And now I can safely sit on my butt until Christmas...

This weekend, Eric and I earned the final points required to earn our Awesome Badge for 2011.

You can have one too- here's how:

Although the year still has a couple months left to affirm our self-proclaimed Awesomeness, we are (at least for today) perfectly satisfied with our current level of membership in the club. Without the bevy of brunch options or fancy Broadway parties that we were accustomed to in New York, Eric and I had to find new ways to fill our social calendar once we moved to San Francisco. Adios: Sunday sangria. Enter: A whole lot of exercise.

Don't get me wrong- we've always been fond of the gym and complimenting each other on our impressive muscles, but around Christmas when "we" (aka Eric) agreed to do our first 200 mile relay, I was less than enthused. In fact, I was shocked when I realized he hadn't meant it as a joke. Guess what? Not a joke. And so it began.

Awesome Test #1: THE RELAY

Once upon a time, our dear friend Tiffany asked us to run a 200 mile overnight relay with her. Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Tiff: No guys, it's fun! Really!

Me: HAHAHAHAHA.

Tiff: No, seriously! The running is really an afterthought. It's not about that! It's all about fun!

Me:HAHAHAHA.

Because we are bad at peer pressure and we really like Tiffany, we momentarily forgot that a) we didn't really like running and b) we didn't really like staying up all night, and we agreed to join the team and started to train.

Lo and behold, once you start practicing running, you actually get better at it and you no longer feel like you may die at any moment. Sure, it still hurts a lot sometimes, but soon little miss I-Hate-Running-Rebecca was pounding out four, six, even ten mile runs. And pigs did not even start to fly.

Then, in April, THE RELAY happened and Van 2/Van Deuce/Rebecca and a Bunch of Boys took the running world, or at least the running world from Napa to Santa Cruz, by storm. Our team of twelve split into two vans to cover the miles, and over the course of about 36 hours we ran our way across Northern California. I personally ran over 4 miles in Sonoma, 6.2 in Pacifica at 2 am (best time ever! and I'm so not kidding!) and 6.3 in the Santa Cruz mountains. Much hilarity, gas, and body odor ensued (I mentioned the boys, right?). Little to zero sleep occurred. A bunch of running addicts were born.

Turns out Tiff was right- the running IS an afterthought. There's something to be said about that feeling of accomplishment when you push yourself to do something you never thought was possible for yourself. And we wanted MORE.

Awesome Test #2: Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon

Ok, you know this one. But, here's a re-cap. I busted my knee, Mother Nature: California Edition delivered tons of hail and rain and thunder, ZipCar tried really hard to keep us from going to Lodi, I used an entire roll of tape to keep myself in an upright and locked position, and we were almost dead last but finished our 13.1 mile hobble. Great times and I received a sip of wine as a reward, but we're still thinking we might need a do-over. An accomplishment, nonetheless.

Awesome Test #3: Day Hiking Mount Whitney

As you may recall, last year Eric and his boyfriends went on a backpacking trip to Mount Whitney ("best time they ever had. Ever.") while I happily stayed and drank martinis with my family. This year, I agreed to hike that beast in one day with Eric, the Paynes, Kristina, and a few other friends. Again, with the peer pressure. While the idea of carrying my sleeping bag on my back sounded like torture, walking 22 miles up and down one of the tallest mountains in America sounded like a pretty good time. Hey- I'm always up for a nice stroll!

Yeah. That was not good thinking. Mount Whitney does NOT mess around.

First, our campsite, while beautiful, was a popular thoroughfare for bears. Little to our knowledge as we set up camp at midnight when we arrived, our wee friend Paddington was playing a game of What/Who Will I Eat For Dinner? Then, Chris' bear spray went off in his tent and things got a bit messy. The mountain loomed.

Our Donner Party set out at midnight and enjoyed several incredible star-lit miles. Along the way, we lost a few to altitude and gained a passerby, Randy, who was making his sixth attempt to summit Whitney. (And no, we didn't LOSE lose them. No one died, so stop worrying. I just needed to clarify.) By dawn, we'd hiked over 7 miles and were at around 11,000 feet. Not bad for a day's work but, unfortunately, also not even close to the end.

Fueled by beef jerky, arrogance (stubbornness, if you want to be nice about it), Mojo bars, fun-sized Snickers, and a lot of jokes, Eric, Steve, Tiff, Katie (Tiff's sister), and I pushed our way through 99 switchbacks, sheer cliffs, snowfields, and a seemingly endless trail and FINALLY arrived at the summit. Hallelujah!

And then we had to hike down.

That, my friends, was something akin to torture. Many hours, semi-hallucinations, jokes, and a few tears later, we arrived back at camp. We hiked for over 18 hours and couldn't honestly say it was enjoyable until the next day, but when we dragged our beaten-to-a-pulp bodies out of our tents the next day and looked at what we'd accomplished, "enjoyment" doesn't begin to sum up the pride and awe that we felt.

Alright, let's be honest- this is getting a little too long and has the potential to get sappy. Blech. The final two installments of this great adventure will be available for your viewing pleasure tomorrow or whenever I feel like it. You may now return to Facebook.