#20 Run a Half Marathon: I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!! (Part One)

I've been putting off writing this blog post for several hours because I can't seem to come up with the proper words to describe yesterday's half marathon experience. "Accomplished" feels too academic..."Proud" too close to bragging...yet somewhere in between lies the incredible feeling I came away with after pushing my body farther than I EVER dreamed it could go. Six months ago I was a total coach potato. Hardly exercised, cringed at the word "run," and was so out of breath after 30 minutes of exercise that I thought I'd about die. And while I still don't consider myself to be "in shape" or athletic by any means, I believe I am proof that anyone can run a half, or even a full, marathon if they put their mind to it and beat the mental demons that try to tear you down.

Here's a quick recap of race day:
- My friend Kyle, who was also running the race, spent the night at my apartment the evening before so we could go to the race together in the a.m. And thank goodness he did! Having another person there totally helped get my mind off of my nerves...at least for a little while!

- Wake up time was 2:15 a.m. -- hello morning! This gave us just enough time to get suited up (running clothes + warm items for the staging area), eat some breakfast (and drink some coffee) and head on out. Since this was our first race ever, we had no idea what to expect, but took heed to the warnings of crazy traffic and specific check in times.
- By 3:45am we were there, bags checked and ready to...sit on the ground for almost an hour. Thankfully, we were both dressed pretty warmly, I with my red sweatshirt and Christmas red sweatpants, plus gloves and a blanket; Kyle with his scarf, hat, and sweats. I think this is where our excitement began to build -- so many runners standing around, cool costumes to check out (the winners in my mind were a man dressed as Snow White, a gaggle of girls all dressed as Disney princesses, a man dressed as Tinker Bell and a couple wearing full-on medical scrubs!).

- We started our walk to the corrals around 4:40am -- I was assigned to Corral H, which is the very last corral for all the slow people! Kyle was assigned to Corral E, but was kind enough to move back and stay with me so I didn't have to be by myself.
- At 5:30, the race officially began -- at least for the fast people. Although there were fireworks at every corral's start to keep the excitement going, our corral didn't actually cross the start line for another 45 minutes!
- Then it was go time! Immediately, I stripped of all my extra clothing, and despite the cold, felt good! I started my walk/run ratio straight from the start, avoiding the much hyped about temptation to run fast and exhaust yourself quickly.
- The exhilaration of crossing the Mile 1 marker was amazing! It hit me that this was it, the moment I had been training for, and I better absorb every detail along the way and enjoy myself!
- Every so often, Disney had entertainment along the course -- stilt walkers, hot air balloons, local bands and cheerleaders on the sidelines, DJs, cartoon clips, characters and parade floats, and of course lots of CHEARSquad strangers cheering you on (my favorite sign was one where a woman wrote: Run like there are clowns chasing you!).
- Mile 5.3 started our journey through the Magic Kingdom. How wonderful it is to run through such a magical place! This is also where my boss Bryan came to cheer me on. It was AMAZING to see a friendly face in the crowd, so THANK YOU Bryan again!
- I think Kyle and I both started to feel some tiredness setting in around mile 7, but by the time you hit mile 9 and realize you're in the home stretch, a second burst of energy bursts through to push you along.
- By Mile 11, you're entering Epcot -- so crazy to realize you're almost done!
- Before you know it, the Finish line is within sight, along with bleachers filled with cheering fans. After the Mile 13 sign, we took off sprinting to the finish and gave each other a big high five after stepping foot across the finish line! Within minutes we had gorgeous, heavy, super shiny Donald Duck medals hanging from our necks, official signs that we were Half Marathoners!

- One of the first things we asked each other: "So, you think you want to do another one?" Unequivocally, hell yes! I had never felt better! Question two: "What about a full marathon?" Silence... ;) Can't say that I can see that one in my future!

Our Official Finish Time: 3 hours, 4 minutes -- 11 minutes ahead of my goal time!

