Laughing and Learning: June 2013

Well it was a weekend full of "firsts." I wrote a blog post last fall about my weekend full of "firsts." If you missed it, read it here http://laughingandlearningwithlindsey.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-weekend-of-firsts.html

This past weekend thankfully did not involve bringing home a stray dog. I am happy to report that the dog Jessie and I brought home from a gas station in Missouri has a happy home here in Minnesota and she couldn't be happier.

Friday night Jessie and I headed to Denver, Colorado for a weekend filled with friends, fun, and a Tough Mudder in the mountains. If you do not know, Jessie does NOT fly well. I had to "drug" her with sugar to even get her on a plane since she doesn't drink.

We step onto the plane and the first thing she does is look in the cock pit. "Oh my gosh..he's so old....what if he has a heart attack or a stroke?" I take a deep breath and say "just because he has gray hair doesn't mean he will have a heart attack, but it does mean he's very experienced" Well that didn't sit well. We make our way to our seats on the packed plane and take off. Jessie observes that our flight attendants all have white hair. "We are on the geriatric flight" she proclaims. Then the "geriatric" flight attendants forget to do the safety instructions. Needless to say this started the weekend of "firsts" - being on a geriatric flight.

Once settled in the air the plane starts dancing a.k.a MAJOR turbulence. The geriatric flight attendants are looking at each other and then they sit down and drink service is suspended. Pilot comes on and says we are experiencing a storm and could we check the safety of our seatbelts. I don't mind flying, but this was a little much. Let's just say that was the worst flight I have ever had.

But once landed in Denver, our friend Peesh picks up at the airport. We meet her girlfriend Anne and drive away. On the way out of the airport, they say "look at the evil bronco statue outside the airport" The eyes are glowing red. Seriously - who has an evil bronco outside their airport? Another first.

The next day started off with yet another first. I was at a bar, a soccer bar, at 9am. Peesh and Jessie were college soccer teammates and are soccer junkies. Anne and I just hung out for the food and company. The bar was pretty cool. How many places have pictures of David Beckham in the stall? Or a phone booth? Or an awesome Brit waiter who swears like a sailor, talks about fashion, and makes great breakfast?

Then Anne and Peesh did shots at 10am. Flavor infused vodka. Vomit. Not having that for a "first." We traveled on our day to the Denver PRIDE festival and let's just say you see a lot of "firsts" there including port-e-showers. Hmmm.

Fast forward to a late lunch of gourmet hot dogs. Love this. Yet another first. Delicious.

After lunch we drove out to Silverthorne, CO where we were staying for the night so we did not have far to go in the morning for the race. I love Colorado. It is so beautiful and I had not been out to these parts with all the ski resorts, Keystone, Vail, Copper, Beaver Creek etc.

Finally it is event morning and we are in Avon, CO for our 5th Tough Mudder. The email before the race said "prepare to punish your legs with the terrain" and as we walked in I thought...oh shit. What were we thinking? These are not MN mountains, these are CO mountains. But I was in awe of the view and the beautiful weather.

Right before the race, we met a woman named Danielle whose friend decided not to do the race the day before so we adopted her as our new running buddy. And off we went. The course was insanely beautiful, incredibly steep and challenging. And of course, whenever we run a TM, it......RAINS. At mile 5 the mountain skies opened up and rained a COLD COLD rain. I had just started to feel the effect of the altitude plus add in rain and I was not too proud to go around the water obstacles. It just wasn't worth it.

But we get to the end and our final obstacle is EVEREST. The first time I did a TM, it took me 5 attempts to get up this half pipe. When we 3 women arrived at the event, there was no one there. Normally there are tons of people at the top of the obstacle to help you up. Jessie takes off like a beast and effortlessly gets to the top all by herself. Check out this amazing form. We have been training with parkour and obviously it helps.

That was the proudest moment of the race. We had a huge crowd watching and no one could believe just the 3 of us got up there by ourselves. That was a major "first"

So the TM is over, we survived, barely and I get a voicemail from Delta. Our flight has been delayed an hour. Did I mention we were already cutting it close to get from Avon to Denver (2.5 hour drive) by our 5:45 flight? So now we had an extra hour. Great, maybe we can stop and get some food on the way back. So we leave at 1:30. Well no one informed us that traffic on I-70 back to Denver is a parking lot on Sunday afternoons. Insert major PANIC. I am looking at the map on my phone and it says our estimated arrival at the airport is 6:00pm. Our plane takes off at 6:40.

We haven't showered, haven't really eaten, I am sweating a major stress sweat and I have to pee so bad. But there is NO time to stop. We pull over at the visitor center. But of course so does everyone else. I run in, look at the line for the women's restroom that is winding down the hall, look at the line for the men's (empty) and decide I'm going for it. I walk into the men's room, kindly explain I have a plane to catch and can't wait in line for the women's and stand there trying not to make eye contact while the men use the urinal as I wait for the stall. Needless to say, Jessie does not come with me but waits patiently for the women's. That's a first - going in the men's restroom. And when I left the line was long and they all looked at me funny.

The rest of the way to Denver I am crabby, moody, panicked, irritable and not in a good mood. My anxiety is high. What if we miss the plane? What about work? What about the dogs? What about this? What about that? Jessie reminded me...what if? What's the worst that happens? It is out of our control at this point.

We drive way past the speed limit and arrive at the evil bronco airport at 5:55. Run in, check a bag, panic in the security line, sprint to the tram, ride it to the farthest away terminal, sprint up the escalator, run to the gate, have 10 minutes to spare, sprint to get a slice of pizza and pop, sprint back, sweat rolling down my face and get on the plane.

I have never sprinted through an airport seriously at risk of missing my plane. That was a first.

If you have read all the way to the end of this blog..thank you. I love sharing my experiences with you but there is a lesson here. When was the last time you had a "first" experience? Whether it was negative or positive?

My favorite quote from Eleanor Roosevelt rings true again....

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the

utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and

richer experience.”

―

Eleanor Roosevelt

In an article "Trying New Things" from Psychology Today the author explains why new experiences can be hard.

In summary, here's a list of things I try to remind myself whenever I'm faced with trying something new:

Trying something new often requires courage. And needing to summon courage is itself a benefit. Once it's released it will, like its second cousin once removed, anger, indiscriminately engulf everything in its path. How wonderful to open a flood of courage and be carried on its waves to destinations of unexpected benefit.
Trying something new opens up the possibility for you toenjoy something new. Entire careers, entire life paths, are carved out by people dipping their baby toes into small ponds and suddenly discovering a love for something they had no idea would capture their imaginations.
Trying something new keeps you from becoming bored. Even I, the most routine-loving person I know, become bored if I'm not continually challenged in some way. And it's not the new challenges I'm eager to take on that represent my greatest opportunities for growth—it's the ones I'm not.
Trying something new forces you to grow. We don't ever grow from taking action we've always taken (the growth that enabled us to be able to take it has already occurred). Growth seems to require we take new action first, whether it's adopting a new attitude or a new way of thinking, or literally taking new action. Thrusting yourself into new situations and leaving yourself there alone, so to speak, often forces beneficial change. A spirit of constant self-challenge keeps you humble and open to new ideas that very well may be better than the ones you currently hold dear (this happens to me all the time).