Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

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Life on two wheels

The #projectspring agenda item of becoming a biker chick adept cyclist loomed out there a little dauntingly for many months.  I definitely procrastinated that in favor of tackling other items that didn’t intimidate me so much first – I knew it was bad when I redesigned my website completely before commuting to work ONCE.  While it was definitely productive procrastination, it’s taken a while to transition to a life (more) on two wheels.

Feb2-2

Earlier this year, she was the only one riding my bike.

First, I forgave my bike for getting in a crash and making the last 6 miles of Kerrville so difficult and making me feel so horrible on the group ride in February.  This sounds stupid, but I actually resented the actual bike for a while.  I don’t remember exactly what day it was that I let it go, but I held that resentment for months.  Getting evilbike fixed was the final mend of this rift, it never felt right after the crash and sure enough, some ball bearings were missing.  Bicycle Sport Shop worked their magic and evilbike is as good (evil?) as new.

Second, I started tooling around the neighborhood on my cruiser.  No plan, no pace goals, no garmin, no clipless pedals, just enjoying getting a little activity and being outside.  5 miles here, 3 miles there, nothing earth shattering, just the act of riding a bike again without being scared or angry or frustrated at it was healing.

Then, and this is important, I ACTUALLY LEARNED HOW TO RIDE A BIKE WITH CLIPLESS PEDALS THE RIGHT WAY.  Yes, I’m shouting this.  I cannot believe I spent 4 years without somehow figuring this out, or having someone I was riding with correct what I was doing.

What you’re supposed to do – unclip one pedal while riding, and while still barely in motion, shift your weight over to stand on the unclipped leg.

June6-1

This guy is doin’ it right.  Credit HERE.

What I was trying to do – unclip one pedal while almost stopped, and then keeping my crotch over the seat, somehow force my bike to shift to the unclipped leg (while the motion of unclipping actually sort of makes you want to go the other way at a standstill).

What I ended up doing after falling a few times – unclipping both feet wayyyy before I stopped and keeping my crotch over the seat, so which ever way I landed would be fine.  Which looked a lot like this…

June6-2

Stolen from somewhere on Pintrest….oops.

Once I learned this and practiced it a lot (like, spent 20 minutes riding around my block, unclipping at EVERY stop sign), and it felt decently natural, we started riding in traffic.  Oddly enough, most of the fear I had was with the clipless pedals, and not the actual act of cycling.  When I felt in control of that motion, the act of cycling went from something that always held a little/lot of fear for me to something that was super enjoyable.  It was like a huge load being lifted off my shoulders.

While I’ll still maintain that going out to a country road with ~4 stops for a 40 mile ride (vs 4 stops for a 4 mile ride AT BEST around our neighborhood) is much better, I can’t do that every day.  Now, I can easily do recovery rides or rides with short intervals starting from my house, the gym, work, or actually anywhere.

May23-1

One thing that has ALWAYS bothered me is that 90% of the places I go on a daily basis are definitely within cycling distance.  My job is 3 miles away from where I live, my gym is 1 mile away from work, and that’s the majority of my driving each week.  The grocery, bars, restaurants, other stores that I frequent are also within cycling distance.  However, the problems have always been a) being scared of riding in traffic, b) worrying about cycling back home after eating/drinking, and c) not having a way to transport shit for errands.

I decided that we needed to figure out  b) and c) now that a) wasn’t really a thing anymore.  Two weeks ago, I decided we were cycling to lunch.  A little string backpack worked just fine to carry the few things I needed that didn’t fit in my short pockets, and cycling home on a full belly was just a little slower.   Then, we got an invite to a brewery that was just a few miles away, and decided to ride there as well.  The rule of thumb seems to be on par with driving a car safely – a few beers over a few hours?  Fine.  Especially when home was downhill!

May31-3

After that test run, we decided to take the next step and commute to work.  Doing things in the morning is not always my strong suit, but it just took getting on the bike and going… and realizing that it takes me only 10-ish more minutes to ride to work than drive.  NBD.  To bring everything I needed with me, I stuffed my little string backpack to the gills, but it was fine.  The absolutely amazing mood enhancer of getting in about 20-25 mins of cycling and fresh air before work made me so friggin’ happy at work.  Totally worth it.