A day after the race, I am sore as all get out, although nothing unusual compared to other long runs. The pain is totally worth it!

We still have to wait a week for our professional race pictures and customized runner Web sites to be active via the RunDisney platform, so I will certainly do a follow-up blog post to share that with you all. For now, all I can say is how happy I am to have embraced this experience and challenged myself in this way. Of all the items on my 30 Things list, I think I will walk away from this one with the strongest memories and pride. And hopefully I will be able to keep the rhythm going, making an active, running lifestyle a regular thing! Anyone out there want to join me at the Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon in November? New runners welcome!

Countdown to Half Marathon Race Day

I can hardly believe that the moment I have been training for for MONTHS is less than 10 days away. About a week and a half ago I did my last long run of 11 miles, and although I started to feel hip pain around mile 8, I made it through alive and in good spirits. I've been pumping up my hip stretches since then in the hopes that I can avoid running into an issue during the actual race -- also crossing my fingers that my adrenaline will mask any pain that should creep up!

I also am officially prepared with all of my race day gear. Since this IS the Disney Half Marathon, it seems almost sacrilege to NOT go dressed as a Disney character, so I've created a psuedo-Minnie Mouse outfit that is both comfortable to run in and pretty cute for pictures. I'll be wearing black running pants and a black running top with a Minnie Mouse-ears headband and this adorable red tulle skirt that I got from the girls section at Target (yay for stretchy waists, but sad that there are actually kids that still shop in the girls section  that would fit into this skirt!). I also picked up a $3 "throwaway" sweatshirt from Goodwill (red of course, to match the theme) to wear during staging and this weekend I plan to buy a cheap throw blanket from Marshalls to keep me warm. I'm preparing for about an hour and a half of idle time sitting in the staging area and there's nothing worse than sitting on concrete AND being freezing!

At the end of the day, I'm both excited and nervous. I know I'm prepared and that I've never ever averaged a 16-minute mile or longer, but I still have that tiny devil sitting on my shoulder saying I'm going to be one of the unlucky few to get picked up by the Loser-mobile (i.e. the van for folks who run too slow and won't finish the race within the pacing requirements). That or the little devil starts taunting me about my hip pain or threatening to bring bad weather on race day. If you'd please, I would greatly appreciate some final encouraging comments from all my tiny angels out there (aka you if you are reading this right now!) so that I can smash this devil once and for all.

Naturally, I will be sure to recap every little detail in a little over a week, including posting pictures. Until then...

Adventures in Running

This morning's mayhem was just so comical that I simply had to put it down on e-paper.

Let me start by saying that I've realized I've become a bit of a complainer when it comes to running. Partially justified, given the sheer physical endurance required to run a half marathon, but partially it's just been easier to complain than recognize how far I've come. So this morning, I left my apartment around 9 am expecting to do a quick and easy 3 mile run. About 20 minutes in I even realized that I was averaging a 13 minute mile, which is faster than usual, and I was feeling good and strong! I even started typing my post-run blog in my head, thinking about how I'd write a paragraph similar to the one I'm currently writing about how I know I've been complaining a lot, but now I had a run to be proud of!

Now, I'm not sure if it was the distraction of writing the blog post in my head, the faster pace or something completely out of my control, but the next thing I know, I'm tumbling into the grass and there are 3 people standing over me asking if I'm ok. It must have looked like a bad fall, because as I got up, I realized I had sufficiently removed the skin from my right knee, right elbow and left palm as I cruised the hard pavement before hitting the grass (the first thought that ran through my head was "thank G-d there was no dog doo in that portion of grass!"). Physically, I felt ok, but emotionally, my previously inflated ego was now about as small as it could get. Then some obese woman had the nerve to walk past me, give me a dirty look and say, "You shouldn't be running so fast!" I could think of about a thousand retorts now that would have put that woman in her place, but I held my tongue, which was probably smart.

