Bringing in a New Year By Looking at the Past and Moving Towards the Future

During the beginning of each year, I find it fun to make resolutions and look back on what I wrote the year before. When I did this as a teenager I was usually disappointed to flip back in my journal or find my “resolution” piece of paper and see that I didn’t keep any of them. Thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case this year. So just for the fun of torturing myself by looking back to the beginning of 2012, here are my resolutions from last year.

1) Graduate- Check
2) Get fit- Somewhat check… see this year’s resolution for more info.
3) Eat Healthier- Check
4) Write more- Definitely check
5) Do something outside of my comfort zone- Check… my last semester of college definitely accomplished this.
6) Get back to me- Last year the last sentence of this goal read “I need to learn how to balance new and old and that's a big goal.” I did that in college but after I graduated, I kind of failed on this one, oops.
7) Get a kick butt internship- Check
8) Ride more- Check during school… not so much now
9) Blog more- Check

Overall, I did pretty good in 2012. I’d even venture to guess that this was my best year resolution wise. Of course, leaving behind one list of resolutions means that I have to create another. Thankfully for my sanity, this list is much shorter.

1) Meet more people – What kind of resolution list would this be without a self-improvement item? I’ve lived in Lexington for almost seven months now but during the first six I was afraid to really create a social life since I didn’t know if I would be staying and building a bunch of relationships just didn’t sound like fun if I was leaving again. Now that I am here for the long haul, it is time to act like it.

This is probably my hardest resolution because I am not a very social person when it comes to new people. If you know me, you know that I usually don’t shut up after I get to know you but before that, I am extremely shy. The one thing college and high school did not prepare me for was to meet new people on my own. All of my college friends came from getting to know them through hours of time together studying in the lab while most of my high school friends came from barrel races and my equestrian team. You don’t really have that as an adult. I think the first step here is finding a place to hang out where I can meet people but that’s much harder than it sounds.

2) Read 40 books – I’m pretty sure that I achieved this in 2012 but since my book list was stolen with my phone in May, I’m officially doing it. With the amount of books I read, I don’t think this will be hard but I guess I’ll find out.

3) Run a 5k- I’m four weeks into the Couch 2 5k right now and start week five on Wednesday. I was told that I would never be able to run a marathon or 5k when I was having back problems a few years ago but I am determined to prove those words wrong.

4) Visit another country – The past two years I planned on moving to another country. In 2011, I was going to study abroad in Toronto (Canada) for a year but that obviously did not happen. My plan just 12 months ago was to be in England right now attending graduate school and unless Kentucky is England, I didn’t do that either. With LH going to South Korea to teach for at least a year, I plan on visiting her sometime during this year. 

It’s going to be a bit hard since I have a wedding in Florida to go to in June and I am planning on taking a few days to move the horses here in the spring which is about a week trip, but I am determined to make my other country visit work. My long time goal is to leave the country at least once a year for a vacation or work but for now I’m just focusing on 2013.

5) Avoid petty arguments - I will full admit that I am an overreactive person. If someone tries to start an argument with me without making it into an actual discussion, I get fired up and jump in with both feet (although, I have gotten better on both fronts) This has got me into arguments that just weren't worth my time and in the new year, I'm going to let more stuff roll off my back or at least bring a roll of duct tape with me everywhere I go. It's much easier than wasting time on stuff that was said just to be contrary. 

Goodbye to the Old, Hello to the New

Happy last day of the year and congratulations for surviving the “end of the world”. I took a few weeks off of blogging due to the craziness of the holidays and the whirlwind trip to Washington for Christmas. But I’m back and decided to do a nice little “reflective” post on the year because honestly, there isn’t much else to talk about from the two weeks I was gone. So here’s a quick recap of 2012.

