#luckily it was easy and worth barely any points and I’ve had a 100% in that course all semester

[e77y]

Such a horrifying feeling to finish an assignment at 11:59, revel in your victory for a few minutes, close out of it to the Canvas homepage, and see tomorrow’s assignments already waiting for you on your to-do list because it’s past midnight

[fandom-imagines-stories]

Along for the Ride

Dean Winchester x Reader

Words: 3007

Summary: When you first started hunting with Dean Winchester, you hadn’t expected it to last this long. Together, you face all kinds of ghouls and basically become the ultimate badass couple. But when you start to think you’re just another fling for him, he has no trouble correcting you. 

Notes: This is meant to be a fluffier Dean piece, but you know me, I have to have a bit of angst. I am trying to break up Dean’s darker imagines with fluff, so be prepared for Friday. 

Special shout out to my amazing beta reader Sarah, @suckmysupernatural​ . I love her so much and honestly, she’s helped me so much in getting these imagines out for you and she has some absolutely killer writing of her own!

Want more Supernatural? Find it HERE

-

You swung your knife hard into the blood-sucker’s neck, his head rolling across the warehouse floor. You turned to see Dean saw off another one himself, blood covering both of your clothes. 

“That’s the last of them.” He groaned, lifting up his shirt to examine the bruises and cuts. “That son of a bitch really put up a fight.” You wiped your stained blade off on your jeans and opened the warehouse door, basking in the autumn sun.  Dean shook the dust and dirt off of his jacket and wrapped his arm around you as you both walked to the Impala. 

“I think this calls for a beer,” you noted and he nodded in agreement. The two of you just took out an entire nest of vamps, a little celebration was deserved. And after a few bottles of beer, Dean texted Sam and told him that you would be a while and the two of you had an entirely different kind of celebration back at the motel. 

-

The two of you laid together in a comforting silence, your arms wrapped around Dean as he stared up at the ceiling. This was pretty routine for your relationship. You had each other’s backs during a hunt and you were there to help each other unwind afterwards. Poor Sam usually just went and got something to eat by himself. You wrapped your arms around Dean a little tighter, that part of you close to your heart wishing that this was more than it was. But you could never tell Dean that you loved him. That wasn’t part of the deal. 

“What’s on your mind?” Dean asked, feeling your shoulders tense. 

“Pie.” You lied, laughing as he leaned over you, chuckling deeply in your ear. His green eyes- god, those eyes- stared at you intensely. 

“I’m serious. What’s up?” 

“Nothing, Dean.” You were usually a great liar. It was a skill that was required in your particular profession. When it came to Dean, however, you were totally transparent. You decided to change the subject to hopefully get him off your case. “Do you want some coffee? I’m dying for some caffeine.” You slid into your jeans and stole his flannel before he could grab it. 

“That’s my shirt.” He huffed, finding his pants. 

“I like you better like this.” You grinned, tracing a hand over his bare chest. “Besides, I look better in it.” Dean pulled you in for a rough kiss, nearly falling back on to the bed. You laughed as you pushed away. “Easy, tiger. We should go meet up with Sam. He’s probably been sitting in a diner somewhere all alone.” 

“Yeah, yeah, poor Sammy.” You ruffled Dean’s hair and grabbed his keys with a devilish grin.

“First one to the car gets to drive.” 

“Oh hell no.” Dean practically lunged at you and you squealed as you jumped out of the way, sprinting out the door. 

-

“I would ask what took you two so long, but I really don’t want to know.” Sam took note of your change in clothes and put the pieces together. He had been typing away on his laptop looking for a possible new case for the past couple of hours. Luckily, most of the patrons of the diner just thought he was writing a horror novel. 

“Find anything good?” Dean asked, motioning to the waitress for two cups of coffee. You couldn’t help but notice the way she leaned over the counter just so, flipping her hair over her shoulder. 

“Did you want any sugar, sugar?” You rolled your eyes, but Dean, being Dean, smiled at her. 

“No thanks.” She winked and strut off, her hips swaying more than you thought was humanly possible. Your eyes fell to the counter. Sam, having noticed your reaction to the encounter, started to list possible cases to distract you. He knew that Dean wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. But he also knew that Dean didn’t always realize when his harmless flirting wasn’t harmless anymore. 

“There’s a group of campers that disappeared in the Rockies, all that was left in their camp was a couple of demonic symbols carved into the trees.” 

“Sounds a little more like a prank than our kind of thing.” You noted, looking at the screen over his shoulder. “What about this one?” You pointed to a possible poltergeist case in Tulsa. “Four women over the last ten years, each found in their locked apartments with the words “Not Enough” carved into their chests.” The three of you collectively grimaced. 

“Hell hath no fury.” You muttered and the boys voiced their agreement. 

Sam was driving, so you flipped a coin to figure out who got shot-gun. A string of curses came from Dean as he climbed into the back seat. You smirked with victory and blew him a sarcastic kiss. 

“Real cute.” He barked and you and Sam shared a laugh. You started to scour records from the town to see if you could find any strange or violent deaths. One in particular fit the bill. You motioned for Dean to look and his fingers grazed your shoulder as he pulled himself forward. 

“Look at this. Martha Greenburg; 25. Ten years ago, she threw herself off of a bridge and wrote in her suicide note that she wasn’t enough for him. The police concluded that she was talking about her fiance, Haris, who broke her heart the previous day.” 

“Not enough.” Dean repeated, grabbing your phone to get a better look at the story. Your eyes lingered on him with a sad expression. Something about the words hit you harder than you would admit. You didn’t see Sam’s eyes dart over towards you, a deep frown appearing on his face. Dean returned your phone. “So, heart broken Martha kills herself and now she wants other women to feel the pain she felt?”

“That makes some kind of sick, sad sense.” You sighed, resigning to looking out your window for the rest of the trip. 

When you got to another motel, Sam suggested that Dean go in and get a room while the two of you bounced some more theories back and forth. As soon as Dean was gone, Sam turned to you with a serious, empathetic expression. 

“Is everything okay, Y/N?” His hand found yours in that classic Comfort Mode Sam way. 

“Of course.” You faked a laugh, but it didn’t work. “Look, I’ve just had a few stupid ideas running through my head lately, but I’m sure they’ll pass.”

“What ideas?”

“Seriously Sam, it’s nothing.”

“Seriously Y/N, it clearly isn’t.” You accepted defeat and took a deep breath. 

“I’ve just started to wish that it all meant more, you know? To him.”

“Did something happen between you and Dean?” Sam actually looked ready to smack his big brother upside the head. 

“No, no, not exactly. I forgot what we were, that’s all.” You watched Dean come back out of the motel with a heavy heart and a sad smile. “But hey, I’m just happy I get to be along for the ride.” 

Dean got back to the car before Sam could respond. He just looked at you with a sympathetic sadness that made you feel even worse. You should have just kept your mouth shut. You rolled down your window so Dean could talk.

“You two ready to change and head to the coroner’s office?” He noticed the change of tone in the car and scoffed. “Man, you two make ghouls look excited. Let’s go.” You gave Sam a pleading glance before grabbing your bag from the back and going in to change into your pantsuit. Sam and Dean found their bags and Sam punched Dean’s shoulder.

“What did you say to her?” He asked angrily. 

“What are you talking about?” Dean snapped back, rubbing the now sore spot. 

“To Y/N? What did you do?”

“Sammy,” Dean’s mouth formed a suggestive smirk. “I think we all know what Y/N and I did.”

“God, Dean that’s not what I meant.” Sam shook his head and slammed the trunk shut. 

-

There was an odd tension between the three of you as you left the coroner’s office. Every bodies’ insides were basically mush, as if they’d hit a wall at 100 miles per hour. A strange burn marked their hands. Their lungs were also filled with water. Oh, and sure enough, every single one had the words ‘Not Enough’ deeply carved across their chest. Every woman was engaged, and from the reports, they were happy. Martha’s distorted jealousy took that from them. It made your skin crawl. 

“Hey,” Dean said suddenly, pulling you to the side. “Are you okay?” You tried to hide all of the turning in your stomach. 

“Are we really going to do this again?” You laughed, but this time, it wasn’t as convincing. “Dean, I’m fine.” His stupid green eyes were doing that thing they did when he was trying to get you to tell him something. So instead, you kissed him very, very convincingly. Sam cleared his throat and you pulled away. 

“Martha was cremated. So salting and burning the bones is out.” He informed, giving you a strange look. Dean composed himself, still a little stunned. “We’re back to square one.” 

You all wracked your brains to figure out what the spirit could be latching onto. You remembered something about the crime scene photos. Something about their hands. 

“I know what it is.” You marched back into the morgue and pulled back the tarp covering the woman’s body. “Look at her left hand.” A band was burned around her finger- where her engagement ring would have been. “All of the women had this burn. What if they all had the same ring?”

“It could be worth looking into.” Sam noted, still giving you that annoyingly concerned stare. You tried to shrug it off. 

“Then what are we waiting for?” You brushed past Dean and rushed out to the impala. 

“This is what I was talking about.” Sam hissed at his brother. “Dean, you need to talk to her. She…” His voice trailed off. You would kill him if you found out that he told Dean what you said. 

“She what?” Dean really sounded worried. If something was wrong, he wanted to know. 

“She thinks she’s just a fling to you, Dean.” He blurted, checking to make sure you were gone. “She said she wished that what you two have meant more.”

“Why would she think that?” Now he sounded hurt. Couldn’t you tell how much you meant to him? Sure, he wasn’t super vocal about his affections, but he always figured you knew.

“I don’t know but she said she’s just happy to be ‘along for the ride’.” Sam sighed, leaving to join Y/N in the car, but Dean stayed back. Along for the ride? What did that even mean? He thought what the two of you had was real, which was not something he was used to, but did you think this was all some prolonged one night stand? With all of his questions, he did know one thing. He loved you- as sappy-romance-movie as that sounded- and he was going to make damn sure that you knew it this time. 

-

Dean did not like this plan. Looking down at the small box in his hand, he shuttered. He really really did not like this plan. You and Sam were waiting in the car in an uncomfortable silence. 

“Did you get it?” Sam asked as Dean climbed into the driver’s seat. He gave his brother a scowl. 

“I don’t like this.” 

“Dean, everything is going to be fine.” You assured him. “I’ll be the bait and once Martha pops in to carve me up, you guys will burn the ring.” 

“Why can’t we just burn it now?” 

“Because if we summon her, we can be sure that we killed her.” You knew that it was dangerous, but it could be your only shot. Sure, you were scared, but you’d never let the boys know that. 

The three of you drove to the spot where this all started; the old bridge that Martha took the dive off of. The bridge had been closed for years, so traffic wasn’t a problem. You got out of the impala, listening to the river flow beneath your feet. You kept a brave face, but Dean could see your nerves. 

“You don’t have to do this.” Dean protested, holding the box in his hand. “We could just torch this thing right now and be done with it.” 

“She only shows up when the ring has a hand, Dean.” You held up your left hand and held out your right for him to give you the box. Instead, he took the ring out himself. 

“You…” He paused, looking for the right words. “You know that I care about you, right?” You stepped back.

“Of course, Dean.” You looked over at Sam, but he was too busy loading the rock salt to notice your frustration. He must have said something. “Look, we don’t have time for this. Let’s just gank the ghost and get out of here.” Dean saw through your toughness, of course, but he didn’t argue. He did, however, lean in for a kiss. It was a different kind of kiss than you usually shared. It wasn’t lusting or rushed. It was slow and sweet and perfect. When he pulled back, he kept his forehead rested against yours. 

“Be careful.” He whispered and slipped the ring onto your finger. Immediately, he was thrown backwards, having to catch himself on the railing to keep from falling over the edge.

“Dean!” You screamed. Martha’s apparition appeared in front of you, her hair wet and matted and her face stained with eternal tears. 

“He’ll never love you.” She croaked, water pouring out of her mouth as she spoke. You braced yourself. There was nothing she could say that you hadn’t already thought of a million times. 

“Let’s dance, bitch.” 

The ring on your hand started to burn and you cried out, trying to take it off. Her hand latched around your throat and dragged you to the side of the bridge, hanging you over the railing. 

“Y/N!” Sam shouted, aiming the salt loaded rifle at Martha. She flicked her wrist and sent the weapon flying into the water. 

“It isn’t real.” She groaned, tightening her grip on your throat. “He doesn’t care. He’d rather roam around with waitresses and bartenders than be shackled down with you.” You tried to block her out, but her words sunk into you. “Because you’re not enough. You will never be enough.” Yout felt a sharp pain scrape across your chest as she started to carve her words into you. Through the pain and your screaming, you were able to tear the ring off of your finger. 

“Dean.” You choked out, tossing the ring to him as Sam started the fire in a trash can that you’d stolen from the motel. Dean threw the ring into the flames before sprinting across the bridge towards you. 

Martha let out a blood curdling scream as her image slowly burned away, her hold on you releasing, sending you tumbling over the edge. Hands latched around your ankle as you swayed over the rushing waters, blood seeping through your t-shirt.

“A little help, Sam!” Dean grunted, your foot slipping slightly in his hand. Sam grabbed your other ankle and the two of them were able to get you back on the bridge. Dean didn’t even let your feet touch the ground before he wrapped his arms around you, holding you as close to him as he could. You winced when his chest pressed against your new wounds. “Oh, crap, sorry.” 

“It’s okay.” You pulled the collar of your shirt down enough to see that Martha had only gotten a few letters before she burned. “Great, now I’m just going to have ‘no’ scarred on my chest.” Dean let out an exasperated laugh, pulling you back to him. 

-

You were packing up your things back at the motel when Dean asked Sam to give him a moment alone with you. You leaned against the hood of the impala, knowing exactly where this conversation was going to go. 

“Do you believe what she said to you?” Okay, maybe you didn’t know where this conversation was going. 

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Y/N, we all heard what she was saying.” Dean ran his hand down his face. “She said that I’d rather be off with some waitress than be with you. That you’re not enough for me.” 

“Dean, I’m sure she says that to every-”

“Do you believe her?” He repeated, this time he sounded more upset. When you didn’t answer, his face changed with hurt. “Do you really think that little of me? Of us?”

“I’m in love with you, Dean.” You blurted. “That wasn’t part of the plan, but there it is.” Dean stepped closer to you, cupping your cheek. 

“You aren’t just a fling, Y/N. I love you.” Dean cradled the back of your head in his hand as he pulled you in for a kiss. A slow and sweet and perfect kiss. But it wasn’t enough. Not for him. He had to show you that he meant it. He broke the kiss, those green eyes melting your heart completely. “Let’s get married.” You froze. 

“What?”

“Let’s get married.” His face broke into a nervous grin. “Come on, Y/N, we already fight like a married couple. Sam treats you like a sister. I love you more than any girl I’ve ever known. Let’s do it.” The shock of his words faded just enough for you to respond. 

“Okay.” You said breathlessly. Dean scooped you up in his arms and you laughed. 

“I’m glad you two figured it out.” Sam smiled, throwing the last of the bags in the trunk. Dean gave his brother a beaming grin, setting you back on your feet. 

“Come on, Sammy, we’ve got to get a non-haunted ring this time,” He exclaimed, giving you one more kiss. “We’re going to Vegas.” 

-

General Tag: @rae-gar-targaryen; @takemepedropascal; @childhood-imagination;  @mylovegoesto;

Supernatural: @desimarie12; @deandreamernp​

[alexlwrites]

Liability

Summary: The one where your best friend of years and love of your life is getting married and wants you to be the maid of honor. Luckily for you, the best man is not exactly happy either.

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader, Jungkook x Reader

Tags: Romance, Humor, Fluff, Angst

A/n: if you enjoy this, please comment and reblog. It really means the world to me and keeps me going!

Part 2: If one thing had been different  (1/3)

(Fanfic masterlist)

(support me on my ko-fi <3 )

(<<<Part one)

The weeks leading to the wedding day felt like a fever induced nightmare, hazy and blurry, filled with stomach aches and anxiety nausea. You threw yourself into work, typing until the tips of your fingers were calloused and your wrists hurt, only leaving the office when the janitor kicked you out with a broom to the butt.

You couldn’t avoid Taehyung. No, that would lead to questions with painful answers or over complicated, dead end lies. So you were avoiding yourself - filling every single second of your schedule with some sort of meaningless task, only resting when your body was exhausted enough to not even bother dreaming.

Sunken cheeks and eyes with purple galaxies around it, you carried yourself like a ghost from place to place, saving up energy for the days when you had to try wedding cakes and pretend that you weren’t going to throw them up later, when you agreed with whatever flower or fabric Haewon chose, holding back your real opinions out of spite, wanting to keep the details of the wedding you’ve planned since you were twelve to yourself.