One of the nice men who stopped offered to walk me home, but I told him I was fine and he could continue his run. I really did feel ok, but I was also awful bloody, so the worst part was having to turn around and walk the mile home with red grossness dripping down my arms and legs. It must have looked like I was attacked by an animal or something...and I may actually want to change my story to that in order to appear more brave and less clumsy.

Alas, I am now bandaged up and ready to start the rest of my day. I'll chalk the experience up to a battle scar, and be thankful that I took a spill now and not on actual race day!

It's Getting Harder!

I had a terrible awful thought yesterday. "Maybe I should quit this running thing," I said to myself after a debilitating 8-mile long run and post-run headache had me incapactitated for nearly the entire day. Even if it weren't for the utter exhaustion, I thought back to how badly my right hip started to ache after the sixth mile and it made me wonder if I was really meant to do this half marathon thing. Of course, getting up this morning and feeling well rested and non-achy (I went to sleep at 9pm last night because I was so tired), I'm not quite ready to quit, but I'm also starting to feel realllllly nervous about whether or not my body will actually hold up for a full 13.1 miles.

Allow me to vent for a moment:
- I had to do my 8-miler on the treadmill due to non-stop rain yesterday. This meant that I could bring two bottles of water (16 oz each) and my new Jelly Belly sport beans with me, and rest them easily on the ledge with a water cooler merely steps away. I broke away from the treadmill three times to refill my water, meaning that I effectively drank FOUR 16 oz bottles of water in 2 hours. That's probably good in terms of staying hydrated, but how in the heck am I going to get that much water during the actual race? I did buy myself a hydration belt from eBay that holds four 6 oz bottles, but that's just 24 oz, and therefore isn't going to last me very long. Apparently the water stations during the half are 1.5 miles apart, so I may have to literally stop for a minute each time to sit and refill my water bottles with the freebies they give out. Otherwise I really think I will pass out.
- The Jelly Belly energy beans certainly helped increase my overall energy level, but after a while they just became too darn sweet! I have a huge sweet tooth, so I was surprised at myself, but I just couldn't stand to get another one down by the time I neared my second pack. I wonder if this is an indication that my salt levels were too low (hence the reason I was craving salt?). I also sort of felt like I was going to puke at times...is that normal? Sorry for the TMI...
- I am STILL not able to run continuously for very long at all. I probably walked half of my 8-miler yesterday at a 15-minute per mile pace, running every so often for a minute or two at a 13/14 minute per mile pace. I did get a good 10-minute running streak in there at around mile two but then I got so exhausted that I just felt like my body was going to crumple into a little ball. I would have thought that by now I would be better at this!
- Then there's the headaches. OMG, I have never had worse headaches in my life. It can't be from dehydration considering how much I drank, and the Jelly Belly energy beans are supposed to be full of electrolytes so I'm not convinced that's the problem either. What I do know is that I had to take 6 advil yesterday throughout the afternoon to make it fully go away, and although it subsided after two naps (yes, I took two, one-hour naps yesterday), it picked up again every time I stood on my feet for more than a few minutes. Am I going crazy?
- Final rant: my hip. This is the second time that it's started to bug me during a long-run, and interestingly both times the pain began around mile 6. Anyone have any recommendations on what to do when something like this happens, or how to prevent it from happening? I could try taking some ibuprofen before the race? If my hip starts to act up, I know I won't be able to finish.

On a positive note, it is pretty amazing to think that since I started training in April-ish (those first few months don't count for much since my training was so sporadic), I've run/walked over 70 miles...certainly progress!

Thanks for sticking with me during this difficult journey. Appreciate all the support and advice!

Updates! Marathon, Europe and Learning French!