I started 2012 in the middle of a freak out. I was entering my last semester as an undergraduate student and when I left WT for winter break, I had convinced myself that I needed to stay an extra semester to get my minor. This was mostly due to the thought that I wasn't ready for the "real world" after spending 20 years in school. Thankfully winter break talked me out of that idea, even after my advisor and friends had failed. Just a few weeks into the new year, I landed my USEF internship, which went from three months to six after I decided that graduating in May was for the best. This definitely helped keep my worrying about the future at bay for a while, giving me time to freak about other things (like WT telling me I needed some more things to graduate the day that late registration for classes closed 4 weeks into the semester).

A lot of school things happened during the first half of the year but it was mostly a blur of college and friends that went way too fast (except for February, who knew the shortest month of the year could make itself so long). But I made it through it (mostly) alive and after traveling 5,400 miles in 2 ½ weeks after graduation, I moved to Kentucky after dropping my horse off in Washington.

While I came to Kentucky with one set of goals, they slowly formed to another set. Moving to Kentucky was definitely the best thing I’ve done career-wise as I found opportunities here that I wouldn’t have in any other place. I learned a lot from the USEF and in the fall made my move to the racing industry when I got my first real journalism job at the Paulick Report. Working seven days a week was a bit of an adjustment between PR and the USEF but I survived. During the last month of the year, I was hired as a full time employee at America’s Best Racing doing a job that I am passionate about by promoting horse racing.

There have definitely been some ups-and-downs this year but I can confidently say that it probably tops the list of years in my life. Now it’s off to see if 2013 can do the same.

It's Almost Christmas!

It is well-known that before December 1, I don't think Christmas deserves to get a ton of attention. Most of that comes from Walmart having decorations out in August but that's a rant for another day. As we are well into December, I feel like Christmas cheer is allowed here. Plus, Christmas time means that I get to see my girls. 

For most people, girls would be human but it's established that I'm not human so for me girls means horses.

Granted, I am excited to see my family and friends and I'll be spending a ton of time with them during the four days I'm there, but I can call and text them so I'm not really isolated from them while here. When it comes to the horses, I can't really see or talk to them when I'm here. And really, who could not be excited to see this face (ignore mine).

On the work front, I basically jumped right into work on Wednesday. I was trained on the CMS on Wednesday and Thursday and was doing some things that needed to be done video wise on the site only a few hours after I started. I also got to write my first story with ABR that day (ignore the date) and attend meetings going over plans for 2013 so overall it was a pretty successful first day. I've also got an exciting thing coming down the pike in 2013 with them but I'm in the preliminary stages of planning it out right now so I won't unveil it quite yet.

Tomorrow my boss (MC) is off so I am all alone in the ABR section of the office. I am a bit worried since I only have four days under my belt but I'm going in to tomorrow with some confidence that I can't totally mess the site up in less than 48 hours. MC comes back on Wednesday so I'll have support in my office again. Friday is my last day before Christmas and I get to book it up to Louisville after work to chill out at AG's house for the night before getting to the airport at 4am. It's definitely going to be an interesting flight schedule both this way and back with early morning and late night flights and drives but I'm the freak that thinks stuff like that is fun.

Before I leave you for the night, I want to share this picture of the European wonder Frankel's 3/4 brother Bullet Train. It's one of my favorite pictures from when I went to go see him since it's not the normal head on shot or have him centered type of shot. Playing around with weird angles is successful at times.

Plans change

Wow, it has been a long time since I last wrote here. When I originally planned this blog post, I was going to write it on December 1st so I wouldn't have to worry about it for a week after I landed in Vancouver today. But unless I'm mistaken, this is not Vancouver and my plans to blog over the past month have obviously taken the wrong path... but more on that later.

First, a quick update on my living situation for the past month. I moved out of the last place I was staying at in the beginning of November after some... tension with a roommate. It was a crazy time but I survived and all is well. I'm currently in my own apartment and it is nice to not have to worry about offending anyone, doing stuff right away, etc. Plus, I finally got internet (the lack of which I am blaming for the blog lag), so I am reconnected to the world after a month away.

