Tough Mudder Done and Dusted

This past weekend I was able to conquer Tough Mudder in Phoenix with the help of my fellow crazy friends from Captain CrossFit!

The majority of our group were smart and went down on the Friday night. Andrew and I opted instead to drive down Saturday morning. That's a screen shot of my phone right after I woke up. Yup...4.30am wake up call. That's the price you pay for living in the middle of nowhere, it takes you forever to get to the closest big city!

Repping my Captain CrossFit team tank and our bag of goodies! Since Andrew and I are on Whole 30 we had to bring our own snacks to make sure we didn't go off plan! 

This is our whole Captain CrossFit crew! Little did we know what was awaiting us on the other side!

Mile 1 of our 11.2 mile course! Pretty sure I got swamp foot right around here!

The partner carry. I was actually enjoying this, not that my face shows it.

This one was called "Balls to the Wall"! It looked much more intimidating than it actually was. There were foot holds nailed into the wall so you were able to get your footing and then pull yourself up.

Ha, the look on my face is priceless. This one actually surprised me the most! I have never been able to do monkey bars - not even as a kid - and I was actually thinking about walking around this one, when I told myself to at least give it a try. At the very worst I would drop into that disgusting looking water.

So I gave it a go and was completely shocked when I past the third rung. I knew then that I could do it as long as I kept going!

Probably the proudest moment of my day! Definitely worth the hand pain.

This one is around mile 9, right before we had to walk the plank. Thank goodness too because I was caked in mud at that point! 

Electro Shock - the one obstacle that most people are afraid of! It wasn't really all that bad, except I did get hit on my back right at the very end. Definitely wouldn't say it was a pleasant feeling, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had hyped it up to be.

After completion, beer in hand, and ready to pass out! So happy that I had such a supportive team with me the whole way! I definitely don't think I could've gotten through without these guys!

At this point I was exhausted and beat up. Had to take a selfie to commemorate the event (especially in my swanky new headband), but I couldn't stand to be covered in mud anymore. After we completed I showered, changed, and headed straight to the car!

One of our members had organized us well since we were all staying in the same hotel. We managed to commandeer the outdoor BBQ space and cooked up some delicious tri-tip! Everyone else ended the night by celebrating a teammates birthday with cake, while Andrew and I chewed on some carrot sticks! 

And lastly, here is a compilation of all my major traumas brought on by Tough Mudder: a ripped hand courtesy of the finger hang, two feet with blisters from swamp foot around mile 1, and scrapes and bruises from the mud mile! Super sexy!

Whole 30

Poor Andrew was dragged into another one of my crazy ideas! If you're in any sort of contact with Andrew I'm sure you've heard him moan about this insane diet I have him on! In full disclosure he did choose to do this with me; I never forced him!

This all started at CrossFit. I'm running a Clean Eating Nutrition Challenge for our members. We were supposed to start a challenge of this sort earlier in the year, but it never took on. Finally, one of the coaches and I decided to take the reins and build our own challenge. The basic premise for the challenge is no processed foods and no added sugar. Sounds simple enough right? Well it is.

Unfortunately (for Andrew) before this challenge even started another coach recommended I read the book "It Starts With Food". This book was written by Dallas and Melissa Hartwig, the co-creators of the Whole 30 plan. Essentially it's a much, much stricter form of Paleo. Really it's an elimination diet so that people who have consistent gut problems can find relief, a cure, or the culprit of those issues. I figured that it would be a great idea for Andrew and I to do this plan since A) Andrew has a few gut issues, but refuses to figure out the culprit; and B) I have a serious addiction to sugar and can spare to lose a few pounds before the wedding. 

So I presented the idea of doing Whole 30 to Andrew under the guise of the CrossFit competition and the ability to possibly win some cool prizes. Who wouldn't want to get rewarded for shedding a few pounds and becoming healthier? He begrudgingly agreed and has been whining about it ever since!

We are now 1 week into Whole 30 and we can already see a difference in our bodies (and our guts)! We both are still having strong cravings for the foods we're used to eating like bread and rice, but everyday gets a little easier. It's actually been pretty nice being so conscious about our food choices. Normally we wouldn't think twice about eating processed foods or candy or chocolate, but now we have to scrutinize everything that goes in our mouths.

I'll keep you posted on how week 2 is working out for us! I can already foresee more whining and complaining! Haha!

A Few of my Recent Favorites

I feel like I've been running around like a crazy person the last couple weeks.  Everything just started all at once: school, work, more work, house keeping...lame.  I've compiled a few things that made me pause and smile these past weeks.  I hope you enjoy them too!

1. I'm a sucker for beautiful photography and I instantly fell in love with these shots that Nick Brandt took at the shoreline of Lake Natron in Tanzania.
2. I'm a CrossFit addict.  I've joined the ranks of the CrossFit cult...I practically live at our local box, mainly because I work there, but that's another story!  If you follow health related media at all I'm sure you would have seen the controversy over the pregnant mom who CrossFits.
3. Ever since I first saw this beautiful Photographer's Tripod Floor Lamp from Pottery Barn I knew I needed it in my life.  Unfortunately I could never justify that price tag.  Luckily, I ran across this the other day - a DIY spotlight tutorial!  Yay!
4. With Halloween around the corner, and all those cute costumes on Pinterest, I was quickly reminded of the horrors of Halloweens past with these photos.
5. Jamie Moore is in incredible photographer, and an even cooler mom.  Check out these portraits she made of her daughter.