You already stole the groom, you thought bitterly to yourself while sipping whatever champagne they offered at the venue at 2 pm on a Tuesday, you’re not stealing the lilies too. “No, yeah” you’d end up saying “roses are definitely the way to go.”

Taehyung didn’t notice your sudden introspection, didn’t bat an eye at your pale skin and bitten nails, blinded by Haewon’s ever growing brightness, both riding the newly-engaged high. At this point, you were comfortable on the sidelines, happy at their obliviousness. People in love were easy to fool - you had been fooling yourself for years.

In the first few wedding planning appointments, it was just you and Haewon. She wanted to choose the dress first and the process had a strict “no guys allowed” policy. So you followed her from store to store, accompanied by her supportive mom and overly critical friend, running your hands through dresses you were pessimistically sure you’d never get to wear.

“I still think this is too soon.” Aera, Haewon’s college friend, said in one of the dressing rooms, legs crossed and tapping her heel. Aera was nice and friendly, but vocal in a way that was starting to get to your nerves. Although both of you weren’t happy with the wedding, her approach was to complain her way through it. Yours was to pretend it wasn’t happening, hoping everything would be over.

“I know, Aera” Haewon replied, barely bothering to look at her friend, eyes fixed on her image in the mirror, shining in a lace dress “you have mentioned several times before.”

“But yet you’re still going through with it.”

You rolled your eyes, but didn’t say anything, just like you wished Aera would. Haewon saw your annoyed expression through the mirror and winked at you, amused at your annoyance. “Yes, Aera” she said in the same patient tone a person would use to explain something to a child “Funnily enough I don’t need your approval on all my decisions”.

“I’m not saying you do” Aera was not letting go and you wished for the millionth time you could leave or at least get a pair of earphones “but it is my job as your best friend to give you unsolicited advice. You have only been with Taehyung for like, a year and a half? And your career is just starting to pick up too! Is he really worth it all this…”

“As the groom’s best friend it is my job to tell you to not finish that thought.” you warned, voice still monotone and calm. You didn’t want to start anything with Aera, but you already hated this wedding enough on your own, you didn’t need her help “Look, I’m sure Haewon appreciates your input and how much you care, but if she’s not gonna listen to it then you should support her either way, not try to convince her to leave my best friend everytime we get together.”

Aera didn’t say much after that. She didn’t seem upset or chagrined, more deep in thought than anything else. All her commentary from then on revolved only around the dresses and so the fitting carried on quietly and without further problems.

Later, when the sun was getting down and you were just getting ready to leave the store, Haewon pulled you to the side gently before you had the chance to escape. “Hey, I just wanna thank you for today” she said, closing the door behind her in one of the rooms filled with white gowns “I know Aera can be too much sometimes and I know she didn’t mean to insult Tae or anything…”

You waved her off, avoiding eye contact “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I get it, really, she’s just looking out for you.”

Haewon had smart eyes, you’ve always thought so. Her stare made you feel exposed, vulnerable, never 100% comfortable. “Taehyung cares a lot about what you think, you know” she sat down in one of the couches “If you said something to him, like Aera’s been saying to me… I don’t think he would’ve gone through with it”.

You wished people would stop telling you how much power you had over this wedding. It felt like the universe was tempting you, giving the opportunity to stop it, to have it your way. But in the end, you could never bring yourself to purposefully get in the way of Taehyung’s happiness, even if for a second you thought you could make him happier.

“I wouldn’t do that.” you ended up saying, crossing your fingers over your lap.

“I know that. Well, now I do.” your heart stopped for a second and silence hung like a death sentence before Haewon continued “You know, before I dated Taehyung I dated a guy for a little over a year and I really thought he was it for me. But he had this best friend and they went way back, just like you and Tae, and I would get so nervous around her. It always felt like a competition, always felt like a pick-your-favorite game that I never won” you didn’t say anything, couldn’t even if you tried “They started dating a week after we broke up.”

The story is so similar but so different at the same time - how many times had the world created variations of the same heartbreak?

“When Taehyung first told me about you, I almost broke up with him” she continued, voice a little quieter, a bit more strained “I thought it would be the same thing all over again. But I just liked him so much.”

You closed your eyes, thinking that maybe you could pretend for a couple of seconds that you weren’t your awful self, someone who spent so much of their times daydreaming of scenarios where you got to be happy and this girl didn’t, where you were the one that got the guy and she got her heart re-shattered.

“And when I first saw you…” well, that probably gave you some peace of mind, you mused bitterly to yourself, nothing to fear here, just a depressed, teletubbie-looking chick “I thought it was a lost battle already.”

If life had a soundtrack, the sound of a scratched vinyl would play loudly enough to scare every bride in the store.

“What?!” you exclaimed, eyes flying open in surprise.

“You are so great, Y/N” Haewon’s tone was so soft “and it sucks that you don’t see yourself the way literally everyone else does.”

Who the fuck is everyone else, you thought, but didn’t say anything, please send them my way.

“You’re so funny, so warm and smart and when you talk everyone in the room listens” she must’ve read the confusion in your face, the absolute bafflement, because as she continued, exasperated “Taehyung cares so much about you and I just thought… I could never really compete with you.”

Huh.

It almost made you laugh, the sick irony of it all, the ridiculousness of this race you both created and then stopped running, thinking the other would inevitably win. How much time you wasted torturing yourself nitpicking everything Haewon had that you didn’t, not thinking that perhaps she was going through the same thing.

“But you’ve never made me feel like I was losing, Y/N.” Haewon grabbed your hand, interlacing your fingers together “You’ve always been so kind and welcoming to me and I’m so thankful for you not making this feel like a competition. For allowing me to be happy with Taehyung.”

The cheap champagne was swirling in your stomach and you felt like throwing up, but what else was new?

“I just want him to be happy.” you had been holding these words close to your chest, repeating to yourself like a mantra. And though it didn’t bring you much peace, it seemed to be enough for Haewon.

“Thank you” she repeated, giving you a hug and a watery smile.

“You’re welcome.” you awkwardly patted her back, hoping she wouldn’t start crying otherwise you would too “Now that I know how important I’ve been to this relationship, don’t expect any wedding gifts from me.”

“You already told me you got us a mini bar.”

“And I’m keeping it to myself. I’m gonna fill it with skin care and alcohol.”

Haewon shook her head “God, you sound just like Taehyung.”

You know the saying, you thought while walking out into the street, still hand in hand with her, like repel like.

[scottrunsultras]

Javelina Jundred Recap - I finally did it

It’s been about 4 years since I ran a race that felt like I was actually prepared, reasonably healthy, and able to give it everything I had.  The 2014 Wambaw Swamp Stomp and the 2014 Mad Marsh 50k.  In both cases I didn’t have anything slow me down other than my own physical strength and will to keep pushing.  And in both cases my will was fairly strong and I ended with good performances.  Unfortunately, around that time is when all of my lower leg injuries started happening and I spent the next 4 years with some degree of plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonopathy, and/or a sprained/mystery injury ankle.  I’ve spent all year trying to get the injuries under control enough to have some good races.  The Never Summer 100k went okay, but all of the vert in training and vert in the race really hammered my achilles injuries.  And they definitely slowed me down at various points of the race.  I felt structurally better for the Grand Traverse, but I had a bad cold.  And despite a pretty decent finish given the difficulty, I still felt like I didn’t really do what i was capable of.

I felt pretty good at a high level going into Javelina - despite picking up another cold a few days before.  Generally I felt faster and stronger than I’ve been in years.  The long runs were going pretty well and not really doing any damage.  My heels were the best they’ve been in a while.  I was careful to stay off heavy vert and rocky terrain to keep from making things worse.  A few weeks before the race I had a relapse of the ankle injury I fought for 6 months or so starting before Leadville last year.  But I was able to cram in a few dry needling appointments and that got it under control for the race.  I was sleeping reasonably well, eating somewhat well, not burnt out at all, and feeling confident.  Then I spent the last 3 days before the race eating tons of vitamin C and zinc lozenges to fight off the cold.

Everything seems to have worked.  And thanks to a benadryl overdose, I actually slept 4-5 hours before the race.  The only mistake I made was forgetting my phone.  Luckily we took 2 cars so my wife could drive back to the condo at triple the speed limit to get it for me.  I got to the start line 3 minutes before the race started.  No time to panic about what I was getting myself in to.

Looking at my pre-race goals for loop 1 - I nailed all of them.  I ran the full 22 miles, kept my average pace under 10:00 (was about 9:55), spent much less time at the basecamp aid station, and started loop 2 under 4 hours.  My right quad started hurting at around mile 13, which was weird.  But aside from freaking me out a little, it never really caused a problem.

Last year at this race I completely imploded in loop 2.  It was hot and I didn’t manage my body heat or my nutrition and hydration well.  This time I was extra careful with that.  I drank a ton of water in loop 1.  Enough to force about 5-6 pit stops in the first 5 hours.  But at least i was hydrated.  I stuck to simple solid foods, abandoning the mountain ultra plan of clif bars early in the race.  I held that up until about 50k.  At that point I switched almost exclusively to gu and gatorade for calories.  I also managed my body temperature very well.  I bought a $50 running tank top with a bunch of holes cut into it at the race expo and it was probably the best $50 I’ve ever spent.  At major aid stations I’d soak that think in ice water and fill my hat with ice.  The end result is that I only started to feel overheated at the tail end of the 6.5 mile section to/from jackass junction and coyote camp.  Overall i felt pretty comfortable despite the temperatures getting close to 90 degrees again.

Again looking back on my goals, the plan was to run until Rattlesnake Ranch in loop 2 (about 26 miles) and then try to hike/jog to Jackass Junction at around 50k and then hopefully run some low teens into basecamp.  Then start loop 3 in under 9 hours.  I ended up running all of loop 2 and starting loop 3 in barely over 8 hours.  More than 2 hours earlier than last year.

The aid station breaks were longer than I was hoping for.  But i was being disciplined about eating, drinking, staying cool, and managing my comfort (like getting rocks out of my shoes).  I think it was worth it.

Last year, the sun went down 5 or 6 miles into loop 3.  This year i finished loop 3 without a headlamp.  I had to hike some up of the uphills this time, but I ran the entire final 9 miles of the loop.  I hit the 100k mark in about 12 hours and celebrated with some pizza.

In loop 4 I finally felt like I had my first bad mile.  It was mile 65, and I felt like I was too tired to keep running slightly uphill.  It was an easy mile that I feel like I should have been able to jog better, but the fact that it took me 65 miles to get to the point of feeling tired is great.  At this point the mile splits started to look worse and it became a game of trying to jog bits of the uphill to keep the average pace down and try to force myself to shuffle the downhills.  

Mile 81 was my last basecamp stop and I was there for under 5 minutes.  I also ran the .5 mile loop in camp in upper 8:00′s.  I flew out of basecamp on a huge adrenaline rush going into the last loop.  Unfortunately that only lasted about a mile before I realized my legs were way too tired to handle fast running.  I kept my pace together into my final stop in Coyote Camp and then started to hit a low point in the 6.5 mile uphill to Jackass Junction.  Mile 89 was my worst non-aid station mile of the race: a flat 19:00.

I started bonking pretty hard around mile 86.  No energy, very low psychologically.  I started to think about how hard this was and how tired I was and how it would be impossible to finish something like Leadville or Bighorn if I was this tired at 20ish hours.  But that had to be the bonk talking because my loop 5 time was about the same as my loop 4 time - basically a flat 5 hours, which is 30-40 minutes faster than any loop I did last year aside from loop 1.

I hard a hard time running in the final 9 downhill miles.  My legs were just completely shot.  But I managed to jog enough to keep my splits under 15:00 until the final 3.5 miles.  At that point there was so little difference between my 14:00+ minute “running” pace and my 18:00 minute hiking pace that I was having a hard time convincing myself to push.  But that’s fine.  I failed to dig extra deep at mile 97 and it cost me about 5 minutes on my final time.  I can live with that.

I crossed the finish line in 22:14:46.  4 hours and 20 minutes faster than last year.  And I earned my first sub-24 belt buckle.

I finished the race in the top 20% of finishers and top 12% of starters.  An enormous improvement over last year.  For the most part, my training was spot on and my race strategy was about as good as I could hope for in the first 80 miles.  I think at 80+ I probably needed to eat more real food.  The gu and gatorade diet wasn’t doing it for me anymore and I just didn’t have any energy.  But lesson learned.  I’m super stoked about how this went.  Congrats to everyone else that ran it as well.  Now I’m taking a week or so off, then it’s time to start thinking about how I’ll prepare in the off-season for the Bighorn 100 in June.

[lia-nikiforov]

Fall 2017 Anime Watchlist

Blablabla school is kicking my butt blablabla I shouldn’t even be doing this blablabla THERE’S A LOT OF GOOD ANIME THIS SEASON

So naturally I’m gonna go back to my worst to best format for this list. Get the trash out first

Dropped

Dies Irae: Aren’t these villains named after actual historical Nazis who were directly involved with orchestrating the holocaust soooo cooooool , so interesting, such tortured profound souls that--- ugh, I just threw up in my mouth a little. I don’t care if the Nazis are the villains, making them into complex, appealing characters is unacceptable, less so given the times we live in.

(get it, it’s a real nazi getting punched in the face, aren’t you glad you follow me so I can provide you this quality content)

Yuki Yuna wa Yuusha de aru: Yuusha no Sho: Because I wasn’t a big fan of the first season, I thought this might make for decent hate-watch, but it’s just not bad enough to warrant it. It’s also criminally boring. And because part of what made the original so bad was the ending, and this being a prequel we already know how it ends, there’s no point to it imho. I enjoy screaming at the void about shows I find stupid, but this one isn’t even worth the time. Ballroom is all the hatewatch material I’ll ever need

Black Clover: I could say a lot about this show’s egregious lack of uniqueness and originality, or how poorly executed the whole thing is, but really the only thing you need to know about this and why it’s an insufferable watch is:

THE!!!! PROTAGONIST !!!!!NEVER!!!!! STOPS!!!!! YELLING!!!!!! 

Inuyashiki: My first problema with this show is the main dude is supposed to be 58 years old but he looks older than most 65+. It’s a dumb little thing, but it completely breaks my suspense of disbelief. Other than that, the writing is just so viscerally hateful it’s extremely uncomfortable to watch. What I’d understood from the synopsis was that the aliens had accidentally merged the old man and the young dude into a single robot body, but the way it is presented  -with the old guy as the hero and the young guy as the villain- the moral of the story seems to be basically “millennials are killing the diamond industry”, or, in terms of a more well-known -though perhaps too easy- meme:

Urahara: I really wanted to like this show and support these young female creators in an industry that tends to not give them any opportunities. It’s not like it’s bad at all, nor is it offensive, it’s just really boring. The visuals are adorable, but the characters feel completely unreal –three high school girls run their own shop in Harajuku?-, especially pigtail girl who delivers every line like she was trying super hard to sound like an ojousama archetype. The show is completely committed to its Harajuku kawaii culture aesthetic and attitude, which is commendable but also something that honestly make me a little uncomfortable for no particular reason. I also feel extremely robbed off actual transformation sequences in this magical girl show. In a less busy season I might hold on to see where this went, but as it is, I’d rather wait and see how it ends and then decide if I should spend time on it.

Utter trash that I’m still gonna watch because I hate myself or something

Ousama Game: I think it’s important to make a distinction between hate-watch and irony-watch. Hatewatch is something you do with a show that’s terrible and probably offensive, but it never touches so-bad-it’s-good territory.  You can pick the show apart for all of  its flaws, be it an ill-conceived plot, poor characterization, or, you know, being grossly mysoginistic. Examples of shows I’ve hatewatched include KADO, Sailor Moon Crystal and Super Lovers. An Irony-watch is a show that pretty much everyone can agree is a dumpster fire, and it succeeds so much in its terribleness it’s histerical. Hand Shakers and Neo Yokio are prime examples of quality irony-watch material. And so is Ousama Game. It’s not even worth pointing out its flaws because there’s just nowhere to start, there is not a single thing this show does right and it’s hysterical. Of course it has the squick factor of having some gross fetish with people’s tongues lolling out and their faces getting ridiculously contracted in gross fashion when they die, but other than that, it takes itself so seriously and mixed with its 2006 low budget aesthetic the whole thing is madly hilarious.

