Earning My Stripes... or T-shirt.

Two blog posts in one week?!? What is this madness? I couldn’t resist though. I had such a fantastic day today that I just had to tell the world. Or the ten people that actually read this. Either way, I just have to share.

A) I finished my 150 miles!! I ran the last two this morning at 6:30 AM. I am now officially an intramural champion. And I have the t-shirt to prove it.

Champion!!

B) I received a scholarship today from Moss Adams. My fellow Junior Core peers were asked to nominate 20 students to receive these scholarships, and I was one of those. I am so incredibly grateful to everyone who thought I deserved one. Seriously, it means a lot to me, and it really helps me out.

C) So I entered a photo contest held by the Kennedy Center (the international studies center) for all study abroad students from the past year, and one of my photos was selected as a winner!! And today the photo was hung for display. So if you’re in the area, stop by the Kennedy Center and look in the southwest hallway for this photo:

Here's the original.

Such a good day, right? Thanks for letting me celebrate a little!

Male Models

I figured it’s about time for some updates, especially after the holiday weekend. Ok, so maybe that was a week ago, but I still think I’m pretty on top of things. I mean, last week was just brutal. Every day was packed full. I guess that’s my own fault since I signed up for a bunch of training classes and committed to several activities. So no, I was not doing only school stuff the entire week. I know you guys think I’m pretty nerdy already (I probably talk about accounting way too much on here, but the core kinda consumes your life), but I do still know how to have fun. Promise.

I’m sure you’re dying to know what this post is all about. I’m guessing that you’re expecting to see some male models and you are spot on. I spent my holiday Monday up at Park City with some wonderful guys. Seriously, some of THE nicest guys I know. They’re all roommates and super tight, practically brothers. They were looking for a photographer to do some “family” photos, and when they heard I’m into that sort of thing, they enlisted my help. And who could say no to such handsome men? Ok, the waiting is over. Say hello to these fine gentlemen. Disclaimer: there is a little skin! ;) 

Now don’t tell me you didn’t start cracking up! Besides being the nicest, they’re also some of the funniest. If you’d like to see the rest of their shoot, click here (yes, there are a few more speedo pictures).

Well, it’s that time of the semester. Midterm week is next week, so if I drop off the face of the planet don’t be alarmed. Oh, I also thought I’d report on my mileage. As of today, I’ve run 46 miles this semester. I’m almost a third of the way there!  Starting back up was tough, but I’m getting back in the groove and I can feel myself improving. It’s awesome. If you’re at all interested in picking up running, set a medium-term mileage goal. You’ll be amazed at what you can do.

Mr. and Mrs. Howard

Remember a couple posts back when I said I would post pictures from my most recent photography excursion? Well, maybe you don’t, but I certainly do. Sometimes I think I remember too much. Anyway, promised post is here. Feel free to “Oooo” and “Aaahh.” They are quite lovely. Thanks, David and Jessica, for letting me be a part of your special day.

Want to see more of this beautiful couple? You can see their full album here: Flickr. I’m also still in the process of editing some of their reception photos, so keep checking back.

Now, I’m not finished yet! There are still some other things I want to say. A new semester is here, which means new opportunities for mischief. And it promises to be busier than ever, which is good, because it keeps me from thinking about how much I want to leave already. I am less than thrilled to still be in Provo. Don’t get me wrong, I like BYU, and I’m super grateful for the AMAZING education I’m getting. But I won’t be sad when it comes time to leave. I promise that is the extent of my complaining.

On a happier note, I am officially half way finished with my college education. How’s that for optimism? And that’s one of my New Years’ resolutions: be more optimistic. Others include finally getting that model body, buying my entire Pinterest wardrobe, and zorbing (if you don’t know what that is, click here). Ok, more realistically, my goal this semester is to run 150 miles by the end of it. That works out to about ten miles a week. Totally doable. I bet I’ll even finish early. And now that I’ve told the world, I have to follow through. I trust you to keep me motivated.

