All About Me

Remember that confidence project I wrote about in my last blog entry?  Yep, still working on it.  What can I say, when you have my confidence issues, it takes a while to sort out.  :)  But the good news is, things are improving!  I have a new blog assignment, for the project though, so below, read 100 things all about me.  The good.  The bad.  The ugly.  (in no particular order)  Why this assignment?  Well, I have trouble putting myself "out there" (in fact, I hate it), and so, this is a little practice in doing just that.  Just trying to learn to be myself, all over again.

1) My favorite color is purple.  If you looked in my closet, it kind of looks like purple threw up in there.

2) I failed my drivers exam three times - once on the written part (yes, that IS possible) and twice on the driving part.  I didn't get parallel parking back then.  But I'm proud of the fact that I can now parallel park our manual, in a tight spot, on the side of a large hill in Oakland, with traffic waiting behind me.  Boom.

3) One of the feelings I feel most is gratitude.

4) I've never lived on my own.

5) I don't know how to pay bills or do online banking.  At all.

6) I also don't know how to turn on a grill.

7) Nor do I know how to play poker.

8) But I do know how to play Settlers of Catan.  That's my favorite game.

9) I am a registered dietitian.  When I went through my schooling, I SWORE I'd never work in a hospital.  The first job I took?  Working in a hospital.  And I really loved it.

10) When I worked at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, I saw a lot of people die from cancer.  Cancer really scares me.

11) Alcoholism also scares me.  I think it's one of the saddest diseases there is.

12) I don't drink (alcohol) at all because of that fear.

13) Running is my absolute first love.  Although we've been through a lot of ups and downs through the years, running has been a constant for a majority of my life.

14) I LOVE dogs.  But big dogs scare me.  I got bit by our next door neighbor's German Shepard when I was little and also once when I was out running while in college.

15) I rode horses growing up.  I used to dream of being in the Olympics for show jumping (one of the equestrian sports).

I'm the one in the black shirt.  Back when trucker hats were cool, the first time around.

16) I have one sister that I really look up to.  She is super smart but has never made me feel dumb.

17) I wear a size 7 shoe.

18) I like all kinds of music.  I know all the words to most Billy Joel and Whitney Houston songs.

19) One of my all time favorite movies is Silver Linings Playbook.

20) There are a lot of things I don't like about myself but I'm really working hard to accept that all these things make me who I am, good, bad or ugly.  I want to be one of those people that is really comfortable just being who they are.

21) I never went to a high school dance.

22) It seems crazy to me that I get to wake up every morning and swim, bike and run for the majority of the day.  That literally is, a dream come true.

23) I've always been an all or nothing type person.  I'm not interested in many things, but when I am interested in something I am ALL IN.

24) On May 27th of this year, I'll be 36 years old.  That's hard for me to believe.  I don't feel that close to 40.

25) I'm really proud of the fact that I graduated from and ran for Penn State University.  It's a great school in a wonderful community with one of the best athletic programs in the country.  I still have my college uniform.

26) Bradley Cooper is my favorite actor.  For obvious reasons.

27) My coaches have been some of the most influential people in my life, and I'm very thankful for every last one of them.  Some of the deepest grief I have ever felt came when my high school coach passed away in the fall of 2006.

Still miss you every day, Coach Gatons.

28) And my teammates have always been my best friends.  Even to this day, on the QT2 team.  There is something about many miles suffered together, that helps bonds to form.

29) I'd FAR prefer to listen to someone else talk versus having to talk myself.  And I really dislike talking about myself (which makes this assignment rather painful).

30) I make a list every day of the things I have to do.  And I write it on paper.  Old school style.

31) I get (BAD) hiccups after almost every race I do.  Like the kind that make your entire chest ache.

32) One of the coolest things I ever did was ride my bike down the coast of California with friends.  I saw some amazing things that I can still so vividly picture in my mind.

33) Another cool thing I did was swim with dolphins in Hawaii.

34) I hate eating in restaurants by myself.

35) I'm scared of the end of my triathlon "career".

36) In high school, I worked on an ostrich farm.  There were also horses, cows, dogs, pigs, and llamas.  The llamas were definitely my least favorite of the bunch.

37) I also worked at a swimming pool (lifeguard, in the admissions booth) and, during college, in several nutrition labs on campus.

38) Pizza is my absolute FAVORITE food.  Any kind.  From anywhere.

39) I gave up drinking Diet Pepsi/Coke almost a year ago, but I still think about drinking it every single day.

40) I love going to the movie theater.  And eating salty popcorn.  (with a big Diet Pepsi...oh wait...)

41) I used to have a major sweet tooth but now I just want salt.  LOTS and lots of salt.

42) I am always cold.  And I HATE being cold.

43) I am the slowest reader, ever.  My sister and mom can read circles around me.

44) I've been to 4 different countries - Mexico, Canada, England and Germany.