Welcome to the Ballroom: This is my choice for hatewatch show of the seaon. After the disgusting dung that was episode 15, I’ve lost all hopes of the show ever getting “better” as was repeatedly promised by fans of the manga once the queen lord and savior Chinatsu appeared. Lo and behold, Chinatsu’s character arc is to learn to be more “feminine” and to let herself be “controlled” by Tatara. Throw in some casual homophobia just for good measure. I really have to wonder why the mangaka set out to write a manga about a sport that necessarily requires a man and a woman in partnership if she hates women so much and can’t treat them as anything above second-class citizens-

(srsly show, why do you hate women so much)

Sengoku Night Blood: It’s been a while since we got a dumbass Sengoku bishonen show that wasn’t aggressively boring. This one though, still challenges my tolerance limits for being dumbass ridiculous with its premise of vampire/werewolf Sengoku daimyo. The costumes and character designs are super ridiculous yet strangely non-distinctive. I have a hard time figuring out who is who because most lack their historical counterparts most notable features, and there’s a lot of same-face-iness everywhere. The show is clearly not afraid of embracing its otoge origins, the “love event” moments are terribly transparent. I just wish either the female character was completely erased or that the guys would stop treating her so badly. I know she’s useless, but I don’t understand why the show has dudes saying things such as “it’s really bothersome that you’re here” and frame them as if they were suuuuper romantic.

(lmfao there are no gifs for this one, maybe I’m the only sucker watching it)

Juuni Taisen: To be honest I was ready to drop this one after confirming it was gonna be more Nisio Isin fake philosophical bullshit that is actually just otaku fanservice. Instead I got schlocky ultra violence garbage and it’s actually kinda fun? Look, I’m gonna come clean, I’m just watching it for the necromancer chip’n-dale rabbit with high heels and a huge fluffy tail, but if that’s not a good reason to watch a show, none is.

Not bad, but not quite good

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryoukou: This was another one that wasn’t quite on my radar before the season began, I only checked it out because it got excellent reviews. It’s actually surprisingly charming, although the pacing is slow, the muted color palette can be tiring and nothing really seems to be happening. I honestly struggled to stay awake during episode 2. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the show, I’m considering dropping it because I’m just watching too much stuff and don’t have time, but I’ll wait for episode 3 to make my final decision (I’ll probably watch it Monday)

Shokoku no Altair: After the really good Sultan arc, apparently we had to go through another speed course on how to acquire new members for the party. I’m pretty much resigned to this not being the epic historical drama Arslan also failed to be, but it’s still sad to see this one getting the crappy production values while Inuyashiki is a lavishly animated production about bitter old men hating youngsters. Anyway, as long as further arcs can replicate the level of excitement and intrigue of the sultanlu arc, I’ll be looking forward to it and how Mahmut’s story unfolds. 

Fate/Apocrypha: You can tell how trashy the summer season was that Fate, which was one of my favorite shows of the season, is barely in the middle of the pack of this crowded Fall season. It’s also worth noting that I’ve lost a lot of the goodwill I’d mustered for the show after the writers remembered Palurdo-kun was supposed to be the protagonist, so now that he’s taken the center stage (and become Astolfo’s Master, which is a travesty, Astolfo deserves so much better than satisfying otaku’s otokonoko fetiches orz) I find myself rolling my eyes more often than not. Still hope to get cool fights out of this one and more Astolfo and Mordred.

GARO Vanishing Line: MAPPA brings us a new iteration of the GARO franchise, this time with a modern setting that throws back to ultra macho 80s anime OVAs aesthetic –I wouldn’t know, never watched those-. The hero is a buff uber muscular dude that literally prays at women’s boobs and Zaruba is a giant motorcycle that thinks women stink. The production values are impressive, both fight scenes are incredibly cinematic and exciting. The hypermasculinity borders on the hilarious, but I wish it could do away with the sexist humor, which luckily hasn’t been abundant enough to be insufferable. It’s a little soon to judge because they’re barely introducing us to the characters, but I’m still hoping this won’t devolve into shit territory like Crimson Moon did.

Kino no Tabi: Full disclosure, I only watched the first season of Kino a few months ago, so I have it very fresh in my memory. Since I didn’t know that this new season was more a soft reboot rather than a sequel, I thought I needed to watch the first one to check this one out. Turns out it wasn’t necessary, but I’m still glad I did it because the first season is fantastic. Which is why I’m a little concerned about this one, because the reinterpretation of the Colisseum story was… not good. It rushed through the story and made Kino look like a psychopath. The first episode was good so I’m crossing my fingers that this won’t turn into a horrible mess, but so far I’m feeling cautious and worried. But even if this one turns out to be a good reboot, I’d 100% recommend you check out the original.

Anime is in Fact Good

Classicaloid: Another show that came back with a different director and that I worry will struggle to replicate what made the first season special. There are some tonal things that make the change very evident, but so far it has overall been pretty great nonetheless, Classicaloid insane business as usual. I must say “New character appears claiming to be X’s relative, X believes it and starts treating N better to the detriment of the established cast” is a trope I’m not too fond of, but I’m willing to give them some time purely because they have a Hippopotamus that can do Musik. Honestly watching anime makes one write the weirdest of sentences.

Hoozuki no Reitetsu. Something comedy shows have in their favor is that if they come back, even after a long time, it feels like they never left. Hoozuki’s the same old Hoozuki and it’s a load of fun. I’ve loved both episodes so far, I can’t even pick a favorite skit of the ones we’ve had so far because all of them were so good. There’s not really a lot to say, if you liked the first season you’ll like this one. As usual it’s only detriment is you may miss some of the jokes if you’re not familiar with Japanese folklore, but there’s a lot of fun to be had nonetheless. 

Recovery of an MMO Junkie: Honestly, I’m very quick to judge a book by its cover, or in this case, an anime by its title. In this case, I promptly dismissed this as yet another otaku oriented harem videogame fantasy or whatever without even reading the synopsis. Then I heard the positive reactions to it and decided to give it a shot and boy was I pleasantly surprised! Not only does it feature a woman in her thirties as a protagonist –which is insanely rare! But it also focuses on delightfully adorable romance that breaches the barriers of gender. And honestly, there’s that scene in episode two in which Moriko sends a text and then horrified realizes it’s 2:00 am and feels super ashamed about it and it was so relatable I was 100% sold.

Best of the season

(don’t mind the order, I’ve loved all of these equally

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau: So I may have misunderstood what this was about. I rarely read plot synopsis, so for some reason –I guess at first I thought the title was Kujira wa Sora- I thought there would be flying whales. There aren’t, but that’s definitely not a detriment to this incredible fantasy dystopian world. The color palette and the watercolor texture of the backgrounds gives it a magical atmosphere that is just a delight to watch. Although there’s a lot of exposition, none has felt like a forced infodump. The pacing is overall fantastic, and although the characters are a mystery for the most part, they’re already very endearing. This season is ripe with enchanting fantasy worlds and I’m really hyped about it. 

Houseki no Kuni: I was concerned about the CG designs on this one, but they work surprisingly well! The plot is still a bit unclear, but they’ve done a really good job in building the characters through their relationships to one another. Even though we don’t know a lot about them, I felt a lot of empathy for Cinnabar and Diamond and Bort, and Phos is a pretty nice point of view character to follow around. I’m definitely intrigued by the concept, and the execution has been great so far.

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond: I hadn’t realized how much I missed this show until I watched the first episode of this new season. The loss of Rie Matsumoto’s wonderful directorial vision is very noticeable in the straightforwardness of the storytelling, but otherwise the show is surprisingly still a load of bombastic fun with endearing characters and fascinating world building. I particularly liked the hospital episode. I’m not sure where this story is going, but I’m excited to go along for the ride.

The Ancient Magus Bride: It’s important to note that the first episode has a lot of questionable material (please, can Elias never ever call Chise a puppy ever again), but I have to commend a great production when I see it. Readers of the manga assure that the questionable content will be contextualized later on, so I’m hopeful, because I’m already really sold on this show and I really don’t want it to be gross. It’s hard to explain or describe, but it just has this fantasy magical charm and a beautiful production that got me hooked from start to finish. It has been hyped to hell and back and so far it has lived up to my expectations. I think, apart from the lovely production values, the characters feel very real and deep from start to finish. It’s hard to explain why I feel so drawn to this show that should have so many red alarms ringing in my head, but I can’t help feel completely charmed by it

How am I gonna survive such a busy season with so much homework? Will I die trying? Will Ballroom ever stop hating women and gay people? Stay tuned to find out! And let me know which shows you’re watching this season!

[the-bounce-back]

REALISTIC RESOLUTIONS - 5 TIPS TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS

So, we’re officially a week into the New Year™. How’s that working out for you so far?

Since I’m currently just chilling, packing and waiting to move to London and start my new job, I’ve been left with a lot of time on my hands to reflect on how terrible 2018 was for me - and I refuse to have a year that bad again. I’ve decided that 2019 is going to be dedicated to rebuilding my happiness, confidence and mental health again, and I’ve set my resolutions with this in mind.

Besides giving me a ton of blog ideas, all this time reflecting and planning has challenged me to ensure that my resolutions don’t end up being unrealistic and empty promises to myself, that I end up abandoning halfway through the year. After much umming and ahing, I’ve finally come up with 5 tips to keep in mind that should (hopefully) keep me on track, and I believe that they can be applied to other people’s resolutions, too.

I know what you’re thinking.

“But Liv, I swear you said that New Year Resolutions are a scam? Is your head alright?”

First of all, revelling in hypocrisy is my favourite pastime. One of my biggest flaws is that I give stellar advice to everyone around me, but I rarely apply it to myself - which is probably why my life is a bit (a lot) of a mess right now. Taking my own advice is actually one of my goals for this year, because I’m really very wise (on paper). Also, read my disclaimer.

Secondly, this advice can be applied to any type of goal setting at any time - not just New Year Resolutions. My “New Moment, New Me” mantra from my previous post is still very much applicable, thank you very much.

And finally… the title slaps. Sue me.

With that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. 

The way I see it, you basically need four traits/skills to achieve your goals:

1, Patience. 2. Discipline. 3. Motivation. 4. Organisational skills.

Patience helps you trust the process of slowly but steadily getting closer to your goal. Discipline helps you stay on track, even on bad days. Staying motivated makes you remember why you started and helps you envision how proud you’ll be of yourself when you achieve the goal, and organisational skills help you plan, track and reflect on your progress. Combining all four should make you a goal-smashing machine, a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, I barely possess the first four at all. I can fake being patient for a limited period of time, but deep down I want to see results almost as quickly as I have started. When I don’t see any progress, I start hating myself and finding comfort in an extremely unhealthy coping mechanism, thus killing the little discipline I had. And after indulging in said coping mechanism, I feel guilty and fall even deeper into a spiral of self-loathing, ask myself what the point of even trying was and give up - losing every single ounce of motivation.

All healthy and not at all self-destructive ways to deal with failure. Love it.

Luckily enough, I have been blessed with exceptional organisational skills. Seriously. There is little I enjoy more than buying a new notebook or calendar, writing endless to-do lists, writing down future plans and brainstorming. I even have 3 different notebooks for this year to maximise my ~*oRgAnIsInG*~.

This ain’t no game, homie.

The amount of time I spend on devising workout schedules, meal plans, budgets and habit trackers is actually bordering on insane - but I love it. If I could apply this same energy to the other 3 traits, I’d probably have reached my goal weight, have my driving license, have £100k in my savings account and be 100% sober by now. Let’s all laugh together please.

With these incredibly triggering self-attacks in mind, I will now present my 5 tips on how I plan to achieve my goals to bounce back this year, and from now on.

1. Be kind to yourself.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll know that this is the hardest and most important one. Being self-critical isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when it gets to a certain point it stops being helpful and starts being damaging to your mental health. I am probably the queen of beating myself up over minor slip-ups, mostly because they feel like such a big deal at the time. Honestly, the amount of times I’ve literally cried myself to sleep because I skipped a day at the gym, cheated on my diet or messed up at work is really heartbreaking to think about, because it never was that deep in the first place.

We are humans. We f*ck up. It’s okay.

The most important thing here is to acknowledge the mistake, accept it, figure out what needs to be done to prevent it from happening again and get right back on track towards your goal. Try to see the mistakes objectively as minor problems that you need to find a solution to, instead of applying emotion to it and seeing it as a negative reflection on your character. You are not a bad person for messing up. I cannot stress this enough.

2. Understand that certain goals will take time to achieve.

Sweetie, no one in the history of the world has achieved their dream body 2 weeks before their girls trip to Magaluf, no one has ever magically woken up with billions in their bank account, and no one has ever instantly gotten a million subscribers on their recently started YouTube channel.

Things. Take. Time.

As much as we all wish that we could snap our fingers and get everything we wish for, life doesn’t work that way. It takes consistency, hard work, endless motivation and self-discipline to achieve certain things, and it’s important to be realistic. Besides, you know what they say - nothing worth having comes easy.

Instead of seeing time passing as an enemy of progress, try utilising it as a tool to determine the logistics of achieving your goals. Devising a realistic timescale detailing the what, where and when of the different stages of my goals has worked wonders for me in the past for smaller projects, especially when I was in uni. Why I haven’t applied this to my adult life yet is a mystery that will remain unsolved, but I am definitely going to apply this to my larger goals from now on.

3. Set milestones or miniature goals to keep you motivated while working towards your “big” goal.

I think this is especially helpful for goals that are focused on something numerical, for example losing a specific amount of weight, going a specific amount of days without drinking/smoking or saving a specific amount of money. Being able to celebrate how far you’ve come since the beginning is equally as important as focusing on how much further you have to go - if not more. It provides boosts of motivation along the way.

In theory, that is. I think this is going to be challenging for me because when I’ve tried it in the past, I’ve ended up putting even more pressure on myself for not reaching the milestones in a timely manner - leading me to throw all my toys out of the pram like a spoilt brat, and ultimately giving up on the goal altogether. However, this time around I intend on applying Tip 1 to my miniature goals as well, so you know...hopefully it works out. We’ll see.

4. On your off days, remember why you started.

Trust me, I know this is easier said than done. Everyone has bad days where everything just feels pointless and like nothing is even worth putting energy into. Maybe you’ve cheated on your diet for the third time in a week, or spent money you promised yourself you were going to save, or been unable to turn down a drink despite getting close to being a whole month sober (P is for projection!). Chances are, you feel very disappointed in yourself and start questioning whether or not you’re actually serious about this life.

This is where forcing yourself to remember why you started is imperative, because it really could be the only thing standing between moving past the slip up and losing your motivation, leading to you giving up completely. If you’ve been regularly tracking your progress, use this as a reminder of how far you’ve come. Also, refer back to Tip 1 again. Sure, holding yourself accountable for your actions is important, but that doesn’t mean you now have to fully cancel yourself just because of one bad day.

More time you’ve even come further than you think, so reflecting on your journey up until you messed up is definitely a good idea.

5. Stop comparing yourself to others.

For me, this mostly applies to my fitness goals and how far other people in my age group have come in life. I used to spend so much time on social media scrolling through endless pictures of people that “have their sh*t together” - with their perfect bodies, perfect relationships, perfect engagement rings, perfect baby scan photos, perfect homes… you get the point. All it ever did was make me feel like crap about myself and like I somehow was too far behind in life, or somehow inferior to my agemates. Because we all know that having a perfect life online makes you superior to everyone else.

To be clear, I’m obviously joking. Once you understand that everyone’s journey is different, and that your own blessings will come when the time is right - you will be so much more at peace with yourself. Minding your own business and channelling all your energy into bettering yourself (for your own benefit!) is extremely invigorating. With this in mind, you should also ensure that the goals you are setting are solely for the betterment of yourself, and not to compete with others (I’ll definitely be writing a post on this at some stage, so… stay tuned and that).

So, there you have it. My 5 tips on how to achieve your goals with your sanity and mental health intact. At the end of the year, maybe I should revisit this post and reflect on how the tips worked out for me in achieving my goals? Perhaps I can reflect on how much better my patience, discipline and motivation has become?

If not, well...hopefully it can help you. If it did, let me know so I can feel better about putting all this energy into giving yet more advice that I didn’t apply to myself. Good luck!

Love,

Liv

[golfnomad]

Bay Area Trip, Part 1: East Bay Seclusion

I recently returned from a quick 3-day trip (I guess 4 days if you count the drive up on Sunday night) to the Bay Area. When all the smoke cleared, I played 12 courses, including a number of short courses in between the main rounds. This will end up being a 5-part series to cover all the rounds. The main reason for the trip was to take advantage of an invite to play California Golf Club of San Francisco. I played that on Tuesday afternoon, right in the middle of the trip. However, that one will get its own review and you’ll have to wait for it. It will come last.