Since it has been a good seven-ish weeks since I've updated this blog, I'm sure many of you thought I'd either a) become a total slacker or b) just given up on my quest to complete these 30 Things. Rest assured that the case is neither, and in fact, I've spent the last few weeks diligently chipping away at no less than FIVE items on my list. Updates commence:

1) Running a Half Marathon:
After a slow start (translate: running once a week, feeling exhausted by it and needing a full 6 days to both mentally and physically recover), I have kicked my butt into full gear. It finally hit me that the time to race day wasn't getting any longer, and frankly my couch potato "training" routine wasn't getting me any fitter. With inspiration in check, I purchased a Jeff Galloway run/walk/run timer off the Internet (which came with a signed Galloway Training Programs book) and about 4 weeks ago I officially began my training. Last Saturday my long run was 5 miles (I completed 5.2 miles if you count my cool down), and I must say I impressed myself. Never did I think this body could actually exercise for a full hour and 15 minutes without stopping/passing out/collapsing. Granted, if you calculate my pace based on that time of an hour and 15 minutes, you could argue that I was hardly "running" at all. And in truth, I'll admit that a very small portion of that time was actually spent running (I walked the first and fourth mile, and did a run/walk ratio of 1:1 for the other three). However, note that Mr. Galloway himself has said that it's NOT about the speed, but about the distance and endurance, and that us first timers should never set a time goal, but just a goal of forcing our bodies to continue moving forward for the full 13.1 miles. This weekend, I'm set to do a long run of 6 miles, which I think will feel particularly accomplishing as it's roughly half way there!

With all that said, I still have a long way to go (according to the training program, I still have 15 weeks left), but I am hopeful that my recent progress is an indication that I CAN actually do this. Of course, I still have a million questions running through my brain. For example, when does this shit get easier? Regardless of run/walking 5 miles last Saturday, my 30 minute, 2.7-mile "run" yesterday was painful with me reaching almost near exhaustion with a good 10 minutes left. Also, I still don't really understand how comfortable I'm supposed to expect my shoes to be. They definitely hurt, but I'm also doing an exercise that requires a consistent pounding on said feet, so I'm not sure how much I can expect my shoes to alleviate things. All things considered, I am enjoying the journey and hope to someday be able to feel comfortable self-identifying as a true runner.

2) Learning a Second Language:
Bonjour mes amis! Je parle francais un peu! (translation: Hello my friends! I speak French a very little bit! haha). For the last four months I have dutifully been studying the beautiful language of the Parisians thanks to the folks at Rosetta Stone. If you have heard of Rosetta Stone, I'm sure the first thing that jumps to mind is "Damn, that's expensive stuff!" and indeed, you would be correct. However, I figured that given my failing past performance in language learning environments (3 years of high school Spanish, failed college attempts at learning Spanish, French and Hebrew, AND a semester of Berlitz French at HBS that did nothing for me), this route was likely less expensive than hiring a professional tutor, which is about what I think I'd need if I were to take the structured class route. Instead (don't get scared) for $500, I have a program that I can use at my own speed with the ability to repeat lessons as needed...and I have it for life in case I forget things or need to take extended breaks! (Plus, I got a 5-month payment plan at 0% interest, so that helped soften the blow. Yes, I realize I am going bankrupt thanks to my 30 Things ambitions).

So far, I am enjoying the Rosetta Stone course, and definitely see that I am making progress. The vocabulary piece comes pretty easily, but the pronunciation and actual creation of sentences that make sense is naturally more difficult. I'm nearly finished with Level 1 of the software (to give you perspective, there are 5 Levels...within each level there are 4 units and within each unit there are 4 lessons), and my goal is to complete Level 2 and be somewhere within Level 3 by the time I visit France for real next April (more updates on this in the next section). My only complaint is that the program does not give you any options for the asking of questions. The system relies on this "immersion" technique where they translate nothing, but rather show you pictures of things for you to build associations with. This works really well for basic vocabulary, but less well for grammar, as I mentioned. For example, I had to wind up Googling the difference between the French pronouns ce, ces, cette and cet, because I was utterly confused about when to use which. All else considered, so far I am a satisfied customer.

