Nicaragua in 3...2...1...

We are heading to Nicaragua in three days! I absolutely can't wait.

My mom and I are going with our church in Galt, Horizon, to Nicaragua next week. We will be doing some construction projects and hanging out with the community. 

Life is seriously an adventure...and I'm thankful for it. 

Shamrockn' Half Marathon

Well. We did it! Lydia and I ran our first half-marathon today. And if I think I'm truly honest with myself, it probably won't be my last. The feeling of crossing the finish line was absolutely worth running every single step of those 13.1 miles.

We laid out everything the night before. I was asleep by 9pm. Lydia was asleep by 10pm. That is ridiculously early for us!

We woke up before the sun and drove downtown. The sun was rising as we crossed the river walking to Raley Field.

I knew quite a few people running this morning too. Here's Jacob! Nice shorts bro.

My boss (RLC) Christina. She was actually the person that first put the thought of running a half marathon in my head. We talked about goals during RA training last summer and this was one of hers. It ended up becoming one of mine too!

The MacLeods. My next door neighbors. Good job Sierra on running your first half marathon, too!

We call each other "Frandie" It's kinda our thing. The shamrocks on the bottoms have our names on them. (Auds and Lyds)

We started lining up in our wave. We ran in Wave Three. Our start time was 8:15am.

Look at all these people! We were in a large group for about the first mile. 

I seriously could not get over the fact that we were about to run 13.1 miles. Our training was not what we had expected it to be...we barely trained in the last month. The longest run we ever did was 5 miles. Oops. However, the DJ was fun and I was just stoked to run with my Frandie. We can do anything together!

The Race:

Mile 1: I still cant get over the fact I was running a half marathon

Mile 3: Feeling good...wondering when it's gonna start hurting.

Mile 5: Confident.

Mile 6: Lydia and I decide that we will not walk in the race....ahhh!

Mile 8: Feeling good...hitting a bit of the runner's high. Rockin the run.

Mile 10: My wall...I hated every step of that mile.

Mile 11: Gaining some confidence back.

Mile 12-12.5: Why do these miles feel like they're getting longer and longer? Crazy....

Mile 12:5-Still hard...but we came this far. Can't stop now!

Entering the stadium: I don't know where the extra energy and confidence came from...but we just starting running faster! It felt so good.

We sprinted across that finish line!

I cheered and thought, "Did I just do that?" Then Lydia hugged me and I thought I was gonna collapse. 

Our support group: Laura, Sarah, Melissa, my mom (Tanya) and Aubrey.

My mom is seriously the best. She first found us at about 1.75 miles. We gave her quick high fives as we ran past....then we saw her two other times before she was cheering us on at the finish line. She drove around Sac just to keep us motivated throughout the whole race. She's the sweetest!

Laura and Aubrey found us around mile 8.5 and cheered us on as we ran up a hill. Laura took the above picture of us running. Awesome action shot! 

We did it!

Remember awful mile 10? I just prayed. Lord, this is all through Your strength...and it will all be for Your glory. 

Ain't that the truth? Lydia and I knew that we could not run this on our own...and not even with each other. We definitely had to rely on the strength of Jesus to run those 13.1 miles. My faith was definitely strengthened today!

A month ago, or even yesterday, I couldn't tell you how I was going to finish this half-marathon. I wasn't even convinced I could do it without stopping. 

Get out there and do something you never thought you could do...you just might surprise yourself!

Tree Number One.

Adventures are fun. They make life fun. They make friendships fun. I like them. And I felt real adventurous last night. 

And we didn't even have to leave campus.

After a CRU event, Reese and I found Nicole in the halls. We all live in the Res Halls. Fun right? Well, I was NOT ready to call it a night. It was around 9:30pm, I had class in the morning, but who cares. 

Have you ever heard of geocaching? Well, we started off looking for one that was apparently in the Res Halls. No luck, so we moved on to a different one on campus. This one was a ton of fun. It had us finding these rocks on campus and then plugging their numbers into the coordinates. It was tough at night and we weren't able to finish it. We found all the rocks, but not the cache. But, we are determined to find it before the semester ends!

Then, we headed to a cache that I had done before. I did my best to give creative clues to Reese and Nicole.

This is us in the elevator of a parking structure. We were prepared with flashlights and a headlamp. Super professional.

The cache! Complete with a bandaid...thanks!

You would think that'd be enough. However, all the trees on campus are tagged and numbered. This is where the real blog story begins. We started the hunt for tree number one.

I knew the general direction to go and luckily the tree numbers were getting smaller and smaller. 67, 57, 15, 7, 4, but where was number one?! There are literally over a thousand trees. 

BAM! We found it! We literally were cheering as a couple walked by. They were kind enough to take our picture.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but that tag definitely says "1"!

Well, you can't find a tree and not climb it. But you see, I am not a tree climber. Never have been. I'm short, it's hard, and I rarely try.

Reese got up the tree, no problem. 

However, Nicole and I really struggled. Well, I finally made it up the tree.

Notice I didn't say that I climbed the tree. I stepped into Nicole's hands and grabbed on to Reese's wrist. Together, I was boosted and pulled up the tree. Quite an adventure.

Then it was Nicole's turn!

The process began again. She stepped into my hands, grabbed on to Reese's wrist, and up she went!

Thanks Reese!

I am surprised campus police didn't question us. Three hooligans with flashlights: hunting rocks, searching for a tree, and then climbing one...three times.

What adventure is complete without battle wounds? 

Even though I technically didn't climb the tree, I still tried to grapple my way up with my arms. I was left with these lovely scratches. 

I had such a fun night and am convinced that life is what you make of it!

How have you made life adventurous lately?

Songs Worth Sharing

Sometimes, you find those songs that you just love and you don't mind listening to over. and over. and over again. Here are a few I wanted to share with you.

Warren Barfield

Love Is Not A Fight

Ron Pope

A Drop In the Ocean

Gavin DeGraw

Soldier

Enjoy!