It's a Birthday Party!

Ladies and gents, we have reached a milestone.  A person, or rather an establishment that is near and dear to my heart is turning 125 today! So let's take our hats off to Ouachita Baptist University for reaching it's Quasquicentennial! (Yes, I looked it up)

Well OBU is doing something really neat for its birthday.  The alumni office is asking people to blog about their favorite Ouachita memory.  I thought this would be an impossible feat considering I have quite a few, but I figure for the sake of the blog and for the readers, I would narrow it down.

My favorite Ouachita memory is... living the dorm life.


Tigers for Life

 When I first was thinking about OBU, there were a couple of things that were holding me back.  The first was that there were only about 1,500 students. I come from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex! My high school had more students than that.  How on earth could I enjoy the small town of Arkadelphia with the small school to match? My second concern was that I would be living in a dorm until at least my senior year.  After hearing all the fun times my friends, who were away at big universities living in apartments, I thought there was no way that I could possibly have fun in a cramped.. old.. dirty.. dorm room.

Boy was I wrong.

Within the first week of being OBU, I met more people, NICE people, than I ever did at the university I transferred from.  I couldn't believe how welcoming the entire campus felt.  I also settled into my dorm room fast and realized how much fun it was to meet all the girls on my hall.  I started off in Maddox and loved every minute of running into other girls' rooms and constantly borrowing clothes and having fellowship with everyone.



Blowing up balloons for a surprise party. Group effort.


I lived in a dorm my entire Ouachita career.  I started off in Maddox and ended in Gosser (or.. as some call it.. the "new" dorms).  While living the dorm life, I met some amazing girls that became my best friends and some even my roommates.  It was like I had a slumber party every night in college!


Slumber party with roommates/friends!

There are many more memories I can write about for Ouachita... Beach Reach, Tiger Tunes, random trips, CDAs (Campus Drive Arounds), EEE... but at the end of the day, when I went back to my dorm with my best friends.. the best memories were made with the conversations with friends.  Whether we were laughing or crying or laughing until we cried, I will never forget those days.

And now.. my favorite pictures of my time at Ouachita for your enjoyment.

 

Campus Ministries Tiger Tunes 2008 -- "Reunion" Aka: Old People



Tiger Serve Day 2008 with our host

Beach Reach 2009 - Panama City



4th Floor Guys Easter Egg Hunt



Tiger Traks 2009 -- Yah!



Matters of the hEEEart 5k -- 2009

EEE Tiger Tunes 2009 -- Flight 1925 (I'm the excited little boy)



Pledge Week .. Dress-Up Night! 2010



Pre-game warm up for Team Beyonce Intramural Basketball -- 2010

The females of our CoEd softball team, Title 9 - 2010

Spring Picture -- EEE PC 09, 2010

OBU Graduation 2010



EEE 50s Twirp Night -- 2010

EEE Tiger Tunes 2010 -- "Ring by Spring"

CoEd Volleyball Team 2010



EEE Outing in Branson 2010



OBU Graduation 2011
(I'm a Decemeber 2010 grad :))

Again, Happy Birthday Ouachita! I wish you 125 more.

Good news folks!

Well it looks like the title of my blog had more than one meaning, and I never even knew it. The whole time the "road to Memphis" just meant my training for the St. Jude Marathon in December, but it also means that I will be MOVING to Memphis in less than a week.

MOVING!

Very soon I will be considered a Memphian.

I took a job with Christian Brothers University in their MBA department.  I am so excited about the opportunity and know that it's definitely a blessing that I was offered the job. Everything about it is really wonderful, especially that I will be able to get my MBA. We'll just see how the classes go. (I'll start in January of 2012).

My first day is June 20, which is such a quick turn around that I haven't really had time to let it set in. I'm not nervous or anxious at all about the move, more just ready to get there and get it started.

Thank you to everyone that had been praying for me through this whole ordeal. :)

And whoever wants to come visit me in Memphis, please do! I would love to have you there.

Also, I wanted to point out that George Strait's "All My Exes Live in Texas" fits my life perfectly right now.  So here's a link to the video of the song... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMNw_-yUm_0

Here's a little update on EVERYTHING

So today I decided that the world must just be so lost without reading my blog, so therefore I decided to have a productive lunch break and write this blog.