Part 1 will focus on the first three courses I played Monday morning in the East Bay Area...

Lake Chabot Golf Course • Oakland, CA • 6/19/17

This is a course that has always intrigued me, and I wanted to make it a point to play here on this trip. The main reason for the intrigue is the 18th hole, which is the only par-6 hole left in California. I’ve never played a par-6 on my travels and they are quite rare these days. I know there used to be one at El Rivino down in Riverside, but that closed long before I had a chance to play it.

I booked a 6:34 tee time on GolfNow for $24, which turned out to be much cheaper than the $42 listed on the course’s website. I arrived early and the pro shop wasn’t open yet. They didn’t open up until a little after 6:00, but there wasn’t much of a crowd and I was able to get off first on my own for a very quick round.

On my drive into the course, I was able to get a sneak preview of much of the front nine. In fact, this is perhaps the worst-designed entry road of any golf course I’ve played. The road goes right through the middle of a bunch of holes and will very much come into play. Luckily, I played on a slow day, so there weren’t many cars coming through while I played (and there weren’t too many golfers hitting as I drove out afterward). Otherwise, on a busy day it would be very uncomfortable for golfers teeing off on these holes and very dangerous for drivers coming or going from the clubhouse. It is a very strange set up for the road.

The front nine where the road is in play is rather repetitive. Most of these holes have a downhill tee shot over the road and then a steep climb back uphill for the approach. The holes definitely get a lot more interesting after this initial stretch. However, there is a predominance of uphill/semi-blind approach shots. Almost every green on the course is elevated. It can get tiresome.

The one hole that helps make up for this is the par-3 9th, which is one of the most severe downhill par-3s I’ve ever seen. From the blue tees, it plays at 175 yards and is a completely blind shot down into a small canyon. There is a pole behind the green to give you an aiming point, but otherwise it’s just bombs away. Hit it and hope! If you are playing the white tees, you can see at least part of the green, but it is still a tricky shot to judge. 

Beyond the initial repetitive stretch on the front nine, Lake Chabot is anything but boring. The course overall is not long, topping out at just 6,006 yards from the blue tees. It is very hilly and tight with a lot of trees and steep slopes in play. It is definitely target golf, which I personally enjoy. The setting is also nice and secluded, and you are afforded some great views from the elevated greens. The setting definitely adds to the appeal here. With the morning sun and the elevated approaches where you can’t see much of anything, it was hard to get pictures. You’ll see most of my shots are from on or around the greens with the elevated vantage point. Not much else turned out.

After a very fun middle stretch of holes, Lake Chabot culminates with its signature hole. I was excited to play the par-6 and see what it was all about. The 18th measures 667 yards from the blue tees. The tee shot is somewhat demanding with a slightly downhill shot and what feels like a narrow landing area. The fairway also slopes pretty hard from right to left. 

Then, the hole makes a sharp left turn straight down the hill. It is a steep drop-off with the cart path zig-zagging back and forth across it kind of like Lombard Street. I suppose that is for safety because a straight downhill path along one side or the other could get dangerous, especially in winter. This steep drop runs all the way down until about the 100-yard marker and then the hole goes slightly back uphill for the approach shot to a two-tiered green. 

It’s great that Lake Chabot has this par-6 gimmick to market around, and based on the short overall distance of this course (only one of the three par-5s measures over 500 yards), I guess it makes relative sense here. However, I would argue by most standards it should be a par-5. I am not a long hitter. I hit a pretty good (not great) drive that ended up in the middle of the fairway up top. Then, I hit a really good 3-wood over the corner for my second shot. 

A maintenance worker was out there managing the sprinklers and luckily he saw where my ball ended up. It got hung up in the little bit of rough that lines the cart path that zig-zags across the fairway several times. It is not much rough to stop your ball, but I think the combination of that and the freshly watered fairway was enough to slow my ball down to a stop. Even then, I ended up about 2/3 of the way down the hill and I only had 160 yards in for my third shot. If my ball didn’t stop there, I might have easily gotten as far down as the 100-yard marker at the bottom of the hill.

Of course, I still missed the green, wasn’t able to get up and down, and ended up with the most disappointing par ever! Either way, a short hitter like me shouldn’t have that easy a look at getting on the green in under regulation. 

I’m told that in the winter, when things are wet and soggier throughout the course, this hole definitely plays as a true par-6. You won’t get the same kind of roll-out you do in summer. I actually think a really long hitter (a pro perhaps) could hit a big high draw (right-to-left shot) over the corner off the tee and get all the way down the hill, leaving just a short wedge in and a putt at double eagle.

So, in some ways it’s a silly hole that is questionably rated as a par-6. That said, it is a very fun hole design with the big dogleg and steep fairway drop. A lot of good and bad things could happen here. I happened to hit the ideal first two shots for my game, but it wouldn’t take much to make a complete mess of this hole. 

The course was in decent shape and it seems they are making an effort. They were doing a lot of watering on the fairways with sprinklers that I had to shuck and jive around at times. Some tee boxes were a bit unlevel, but fine enough. Fairways were inconsistent, but mostly lush and nice to hit from. The rough was more hit and miss. There are very few bunkers on this course (I think only a couple fairway bunkers I noticed and no greenside bunkers I can remember?), so no comments there. The greens were soft and rolling medium/slow, getting quicker as they started to dry out. They were sometimes a bit bumpy and had a few bad spots here and there. They were not terrible, but not great either.

Whatever you think of the 18th, Lake Chabot ends up being a pretty fun layout. Keep it in play and you can post a really, really good score. Get offline just a bit and you will be hating life. It’s not a course everyone will enjoy, but I had fun there and I definitely liked the peaceful, secluded setting. I saw wild deer and turkey roaming the course, and I also made friends with a couple goats that were in the yard of one of only a handful of houses that border the course. 

Some pictures from Lake Chabot Golf Course (6/19/17):

Below is all you can see from the blue tee on the downhill par-3 9th. Unfortunately, it was still dark in that spot, so you can’t see much:

I wasn’t done at Lake Chabot. That’s because they actually have a second course here...

Lake Chabot Golf Course (Par 3 Course) • Oakland, CA • 6/19/17

The short course at Lake Chabot is just a 9-hole par-3 track, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it a “pitch and putt.” The holes range from just 66 yards up to 162, so you actually get a pretty good mix of lengths. 

The Par 3 Course is walking only (cost me $11 to play) and also doubles as an 18-hole disc golf course (with two baskets near each green). I brought one of my discs just to throw a couple times. Though only nine holes, the course is a pretty good hike up and down some hills and along the edge of a canyon. A few holes are pretty narrow from tee to green, as well. Then, the 4th hole is a fun one that plays straight downhill.

Conditions were spottier on this side compared to the main course. The tee boxes were pretty chewed up and most of the areas in between the tees and greens were brown grass or just bare dirt. The greens themselves were decent enough, though probably a couple notches down from the other course. Everything was adequate enough for a short course of this caliber.

The short course at Lake Chabot is a fun side option or place to work on your short game, but not something that is worth too much trouble. 

Some pictures from Lake Chabot Golf Course (Par 3 Course) (6/19/17):

After grabbing a quick breakfast, I was ready for my next golf stop nearby...

Redwood Canyon Golf Course • Castro Valley, CA • 6/19/17

Redwood Canyon is not far from Lake Chabot as the crow flies (it is just on the other side of the actual lake/recreation area). That’s the main reason I picked it for my next round. However, it is an indirect drive that will take 15-20 minutes.

Redwood Canyon used to be called Willow Park. I am not sure why the name changed. I can definitely understand the “canyon” aspect because this whole course runs down through a beautiful little canyon area. I am not sure where the “redwood” name came from, as I didn’t see anything resembling a redwood around here.

I made a 10:18 time online for $27, but the course wasn’t crowded at all on a Monday morning. I teed off by myself a little before 10:00. I caught some groups about halfway through the front nine. Ultimately, I joined up with the twosome ahead of me at the turn. The back nine went slower with a foursome in front of us that seemed to get more sluggish as the round went on. Still, it was only a 3:20 overall pace. 

Like Lake Chabot, Redwood Canyon is not a long course. It is a par-71 that stretches out to only 5,801 from the blue tees. I would probably also consider it target-oriented, but not quite as much as Chabot.

Despite the lack of any redwoods, the most appealing aspect of Redwood Canyon is the secluded canyon setting. It is very pretty and peaceful out there with no civilization anywhere around the course. You are enveloped by the natural surroundings and it is a great backdrop for the course.

The course itself is just okay. Each nine goes out and back in different sides of the canyon, but there are no changes in elevation. It is pretty flat overall. A creek runs down the middle of the front nine and can come into play a lot. There is a little less trouble to get into on the back nine. Trees definitely are a factor throughout the course. There are many big old trees that come into play and affect your shot decisions. A number of front nine holes have trees guarding the front left of the greens, which I must say was a real nuisance for me trying to play my fades.

I don’t know if I would consider anything a signature hole at Redwood Canyon, but the best parts of the course are the two par-3s furthest away from the clubhouse on either end of the canyon. I’m talking about the 5th and 13th holes. There isn’t anything overly distinctive about the holes themselves, but they are probably the two prettiest parts of the course because they are the most removed from anything resembling civilization.

The course was in mediocre condition, to put it nicely. I would say consistently inconsistent. Many tee boxes were rock hard and it was difficult to get the tee in the ground. I suppose they were level enough, though. The fairways were kind of hodge podge of grass/weeds/hardpan/dirt/etc. and not always cut to consistent lengths. Some areas were pretty good and others were not so good. The rough was more of the same, but even spottier. I was in one bunker and it had very nice soft sand. The greens were soft-ish and rolling at medium/slow speeds. They were bumpy at times and had some ugly spots here and there.

Of the two, I would definitely pick Lake Chabot. I loved the setting of Redwood Canyon more than anything about the course itself. Still, I had a fun time at both locations and the prices were reasonable. The seclusion each property provides is a welcome relief from the hustle and bustle of the Oakland/East Bay congestion. 

Some pictures from Redwood Canyon Golf Course (6/19/17):

I ended up playing twice more on Monday, with one more regulation course (Metropolitan Golf Links) and one really crazy short course (Montclair Golf Club). I will review those in Part 2, so stay tuned... 

[smoothshift]

I just sold my 2017 Z06 at bottom dollar and couldn't be happier (GM Sucks) via /r/cars

I just sold my 2017 Z06 at bottom dollar and couldn't be happier (GM Sucks)

As the title says, two weeks ago I sold my 2017 Z06 at bottom dollar and am glad to have that POS out of my life.

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For some context, I’ve always been a car fanatic. I’ve been “car poor” my entire adult life. I’m currently 34. I got my first C5 Corvette at 16. Since then, I’ve owned a total of 5 Corvettes. Most of the time I owned two, one to beat on and one to keep clean. In November, 2016 I bought a brand new base 3-pedal 2017 C7 Z06 for just over $72k (sticker was $81k). At the time, I already owned two C5s (one stock C5 Coupe and one modded/widebody C5Z). I daily drove the C7Z and took it on several exotic car rallies and road trips. Since I could barely afford the car and never thought I'd buy a brand new car, I figured I'd drive it as much as possible. I managed to put well over 1000 hours and over 38k miles on the car in two and a half years. The first year was great. The second year and a half wasn’t.

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First issue I encountered was the overheating issue. I had the car go into limp mode on the street on three separate occasions. I didn’t waste my time trying to track it, because it was pointless. Suddenly ending up with a 325hp drop in power on the track is a terrifying prospect. I should note that I did have some track time in a C7Z at the Ron Fellows Corvette Driving School at Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch. They deny it, but it’s clear that the short track sessions are due to the overheating issues. There were two separate occasions where I was with a group and had a racetrack rented out and I didn’t drive the car on the track, and instead chose to ride passenger in friends cars, while my "race car" sat in the paddocks next to the track. There are multiple class action lawsuits against GM for this well known issue. GM even publicly acknowledged this issue and said that it was addressed in the ’17+ models. It wasn’t.

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The next issue I encountered was the defective wheels. Based on what I've read online, the C7Zs have wide, 20”x12” rear wheels. They are made in Mexico and cast, not forged. They crack on the inside lip of the wheel, without impact. My first wheel cracked at exactly 16k miles, 7 days after mounting and balancing new tires. I was returning from Miami, heading towards DC when I started losing air in South Carolina. I had to stop in North Carolina to get it repaired. I thought it was a nail, but was informed that it was a cracked wheel. Since there were no signs of impact, the dealership replaced the wheel under warranty and I was on my way in about two hours. Later at 32k miles, 10 days after mounting and balancing new tires, I was losing pressure in the same (replaced) wheel. Again it was cracked with no evidence of impact. The dealership denied replacing the wheel under warranty. GM’s customer service was useless. They said that the dealership tech stated that it was “driver error.” I asked what evidence they had and they said that “it appears the car was driven very fast”, likely due to the rally graphics I had on the car. My response was “no shit it’s been driven fast, it’s a fucking Z06!”. After 3 weeks of going back and forth, I gave up and I bought a new wheel, tire, and TPMS sensor. The fact that I had to replace a 3 week old, $450 tire, since it was compromised from being driven on flat multiple times is what upset me more than the actual wheel. I'll also note that at 38k, the car was still on its original alignment and drove straight as an arrow, which also helps demonstrate that I never hit a pothole or did anything that should crack a wheel. There’s also a class action lawsuit against GM for this as well.

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At 32k miles, I was also informed that I had a leaking shock. The C7Z has magnetic shocks that retail for over $700 each. Luckily the dealership replaced it under warranty, but it still took them several weeks to get the parts and make an appointment. When I brought the car in for its next service at 38k miles, I was informed that the other 3 shocks were leaking. I brought it in to a different dealership (since I was salty about how the previouse dealership handled the wheel issue) to see if they’d do a good faith repair, since shocks should last around 80k+ miles and the fact that all 4 were blown shows they’re defective. More importantly, they likely failed during the warranty period. Also, the fact that they didn’t all break at one time shows that there was no single driving event that destroyed them. The dealership calls me back and says that they’ll replace them (over $3k parts & labor), but I’d have to pay a $500 deductible. I said go for it. When they called me back 3 days later, I thought they were going to tell me that the car was done. Nope. They said that they made a mistake and it would be $1,100 dollars. This doesn’t help me since I found the shocks online for $400/each and can replace them in my driveway in an hour. Again, GM customer service was useless. I haven't read about any class action lawsuits about the shocks, but I suspect it's because most C7Z owners don't daily drive their cars in winter climates.

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Then, there’s tires. The car had a total of 3 sets of Michel Pilot Sports and one set of the sport cups. Additionally, I needed to replace two tires due to nail punctures and one due to the wheel issue above. Now, don’t get me wrong, the Michelin Pilot Sports are the best tires I’ve ever used, and are worth the cost. It just sucks spending ~$10/day on tires. The Pilot Sports last me around 12k miles per set, mainly due to the aggressive alignment of the car, relatively low treadwear rating, and shallow tread depth. The Sport Cups typically last ~7k miles. They lasted me ~5k miles. I managed to go through a set in two weeks when I drove from DC->Toronto->Miami->DC. Again, this is just me whining, not complaining, since we all know the sacrifices involved with high performance tires. It’s just still kinda crazy to have spent almost $10k in tires in two years.

​

After the frustration with my second cracked wheel, I started shopping for other cars. I found a 970RWHP Twin Turbo C5 that captured my interest in NJ, so I stopped by Carmax to get an offer before checking out the TTC5, so I’d know what to expect as a bottom dollar trade-in. They quoted me $48k, deducting points for a cracked windshield (my fault), high mileage for the model year, and sports car season was ending (it was late November). I decided to hang on to the car until spring, since selling a sports car in winter is cumbersome.

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After learning about the shocks, it was clear that I needed to exorcise this demon ASAP. I figured that I could clean the shocks and reasonably expect to get ~$47k from Carmax, since the mileage was slightly higher, but sports car season was in full bloom. I told the dealership to give me an offer and save me a trip to Carmax. If they offered me $45k, I would’ve accepted. They called me back a few hours later and said that they wouldn’t even give me an offer and I should bring the car to Carmax. They said that in addition to the defective struts and cracked windshield, they inspected the car and it’s showing signs of excessive clutch wear. That’s right, the dealership didn’t want to make an offer on my two year old, dealer maintained (w/ full service records), flagship model, even at bottom dollar.

