See Something More

On November 1, many adventurous young men will cap their razors and tuck them away at the back of their bathroom shelves. For the next thirty days, they will proudly sport their facial hair, however wild it may grow. You may have heard of "No Shave November", the shameless event where brave young men let their facial hair grow all month long. I remember walking around campus at the end of November and noticing how suddenly every male looked like a caveman or a mountain man...or like they just came off Duck Dynasty. For the brave females, "No Shave November" turns into "No Shame November", which is only for the ladies that are confident enough to not shave their legs for an entire month. One year, my university hosted a "Shameless Shins" contest in November, but my friends and I renamed it the "Shins of Shame." Needless to say, none of us lasted. It was all in good fun...but definitely pointless. And maybe slightly gross. Then I hear...

"I could totally live here," I announced as we sat on a bench outside and I happily licked my cookie-flavored popsicle from Las Paletas, a specialty popsicle store. "That's one more point for Nashville," I said the next day when we sipped amazing homemade ice cream sodas at The Pharmacy restaurant. For my first weekend in Nashville, my native friend showed me some of the best of Nashville. We walked through Pearcy Warner Park as the autumn breeze blew, covering the ground with a fall blanket of colorful leaves and putting a slight chill in the air that made me wish I had brought a jacket. We shopped at REI, gawked at the central library downtown, took pictures in front of the Parthenon, and listened to live music in Centennial Park. We cooked a fall batch of chili to share with friends and went to a bonfire out in the countryside, where I enjoyed a homemade pumpkin-spiced latte and roasted marshmallows over the open fire. Perhaps that night was the most memora...

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At 6:30 am, it was still dark outside as we pumped up our tires and made our way to the starting area. Still in sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt, I breathed in the cool fall air and laughed, "Hmmm, it's a great day for a swim!" Soon, the sun began to reflect off the dark navy water, making the lake shine and glisten. We staked our claim in the transition area, set up our bikes, laid out our towels, and pinned our numbers to our jerseys before making our way down to the lake to join the other competitors at the start. A group of about thirty women, all topped in brightly colored swim caps, waded up to their knees into the lake. There was an excitement in the air as the announcer counted down, "One minute!" "Fifteen seconds!" "On your mark, get set, go!" Although I started out with goose bumps on a chilly, dark autumn morning, the sun soon shone brightly, making it an absolutely perfect day for a sprint triathlon. Jessica and I had b...

I stood by the door, watching out the window for my sister to drive up in her little white Honda. As soon as I saw her headlights turn the corner, I grabbed my guitar, my bike, and my backpack and ran out the door to meet her. "Hey, sis!" I greeted her, "Let's go camping!" We tossed everything in the back, grabbed some Sonic on the way out of town (who doesn't want a breakfast burrito and tots at 9:00 at night?), and made our way up to Petit Jean mountain. As soon as we turned off the interstate, we left the city lights behind and the stars began to pop out one by one. As we snaked our way up the mountain along a narrow road, we left the busyness of normal life behind and entered the quiet, still forest. I leaned my head back, breathed in the crisp fall air, and breathed out the stresses of my new job and new apartment life. Suddenly, all decisions that I needed to make no longer needed to be made. All busy thoughts and emotions drifted away with the s...

With one quick click of a button, I registered online for my first sprint triathlon, a race that involves a 500 yard swim, 13 mile bike ride, and 3.4 mile run. One minute later, I googled, "how to train for a triathlon in eight weeks" and printed out a schedule. Two minutes later, I convinced a friend of mine, Jessica, to do it with me. So we bought some gear, put on our swimsuits, and loaded up our bikes for one of our very first workouts. "Swim thirty minutes?!" I exclaimed when I looked at the calendar for that day's training. "That's a long time!" Needless to say, that first week I barely swam five laps without getting out of breath and taking a break. Now, six weeks later and only 10 days away from race day, I can swim double the traithlon distance without stopping. For the first time last week, I did a mock run of the triathlon, and I was able to complete the entire race in a little over an hour and a half. We've come a long way i...