My internship also ended last week, which was a bit sad since I had finally really got the hang of everything in the past month. Even though the internship wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I moved here in June, I did learn a lot and it also helped me to shape my goals. When I first came here, I had a plan laid out but as I spent more time here and experienced some things, that plan gradually changed. 

In September, I took the job with Paulick Report and an internship with Three Chimneys, which changed everything. I still had my plan of grad school in England for Fall 2013 but it was pretty clear that I was going to be staying in Lexington for a while so that plan began to form with apartment hunting, etc.

Over the past few weeks, that plan has changed even more. I received an offer that I would have been stupid to refuse and here I am in Lexington, KY with my Christmas vacation plane safely landed in Portland, Oregon. Funny how just three weeks ago, I was looking forward to a month-long break before coming back to start my internship with Three Chimneys while working on the weekends with the Paulick Report. Now I spend this week taking a staycation in Kentucky before starting a full time job at America's Best Racing (part of The Jockey Club) next Wednesday. It is something that will farther my goals and I'm definitely ready to start that part of my career soon.

While Three Chimney's internship is still part of my plan with this new adventure, the Paulick Report unfortunately is not and I only have a few more days working with them before I move on. As for heading to Europe/England/Ireland, I'm still working that detail out (a vacation in Ireland sounds nice). But for now, my roots are pretty much firmly planted in Lexington and it's time to start actually making a life here with friends and all that jazz which was something I wasn't a big fan of doing when I didn't know if I would be packing up and leaving soon. But now that I am indeed a Bluegrass resident, the time has come to stop being a hermit. Now to learn how to do that and find a social life... it looks like Kentucky still has a few things to teach me.

But for now... it's onward and upward and this quote that I just saw on Twitter seems perfect for this blog.

           "We don't know who we are until we see what we can do." - Martha Grimes

P.S. For those of you that think I am extremely blonde, I didn't miss my plane today, I just rescheduled it for a shorter vacation. I'll be driving up to Louisville for my flight in about 2 weeks.

What just happened?

If you are reading this, I am officially saying “Welcome to my crazy life”. To say that this week has been full of ups and downs would be an understatement. I didn’t blog last week due to the intense Breeders’ Cup festives that had me working crazily on both normal duties and extra articles. On top of that, Nano started so it was full of crazy but not nearly as crazy as the weekend.

The weekend started normal with my usual get up at 6:30ish for work on Saturday. The night before I had spent some extra time out watching the first day of the Breeders’ Cup after work at Keeneland and prepared for the next day of even more Championship races. Within 16 hours of waking up, I was looking for place to move and by Sunday evening, I was out due to a difference of opinions with a roommate.

18 hours after that, I was filling out an application for an apartment and here I sit on Thurday, a little over 24 hours out from signing a lease on said apartment. Yes, it has definitely been a crazy week.

But in addition to the craziness, I have kept myself in the race side of things. On Monday, I went to the Fasig-Tipton night session where I saw some of my favorite racehorses of the last few years. The 2011 Horse of the Year Havre De Grace sold for $10 million and my favorite little trier, Switch, sold for $4.3 million after running third in a Breeders’ Cup race just three days before. Tuesday and Wednesday found me with limited internet and the Keeneland November sale getting over hours before I got off work so I took sort of a “forced” break but I’m back tonight (Thursday) for part of a Keeneland session after work unless they continue going as fast as they are right now.  

This weekend continues the “busyness” that is my life between moving for the second time in five days (and something like the fifth time this year) and work but now that the stress has passed over, I’m finally able to focus again.

Now I just need to find that part time job I told myself I’d get while I’m doing Paulick Report and my new internship during the winter and I will be set!

Hello Readers

Hello faithful readers! Welcome to another edition of my very lazy night off. I have a ton that I could/should be doing but instead, I am just sitting back and relaxing after a day at work. I haven't had one of these in a long time.

