Mission Accomplished

Well, sort of.

The mission that I have accepted for the next few weeks/months is to do speed work on the treadmill and work on my flip turns. Tuesday morning saw speedwork on the treadmill (4 x 800 meters at 8:40ish mpm) and tonight saw, I'd say 60% flip turns at the pool. I think that I don't get a full breath when I breath in the pool which is why its hard for me to flip turn - I'm oxygen deprived to begin with so its hard to go the extra period of time without breathing. I'll have to focus on that whole breathing thing for the next few weeks. I think its just a matter of getting rid of all the air before I try to take more air in.

Speaking of swimming, there is a girl there that kind of rubs me the wrong way, and tonight she commented that she was glad I came because she wasn't the slowest one. Gee, thanks. I should have thrown down my invite to the championship;)

In other news, I went to yoga on Monday night for the first time in forever and I have apparently lost all core strength because my abs and arms and hamstrings are very, very sore.

Finally, I got a job offer today and it has stressed me out beyond belief. Argh. I am maybe one of the only people stressed out because they have a job offer. But, this means that now I have to make a decision. I repeat: argh.

Goodnight.

Break My Heart

Or: Boys Suck.

Seriously. A boy made my sister sad and it breaks my heart. They're young, and on many levels it qualifies as 'not a big deal.' But still, I wish I could make it go away. And now she contemplating being his 'friend' because, while not ready for a 'relationship' he'd like a friend. WTF?

This is reason number 842 why I may very well be single forever!

I AM A CHAMPION

Dork. A champion dork. But I am also going to a championship. In an effort to disclaim my dorkiness, I'll point out that I have little to no athletic ability, particularly in sports that involve eye hand coordination. Growing up I was always the one to make the last out of the game, I was not the one to be invited to participate in championships of any nature. Triathlon appeals to me because I can compete against myself, improving race to race and while I might disappoint myself I won't let the team down. And really, so long as I have no expectations of coming in first I'm not very likely to disappoint myself ... I mean, really, my goal is generally to just finish - if I fall short of that I likely have bigger issues.

So, last Sunday, I participated in an in door triathlon. Each participant swam for 10 minutes, biked on a spinning bike for 30 minutes and ran on a treadmill for 20 minutes. You were scored by distance travelled and there was some mathematical curve to determine what place you came in. There are four of these races - one a month for four months and the top 10 females and males from each event go to the championships in March.

Guess whose going to the championships?? Yup. I was the 6th female finisher. Ha, ha. I am excited and amused. I've NEVER been to a championship! Until March I am going to work on my flip turns and treadmill speed work. It seems that those would be the easiest ways to improve my odds. If I come in top 3 (which I won't ... but if I did) there is a gift certificate to a very cool store on the line.

Go me!

But for the grace of God.

A good friend suggested that I read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. If you haven't read it, you should. And if you're going to read it, you might not want to read this post. But really, you can, the book's not a cliff hanger.

Anyway, I read it. And it resonated. There is a scene where Elizabeth, in her young thirties is trapped, TRAPPED in a marriage. At night she crawls up on the bathroom floor and cries. She's well off and not abused in any way but she's in this relationship that she wants to escape and she can't. So she hides in the bathroom and cries. I read this, and I realized how easily it could have been me. In a heart beat almost ... there, but for the grace of God, go I. If they, any of them, hadn't had the strength to walk away when they did it could have been me, there, crying on the bathroom floor. And I'm not sure that I would have had the strength to get up off the bathroom floor, much less out of the relationship.

Sometimes I get caught up in the race to the alter, but I read about her on the bathroom floor and I realized that I'd much rather be here than there. Of course this doesn't change the fact that if I get married I think my mother might shave her head as an offering*...but it helps. I have not read the Secret because I don't think I'd buy in, but E, P, L made me want to take control of my life ... and while I may not buy into the Secret, I do maybe buy into the power of positive thinking because since I've decided to embrace life and thank God that I'm not crying on the bathroom floor things have been good.

Sometimes I think that you need to begin a new year, read a good book and put your mind to good and what follows is So.Much.Fun. Or so we hope. Details will follow I'm sure, but for now, you should all E, P, L.


*There is a story in the book about an Indian girl in her late twenties that gets married. The girl's mother is so thankful that she's finally getting married that she shaves her head as an offering to the Gods.