A List of Firsts

The topic for today's Monday Listicles was firsts. I probably have a lot more firsts than 10, but here are 10 I thought I could tell a story about. ;-)

1. My first dog, Mitzy

Ok, she was the family dog, but she was definitely the first dog I ever loved. She was a pomeranian/poodle/chihuahua mix. Or so we told everyone. She was loads of fun. I loved when she would snuggle up by my legs when I'd sleep at night.

I even made up a song that I would sing to her.

♫ Cutest little pup in the whole wide world. Cuter than anything. She may be full grown. She may even stink, but she's still the cutest little pup in the whole wide world. ♫ 

Or something along those lines.

Now I have another cute, snuggly, adorable pup that I LOVE. She's definitely my baby girl.

2. My first kiss
This was well before the days of instagram, and Facebook, and Twitter, so no pictures. :) I was 16 (old, I know!), and it was in the hallway of the apartment building of my boyfriend's brother. Did you catch that? I'd gone over for dinner, and we kissed in the hallway as he was walking me out to my car.

I have since had many, many kisses. I am married, afterall. LOL.

3. My first ever cruise
If you can call it a cruise. It was just from Ft Lauderdale to the Bahamas. It was only a few hours, but it was rocky, and the ONLY song they played was Who Let the Dogs Out?. Granted, it was played in several different variations. ;-) No pictures from the cruise. Probably, because we were trying our best not to lose our cookies. The cruise was part of a whole buy-a-timeshare package. Overall, it was a fun vacation with my stepmom and sister, but the actual cruise definitely was not the highlight.

I have yet to go on another cruise. One day.

Hopefully with a lot less annoying music and rocky waves.

4. My first time parasailing
I did this during the same vacation as the cruise. My step-mom, who hates all kinds of rides, had gone parasailing in Jamaica several years earlier. If she could do it, certainly I could do it. I was so scared! And I'm a girl who loves roller coasters. It took me forever to actually commit to doing it. I was so nervous while being secured to the sail. And then the boat took off. I won't say I was disappointed, but it definitely wasn't thrilling. It was beautiful and relaxing, but I'd built it up so high in my mind, that it turned out to be a bit of a let down. I do have pictures of this, but sadly, they have not been scanned into a digital copy and they are currently being stored at my sister's house in MN.

I'm not sure if I'll ever pursue doing this again. Like I said, it was beautiful and relaxing, but it was also a little boring.

5. My first crazy adventure after getting married
About 8 months after getting married, we decided to move to NYC. We didn't know anyone. We didn't have a place to live. We didn't have jobs lined up. And then everything started to fall into place. When I told my work I was moving there, it turned out there was a job available in the city. I wouldn't even need to change companies. We found a fantastic apartment in Brooklyn! Brand new construction. We were the first tenants. EVER! It was just fun how everything came together. We were only there for about 10 months, but we really enjoyed it.

I could definitely see myself living in NYC again someday. But as of now, we haven't even been back to visit. :-(

6. My first drag race

This was just yesterday. I've been to other races - stock car, junk car - but never anything through the National Hot Rod Association. It. Was. So. Fun! Of course, we weren't dressed very appropriately. Jeans and t-shirts, but we should have opted for shorts at least. It was super loud and when the Top Fuel cars were racing, you could feel the vibrations through your entire body. We kept saying to each other how much we could really get into this sport.

Yes, this is something that we definitely hope to do more of!

And now, since this is primarily a running blog, here are some running firsts.

7. My first 5K

Somehow in 2001 I convinced my sister to sign up for a 5K the day after my 24th birthday. This probably wasn't the wisest idea. Or perhaps the partying the night before wasn't the wise idea. Either way, we ended up walking most of the race. Like I said, I wasn't exactly feeling 100%. Still, it was something fun to do with my sister. Yes, she'd been right there celebrating with me the night before. It was a beautiful race walk around Lake Nokomis.

I don't think I could even count the number of 5Ks I've done since this one. Not because the number is so large, but rather because I simply can't remember.

8. My first half marathon

My sister didn't do this race with me. I'm not sure why. It was kind of far away. I was working at the Running Room at the time and had become friends with some runners going through one of the running clinics or running groups. We all drove the hour or so to get to this race together the night before and stayed in a hotel room. It was so fun! Seriously, even 10 years later, nothing tops this race experience. I ran this with a random girl. Well, not totally random. She was a part of our group, but I hadn't really met her before this race. We were the perfect pace for each other. We talked the entire time! We didn't care about time or anything else. We just had fun talking and walking and running. I don't remember her name or anything about her. We never ran together again. But, she was just what I needed that day.

I have since run a few more half marathons. My current goal in life is to be fit enough to always be ready to run a half without having to do any extra training. My next half is in only 5 days!!

9. My first marathon

I wish I could say this was as great of an experience as my first half. This was another one of my brilliant ideas that I convinced my sister to do. We both ran this, but we didn't run it together. We had joined Team Diabetes and had hoped to run Kona Marathon, but we weren't able to even come close to fundraising the $9000 ($4500 each) that would qualify us to participate, so we opted for TCM, which was much, much closer, though not nearly as exciting as, Kona. My dad and stepmom came out to show support. They even met us along the course a few times. My uncle, who had run many marathons came out as well. That was very encouraging - especially when they would jump onto the course and run with me for a short while. At the end, I was so happy to be finished. I vowed to never run another marathon again. It was really hard!

That vow lasted until the next year when my sister and I received a flyer in the mail to run it again. Suddenly, it seemed like the greatest idea! One day, maybe I'll run a 3rd.

10. My first Ragnar Relay

This was just pure awesome. You can read all about it here. I joined a random team. Well, not entirely random, as it was the team of a girl I went to high school with. Of course she wasn't in the same van.

I'm running my 2nd Ragnar in just 11 days!! I don't know a single soul on my team, but I am getting to know them via Facebook, and I have met one in person already. We're donning 80s workout gear, and we're going to have a blast!

I don't always have a very good memory - even for things that should be quite memorable. :-)

What are your most memorable firsts?
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