Update: 30 things to do before I'm 30

T minus 3 days until I'm 30.  And seeing as there won't be a lot more checking things off the list between now and Thursday morning at 12:16 AM, I'm going to go ahead and file my progress report.

Almost exactly 4 months ago, I made a list of "30 Things I'd Like to do before I'm 30 that I've never done before." 

I feel like I could have come up with a more concise, clear name than that.  Oh well, what's done is done.  And here is how I did.

Progress Report: 30 things I'd like to do before I'm 30 that I've never done before

1)  Do a half Ironman.  Check.

Remember this?  It was awesome.  Find the recap here.

2)  Get my tattoo.  Fail.  I got a great recommendation for an artist but never followed through.  This will happen someday.  I have no excuse for not doing it other than lack of time commitment.  And that's a poor excuse.

3)  Take a cooking class.  Check.  Sierra, Erica and I had a fabulous evening at Hipcooks one evening before the holiday break learning how to cook and enjoy delicious Thai food.  

Look at me, cooking Thai food!

Then 2 evenings later, Sierra and I remade the fantastic meal (or at least the parts of it we really enjoyed). 

It tasted even better when we adjusted things to fit our own flavor palates.

 And since then I've incorporated some of the tips and flavoring techniques we learned into my bi-weekly peanut/soy sauce meal.  It has now morphed into a much tastier dish (not that it wasn't tasty before, but now it's even tastier) with the addition of lime, brown sugar, fish sauce, thai chilies, and garlic along with other ingredients that have incorporated their way into the meal in the last 2 years (rice vinegar, mirin, ginger, sriracha).  It's not quite the "quick and easy" one dish it used to be, but it's fabulous and still doesn't take very long.

4)  Volunteer at a women's and/or homeless shelter.  Check.  After seeing this item on my list, Coach Nadine contacted me and let me know that she had contacts with an emergency women's and children's shelter called Mary's Place in downtown Seattle.  Every Sunday at Mary's Place, a group of volunteers both cooks and serves dinner to the women and children at the shelter.  After recruiting Erica and Dorothy as well, we spent an afternoon cooking a taco bar at Nadine's house and then carted it downtown to serve at the shelter.  It was a great day.  So glad I put this one on the list.

Chop, chop, chop.

Nadine and Erica, chicken shredding extraordinaires! 

5)  Take a road trip somewhere new.  I was going to cheat and count the road trip home from Portland with my mom, Erica, and Ana for the Portland Half.  But after last weekend's slightly nerve-wracking drive up to Mt. Rainier to go snowshoeing, I don't have to cheat anymore.  Me, Erica, Ana, and Amber all piled into Ana's little car and drove 3+ hours to Mt. Rainier and back.  The driving trip included a stop to put on (and then take off) chains on Ana's tires--a first for almost all of us.  It also included my first Dairy Queen stop in years.

6)  Publish a short story to the blog.  Check.  I published one of the stories I wrote for my fiction writing class over the summer.  It was based on a prompt: "You're in a box on wheels going down a hill..."  I got a lot of good feedback on it from my classmates and professor, so figured it was safe for publishing.  In case you missed it, it's at the bottom of this post.

7)  Ride the Ducks in Seattle.  Check.  I roped my mom into playing tourist with me during the weeks she was here for the Portland half marathon.  It was fun.  I'd do it again.

We're on a duck!!

8)  Run the Golden Gardens Stairs.  Fail.  I don't really have an excuse for not doing this.  Although I have been injured for several months, so I could pull that card.  However, I am signed up to do the Big Climb as a part of Team Yanni to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society on Sunday, March 23rd.  During that race I will climb a whole lot more stairs than exist at Golden Gardens.  I'll be climbing the Columbia Tower in downtown Seattle, which includes 69 flights of stairs, 1311 steps, and 788 feet of vertical elevation.  So there's that.

***By the way, I'm hoping to raise $500 for LLS for this event, so if you'd like to donate to support me, Yanni, and the amazing organization that is LLS, please donate generously on my fundraising page.

9)  Do a mud run.  Fail.  There wasn't one that worked out time-wise.  I wanted to do LLS's Pineapple Classic, but it fell on the same morning as my first Team in Training practice for Spring Team.  And being a coach, I didn't really want to miss that.

