Adjusted Reality

Author: Quix Page 71 of 217

Becoming the storm

On June 9, 2016

Monday, something clicked about one mile into the Monterrey Bay (treadmill course) run. Studying the bio-mechanics of the body for Personal Training class made me think about extending my hips. I found that by throwing my legs backward with a little more force to force more extension, I was able to go from 11 minute miles to 9 minute miles with very little extra effort. It was harder on the hills, and I really had to concentrate on it so I didn’t just dangle my legs like I usually do, but it felt good. Powerful. Like the limiter is I need to work on my hamstring strength (totally doable) vs somehow make my lungs not gasp for air sub-10 minute miles with my current form (a lot harder to imagine).

June9-1

If you ride your bike and don’t take a selfie, did you actually ride your bike?

Also, this week, I just feel like I’m ready to fly a little faster. Tuesday, I had some thinking to do and my bike to ride on country roads. Let me tell you – after riding in town for months, being able to ride for 10 miles with two stops was BLISS. I also found an effort, a zenned out thinking pace with legs pumping and breath just on the edge of aerobic, where I was able to generate some decent power and a speed that is decent, dare I say, not completely laughable for a short trip that included the three ~~bitches~~ sisters hills twice.

I’ve seen this quote appearing in my social media feeds a lot lately (I remember it coming from THIS LADY but I’m sure I’ve seen it a few times elsewhere). Sometimes the universe puts in front of you exactly what you need rolling around in your brain.

Storm

I also love this one as grammar… enthusiast?

Your

But that’s not here nor ~~they’re their~~ there.

I’m at that weird place where I’m no longer hiding inside from the rain. I’m not yet one with it, but I’m feeling the rain on my skin and thinking… yeah… I want to go there.

So far, the first quarter of thirty seven is either doing or setting myself up to do things that range from slightly intimidating me to holy-shit-this-is-terrifying stuff. I mean, some of them are little in the grand scheme of things, like riding a bike in traffic or actually digging under the hood and fixing my website without throwing a bunch of money at it, but these are still things I was not willing to tackle even a few months ago because they sounded… hard.

However, there’s bigger stuff. Some things are uncomfortable, like returning to taking classes while being fully employed and also training for races. Some things are scary, like actually taking the time off to heal my body and mind this spring and losing ALL THE FITNESS and then plunking down the money to race 140.6 miles next year. Some things are utterly terrifying, life direction changing, true ventures into the unknown, the kind of thing where even the beginning acts of planning cause both extreme fear and excitement at what could be.

They say every 7 years or so, you go through a big change. I’d say I was a completely different person on my 30th birthday than I was on my 28th. New town, 100+ lbs lighter, new job, new priorities. Unless my crystal ball is completely wrong, I think at age 39, I’ll look back at 37 and go… huh, that was me? Crazy!

I do well with inertia. Once I get the ball rolling, I am pretty great at keeping it in motion. However, I resist change, the start of motion, by digging in my heels and hunkering down where I’m at no matter how bad it is. It can be a boon in endurance sports, but sometimes it’s not so good in life.

fine

For example, the haircut. I knew it was looking really raggedy. My long hair was up in a messy bun about 80% of the time. But it was what I was used to, even if it was ratty and gross, so it stayed until I was practically dragged into the salon chair.

At first the shock of losing about 50% of what was on my head was terrifying. Within a few days though, I loved it and I had no idea why it had taken me so long to take the plunge. It’s different, for sure. It’s harder to put up for workouts, and I cannot go more than two days without washing it or it’s greeeeeasy. However, I can roll directly from wet to looking really good by the time I get my coffee in the morning without doing anything and that is EVERYTHING to me right now.

Such is life. Generally, once I make the leap, I’m so happy I did, but getting myself there is such mental gymnastics. Sometimes it takes the universe (or someone else) smacking you on the head saying “this isn’t fine, as much as you want it to be” and “to resist change and growth means the slow death of your soul”.