3) Visiting the Mona Lisa, Throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain and taking a picture at Buckingham Palace.
You may be wondering how I can be "in progress" on things like this, seeing as they are events that happen during a moment in time versus something you have to practice for like my first two updates. Nevertheless, I felt the need to share the news that my trip to Europe is booked for next April, so checking these three items off my list is a guaranteed reality versus some of the other things I hope to do!!

I'll be traveling with my friend Melissa, and aside from a flight and a few Starbucks-fueled planning sessions, we don't have much under our belt at this point. Of course, if you have recommendations on places to stay, things to see, gourmand restaurants to try and the like, we will happily take every piece of your advice into consideration. Just leave your comments below! :)

The basic plan is to hit Rome, London and Paris, with side trips to Versailles, Florence, Stonehenge, Bath and Windsor thrown in. Yes, I know this is a lot to squeeze into 15 days, but we are not rich and do not foresee a return trip anytime soon, hence the pressure to do as much as we can mentally and physically handle. I can guarantee that I'll need a vacation from my vacation, but then again, what's the fun in taking a trip across the Atlantic to sit around and relax for two weeks?


So that's it for now, folks. I still need to get one of my "quickie" items on the calendar (I'm leaning toward my acupuncture treatment next, but need to find a good Asian doctor to go to), so hopefully I will have some additional updates, fun pictures and wacky stories to share soon. For now, au revoir!

#23: Sing Karaoke at CityWalk's Rising Star

Pre-singing dinner at Margartiaville with my very tan best friend Aynsley and 7 other friends! 

For those of you that didn't know, when I was growing up, I was very sure that one day I was going to be an actress. I'd watch movies like Girl, Interrupted with Angelina Jolie playing the crazy sociopath Lisa, and would then stare at myself in the mirror for hours perfecting my own version of crazy sociopath for the day that a casting director would stop me in the mall (because of course that's how it always happens) and proclaim that I was his next big star.

As a teenager, I actually took a step in the right direction by getting involved in my high school's drama troupe (4992!). As a sophomore, I played a cockney in My Fair Lady and had one line, which was the absolute highlight of my year. I followed that up with minor roles in my junior musical (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and senior straight play (The Miracle Worker), while also competing in district and state Thespian competitions. I had the time of my life, made great friends, and realized how to satisfy my truly introverted spirit by becoming "characters" that were outgoing or totally different from me.

The entire time I was in theater, however, singing was Achilles heel. I could carry a basic tune all right, but had a very restricted range, no control and extreme nervousness that restricted me from displaying a single ounce of talent. I pushed through my weakness, making it into my school's musical theater group more so because I was a decent dancer (and there were fewer good dancers than  good singers), but I was always relegated to ensemble numbers or non-singing parts.

Then something happened. I woke up one day my senior year of high school and, crazy as it sounds, all of a sudden I could sing. It was like Flowers for Algernon where in the blink of an eye I had gone from a dying cat to a melodious bird. Granted, I was still no Sutton Foster (for non-Broadway folks she is one of my idols when it comes to belting), but somehow things magically started to sound good. This transformation lead to the most impactful, memorable experience of my lifetime thus far -- being cast as the lead in my senior musical 42nd Street. And while I had several solos as part of the show, and for all intents and purposes carried them as decently as could be expected, I was still never confident in my singing abilities. After graduating from high school, the sad part of Flowers for Algernon unfortunately happened to me too. Little by little, my vocal instrument was used less and less, and by the time I graduated from grad school, almost all of my once promising talent had retreated, leaving me with that hideous dying cat sound once more.

I've posed this very long introduction in an attempt to explain my reasoning for choosing #23: Sing Karaoke at CityWalk's Rising Star. As I've mentioned before, I tried to compose my list with a balanced combination of things I've always wanted to do and things that scare the crap out of me. This item falls into the second camp. I think I sort of wanted to test my abilities, and see if somehow the magic from high school would come back and I'd be able to blow the audience's socks off. I also get a kick out of forcing myself to do horrifying things -- something about it just makes you feel so alive! And who knew? Maybe my casting director was sitting in the audience and this was my big break? With an impending birthday, I decided this would be the perfect venue to host a celebration of year 27.

