an older home, out in the middle of nowhere. There’s some good and bad, but it’s also allowed us some peace, quiet, and puppies.
• I had to leave a job I loved of 10+ years, to take a job I hated for a year, to bring me to a job I love for the last 2 years.
• My focus became less on “getting fit” and “losing weight” to just surviving and attempting to heal. Now that I’m at a point of healing inside and out. Now that’s my focus - finding what works for the husband and I, to bring about healing to our physical bodies, our physical spaces, and our emotional lives

I’m sure there’s a whole lot more, and some will be touched upon as we go, but that kind of brings things up to speed.

So... how do I move forward? Well, like many people, I’m using my blog for accountability. If you learn something along the way, that’s awesome, but in general this is my space to blab on about what’s going on with me, what I’m focusing on, and what I’m learning along the way. I realized that the timing to jump back in was right when I started to use one of the FB groups I’m on as my personal blog… Yeah, they are super supportive, but seriously, it’s not my group. LOL!

What now? I have no idea, but I do know that what’s been knocking around my brain is to share what I’m doing to bring about the above mentioned healing. And I’m starting now - in December. Not in January when all the cool kids do it. Because I know that if I wait, it’ll never happen. If I start now, I’ll have some better footing to keep going.

What am I working on? For the last 18-ish months, the hubs and I have been on a declutter kick. I read the Marie Kondo book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I totally drank the Kool-aid and jumped in. It’s the first time in my LIFE that I’ve been able to release my stuff into the wild without a second thought. It has been amazing.

But I’ve floundered. I’ve stopped and started. I didn’t complete some categories. Then life happened and I just stopped. Then life happened that’s forced us to pack up of our belongings for a mass exterminator project in the house. And now we’re forced really cull through what is worth keeping, and what isn’t. Which is where we are now.

I decided that, for the month of December, my goal is to get the house put back together and also established habits that keep the house from spiraling out of control. Also, with the abundance of stuff, I’m working on using up what I have.

So far it’s working.

What’s been helping me on this path are these resources:

• As always, my first “teacher”: www.flylady.net 
• The amazing Laura at https://howtogyst.com/ and her YouTube channel
• Dana at https://www.aslobcomesclean.com/ - I had heard about her along the way, but never really checked her out before. Now, she’s like FlyLady, Laura and my long lost soul sistah wrapped into one.

As I said, I’ll be sharing what I learn, things I’ve done, and other random bits of info, on a schedule that my spoonie brain and time allow. And I will be considering if the blog will stay put, or move to some other platform.

Till then, Monkey on!

I Am a Warrior! (Race recap :)

Now that the dust has settled, and the mud has (mostly) been washed off, time to sit back and reflect on yet another goal that I put a lot of hard work into and achieved.

And all in all... I kinda kicked butt. :)

I know it was my big 'secret' that I sprang on folks shortly before the event, mainly because I had serious doubts that I'd actually carry through with it. Yeah, I'd paid the hefty race fee and had been 'training' for it, but between some stress and health issues and a bit of wavering on other folks part, I hated to make a big deal of something that fell through at the end.

Eh, live and learn... I can worry all I want, but if it's meant to happen, it'll happen... and happen it did... and of course there was learning to be done along the way.

My friend R & I drove up the night before and got a hotel room so we wouldn't have to do the mad scramble drive up at gawd awful early on Saturday morning. Since we were in the 9:30 am wave, we'd have to leave Tucson at 6, but just didn't want to deal with the potential variables that come along with having to travel 90 minutes to the site. The down side is neither of us slept well at all that night. It happens, you're in a strange place, different noises, a wee bit of excitement/anxiety all make it difficult to get a really restful sleep. Still, we're glad we stayed there.

As a bonus it was a Holiday Inn Express and they have breakfast! Normally I wouldn't eat much before hand, but considering the tummy actually grumbled at me, I gave in... There was 2.5 hours before the race so wasn't too worried, and if I'd wanted, I could have fed any sort of carb craving I'd wanted with the spread they had at the hotel - pancakes, cereal, cinnamon rolls, toast, muffins, etc... I opted for some toast with PB, bacon and some less than mediocre eggs.
(I really didn't think it was possible to mess up eggs... but yeah, they did... sooo happy they had lots of salsa, salt & pepper handy!) and got my caffiene fix as well, which was a good carrier for my protein drink.

We got on site, got our packets with the schwag (Cuz really, the only reason to do silly things like this is to get the schwag!

(Redhead Warrior Brigade :)

I have to say that packet pick up was super duper easy - I've only done a few events but this was really well organized. Kudos to them on that!

We checked our stuff in at the "Gear Check" and then... waited... did some people watching and totally loved all the folks that dressed up - it's something that I think is so cool and would love to do, but never come up with an idea in time. *sigh*... anywho, we watched the 9:00 wave take off, cheered them on... then we waited... and waited.

The morning seemed to fly by but the half hour wait between the first wave and ours seemed to take. for. e.v.e.r.!!!