A storm is approaching. The air pressure is just different these days. Even if I just try to hunker down, I don’t think I can avoid it, I don’t think you can tell the weather to cease to exist. I can go inside, I can put on a raincoat, I can tolerate the raindrops, but I think the way I really succeed is just to BECOME THE FUCKING STORM. Embrace the things that are terrifying. Hold them tight until we know each others innermost fears and desires. Right now, I need the crazy eyes and the bezerker battle cry. I need to channel all the volatile, relentless, and brutal energy of the tempest to not only allow the crazy into my life, but chase it down and pin it to the ground.

So, watch out sunshine – this storm is coming.

Life on two wheels

By Quix

On June 6, 2016

In Uncategorized

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:

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.
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.

#projectspring update

By Quix

On June 2, 2016

In Uncategorized

It’s been just about exactly 2.5 months since I started this thing, so it’s time to check in. Spoiler alert: I’ve not slacked. I’ve actually made some pretty good progress.

Getting my mojo back:

happy

Happy face. I was just in the water. This is not a coincidence…

Wow, it’s incredible to think how mentally (and physically, but mostly mentally) exhausted I was. And how amazing it is to be a generally happy, positive person that likes being around people and doesn’t just want to sit on the couch and hide all day and sleep forever. I need to remember if I get that way again… I need a break. I may not leaaaaap out of bed every morning, but I’m not dragging myself by the nose through my days anymore. Check and check.

Project race weight:

I’ve discussed this in depth elsewhere. It’s going slower than I’d like, but I am making progress. Since it is going slower, I’m hoping to roll slowly from -1000 to 0 deficit over the first few months of season (knowing it may slightly negatively impact my race times) to get a little residual loss during the summer. I’m realistically going to settle somewhere in the 170s or maybe the high 160s, and that is OK with me. Will I probably do #projectraceweight2017 after IM recovery? Yeah. But I’m just happy to be on the way back down (and hopefully past) last year’s low.

House Projects:

May2-1

This makes me so happy every day that crap isn’t all over the place…

We’ve had a few priority shifts here (probably don’t want to spend ALL THE MONEYS considering), but we’ve made some progress. Of the more time but less money intensive list, we’ve done 2/4 things:

~~Vanity area in the bathroom (DONE!)~~
Workout room (DONE!)

Still on the list are:

Guest room closet
Office

The guest closet will probably just take a few weekend hours. The office is kind of where we’ve been dumping everything that doesn’t belong elsewhere. For many reasons, we need to get it set up, but it will either take a VALIANT weekend effort or picking at it over a few weekends.

On the money intensive list:

Kitchen remodel: we’ve got an estimate and it seems reasonable (also, looks like the work can be done in less than a week). We’ll look to get a few more and then pull the trigger and figure out the logistics. At first, I was mandating that we get it done before season, but I can see dealing with it in EARLY season if it takes that long.

Back patio remodel is on hold. It’s the one thing on the list that’s the least immediately necessary. I’d rather spend the time and money on the kitchen and getting more outdoor gear storage than messing with this right now.

Setting up the workout room as a pain cave is in process – we’re procuring a free computer and just need to snag a cheapish flat screen and mount before we can really get this done. This also goes hand in hand with getting a (locking) shed where we can store most of our camping/outdoor gear, our cruiser bikes, and anything else that we don’t use *that* often to make room.

Biker Chick:

May23-1

I’ve been (ridin’) everywhere, man…

I wouldn’t say the transition is complete, but the love is there. I don’t plan on stopping this process. I haven’t yet ridden with the group (logistics and SO MUCH RAIN lately), but we’ve been riding everywhere and it’s been awesome.

I haven’t pulled the trigger on a tri bike, but we’re going to rent one for the Pflugerville Triathlon and see how it feels. Hopefully the feeling of racing on an actual tri bike will influence us to drop the cash and get our own.

Website revamp:

Check and check. I love it. I’m sure there’s more I can do with it, but I’m very happy for now that I was able to put together a list of what I wanted the site to be and get 90% of it done with only Zliten’s help (or figuring it out myself).

Diving Pictures:

Well, I finished up my Bonaire pictures, but now I need to process my Roatan and Cozumel pics. It’s a ~~terrible~~ wonderful cycle.

Camping:

Apr15-1

Home away from home for a weekend.