It was so great, we decided to do it again that week, with a PM trip to the gym in the mix.  Zliten wore his giant backpack, and said it wasn’t bad, but wanted a better solution.  Also, I’m pretty sure that any time there’s an excuse to buy new gear, he’s going to take the opportunity.  That’s just how it goes.

Last week, we bike commuted once, and found out about the dark side of cycling to work… unexpected rain.  In the morning, it looked like it was going to be clear for us, and then, it POURED all afternoon.  We had to hole up at work for a few extra minutes while it cleared up, and then race home before the next storm hit, getting extremely wet from puddles.  The backup plan was to take the bus if we couldn’t find a decent 20 mins to get home, and I’m sure we’ll have to enact that plan someday, but so far, we’re 3 for 3 on successful commutes in 2 weeks.

June6-3

Saturday was my first test on evilbike riding out of my comfort zone – from the gym with more than just Zliten on busy streets where I’d never been before.  The choice to getting anywhere from there is crossing a freeway overpass, or riding on a very busy road.  Not optimal.  However, our friend Matt showed us a great little bike path that takes the rest of the ride from looking super sketchy to actually quite perfectly the way to get home from the gym.  We wound our way down to our normal neighborhood route, stopped for a pizza and beer lunch break, and started back to the gym (where our Xterra was).

Then, the rain just DUMPED on us.  The first time it was hilarious, the second time, there was so much water my contact flipped out.  We called it and rode the half mile back to our house, and we were going to drive Matt and his bike home in the Prius… and then we realized both of our sets of keys were at the gym in the Xterra.  D’oh!  Only two bikes fit in the back, so I let them go and changed into dry clothes and did the Oiselle Dozen and some chores in lieu of the extra 5 miles.

June6-4

Yesterday was our first test of really being able to live on two wheels… brunch and grocery shopping.  We cycled down to a taco place and fueled up first, and then hit the grocery store with a fairly normal sized list.  Luckily, everything totally fit in our new bike bag and basket.  We probably could have squeezed a little more in if we had to, but let me tell you, 6-8 mph was about the top of my comfort zone on the way back uphill fully loaded.  It was just fine for a nice afternoon 2.5 mile ride where pace didn’t matter at all.

Two things I have left on the “be a biker chick” list:

  1. Go on group rides.  I’m planning to do my first Parmer brick with the team this week (third attempt – first one we bailed, second, it got rained out).  After that gets comfortable (and I get a little fitter), I’d like to do some recovery rides and eventually some of the longer stuff with the cycle group.
  2. Get a tri bike.  I should be just ecstatic at doing this one, but I think I still feel lost about what to get and maybe subconsciously like I still don’t deserve one somehow.  Step #1 is going to be renting one for the race in 2 weeks.  I’m hoping that’s an amazing experience and will make me want to find my forever TT bike like, yesterday.

#projectspring is still definitely in effect, so I still have time to conquer these last two, and get better at the rest.

The Long Slow Climb Back

Finally feeling a little bit of peace (so far) this week.

May31-7

Clearing your head with an hour walk when it looks like this?  Peaceful…

First of all, I feel like I can pretty much claim I’m back where I started a year ago with the adventures in nutrition.   I kinda forgot that new scale weighs heavier than old scale, so my weight right now being 183-187 means on the old scale, I’m about 181-185 (confirmed by stepping on the old scale a few times).  Average of 183.  That’s where I raced at for the beginning of tri season 2015, my average weight at the beginning of June was 182.6.  Taking stock of how I feel in my own skin… yep.  About there.  Finally!

The next step will be tackling the 5 lbs I lost last summer, between June and August, before I started training for Kerrville.  I will breathe easier once that’s behind me, I’ll have undone all the damage that crazy nutrition plan did and as my weight lowers, I’ll look at as actual progress, not just fixing a stupid mistake.  I know it might be healthier to look at ALL of this as progress, but I just can’t.  Gaining so much weight so quickly put me in a mental tailspin, and I just want it gone so I can move on.

May31-2

Achievement unlocked: having the bike handling skills to actually take a picture while riding.  Still quite don’t have the on-the-bike selfies down though…

At this point, I am definitely ready mentally, physically, and logistically to start the long slow climb back to being a triathlete.

