Shieldmaiden Adventures

One girl. A whole, wide world to explore. Time to get started. I am an REI employee. REI granted me this Employee Challenge Grant. However, the opinions expressed in this blog are my own. This is my personal journey and my personal experience. REI does not necessarily support or share the opinions expressed herein.

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My video from Run or Dye 2014

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Run or Dye 2014

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I'm officially registered for the Color In Motion 5K!

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Everyone needs someone who will be in their corner, so find that person who will PUSH you to be better.

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I'm officially registered for The Electric Run!

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My awesome stash of Employee Challenge Grant gear!

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I'm officially registered for Run Or Dye 5K Tacoma!

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What a hike with me is (evidently) like.

Tonight, I had the oddest conversation I've had in ages.

To preface, several years ago, I took a hike in bear country with a friend. So many things went wrong on that hike: It got dark early, we didn't have lights (yes, yes, 10 essentials, I know), and I wrenched my ankle so badly that the only thing that was keeping it from being basketball-sized was my boot)

Friend: Okay I have a confession, and I need you to promise not to be mad at me.

Me: Okay, I promise.

Friend: Remember the hike you had so much fun on?

Me: It's etched in my memory, yes.

Friend: Well, we were followed out of the woods that night.

Me: Um...what?

Friend: Yeah.

Me: Yup. I'm going to need more details than that.

Friend: Remember just as it was gettin dark...we were leavin that last meadow and heading back into the timber?

Me: Yeah.

Friend: Ok, just as we were leaving the meadow, I discovered we were not alone. We were followed all the way to the highway by a 8-9 foot brown bear.

Friend: I heard it coming down out off the hill behind us, and listened to it walking all the way down the trail.

Me: OH. MY. FRELLING. GOD.

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Chubby Girl in Hiking Boots

I think that it's impossible to have a blog about training, getting stronger and achieving physical goals without delving into some realities about body perception. 

I'm overweight. 

This does not make me a bad person. This does not mean that I am less valuable than a thin person, or that I am any less worthy of love and respect than anyone else.

However, weight seems to be one of the last remaining socially-acceptable forms of discrimination. Some is subtle, and the rest is not. In fact, it's painfully blatant. 

In a completely informal and sociologically biased poll of many close friends, I've discovered that we have faced many similar challenges in our roads to health. 

(Please note, this is about a journey to HEALTH, not a journey to SKINNY. They are not the same thing.) 

The same person who looks in disgust and makes oinking noises at me when I order anything but a salad will also be the person making faces at the sweat flooding off of me when I dare to walk the same trail, (albeit at a much slower pace than them).

The same companies which relegate clothes in my size to the shadowy back of the store, where people my size won't taint the image of the brand will also refuse to make workout gear in plus sizes...again, so that overweight people are not tarnishing their image. 

The fact is, it's socially acceptable (yet morally repugnant) to look on the overweight person with disdain because they're "fat", "lazy", "dirty", "smelly" and any number of unkind adjectives. 

But the same societal views that pigeonholed us into this stereotype also refuse to offer a hand-up to those attempting to make healthier choices. 

I'm here to say, you don't get to have it both ways. 

Also, my body is MY body. It's my possession. Just because it's a larger size than others would like doesn't mean that I'm somehow public property. If I want to order an Oprah doughnut (maple bar with bacon) and chase it with a soda, I will. If I want to be huffing, groaning, and dripping sweat on a trail, I will. No one gets to police me because I'm overweight. No one gets to tell me that it's not acceptable for me to make my own choices because I'm the chubby girl in hiking boots. 

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Emerald City Comicon

Ok, ok. I'm sure everyone is wondering why I included something as dorky as a Comicon as an athletic adventure. 

Do me a favor, just for a minute? Dispense with the stereotype in your mind of a group of pimply-faced geeks filing through boxes of comics in some darkly lit room. 

Emerald City Comicon is MORE than just comics. It covers everything from film, anime, television, makeup, costuming, writing, collecting, directing.... it essentially encompasses every piece of the sci-fi and fantasy universe, and attracts everyone from A-list actors, to major directors, and fabulous makeup artists and costume designers. 

It also takes up about 6 floors of the Washington State Convention Center, which is a large space. Packing for the convention is a lot like packing for a hike; you really do need your essentials. Medicine, water, nutrition, emergency gear, maps, layers of clothing...

Look, I'm not comparing it to hiking up Rainier or anything. But you're in a large, crowded space, without a support team, and you need preparation to keep yourself strong enough to get through. 

You can easily walk 5-10 miles every convention day. 

It's not like walking through a fair or exhibit. If you want to see everything, you have to be able to cover the distance, as well as deal with the chaos of other people crowding your space.

It's legitimately an athletic event. 

I don't need to defend myself, I'm just trying to communicate. :-) 

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Photo credit, Jeffrey Michael Carlson 

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Hiking the Beautiful USA

Check out REI's wide selection of hiking gear!

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I need to remember this. 

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Walk to Rivendell

Since June 2013, I have participating in The Eowyn Challenge, trying to walk the distance from Bag End to Rivendell. Because I'm a LOTR junkie. (points to her username - see?) 

My goal is to complete it within one year; 

Current Eowyn Challenge Update: 

You have walked 321 miles. You have passed South of the Road. It is 7 miles to the next landmark. You have 137 miles to reach Rivendell.

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These boots are made for walking... In the rain... #Seattle

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Day One

So, here we go. I'm attempting to keep a blog. Well, keeping a blog has never really been a problem for me, it's keeping a blog updated that usually gives me fits. 

But I have a very good reason to keep this updated, so I'm cautiously optimistic. 

You see, I work for an awesome company (which I'm going to attempt to keep nameless in this space, at least for now) that constantly challenges employees to get outside, take adventures, try new things, and push your personal boundaries. And in an effort to support us, they agree to provide some funds to help us get started in challenging ourselves to attain new goals. (There are some strings attached, but no need to go into those details here.)

The thing is, I haven't been up for many adventures these days, and I haven't been in a few years. Due to a variety of health issues, I've gained a bit of weight, and been a lot less active than I aspire to be. 

When I heard about the grants my company was offering, I decided that it was time to make a leap out of my comfort zone, and throw off the excuses. 

I'm tired of hearing stories of my friends doing amazing things, like climbing mountains, doing marathons, taking glorious hikes through gorgeous parts of the country that I would love to see. I'm tired of thinking "I could never do that." I'm tired of writing myself off with "man, that would be awesome, but chubby girls can't do that." 

Why can't I? Why couldn't it be me?

So I pulled up my big girl panties, took a deep breath, and applied. 

I wrote to the grant givers about my desire to be adventurous, but feeling limited by my own body. I talked about my plan to get fitter and stronger, and I set myself an event, The Electric Run 5K, to train for and participate in. I let them know that my goal isn't just to participate in the 5K, but to take from it the strength and training to go on and take bigger adventures in my future. 

I turned in the application and waited. Pretty impatiently. 

And guess what? Today I got approved!

I've been granted with some really great gear to help me along the way, and this blog is going to chart my journey. I've got a calendar of events posted that will be updated often. If you see that you're going to be in the area and want to meet up, message me! 

All right, so today is day one. Here we go!