I got the camping bug hard and went twice, and then we had a bunch of weekends where we were busy or on vacation. Then, two things happened. First, it got buggy and muggy, second, the waterpark opened. So, unless we decide to go later this month, I think camping season may be over. I am HIGHLY looking forward to making some plans for September and into the fall.

Doing Things:

may2-2

Steady now…

While I always want to do more (until I actually have to go do it), here’s some of the cool things we’ve done lately.

Emo Phillips at the comedy club
Went fishing. Twice.
Played frisbee golf
Played giant jenga at the bar
SUP paddleboard yoga
Dance class and dancing
Water volleyball
Beer Pong

I’d say with everything else going on in life, we’re doing great.

Being Crafty:

It’s last on this list because it was kind of an afterthought. We really and truly have done a lot of shit this #offseason, and besides one night where I sat down (drunkenly) and tried to make sense of the piano, I haven’t done any of this.

However, I did pick up the personal trainer class, am taking my CPR certification this week, and plan to do some other classes as these finish. I’d say this sort of takes the place of something to do at home that’s not dork on social media and watch TV.

Things I’d really like to accomplish in the next month:

Apr25-4

I don’t have a great picture that sums up a month of accomplishments, so here’s an iguana on a bike.

Continue to focus on #projectraceweight – I think I’m doing about the best I can without losing my mind, so I’ll keep at it.
Get at least two more projects in the house list done.
Continue with the bike love, hit at least ONE group ride, and try out at least TWO triathlon bikes.
Add at least THREE things to the “doing things” list above.
Be about 3/4 of the way through the personal training class and have our CPR cert.
Finish and post my diving/snorkeling pics

June is going to be a great month, starting with NATIONAL RUNNING DAY yesterday (where my run fitness decided to remind me it’s not 100% completely in the toilet, just mostly), so I’m excited to see what it holds. It has to be less dramatic than May… please?

The Long Slow Climb Back

By Quix

On May 31, 2016

In Uncategorized

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.

Liberty of the Seas

By Quix

On May 25, 2016

In Uncategorized

Vacation recaps are a bit of a connundrum. On one hand, I love having a day-to-day record of what I did, when I re-read this stuff I can remember it more vividly. On the other hand, it is probably boring as hell for anyone else to read. So, I think I’ll split the difference this time and give you the highlights (typically, what I have pictures of), but by day.

Sunday: Embarkation Day

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Galveston isn’t exactly the prettiest port, but it was nice to finally be by the sea after a 4 hour drive.

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Royal Caribbean has partnered with Dreamworks and there were characters all over the ship. This was the sail away party, Fiona and Shrek graced us with their presence.

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I ate so much seafood this trip. This was dinner the first night, and it was the first time I haven’t been squeamish about oysters. They were not bad, and the rest of the dish was amazing.

Monday: At Sea

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Slept in, read in the morning, and then hit the gym. They left the spin bikes out from a class they did earlier, so I did my own for 20 minutes and then lifted weights and stretched for almost an hour. And, of course on vacation, you break out the unicorn fighting a giant t-rex robot capris. It’s mandatory.

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Buffet lunches were pretty good (and pretty easy not to eat like an asshole). This is a pretty good representation of what I ate most days – grilled chicken, some fish with lentils, dragon noodles, lots of mixed veggies, and some roasted potatoes. Only one plate most days, if I was still hungry, I grabbed soup, but it was amazing how my appetite stayed sane.

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We spent most of the day reading and taking dips in the pool. This is a necessary part of vacation for me.

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Since it was fancy night, we got all cleaned up and I wore my “diamonds”. Zliten calls it my VEEP look. We clean up alright.

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We went dancing and made friends and had a few cocktails, and there may have been a bit of dramatic posing in the photo gallery around 3am.

Tuesday: At Sea

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Another glorious vacation day – slept in, buffet lunch, hanging out at the pool, and playing games with the ‘rents.

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Dinner was great – the crab cakes were OK, but the slaw underneath was to die for. Zliten and I split the cilantro fish and the chicken cordon bleu and they were both amazing.

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Our table was great, it overlooked the whole dining room and had a good view of the fancy stairs (this was the view from it). Every other night or so, the waiters would put on a show for us. Some of them were actually pretty great dancers!