Let's give you a quick recap of the past month since I haven't had a ton of time to write on here. September was the Keeneland Fall Yearling Sale... that pretty much took up all my time until the last week of the month. I then joined the Paulick Report as a Weekend Editor, which took up the time that had been opened up with the Sale ending.

I flew to Texas the first weekend of October for a friend's wedding.... came back to get back to my seven day a week schedule. During all of that, I was putting the finishing touches on my Fulbright (yes, I was still working on that) and changed my research proposal literally a week before the application was due. That was a mess of double checking to make sure it all still fit in to my original proposal, but that is done and in the judges' hands. Thank God for that.

During all of this, I've been looking for an apartment that I can move into at the beginning of the year when I return from Washington. I've also been maintaining my other blog and writing for the Bleacher Report during the week. Add on top of that the Fasig-Tipton October Sale and my life has been insane. Now see why I'm taking a month off?

However, I am not complaining one bit. I LOVE the craziness and have adopted the motto "I'll sleep when I'm dead". Thankfully, that's not the truth as I will be able to sleep in December when I take my month break (minus the Paulick Report) which I'm excited for.

However, I have to survive November first (this is where we switch to the future).

November is a month full of big races, big sales, and Nanowrimo where I'll attempt to write a 50,000 word novel. I've done it in the past and it is a blast but a ton of work. Nano starts November 1 (next Thursday), which means that next week will be insane.

The first weekend of November is Breeders' Cup. I am only working the actual event on Saturday but Breeders' Cup week is insane. This is the first time in three years that I'll be missing the event and I'm pretty sure I'll be more busy here than I was at the last two (the Breeders' Cup is significant to me because it was the first "real" event I covered onsite when I had a press pass last year).

I literally have a day "off" where there are only a few stakes races that I'll be covering for PR. However, the next day starts the last big auction rush of the year. Monday night is Fasig-Tipton's night sale and it will be insane. Some huge mares, such as Havre De Grace will be selling there and I'm fully expecting to go both during my lunch break (F-T's grounds are 5 minutes from the Horse Park) so I can look at some mares then that night since it starts at 5pm.

F-T is only one night but the next day, Keeneland starts. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to go look at the sales horses during the weekend (although, I'm trying to figure out how to on Sunday) but you can bet that I'll probably be out there every night both weeks of the Sale.

Because I like pretty colors, I took a picture of my calendar for the month minus packing days.

This may sound crazy... but I can't wait! No Sleep November starts in exactly seven days!

Until next time,
Mel

I've Been Brainwashed

Welcome back to my busy life (which will make for a short blog). I just returned from a five day trip home to Canyon where I got together with a bunch of friends for a wedding so I had a break for the first time in about a month. But crazily enough, it wasn't as relaxing as I thought.

While I loved being back with my friends and having my "social life" back, I couldn't wait to get back to Lexington. I knew I am attached to the city, but not that attached. However, unlike Canyon, where I knew I would leave eventually... I can't see myself leaving Lexington. It's the only place I've really considered staying, which is weird to me but kind of nice at the same time.

I am back here for 2 months then head to Washington for a month, we'll see how that changes my thought process, but I'm 100% coming back in January for at least 3 months so I have that going for me. We'll see what happens after that. 

One thing for certain is that this is the right place for me right now and I'm kind of hoping it stays that way.

Big Announcement No. 2

Another week, another big announcement (that makes me sound so important so I love to say it).

As my USEF internship comes to a close, I've had to start wondering about my future once again. My ultimate goal is to stay in Lexington because I 100% love it here. So in came typical Melissa.

If you know me, you know that I get pretty crazy ideas and most of the time, I don't give them a second thought after looking over the "reality" of them. That's probably a good thing.

But last week, I got a crazy thought and when I couldn't find many cons for it, I stuck with it and let it build. I contacted Jen, laid out my plan and got her approval. Then I went to the Paulick Report and asked for their approval just in case it would be a conflict of interest. After a few nerve-racking hours, I received approval from that side. 