Mentally, I think I’m unbroken.  Triathlon videos make me giddy.  I’m resisting the urge (but it’s tough) to start laying out a plan yet because I want to give myself the freedom not to stress about hitting specific workouts for another month at least.  I’m excited to bike, do weights, swim, and run (and that’s about the order of what I’m loving right now).

Physically, I feel weak and strong at the same time.  Let’s be honest, even if my mental game wasn’t in the crapper after the marathon, I needed at least 6-8 weeks of chilling the fuck out to heal that hip issue.  It’s nice not to limp anymore.  My cycling muscles are definitely not at peak or anything, but I feel capable.  I definitely feel more solid and stable overall with the weights sessions.  The swim feels a little slow and crappy but I *KNOW* that comes back quick with regular training.

The run, though.  I can’t remember feeling this out of run shape in a long time.  Yeah, it was feels like somewhere between 90-100 degrees.  Yeah, it was after the longest bike ride I’ve done in a while with some actual hard work intervals.  However, I’ve never ridden such a struggle bus to complete 2 measly running miles at 10:15/mile pace.  This will be a fun and interesting long, hard, slow climb back.

Logistically – I’m finding that logging zero official training hours leads to a greater than zero number of adult beverages being consumed most nights.   Last week, I logged 52 miles/6.5 hours of legitimate run, bike (mostly), swim, or weights time (including commuting on the cruiser bike).  This is more than I intended to do, but it all felt fun, and my body feels like it’s holding together, so we’ll roll with it.  Last week, I also had zero days of being dumb and getting 4 hours of sleep because ONE MORE DRINK.  Coincidence?  I think not.

This week, actually, this month, the goal is the same.  Log some triathlete hours with a very loose plan.  Two weights sessions.  Riding evilbike at least once, and lots of bike miles.  A few runs between 1-3 miles (once this feels easier, I’ll start increasing the distance but I am in NO HURRY since the next race I’ll need to run more than 3 miles is the end of September :P).

May31-1

Bikes = smiles.

Speaking of bikes, one big component to #projectspring was to become a biker chick.  Reading over that post, I just had ZERO clue how hard the bike bug was going to hit me and I love it.

Tuesday, we did our first commute to work and HOLY CRAP, cycling outside in the morning puts me in such a better mood than driving a car.  It’s about 20-25 mins on the bike vs about 10 in the car, so it’s rarely going to be a huge issue to take an extra 10-ish minutes each way.  I get to spend time outside both in the morning, after work, and even at lunch if we decide to do so.

I’ve really realized that there is very little of my life that cannot be on two wheels now, and it’s the best.

Tuesday, we commuted to work and back and it made me so happy all day.  Thursday, we rode to dinner.  I think it took less time to ride there than drive because of the traffic.  Blew my mind… why have I been driving across the street to get food?

Friday, we almost called off the commute because we had a swim planned after work and errands to run at lunch, but after some logistical considerations, we figured out how to make it work.  It wasn’t the most comfortable, but I had my little backpack stuffed to the gills, and Zliten wore his giant one to haul our gear.  We rode to work, to the bike shop and Whole Paycheck at lunch and made it back to work in an hour, to the gym after work to swim and run, and then home.  We racked up over 17 miles that day just bopping around town.

May31-3

Check out that sweet drink holder!

This weekend, Zliten got his bike set up with some saddlebags (thank you REI sale!), and after some fails and shenanigans to get the equipment work on such and old bike, he made it work.  Today’s commute went pretty solidly, and we’ll be hitting the gym again for some weights after work and testing out the saddlebag capacity by hitting the grocery store after work.  I’m looking forward to being able to commute a few days a week and being able to run most errands on two wheels!

In other productive areas, the Personal Training certification course is going rather well!  We’ve been dedicating about 2 hours every few days to reading, watching the videos, and taking the quizzes, and we’re on schedule to complete it in 2 months total (we have 3).  The first section as all about anatomy and physiology, and it’s been a mix of high school biology and stuff I’ve studied online regarding endurance sports training, so for the most part, it’s gone pretty quickly and easily for me.

That’s not to say that I’m not learning anything new (I am), and some things are just clicking into place.  Studying the way the systems that cause muscles to move makes a whole lot of sense why I feel the way I do in the first few minutes of starting a cardio session.  And why I actually have to sit on my ass for 2 whole minutes in between heavy, heavy weight sets – there are actual physiological reasons for that beyond just annoying me that I can’t finish my workout faster.

