20th anniversary "trinket". Once upon a time Chad gave me a charm bracelet, and when something important or really memorable happened i'd get a charm for it. Now it just seems I get tattoo's.

My husband and I decided to climb Mt. Elbert, the first 14'er for both of us. This morning I had all of these random thoughts about yesterday’s climb and summit swirling around my head. I typed out a Tumblr post so I’d have a place to put them, but evidently it didn’t post. And now it’s lost. I’m devastated. I wanted to keep those thoughts. Needed to keep those thoughts.

Here’s what I remember of it..

Being out of breath from the start.

Doubt

The "puppy" trail that later became "the bitch with teeth"

A group of boys we met calling us “Texas”. We were all going up and as they passed us we chatted a minute. They were coming back down and yelled “Hey Texas? Is that you? You’re almost there”

Feeding a chipmunk that actually came and took food from my hand.

A guy attempting a sub 2 hour climb.

A wild horse, or Bigfoot, running around high up in the tree line.

Nausea

A very steep, very rocky section near the top.

Panic attacks

Rain

A husband that was not about to quit.

Summiting with the one person I can’t imagine not sharing this with.

An undescribable view that actually truly brought tears to my eyes.

I’m not sure what I expected of the climb but I’m pretty sure it isn’t what I got. I’d thought in some weird way it would be fun. It wasn’t fun. It was hard, and exhausting, and at times I hated it...hated Colorado, but I wouldn’t have missed it for anything. I got to climb a mountain with the one person I love sharing experiences in life with. I got to kiss him at the peak and share amazing views like I can’t describe with him. This is all easy to say in hindsight, 24 hours ago I felt much different.

A friend asked me if I would do it again. I’m still not sure, but I’m leaning toward yes.

"It's ok to struggle a little" That feeling after the workout, the one that makes you fall on the floor and do nothing but try to breathe, I love it. But getting there sucks. Getting there is hard, and it's painful and it's not fun. There's always a point that makes you want to quit. Your head and body begging for just a few breaths of stillness. But when you can bring yourself to it....it's the best feeling, it's why we do it.

The day started early with crossfit and way too many wall balls. Wall balls are at the bottom of my "least favorite things to do at cross fit" list. My Favorite Person and I were headed to Austin for a day trip though and I needed to get the workout in. It wasn't pretty but it got done. My reward was chocolate chip and cream cheese a kolache from the Czech bakery on the way. Totally worth it. While we we're there we took advantage of the buy a dozen get a dozen frozen kolaches free sale and got some for the kids. I expect they'll forgive us for going to Austin without them when they see them. In Austin we pretty much just walked around and saw what we saw. It's one of my favorite things to do there, or anywhere new really. I love to just walk around and explore. Austin is so outdoorsy. It's ninety degrees and full sun and it seems everyone is out walking, running or riding a bike. I love it. We're on our way home now and I already want to go back.

I haven't really posted about the end of the Open, I'm really just glad it's over and I can get back to normal training. I have things I want to work on over this next year and new things to learn before 18.1, but as of now, I just looked up my results for this year and I'm happy with them :)

The Open is tough, but when you do the same WOD one year scaled and the next make just short of the same reps but RX'd, it makes it worth it. After 17.4 we decided to 1 rep deadlifts. 210 pounds, (up from 100 pounds this time last year). I'll take that.

I’m feeding and taking care of a friends chickens this weekend. I have to say, I understand why people like them. There’s something peaceful about just sitting there, drinking coffee, and watching them do what they do.

It doesn't happen often, but occasionally this goofy dog will settle down on the couch with me and sleep. Love these lazy days :)

It's getting there. Not as smooth as I'd like, but I'm connecting them. It's a start :)

I normally don’t manage to keep my shirt on for an entire workout at the Box. It just starts to bug me. I also don’t like having shirtless pictures of myself all over social media, so I don’t post them, (I don’t advertise this blog so I don’t mind as much here). Yesterday I had my husband take pics during the warm up so I could post one. First time overhead squatting 75 pounds, in pretty excited about that. :)

This kid... He's "grown" now, has been for several months. Graduation comes in a couple of months and he'll hopefully start his on the path to his own life. It's so weird to say that. He went on a field trip with his advanced graphic design class last week to a big design firm and came home completely jazzed. I've not seen him like that in awhile. He has a goal. He's found where he wants to go. He's had a vague idea for awhile but seeing this firm seems to have have made it more real. Now we just need to figure out a path from point A to point Z.

Life

The strangest things make me feel loved. I left my phone at home today on accident. I got to work, realized what had happened and resigned myself to a day without it. 45 minutes later, there was a knock on the door, my boss thought it was the milk delivery so she opened it. It was my husband dropping off my phone. He probably has no idea, but it was one of those moments that made me smile and realize he loves me :)

Crossfit is a crazy game. Sometimes I feel strong, like I can pick up anything and conquer everything, mostly I feel like the second one though. Today was definitely the second. I NEEDED to run, (for my own sanity), I wanted to get today's workout in, so silly me thought I'd do both. I finished, but that's about it.