I then e-mailed Jen back and told her that I had the necessary approval to go on with my plan. (If you're still with me here, congrats!)

So as of January, I will be working at the Paulick Report during the weekends and a marketing intern at Three Chimneys two afternoons a week. 

My internship with the USEF ends December 7, although I may try to change that, and I'm planning on going home for a month to recharge my batteries as the few weeks I had between graduation and moving here were mostly spent running around.

I may also try to find a new apartment to move into as living in the dining room of a friend's isn't the best situation for long term. However, that one is still up in the air at this point.

So there you have it.  As of January, I will be fully involved in the horse racing industry. I will also be taking more steps towards moving to Lexington permanently. Oh boy! 

And just as an extra for those that know my joke about taking over the world...

 

Welcome to My Life

I'm sneaking this post in a little late this week due to how busy I was with the second week of the Keeneland September Sale.

First off, last weekend in celebration of my big news (below), Jen Roytz invited me to Three Chimneys to "celebrate" with the horse that started it all, Point Given. While two bags of carrots were distributed among all the Three Chimney stallions currently present on the farm (some are vacationing in Australia), a whole bag (plus one) went to my main man. 

Jen got pictures of me spending time with multiple stallions, but this one is definitely my favorite. I really can't describe how much I love this horse.



This week at the internship, I finally got a "big" project. The network is going through some changes so I get to go through all the videos on the server and put values in the metadata so searchers can find the riders, horses, events, etc that they want. I'm guessing it will be my final hurrah since it will take months to go through and I only have about 2 1/2 months left. There aren't really any big shows coming that we'll be working either so metadata will probably take over my life until December.

That brings me to my next piece of news. Almost two weeks ago, I was hired on as weekend editor at the Paulick Report. This weekend was my first weekend and I loved doing all the work. While being put in charge of the website with no one to hold my hand in person (phone and e-mail were my friends) was a little scary, I feel like I got it down for the most part with just a few "what am I supposed to do now" moments. Ray Paulick also gave me some tips on my writing and headlines so I'll be making a "cheat sheet" to refer to for years to come and I'm sure I'll be adding to it. 

Next weekend is a pretty big stakes weekend with, I believe, 14 stakes in two days. Even more crazily, about 11 of those are on Saturday. This weekend was a little light on stakes races and news, which I'm thankful for since it was my first weekend, but I'm worried that next weekend I'll be a little overwhelmed.

However, at lunch with Jen after she dragged me away from the farm, she told me that she had breakfast with Brad Cummings of the Paulick Report earlier that week. While at first I was a little suspicious of them talking about me, he told her that I remind him of him when I was younger and she said that she thinks the same. That's a huge compliment to me and inspires me even more. It does add some pressure but I thrive under pressure so I'm okay with that.

On top of that pressure, when Brad and I met for my pre-work training, he told me that he's going to push me pretty hard because he knows that I'm not just here for a temporary job and that's 100% true. I want to make the racing industry my long term career (even more now that I have a weekend of racing journalism under my belt) so that was welcome music to my ears. 

As I told Ray when he was putting me through a soft edition of writing boot camp yesterday as I posted articles, I'm learning every time he says something (it's all going on the cheat sheet) and I want be educated as much as I possibly can both about my mistakes and things to look out for in the future. I feel like PR is the perfect place for that because if this weekend is any indication, they are as eager to teach me as I am to learn.

I definitely feel like there are big things coming down the pike in coming months and can't wait to see what the future brings.

Yearlings, Fish... and Yoga

Welcome to the crazy first week of Fall for me. I started off the week in a yoga class and ended it at Keeneland. I told you it was crazy.

Last weekend, I went to my first yoga class in probably about three years. Unlucky for me, it was an "all levels" class so by the end of the warm up, I was exhausted. However, I went to the class two more times last week and it got a little better each time. After Thursday's class, I even added some extra activities in after class. Sadly, I probably won't be able to make it to the classes this week (however, I'm going to try) due to being super busy, which leads me to my next topic... Keeneland.