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For the record, I’ve been shifting my own gears since I first rode a dirtbike when I was 10 years old. My 2nd C5 had 126k miles on the original clutch when it was rear ended and totalled. I had an E39 with 197k on the original clutch. For fun, I drove my second C5 for a few months without using the clutch, except to start, and only would lightly grind maybe once or twice per week (out of thousands of shifts, including downshifting to first as I approached stops). My first C5 had a SPEC stage III+ racing clutch and lightened flywheel. My point is that I’m about as gentle on clutches as they come. I remembered when I first got the car that I was amazed that somehow GM could make a clutch that handles 650lb of torque and is VERY easy to drive and streetable. Actually, between the large amounts of torque, the easy clutch, and automatic rev matching, a C7Z is probably one of the easiest cars 3-pedal cars to drive. To me, it seems that GM didn’t actually make a clutch that handles 650lbs of torque.

​

So, I picked up the car from the dealership at 3pm. I called a buddy who has a collector car dealership and told him that I plan to drop that car off at Carmax the next day and should get around $47k. I told him that he could buy it off of me, as-is for $46k, which is $5k cheaper than any used 3-pedal C7Z listed, which would save me the trouble of going to Carmax. He called me back 15 minutes later and I had a check in my hand by 6pm same day.

​

He called me 3 days later and told me that the power steering failed in the middle of a sweeping right turn and the DIC said “Service Power Steering.” I said, “that sucks. keep me updated”. Later on he said that the car reset itself and was driving fine. He stopped driving the car.

​

In the end, the car costed me around $50k to own and drive for 2-1/2 years. When car shopping, I was also looking at 3-pedal Ferrari 360s or 3-pedal Lamborghini Gallardos. I figured I’d be better of supporting the cause by buying a brand new 3-pedal Z06 (save the manuals by buying new) and wouldn’t have to worry about costly repairs, since the car had a warranty. The car costed ~$50/hour to drive. Not cool for the “American Working Man’s Sports Car.”

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Anyways, I got about $4k in equity back. I bought the car on a 100%, 5-year loan, so my 2-1/2 years of $1,400/month car payments went almost entirely towards depreciation. In total, the car had almost two months of downtime due to reliability/GM issues and another month while I had to save up for another set of tires. It really sucks taking the bus and Ubers while owning a new car that costs ~$60/day to own and drive.

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I just bought a manual E39 wagon with 156k miles in relatively poor condition and couldn’t be happier (something something driving a slow car fast). I also learned that the public transportation in my area is amazing and now regularly take the bus & metro to work, even though I own a car. My commute takes me 10 minutes longer total, but I can sit and watch YouTube on my phone the entire trip. Plus, I’m helping the environment. So, there’s some positives.

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The worst part about this ordeal was GM’s poor customer service. Fuck them. I could write another rant 3x as long as this one about the frustration with dealing with them. Again, this is coming from someone who’s owned 5 Corvettes.

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I’m taking a break from expensive cars for a while (my beloved C5Z is for sale on consignment at a friend's dealership). My next big car purchase is likely going to be a 996 Turbo or a super clean E39 M5. I figure both of these are around $40-$45k and even though they’re 15+ years old, should cause me less headache than my brand new GM POS. At least when they break, they’re worth fixing and I don’t have to worry about a company reneging or string-betting on their warranty promises.

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Here’s a few pictures of the car. Not gonna lie, it looked pretty and I had some great experiences with it:

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https://imgur.com/a/wg64ueR

[nextdestinationunknown]

Day 61 (7/31/14): Anacortes, WA | Spokane, WA

Time to start heading east. We began making our way over to Spokane, WA, Justin’s old (short-lived) stomping grounds. Justin had lived in Spokane for a few months about 10 years ago, and since we’d be passing through, he wanted to show me around. On the way, we passed the Wenatchee River where there was a nearby fire. We could see the smoke billowing over the mountaintops. We even saw a log still smoldering. Luckily though, the fire seemed to be fully contained at that point and didn’t cause any delay in our travels.

We drove through Leavenworth, a cute little Bavarian town similar to Solvang, CA. All of the buildings stayed true to the Bavarian theme, even the gas stations. Unfortunately since we were pressed for time and towing our trailer, we couldn’t stop to check out the town. We wish we could have spent some time there.   As we continued heading east, the landscape became barren and dry, not at all how I pictured the state of Washington. It’s interesting how much the terrain can change within a single state. However, we started seeing pine trees again as we approached Spokane. We finally arrived at our RV park after sundown.

  Day 62 (8/1/14): Spokane, WA | Coeur d’Alene, ID

Frank’s Diner

Today is our 2 month anniversary of being on the road! Justin surprised me this morning by taking me for breakfast at Frank’s Diner, a neat restaurant in an old train car in downtown Spokane. While we were waiting to be seated, we happened to meet another couple who is also currently traveling in an RV on an extended road trip. We got to talking about our experiences and swapped funny war stories of being on the road.

When it came time for us to be seated, we ended up being placed at the counter next to our new friends, Mike and Judy. We continued talking over breakfast and learned that they also have a blog about all of their road trips! We exchanged info and plan on keeping in touch. We’ve really enjoyed meeting nice people along the way. By the way, the food was outstanding! I had the Blueberry Muffin French Toast, and Justin had the Spicy Creole Benedict on a grilled biscuit…yum!

Inside Frank’s Diner

Our new friends, Mike & Judy!

Blueberry Muffin French Toast

Spicy Creole Benedict

After breakfast, we headed to the South Hill area. The neighborhoods were great with their tree-lined streets and older brick and craftsman-style houses, many of which had been refurbished. We visited the Japanese Garden and walked the dogs around Manito Park. Next we went back to downtown Spokane where we strolled around Riverfront Park along the Spokane River and took photos of the lovely Spokane Falls from the pedestrian bridges.

The Japanese Garden

Manito Park

The Spokane River at Riverfront Park

Spokane Falls

Then we drove about 30 miles east into Idaho to visit Coeur d’Alene. There was a street fair going on near the lake. We walked around for a bit, but it was about 100 degrees outside, and the black asphalt of the street wasn’t helping.

The Street Fair

Lake Coeur d’Alene

We decided to cool off inside Hudson’s Hamburgers. Multiple people had told us that we had to try their burgers while we were in Coeur d’Alene. When we sat down at the counter, we asked for a menu, but the waitress pointed to a board on the wall saying that was it. The only items listed on the “menu” were Hamburger, Double Hamburger, Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, Egg Sandwich, Ham & Egg Sandwich and Pie.

When I ordered a cheeseburger, and asked for no tomatoes on it (I absolutely despise tomatoes), they said the burgers don’t come with tomatoes or lettuce, just pickles and onions. There were 3 sauces on the counter to choose from: Ketchup, Spicy Ketchup and Spicy Mustard (no regular mustard). There are also no french fries. We then noticed a T-shirt on their wall saying something to the effect of “No fries, no onion rings, no bacon, no avocado, no cheddar cheese, no lettuce, no tomatoes, no shakes, no credit cards, no…, no…, no…” Haha!

Hudson”s Hamburgers

The Cheeseburger

We were taken aback at the simplicity of their menu and it’s items but knew we had to just go with it and at least have a burger. A guy prepares the burger in front of you and hand-cuts the pickles and onions himself. As basic as the burgers were, they were actually pretty good. We’re glad we tried them. It was definitely an interesting experience to say the least. 🙂

  Day 63 (8/2/14): Spokane, WA | Missoula, MT

The past few days had been hectic with traveling and sight-seeing. As we were driving to Montana, I started calling campgrounds to check on their availability for the weekend. We had originally wanted to stay close to Glacier National Park as that was the main point of interest we wanted to see in Montana. However, all the nearby campgrounds were already completely booked. Luckily, we found a campground in Missoula with one back-in site left. It wasn’t our first choice for places to stay, but unfortunately, it was the only option available. We had only backed in to a couple sites before and prefer pull-throughs as they’re much easier to get in and out of.

When we got to the campground, we were disappointed (as was Saucy) to find that the grass at the sites was dead. Also, the back-in site they gave us was extremely short and narrow with trees on both sides. We did a 50-point turn trying to get the trailer into the site, but the trees were blocking our entrance door as well as our slide on the other side. After more maneuvering plus help from a neighbor, we finally got the trailer situated. However, there was no room to park our truck at the site, so we had to park it across the way in a field (don’t ask).

After being stuck with such an awful campsite, we wanted to book our next several campgrounds in advance to avoid unavailability. When we went to research future campgrounds though, we discovered that the WiFi service at our current site was practically non-existent and unusable. We ended up having to drive down the street to a Starbucks to use their WiFi. Definitely not ideal. Luckily though we were able to find our next campground, which was a huge relief.  Also, there was a nice sunset that evening with a red sun.

  Day 64 (8/3/14): Glacier National Park | West Glacier, MT

We reserved today for Glacier National Park, and it’s a good thing we did because we spent the entire day at the park. There was so much to see! There are no words to accurately describe the pure beauty of Glacier National Park. To be honest, I wasn’t really a fan of Montana until Glacier National Park. Montana, you’ve won me over! Also, Montana has been the first place so far to match up with my idea of it. The landscape of most states have been completely different from what I imagined them to be, but Montana was true to my imagination.

Flathead Lake

More of the lake (it was huge!)

On the way from Missoula though, we drove through Polson where we were pulled over by a police officer next to Flathead Lake. Apparently we were speeding but were completely unaware that the speed limit had gradually decreased from 70 mph all the way down to 35 mph as we approached the town. The last speed limit sign we had seen was for 45 mph (we must have missed the 35 mph sign), so we were going 51 mph. Luckily though, the police officer was really nice. When we told him it was our first time driving through Polson heading to Glacier National Park for the day, he let us go with just a warning. Thank you, Mr. Police Officer!!! We promise we’ve paid much better attention to the speed limit signs since then!

Lake McDonald

We continued driving and passed through the quaint town of Kalispell. After entering Glacier National Park at the Apgar Visitor Center, we were driving next to Lake McDonald. There wasn’t a good view of the lake from the road as the roadside was heavily wooded. We weren’t too impressed initially but decided to pull over anyway to try to get a better close-up view of the lake. Thank goodness we did! Once we reached the shoreline of the lake, we were astonished at how crystal clear the water was! We could see every single pebble in the lake!

The beautifully clear lake begged us to take a dip in it. With no bathing suits though, we were only able to put our bare feet in the water. It felt freeing…and painful. The pebbles were not easy (or comfortable) to walk on. Haha! It was still incredible though to be able to stand in a glacial lake. With a beautiful mountain backdrop, Justin skipped pebbles across the lake as I watched from the shore. If we had had some lounge chairs, I think we could have stayed there all day gazing at the beautiful lake and it’s pebble-covered floor.

Lake McDonald

Skipping Rocks

My feet are actually in the water, but you can’t tell because of how clear the water is!

We finally tore ourselves away from the lake and continued driving until we came across the impressive McDonald Falls. You can hike right up to the falls where the water is incredibly blue. I’ve decided that when we settle down after this trip, I want at least one wall in our next place to be painted the same shade of teal as the water of the falls to remind me of their beauty. Next, we made our way up the Going-to-the-Sun Road. The climbing road is extremely narrow at times (especially for a truck) with steep drop-offs on the side. I don’t do well driving in those conditions, but the gorgeous views made the nerve-wracking experience worth it, almost making me forget how treacherous the drive was.

McDonald Falls

We saw Heavens Peak with it’s shimmering snow and icy ridges glistening in the sunlight. Next, we came to one of my favorite sights in the park: Haystack Creek Falls (it’s difficult to decide on a single favorite place in the park as everything is unbelievably scenic). The falls seem to flow directly out of the mountain and cascade under the road through a bridge where they continue down the hillside. It’s such an incredible sight as you’re driving along the road, turn a corner and see it ahead in the distance.

Heavens Peak

Haystack Creek Falls

Later in the day, we eventually reached Logan Pass, the highest point on the Going-to-the-Sun Road at 6,646 feet. Near the Visitors Center are lovely views of surrounding mountains and meadows. From there, we went to the Jackson Glacier Overlook where we got a clear view of the glacier. Of the remaining 25 glaciers in the park, Jackson Glacier is the seventh largest. After stopping to see the glacier, we continued driving until we reached the end of the Going-to-the-Sun Road at the Saint Mary Visitor Center.

Logan Pass

Jackson Glacier

On the way back, we pulled over at Bird Woman Falls, another waterfall right on the side of the road where we witnessed a rainbow at the base of the fall. We also stopped at the Mountain Goat Research Area where we got up close and personal with some wild mountain goats! What an incredible day! Out of all the National Parks and National Monuments we’ve seen so far, Glacier National Park has been my favorite.

Bird Woman Falls

Wild Mountain Goats!

Days 61-64: Washington, Idaho & Montana Day 61 (7/31/14): Anacortes, WA | Spokane, WA Time to start heading east. We began making our way over to Spokane, WA, Justin's old (short-lived) stomping grounds.

[pauldeckerus]

Early Photos vs. Now: Seeing Progress as a Photographer

Whelp! The Internet reminded me a few days back that I’ve officially been shooting photography for over 10 years now. I’ll be honest, I thought my progress would have been further. I assume the end of my life will be something like what I am currently experiencing, which is “Wow, that went fast.” It seems I’m just barely starting to grasp the wise words of my elders when they told me “Time goes quicker than you think.”

Recent artwork from my 2018 RGG EDU tutorial. Both tutorials I’ve released with them are some of my favorite accomplishments.

In the spirit of anniversaries, let’s see just how f**king horrifying Year 1 and 2 really were… *Takes a deep breath* To the archives!

What’s this ‘flower’ setting on my point and shoot?? Oh s**t! You can take pictures of things close up! Woo!”*misses putting subject in focus

“Yes yes, let’s do a fake blood-filled cup and some s**tty pearls cause Anne Rice got me hooked on f**ken vampires in the 90’s!” Shot again with a point and shoot, with some lamps for lighting and some brutal Photoshop work to make up for the lack of lighting knowledge. Also had clearly not heard the term “Color Temperature” yet.

“Flash can be turned on manually on my Nikon Coolpix, and if I put it in front with the sun behind, it does THIS?? Well this is my new favourite thing ever!” Then I remembered that mosquitoes suck and promptly scampered into the studio for mostly ever more.

Photographed in my fridge, cause I learned that big soft light is sexy, and lamps just weren’t doing the trick.

Blown highlights and crushed shadows and no concept of color harmony?? You mean sky glitter and trendy as f**k presets…

When I first picked up a camera it was mostly to be creative in a way that didn’t involve modeling, and it was faster than drawing. I photographed macro, still life, bikes, and over the course of a year, a number of friends and slave labored my sister a bunch. The first few years were the most exciting cause the gains were exponential, obvious, and relatively easy to attain.

Admittedly, Year 1 was probably my most fun year in photography. Not that the subsequent haven’t delivered amazing memories and new friends, but I was in it purely for the fun and had no expectations from anyone but me. I didn’t have goals, a client wish list, no questions of what gear would make my work better, or any desire beyond the next batch of point-and-shoot pixels that would get my dopamine levels hopping off the charts.

Early years are dedicated to trying a lot of things, as many different facets as possible. I don’t think anyone should be really trying to “figure out their style” because if we do enough work and spend the hours just being immersed in it, style will inevitably start to form. Sometimes it looks like what’s already being made, and sometimes it turns into a creature that nobody has ever seen before. Regardless of what it is, you have to have your ass in the seat as often as you can or want, to find that voice.

10 years in, it feels like the gains I make now are at the sacrifice of dragging myself over broken glass while an elephant steps on my back. I’m not here because I retained that energy of “This is the best thing evaaarrrr!” from the early days, but because discipline and stubbornness have forced me to continue. When I’m bashing at the walls of my inability to complete a concept that’s been in my mind for 5 years, and I’m still probably another 2-3 years away from being competent enough to finalize the piece, I know I’m in it for the long game.

Time has taught me the harder things feel in the moment, the more frustrated and pressurized my brain feels over the work, I’m probably just getting closer to my next sliver of a creative breakthrough. I’ll trade one elephant for another bigger, slightly heavier elephant. While they trade places though, in those brief moments I’ll find I can breathe again.

A recent challenge to create an image using only one area of the color wheel. Many thanks to Linda Friesen for channelling her inner Moon Goddess.

Those Moments Are What I Live For

I write this all to serve as a reminder, to those in their first year, or to the grizzled veterans staring down a resume longer than a CVS receipt. Where we started and where we are now is worth celebrating. Most of us weren’t born with a natural “talent” — in fact, many would argue that is a myth. We are simply a result of repetition and practice.

