New Chapters

It's been a while since I last posted, and that's because my life has been a mess.  I am happy to announce that my last ultra marathon was a success!  The Mt. Hood 50k couldn't have gone better for me.  THE CURSE IS BROKEN!

So besides the series of negative, stressful, hard, and shitty times that have been my life the past few weeks, I do have some exciting news to announce.  When I first began running, I had a hard time owning that I was a runner.  One day I read a quote regarding taking ownership, and calling yourself a runner.  I wish I could remember it word for word, but it stuck out in my mind the other day when I was thinking about my new adventure as a Beachbody Coach.  I had a lot of fears at first, and there were more reasons to say no.  After I took sometime to think about it, the fears subsided, and I found more and more reasons to say yes.  So instead of holding back, I'm going all out.  Say it loud, say it proud: I am a coach!
The funny part is that my life is still in the process of falling apart essentially.  I have a limited amount of time to find a place to move, and the Portland rental market is INSANE right now.  (Please stop moving to Portland, it's not that cool here.)  I just lost my angel pup, Akayla Faith; who was literally the best dog in the universe and all of time.  I have lost a little motivation for my running ambitions.  It happens.  I have hit these walls before.  I mini break was just what I needed, and it has been nice to avoid running in the heat.  Since my adventures during Cascade Lakes Relay I have not logged too many miles, and now I have just survived Hood to Coast 2015: infamous for the horrible weather that we endured to make it from Mt Hood to Seaside.  To start my week of getting back into working out, I thought I would start with some strength training.  When I signed up to be a coach I got unlimited access to videos like Insanity, P90X, Turbo Fire, Brazil Buttlift...  So many workout videos to chose from, varying in length, difficulty, and many types of workouts.  I personally really like TurboFire.  It has a cardio aspect to it, that feels familiar to me.  It makes me feel like a ninja with the kicks, punches, and boxing maneuvers.  I also feel like already I can see a little muscle toning from my short time incorporating these workouts into my training schedule.  It doesn't take a lot of time, and I find myself kind of craving them.  The endurance junkie in me even wants to try incorporating TWO workout programs at a time, in addition to my weekly running mileage, and cross training soon.
I had to take out a loan, that I am hoping I can pay back soon with my success from this new side business of mine.  I have realized how much courage and confidence I am going to need to muster up to make this work for me.  Starting with sharing this blog on my new coaching Facebook page.  I haven't really shared this with many people, because I am was unsure how I felt about sharing my personal story with so many people.  I think it's important to me that I share my story with others, because I want them to know that I am just like every other person out there.  I struggle.  I have problems.  I am not perfect.  I have days where I fuck everything up; and then I take a huge F-IT pill and continue the trend for the next few days possibly.  I have to work very hard for what I want, and I have worked SO hard for what I have today.  Life will never be perfect, but I am hoping that this coaching opportunity will inspire other people to believe in me, and share their lives with me.  I am really excited about the connections that I will get to make.  I hope that I can help someone become a better runner, or lose a little weight, or help gain a little weight, or just help an already awesome and amazing person realize how great they are, and understand how much potential that they have.
Healthy living, and a regular exercise program saved my life in a way that nothing else possibly could.  Balancing a good diet and running have changed my life; and I finally have a way to cope with my depression.  I feel that Beachbody has offered me a way to enhance the life that I have already begun building for myself.  I already naturally do the things that are required of a coach; now I just have a way to focus my passion in a way that is hopefully profitable for me.  My dream with Beachbody would be to finally accomplish my main goal in life: to not have to spend my life working to just pay bills, but to actually LIVE my life to the fullest.  YOLO has become a popular saying these days.  I do love my job so much, but what if there was a way to travel, run all the trails in the world, climb all the mountains, experience different cultures, and SHARE it with everyone AND make money... That is what I want to do with my life.  I want to spend more time with my family in Tanzania, and share my happiness and health with them.  I want to beat my friends in Portugal at their crazy ass Survivor / Amazing Race.  (When I traveled to Portugal right after high school, I ran a race they had set up; and Portuguese people are a good kind of insane, and extremely tough competitors.)  I want to explore new countries, and find friends everywhere.  This might be the key to making that happen.
Thank you if you actually took the time to read this.  Of if you have read any of this blog at all.  You now know more about me, and you know about WHY I want to be a Beachbody coach.  There are so many reasons.  I could probably keep writing.  I am sure over the course of my journey, I will find even more reasons, and I will share them here with you.

And just a quick update on my goal of running 100 miles before my dirty 30...  I am excited to announce that I will be checking in runners, as well as sweeping the course for the Mountain Lakes 100.  This weekend I will be running in another event that GoBeyond puts on: the Volcanic 50.  It's a 50k around Mt. St Helens.  My friend Chris and I are doing it together, and it's about to be the most epic run adventure of our lives so far.  Stay tuned for that blog.  ;)