It’s also fun to dream about practical applications, about what we might do with all these knowledge nuggets in real life.  It’s really convenient doing the studying with Zliten, and we make time to do it like we were playing a game, or watching TV, and we’ll often spend time discussing it after.  I was worried that it would be a huge imposition into my free time to take a class, but it’s actually not that bad… rather enjoyable, honestly!  I’m already thinking about what I’d like to do next…

Other tidbits:

May31-4

Look at my new sunglasses!

I went to the dentist.  He called my teeth boring.  I’m perfectly happy to have boring teeth.  Also, my resting pulse went up from 42 last time to 47 this time.  Probably time to start training again! 🙂

May31-5

I missed this place….

Hawaiian Falls, the waterpark (henceforth known as wah-pah), opened Saturday.  We were too busy playing bikes and (not playing because play hurts less) running to get there at opening, but we hit all 6 of the slides (minus the ball buster one) and took a trip in the lazy river.

May31-6

Voluntelfie?

We volunteered for the Cap Tex Tri on Sunday morning.  The day started at packet pickup, but they were really low on bike check in people so we headed down there instead.  It was honestly way more fun, I’ll probably sign up for that in the future unless it’s expected to be 1000000 degrees.  Sadly, it was all for naught because the weather yesterday morning turned the race into a 5k/10k run only.  It’s had weather issues the last few years.  It’s haunted.

Then, we went to a friends’ Memorial Day party and played volleyball in the pool… with a real volleyball.  As per normal, I jammed a finger diving for the ball… I’ll live, though.  Then later, we played beer pong with the neighbors and Zliten and I ALMOST won.  I also realized that I’m 37 going on 22 and that’s just fine with me.

I got up on Monday (late) morning and it was too pretty to stay inside (see picture above with the pretty wispy clouds).  I took the long way (about 2 miles total) and walked to the Chinese takeout place near my house and brought it home.  Just like bike commuting, I have NO IDEA why I’ve never done that before.  While I shouldn’t be greedy that I have ANYTHING within walking distance, I sometimes wish there was more around without crossing the main street, but I can make it work.

So, because goals are fun, what’s on tap for this week?

  • Keep doing all the things.
    • 1000 calories, water, vitamins, vegetables and fruits…
    • Staying on top of the class schedule
    • Maintaining a schedule in which I have some triathlete hours
    • Maintaining a schedule in which I get decent (7) to great (8+) sleep every night and I don’t have beer, wine, or liquor more days than I do.
  • Day to day stuff.
    • Bike commute today
    • Go to our first BRICK workout with the BSS team (and hope not to get too, too dropped by all the people who are fit for tri season) weather pending tomorrow.
    • Gaming Thursday.
    • Moar bike commuting Friday (weather pending, looks clear right now).
    • Swim challenge Saturday – I know I can do it, but right now, 2250m sounds like a LONG swim.  We plan to bike there and back or load up the bikes and ride somewhere pretty after.
    • Wah pah this weekend at some point.
    • Profit.

Time to get on with my Tues-monday.  Hey, at least it’s a short week, and if the weather cooperates, I won’t even have to wait until the weekend to #goplayoutside.

The show must go on…

This is my motto this year week.  I’ve given myself time to throw a pity party about everything, and now it’s time to put on my big girl panties and move on.  Drinking more days than not over the last two weeks finally made me crash HARD yesterday (woke up at 10:30, took a nap from 1-3, took another from 5-6:30, and was asleep by 11).  I still felt tired this morning.  It’s time to start doing good shit for myself.

May23-2

The last couple weeks have been kinda like this – the awesome healthy veggie/hummus/turkey sandwich, but also the fries.  And the not-pictured beers later.

#projectraceweight took a back seat the last two weeks.  I don’t think I’ve gained anything, but losses have been minimal if any, and I haven’t been tracking my calories.  I didn’t hit the gym for about a week.  While my consumption post-cruise has not been reprehensibly bad, I’ve been forgetting things like water, vitamins, veggies, and some things have been fried or slathered in BBQ sauce or covered in cheese.