I think a lot of people get intimidated in their early years that their work will never look as good as they want it to. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I can definitely say that 10 years in, I’m still another 10 years away from doing the kind of work I want to make. I hope it never changes.

My inbox is filled with emails asking the same question written hundreds of different ways, but the theme can be boiled down to “How do I get awesome at this??”

Answer? I could write an essay but here are some easy points:

Just keep at it. Put your ass into frequent, habitual practice.

Most who are any good, sit upon a throne of really, really terrible work, and years of it. Every time you complete a work of art that you think is pretty f**king awful, congratulate yourself. It’s one more foundation stone into your cathedral of mastery.

Do not look for shortcuts. You’re only stealing from your future-self.

There is no “one path to success”. There are thousands of ways, and what works for one may not work for another.

Know thyself. Inspiration is great, but nothing beats digging into the nuts and bolts of your honest creative self.

Self portrait, trying to grind down on better color theory. I probably need to watch Kate Woodman’s RGG tutorial…

Maybe you are the creator who does a little bit of everything from now until forever. Maybe you’re the type who started one style and never ever changes. There is no right or wrong answer. Far as I know, they don’t hand out medals in the afterlife… yet.

“They” say if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. I’ve met some of those humans, and they’re most often either f**king unicorns, or completely disillusioned. Love what you do, or don’t, regardless your ass is probably gunna work pretty damn hard.

I fall in and out of love with my chosen career and lifestyle on a weekly basis. I equate my career to being in a long-term, committed relationship. Some days we wake up and look at each other in bed and wonder why the other is still there. Others we are reminded what got us there in the first place. Regardless of my feelings, I think they’re mostly irrelevant.

Accurate depiction of real life misery. Brought on by walking barefoot into a glacier fed, cold ass lake, or occasionally just trying to will myself into turning on my computer… Side note – Check out those “I clearly only ever wear boots” pasty ankles!

10 years in, I feel like I’m just cracking the surface of “me” and what that means to be a creator. Seated upon a mountain of embarrassing pixels and memories, I’m staring at the bottom of an even larger heap that I will create over the next decade. My well-made list of goals and plans will probably get muddled and misplaced by the chaotic influence that is life, but another 10 years will pass regardless.

I just hope that my small, infinitesimal contribution of creativity will maybe start to balance out the number of straws I’ve used.

Commissioned work for guitar queen Nita Strauss.

Inspiration time! I managed to convince some mind-bogglingly awesome artists from a variety of genres to also dig into their archives, and bravely share some of their own humble beginnings. This was a very cathartic experience for me. It was so just absolutely f**king perfect seeing where they all started to their current favorite work. Remember, we all start somewhere, and with a few years of dedication, we never know where we will wind up.

Dave Brosha

2003. “Pure garbage. Both emotionally and metaphysically.”

2018. “The only thing between where you are and where you want to be is the passion to learn and putting the time in. Some of my earliest images are laughably make-your-eyes-bleed bad – but I never beat myself up for them. They are what they are…and that’s to say, they’re part of the process of learning and growth.”

Visit his website here.

Curtis Jones

2012. “Cape Spear, Newfoundland. Completely disregarding geography, composition, and proper use of a tripod, I felt this was a pretty solid shot of my friends under the northern lights. To be honest, I’m not 100% certain a tripod was even involved but I was out there making an effort and that’s what sticks with me. Turns out the most easterly point in Canada isn’t a hotspot for aurora activity.”

2018. “Khongoryn Els, Mongolia. Now, with a few more miles racked up, an appreciation for location scouting and a better grasp on my gear, putting in the effort still counts but the returns have become more consistent – less random and more intentional.”

Visit his website here.

Felix Inden

2008. “I was really stoked about this one. Enough to save it as my first .psd (of course after reducing to 72 DPI)”

2018. “I was incredibly lucky that I got this shot… it was not thought or anything. I just saw it coming, fired away and luckily had the right settings from shooting out of the heli before of this moment. Don´t plan to much. embrace spontaneity. be there and be ready.”

Visit his website here.

Michael Shainblum

2007.

2018.

Visit his website here.

Tim Kemple

2004. “From my first commercial shoot. It was on Mt Washington for Eastern Mountain Sports and we had this awesome but wacky creative director that wanted a shot of the less glamorous moments that happen when you are out hiking. Shot on slide film. Provia 400F pushed a stop.”

2015. “Two climbers on Mt Huntington in Alaska. Shot with Phase One medium format from a helicopter.”

Visit his website here.

Elizabeth Gadd

2008. “10 years ago I discovered my passion for taking moody self portraits (because sitting on the ground and staring into space with a blurry focus seemed cool). Can’t believe how proud I was of this one once.”

2018. “10 years later, still taking moody self portraits. Hoping the practice has paid off!”

Visit her website here.

Bella Kotak

2008. “This was when I first discovered Photoshop! It took me a few more years to figure the program. At that time it wasn’t really about improving my “photography” but more about how I could improve on what I wanted to express. It just so happened that the camera felt like most natural medium to do that through.”

2018, The Kiss. “It’s amazing what time, practice, and knowledge can do. When it comes to creating pictures I’ve never focused on what I can’t do but rather, what I can do. The goal is, and has always been, to shoot often, keep learning, constantly experimenting, never hold back, and always try to level up.”

Visit her website here.

Kate Woodman

2014. This image represents my first real foray into using Photoshop in a creative/artistic way vs. a more conventional dodge-and-burn-cleanup kind of way. The image was accidental–one of my strobes didn’t fire, and I was left with something I wasn’t anticipating but though could lead to something interesting. It was the first time I really embraced a mistake as a learning opportunity–and I’ve made many more and learned so much from them, from both a technical but also a conceptual perspective.”

2018. “I feel like I’m finally getting to the stage where my photography not only reflects my aesthetic preferences but also my conceptual interests. This is a more recent image which I think is pretty successful in portraying a narrative that is both visually and viscerally impactful. There’s definitely something going on but it leaves room for interpretation–that ambiguity is something I’ve always liked in others’ art and strive for in my own.”

Visit her website here.

Richard Terborg

2009. ” I like the snow, and I like photography. So I figured it would be funny to combine the two in a “creatively next level” way, by wearing my normal “day” clothes instead of winter clothing. Because I didn’t want my garden in the background this frame was the only one that worked.”

2018. “I’ve been on a Wes Anderson exploration/funk/inspired by/phase/binge??? So I asked my friend to bring anything yellow he has and a puffy hat. It was around 35 degrees celcius outside and he had to put on the only yellow woolly shirt he had and a warm cap. Love places with a lot of color and lines because of ‘Wes’ and this place just clicked perfectly.”

Visit his website here.

Julia Kuzmenko

2007. “I honestly had no clue what I was doing. I know now, that the best thing to learn something in a specific photography genre is to break apart and analyze every aspect of the images of a handful of successful artists whose work resonates with me the most. The cropping, the colors, the makeup, hair and facial expressions.. everything that we photographers have control of at the time of the capture.”

2018. “Shoot, shoot, shoot more! Practice like a maniac, so you are at the right skill level when the opportunity comes along.”

Visit her website here.

Tina Eisen

2009. “February. I had one light and a friend called Hannah. We knew nothing. Even less than Jon Snow. Not even the cat bowl was safe.”

2018. “September. I know a couple more things now! I still experiment to this day and wake up happy every morning that I took this step 10 years ago!”

Visit her website here.

Pratik Naik

2008. “I wanted to be a fashion photographer with my wonderful wide angle kit lens and sweet angles. I thought the more angles the better and so we angled all day.”

2018. “I realized what was actually kept me inspired was the complete opposite. It was energy, mood, and emotion. Through my attempt at fashion photography, I carved the path to what I really loved shooting.”

Visit his website here.

Benjamin Von Wong

2007. “Well, I found a second set of mirrors… on another escalator haha. Theres a nice big flash hiding my head but I thought it’d make a cool effect on the metal parts.”

2018. “Ironically, I believed myself to be a better photographer then, than I do now, even though my skill level is objectively higher. I wonder how I’ll feel about myself and my work in another 10 years!”

Visit his website here.

Ashley Joncas

2010. “I was always a disgruntled little $hit even when I started teaching myself photography. I was obsessed with antique portraiture but also obsessed with HotTopic…so the dynamic duo combined with me barely knowing how to turn on a camera ended up in a branch explosion from my friends head surrounded by fake smoke. Thankfully 8 years has made a big difference…and I’ve gone from doing a horrible job to actual horror photography.”

2018. “The work I do now is directly indicative of how my creative mind works and what it responds to. For a while I thought being a good photographer meant doing pretty images with flower crowns and safe color palettes, but I realized my voice was in the strange and irregular chasms of our reality. So, my favorite image from this year is a shot of someone sitting in a basement with a bloody eye and shackles.”

Visit her website here.

The Art of Mezame

2013. “I thought using a single LED light and a Samsung Galaxy S3 was good enough for toy photography. I remember the motivation for using the LED light was just so I could see something in the dark. I don’t remember editing the image though haha!”

2018. “I am now actively shooting portraits in studios and using more than just LED lights. Instead of lighting things up just so I can see something in the dark, I use lighting and lightshapers to craft images that tell stories. Only time will tell what else I could discover in my journey as a photographer. Still learning, never stopping.”

Visit his website here.

Joel Robison

2009. “Back in the early days I was still a bit nervous to really get outside and shoot, I was largely taking self-portraits inside my apartment and really only had one bare wall to play with. I was doing a 365 project and ideas were getting thin so I decided to do a week of making props out of cardboard…I whipped up a cardboard gun, money bag and mustache and spent a good solid 5 minutes shooting this image which I then ran through Picnic AND Photoshop to get the desired “vintage” effect.” We all started somewhere and I can’t believe I thought it all looked good!”

Visit his website here.

Webb Bland

2005. “Distortion? Check. Vignetting like I stacked too many polarizers? Check. A pass of every free plugin I could find? Check and mate, photographers! *Retouchers. Whatever.”

2019. “High noon in an airplane graveyard, spacing each car between stark wing shadows. The only thing missing is the abysmal HDR and VIGNETTING OH GOD HOW DID I FORGET THE VIGNETTING??! Shot for Audi.”

Visit his website here.

Alex Ruiz

1993. “Crappy figure drawing: This gem was from my submission portfolio to Cal Arts. Needless to say, I didn’t get in. In retrospect this was valuable lesson for me: get damn good at figure drawing or else I wasn’t going anywhere!”

2018. “Kat Livingston as Elven Queen. There’s something about creating portraits that I’ve always been drawn to more and more over the years. There’s a deep intimacy to it, having a character stare deeply back at you, and sometimes through you. This one is based off New York model, Kat Livingston. Giving her an ethereal, elven quality seemed fitting for her.”

Visit his website here.

John Gallagher

2013. “My Little Pony – A cautionary tale. I’m fond of migrating beloved and nostalgic animated content to ‘real world’ to test my own ability to stay true to the characters while transforming them for fun. This is a gorgeous cringe worthy example of what not to do. Cue sharp inhale.“

2018. “So Deadpool… This won 2nd place in the DeviantArt fan art poster contest with Fox. DA picked five fan-favorite artists to compete for prize money and a trip to New York to the premiere. There was a long list of no-fly zones for content and just a couple days to do it so we all hit the ground running. I thought it came together pretty well and dovetailed nicely with the slo-mo mayhem of the DP cineverse. It’s a natural fit for my brand of hyperkinetics.”

Visit his website here.

The best way to see our progress is to occasionally take an honest look back at our past. What kind of people we were, what we valued, and how we expressed it. While it sometimes feels weird or awkward to look back at our less than experienced selves, they are the treasures that helped us become who we are, and what we do now shapes our futures.

It’s also so easy to get caught up in comparing ourselves to others, the mysteries behind the scenes that helped evolve the final product they now share to the world.

This list is only a snapshot in each person’s life, a single Polaroid in an entire journal to be perceived as warnings or inspiration. Inevitably there will be someone commenting about “I like x image more!” or “I wish I was as good as their befores”. If those are your thoughts, I applaud your skill in missing the point.

Remember, we are only in ultimate competition with our younger and future selves. Our journeys are our own, appreciate the past and embrace the next 10 years.

About the author: Canadian born and raised, Renee Robyn is a former model turned photographer who has developed an ethereal style, combining fact and fiction. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. Merging together expertly shot photographs with hours of meticulous retouching in Photoshop, Robyn’s images are easily recognizable and distinctly her own. She travels full time, shooting for clients and teaching workshops around the world. You can find more of her work on her website, Facebook, and Twitter. This article was also published here.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2018/09/13/early-photos-vs-now-seeing-progress-as-a-photographer/

[sizzlingcrusadebouquetfan-blog]

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I have already asked this question on here but i got answers that were completely on the wrong side of what I'm looking for. I got told to go to different comparison sites to find cheap deals. Which is not what I want. The answers I was looking for was more along the lines of, lowering insurance by adding parents as named driver and so on. I did this with the car im looking to buy (Seat Ibiza 1.2 Group 2 insurance.) With my dad as a named driver on TPFT insurance, and i got quoted 1400 a year. Yet people with cars higher than that can get comprehensive insurance for less than 1000 a year. So what I'm asking is, How the hell do they do it.?""

Which is the cheapest van insurance?

okay I have searched many sites for my Dad for van insurances but no hope we've tried nearly all insurances churchull, gocompare, moneysupermarket u name it all!!! Do u no any? if so plz let us on plz coz am getting really mad with this insurance!!!! Thanks""

What's the best affordable health insurance for a freelancer?

I was laid off in March and still need to figure out a health plan. Not being covered is scary! How can I get some coverage that's affordable ASAP? Thanks.

How much does car insurance cost per month?

I'm turning 16 and getting my license and need to tart saving up. IDK if it matters but this is my car: 2000 Mazda 626

How much does an office visit to the doctor typically cost when you are pregnant without insurance?

How much does an office visit to the doctor typically cost when you are pregnant without insurance?

Looking for health insurance for self employed person with hepatitus c?

I am self employed and have Hepatitus C, I am looking for health insurance""

Health insurance help please?

My husband and I were dropped by our health insurance company. We think it's because we started using our coverage (miscarriage). My husband is a contractor so the insurance they offer is pathetic and doesn't cover anything. But, we can't afford to being paying high deductibles and premiums. We make too much to get on medicaid, so we fall in the middle. Are there any programs or resources available for the average class family?""

How much would car insurance be on a 2004 mustang?

i just recently bought a red 2004 Mustang V-6 convertible and i was wondering how much insurance would cost ? im pretty sure its over 100 but how much ? im 16 and its my first car , no rude comments please.

Lowering insurance premiums in BC?

In BC after I get my class 5 drivers license(no longer an N) Is it likely my monthly insurance cost will go down?

GMAC Auto Insurance Experience?

Anyone have GMAC auto insurance? If you do, please share your experience on how they apply discount and handle claims. I ask around for quotes online and the 2 insurance that gave me good quotes are Wawanesa and GMAC. Both seems to be good company but I would like to get some input from my fellow yahoo users. I currently have Allstate but their prices keeps going up instead of going down for all the discounts they put on my record ie. good driver, Home Owners, multiple policy and renewal. I ask the agent every renewal but they keep telling me that the insurance rate is going up in California which I doubt should happen every 6 months. Please no advertisement.""

Best Averaged sized car for a teenager?

So I'm going for my license soon and we're starting to look at cars to get me around. I want something that's pretty easy on gas, reliable, easy on car insurance cost, doesn't cost an arm and a leg but ALSO isn't a tiny car like the Chevy Aveo because most of the people in my family are pretty tall for instance my mom is 5'9 I'm 5'7 /5'8 and my other sisters are also about the same height. I've been thinking about the Prius because I hear it's got some leg room and is easy on gas, but people say that batteries are more harmful than regular ones and all this jazz. Then I thought about the Honda Insight but I heard that the headroom in the back is not comfortable. I was thinking the Hyundai Sonata, but the only model I really like is the 2011 and I don't think the insurance company takes kindly to teenagers driving new cars. I would prefer not too big or long a car like the Toyota Avalon, but it's manageable. Any suggestions?""

I'm trying to make a car insurance for eu driving license?

Hi, everytime when I make a quote on e.g. (comparethemarket.com or moneysupermarket.com) I get a car insurance around 7000 ponds. Is there any way how I can get cheaper insurance? I'm in UK.""

Can I still use my provisional car insurance?

I passed my test today, but my mum won't let me alter my insurance because she says I can still use my provisional insurance, as long as I have somebody in the car with me and don't go on motor ways . Is this true, or do I need new insurance?""