10)  But a toaster.  Success!!  It may have taken me months from way back at the beginning of the summer when I massively burned my arm on the oven door and finally admitted to needing one, but it happened.  And not only did I get a toaster, I got a toaster oven.  If that doesn't make me a grown-up, I don't know what ever will.

I also got a crock pot and a wine rack.  And my mom took me shopping to
get them all when she was in town.  Darn, I think that takes away the
"being an adult" aspect of it all.  It's ok, I don't really want to grow up anyways.

11)  Take a dance class.  Super fail.  I chickened out.  No excuse.

12)  Get 8 hours of sleep every night for a week straight.  Impossible.  I don't know why I even thought I could do this.  Crazy.

13)  Get rid of horrible commute/be brave and start a new job.  Been there.  Done that.  Still setting into life as the new girl at school, but couldn't be happier that I made the change (as much as I miss all my LDFers).  Having a 15 minute commute can't be beat.

14)  Walk a dog at a dog shelter.  Check and check.  Coach Nadine hopped on board with helping me out with this one too.  I got connected with Seattle Animal Shelter and got approved for their Get Fit with Fido program.  This is not just a program where I walk dogs, but one where I will run with dogs.  Two of my absolute favorite things in the world: running and dogs.  I took the 2 required trainings (Shelter 101 and Safe Dog Handling) and am currently working my way through my 6 required shifts of dog walking before I can start running with the pups.  And I have yet to bring home a friend home for Lucy.

I think she's still perfectly happy as a spoiled only child.

15)  Make a delicious baked item.  Kind of check.  I got inspired to make chili in my new crockpot a few months ago.  And I can't have chili without cornbread.

It was delicious and it required baking.  It even brought
back some nostalgic childhood memories.

I had planned to do better than this, but it's all I've got and I'm counting it.  Although I have been saving frozen bananas for weeks now, hoping to get my hands on a good banana bread recipe.  Got any?  I'll make it when football season is over and I have my Sundays back.

16)  30 random acts of kindness.  Check.  I might be cheating a bit on this one too because I never deliberately performed 30 random acts of kindness.  However here's the thing: I'm a first grade teacher.  And I think that I can safely claim that I perform 30 random acts of kindness per day for my little ones.  Whether it's teaching them something new, reteaching something they didn't get yesterday, or zipping up a coat, they get to absorb every ounce of my heart, patience, and kindness between 8:30am and 2:55pm every day.  So I'm going to say that counts.

17)  Be a coach for TNT.  Did it and doing it.  And loving it.

Me and my white board are ready to go every Saturday
morning.  Stick people sketches and all.

18)  Go to the top of the Space Needle.  Check.  This was another part of dragging mom along for "pretend to be a tourist in Seattle" day.  Although mom really is a tourist here.  I just don't think she particularly enjoys doing touristy things.  Nonetheless, she smiled through our day of tourism.

The view from the top.  It really is a beautiful city I live in.

19)  Hike to Camp Muir with Yanni.  Yanni was a little bit busy ninja-fighting cancer and running marathons.  She's kind of awesome.  I hope we get to do this someday soon.

20)  Cook something new.  Check.  I bought a crock pot and cooked about 5 new recipes until it disappeared into the cupboard a month ago and I haven't seen it since.  I also cooked my delicious Thai dinner.  Yum.

21)  Make a list of 40 things to do before I'm 40.  Quarter-check.  I started the list, but it's actually kind of hard.  I currently have 10 items on my list.  Most of them are items from this list that weren't accomplished.  Others include: falling in love, starting a family, and becoming an Ironman.  I have a lot of work to do in the next 10 years.

22)  Run one more half marathon.  Double check.  I ran alongside my mom who sped-walked the Portland half marathon in October.  She walked so fast that I had to run to keep up.  

I realize I used this picture in last week's post.  But it's relevant again.  And
look how happy mom is.

Then I somehow made it slowly but surely through the Seattle half marathon on a bum knee.

I PR'd the last 2 years in this race.  It was not in the cards this year.

With those 2 added to my list, here is my race count as I turn 30:

5 marathons

11 half marathons

1 half Ironman

1 sprint triathlon

many other 5K-10Kish races

I can't say I'm ashamed of those numbers.

23)  Try a new sport.  Double check on this one too!  In November, I went on my first ever trail run to celebrate Coach Jeff's birthday (yes, trail running is a different sport from regular running).