However, there’s no day like today to start again.  This week, I’m hoping to remember what it was like to be at least a recreational triathlete.  I’m ready to turn it up a notch, though that notch is from 2 to 3, not to 11 or anything.  I need to start tracking my intake again, it’s the only way I make progress.  I’m also ready to go to bed at a reasonable hour and stop pretending I’m in college again.

So, here’s where I’d like to reset with next week’s goals.

  • Go back to doing the things that were working.  Water, vitamins, veggies/fruits, tracking calories, 10k steps.
  • Gently start a schedule again.  I’d like to hit somewhere between 3-5 hours of things a triathlete would actually do (run, bike, swim, weights) on top of otherwise being active.
  • I also want to start getting up and doing some of it in the morning.  My schedule has definitely shifted to bedtime at midnight or later most nights.  I’d like to start thinking of 7:30-ish as a reasonable time to get up, not the middle of the night, so I can do a little cardio or weights before work and still get there at a decent hour.
  • Bike commute once.  This is the week it happens.  I practiced over the weekend and I really enjoyed using my bike as transportation.
  • Go play outside as much as possible.  It’s been really nice outside but I’ve been staying up too late and been too bleh to really enjoy it this week.  Next week, it’s on.  Also – WAH PAHHHH!  I’ll be at the waterpark when it opens at 10am on Saturday.
  • Volunteer for Packet Pickup for Cap Tex the day before (Sunday).  Not doing the 5am wakeup call this time. Maybe even ride bikes there if we’re feeling saucy, perhaps?
  • Stay on the 60 day schedule completion for my Personal Training class.  I have 90 days to do it but I’d like to be done in 60.

So far, I got up early enough to get a quick run in before work, and I plan to hit the gym for weights after work before we stock up on groceries, so it’s off to a good start!

Here’s a few other things that have happened in my life the last two weeks besides vacation, work crap, and vodka…

Short Hair Kinda Care

May23-3

Recursive me is recursive.

It freaked me the fuck out the day I got it cut.  It’s the shortest it’s been in my adult life.  I think it may have been the way it was styled or just the huge difference in length, there may have been a bottle or wine that night instead of the gym to cope.  But a few weeks later?  I love it and wish someone would have tied me down to a stylist’s chair earlier.  The jury is out on whether it’s going to be great for training because it just sort of almost doesn’t go back (if I really need it out of my face it takes a clip and multiple Rey ponytails).  However, I love that I can wash my hair in the morning before work, and it is mostly air dried before I can finish my coffee.

SUP Paddleboard Yoga

2016-04-20 18.46.39

It’s hard enough to just do this… right?

I like to paddleboard.  I like to yoga.  I’m not particularly good at either, but I figured, why not try both at the same time?  I suppose it’s the same logic as triathlon (why not suck at 3 sports at the same time?).  At first it felt super awkward, but then I realized something – while some of the things I lack (strength, flexibility, balance, etc) kept me from succeeding at every pose, I tried it all.  I found that I could get up into a backbend on a paddleboard.  I got up into a headstand for about .2 seconds.  I also fell in the lake three times and slipped on my board a bit as well.

One of the girls gave me huge props when she found out it was my first class.  She said that she was scared of falling off.  I told her I figured that I had been in the lake all morning, so that didn’t bother me.  I guess sometimes it’s just about not letting the fear of failing falling keep you from trying something fun.

Bike Adventures

May23-1

Not all bike rides need spandex and garmins.

I’ve come to love my bike more lately, but one thing I really wanted to get into this Spring is using my bike as transportation.  This weekend, we finally did that.  We took a 5 mile ride on the cruisers down to a new lunch spot (and then back a little more slowly with full bellies).  Then, we got a call that some friends were hanging out at a brewery 3 miles away, and we biked there and back as well (about 16 miles in total).  It felt very Austin.

I will start riding my bike more.  I really enjoy it.  I didn’t even mind traffic *that* much, especially on the no-clips cruiser.  We’ll see how rush hour traffic makes me feel but I’m ready to give it a try!

And with that, I’m off to make the most of my week, the show must go on, y’know.

 

Someone has to keep track of it

I realize half the time when I try to recall my week, I have to look back to instagram, dailymile, twitter, and facebook.  Some people are scared to have their personal life all over the internet.  In my opinion, someone has to help me keep track of it, I’m thankful for social media and my (sometimes over?) sharing.