45) God willing, I'll add to that list in March when I do an Ironman in South Africa.

46) My Mom has been to all 9 of the Ironmans I've done.

47) I don't like offending people.  And I hope I don't when I say this, but I think abortion is wrong.  I know it's an incredibly complex issue and I don't pretend to understand it all.  But in my heart, it doesn't feel right.

48) I dropped out of grad school twice - once as a PhD student, and again later while I was working towards a masters.  I'm a serious grad school dropout.  I sometimes wonder how my life would have been different had I stuck it out.  But I don't regret either choice terribly.

49) One day I want to coach a high school cross country team.

50) I've been to 36 of the 50 states.  (or maybe 37, I can't remember if I've been to Vermont or not)

51) Montana is one of the states I haven't been to that I'd most like to visit.  Either that or Maine.

52) Almost all of my travel has been related to sports - travelling to races either college or as a triathlete.

53) One of my most favorite places is Benton Harbor, MI where the Steelhead 70.3 is.  I think it's really beautiful there.

54) I'm really struggling to think of 100 things about me.  And I'm only on #54.

55) Did I mention I really like pizza?

56) I really like giraffes.  I think they are one of the coolest animals.  I got to feed one in Arizona once.

57) I wear contacts/glasses.  Kind of blind without them.

58) I don't floss.  But I usually lie to the dental hygienist and tell her that I do.

59)  My means of procrastination usually involves twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

60) I sometimes can't fathom that I grew up without a cell phone, OR the internet!

61) I don't wear makeup.

62) I've always struggled to believe that I have the talent to compete with the best in my sport.  But I do believe in my ability to do the work.

63) I've been iron deficient, vit D deficient, and vit B12 deficient.  I still take vit D and B12 supplements.

64) There must not be much vit D or B12 in pizza...

65) My favorite tv show is Homeland.

66) I've also watched every single episode of Grey's Anatomy and Friday Night Lights.  Multiple times.

67) My favorite book is Catcher in the Rye.

68) This past September I attended a training camp with my QT2 teammates and coaches.  Every morning we had open water swim workouts in a lake.  And after every single one of those workouts I cried in the shower.  It was so hard.  And so, so cold.

69) It's really hard to think of 100 things about yourself.  I challenge you to try it.

70) One of my goals for this year is to consistently look at training as a big picture instead of getting caught up and worried about the small details.  A good friend taught me that.

71) I love to sleep.  And I'm pretty good at it, if I do say so myself.

72) I'm terrible at spelling.  Not sure how I survived without spell check.

73) Also not sure how I survived without Google.

74) I love mini golf and bowling, but am PRETTY bad at both.

75) If I didn't become a dietitian, I would have become a nurse.  They have such a tough job but make such a huge difference in people's lives.

76) One thing that my father taught me is, "you get what you pay for".

77) In high school, one of my favorite songs was 1979, by the Smashing Pumpkins.

78) I took calculus in high school but I have NO IDEA what calculus even is now.

79) I also took 4 years of German in high school.  I think I can still count to 10, but other than that, I don't remember a single word of that language.

80) I don't like vegetables.  At all.  Except maybe peppers.  But I eat them because they're good for you.

81) I wish vegetables tasted like pizza.

82) Winter = nose bleed season for me.

83) Speaking in front of people makes me extremely nervous.  EXTREMELY.

84) I've only been to one concert - Billy Joel at Madison Square Gardens.

85) I took piano lessons when I was little.  Wish I would have stuck with it and actually remember how to play!

86) My favorite thing about riding a bike is how fast and how far you can go.

87) My favorite thing about swimming is how you can only hear the water in your ears and the rest of the world is shut out.

88) My maiden name is Buchheit.  The "c" is silent.

89) I don't like fish.  I mean to eat.  Fish themselves are pretty cool.

90) I knew all 4 of my grandparents.  None of them are alive today but I am very happy to have wonderful memories of all of them.

91) Thinking of 100 things about myself is really hard.  I've been working on this for 4 days now...

92) I consider myself a stubborn person.

93) I haven't seen many (any?) Disney movies.  I have no idea what the Lion King is about.

94) My memory isn't very good.  Especially when it comes to peoples names.

95) I rode in a helicopter once.  When I was flown to Allegheny General after getting hit by a truck while riding.  I was fine though.  Not a broken bone in my body.  And the whole situation wasn't very traumatic because I don't remember a thing about it!

96) Even though I don't remember the accident, for about a year after it, when I would close my eyes, I would "see" the point of impact.  Strange.

97) I am so close to finishing this assignment, I can *taste* victory.

98) I wear my jeans WAY more times than I should before I wash them.

99) I almost never remember to wear a belt.

100) I AM SO HAPPY I FINALLY GOT TO 100!

And if you actually made it all the way to the end, you deserve some sort of medal.  There is literally nothing else to know about me!