8+ miles, a couple thousand feet of elevation.  A not-so-
healthy knee.  Maybe not my smartest choice.  But it was
lots of fun!

Then last weekend, I went showshoeing for the first time at Mt. Rainier (hence the road trip to Rainier mention in #5).

Ladies in snowshoes.  That was the most snow I've seen
all winter.

We drove 3+ hours to go snowshoeing for 2 hours and drive home for 3+ hours.  But it was a beautiful day and my first trip to Rainier.  All in all, totally worth it.

24)  Try a new cuisine.  Inadvertent fail.  I actually thought really hard about this one.  As I thought about planning a small birthday dinner for Thursday night, I looked up restaurants for cuisines that I haven't tried yet.  And to be honest, I couldn't really find any.  From Ethiopian to Korean to Scandinavian to Greek, there aren't a lot of options our there for me to try that I haven't already.  Maybe I didn't get creative enough, but I actually put effort into this one and came up empty.

25)  Watch a meteor shower.  Fail.  I totally forgot about this over break.  Oops.  It's going on the 40 things before 40 list.

26)  Volunteer for Make a Wish.  Another fail.  But also not for lack of trying.  I looked up information and volunteer applications on the Make a Wish website, but had to push this one to the side.  With the time commitment I'd already undertaken for volunteering at Seattle Animal Shelter and coaching for TNT (and the whole teaching thing), this just wasn't a commitment I could logistically make.  It'll go on the 40 things before 40 list too.

27)  Originally empty but later filled with: For 30 days, write down one thing each day that you are thankful for.  Check.  Here's my little red book as evidence:

I faithfully wrote in this little guy every night for 30 days.

A random snippet of things I was thankful for in the month of October: random unsolicited compliments with no expectations attached, cross-training, clean sheets, the Portland Saturday market, squeaky Lucy yawns, great friends, TNT, lazy Sundays, and perspective.

28)  Left empty until about 2 weeks ago, turned into: Go to a casino.  I spent my New Year's Eve at Snoqualmie Casino.  Most people find it unbelievable that until then I had never set foot in a casino.  I walked in the door with $40 and walked out with $190.  I also got to dance care-free a for couple hours, part of the time with a tall cute boy who made me feel pretty for just a little bit.  Not a bad way to start the year.

Every now and then it's fun to get dressed up, put on a pair of heels, and
feel pretty for a night.

29)  Also empty when the original post was written, but turned into: Rediscover why I love to run.  Check.  It may have taken a knee injury, a few weeks off from running, and then some weeks of forced reduced-distance and reduced-intensity running.  But finally, after what feels like a really long time, I come home from work most days and want to run.  I'm beginning to need to run again.  And in turn, I'm beginning to feel more like me again.  Funny how those two things go so closely hand in hand.

30)  Skydive!!  Sad fail.  After my original post, I only had a couple weeks of good Seattle weather to try to do this and it didn't work out.  Then the weather turned and won't be back up to par for skydiving again until the spring.  I am in no way giving up on this one.  It will happen.

So there it is.  I'm not really sure how I did.  I accomplished a lot of the important ones, but failed at a few items too.  And some I fudged in order to give myself a check.  I'd like to say I give myself an A for effort at least.  And many of the ones I missed, I still plan to do at some point.

So now the question that's left is: How do I feel about turning 30?  I could lie here and say "life is great!" and "I've done so much, who cares about turning 30!" but I'm not here to lie to you.  I thought that was how I would feel when I turned 30, but after a middle of the night semi-breakdown with my sister over the holidays, I do realize that this number is affecting me in the stereotypical way. 

So here's an honest answer:  I'm proud, excited, a little bit sad and a little bit scared.  I'm proud of everything I've done with my first 30 years of life.  I'm excited because I know that I have so much more living to do.  And I know that the best is yet to come.  But I'm a little bit sad because I feel like I'm leaving behind a part of my life that I won't get back.  And leaving things behind is always sad.  I'm also a little bit scared that maybe the best isn't yet to come.  That maybe I won't find want I'm looking for.  Maybe all this optimism won't pay off in the end.

But I don't think the way I feel is any different from any other birthday.  On birthdays we look at our life, where we've been, and where we might go.  And I think proud, excited, sad, and scared pretty much sums it all up.

Here's hoping the next 30 years bring everything I've dreamed of.  And if not, here's to hoping I'm happy with it anyways.