My second decade

(Click here for the first dose.)

Age 11: I get my ears pierced -- the highlight of my life thus far.

Age 12: My friend Grace and I swim two miles in a lake at camp (see Age 3) and get our names on a plaque.

Age 13: I bomb in my one and only beauty pageant. I wear a poofy pink dress, dyed-to-match heels, and more makeup and hairspray than ever before or since.

Age 14: I set four outdoor track records and two indoor track records for my high school. (After this season, it's all downhill.)

Age 15: My friend Rebekah and I manage to get paired with her crush, Jared, and mine, a guy named Matt Kirby, for a class project on Shakespeare's "The Tempest." I eat four Chuckwagon hot dogs in one sitting in an attempt to impress Matt, and oddly, it works (he still tells this story).

Age 16: I run a red light while taking my driver's license test.

Age 17: Following everyone's advice, I request a random roommate for my first year at college. I am assigned two of them and all of us, plus an illegal dog, live in an oversized dorm room. (Never again.)

Age 18: I and thousands of other students camp out for tickets to watch UNC beat Duke in the Dean Dome.

Age 19: I live in New York City for a summer, and love every minute of it, but three months is long enough for me to realize I don't want to move there after college.

Age 20: After extended burnout I start running again, and train for the first Raleigh Marathon until I develop chronic knee and hip pain. The race ends up being canceled because of snow anyway.