Wednesday: Roatan, Honduras

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Roatan day! Diving day! Hooray! Since we had to be off the ship at 9:30, and diving takes a lot out of you, I had breakfast instead of lunch today.

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Even Roatan gets political. It was crazy to see these signs all over.

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Diving with a group has it’s drawbacks, but the valet service hauling gear is super nice.

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We had some great dives. We saw two turtles, and one was feeding so we got to get really close to him! I also saw a bunch of french angel fish, and if diving in Bonaire hadn’t spoiled me, I would have said it was my favorite dive ever, perhaps.

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The rest of the day, we just chilled on the ship, drinking a few beers, eating dinner, playing games. Next time, I’m totally doing the zipline at the port (behind me).

Thursday: Belize City, Belize

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We docked in Belize around 9:30am, but we didn’t really have a full day of stuff planned, so we hit the gym in the morning. It was empty, so I got to play on free weights and got a prime elliptical spot to do intervals. It was nice, and a way to avoid breakfast.

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After a little snack, we headed to shore on a tender. Some people gripe about them, but I like boats and enjoyed an extra boat ride in my week.

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When in Belize, we always visit the Wet Lizard bar and get Lighthouse Lagers and Belizean meat pies. This trip was no exception. We found our names on the ceiling from two years ago, but unfortunately they’re not letting people mark up the bar anymore, so we’ll probably be but a memory soon. At least we’re temporarily immortalized.

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After a while, we realized there was free wifi, and logged on to check facebook and post a braggy picture in Belize, and this is how we learned about layoffs and I sent some messages and made some calls. I intended to have one drink, I may have had a few more. Simultaneously.

We made it back on the last tender, making us late for dinner. Once I told my parents, they understood, and had ordered food for us. We got two orders of lobster and shrimp (I enjoyed it and didn’t eat my side dishes). After dinner, we headed out to hit the casino, and then to dance again, and we may have stayed up WAYYYY too late for the early wakeup we had.

Friday: Cozumel, Mexico

Oh my. 7am came really early, and we hadn’t gotten our shit packed or electronics charging, so we spent the morning scrambling. However, we made it to the bus on time, and if I had to spend anywhere in the world hungover and mad at something thousands of miles away, snorkeling in Cozumel isn’t a bad place to be.

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We took a break mid-snorkel to try out the waterslides. They were super fun! Also, we made iguana friends. Or enemies. They ran away, but maybe with love?

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We snorkeled for 3 hours. We saw many cool things, but this spotted ray was the highlight of the day. We also randomly met triathletes who live in Austin and spent hours sipping beers, eating lunch, and relaxing in the pool chatting with them.

After getting back to the ship, we relaxed in the pool with more drinks and soaked up the last of the sun, and then met my parents for dinner. After our bellies were full, we both realized how freakin’ tired we were on 4 hours sleep and being in the sun all day and went to bed around 7pm.

Saturday: At Sea

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We read and slept away the morning, but we couldn’t hibernate the whole last day of vacation! We decided to go play in the water. We hit both waterslides, and the green one had DISCO LIGHTS. Hawaiian Falls needs to take notes and incorporate this into their 2017 plan.

I also decided to try the Wave Rider (on the last day just in case), and pretty quickly wiped out. But hey, I got to try it! I’d do it again, it was probably one of the most fun ways to fall on my ass yet…

This was the first and only day I ate like an asshole. I had breakfast, lunch, and two dinners. We also had to drink the rest of the wine we brought on board with us, but I didn’t order any more once that was gone.

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We played games with the ‘rents (since we had kind of ditched them for the last two days), and then went with them to go watch a comedy show -we saw a comedy magician (sorry, don’t recall the name and google is not my friend today), which sounds a little hokey, but it totally works for him. And since you can’t take photos of the stage, instead, you get a selfie.

Sunday: Disembarkation 🙁

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Other than Buc’ee getting fresh with me at the potty stop, it was uneventful.

If you’ve read this far and want more, you can see my full vacation album HERE (no snorkeling or diving photos yet but COMING SOOOON).

Adjusted Reality

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

Author: Quix Page 71 of 217

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