The two weeks I've been waiting for are here. Over the last two days, I've spent about 18 hours looking at all sorts of yearlings. From beauties to those that are "unfortunate", I've seen all different types. I've also gotten some good tips by hanging out with more "professional" types of photographers during the two days. 

The highlights of the weekend were getting to shake Carl Nafzger's hand and have him tease me about my age; meet awesome people working the consignments, including my new "favorites" Mike at Mill Ridge and Charles at Lane's End of Zenyatta fame; chilling out within five feet of Bob Baffert as he looked at horses; and meeting the yearling half sister to the awesome Point Given (picture below).

I will be going back tomorrow for the first night of the sale and my first ever "live" thoroughbred auction, so I'm sure there will be some more highlights.

I took over 5,000 pictures during the weekend and am having to do a little shifting around on hard drives to get them to fit on my computer but I expect even more over the coming days. I am thinking about doing an "opinion" blog about my thoughts of who I find impressive and such but that has to wait until I get to actually look at all my pictures since I can't remember who is who right now other than a few big standouts (Hip No. 111 for one).

On the sad side of things, after a week long battle with trying to fix the effects that Lexington water had on my fish, he has traveled his last mile. "Eddie" was literally the traveling fish. I got him right before I moved to Moscow, Idaho in 2008 and he was the only "survivor" of their water (I went there with 3, I came back with one). He then went to Texas with me where he wintered with my friend in Houston while I went home for Christmas and did the Washington to Texas trip back and forth four times. His journey ended with Lexington so all in all, he may be the most traveled fish ever with over 10,000 miles. Pretty good for a fish that's only supposed to live a year or two. While other people live with cats and dogs, I lived with a fish... so I guess you could consider him my cat. RIP Eddie.

Last but not least, I *may* have a big announcement coming up but it's not confirmed and I don't want to jinx it so I'm just going to leave you with that. So stay tuned!

The Blunt Thoughts

Please excuse the long break between posts, my mom was in town at the end of last week so I spent the whole week running around trying to get ahead in order to spend more time not worrying about anything.

Her vacation was definitely eye-opening for me and is probably why I'm being a little more blunt in this blog post.

Last week was a blast for the most part. I exchanged e-mails with one of the top writers in the racing business to get advice on how to further my "career" and then toured an amazing barn and Rood & Riddle with my mom. It did have it's boring moments but overall, it was a good week.

This week I'm being entrusted with writing the press releases for two National Championships, although I'm convinced I've only been assigned them because everyone else has other stuff to do. However, I'm not complaining since it is something. So over the past few days, I've been writing previews for my two shows. I've also been updating all the bios for riders on the Network. That was literally a three week job that made life a little more interesting.

The good thing about this internship is that it's taught me that I would rather be staying busy than sitting at my desk in the office. When I first started, I was all about being in media relations, even if it meant having a desk where times could be slow job. But now that I've experienced it and had a taste of doing journalism as well, I'm definitely pulling for a job that let's me get out of the office and/or has me constantly active. I'm not a fan of sitting around at my desk all day when I could be writing so it's definitely been eye opening.

Because of this, I'm going to start searching for a journalism job soon. My internship gets over December first and I want to have some sort of equestrian journalism job by then. However, if they offer me something and I'm still on the jobless side, I'll probably take it just so I can stay in Lexington. I do love the USEF, but I think I'd be better suited for the racing industry. It's going to be an interesting situation.

My state of mind right now is journalism or bust. I'm really hoping there's not going to be any busting when it comes right down to it. My goal is to be able to say on November 15 (my deadline for myself) that I will 100% be staying in Lexington with a job at [insert publication here]. Because of that, I am going to start job searching on September first (this Saturday) and maybe if I get really lucky, I'll be secure enough in my future that I can move the girl (horses) here before winter. Although, I'm really doubting that last part. 