Apropos liquid courage of choice

For those non-Orlando folks who may not know, Rising Star is a karaoke club at Universal's CityWalk where you sing on a stage with a live band and back-up singers. It's an elevated experience from standard karaoke mostly due to the swanky ambiance and 400-seat audience. Intimidation is high! Not to mention, I chose to sing the very ambitious "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele -- because there is a live band the song list is fairly limited, and I wanted to choose something that I felt comfortable with, but would allow me to actually sing versus just speak the lyrics.

We arrived at the bar just before 9pm, and the place was significantly less full than the bouncer told me it would be by that time (I was told that by 9pm on a Saturday the place was standing room only...so not true!). After ordering a few drinks, I filled out a card indicating my candidacy for the spotlight and was slotted to sing fourth. To be honest, the nerves that I was so accustomed to feeling when I knew I'd have to sing solo in high school were nowhere to be found. Not sure if this was thanks to the black feather earrings that I donned especially to prove to onlookers that I was a real rock star, because I had 11 friends in the audience, or because I knew that if I screwed up there were only about 40 people in the audience that would boo me. Needless to say, I walked up to the stage pretty damn confident and ready to tackle my song.

Then out of nowhere, the nerves reappeared. I think it happened right as the band started playing and I realized that there wasn't a very long intro for me to find my groove and prepare. So, I took a breath and started to sing, only to realize that the mic I was using was one of those where everyone in the audience can hear you perfectly, but you can't actually hear a single note of yourself singing. For anyone who has ever performed, you know this is a nightmare. It becomes almost impossible to know if you are on key or singing well -- hence the reason most real musicians use those little ear plug thingies (it transmits their voice into their ear so they can self-correct). Of course this made me even more nervous, which resulted in that throat constricting, dry-mouth, out-of-breath feeling. This was not going as planned!

Here you can really tell I am a rock star

The good news is that I made it through the song and my friends were all kind enough to lie to me and tell me I did great. The second piece of good news is that my "videographer" friend Kyle accidentally forgot to push the record button until I was walking OFF the stage, meaning my performance cannot actually be published to this blog. Oh well! The only bad news is that because of the video mishap, I can't actually play back my performance and see if I was as horrendous as I thought I was. Not a whole lot lost, if you ask me.

Regardless, I am a Star because they stamped it on my hand

The rest of the evening was much more relaxing, as we sang along to other folks' karaoke as a group and laughed when a 40-year-old man who called himself "Bad Tony" performed Jump Around. That was almost as funny as the Ice Ice Baby man, or the two geeky "we're here for a bachelor party" guys singing Don't Stop Believing. All in all, a good night for sure, and a place I'd love to check out again sometime in the future.

Before I sign off, I just want to make sure I thank Aynsley, Betsy, Kyle, Katie, Denis, Dana, Reid, Rachel, Chris, Cara and Paul for coming out for my birthday. You all helped make my night so special and I appreciate your support! :) Til next time -- au revoir (and yes, this is me practicing my budding French -- another one of my 30 Things!)!

#27: Go Fake Skydiving

This particular item on my "30 Things" list has unequivocally received the most wrath from those that are following me on this journey. "FAKE skydiving?" they ask. If your aim is adventure, challenge and conquering fears, why on earth would you decide to go fake skydiving instead of pushing yourself to experience the real thing?

Well folks, that's because I'm chicken s**t. I value my life and would very likely be haunted by nightmares filled with parachutes that fail to open, giant birds that appear out of nowhere and crash landings into shark-filled waters should I decide to actually attempt jumping out of a plane. The contradiction here is that part of me really, really wants to experience it, and thus I discovered a happy medium that a) was affordable thanks to Groupon, b) simulates the feeling of skydiving and c) offers minimal risk of bodily harm. The compromise came in the form of none other than iFly Orlando, a tourist trap conveniently located on International Drive and home to a 130 mph wind tunnel.