Plus it was super sunny and starting to get a little toasty.

Finally it was time for us to queue up and... wait. Luckily they were committed to starting each wave on time and they were good to their word. At 9:30 on the dot, the horns blared, the flames shot up and we were off! All 500-ish of us.

As happens, there's a slow start, then bottle neck, then the pack starts to break up and give some breathing room.

Now, remember how I'd mentioned I'd been doing lots of training runs and workouts for this? Well, I'd done a bit more work than my friend, and while I had a personal goal to finish the course in under an hour (truth be told I was shooting for less than 45 min.) I was more committed to sticking with R through the whole thing.

We started strong, and R was a good sport at trying to keep up a good jogging pace with some walk breaks thrown in, we just couldn't sustain it past the first mile. It was hot, dry and dusty. After the first obstacle (Jump over a 5' wall, duck under barbed wire fence, repeat 4 times) we ended up walking the rest of the route and found our 'pack' of about 4-6 different folks that were all going the same pace, and we were all cheering each other on - it was awesome.

The 2nd obstacle was big dirt mounds that you sprint up then realize almost too late that it's straight down the other side... almost bit it there but didn't. *whew* Then we were climbing on cars and going through tires. Then 'climbing' down into the ravine... then we hit the couple that I was most leary of - the tall stuff... I have an issue with heights, but here I was faced with at least a 20' pyramid of hay bales to climb up and down - fine and dandy because it's solid, then, *gulp* the cargo net. That gave me some serious nervousness but there wasn't any rush and not a ton of folks around me so I just took my time, took some deep breaths and just did it.

And I DID IT! *WHOO HOO!!*

After that, lots of the obstacles are a blur - was getting really hot and extra dry, and was getting to the point of just getting through it. We hit the water station which was fabu, then plowed on through the rest of the course where I met the 2 obstacles that I just didn't do - one was walking on beams that were set about 8' off the ground... I got part way up the first plank and had a vertigo moment... so I walked around it. The next was a 10-15' wall that you had to do a rope climb up then had foot holds/ladders on the other side. Arms weren't cooperating for that one either, so I walked around it. The awesome thing is that the event worker gave me a high five for trying.

The last two obstacles were the most fun - You jump over 2 fire pits (actual fire! I totally jumped 'em and didn't singe anything important. ::chest bump:: ;) and then you hit the mud pit right before crossing the finish line.

I thought I was home free! I figured it wouldn’t' be so bad... first step, in up to my knees... second step where'sthebottom*bloosh*. I think I got a big applause for embracing the
muddiness, others got harassed if they didn’t get in too deep... I had no choice so I went with it. :)

I had mud in places I'd rather not talk about... for. days! (Arizona has tons of clay, so that mud just doesn't want to let go...)

The bestest part, despite walking it and taking our time with the course, we finished in just under 1 hour according to my watch. I have no idea what my official chip time is yet... hasn't been posted, but I'm proud of our efforts and the fact that I don't feel totally wiped out after doing it.

After getting photos taken (will see about posting the muddiness when those are available) we squished over to get hosed down then collect our Warrior spoils.

Cuz it's about the bling, free beer, and food (ok, had to pay for the food but still).
(notice the super muddy socks that got tossed in the trash shortly afterwards.)

We sat around for a bit to listen to the band before deciding to pack it in and head home.

Luckily we had a change of clothes in the car and did my best beach towel quick change to not get dirt and mud everywhere and stashed the offending garments in the plastic bag. Everything got stashed outside to dry and to deal with later...

And this is the 2nd rinse!

Finally things came clean after a couple more rinses in the tub then the washer. YAY!

But some things just need to stay dirty. :)

All in all a good day was had, and I get to sport a spiffy hat any time I want to remember my accomplishments.





Not to mention some spiffy banged up shins to show off. :)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So you may be sitting there thinking *I* could /never/ do that! But I'm here to tell you that you CAN!! I have to say I was a little surprised that the course in general wasn't as hard as I expected it to be - everything was completely do-able and, as with other events I've done, everyone that participates is very encouraging and helpful.

If you think this is something you might want to do, or you're already signed up, here's a couple of things that will make life easier for you:

1) bring your own water. I brought a camelback type thing and it saved me! There was only 1 water station for the entire course. While it was well run, it was 3.5 miles and hot! My camelback went through the wash just fine and even if it hadn't, it was better than being super dehydrated along the way.

2) bring your extra shoes & socks at a minimum with you and check them at the gear check. You will be sooo happy you did. Our site was doing a collection of shoes for donation after the event, so you can ditch your old, mud caked shoes and feel good about it. Stash some extra water in your bag as well.

3) bring a BIG thing of water for washing off at the car. Yes they have a hose down area, but it can't get everything... and

4) bring a towel. Any good hitchhiking warrior has their own towel. :)

There you have it... now I'm glad that I'm feeling up to pursuing the next latest and greatest goal I have set before me.

To steal a quote: What have you done that makes YOU feel proud?!