Woot! Second Post!

Well, I had planned on posting earlier since last Wednesday, but I got busy with work, & it seemed that all I wanted to do was sleep whenever I was home.  Many times I feel asleep on my couch & either stayed there all night, or went to bed around 2ish.  Part of the joys/problems of living alone...if I fall asleep on the couch, I really don't care.  It's also the reason for the organized chaos that is my apartment.  I know where everything is, no one else does.  Thankfully no one comes to my apartment, anyway.

CrossFit update:  Thursdays are our skill/make-up/optional WOD day.  Myself & 2 other ladies did a team chipper WOD that consisted of an 800m prowler push, 100 burpees, & 100 wall balls.  All 3 of us are different ages & different fitness levels & I am continually amazed at the drive of everyone.  When I get to be older, I hope that I'm half as fit as some of these ladies.  I also did my mandatory wall walk, along with some inverted barbell row-esque stuff to help work on my mid-back strength & coordinate my kip with a pulling motion.  I was definitely feeling everything that afternoon.  On Friday, that ladies that are helping me with my wall walks/pulling strength worked out in the 5:45 class, but made me do my wall walk as soon as I got my shoes on.  We then did a 10 min OMEM of 3 reps of a heavy power jerk, followed by 5 rounds of a 40m bear crawl & 20m walking lunges with a kettle bell.  I Rx'd the WOD (my 2nd one ever!) & was gassed by the end of it.  Definitely sore the rest of the day.  But I know that pushing through these hard days make me stronger, physically & mentally.

As for the rest of my life, nothing really exciting has happened.  I attempted to make paleo pumpkin cookies on Thursday.  On Friday everyone said they tasted good and turned out fine.  I guess I'm just going to have to get used to the different textures.  I'll see if using coconut flour makes a difference instead of almond flour.  Saturday morning I had a nice 4.5 mile run followed by a day of lacrosse scrimmages at Augustana.  Thankfully it's just over the river, so we didn't have to worry about a long bus ride on top of 4 games.  The guys showed some improvement from last weekend and there were some good points.  Here's to a successful final week of practice for fall ball, ending with a trip to St. Louis.

Unfortunately, I won't be going to St. Louis with the guys as I'll be spending the weekend home.  My cousin is getting married & I'm maid of honor, so I sort of have to be there.  I'll be heading back "up nort" after LAX practice on Thursday, getting home around 10 PM.  Friday morning is going to be devoted to seeing Cynamyn, followed by wedding stuff the rest of the weekend.  I still really have no idea what to do with my hair.  Our dresses sleeveless with a scoop neck.  I'm thinking of a loose, low up-do, but still unsure.  Any ideas?

My cousin that's getting married is one of my closest friends & is only 9 months older than me.  We've gotten closer as we've gotten older & have caused many a night of trouble in Steven's Point, Oconto, Lena, & at Pulaski Polka Days (yes, I polka dance, or at least attempt to).  Her fiance is a great guy & I couldn't imagine anyone better for her.  He fits in perfectly with the weird Stranz family.  And all of this wedding talk has gotten me thinking some about my life (and some of my future!).  Many of my family & friends are either getting engaged, married, or already have kids.  I went to 3 weddings this summer & already have 2 planned for next summer.  I would like to get married someday and have a family, I'm just not any closer to that happening now that I was 5 years ago.  Is part of this because I focused so much on my education & career while in undergrad & grad school?  Possibly.  Do I wish that I had someone to spend time with after work & on my few days off rather than an empty apartment?  Sometimes.  But now I'm in the process of trying to figure out who I am & what I really want out of life.  Also, it's nice having the freedom of being able work many & weird hours without having to worry about how it affects someone else.  But I'd still like to find someone soon, at least just to spend some of my free time with and get me out of my apartment.

The bride & I, before polka dancing a couple of years ago.  Yes, we are in Hamm's hats.  

Currently I'm on a bus to North Central College with SAU's JV football team.  Hopefully I don't get nailed on the sideline like I did when covering a game at Wartburg.  FYI, brand new turf is really slippery and players slide a lot more than usual.  I moved, but obviously not enough.  I'll be cheering the Packers on in spirit (I've only gotten to watch one game this season).  UWO won yesterday, continuing their winning, SAU football did, Iowa lost, but had a great showing against OSU, & Wisconsin took it to Illinois.  Overall, a good football weekend for me.  Hopefully I have a successful day for my fantasy team, too.

#1 guy in my life right now.