My partner in crime for this adventure was my sorority sister and almost-lawyer Alex (P-S: Good luck on the bar!), whom despite not seeing me since college graduation, so kindly responded to my request on Facebook for a tag-along. The two of us met promptly at 1pm for our reservation and were swiftly shepherded upstairs to the "observation" deck where you can sit and watch other people take part in their "flying 101" class. It's all a little bit comical to be honest -- those observing are positioned on one side of a giant plexi-glass-framed wind tunnel with 8-10 people donning embarrassingly blackmail-worthy "flight suits" sitting on the other side. One by one they get up and enter the flight tunnel, only to flail around like a fish out of water as an instructor pulls and prods them in an attempt to help them take flight. For a moment, you feel sort of like a spectator at a zoo. Here you are sitting in front of this glass tube and laughing to yourself as people contort their bodies every which way and make incredibly "flattering" facial expressions thanks to the wind. It's all very funny until you realize that very shortly this will be you!

After about 20 minutes of watching others in the observation deck (and intently studying the body position of those who were "successful" at flying versus those who were not), we were taken upstairs for our flying class. This wasn't much of a class, but rather an opportunity to meet our instructor, Adam, watch a short video about what the experience would be like and then learn about the body position we were supposed to mimic (arms bent at the elbows and held up by your ears, legs bent at about a 45 degree angle, back curved at the hips to create a gentle U shape, chin up). From there we were given our very own flight gear -- a jumpsuit, helmet, goggles and ear plugs -- and corralled down to the wind chamber to await our turn at flight.

At this point, I feel that it probably makes sense for me to share the video of my flight experience, as well as Alex's. Please excuse the incredibly amateur editing and crappy quality, but at 4 minutes in length, I had to reduce the quality to make the video compatible with this blog. Commentary will resume below...

As you can tell from the video, my flying skills were less than stellar -- Alex did a much better job than I did! Apparently I was bending my arms too much and my instructor kept telling me to relax, which was weird considering I felt totally relaxed! The weird thing is that as much as you think your body will just assume the right position once inside the wind tunnel, when you actually get in there for the first time, the experience can be incredibly disorienting. Not to mention you have just 60 seconds to get it "right" (the experience includes just 2 minutes of flight per person, 1 minute at a time), so there is pressure to figure things out quickly so that you can actually experience the sensation of flying. Luckily, I caught on eventually, and my second go around I had a complete blast during the 30 seconds that the instructor grabbed on to me and literally flew me up and down, spinning in circles throughout the tube.

Once everyone in the group has had their two turns, it's back upstairs to return your flight gear, get your certificates of flight, pick up your DVD (hence the reason I was able to share the above footage) and see some photos of yourself in flight (they charge $3.95 just to E-MAIL you one photo, but c'mon, if you don't have someone on the other side taking pictures for you, how can you NOT buy at least one?). And with that, you're done!

In all honesty, I left the experience a heck of a lot closer to considering going REAL skydiving someday (the instructor assured me that the feeling is almost 100% replicated by the wind tunnel and that there is no actual feeling of falling), although unfortunately, my bravado has since faded the more I have time to actually use my brain to think about the situation. At the end of the day, part of me still really wants to push myself and just go for it -- I think I may regret it when I am older if I don't -- but in the meantime, I still have to work on squashing the paralyzing fear that has prevented me from doing it thus far!

Stay tuned for a new blog post in about two weeks as I tackle yet another item on my list -- singing karaoke with a live band and back-up singers at CityWalk's Rising Star (I'm heading there for my 27th birthday, ya'll!). Video evidence will be in abundance, so it will be a sight worth seeing!