My "no worries" college life is quickly drawing to a close. But while I was panicked about it in May, I'm strangely calm about it now. I'm hoping that means good things are in store for the rest of 2012.

The Bike Challenge

This week's post is going to take a bit of a different tone. Instead of one of those boring "update" threads, it's time to talk about motivation.

About a month ago, I briefly mentioned the "Challenge" my internship was doing with exercising. As a way to motivate employees to get healthy, an awards program was sent out so employees could earn a gold, silver, or bronze medal (in addition to other prizes) for going so many miles. The idea was apparently to mimic the Olympic type of spirit when it came to the challenge so more people would be interested.

If you know me, you know that I'm really competitive, so getting the e-mail with what had to be done to get the top medal immediately motivated me. Thankfully, one of the activities was riding a bike, which could also be an exercise bike, so I jumped right in (I swim like a rock and walking long distances just doesn't work for me). 

Somewhere along the way, my brain confused the mileage and I was convinced I had to go 250 miles so I put in a lot more miles in a short amount of time than I probably should have when getting into shape, oh well. The actual mileage was 150 for the gold medal and I was somewhere around the 190 mark at the end of the challenge so I definitely hit the gold standard.

Now that the challenge is over, I've created the "three week habit" of going to the gym nearly every day. Thankfully, I can also have a bit more freedom of what sort of exercises I do every day since I'm not stuck on getting so many miles in a day for the challenge

Doing the same pattern on the bike for 5 weeks (two before Young Riders and the last three weeks) wore me down since I wanted to get 10 miles every day instead of changing up my exercise plan. My big thing now is to mix it up every day to make it more fun again.

My big fear for the end of the challenge was that I wouldn't have any motivation towards continuing on once it was over. I've never been one to really sit down and accomplish goals when it comes to the gym so I had to find another way other than just losing x amount of pounds or really any "normal" goals.

The good thing about this summer is that I have a friend that is returning to the soccer field after a devastating injury last season. While watching her go through the rehabilitation process after the injury (something that I actually witnessed), I knew how much it would mean for her to get back onto the field. Therefore, her blog the other day inspired me to keep working out, especially since I still have the ankle injury from hell causing problems.

Another inspiration came from an Olympic Athlete that I actually know through mutual friends and my cousin since she graduated three years ahead of me in school. I've followed Kara's career pretty closely since she started throwing javelin in college because she was the "A" standard that a lot of us tried to live up to in athletics (or maybe just me, who knows). 

She hurt her knee at Trials this summer when she was qualifying for the Olympics but soldiered on and made it to London. It wasn't until after her qualifying throw at London (due to the injury, she didn't get past the first round), that she admitted she had torn her ACL. After finding that out, I was in awe of her strength to not just make it to the Olympics with this injury, but also to put in a pretty good throw. 

She was already motivating to me, especially after learning about the injury, but after reading her blog, I felt stupid for even having a thought of no motivation at the gym.

My pretend goal for the gym (just because it makes me feel better to have something to look towards that is workout related) is to get into at least half the shape I was in back when I was active in sports. 

My real goal is to strengthen my ankle so it stops whining and my back so I can avoid the pain that comes with my unfused vertebra moving around when I'm misusing my body. After tweaking my back at Young Riders and getting a small taste of that pain (something that I know too well from two bad episodes, one that ruined my barrel season a few years ago), I'm eager to avoid it.

Due to the fact that this blog wouldn't be complete without a horse mention, my not-so-secret "secret" goal is to get in good enough shape that when I seriously start riding again, I can be back at the "high school level" that I was at six years ago. I have some plans on changing disciplines in the near future so being in shape will definitely help with that.

Who knew my competitive nature and a bike challenge would push me in a way that I haven't been able to push myself in a long time? Definitely not me. Hopefully it's something that I can keep rolling as we enter Fall and the Holiday season.