13.1

If you had told me a year ago that within the next year I would run a half marathon, I definitely would have laughed at you. I could barely run a mile! I must give credit to Miss Carrie Cook (aka Carrie Cool) for being my inspiration. She ran her first half back in the spring, and it was then that I decided a half marathon was on my bucket list. Now I figured it would be a couple years before I got around to it. But lo and behold, I was talked into the Halloween Half – just five months away. I started training right after I got back from Europe. I printed a nice little training schedule, with short runs or cross training four times a week, long runs on the weekends, and two rest days. I’m proud to say that for the most part, I followed it pretty closely. I have to thank Susie for whipping me back into shape after two months of delicious Spanish food, and for suggesting that real running shoes might help my knee problems. They did.

Training became slightly more difficult once I got back to school, but I kept to my schedule as best I could and ended up running 13 miles at one point (but not 13.1. I was saving that for race day). I’ve found that once I get past four miles, I can just go. I don’t know what it is about the first four, but they’re tough. My four milers were always the hardest.

Race day – October 29 (Happy Birthday Uncle Ken!) – came bright and early. I was up at 6:00, ready to go. My momma (so glad she could be there!) dropped me up at the starting line, where they had a huge tent for all 3000ish racers. We were way up above Sundance, and it was FREEZING. I think it was 26 degrees when the race started. Luckily, all the body heat kept everyone warm. The race started at 9:00, but we had two heats, so I started around 9:20. In the meantime there was a costume contest – this is the Halloween Half after all. I wasn’t too extravagant. I just wore all my clothes inside out and backwards. My shorts looked pretty funny though. They have the built in undies, so it looked like I was wearing a diaper when I put them on inside out. I got a good laugh out of it.

Like I said, I was off at 9:20 down the canyon. By mile nine, my feet and knees were starting to ache, but I just kept going. There was nothing else to do but keep putting one foot in front of the other. As cheesy as that sounds, that really was my thought process. My initial goal was to finish under 2:45:00, since that’s how fast I ran that 13 miles I mentioned earlier. I finished in 2:23:01. Yeah, baby! What a great feeling. I smoked it.

You can bet I loaded up on the protein afterward, yet I was still more sore than I’ve ever been. Come Monday, I could barely walk down the stairs (and of course I live on the third floor). I was hobbling around like an eighty-year-old. But I kinda like that super sore feeling. It makes me feel like I made it through something super tough, which I guess I did. I’d like to give a shout out to all my friends and family who encouraged me through this process, especially my parents who were both there to see me finish. I really couldn’t have done it without you.

Is a full marathon in my future? I can’t quite say yet. I’m not sure I’m physically capable of doing that. But a year ago I thought I couldn’t possibly run a half either, so I guess you never know. I’ll probably keep doing halves every now and then. It’s brutal, but the feeling of accomplishment afterward is so worth it.

I also practically ran 13.1 miles mentally this week. I had four, count ‘em four, midterms. But like last time, I had no class the entire week. It was great. I finished up Thursday morning and enjoyed my nice, long weekend. No more midterms this semester! I can’t believe it’s almost over. Seriously, where the heck have the past two months gone? Is it weird that I’m feeling sad about leaving this semester behind? Yes, yes it is. I’ve just been having so much fun though. I’m crossing my fingers that the next one is just as good, or even better.

Sweat, tears, and victory.

Hallelujah! I made it through my first week of accounting exams! It only took me nine hours to get there. But, you want to know another reason why accounting is the best major on campus? We get the entire exam week off. That’s right, no classes. All week. So when I finished my last test Thursday morning, my weekend began. And oh how joyous it’s been. Those exams weren’t easy, mind you. It definitely wasn’t your easy-breezy Accounting 200 test. But I feel like I did the best I could. I think I held my own. I’ll know for sure in about a week.

And now I’m free to go watch Conference this weekend. We are so blessed to have prophets on the earth today, and I can’t wait to hear what they have to say. By the way, ladies, I hope all of you were able to listen to President Uchtdorf’s talk from the Relief Society Broadcast last Saturday. AMAAAAAAAZING. The love and the Spirit that filled the room were indescribable. The power in his words was breathtaking. If you missed it, you can watch it right here. How handy!

P.S. I ran 13 miles this morning. And now I can barely walk, but that’s okay! No pain, no gain, right?