Every Tuesday I have a little slice of happiness to look forward to while I ride the Metro to work. Being only the second day of the week you might think I’m crazy, enjoying a Tuesday? What is wrong with me?! Ok let’s clear things up. By little slice of happiness what I really mean is the 30 or so minutes on my morning metro ride that I take to devour my Washington Post Express with its weekly Fit section. Because of Fit, Tuesday is probably my favorite day of the week of the Express followed closely by Monday (only for the ‘B.I.O.” section, yes engagement announcements, shoot me…I’m a girl!) then rounding out my top 3 with the Thursday Weekend section.
Yes, I am a big self-proclaimed Kinesiology nerd. That should probably be an oxymoron. “Kinesiology” and “exercise science” don’t exactly conjure up the same kind of images that NASA brings (which is ridiculous since hello! I did work there!). In my free time I like to read articles about health and fitness and I really enjoy trying new types of workouts (hot yoga was my last exotic one, pole dancing is coming soon…I should go back to that flea market for those shoes!). This really should come as no surprise to those of you who know me since I was a Kinesiology major in school and had a brief stint in Physical Therapy school prior to my swift immersion into the fast-paced world of the Federal Government and healthcare IT.
I know what you’re thinking, Kinesi-what?! Yeah. It’s the study of human movement. To illustrate just how much of a nerd I am I have a shirt that provides the definition on the back (holler PEK!). My major was fun and I was surrounded by others who were equally as interested in physical activity as I was. Of course we had some “meatheads” and “endurance junkies” in my major but I loved it. I remember back in college one of the guys in my major posted a blog making fun of our classmates and their intense devotion to the Nalgene bottles. He joked about how KIN majors would act like without their Nalgene they would pass out from all the exertion of class, it was kind of true – people were really weird about their water.
This past weekend I got to indulge my inner kinesiology nerd doing something I had never done before, a mud run. Several months ago I convinced Shanners that it would be a brilliant idea to sign up for the Run Amuck race at Quantico and I think it was probably one of my better decisions. Even after all of the bumps, bruises, scrapes, blisters, and incredibly long showers that resulted from my participation in the race I still had a blast. I have been told I am slightly crazy (I think people just think I’m prissier than I really am) but it was so worth it. The race took place over a 3.5 mile course in the woods at Quantico. We battled crazy hills, mudpits, a football training style tire drill, hay stacks, a 36 inch wall, pipe tunnels, a “barbwire” crawl through another mudpit, and several pit stops armed with Marines yelling at you about proper form for your crunches/flutterkicks/jumping jacks (which of course I had right anyway, duh).
Getting dirty was really fun. Normally I’m being bombarded with people telling me that I need to wear makeup, be more feminine, do my hair, smile more…blah blah blah (ok, totally exaggeration, it’s really only like 3 people). Not here! I can look like a hot mess all I want and rub mud on my face like war paint and it’s totally cool! In fact it’s almost expected! The hotness of being dirty though only extends so far. We made a couple friends along the way, most were while crawling on the ground under the “barbwire” in the mudpit and we bonded over our experiences and are now BFFs for life (ok, I’m lying). One guy was telling me how it was good that it rained and the pit was watered recently or else it would have smelled like a “bear’s ass” to which I promptly replied “I have no idea what a bear’s ass smells like and Sir, I think I am really glad for that!” At that point I realized that despite my hardcore nature and entry in the mud run I never wanted to learn what a bears ass smelled like because the smell of the mud that I was crawling in was bad enough! By 9 am we were done and almost home to shower off the pancaked mud off our bruised bodies. It was a really sexy look despite the fact that we smelled disgusting. I might be over exaggerating since we were getting up close and personal with the ChickFilA cow and the Geico Gecko after the race but I probably shouldn’t judge how serious our smelliness was by the reaction of an animal that lives on a farm and one that can expel “a foul-smelling material and feces onto their aggressors (thank you Wikipedia).”
Yes, I am a big self-proclaimed Kinesiology nerd. That should probably be an oxymoron. “Kinesiology” and “exercise science” don’t exactly conjure up the same kind of images that NASA brings (which is ridiculous since hello! I did work there!). In my free time I like to read articles about health and fitness and I really enjoy trying new types of workouts (hot yoga was my last exotic one, pole dancing is coming soon…I should go back to that flea market for those shoes!). This really should come as no surprise to those of you who know me since I was a Kinesiology major in school and had a brief stint in Physical Therapy school prior to my swift immersion into the fast-paced world of the Federal Government and healthcare IT.
I know what you’re thinking, Kinesi-what?! Yeah. It’s the study of human movement. To illustrate just how much of a nerd I am I have a shirt that provides the definition on the back (holler PEK!). My major was fun and I was surrounded by others who were equally as interested in physical activity as I was. Of course we had some “meatheads” and “endurance junkies” in my major but I loved it. I remember back in college one of the guys in my major posted a blog making fun of our classmates and their intense devotion to the Nalgene bottles. He joked about how KIN majors would act like without their Nalgene they would pass out from all the exertion of class, it was kind of true – people were really weird about their water.
This past weekend I got to indulge my inner kinesiology nerd doing something I had never done before, a mud run. Several months ago I convinced Shanners that it would be a brilliant idea to sign up for the Run Amuck race at Quantico and I think it was probably one of my better decisions. Even after all of the bumps, bruises, scrapes, blisters, and incredibly long showers that resulted from my participation in the race I still had a blast. I have been told I am slightly crazy (I think people just think I’m prissier than I really am) but it was so worth it. The race took place over a 3.5 mile course in the woods at Quantico. We battled crazy hills, mudpits, a football training style tire drill, hay stacks, a 36 inch wall, pipe tunnels, a “barbwire” crawl through another mudpit, and several pit stops armed with Marines yelling at you about proper form for your crunches/flutterkicks/jumping jacks (which of course I had right anyway, duh).
Getting dirty was really fun. Normally I’m being bombarded with people telling me that I need to wear makeup, be more feminine, do my hair, smile more…blah blah blah (ok, totally exaggeration, it’s really only like 3 people). Not here! I can look like a hot mess all I want and rub mud on my face like war paint and it’s totally cool! In fact it’s almost expected! The hotness of being dirty though only extends so far. We made a couple friends along the way, most were while crawling on the ground under the “barbwire” in the mudpit and we bonded over our experiences and are now BFFs for life (ok, I’m lying). One guy was telling me how it was good that it rained and the pit was watered recently or else it would have smelled like a “bear’s ass” to which I promptly replied “I have no idea what a bear’s ass smells like and Sir, I think I am really glad for that!” At that point I realized that despite my hardcore nature and entry in the mud run I never wanted to learn what a bears ass smelled like because the smell of the mud that I was crawling in was bad enough! By 9 am we were done and almost home to shower off the pancaked mud off our bruised bodies. It was a really sexy look despite the fact that we smelled disgusting. I might be over exaggerating since we were getting up close and personal with the ChickFilA cow and the Geico Gecko after the race but I probably shouldn’t judge how serious our smelliness was by the reaction of an animal that lives on a farm and one that can expel “a foul-smelling material and feces onto their aggressors (thank you Wikipedia).”
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| Finishing! |
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| My legs. |
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| Shanners' Blisters. Hardcore. |
I am still waiting for MarathonFoto to upload the professional pictures. Should any be incredibly amusing I will come back and repost this but for now I leave you with the pageant wave.
Ta ta for now!
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