Does it Count?

Part of me knows that just having to ask the question already means that I know the answer. But in this case I thought it might actually be interesting to poll others and get a consensus. The question at hand is whether or not Mud Run MS counts as an adventure race, which is #4 on my Operation 30 list.

So first, what is Mud Run MS? According to the website "The Mud Run is a 10K (approximately 6 miles) race with boot camp style obstacles that have been surrounded by or consist entirely of mud. People cheer as teams of contestants slip, slide, and slosh their way to victory. It is a unique experience whether running or watching!"



They don't reveal all of the obstacles, but a few that are mentioned include:

Balance Beams	Once Unders	Stairway to Heaven	The Wall
Hanging Log Walk	Over and Unders	The Bog	Tire Crawl
Leap of Faith	Pots	The English Channel	Tire Mountain
Levy-ity	Quigley	The Hurdles	Tunnels
Log Walk	River Crossing	The Low Crawl	Web of Lies
Mine Field	Run Forest Run	The Moguls	Window to the World
Mud Pit	Slip-N-Slide	The Rope Bridge

I'm super pumped to be participating. It's coming up in just a couple of weeks, which means final team preparations are coming together. Team name - check. Team logo - check. Team uniforms - finishing touches are underway! I'll share our team name and logo which will soon be forever cemented on a fashionable men's undershirt and then promptly caked in mud on Saturday, May 7th.


I have to give my brother, Greg, credit for the team name. (Anyone get the South Park reference?) I still think it's the perfect fit for the event. Two weeks away!

If Wikipedia has any authority here, then my original suspicions were confirmed and there's really no way to count the Mud Run as an adventure race. According to them, an adventure race is, "a combination of two or more endurance disciplines, including orienteering...cross-country running, mountain biking, paddling and climbing and related rope skills. An expedition event can span ten days or more while sprints can be completed in a matter of hours."

So while I had no intention to participate in a multi-day or super-intense Adventure Race, I'll admit that when I added it to my Operation 30 list that my intention was that it be some sort of kayaking, biking, trail running, orienteering combo. And while doing obstacle courses in mud may not qualify exactly, maybe I'll consider it a good training event for such an endurance event that will count for #4 on my list. :-)

Current timestamp:

Making a Change

"I'm Gonna Make A Change,

For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . ."

Before anyone worries, no, I am not blogging about Thrill the World and my quest to learn the Thriller dance again. (But I'll admit that I'm now fighting the urge to watch my Michael Jackson Number One's DVD.) What I'm referring to changing is my Operation 30 list. No, its not the first time in my life that I'll be making a change, and I'm not sure that it'll necessarily "feel real good", but I know that it's going to make my list more "right" for me.

In many ways I feel as if I'm breaking a cardinal rule of bucket lists, especially by changing this early in the game. However, as good 'ole Winston Churchill once said, "There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction". So thank you, Winston, for giving me permission as I feel that this will be a step in the right direction. After all, it's my list anyway. Do I really need anyone's permission to change it?

Then it's settled. I'm officially re-writing #19.

19. Watch a classic movie (exact movie still TBD)

19. Watch a movie at a drive-in theater

My rationale... Have I seen a classic movie before? Yes. Admittedly not many, but still. It's a Wonderful Life is pretty unavoidable in the holiday routine. Did I have a classic movie in mind that I wanted to see? Not really. And truly what I meant to capture in my original list was seeing a classic movie at a movie theater or drive-in. Although apparently I never quite articulated that clearly. It simply wouldn't have been a meaningful Operation 30 item without doing it in an over-the-top way. So, I'm nixing the classic movie part and focusing on what I'm more excited about - seeing a movie at a drive-in theater. If the movie showing happens to be a classic movie, then I suppose that's a bonus. But if it's something like The Hangover or Zoolander, then I'll be just as happy. :-)

Timestamp:

A Pleasant Surprise

For someone who likes to plan her life away I was recently very pleasantly surprised to cross off another item from my Operation 30 list this past week...without really planning on it. (I know - how could that be...something actually happened without extreme planning and attention to detail? I know, I know, I'm exaggerating. I'm not that bad.) Anyway...

Which one took me by surprise, do you ask?
Why, #29 - Become a National Officer for ZTA - Che-eck!

First, some may be asking, "What the heck is ZTA?" Well, it's an acronym for Zeta Tau Alpha which is the fraternity that I had the privilege to join as a college freshman at the University of Missouri-Rolla. Its also an organization that has been impacting my life in a positive way and giving me opportunities to grow as a person pretty regularly for more than a decade now. Whether it was serving my chapter as an officer during my undergraduate years, being an officer in the St. Louis Alumnae Chapter, or serving as an advisor for the collegiate women of Saint Louis University, Zeta has always stretched me as a person and given back to me much more in sisterhood and friendships than I could ever give in return. I have met some truly amazing women through ZTA. Many are my best friends. Many inspire me and push me to be a better person and do more, simply because I am in awe of all they do.

So I was truly honored last Monday when I received a call asking if I would be willing to fill a position to be vacated in May of this year serving as District President for Province 17-A. Essentially, that means I will be assisting all of the wonderful alumnae chapters within Missouri and Kansas for at least the next two years as a National Officer!
I can't wait to get started!

I often have people ask me why I continue to stay involved in my sorority or flash me a strange look when I say I have a ZTA meeting (as if I'm trying to live in the past or am too old for such a thing), which I completely understand...to many Greek life is something only for college and full of cliches about partying and pillow fights. Simply not true. Zeta Tau Alpha is and continues to be a meaningful part of my life. And so long as I continue to have the opportunity to make a difference and create positive change in an organization that I care passionately about and that has given me amazing things in return...then count me a willing and eager volunteer. :-)


Timestamp as I post (a day later than usual):

Something's Off

I recently discovered something that's been irking me ever since. I have three official countdowns to my 30th birthday: one on this blog, another on my iGoogle homepage (which is the one I copy/paste for each timestamp), and another on my laptop desktop background. (Gotta keep Operation 30 top of mind.) What I recently discovered is that they're not all synchronized with each other. And I don't just mean they're a few hours or minutes off from each other. We're talking +/- a day. Weird, huh?

For example, it's now Sunday, April 3rd at about 10:00pm and here's what my countdowns are telling me:



So, my hypothesis? First I checked which one is accurate. With a little help from Excel, the winner is: my laptop desktop countdown! Wow - who would've put money on Windows applications? Not me. Anyway, the other two countdowns only seem to be a few hours off from each other, which I'll chalk up to different time zone assumptions in each of them. But why a full day difference from the official countdown? If I'm not mistaken, next year is a leap year. Perhaps my iGoogle and blog countdown haven't factored in this extra day. Hmm...curious, but a reasonable explanation. Obviously, no matter what the countdown says, my 30th birthday is still going to come on May 8, 2012. No sense worrying more than needed about whether it's 401, 400 or 399 days from now.

So, what to do about this countdown glitch? Quite honestly, I feel better just knowing which is the accurate countdown and think I can survive with a minor inconsistency for a little while. (I'm hoping they might automatically correct themselves once February 29th actually comes. Then again I'm not sure they necessarily will...) Regardless, having things a little off is probably good for me psychologically. Conceding to non-perfection is healthy, and something I need to learn to be satisfied with anyway. Thank you misaligned countdowns for helping me with this important life lesson. :-)

Current semi-official timestamp: