Upshifting

Phew! I just took a good look at my Google calendar and what's in store the coming weeks and am happy (and honestly, a little overwhelmed) to report that I'll soon be in a mode of knocking out many of my Operation 30 items! Frankly, I can't believe the time is already here for the Grand Canyon, a hot air balloon ride, the first of my four baseball stadiums, a winery bike ride, Dispatch AND Bonnaroo, but in less than a month I will have checked all of those off my list!

Check out the craziness!With all the preparation yet to be done, I don't have time for a lengthy post. Rest-assured, there will be plenty to share in the coming weeks. I look forward to reporting all the details!

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Dankeschön

Crunched for time this week after a quick trip to Germany for work, I'm finally getting around to my weekly update. (Yes, that's right - I added another place to my previously posted list: Dusseldorf, Germany!) Before my birthday I reflected on the places I've been in my 29 years on earth so far. It was a pretty fun exercise and got me thinking about not only where I've been, but what I've done in those years. If it's not obvious by my Operation 30 list, I'm truly someone who lives for the experiences in life. Therefore, anything new, different, interesting, exciting, challenging - I'm game!

Some of these experiences have truly been once in a lifetime. Meaning...there is no future 100th Best Ever St. Pat's celebration in RollaMo and I hope I don't have any trees falling on me anytime soon! Yet there are others that have become more or less routine...fitness events such as RAGBRAI, the MS150 bike ride, and various running events. Overall, a plethora of experiences in which I've been blessed to partake.

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Jumped from a plane at 10,000ft (went sky-diving) – September 2010
Swam with the fish in Cancun (went Snorkeling) – July 2003
Rode in a helicopter (twice!) – May 2006
Had a part in a charter plane entourage – May 2006, March 2011
Put numbers in the manual scoreboard at Busch Stadium - 2005
Partied on the Bud Light Party Cruise – 2009, 2010
Been on a "float" in the St. Louis Mardi Gras parade – February 2010
Ran in the St. Louis Go! Half-Marathon – April 2006
Ran the St. Louis Lewis & Clark Half-Marathon – September 2007
Ran in the St. Louis Go! Marathon – April 2008
Sat a PR time at the Chicago Half-Marathon – May 2010
Set a PR time at the San Diego Rock n’ Roll Half-Marathon – June 2010
Kansas City Half-Marathon – October 2006
Kansas City Marathon – October 2007
Run on Highway 40 (during the grand opening events) - 2008, 2009
Braved my first tri, the Race for Sight Triathlon – May 2008
Rode my bike across Iowa at RAGBRAI – 2009, 2010
Dipped my hands in the ocean upside-down (went parasailing) – March 2004
Partied at the 100^th Anniversary of the Best Ever St. Pat’s in Rolla - 2008
Watched crazy bull riders at the Rodeo (Sikeston, MO and Rhineland, MO) - 2008
Stayed up drinking and singing to music until sunrise – More than five times
Discovered the Lost City of Atlantis – October 2009
Rode in a stretch hummer limo
Had a tree fall on me! – April 2006
Raised money for a good cause and rode 200 miles at the MS150 bicycle ride - 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
Drank more 3oz beers than I could count at the St. Louis Brewfest – 2007, 2008, 2010
Made a table top design out of bottle caps. Check it out...

Bought a house! – February 2008
Won a city scavenger hunt – Find the Egg (Go Eggsplorers!) – April 2010
Tried Octopus sashimi (and gagged appropriately) - 2006
Rode the Bull on Bourbon Street - October 2010
Dressed appropriately for Monster Jam – February 2011
Experienced the fun of Eurovision in the competition city – May 2011
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Thanks to everyone who has joined me on my journey so far. I can't wait to add more to the list!

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Down and Dirty

Mud Run Success! Yesterday the Fudge Dragons skillfully completed the National MS Society Mud Run at Harrah's Casino. As you can see from the before and after picture comparison, it was quite a muddy event!

Before
After (well, okay - technically during...waiting in line to do the ropes behind us) The event was as advertised - a 10K with lots of boot camp style obstacles in between. (Hence, our choice of team uniform. People definitely thought we were serious competitors!) Needless to say, our white shirts didn't stay white for long. One of the first obstacles was literally sliding head first into a shallow trough of mud. After that there were several climbing, crawling, and jumping obstacles...all of which involved lots of mud. I've never been that dirty in my life!

