Baby Steps...all 2.5 miles worth

I hate to run.  I'm slow.  There's just no other way to explain it.  That's what I keep telling myself.

First day of softball tryouts during my freshman year of high school, Coach calls us into a huddle at the track and says "Go.  Run.  1 mile.  I'm timing you."  I had never run more than a lap around the bases, or "Poles," from one foul pole to the other, if we had an exceptionally bad game.  Certainly nothing that even resembled a mile.  My time was somewhere in the 11 minute range.  Afterwards she told us to stretch out and we were dismissed until the following day.  I started walking along the side of the football field back up to the main building when my legs cramped up and I collapsed near the boy's batting cages.  One of the boy's coaches (who also happened to be one of my best friend's older brother) came over to work the cramps out of my legs.

I didn't make the team that year.

And I certainly didn't run another mile, not until 3.5 years ago.  I was enjoying $1 Margaritas at one of our local watering holes with some friends and we were reminiscing about the days of college--walking around campus during the days, dancing in the bars at night.  We were all thin.  Now we had settled into desk jobs and the pounds were threatening.   I started talking with a friend of mine and we decided that since we lived in the same neighborhood, we would start running together.  Three months later we ran our first 5K.  A few months after that, we started dating, and a few months after that we stopped running altogether.  There come spurts when we decide to run, but it's always short lived on my part.  I keep saying that I hate to run.  I'm not a runner.  (But I was logging nearly 15 miles a week during our running peak.)

Part of the purpose of this year is to do things that I have avoided--for fear or for convenience.  I paid my entry fee into the Cajun Cup, a local 10K race on November 13.  I looked up 10K training schedules and planned the next 10 weeks accordingly.  And tonight I strapped on my running shoes and ran 2.5 miles.  Slowly.  But without stopping.  And I said I wasn't a runner.

...but I won't do that!

My boyfriend turned 30 a few months ago.  When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he paused before answering.  His response?  He said that there was nothing material that he really wanted, but he had never in his life tried Moonshine.  He wanted to try it before he turned 30.  Luckily, I know the right kind of wrong people and I was able to procure a handle of the Tennessee Mountain Dew.  I picked it up the morning of his birthday celebration and he was able to experience Moonshine 2 days before his 30^th birthday.

Now, why am I talking about my boyfriend’s experience with Moonshine on MY 29-things-to-do blog?  I started thinking about things to add to the list and was laughing at all of the other illegal substances that I would never put in my body.  One that’s not illegal, but will never appear on my to-do list:  Smoke.

Both my parents were smokers.  I say “were” because exactly 10 years and one week ago my father asked me what I wanted for my 19^th birthday.  I had just completed my first year of living away from home for college and had moved back for the summer.  Living away from the smoke and then being surrounded by it again made me realize how much I just didn’t like the smell and what it did to my sinuses.  (I went to a bar last Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning with a nosebleed.  No thank you.)  When Daddy asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told him that I wanted him and Mom to stop smoking, never expecting either to quit.  A few days later, on the Sunday before my 19^th birthday, my Dad quit smoking—cold turkey.  I realized the date yesterday and called him to congratulate him.  CONGRATS DADDY!

My to-do list is slowly growing, but I still need suggestions…

1. Stay awake for 24 hours (Who’s throwing the party?)
2. Change a diaper (Miss Phoebe Z or Mr. Wes M?)
3. Go skydiving (Jumper Attorney where are you?)
4. Eat raw oysters (Bill B volunteered for this one)
5. Watch Scarface, Gone with the Wind, and Sound of Music (due for a movie marathon Saturday with Barry B, Jimmy C, and Rachelle L…I’ll cook!)
6. Drive a 4-Wheeler (Someone invite me camping!)
7. Cook Indonesian food (native Cindy G promises to turn down the spice)
8. Get a massage (SA and Bill B—knock out Oysters and Spa Day in one weekend?  Road trip to NOLA?)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I will turn 30 in 365 days. As I embark upon this last year as a twentysomething, I realize that I could be one of those people who celebrate anniversaries of her twenty-ninth birthday, or I could embrace the start of my thirties with a smile.  Whatever I decide, that’s a whole year away and I plan to make the most of my 29^th year.

1.  Stay up 24 hours straight

2.  Eat raw oysters

3.  Skydive

4.  Change a diaper

5.  Watch Scarface

I’ve got a friend who is doing this project, and while I don’t know if I could come up with one adventure for each week of the year, surely I can come up with one “first” for each year of my life?  In the last few months I’ve realized that there are several “coming of ages” experiences of which I have yet to participate. 

I had my first kiss at 15 and was engaged at 17. (That didn’t work out, btw…thankfully)   I graduated from college at 21 and passed my national licensing exam at 24.  I was 23 the first time I flew on an airplane.   That same year I bought a house.  I started my own LLC at 26 and I was 27 the first (and last) time that I shot a gun. 

I have not, however, ever stayed awake for 24 hours straight, not even throughout design school...though I’ve come close a few times.  My baby-phobia has kept me away from ever changing a diaper, and I always blamed softball for missing out on whole eras of television.  Friends?  Never watched it.  Indiana Jones?  Only a few months ago did a few of us have a marathon movie weekend, but I fell asleep during the 3^rd movie. 

So…here’s my plan:  come up with 29 things that I have never done before and attempt to complete them all this year.  According to my list thus far, I need people to party with all night long, I need to borrow someone’s kid with a dirty diaper (#1 only, please), I’ve got to tandem skydive…Jumper Attorney--I’m talking to you, Gulf Seafood was just deemed safe to eat (I’ll wait until next season for that one, just to be sure), and Scarface has been added to the Netflix queue. 

As far as the other two dozen “firsts” that I need to accomplish in the next year…any suggestions?