I've been tagged?

Ok, so I guess I've been tagged. This is the first time this has happened to me, so here goes:

Four places I visit over & over: (these all show how boring my life is right now)
1. The Nu Skin Cafeteria -- nearly every morning for my usual (a breakfast wrap)
2. The Tanner Building at BYU for class twice a week.
3. The BYU Library (I'm there more often than I would like to be)
4. Dell Taco (After eating bean burritos nearly every other day for the past year, I'm still not sick of them)

Four People who e-mail-txt me regularly:
1. Kristin
2. Whit
3. My work buddies
4. Lots of people I'd rather not receive emails/texts from

Four favorite foods:
1. Cafe Rio- Pork Burrito enchilada style (I'm with Kristin on this one)
2. Whiskey River BBQ Burger from Red Robin
3. Carl's Junior Western Burger
4. Carolina Pork sandwich from Goodwood
5. BBQ Chicken Salad from Rhumbi Grill (I know I already have 4, but I had to include this one)

Four places I'd rather be:
1. Anywhere with Kristin
2. In the mountains
3. Moab
4. Traveling the world

Four movies I'd watch over & over:
1. Tommy Boy
2. Bourne Series (great minds think alike)
3. Oceans 11, 12, 13
4. Cast Away

Groups I love to listen to:
1. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2. The Killers
3. Keith Urban
4. Led Zeppelin

Four People I am tagging: (Heck, does anyone even read this boring blog?)
1. JRuss
2. Holli
3. Jake
4. Rachel

Wasatch Back Relay

This past weekend I ran the Wasatch Back Relay with a team from Nu Skin. The Wasatch Back Relay is a 181 mile relay race that starts in Logan and finishes in Park City. The race starts Friday morning and finishes Saturday afternoon. Teams of 12 participate, running all day and through the night. We had 8 runners from Nu Skin and 4 non-employees participate. Our team, The Diff Dems (short for The Difference Demonstrated, Nu Skin's tagline), ended up finishing 347th out of 545 teams and 28th out of 50 coed corporate teams with a final finishing time of 29 hours 21 minutes and 34 seconds.

I think the highlight of the race for me was actually getting some sleep -- a whole 3 hours worth. At one of the checkpoints (a junior high school in Heber), they had wrestling mats set up on the gym floor for runners to sleep on. I lied down and conked right out. Three hours later, I was up and at em and back to running again.

I had what everyone claimed to be the hardest section of the race -- the Ragnar hill. It's a 4-mile leg with an 8% grade on the way from Midway to Park City. The elevation gain is around 1,700 ft. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to run the whole way and would have to walk. About a mile into the run, I joined up with another runner and we talked while we ran the rest of the way. I think that saved my bacon because I was able to keep my mind on the conversation rather than the pain. The Ragnar hill turned out to be not so bad. It was much easier than what I was expecting.

Overall, I had a great time. It was a lot of fun getting to know my teammates and running with them for over 29 hours straight. I will definitely do it again next year.

Lunchtime Runs

For the past couple of years I've tried to make it out a few times a week for a lunchtime run. I love these runs because they get me away from my desk for an hour and help break up the day. I use this time to clear my head, think about how my life's going and work through problems or issues I'm facing. It's also sometimes nice to just crank up my ipod and let my mind wander as I listen to tunes while I run. For much of the past year and a half, I've spent a lot of time thinking about where I am at this stage in my life. To be honest, some of the runs have been a bit depressing as I have thought about where I am and how it is different from where I thought I would be at this point in my life. Towards the end of each of these depressing runs, I try to pump myself up by telling myself to hang in there and that things will get better.

Well, things have gotten better! On my run today, I looked up at the clear blue sky, then at the green mountains ahead of me and thought, "life is good!" I'm am so happy with the way my life is going right now. Things really couldn't be better. Sure, life isn't perfect -- school is sometimes frustrating, work is sometimes boring -- but for the most part, I have a lot to be grateful for. The run was really hot today, but I was so happy to be out there soaking up the sun and feeling good about life.

And they call the thing rodeo...

Last night it was bulls and blood, dust and mud - you guessed it - the Strawberry Days rodeo in Pleasant Grove. Many of you probably know that last year I pulled a team together to do the wild cow milking event. We ended up winning the whole thing and we were awarded some prize money and some pretty sweet belt buckles. Well, ever since then, we couldn't wait to sign up and do it again this year. As the reigning champions, we felt we had an obligation to come back and win it again.

Sign ups were the day after Memorial Day. After work, I headed right over to the organizer's house to sign my team up. It turned out that I needed the signatures of each member of my team in order to sign up. So, I had to take the form to work the next day and get everyone's signatures. I had my other team member head back over the organizer's house right after work to turn in our paperwork and sign us up. Well, the last spot had been taken 15 minutes before he got there. I was so disappointed! It was definitely the biggest disappointment of the year for me -- and believe me, I've had some pretty big disappointments.

I tried calling the organizer to talk him into letting us sign up anyway, but no luck. He said it was first come, first serve and there was nothing he could do. I was so stinking mad!

So, last night I went to the rodeo anyway. It was so hard to see the arena, smell the cows and the dirt and know that I was not going to be able to compete. I nearly started crying. I had to try hard to hold back the tears. As soon as they started making the announcement for the wild cow milkers to get ready, my heart started beating faster and my adrenaline started pumping. When the cows were let out of the gates, the entire audience rose to their feet. The cows were especially wild this year and not a single team held on to their ropes. It was quite a sight watching all the teams running around the arena trying to catch their cows. I especially enjoyed watching one guy as he held onto his cow's neck while it drug him clear across the arena. I was so impressed he was able to hang on, even with the cow bucking and running. His team ended up taking first place. I wished so bad I could have been him.

Even though I was unable to compete, it was still great to be at the rodeo. And having Kristin by my side made it even better. I will make sure that we get into the wild cow milking event next year no matter what. I will forge signatures, break legs, hire a hit man -- whatever it takes to get in. And my team will reclaim our title of wild cow milking champions!

I guess I'm finally doing it

Ok, so I'm new to this whole blog thing. When I get a break from school in July I actually might post something worth reading.