Every type-A needs a zumba

Tuesday night at 8:15 pm I went to my first Zumba class. I didn't know what to expect, every infomercial, poster, or workout DVD I saw just had a girl shaking her hair around wearing half of a shirt and that had a 6 pack. But I declared February as "cardio month" and therefore I needed to sweat and I needed to change it up. My roommate Danielle graciously joined me and I embarked on a new fitness endeavour. Zumba drew quite an interesting crowd as the classroom quickly filled up and then a perky, tiny instructor in neon bright clothing bounced in and strapped on her microphone. A Flo Rida song started blaring and we were off and running. I had seen pictures on pintrest captioned "what I think I look like doing zumba" depicting a scene from Step Up 2 and another one that says "what I really look like" with Napoleon Dynamite getting his groove on.... thankfully the room was so packed that I couldn't see myself in a mirror to confirm that assumption. The first song, I was concentrating on the instructor's moves and trying my best to focus on whatever muscle was needed to move that way- hoping to squeeze out the 800 calorie burn that the instructor promised if we worked hard. As I started to get the hang of the moves and the repetition around the 3rd song or so, I suddenly realized that I wasn't counting anything....I wasn't logging my sets.... I didn't look at my watch. I have been counting reps, sets, intervals, circuits, laps, miles, calories, points, RPMs, PERs, and BPMs since I was about 13. Being a self proclaimed type-A personality... I've never minded. "How else are you going to run your life if you don't log it, schedule it, or make a list about it?!" (My reaction to basically anything.) But Zumba didn't require numbers or lists.... it was just dancing and sweating. By the last song I was making Napoleon Dynamite proud and was dancing like nobody was watching and I was also not analyzing which muscles I was working. It was the most refreshing thing I have done in a long time. Granted, I sweated more and was more sore from the High Intensity Interval Training class.... but I'm pretty sure I smiled more at Zumba as I reminisced about my old dance days. And doing a squat while Chris Brown is singing didn't seem as painful as squatting for 30 second intervals while Shawn-T from Insanity is saying "Push it!" I encourage all type-A's to let go every once in a while.... color outside the lines, don't look at the nutrition facts on the back of the box, leave your watch at home, wait until the last minute on a deadline, rinse and don't repeat, have dessert for breakfast.... or just dance!!

Last first day of school, Spring 2013

I'll always remember that on the last first day of college- it snowed. It didn't stick around long, but on January 15, 2013 I put on my warm snow boots that I never get to wear and my white marshmallow jacket and with the furry hood over my head....that in my head I looked like a wintry skiing super model.... and in reality I look like the Michelin man..... and I walked across campus to find my first class. All of the sudden as I got off the bus on campus for the last first time, my senses are heightened and I'm absorbing more than usual. I started to think how familiar everything on campus had become... the sights, the smells, the sounds. Whether things were cool or weird to me freshman year, it has all settled into a routine of sorts. As I walked into the Union, I immediately smelled the Einstein Brothers coffee that already had a line out the door. Such a familiar smell, I had walked through the Union at least 2 times a week for the last 4 years.... but today I took a moment to take it in and then became sad that in 6 months, I would never walk through the UNT Union ever again. Walking past people with obscure piercings and blue hair and inappropriate clothing choices....I think about how I'll probably never interact with a more misfit crew than what you can find on UNT's campus. I won't miss having to add 30 minutes to every task in order to factor in the bus or walking factor. I won't miss the printing factor in any way shape or form. I won't miss waiting in line at the financial aid office for an hour. I won't miss getting up at 6:30 on class registration day, stressing and praying that I get in the classes I want. I won't miss the project/homework/study time that consumed my every waking thought. But I'll miss the beautiful rec center where I worked out my frustration with a cast of characters that I don't even know their names but I've been working out beside them for 4 years. I'll miss the art building- even though it isn't pretty..... I basically lived there and grew up there. I'll miss seeing the BSM building, because that's where I met my dearest friends and the love of my life and I'm eternally grateful for that. I'll miss my familiar 3 mile running path around campus that has helped me with my first 5k, 2 break-ups, 2 portfolio reviews, a triathlon, lose 10 lbs, and a half-marathon. Besides learning about a field that I'm completely in love with, UNT also taught me about myself. It has raised me to become the woman I am going to be for the rest of my life.

I'll never stop writing

Although I haven't posted any blogs since June 2012, I never stopped writing. When I'm walking to class, grocery shopping, or running....especially running.... I'm writing in my head. I've been listening to audio books while I'm training for my first half-marathon and when I write in my head- I imagine the narrator of Safe Haven also reading my words. It's not my own voice, it's a much calmer, soothing voice that reads my words back to me. I've been writing about running of course... funny instances like "If I ever do actually get hit by a car while I'm running, I hope it's more of an Elf moment than actual pain." (referencing the Christmas movie in which Will Ferrel gets hit by a taxi and just stiffly lands on the hood and keeps going, sharing the advice later that, "The yellow ones don't stop.") I write about the defeat you can feel while running when you just have to stop and the confidence that comes when you can tell people "Yea, I ran 10 miles this morning." While my boyfriend Matt was at firefighting boot camp for 2 weeks, I wrote about missing him and realizing how I took how safe I feel with him for granted. I wrote about how I oddly missed him the most when I had to go get groceries without him and how he makes the little mundane things more fun. And when he got back, I was inspired by the Tim McGraw song "One of those nights" that talks about how you can just tell when you're going to remember a moment for the rest of your life.... and when I came home from work on January 18th, after not hearing from him all day, and had a dozen roses and a note that said "I missed you" next to my bed and immediately took off running to Matthew's apartment..... I knew I was going to remember that moment for the rest of my life. Then I started writing about time..... and how right now my freshman year of college seems like "a long time ago" and that in about 10 years.... I'll lump my college years together and talk about them in one blurred notion. Right now every week brings a new phase a new thought a new blessing or a new challenge.... but down the road it will all be one chunk of my life. These and other thoughts will find their ways from my head and my heart onto the keyboard.