 **And yes, I completed 2 wall walks both yesterday & this morning.  Key is to look at the wall, not at your hands!

Well, Here Goes Nothing

Yep, I've done it.  I've decided to start a blog.  It's something I figured I'd try, to document the interesting things that happen to me, allow family & friends to stay updated on my life, and as something slightly therapeutic.  I've never been much of a writer, but I'm up for something new.

I guess I can start with some background information.  I'm still fairly new to the Quad Cities (moved just over 2 months ago).  I came here for work as I was offered a position at Rock Valley Physical Therapy with outreach to St. Ambrose University.  Two mornings a week, I work as a physical therapy tech at the clinic, but the majority of my time is spent as one of the assistant athletic trainers with the Fighting Bees, specifically with the new men's lacrosse team.  I can honestly say that I love what I do (athletic training, PT tech, ehh, not so much) & I really enjoy SAU and my athletes.  Definitely never a dull moment.

While I'm new to the QCA, I'm not new to Iowa itself.  I spent that last 2 years in Iowa City working towards my masters degree at the University of Iowa, while gaining experience working with the Iowa Volleyball team & TA-ing some of the physical therapy & undergraduate athletic training classes.  I loved Iowa City; it reminded me so much of Green Bay, on football game day & especially in the summer when the majority of the undergrad students were gone.  I highly recommend anyone visit there in the summer.  So many good places to eat, visit, etc.

I'm originally from northeast Wisconsin, about 30 min north of Green Bay, a small town called Oconto.  My parents grew up in that area & much of my extended family is still around there.  Along with my family, my horse is still back home, which is pretty hard for me.  I won't go into much depth about him, as he'll have many posts devoted to him, but he's been a part of my life for 13 1/2 years & one of the best things that's ever happened to me.

Due to the nature of my job, I work lots of hours with an ever-changing schedule (LAX is currently practicing from 9-11 PM twice a week), I really haven't gotten the chance to get to know people.  All I know of Davenport/Bettendorf is what I see from my apartment to the clinic to SAU & back home.  Everything I may need is pretty much along that route.  Because of this, I decided to join Quad City CrossFit.  I wanted to use it as a way to break out of my little shell, meet people, and get a kick-ass workout all at the same time.  I've always been a runner (I currently have a streak of just over 1 year, 2 months straight of at least a mile a day), have lifted off and on, but I have trouble kicking my own butt & staying motivated on my own at times.  I figured the community atmosphere of QCCF would help me achieve those goals.  And, after a month of being a member, I'm getting there.  I've met some great people in our small-ish 7 AM class, I'm gaining some confidence, & just starting to feel a little better about myself in general.  I've learned a lot from everyone there, not just the coaches.  I also recently started the Look Better Naked weight loss challenge which involves pictures, measurements, weights, a food log, and eating Paleo.  If you don't know what the Paleo diet is, look it up.  Definitely taking some getting used to.  I'm still trying to figure it all out.  We'll see how I feel at the end of 6 weeks.

This morning was somewhat trying for me.  I wasn't feeling well last night due to my body still going through some detox, so I didn't feel like eating much and didn't sleep well.  It was all I could do to eat half a banana before this morning's WOD.  The first part included 15 minutes of a power clean/hang clean squat complex.  I fatigued easier than normal with this, but pushed through.  The second part included doing as many rounds as possible of a 200m run with wall walks in 10 minutes.  I attempted a round of wall walks, could only make it about halfway up, so I switched over to v-walks.  I know that I don't have the greatest upper body strength, but I'm working on it.  After class, I wanted to practice wall walks on my own, but couldn't get any higher than earlier.  A couple of ladies (who have been doing CF for A LOT longer than me) were watching & gave me some pointers.  The biggest thing I needed was someone telling me to keep going.  With them encouraging me, I pretty much got all the way up 4 times.  They really didn't do anything special, but just the encouragement to keep going was the best thing they could've done.  Due to my shoulder surgery 5 1/2 years ago, I thought it was something I couldn't do.  but they pushed me past that fear and showed me that I actually can.  I really appreciate what they (and the rest of the QCCF community) did for me this morning.  What could've turned into a generally crappy day was made better by just a few encouraging words.  While I still don't have the biggest of appetites, I'm definitely feeling better than a I could be.

Well, this first post turned longer than expected.  The first portion of my workday is almost finished & I'll be heading home before LAX's late practice.  Hopefully this wasn't too terribly wordy & you enjoy the read. 

Have a great night!

PS  I apologize for any errors there may be.  I'm terrible at proofing my own work.  I know what I want things to say, so that's how I read it, regardless of what it actually says.