Anyhoo, this week I did quite a few things I’m super proud of!

may2-5

Go team tri!  Some day we’ll all be racing together at the same time…

While I had ulterior motives (getting credit in the Texas Tri series), the important thing to remember is that we got our asses up at 5am to be at transition OPENING and body marked athletes and then handed out water and gatorade at the transition aid station.  Body marking was super fun, and I’d do it again, but it was 2 squats per person to get the numbers on the front and back of their legs, so I did about eleventy billion bodyweight squats that morning.  Maybe I should count 3 weights workouts last week?

May2-1

Little boxes, on the vanity, little boxes, from Ikea…

I *finally* finished the bedroom vanity project (last night around 10).  That was tough, y’all!  While I will admit that I could probably use one more clean out of the actual drawers, I’ll call this a win.  Everything now has a place, and there’s an intentional place for everything.  I sort of wish I had a before picture, but I’m kind of glad I don’t.  The whole clean space on the floor between the drawers was full of crap, there was very little clear counter space, and crap was shoved in the shelves every which way.  Also, I have a jewelry problem.  Two weekends and about 100$ at ikea/homegoods later?  Voila!  Organization!

This stuff both makes me happy and pisses me off at the same time.  I am looking forward to getting more rooms tackled, and also to when I start training and I stop giving a shit about what my house looks like again for a while.

may2-2

Just a few moments away from topping over…

I’m sure it sounds weird to say I’m proud I went to the bar, but I realized it had been at least four months since I’ve been to a social drinking establishment (not a place where I got food and a drink, but an actual bar).  After work and gaming at work, we headed a few feet over to the new Kung Fu Saloon for a drink.  They have giant size patio jenga!  We ended up meeting two other couples and playing against them and won both times.  The first time, the tower got almost double the height it started!  It was super fun to be social like that, but it’s definitely not quite my scene anymore.  Can I say it’s just a change of taste, and not me becoming a geezer?

May2-3

Texas is pretty (as seen on the disc golf course).

Saturday, I finally had my first run that I wanted to keep going, since… I don’t know when.  Sometime last year perhaps?  This is a good sign that my brain is continuing to unbreak.  I’m not in ANY fucking hurry to do 15+ mile runs any time soon, but Saturday, I only had time to do 2 miles and I think I would have been up for about 5-6.

I’d sum up last week’s “training” as very little formal stuff, but lots of activity.  The actual, trackable stuff went like this:

  • 2 mile easy run
  • 5.6 mile neighborhood bike (clip practice), 2 mile bike (on the cruiser)
  • 2 great heavy weights sessions

…and, that’s it.  Well, including the fact that I had two 11k, three 13k, one 14k, and one almost 20k day – including Frisbee Golf and triathlon volunteer work.  At some point, I probably need to start doing more official stuff.  I’m just not ready to force anything yet.  If I want to burn my calories by taking 3-4 walks a day, so be it.  I’m especially not starting that yet.   But soon.  We miss our endorphins.

may2-4

When ordering korean bbq tacos don’t forget the kimchi.  I made that mistake.  Never again, they were so much better with it!

In terms of food consumption and all that, I was really good last week.  According to fitbit, I ended up averaging just about -1000 per day, which actually equates to the 2 lbs I lost.  It’s really nice when it all makes sense and you actually get results out of hard work.

My activity level right now is PERFECT for losing weight.  Walking all the time and easy bike rides do nothing to raise my appetite.  Whereas before 1200 calories was miserable, I’m looking more at 1500-1800 to stay -1000, and it’s amazingly easier to be a person and also lose weight at the same time.

I’ve reintroduced the recommended daily allowance of veggies and fruits, vitamins, and water to my diet as well.  I’d say I was about 5/7 days on the first two, but drank water like a champ.

As for this week, my goals are:

  • Keep up with the water, vitamins, 2 weights sessions per week and 5 freggies a day.  Also, be as good as this week with the calorie counts as I was this week.
  • Get a haircut.   It’s getting crazy scraggly, and soon I’ll be in the water all the time and not want to put up with a mid-back length mop.
  • Finish up the other surfaces in the bedroom (dressers, nightstands).  This should literally take us 20 minutes.  No excuses.
  • It’s grey and cold today, but tomorrow it gets really nice for the rest of the week if weather.com is to be believed.  Get all the chores done today and then go. play. outside.  Fishing, kayaking, s’uping, swimming, biking, running.  Even if it’s just for a little bit if I’m busy or really hungry and wanting dinner when I get off work.

