Jacob's Well...A Leap of Faith

This past Saturday I went on an adventure in the hill country with some of my teammates. Ashley and Brittany, and I made our way to Wimberley, Texas. This is an adorable small town that is filled with little shops selling antiques of all sorts...from tools and "vintage" boots to art and furniture. However, our destination was a tad more adventurous...

The day started off with an early morning run of only nine miles...I hadn't run that far in a LONG time, probably a little less than two years so I was pleasantly surprised when I was actually running a good pace right up there with the team :) but when we hit mile eight, I hit the wall and did the death march back around campus to the gym, but I made it!!! An few interesting thing I learned on this run is that intellectual challenging games make the run go by extremely fast and relatively painlessly, and also I have a friend who has constantly explained to me that if you get sweat into your eyes that it burns...I have never believed him fully and thought he was just abnormal (which he is), but he was right about this fact. I guess I had never sweat enough to experience this before this run haha but the problem I had is since I had sweat so much already before I got to this point of blinding burning...I had no part of my body dry enough to wipe it away, and my lovely reflector vest could have been rung out, so it provided no relief either...but it is all ok because I made it! I survived! Immediately after I raced back to my apartment so we could leave to make it to Jacob's Well by ten (it is an hour away)

We packed ourselves a picnic lunch and breakfast to go, hoped in the car, and made our way to Jacob's Well. Now I bet your wondering what is this place they went to??? It is an underwater cave that is spring fed, so it is ice cold and perfectly clear. The fun aspect of visiting is that you can swim in it...and also you can jump into it from the cliffs surrounding it!!! Now the cave has a thirty foot straight drop before curving in and winding its narrow passages for miles underground. If you want to read some scary stories read about the divers who have died exploring this cave....it makes me rethink ever wanting to become a cave diver.

After going on a tour of the surrounding area and hiking to the actual spot of hidden watering hole, we were greeted by some other swimmers who were jumping from the cliffs...it just so happens that the first person we saw jump went from this skinny rock that was really high and far from the actual hole, and we all agreed that was insane to jump from there. Now to clarify, cliff diving is a lot of fun and I have done it before but the kinds I have done was merely just jumping from a cliff into water...however, this was much more complex...you had to jump out quite a ways because it wasn't even close to a straight drop off; also, you had to aim to land in the opening of the cave preferably in the middle because the walls are a bit jagged.

It is beautiful isn't it!!! Well we jumped into it many, many times haha and I'll admit it took me a while to get the courage to jump from the higher rocks, but eventually I did jump from the rock we claimed to be too crazy...multiple times. Although I spent a while preparing mentally and physically before taking a leap of faith!

Anniversary of a Altering Adventure

A year ago today I began making my way across the Atlantic for a semester abroad in London, England. This marked one of the most rewarding and life changing events of my life. My entire time abroad was spent exploring new surroundings and cultures, and meeting people that impacted the way I think and look at life. Realizing that it was only a year ago that I began that incredible journey is surprising because so much has changed since then. Reflecting upon all this leads me to desperately want to go back and visit, but also to go have another life changing experience again but this time in a new place. So I have begun the research to see where I could go, what I could do, and most importantly...how much it will cost....which is way too much for most places. Another issue with trying to pick where to go is that I want to see EVERYTHING haha all of it seems compelling and has certain traits that draw me to want to further experience it past the screen of my laptop. There are beaches which always grab my immediate attention, mountains that just must be climbed, streets that I need to get lost on so that I can find something unexpected, and people that will challenge my thinking.

So some exciting stuff is starting to happen here in little old Seguin Texas!! Our team has their first meet of the season tomorrow morning, and then it is a long weekend for Labor Day :) and after a full two weeks of classes I am ready for a break...already. Thank goodness it is my last semester. Also, today I started an application for the Peace Corps, so we will see what happens with that.

As for running, it is continually getting better and worse which probably makes very little sense but let me try to explain. I am starting to feel my body getting into shape which is making the endurance portion of the running slowly become easier. However, in the mean time the workouts are becoming much harder at a faster pace than I am adjusting, so that is leaving me looking like a fool around campus because I am suffering from soreness that feels like the equivalent of your body being rubbed raw all the way to your bones. As much as I sometimes complain about running and how much it hurts my body and how frustrating the injuries are...I still cannot help but love the feeling of being sore also because I know I pushed my body to a new point and I can feel myself growing stronger. That is a very large part of the love/hate relationship that so many runners, especially distance runners experience throughout their running careers.

Ending Seasons with a Bang!!

It has been about eight months which is too long, but I recently received an email from someone who came across my blog and it has inspired me to start writing again for a multitude of reasons. First, is that I have finally figured out what I really would like to do...write, and this is a perfect place to practice! Since I am graduating in December (yes it is only 114 days away) I better get started. 

Since I have last posted I experienced the most incredible track and field season of my life, and it was by finished by a perfect Conference meet. I won the 3000m steeplechase and broke the school record which brought me to tears because that race has grown to be my "baby" on the track these past three years. I got fourth in the 1500m and beat my personal record; in the 800m I got eighth which was shocking because I can't sprint like most of the other mid-distance runners. I also came in sixth place in the 5000m! My strangest event this past season was the first and only time I competed in the triple jump...my goal was to make the pit and not eat track; I succeeded!!! So it was an epic track meet that was more perfect than I could ask for when it came to my final collegiate track and field meet. I walked off the track with no regrets knowing I gave everything I had physically and mentally in that last meet. To top it all off I met all my goals for the season: to win the steeplechase and break the school record and set my own personal record, to earn All Conference honors, and to have TLU track and field win their third consecutive Conference Championship all of which I was a part of!! To sum it all up that track meet will always be one of the best memories I have from running, and reminiscing about it months later still makes me break out into a cheesy grin. 

And now I am currently finishing up my first week of my last semester of college...it is very bitter sweet, I'm excited to move onto a new adventure after graduation but I am going to miss the comfort the classroom has constantly provided for the past fifteen years. I could definitely be a professional student!! It is cross country season this semester also which is certainly filled with my favorite races because I love the challenges different courses present. We have been training for a little over a week now and I can already feel myself getting into shape. I'll admit I didn't run as much as I should have this past summer; although, I was consistently physically active, I did not run as much as I should. That means I just have to train harder these next few months and really take care of my body so that I can end this final season with a bang!