Entering in the non-competitive division, our goal was simply to complete all of the obstacles, but once we got an early lead in our 10am heat with the 1+ mile run at the beginning, we all naturally started getting competitive. Nothing is official yet, but we think we were the first whole team from our heat to cross the finish line! (Now we're just waiting to see how our official time compared to others.)

While I have pictures to reminisce about the experience, I also have lots of small aches and pains. My arms and legs look like someone got the best of me in a fight...bruises, scratches, and blisters galore. But it was all worth it for two hours of muddy fun and supporting a great cause. What truly made it awesome was the fact that I got to share the experience with the other Fudge Dragons: my two brothers, future sister-in-law, and boyfriend. And a special thanks to my mom (and Happy Mother's Day!) for being there to capture the memories on camera.

For those paying attention, you'll notice that I have not crossed off #4 from my list. While this certainly was an adventure and a race, it was not in the same spirit of what I originally set out to do, which was more running, kayaking, and orienteering type adventure. Therefore I'll be actively looking at dates for a future adventure race in 2011. (Current forerunner is the Castlewood 8 in December.)

And a quick side note - today is my birthday! Let the official one year countdown for the Operation 30 list begin!

The Best of What's Around

First, a qualifier - this is only going to be half of what I had anticipated sharing this week. I simply haven't had enough time to give this as much thought as I'd like, so feel it best to pace my efforts and therefore be able to focus on what I can realistically pull together for this week's entry. Consider it Part 1 of 2.

While some may jokingly turn 29 multiple times, this Sunday is the only time I intend to do it. As such, these couple weeks leading up to the big 2-9 I'm spending reflecting on the places I've been and the things I've done over the past decade (or so) as I approach my one year milestone mark to the big 3-0.

This week, Part 1 - Oh, the places I've been! To quote the one and only Dave Matthews Band, "Turns out not where but who you're with that really matters...". I couldn't agree more. Looking back over pictures and thinking about memories of spring breaks, road trips, work trips, and the like, I can't help but reflect on how lucky I've been to have so many great opportunities in my life thus far. (Granted, I give myself some credit for seizing the crap out of those opportunities and doing what I can to make the most of them, but still...) It's really been the company I've had along the way that's made these memories worthwhile. Therefore, this week I wanted to share a list and a couple collages of the many places I've had the privilege to travel over the past few years and thank each and every one of you who helped to make them special. I'm sure I've left out a few, so feel free to help me add to my list if you know of one I've missed!

And if you have a favorite or a "must see" place that's not yet on my list, feel free to let me know that too. It'll give me good ideas for a future Operation 40 Before 40 list. ;-)

Missouri! Rolla, Cape Girardeau, Springfield, Kansas City, Branson, Hermann, and more…
Nebraska! Omaha, Kearney, Gothenburg, Grand Island, Pleasanton, Hildreth, and more….
Houston, Texas – More than five times
Chicago, Illinois – More than five times
Tulsa, Oklahoma – More than five times
Jacksonville, Florida – More than five times
Fort Collins, Colorado – More than five times
Cartersville, Georgia – More than five times
Williamsburg, Virginia – Roughly five times
Panama City Beach, Florida – March 2001, March 2002
Destin, Florida – March 2001
Tulum, Mexico – July 2002
Indianapolis, Indiana – June 2003, August 2009
Denver, Colorado – 2005, 2010
Estes Park – March 2005
Las Vegas, Nevada – August 2005, January 2006, October 2009, February 2011
St. Augustine, Florida – December 2005
Los Angeles, California – 2007, June 2010
Columbus, Ohio - 2007
New York City, New York – July 2007, May 2010, June 2010
Sacramento, California – August 2007, September 2007
Napa Valley – August 2007, May 2009
San Francisco, California – August 2007, May 2009
Memphis, Tennessee – June 2008
Gatlinburg, Tennessee – October 2008

Cancun, Mexico – May 2009
Iowa – Ottumwa (and other fun cities along RAGBRAI) – 2009, 2010
Toronto, Ontario – August 2009
Hoover Dam – October 2009
Leuven & Brussels, Belgium – October 2009
The Bahamas (Nassau and Coco Cay) – October 2009, December 2010

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – May 2010
San Diego, California – June 2010
Clearwater Beach, Florida – June 2010
New Orleans, Louisiana – July 2010, October 2010
Washington DC – August 2010

All in all, lots of good times. No doubt about it.

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