Auto insurance companies?

what auto insurance companies are best rated for customer satisfaction? anyone like geico? why?

How much does health insurance in the UK cost on average?

Btw, I live in the UK, I know we have the NHS, but my Aunty has health insurance as part of her benefits package at work and she says private healthcare is way better than the NHS. So I'm just wondering how much health insurance costs on average in the UK?""

I need a way to better word this topic sentence for my essay.?

im trying to give reasons on what insurance companies can do to make birth control affordable. here's the topic sentence i have: A way birth control can be affordable is if insurance companies help cover a portion or the entire bill.

Insurance salvage cars?

i want to buy salvage and damaged cars from insurance companies which have been written off. I understand that salvage yards do this. does anyone now how i can buy written off cars from insurance companies

""I don't own a car, was involved in a wetreckless, and need good, cheap car insurance, can anyone help?!!?""

I don't own a car, was involved in a wetreckless, and need good, cheap car insurance, can anyone help?!!?""

""Is a motorcycle cheaper than a car in terms of maintenance, fuel and insurance?""

No matter what I get, my budget most likely will be $5000. But i'm talking about other costs like maintenance, fuel and insurance. I know fuel obviously is much less than a car for motorcycles, but how about maintenance and insurance? Basically i'm a highschool student, I'll be going to college next year, its a 50 km ride one way. Public transit would take me 2 hours...so If possible, i'd like to get a car or motorcycle. I already passed my first road test, but I don't have a motorcycle licence, but I'd like to. Infact the college i'm planning on attending does motorcycle courses and licencing. I'm thinking that If I do get a bike, i'd ride it for september- early november, store it for the winter, then spring till the end of the school year. Obviously I'd ride it during the summer too! I dunno, what do you experts think? You think its a good game plan or am I just in over my head? Which should I get?""

How much will motorcycle insurance cost me in CA?

I'm 20 years old college student, I'm getting the 2013 Ninja 300 (my first bike), I have had no accidents driving my car since I've started driving. I haven't gotten my motorcycle liciense yet, how much will it cost me on average..?""

Auto insurance. please help me. =)?

I'm sixteen and i just got a truck. it's a 1977 dodge pick up 4x4. i can't drive it without insurance and i don't know where to get my insurance from. i've tried getting online quotes and stuff and it didn't work. anybody know a good insurance company with a plan that covers the basic stuff i need just so i can drive my truck?? thanks. =)

Who is the best life insurance company that pays out?

I am looking into getting life insurance probably not term life insurance just regular not sure yet however a lot of my friends have had problems with life insurance companies not paying out even though they where still within the life insurance contract guidelines so I am scared..I have heard a lot of positive things about farmers and that they always pay out as long as it is in within the guidelines they provided when you signed up for the insurance . does anyone know of a company that for sure will pay out ? also can I take a life insurance policy out for my mother id like to do so because she does not have one so I am worried something may happen and I will be stuck with bills ? I know I will have ta pay more because of her age but that is okay with me I feel like it is well worth it as long as the company pays out any advice ?? Thanks

""I'm 18, just got my first car and looking for affordable car insurance?

- I live in New York - I can't go under on neither of my parents policy.

""Car Accident, Insurance won't pay up .. Any advice ?""

I was in an car accident two weeks ago, the other driver hit the side of my car because she did not make her stop. I tried to stop however, she was still able to hit the left side of my car. Police arrived but he recommended for us both to file a claim on each others insurance and that they would settle the problem themselves. My insurance company came to take photos of the damages and asked us what had happen. I received letters a couple of days ago, one from my insurance and the others person insurance. My insurance denied her claim because the damages demonstrated that it was her fault. However, i also received a letter from her insurance, that they also denied my claim. I called her insurance and they told me that it they weren't going to pay for any of the damages made to my car, because the the collision shows that it was my fault. I told them i was going to get my lawyer . and they told me i could do what ever i wanted. So, anyone has any advice ? **there was also a witness (a neighbor) who saw what happen**""

Where can i get complete information about business insurance ?

where can i get the complete data for business insurance ..

Car insurance question?

So i just cancelled my policy with a company i was having trouble with (it cost 492) so i am broke now, and i cant really afford another policy as im returning to college next week. However, i can afford a policy under my mums name, but is it possible to go under my mums name when the car is registered to me? Also, does anybody know any good/cheap insurance companies?""

Is medical payments coverage needed in auto insurance?

How important is medical payments coverage auto insurance coverage. I currently have at as $10,000 coverage. Is this over kill? I have health insurance (HSA) that has a $5000 deductible per year, after that it's covered 100%. thx""

""If I go to traffic school, will the point be taken away and my car insurance be the same rate?

Traffic school/ Car Insurance

Motorcycle insurance for a teenager?

I will be 19 in November and I want to get a Ninja 250R. I guess around a 2002, a starter bike. I was wondering (guess) how much it would cost.""

Do you guys know of any cheap Car Insurance places in Raleigh NC ?

I am 18 yrs old i dont have my license but im trying. I need car insurance but i cant find a good place. I want something that will allow me to getright my license right away. I dont want to wait. Any ideas? ohh and i dont have my permit so im in a bad place. I NEED HELPPP PLEASE and THANK YOU!

What do liquor liability insurance papers look like?

Like if you need to confirm that you have it, what do you show people?""

Question about teen car insurance?

So i have a drivers license, im 17 but i dont have insurance i drive my dads 2006 toyota tundra to school everyday. Prom is next week and its about an hour from my house and my dad does not feel comfterable letting my drive up there without insurance, so what im thinking is i can get myself included in his insurance for just that truck so i would just be an extra driver on that truck he has AAA and its $190 a month for me. So i will only need it for a month because i get my own car next month so i will get my own cheaper insurance by then, so the question is can i remove myself from my dads insurance after i pay the first month? I really need it i already have a prom date, im not missing my senior prom.""

How will insurance companies make up for the preexisting clause elimination?

I guess in 2014 health insurance companies can't discriminate people for preexisting illnesses. How will they make up for that? Will they just increase premiums for everybody?

How much would car insurance be on a 2004 mustang?

i just recently bought a red 2004 Mustang V-6 convertible and i was wondering how much insurance would cost ? im pretty sure its over 100 but how much ? im 16 and its my first car , no rude comments please.

Im 24 years old. How much will car insurance cost. Im female.?

I asked this question before. Everyone assumed I was under 18. Im actually a 24 year old female in Ontario. So I needed to provide this information originally when I had asked....sorry about that. So can anyone take a guess now?

HELP me on Auto insurance...?

Sooo when i get a car im curious about how much insurance would be a month...obviously i'll be 18 pretty soon..and am planning on buying a scion tc most likely 2005-2007...around how much do you think monthly the insurance might be?

Where can I find cheap 3rd party property car insurance for my 17year old son?

Where can I find cheap 3rd party property car insurance for my 17year old son?

Cost to insure a car for first time driver?

Hi, I just turned 15 yrs old and I'm looking to get a car soon. I live in New York City and you need to be 16 to get your permit, but I'd like to buy a car and add on upgrades and completely redo the interior so it will be nice by the time I can drive it. My parents aren't going to pay for any part of this, but I have money. My question is how much do you think I'd end up paying for insurance? My parents would put me on their Gieco plan, they both have never had an accident in their entire lives and pay very little for insurance. I was wondering if anybody had some kind of idea/range of how much I'd expect to pay for car insurance for these cars: 87-93 Ford Mustang 5.0 97-99 BMW M3 00-04 Mustang Cobra 95-2002 Acura/Honda Integra w/ turbocharger and upgrades 93-94 Mazda RX-7 w/ turbo I don't need exact rates obviously, but if anybody works with a car insurer do you have a range on how much a 1st time driver would pay for each of these cars? Thanks!""

Insurance on bentley?

I got a bentley continental already and I want to know were Is the best place for bentley insurance before/soon as I turn 18 next year jan.

Best Child insurance plan?

Which insurance plan should will be best for child , including study and marraige?""

Car Insurance In Virginia?

I'm 19, First time driver, 1 Child, Car paid in full, Live in the 22031 area (fairfax), Had a seatbelt ticket before I obtained my license, Female. I want to know which insurance would be best suited for me, I dont need the quotes, I just want advice (from expierience) on where to get quotes from first. I have my permit, and will have my license in 25 days. I'm looking into cars right now, and should have one chosen in the next 2 weeks. I know the car will change what the insurance is, but I have not chosen it. I know I want an automatic 4 door sedan Used. Not sure on mileage yet. Leaning towards Nissan Altima. Any advice???""

What is the best car insurance to have?

Which is the best car insurance that is reliable and doesn't over charge. I need full coverage.

""What is the average insurance to run a home day care in San Diego, Ca? What about on rented property?""

I know that opening a daycare on someone else's property is a liability, but possible. Is there extra insurance needed? Do you talk with your landlord prior to renting the property? My father owns an apartment complex, and he said 'No way Jose' if one of his tenants would come to him with this proposition. How much is the average home day care insurance in San Diego, Ca? Thanks!""

What are some car insurance people?

I know Progressive, and Geico. Who do you use? who do you not use and why? We just got a new toyota Sienna and i want to shop around for cheap insurance.""

Would it be ok to lower my auto insurance coverage?

I live on disability income -SSDI. This is my only income. I have no savings or other money, just my personal belongings (12 yr. old car, furniture, some jewelry, etc.) I rent an apartment. I am thinking of lowering my insurance costs by reducing the coverage amounts, which are very high right now. If I had an 'at fault' accident that exceeded my insurance coverage what assets could I be sued for by the other party?""

What are some affordable/cheap community colleges in the USA for international students?

Hi, i want to study associate in business management so in which state i can find community colleges with low fees or which are the affordable and cheapest community college in USA for study? Thanks""

How much will my car insurance go up?

I got 2 points on my license, i pay $700 a year now, and this is my first violation. I live in new york""

What is the best and cheap motorbike insurance I can get?

Hi everyone. I'm buying a motorbike soon and wanna know the cheap and best motorbike insurance I can get. I'm 17 and getting a 125cc motorbike and just wanna know the cheap and best I can get thanks you.

What's a good health insurance option for a 22 yr. old male?

My boyfriend just lost his coverage under his parents policy and needs insurance that's pretty affordable but still covers things such as: -emergencies (of course!) -vaccinations -yearly doctor visits/sport physicals Any recommendations are welcome! Thanks!

What is the best car insurance for a first car and someone in the early 20s?

Hey guys.. So, i'm only 22 years old and i'm looking to to buy my first car really soon but first i want to find a good and affordable insurance agency. So far i'm looking to compare the following insurance companies: Geico, State Farm, Progressive, State Farm, etc. Any other suggestions would also come in handy.. Thank You!.""

Best car insurance for over 60 male?

Had a DR10 drink driving in 2009. (Long story and yes should not have done it but) Require best option for fully comprehensive covering legal etc. Any idea of which car insurance company is best?

""Insurance for a 16 year old male, owning my own car, please help(ontario)?""

Im 16, male, in ontario, single, no other drivers in my family. I plan to own my own car, i know alot of you will say; depends on model or year of the car idk the answer to that because i dont have the car yet... but i do know it will be between the years 2001 and 2004 roughly, it will probably end up being a chevy, toyota, honda (just the average company) can anyone please give me a rough estimate what i will have to pay either per year or month doesnt matter thanks :)""

What does financial interest mean on certificate of currency on car insurance?

I'm using my car as security on a personal loan for my pilot training. The finance company have asked for a certificate of currency on my insurance policy. I can get one from the ...show more

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I am looking into getting a trampoline but I would like to get liability insurance. I have AAA and I was wondering how much my homeowners insurance would go up if I get a trampoline with a net around it

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Hi, I was playing around with insurance quotes form Geico and in order to insure a 270hp sportscar costs as much as a regular family sedan? It gave me a quote for 158$ per month which seems low. IS this actualy the price of insurance for a car like this?""

Can i get cheep insurance after being convicted of a 23140 in the California vehicle code?

I got pulled over more then a year ago and had a few beers with my best friend before he left for the armed services. I have the worlds brightest car and this probably wasn't the best idea. This happened 2 months before my 21st bday. My term to not have a licence is almost up and I am scared what my insurance is gonna look like. Does anyone know a way i can get cheep insurance or clear my driving record? Its only a infraction but will seriously mess up my life for the next 10 years. Any advice about programs insurance company s might have to lower costs so i can afford it when this period is up?

What is the cheapest teenage auto insurance in texas??

in austin, texas just got a permit ....drive a honda,-accord ... am going to be 16 in like 4 months""

Camaro z28!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... insurance costs?

how much would insurance cost for a 1990-2000 camaro z28 cost for a 16 year old boy

GAP insurance with no Regular insurance?

I was in a wreck it want my fault,,the other party was sighted at the seen for making an unsafe left turn..I lapsed on my insurance for a week! His insurance is only going to pay ,5,000 for property damage..and I owe 22,000 on it,,,will the Gap Insurance I purchased thru the car company kick in at all?""

How much would car insurance be on a 2004 mustang?

i just recently bought a red 2004 Mustang V-6 convertible and i was wondering how much insurance would cost ? im pretty sure its over 100 but how much ? im 16 and its my first car , no rude comments please.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-republicans-party-sucks-up-so-much-insurance-companies-fenton-zoa"

[therunr]

Race Report: Rio Del Lago 2017

It was 48 hours after the race and I could finally walk without a noticeable limp or a groan.

There’s no words to describe running a 100 mile race. You’ve got to run one. You’ve got to prepare and show up with a strong physical and mental game; the former so you can go the distance and the latter so you can solve problems and switch to plan B, C or D when you need to adjust your expectations to the reality in front of you. With Kevin’s guidance, I ramped up the running real quick after barely any recovery from Ironman Santa Rosa at the end of July. I can imagine Kevin has a tough job managing my race calendar that typically consists of triathlons in the first half of the year and ultras in the second half but we seem to make it work and see improvements year over year!

If you’ve read a race report from a 100 miler before, the stories about the highs and the lows, ability to problem-solve, the uplifting camaraderie, and most importantly - small victories along the way that lead to a task that seemed unsurmountable, are true.

You will walk away with a version of your own.

I finished RDL 100 in 29 hours and 5 minutes. That’s a lot of time to have a conversation with yourself but I was glad to have two outstanding pacers (Ajit and Sagar) accompany me for the second half of the race - I simply could not have done it without their support.

Here’s a breakdown of the race organized based on how I broke it down mentally.

Mile 0 - Mile 18.5 (Beals point to Beals point): This is the easiest part of the race. Legs are fresh and you’re ready to go after some easy days of taper! Majority of this is on a paved bike path and is slightly downhill on the way out and the return climbs mildly back to Beals point. There’s a short dirt section and we even had a detour and ran on the bridge crossing the American River at about the 3 mile mark. Everyone warns you of this section because of the tendency to go out way too fast (yes, 10 min miles are fast) and wrecking your race later in the day. I was really trying to hold back here and the ongoing joke with the runners around me was that we’re going way too fast at 9-9:30 min/miles. About 2 hours after the race started, the forecasted rain finally showed up and I was prepared for this with the right gear, and of course the right attitude. Too early to put on a rain jacket since it wasn’t raining hard but we knew we were in for rain all day as the forecast predicted; no break from rain until 6pm so it was going to be one long wet day! I arrived back at Beals point in about 3:29 (right on predicted, albeit best case, pace). I had considered starting the race in road shoes and then switching over to trail shoes here but I changed my mind before the race started and went with the Altra Timps from the beginning so there was no need to change shoes here. I had been eating well so all I had to do here was resupply gels to take me to the next drop bag. I quickly went to my drop-bag and a nice lady helped me with water refill and topping off my gel supplies. I applied some lube (I had all sorts of backup for this knowing it’d be a wet day; here, it was Chamois buttr that I use when I bike and it’s awesome but I also had Squirrel’s nut butter and Body glide in my pack for later in the day).

Mile 18.5 - Mile 23 (To Granite Beach State Park): Ah, singletrack delight. Gentle rollers on singletrack with plenty of rocks and roots to keep you engaged! I saw Bryan from team Triforce at the aid-station parking lot and it took me a few seconds to register while he was yelling “hey!”, “go Triforce” :) I was expecting to see him at Overlook where he said he’d be picking up his runner to pace.