Here is a little update to my life:

• The storms are hopefully gone for good, but the destruction they left behind was unreal.  We still have a massive hole in our house, but thankfully we are finally getting our whole house SIDED this week.  I really feel so fortunate and blessed after stories from Joplin and Tuscaloosa.  It's funny how one day I can complain about a hole in a house (really the only major damage we had) and the next I'm just so thankful to be alive. 
• I've officially graduated! Yes yes, I guess I technically did that in December, but when one attends a small college, one may not walk until May.  And that is exactly what happened.  It was a great weekend filled with family and friends that meant a lot to me, and definitely some tears as we all missed my Granddaddy Bill, but all in all it was wonderful.  I realized though that graduation passes by really quickly.  One minute you are taking pictures with your family, the next minute the campus becomes a ghost town.  I just wish it would have lasted a little longer...
• Since it's been so long since the last time I've updated, I need to let you know my little adventure in ROCK CLIMBING. It is so awesome, and such a great workout. I had a blast going with some co-workers.  If you are a GIRL and have a free Wednesday night in Little Rock, you should really hit up Little Rock Climbing Center. (http://littlerockclimbingcenter.com/) Every Wednesday is WOW -- Women on Wednesday -- where you can get free gear rentals and belay lessons and the total fee is only $12.  Seriously, such a fun fun thing to do.
• Well working out has been a little difficult the past two weeks, because I had the opporunity to live with THE Julia Conrad while her roommate Laura was in Chile on a mission trip.  Instead of wanting to go to the gym, I loved getting to just hang out with her and her dog Howie.  I never realized how important a routine is until I didn't have one and lost all ambition to go work out.  Don't worry, we went a couple of times, but I belive Laura needs to get back and whoop our butts into shape.
• The main work outs I have been getting have come from helping Cody get his house ready. Who knew how much energy it takes for someone to paint a house? Let me just tell you right now, it takes a lot. Don't let those Behr Paint commercials throw you.  It takes more than one roll of a paint roll to actually cover a spot.  The good news is the walls are painted, and most of the furniture is moved in.  He's all grown up now.
• In my new Memorial Day weekend tradition, I went to the lake with the Willards as I have done this year and last.  We went to Pickwick lake in Mississippi and got to tube with the president of Mississippi State's kids (name dropping).  Don't worry, he's related to Cody.  It was a lot of fun, but who knew how freakishly sore I would be from trying to make sure six-year old triplets do not fall into the water.  All in all, it was a great day on the lake!

Below are some pictures from all the events above...

Graduation Day!

My extra roommate, Howie. (I apologize for the bad rotation)

Cody's new kitchen!

Cody's living room. We painted those walls. And that couch RULES.

This is a ring that my Granny gave me from graduation that my
Granddaddy gave her for their 25th wedding anniversary.

Rock Climbing with Taylor. (BAD ROTATION AH!)

Me clearly beating Taylor in rock climbing :)

That's all for now! Hopefully I'll update more often and with better news about my running!

Buildin' That Body Up!

Wow it's already April 27, and I have yet to update you all on my hardcore work out routines.  So for all of you that have been waiting anxiously for me to update, sitting by the computer day and night (mom), this one is for you.

The gym rules.  I don't know what I thought all these years that it was just a place for meatheads and girls that wore matching outfits.  I was for sure that I would NOT fit in with my old-tshirts and norts.  Granted the thing that really helps me with these work outs these days are my dear friends, Julia and Laura.  Two OBU girls from Texas that have also migrated to Little Rock, they are with me almost everytime I'm there.  It makes working out a lot more fun when you have friends there to make you forget the agony you may be going through.

Norts.

Another reason I've liked the gym is that I haven't been able to go outside in the last two-three weeks. Why? Well if any of you have been watching the weather channel lately, you would see that Arkansas, and even more specifically, CENTRAL Arkansas (where I'm located) has been a hot zone for some of the craziest storms I've ever seen.  I've taken cover so many times, that I might as well just keep pillows and blankets in the bathtub from here on out.  So instead of getting poured on or blown away, a gym has been the perfect place to go and feel somewhat "safe" (if you don't include the fact that if a tornado comes through, a 100lb weight may be blown into my face).