Let’s get it on!

 

If I was a rich girl…

If you’ve been under a rock, you may not have known, but the Powerball lotto is at something like eleventy billion (almost not an exaggeration) dollars.  Now, it’s very likely that one of our two tickets are not going to hit the big one, but it’s fun to dream.

It’s hard to know what would happen until you have cash in hand, but here’s what I’d like to think I’d do.

Bonaire1-06

I’d probably look like this for the first day after the shock of finding out I won set in…

The first steps:

Do all the typical responsible stuff.  Get a network set up to manage the money and LLC type situation you need to set up to not get fucked.

Most people say try to stay under the radar, but at this point, you’re winning like the biggest Powerball ever.  You won’t be able to keep anonymous.  My solution would be to set up a contest where the top 5 people of our choosing get something like 1 million dollar grant to pursue their dreams.  Hopefully, people will be more concerned with coming up with a cool plan than begging and if people ask for money, direct them there.

may12-1

I think the jig would be up…

The celebration:

Give my parents/in laws a chunk of money.  Let them decide how they want to distribute to their families (or however Zliten wants to handle that with his side).

I would invite my closest friends to have a REALLY FUCKING FANCY meal and buy everyone a present, regardless the cost, just the coolest thing that screamed… them.

Have a KILLER party for my extended group of friends and acquaintances.

I’d probably make some time to go visit family and friends we never get a chance to see that live far away.

The splurges:

Hire a driver service.  I never want to drive again if I don’t have to.  Money, make it happen.

I would probably change my cleaning service to weekly from every two weeks. 🙂

I would pay someone to organize and remodel my house while I am somewhere else and don’t have to deal with it.  I’m looking for one of those HGTV type situations… but I’ll fund it myself.  I like my neighborhood and my house and I actually don’t need all the space I have now so I definitely don’t need a bigger mansion, but I’d like it to be shiny inside.

I’m buying a damn new tri bike, whichever one fits me best and feels awesome, no matter the cost.

The short term:

I love what I do.  I just don’t love the fact that I have to go to work everyday and have set office hours and can’t leave Austin in the winter when the air is trying to kill me and can’t drop everything and go to Aruba right now just because I feel like it.  I’d like to phase myself out slowly because I do actually care what happens to the projects I work on and I’d like to make sure they’re taken care of.  I’d like to stay on as a minimum wage consultant for a while until I made sure that that everything was in good hands.

Once I have severed ties with work enough that I don’t have to be in daily, the travel starts.  I have so many places I’d like to visit, I can’t even begin to name them.  My ultimate goal would be to pick my top 10 (or whatever) places I’d want to frequent and buy vacation property there, and maybe even a private jet if it made financial sense, but I wouldn’t be in a huge hurry.

Nov13-4

Living here for a while might be cool though…

The long term:

After taking some time to travel and recharge, it’s time to answer the 1.5 billion dollar question -what would I do with my life if money was no object?

We’ve had some ideas like running a half marathon a week in every state during the course of a year for charity, starting a travel/vacation/diving blog with travel porn pictures and adventures, spinning up a game company (but in the long term, when I’m ready to seriously go back to work), or a billion other things I can’t even think of yet.  But it would be nice to not have the pressure of making an income right away (or, ever) and just pursuing what sounds like I could contribute to the world.

I’d also like to figure out some charities to be passionate about and donating money.  I’m kind of a rebel without a cause right now.  It’s like the episode in Sports Night when Casey can’t figure out which charity to give to because there are so many… that’s where I’m at right now.  Having enough $$ to fully fund a research initiative of my choosing?  That might help, rather than just tossing 100$ at some cause.

And of course, continuing to train and race!  Being that I wouldn’t have limitations like cost or time off work being a factor, I could race all over the world just for fun!  I honestly am not sure whether I’d train and race MORE or LESS – I’d have more time but I also could pursue other hobbies like diving more… it might ebb and flow. 🙂

Do you buy lotto tickets?  What would you do if you won?

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