Now that I have slowly started recovering from Saturday, and can somewhat begin to comprehend what I actually endured in the 3 hours and 7 minutes, I will share my thoughts.
I have never in my 24 years of living been tested like I was Saturday. Even now, looking back I wonder, how in the hell did I do that? I feel a sense of accomplishment. I sense of pride, and even a little stupid. My pants almost came off during the first obstacle. Not a thing I could do about it. Mud was all over the place. Luckily, the next obstacle was a ditch full of water. ICE WATER. I thought I was gonna die. I starting making noises I had never heard before. I had to be pulled out of the ditch by Taylor. My pants almost came off again. GREAT. Not even 2 miles in and I've shown my hiney to 100's of people. I recover and jog a mile or so, only to be greeted by a rope and a 15' platform to jump from. On my way up the rope? Almost loose my pants for the 3rd time. At this point, I'm really starting to reconsider my apparel. I jump from the platform while whaling my limbs around like a crazy person, land in the freezing cold water, and begin making the weird hyperventilating noises again, climb over a mud wall, and then have to swim 50 yards to safety. WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO?
over the wall thanks to Taylor
We jogged for a while after this, and I had time to pull my pants up, and compose myself. I will say, after this, I had no more trouble with my pants-I pulled those suckers up good. The next 3 miles we crawled under nets, swam through more water, maneuvered over 20' tall hay-bales, and climbed a mud hill while a fire hose was being pointed at us. Berlin wall? Sure. I'll climb that 3x's. There was a mile of mud. We had to carry logs on our backs, and Taylor decided he was going to be lumberjack man on this obstacle and carry the biggest log in the pile. More water, but this time, we had to swim under barrels. I drank a lot of mud water. More climbing up nets, jumping down into water, and of course lots of mud. Instead of running through fire, they built a smokehouse because of a burn ban in the area. Off the hook? Not so fast. Taylor enters first and 2 steps in he vanishes. Ditch full of water with barrels floating in it greets him on the way down. Gotta do it. Taylor helps me out and then we help other teammates out of the hole.
pause for picture after smokehouse
More running, but only 2 miles left! Electric shock therapy was next and thankfully, last. Out of our group, I was one of the last to run through. Scoping out the "best" route to take. Definitely not doing what Taylor did, and that's face plant.
After 19 obstacles and 10+ miles, we couldn't wait to be finished. The Dos Equis we got for finishing was quite the refreshment.
Almost 3 days later, I am bruised from head to toe and still in disbelief. I couldn't have done it without Taylor. He was a beast and really had my back the whole time. Made me love the kid even more than I already do. Go Team!
survived the 10,000 volts!
teamwork baby
face plant aftermath
so happy
go team!
And I have to show you this....Watch for Taylor- he has on an Alabama Crimson Tide shirt, and I think is the 5th one.
24 is kinda of a blah birthday. But, Taylor made this not so special birthday extra special. Maybe it's the whole being married thing-it just makes everything better? Taylor really did go out of his way this time. He had a cake a roses waiting on me when I got home from work. I can't tell you how excited I was to see cake. We haven't seen starches in over 2 weeks, so needless to say, I destroyed it.
After the cake was demolished, Taylor had us reservations at Veranda in Homewood. There, I continued to break my diet and had the most wonderful shrimp and grits. Dram was our next stop in Mountain Brook Village, where Taylor and I were going to have a drink or 2 and then head home. So I thought; until a loud snort in my ear occurred. You heard right, a snort. Only Beth would do that. She and Adrienne showed up to my surprise, followed by 15 other of our friends. BEST Birthday yet. I really was so surprised. At first I was confused about what everyone was doing there, and how they all knew it was my birthday, and then I was worried that Lola was in her kennel for too long. Adrienne saved the day on that one!
Saturday, my actual Birthday, was handled by my Mom and Dad with more cheating on our diet and some great fam time. I really am so blessed to have such great friends and a wonderful family!
These past couple of days have been frigid! I can hardly take it anymore. My bones hurt, I have an awful cough, and on top of that, I sound like a man. I can remember thinking at one point in my life, being hoarse was sexy...why did I ever think a raspy voice was anything but annoying I have no idea.
To get through these next couple of freezing cold days I thought I would share some warm thoughts/pictures with you....Cabo anyone?
Conservative. That is what I've been trying to be with our money since we got married. That is, until I discovered the fabric that has been searching for me. That's right, searching..for me. So, on impulse I decided to have these 4 pillows made and kinda sorta informed Taylor of my decision. Pillows don't sound like I big deal, huh? Welp, for me-it's huge. I have invested nearly nothing to our home. All of our decor is either a gift, a find from a consignment or estate sale, or something we inherited. So, I figure I was going to start small. Four 22" square pillows seems small enough right? Baby Steps. These pillows are "Lola, NO!" pillows. I know, I am making a really big deal about this, but I am just so excited because the pillows currently on our sofa are not doing the trick. Wanna see the fabric?!
chevron patterns are making a comeback!
The softness of this paisley is a great compliment
to the above fabric!
Somehow dogs would just show up in our yard (I may or may not have had anything to do with that). Sweetie, our bulldog was one of those pets. When Sweetie first arrived, she smelt so bad my dad called her Stinky. It was awful. 3 weeks and about 10 baths later, she finally lost her smell. Sweetie is the mother of Ike and Tina who were born in 1996....YEP. 1996. That makes them 14 and some odd months. Granted, they are almost blind, close to being deaf, and teeth-less, we couldn't have a better set of pups. About a month ago, we found out that Ike had cancer. The vet couldn't tell us how serious it was, but told us to give him lots of lovin and fatten him up with a juicy steak every now and then.
Ike was my running partner, the first one to greet me when I would come home from college, and he would even try and play basketball with me...not his best sport. On our wedding day, Taylor was getting ready to remove the garter when Ike ran up and intervened. He put his head in my lap and looked up at me with those big pouty eyes-just wanting a little love and attention. Ike made it to 2011, but just barely. It's hard to imagine going home and not having him there. It really is like loosing a member of the family. I'm sure he is up in heaven with all of his teeth, and back to chasing those armadillos he loves so much.