The roomates and I in our new bonding spot. The tub.



Things have been going really good! I'm running on the days I can, doing at least 30 minutes of cardio or more on days I can't.  I've also been lifting weights and can see the slightest bit of difference.  I soon hope to become as strong as those men in the gym whose necks are as thick as their heads.  I know I have a long way to go, but I'll get there one day. A girl can dream right?

I think this could be a good look for me?

 

On a much more THANKFUL note.  Thank you to all of you who donated to the American Heart Association. I raised $250!!

**I know this is a running blog, but I also wanted to add some pictures from my trip home for Easter this weekend. Enjoy!



My 15yr old sister, Alyssa.  Yes, I am older then her, and CLEARLY taller according to this picture.
She always says otherwise.



Katie, myself and Sarah.  My two very dear friends from UTA/TriDelt days.
We got to reunite over the Easter weekend in Funky Town.

I joined a what?

This past week was a much better than the last.  I ran on Monday and Thursday, both times over two miles and both at moderately fast paces.  I even stretched AND did a warm up. That's pretty impressive if I do say so myself.  But could you blame me? The weather was beautiful! (except for Wednesday, it poured). I enjoyed just being outside.

On Friday I got to have a "bonus weekend" in Memphis because some friends of mine had to go there anyway, therefore I had a FREE RIDE to Collierville to see Cody. It was definitely a treat. But even on bonus weekends, I found a time to run a two-mile run. It was rather fun, only because it was a new location so it didn't seem to be as hard.

Something I've learned about myself though is that I much rather run as hard as I can for around two miles, then run a slow pace and get more distance in.  It's not necessarily that I'm in a time crunch, I just find myself speeding up the pace until the next thing I know I'm completely out of breath. The only rational reason I can think of is that in high school, cross country races were two miles.  Maybe my body refuses to do anything less? I should break it to it soon that we still have over 11 miles to go...

So now you're probably wondering what the heck the title of this post means.  Well first, a big storm blew in yesterday bringing a lot of wind, rain and cold.  Even though the sky cleared up, the wind and cold definitely stuck around, making me not want to run at all.  Instead I found an alternative, I joined a gym.  I used to never want to join one, because I didn't understand why I needed to pay to work out when I had perfectly good running shoes sitting in the closet.  But after much high praise for 10 Fitness from more than a few people, I took a shot at it. I ended up working out over an hour, and hopefully didn't look to stupid doing it.  I did a some free weights even! It's a great deal if you are looking for a good gym, but don't want to spend a lot of money.  There's no contract and $10 a month (or $20 if you get the premium) which is cheaper then anywhere else! Totally worth it. If you're in the LR area, you should join.

So now the task is to work out even more with the membership.  Don't worry though, I'm not abandoning my running.  I much rather run any day of the week, but now I don't have an excuse for bad weather days anymore.

My task for this week? Eating healthier. I'll let you know how it goes.
----
One more note.  I know if you're reading this, you've probably already seen me advertise the WALK! for American Heart Association, but I'm going to use my blog to plug it again. There are walks all over the nation throughout the year, but the one I'm supporting is for Central Arkansas and is on April 16.  The goal for this area is $300,000.  I, along with a co-worker, am on a team together to try and raise $1,200.  It's a lot of money, but for a good cause. 

This is near and dear to my heart because my granddaddy, Bill Chumbley had heart disease.  He had multiple heart surgeries in his life that caused him to have a weak heart.  In 2008, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but with such a weak heart he went into cardiac arrest only two weeks after being diagnosed and passed away in March 2008 after being admitted to the hospital a month earlier.  He was such a great man and left a great legacy, that I wanted to do something in his name. My other grandfather, Charlie Delker, also has heart disease.  I'm so proud of him though, for living such a full life still! He up everyday, still working on multiple projects, it's hard to keep up with him.

My granddaddy and me in 1994.