Mile 23 - Mile 41 (To Cardiac): Still moving good. Still eating good. Everything on track. I also started seeing some familiar faces right after the Horseshoe bar aid-station and that’s always a welcome sight. I remember Bob C being right behind me as we left that aid station and he finally caught up to me (and passed me) as we were climbing out from cardiac to overlook. The general strategy here was to tag along with a fellow runner for a mile or 6 and hear about how everyone got here - to running a 100 miler! Before the race started, the RD announced that we had ~130 first time 100 mile runners (and 300 or so veterans) so it was great to see such a diverse mix. Right as we were approaching cardiac, I met another runner who was doing his first 100 as well and we stuck together (and joked about 12 min/mile average we had so far was blazing fast!). I’m always thankful for company as I can never do music - no matter how long the run! PS: still eating and drinking well, and on top of SNB and vaseline application.

Mile 41 - Mile 44.5 (To Overlook #1): These 3 miles are basically all uphill. Not hard, but it’s a nice gradual climbing and you’re starting to feel that you’ve just run 40+ miles. I was really looking forward to getting to overlook though as I was going to meet Ajit here and we’d spend the next ~26 miles together! I also saw Bob C and Stuart T at the aid station as Stuart decided to start pacing Bob early! I had a drop bag here and resupplied more gels and solid food (epic bar - yes!). I also decided it was time to change my shorts here as the chafing was getting bad no matter how much vaseline / SNB I applied - it was all getting washed out with the incessant rain. Talking about the rain, this is the earliest I’ve seen aid stations start serving hot food (which was welcomed!) and I was constantly looking forward to the hot soup and broth at the aid stations.

Mile 44.5 - Mile 48.5 (To No Hands Bridge #1): Ajit was READY to go and it was finally great to have a known face! We were doing a decent mix of running, jogging and walking and made it to No Hands Bridge with about 11:26 elapsed. Now, this is good because I was about an hour off from my 50 mile PR (in a 100 mile race!!) but I wanted to make sure this wasn’t going to hurt me later!

Mile 48.5 - Mile 67.5 (To Highway 49): OK. I’d say that the REAL mudfest and climbing started as soon as we left No Hands bridge. The non-stop rain had turned the trails into slick, and thick mud and we found ourselves on all fours trying to make it up the hill in the dark. Things came to a stop a few times here as runners were trying to make forward progress without slipping and sliding backwards - it reminded me of the crazy conditions at The Rut 50K last year with the snow and the rain! The chafo-meter was slowly climbing up in the pain scale and we were now at a solid 7/10. But have you ever had a pacer that runs with you with vaseline on a stick? Because Ajit did and dude I am forever grateful :) A few runners did ask why he was running around in the dark with vaseline in his hands and I am sure his response was funny but I was hurting bad enough and ready for a sock change that I don’t really recall. We finally arrived at Highway 49 and I grabbed a chair at the aid station and quickly took out the backup pair of socks from my pack and got changed. My feet were raw from being wet for a solid 14 or more hours but luckily, there were zero blisters! To top this off, I had also managed to sneak in a 100K PR (in a 100 mile race!!) by a few minutes so this section felt real good!

Mile 67.5 - Mile 70.5 (To No Hands Bridge #2): About 18 hours and 10 mins after I started, I was back at No Hands Bridge - about 2.5 hours behind my best guess estimate (but again, that’s an estimate) and was greeted by Sagar who would take over the pacing duties from here until the finish line! Ajit had been updating Sagar (and a bunch of folks back home) about the progress in the last few hours so that helped dial in the expected timing a little bit but thanks for waiting at the cold and wet aid station, Sagar! At least, the atmosphere at No Hands Bridge was electric - loud music and the best volunteers I’ve ever met!

Mile 70.5 - Mile 74.5 (To Overlook #2): I had read a ton of race reports about the graveyard shift and how to expect some serious lows after nightfall. Luckily, I was way too focussed on moving forward that I had no time for feelings. It was just about moving forward, albeit slow at times. I did feel a little behind on the calories but Sagar was prompt about fueling reminders! Also, Sagar was a very different kind of pacer as compared to Ajit - while Ajit was talking non-stop (I’ll take it) and singing (I’ll take it), Sagar and I were perfectly fine with the silence, but with occasional short conversations! Sagar even tried to get me to talk about epic mountaineering plans for next year to which I said that he gets to do all the talking and I get to focus on moving :) We finally got to overlook again and the rain was finally done! I used the restroom here and changed my shorts again (omg, did I tell you about the chafing?). I seriously think I applied one giant family pack’s worth of vaseline in a day.

Mile 74.5 - Mile 86.5 (To Horseshoe bar #2): This was a LONG stretch. I had some real slow miles here but it’s the best I could do. I didn’t really stop anywhere but I was just walking / jogging real slow and the main cause for this was the indescribable pain due to chafing; I just kept ignoring the pain (and took care of it with more body glide, vaseline and SNB). Horseshoe bar was a nice mental checkpoint because after this it was “just another half marathon or so”. However, the next section without an aid station for almost 10 miles would prove to be even harder.

Mile 86.5 - Mile 96 (To Granite Beach State Park #2): Remember that rolling single track I talked about earlier? How it was so beautiful with the rocks and roots? Well, all I remember telling Sagar during this section was, “WTF, dude, where did all these rocks and roots come from? I don’t remember this being here in the morning.” He just ignored my whining and kept up the encouragement about how I was doing so well and moving so well. He even told me that I wouldn’t make the cut-off (of course, I wasn’t doing my own math so I believed him) in order to get me to speed up around mile 90. It worked! I actually started feeling better and was shuffling again - running uphills, flats, everything! I stopped at this last aid station for a quick minute to get some coke and a refill of my water / electrolytes and we were ready to countdown the last 4 miles or so!

Mile 96 - Mile 100.5 (To Finish): Every single ounce of energy was focussed on finishing. I was hurting (from the chafing and the raw/wet soles) but determined to make it to the finish! The last little bit has a tad bit of climbing up to the dam and while it would have been nice to get in under 29 hours, I took my time here and came in at 29 hours and 5 minutes! Proud, and extremely satisfied that I was able to do this without any major issues (no cramping, puking, blisters etc)! I am extremely grateful for Ajit and Sagar being there with me and helping me achieve this goal!

There were still people trickling in while I sat down to eat some soup, and some eggs at the finish line. The body was starting to cool down and it was hard to regulate temperature so we left as soon as we were done eating so I could sit in a warm car. I passed out for the next 30 minutes or so as Ajit dropped Sagar off to overlook where his car was parked and then took another 45 minute nap in the hotel before we had to checkout and I drove back to the Bay Area (with a 15 minute stop for another nap along the way).

Forever grateful to my wife who is extremely supportive and knows what it means for me to achieve these goals! I am also inspired by my dad who did his very first 100 miler the weekend before this at the young age of 67! And finally, thank you Kevin - your coaching has helped me get here and I look forward to setting bigger goals year after year!  

To wrap things up, here’s some raw thoughts that come to my mind about this experience:

You can do anything you want. The key is to want it.

Surround yourself with amazing people.

You will wake up in the middle of the night after a 100 miler and eat candy :)

Strava Activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/1263259275/overview  

[gymviralscom]

People Are Doing It At Your Gym: 6 Personal Trainer Secrets

It’s been months since you signed up for that gym membership, and yet here you are, staring at a screen instead of working out. Maybe you’re making the right choice. Sure, sitting on your ass will almost certainly kill you sooner, but at least you’ll be spared the pain, lies, and body fluids you know a gym trip will bring. And at least you won’t have to look at the smiling face of a personal trainer like Ryan George, who wants to tell you that …

6

There’s Plenty Of Sex At The Gym

stokpic/Pixabay

I’m proud of the number of clients I’ve bedded … because that number is zero. I did a home session once with a woman who suggested exercising in the nude (I advised her not to — the pinching alone!). I had a male client invite me to a threesome with his wife (again, I said no; that is not what we mean by a “partner membership”). At a hotel gym, I worked with a client who wanted me to massage his glutes and asked if I’d ever been with a man (I told him that I wasn’t trained in butt massage).

Body-n-Care/Pixabay “No, I’m not trained in groin massages either.”

Less ethical trainers take advantage, though. There was one I worked with who went after every attractive woman that came in. One day, a girl came storming onto the fitness floor and asked every staff member where he was, but he was nowhere to be found. A few minutes later, there was a loud commotion: The girl didn’t know about the trainer’s reputation and found out that he had been hooking up with someone else. The gym ended up canceling both women’s memberships for fighting. They kept the trainer, though, as he had among the best sales numbers at the gym.

One high-end gym that I was working at tried to incentivize us to stay on-site all day by building a “sleeping” room for the personal trainers, complete with bunk beds. Yes, some genius thought it was a smart idea for a group of mostly young, attractive, and single trainers to have their own bedroom in the gym, and much to everyone’s shock and amazement, the room became a love-den. I did try the room out for its intended purpose on one occasion, only to have my nap interrupted by two trainers working each other out. Eventually, we lost access to the room because the housekeeping staff refused to clean it.

kadmy/iStock “Seriously, how difficult is it to put the condoms IN the trash can?”

One tip: Never go barefoot in a steam room. At the place I work now, the steam room is pretty regularly stained with semen. It’s most likely the result of jacking off pre-workout, which supposedly drops your blood pressure and relaxes you. Hey, they say you have to wipe only your sweat down after you’re finished.

5

A Personal Trainer’s Looks Matter Way More Than Their Qualifications

Satyrenko/iStock

Like most of the service industry, gyms hire with an eye toward beauty. As a manager told me, I have to be what the client wants me to be. To female trainers, he said, “If it’s a guy, you have to give him a really tough workout. When he’s finished, take him to the massage table. Massage his legs, stretch him out, and when you are doing the hamstring stretch, lean over, expose a bit of cleavage and say, ‘I’d like you to be my client. What kind of package can I put you down for?'”

g-stockstudio/iStock “I’m very committed to your hap-penis.”

It’s pretty clear what kind of business he thought he was running, and it didn’t involve a lot of careful vetting of qualifications. As a result, many of us didn’t have any. I got certified through the NASM, but plenty of trainers I work with haven’t. Some take multiple-choice online tests and use that, plus their visible muscles, to get hired. Don’t assume your trainer is some former athlete or even passionate about fitness — many join up just because they think it’ll be an easy job.

But all that isn’t necessarily the case. When I first joined one high-end gym, one of my fellow newbies was a stunning fitness model. She ended up getting lots of attention from the male clientele but couldn’t turn that into paying clients and quit the field altogether. Meanwhile Adrian — a middle-aged, slightly overweight female trainer with a thick Colombian accent — banked $250k a year. She was at the top of her field because she knew her shit, plain and simple.

Alex_Koch/Pixabay “The quicker you hit your fitness goals, the quicker I hit my financial ones. So pick that up. Now”

4

The Gym’s Business Model Is Completely Dependent On Your Lack Of Motivation

tpsdave/Pixabay

I can confirm some of the stuff Cracked joked about in this video: We really do count on a certain percentage of members signing up but not using the facility. If most gyms were used by anything close to the full roster of members, they’d be way beyond capacity. One time, a major blizzard back in the early 2000s basically shut down the city, but we stayed open. Scores of lapsed members, with nothing else to do and against all expectations, made their way through our doors. It was the busiest day that gym ever had, there wasn’t nearly enough equipment for everyone, and it was a goddamn madhouse. Luckily, it’s pretty hard to get trampled in a treadmill stampede.

Capitol Records Treadmill-related injuries have dropped drastically ever since OK Go canceled their membership.

Beyond tricking the masses into memberships they’ll never use, we’re supposed to sign clients up for personal sessions because that’s where the real money is. An hour of personal training might cost upward of $100, more than a whole month of gym membership. So once we’ve got people in the fitness room, we tell them the gym itself will do nothing for them, and they need one-on-one time if they want to improve. Not because of our knowledge, necessarily: The true selling point of a personal trainer is having to look somebody in the face and promise you’ll come to the gym at a specific time and date. It’s harder to stay on the couch when you’ve made that personal and financial commitment.

mastermilmar/iStock “You know what, just give me your wallet. You need to earn it back.”

Sometimes they do fight dirty with your willpower, though. Right after 9/11, the fitness manager gave us this long-winded speech and included a line he wanted us to tell potential clients: The reason so many people died during 9/11 was that they were not fit enough to escape the buildings. It’s a terrible argument, from what I heard. I never got around to using it, because hell is basically one big steam room — can you imagine how much semen is on the floor? No thanks.

3

Personal Trainers’ Advice Can Harm You

Highwaystarz-Photography/iStock

Here are the subjects a qualified trainer can speak on, ideally with a pumping dance beat backing them up: posture and movement, muscular strength and endurance, athletic performance, cardiovascular conditioning, and flexibility. That’s the ideal list, remember — we may not know anything about any of that stuff. We may just look rockin’ in spandex. Whatever the case, we are most certainly not authorities on nutrition, rehabilitation, or anything medical. Yet in every gym you’ll find trainers happy to advise you on all of those things no matter how disastrous the consequences.

gpointstudio/iStock “No, no, not the muscles, that’s a common myth. You have to eat another man’s heart to gain his strength.”

I know one trainer whose client was struggling (due to trainer incompetence, mostly), so he said, “Tell your doctor you have asthma and have them give you a prescription for Advair. That will help you with your cardio.” There was another who thought they were qualified to give diet advice to a diabetic. One client wanted to get in shape for her August wedding, so her trainer put her in a sauna suit to run on the treadmill the morning of the wedding to fit into her dress. And then there was the trainer who decided to fix a client’s back pain using “core exercises” that obviously just made the pain worse. We barely dodged a lawsuit on that one.

Even I’m not immune to the occasional climb up my own ass. I used to tell clients doing bench presses to touch the barbell to their chests. Then I learned this was shredding up their shoulder joints, so I stopped, but others still insist on it. Leg extensions are what everyone uses to build their quads, but I tell people not to because they’re ruining their knees in the process — you’ll still see a shiny leg extension machine in every gym. One trainer will tell you the lat pull has to go behind the neck, and I’ve seen that do terrible things to people’s shoulders long-term, but I’ve heard other trainers insist that doing it in front of chest, like I say to, is also bad.

Gennadiy Kravchenko/iStock It’s only a matter of time before it gets blamed for autism and gun violence.

You’ll never know who’s right until you screw yourself up doing it wrong.

2

Gym Employees Might Slip You Steroids

Dario Lo Presti/iStock

At one gym I worked at, the first Monday of every month, a guy in a suit would show up, change into workout gear, and take a black backpack into the gym with him. The man, who we dubbed “the doctor,” would do a 30-minute session. At some point, he would casually place the backpack somewhere behind the pull-up station, and the fitness manager would later take it with him into the office. For the next week, all the Terminator-looking guys walked in to the fitness manager’s office when the sales manager wasn’t around. I got the feeling they weren’t discussing that quarter’s revenue.

Ozimician/iStock “Oh my god, I finally saw Hamilton, and let me tell you, totally worth the wait!“

One trainer I know sends his clients to a doctor at an anti-aging clinic, advising them to claim that they’re suffering from low testosterone. The doctor then runs a series of tests which magically confirm this, and the client, whose only real symptom is a lack of swoleness, skips away with a legal prescription for testosterone. You can even get your insurance to pay for shrinking your testicles.

1

In The End, The Gym Is Selling An Impossible Fantasy

Milan Stojanovic/iStock

Cracked has told you over and over that the number of people who lose a large amount of weight and keep it off is statistically zero. Now, I have worked with people who’ve transformed their bodies in phenomenal ways, so I’m not going to say it’s impossible to lose weight, but it is much harder than most people think. A large part of that is because the fitness routines we prescribe you are unsustainable, and we know this. Most people will get through the first few days of a training routine just fine, and we’ll tell them it will get easier, but in reality, it gets harder. If it starts to get easier, you’ll stop seeing results. And anytime you take on a new project, whether it’s starting a fitness routine or a custom dildo business, it steals from something else in your life.

Eva K./Wiki Commons “In the end, it was my free time with my kids that I was really giving the shaft to.”

I try not to set unrealistic expectations: During my first meeting with a client, I extract as much info as possible on the person’s lifestyle, mindset, goals, and exercise history, then try drafting a plan they can actually follow. But if gyms everywhere told clients the truth — that there is no finish line; you can never say, “OK, now I have a six-pack, so I’m finished with my body and now I can focus all of my time on video games”; that maintaining that six-pack is now your part-time job for the rest of your life; and the older you get, the more work it will take — a billion-dollar industry would disappear overnight. Forget rising health-insurance premiums — that’s how fat would cripple the economy.

Ryan George hosts The GymWits podcast and has a new book out, Freeweight Training Anatomy. Follow Ryan Menezes on Twitter for stuff cut from this article and other things no one should see.

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