What's the coolest thing you've ever done outside of triathlon? (Page 3)

People here have done lots of awesome stuff! I'm still adding to my list constantly and triathlons are up at the top but here are some things I've been fortunate enough to enjoy:

- walked 90km in 26hrs

- took 8 high school students backpacking in the grand canyon for a week

- climbed mt. fuji (where my husband proposed at sunrise)

- lived in 4 countries outside of the US (and traved to over 20)

- survived the March 11 earthquake and nuclear reactor "meltdown" in Japan last year

- lots of things pertaining to rock climbing

- hitch hiked around Hokkaido with my husband

- working as crew on the (former) USS Sequoia when I was in college

- just about every adventure I've had outdoors (backpacking, canyoning, rafting, kayaking, climbing etc.)

Sailed 1,500 miles offshore from NZ to Tonga. 

Sunrise, in the middle of the ocean, on your own really makes you feel small

I wish I could talk about marriage and kids but I can't--fantastically bad luck in that department. I'll be the first to admit that for me training is a relatively cheap antidepressant with few side effects beyong increased appetite, sore legs, and lots of laundry!  In terms of the rest of my life:

Athletics: Winning the 2-mile in the state meet as a high school senior by 0.32 seconds (pretty exciting), winning my first marathon in 2:59:52 at age 14, qualifying for and competing in the Olympic Trials Marathon in 1988, competing in World University Games in 1989. Not just the meets/races themselves, but the whole experience, people I met, etc.

Not Athletics: traveling to many countries in Asia and Europe, much of it solo. Trekking to Everest Base Camp (Kala Patar) and the Annapurna Circuit. Trekking in and spending Christmas week with a Tibetan family I met while trekking in the upper Nujiang (Salween) valley near the China-Tibet-Burma border. Learning Chinese (reading and speaking) fluently in college and while living in China for nine years.

Teaching lots of kids. I like to think I made a difference and turned some of them on to learning or gave them faith in themselves they didn't have before.Like parenting, sometimes it takes a long time to know if you've made a difference, though.

- Cycled from Glenwod springs CO to Uxbridge MA in 2003 (2500 miles)

- MBA this year!

Two things for me:

1. When my wife gave birth to our son, the doctor stood back and let me deliver him.

2. Being deployed to Haiti after the earthquake and rescuing two kids and an adult who were trapped for 6 days in voids barely big enough for them to fit in. I cannot use the word "coolest" alone because there are so many emotions and words to describe the experiences, but life changing and amazing to say the least.

1.  Losing over 250 lbs, down to my current weight of 220 (yes, I still need to loose more)

2.  Riding 5 centuries in 5 days

3. (the most important to me) Being able to run 6-8 miles nearly every morning and having the energy to get on my bike and ride after work.

It seems small reading all the other post, but being paralyzed to a couch just 2 years ago, it seem like I have accomplished the world!

Space stations and astronaut suits?!  You guys are awesome!

Jumped out of a plane - very, very high

Drove a stock car

Swam at the great barrier reef

Participated in the worlds largest pillow fight (sadly the record has now been broken)

All this kid stuff is making me cry! It's also super to learn such cool things about everyone ...

Bottom line, the coolest thing I've ever done, and I get to do it every single day, is to LOVE and be LOVED. That's it.

I've had the privilege of being with and being there for loved ones in the process of their passing away.

I've also gotten to have and do the most amazing experiences--truly grateful.

While I worked directly for Yasser Arafat, I spent two years working with so many different kinds of people during the first Palestinian/Israeli peace process (Oslo Accords). I was 16-17 at the time.

The coolest thing about martial arts was the process of learning, training, and coaching for years, but winning world championships and beer money was nice too.

I have loved few activities as I loved teaching, and in the time I taught at USC won every teaching award for which I was eligible. The coolest thing is that now, 10 years out from my first class there (I also went on to teach instructors), I am still in touch with almost all of my students, and quite a few who were not my students but friends of my students who would come by with them or even by themselves anyway.