So after all that-- if you are interested in donating to the AHA walk (it helps not just central Arkansas, but all over the nation) please click the link and donate. Also, if you have a story you'd like to share about someone in your family with heart disease, I'll post it on my blog. :)

CLICK HERE TO DONATE

Blame It On The Cold Weather...

Blame It On The Cold Weater...

My kick-off week started great last week.  The weather was absolutely beautiful on Monday when I put on my running shoes and went out to run.  It made it so easy to go out there because all I wanted to do was enjoy the weather.  I didn't run far, but I didn't plan on it either.  I ran right around two miles and it felt great. 

The next day I decided to take off.  In my head I figured I would run every other day, or at least 3-4 times a week to just kind of get back in the groove of running.  However, trying to still be good, I sat and stretched for a good twenty minutes. On Wednesday I was ready to run, but a nice surprise happened. My good friend Audrey Craven flew in and stayed the night.  Of course I was going to spend time with her, so I put off running for one more day. Thursday came and I ran.  It was good and I ran around the same two mile run that I did on Monday.  The problem is I don't really know exactly where to run in my neighborhood yet.  I'm used to my home in Texas where I know every single road, and now in Little Rock... I'm struggling.

So here comes the BIG excuse of the blog.  Yes.. maybe I didn't run the rest of the week.. but it was COLD. I promise! The frigid air of winter for some reason decided to return at the end of March. So this weekend I became a lazy bum and didn't run.  I guess this is what I decided this blog is for, because now I'm embarrassed that I didn't run but twice.

I honestly just hate to run in the cold. It brings me back to the beginning of track season when my friend Ben and I were convinced that God knew when track practice would begin and end.  For morning practice it would be cold and absolutely miserable.  Then throughout the day it would become absolutely beautiful throughout the day! But as soon as 3:00 would hit, the clouds would come in and the wind would kick up to about 100mph and it would be like running into a brick wall. Makes running much less fun then it already is (which during track practice really isn't that fun).  That's how I felt about this week. When I wanted to run, I believe the temperature would literally drop.

Okay, enough excuses. Today begins a new week, and my goal is to run at least two miles every run up to three times. Yee-haw for six miles! Also-- for anyone that knows good routes in West Little Rock.. holla.

And now I'll end with pictures of my high school running days. To make it a bit more interesting.

Me, Nevan and Barbara at a cross country meet.

Barbara, myself, Nevan and Janessa at a track meet.

Nevan and myself at a cross country meet in Dallas at Mountain View. 

PS - How scary is it that I look exactly the same as I did at the age of 17?

Here It Goes...

I know everyone is writing blogs these days, but I feel as though my blog will hold me more accountable to what I want to accomplish.

Here's the goal:
I want to run in the St. Jude's Half Marathon on December 3, 2011.

I realize that the "cool thing" to do right now is to start running, and I also realize a bunch of people just ran in the Little Rock race this past month, but this is my way to really start to train.

I have a background in running. I really do. In the 7th grade I had a friend trick me into joining cross country.  She said it was a traveling class and at the ripe age of 12, I believed her.  The next week I was in workout gear being told I had to run a mile time trial.  I thought I could kill her, but instead I fell in love with the sport. In the next six years I ran track and cross country and loved ... well most of it.  Now many of you may be thinking that a half marathon is a breeze for a runner, but here's the thing, I've never ran 13 miles in one time in my entire life..  In track I was a middle distance runner, ie 800m (half a mile) and 400m (quarter of a mile).  For cross country in Texas, our race was only 2 miles.  A half marathon? That is 13.1 MILES.

My goal:  To run under 2 hours. That's a little more than 9 minute miles.  I would love to run faster, but baby steps people.  So no mockery of the time I want.

So I'm keeping this blog to, once again, hold me accountable. I know only my mom and Hannah may read this, and that's okay.  That is two more people who can get onto me about running day after day. 

And here it is, today is the first day of really trying to get out there and run. There is only 256 days, 9 hours and 58 minutes until the race begins. I'll let you know how I feel about 13.1 miles tomorrow...

For more information on the St. Jude's marathon in Memphis, TN please visit http://www.memphismarathon.com/.


Thanks!