Last Few Days...

Only a few days left- and I have definitely made the most of them. On Thursday after the 4th I went on an amazing hike with a friend called the "Punchbowls". Was a series of three punchbowls and numerous waterfalls where you could jump into the bowls and hike up the creek/falls. Gorgeous hike and one of my favorites- even though the unfortunate happened. While at the very last part of the hike, the water slide, I made a dumb decision to try and climb straight up the falls. Story made short- I slipped, cracked my head open, knocked myself out, fell 10 feet, hit every rock/branch on the way down, and was awaken by being underwater. Worst part was mine and my buddies cell phones were in my backpack and now were no good. Had to make the 3 hour hike back to the van with a bleeding head. Always could be worse! Seems to be healed up now. Then on Friday we had a "Sports Day" with all the Air Force company at school. Had many games and sports going on, and I chose to play softball. Played 4 games- had to pitch, but had a pretty good team and even beat the instructors All-Star team once. Due to my head injury I backed out of the competition in the afternoon- but out of 400 Air Force students I was picked to be in the top 6 for a Fitness competition vs. the Navy's top 6. Air Force ended up winning it even without me. Then today (Saturday) was my long awaited Tough Mudder!!!  12 mile obstacle course designed by the English Special Forces... Was a killer! I swear the whole race was either straight uphill or straight back down- and I'm not sure which one was worse. Had some very tough obstacles- but I completed my first Mudder in a little under 3 hours. Between the hiking fall and this- I am COVERED in bruises and cuts- but feels so good! Accomplished on of my goals. Toughest part about the course was that the ground was so dry- there was a lot of dust being kicked up and inhaled... Some fun obstacles were the Berlin Walls, the jumping into the lake from about 40 feet, and the huge waterslide. The not so fun ones were the freezing ice baths, dragging yourself through rocks, and all the electricity! I managed to keep myself blood free until the very last obstacle- Electroshock Therapy. A ton of wires hanging down that sends 10,000 volts through you. Last couple wires hit me real good and knocked me to the ground hard and opened up the knee! Even with all the pain- Couldn't have asked for a better couple of days! Maybe I will be able to talk Brooke into doing a Mudder with me soon...  Pictures below of the hike and at the Finish Line

Happy Birthday America!

Had a great day today. My gym here "CrossFit Anacapa" had a "Going Away" Workout and cookout for me today. They made a special workout named "Vial"- which included most of my strengths so of course I had to win big! Workout was 10 rounds of 1 MuscleUp/ 3 Ring Dips/ 4 Handstand Pushups/ 6 Kettlebell swings @73#/ 12 Pushups/ 200 m Run...  Was a killer! Completed it in 22:30 min. It was a very fun day and had a ton of people show up. I also made special shirts for everyone playing off the phrase I always use "You can do anything for 10 minutes"- as something to remember me by. In CrossFit they are all big on their shirts and gear so hopefully everyone liked them! Seemed to be a hit. Then again after the workout Alex & Richard had a big cookout at their house. Perfect way to spend the 4th away from home. It is definitely going to be bittersweet leaving next week. On the one hand I am very excited to get home to my life in WI - but as proven by today, I have met some amazing people here and will miss them a lot! SO glad I joined this gym and couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my time out here. Below is a pic of most of the crew that showed! "W" for Wisconsin!

Animal Day

I feel like yesterday was Animal Day! In the morning I was lucky enough to be on the beach and saw 3 dolphins swimming right off shore, about 15 yards.  Beautiful and from what I hear pretty rare for these parts. Then in the middle of class we almost had a skunk run right into our classroom through our open door- which would have been very bad for me because I am the first one next to the door...  And most importantly - ONE WEEK till I am home. REALLY looking forward to it.  We have off from class the next 5 days- then test Monday and graduation Tuesday!