I've done some really cool science geeky things, too ... established a protocol for using a region of DNA for phylogenetic analysis in these endangered Southern California plants, was on the research team at Genentech to get one of their drugs released, made Jeffrey's poop glow with a transgenic bacterium.

Coolest thing I have ever done:  Snorkled with about 20 manta rays in Kona. 

We aren't certified divers so we went the snorkle route but without too many expectations as we figured the dive would be much better.  Well, we in for a big surprise.  On this particular night, we had about 15-20 different mantas come out to feed (at a designated spot right off of the BI airport).  From the time it got dark until they hauled us back in (about 90 minutes), we had giant manta's doing loop-de-loops inches from our body.  I could not stop smiling for days.  I know lots of people swim with stingrays (and I have also), but this is a million times cooler (and there are not many places you can actually do this.  What made it even better was that the captain said it was very very rare to see that many in one night.  I had a friend take the same tour and would see 1 or 2 mantas a night.

Some pics I took with my underwater camera:

The coolest thing I have ever done is watch my older daughter sit in the stands among her swim pals, draw her own insulin and give herself a shot and then calmly walk over to the blocks and knock out a AAA time in the 100 breast, 2 years after diagnosis.  Nothing else even comes close.

Along with being married for 19 years (along with the coolest thing - this is also the smartest thing I've ever done) with two girls:

-first flutist in state my senior year of high school

-concerto performer (soloist with an orchestra) on a national tour with a high school honors symphony

-rode my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 7 days

-professional pastry chef for a meal for Julia Child

It's really nice to see that those of us with kids put them at the top of the list. Even with all this solo training and competitive focus we're not such a self-centered group of individuals after all.

WHOA!  Don't you dare diminish what you've accomplished.  I think everyone here would agree with me that this is a powerful list of achievements.

Total tear jerker!!! What an amazing and brave young lady you have

Well said!!

AWESOME!!!!! Amazing, hats off to you, man.

Lots of great stuff here

I had the opportunity to homeschool my children in their elementary years, it was very cool to teach them both to read and grasp concepts in math.

Physically, some of the coolest things I  have done:  white water rafting in the northern part of the Hudson River as a kid, where the hold the white water canoe/ kayak races.

Hiking Mt Marcy in a day   as a kid

In high school track I was a shot putter, competed against guys in the winter season.  Beat one once.

National champion in 1 sport, provincial champion in 2 different sports, and placed 3rd in provincials in a 3rd sport. 

Competed internationally in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Germany, Mexico, Panama, as well as all across the US and Canada.

I have a Bachelors in Human Kinetics, as well as an accounting designation, diploma of paralegal studies and I'm on the hiring list to be an air traffic controller with NAV Canada

I've done a 17 day motorcycle trip with 11 other people throughout the western US which covered approximately 12,000km. 

Moved to London to be with another BT'er, and have since travelled to Amsterdam, Paris, Venice, Madrid, and Rome with trips to Riga, Paris and hopefully Barcelona and/or Scotland before we move.

Can't wait to see what adventures are coming up next! 

Giving birth.

First time via emergency c-section after 19 hours of induced labor (absolute nightmare). Our daughter was born with an extremely rare endocrine condition and do this day we still feel it was as a result of the induced and prolonged labor/delivery. I was so traumatized after that ordeal that when I was pregnant with #2, I was adamant that I would have a VBAC with no induction. Not one single person in my life was supportive of this decision including my new doctor, as it was "easier" (more convenient) to just go under the knife again. I stuck to my guns and had a smooth, textbook, natural delivery and gave birth to beautiful and healthy baby boy (despite a 98th percentile head and shoulders!) Doctor was completely stunned.

Then I breastfed for 14 months and 18 months while working full time. Husband never once got up in the middle of the night with our son.

Doesn't compare to saving lives as others have done though, super impressed by these posts!

1.  climbed one of the swiss alps.

2.  stood 6 inches from the mona lisa.

3.  ate fresh fish n' chips fresh off the England shore