Reflection Time

Since making this goal, I have had a lot of time to think while on my long swims, bikes and runs. Time to reflect on past goals, ideas, relationships, etc. I also have time to reflect on who I am right now and what I want to do with me in this moment and man do I wish that I was a lot better.

I wish that I was more focused.

I wish that I had a musical talent.

I wish that I was more patient.

I wish that I was more friendly to everyone all the time.

I wish that I listened more than I spoke.

I wish that I spent more quality time with my family.

I wish that I was a better friend.

I wish that everything that came from my mouth was uplifting and kind.

I wish that I studied my scriptures more.

I wish that my prayers were more constant, pure and deep with my Heavenly Father.

I wish that I was more like my Savoir.

Sundays should be our days of reflection. Our time to renew our covenants with God and try to be more like Him and His son Jesus Christ. We all fall short sometimes and somedays we swim a little harder, or run a little faster. Thank goodness we've got a little more time to get it right. Cause I am trying to make these wishes become truths. How about you?

Patience Is A Virtue

My Saturday routines have turned into sleeping in, making breakfast and then watching you tube videos of past Ironman Championships right before my long runs. One thing stuck out to me in an interview with Chris McCormack was when he said that it takes “patience” to be an Ironman.

I remember exactly where I was sitting in my seventh grade class when my teacher said to me specifically when I was wanting something right then, "patience is a virtue". It pierced my soul but I never really embraced it like I should've.

This word has never been used to describe me, unless one was saying that I was/am “not” patient. I am impulsive, quick to decide/change my mind, aggressive, etc. That’s why I really love to do sprint triathlons, I love last minute plans, I love making best friends with people after first meeting them, and I love setting up a date right away with a guy I am interested in. I hate waiting.

But I am beginning to understand that learning to wait is a quality worth fostering.

While running on the treadmill for 10 miles yesterday, yes I did ten miles! I thought about patience and the amount of patience I am going to have to have with my body, and my life as I continue on this journey towards becoming an Ironman. It takes patience to go on such long runs, especially while looking at the bright red numbers flashing at you telling you are only ¼ a way through the fight.  It takes patience with your body when it’s telling you to slow down, or take a rest. It takes patience in the morning when you want to scream at your 5 am alarm clock.

This year I want develop patience as a virtue, not just patience in becoming an Ironman but patience in dating, patience in the work place, and patience with the people around me. I feel that the quality of patience can alter ones life, and I hope that it will begin to alter my life in a more positive way.

What type of things do you need to practice more patience?

I Beat Boys

A born feminist, I always wanted to beat the boys.

With four brothers always picking on me it became apart of my life wanting to be just as good as them. At a very young age my competitive nature kicked in.

This nature proved to help me succeed. Leading me to hold a swimming record at the young age of 4 in Chantilly VA for 10 years (one of my only real sporting accomplishments, ha).

It made me believe so young that I could do anything. A few years later I convinced myself that I would be the first woman in the NBA.

My life revolved around sports and I was fairly good. Though I never really became the best I have always been good enough to just keep up. And the trash talking I learned from the long line of Redfern trash talkers. In my older years I used it as a flirting technique that has yet to get me too far.

I was told at a very young age thats boys don't like to get beat by a girl, and if I wanted them to like me I needed to let them win, but the competitiveness kept me from backing down! So I always give it my best and I still have those moments when I beat a boy (or maybe the boys let me win). A few moments include:

Beating two teams of elders in the mission at basketball during an event at the mission home right in front of President Villalba.

I beat a date once in bball, he didn't take it too well and the date ended early.

I beat another guy one on one in bball for a free ice cream (I really just wanted the date;).

And yesterday morning while training I beat my boss in a 50 yrd swim. The other guy with us told me I should've let him win since he signs my paychecks. And that if I really want to get married I probably should start letting the boys win. But where is the fun in that???

Besides how am I suppose to get through the hardest training year of my life without a little competitive juice flowing through my viens? However, this time around I KNOW that I am going to get the beat snot out of me by men and women alike, with this competition I am just trying to survive!

Fear of Failure

(What's even more funny about this picture is that the L is backwards)

Last night at institute we talked about Fear of Failure and why it can sometimes keep us from doing great things in our life or even from just doing good.

In our managers meeting at work yesterday my boss Ryan joked about how him and our other co-worker were going to make it to the Ironman and that I maybe, might be there.

I know there are a lot of people that really don't think I will do this and I will admit that sometimes I don't think I can do it. But I am not going to let the fear of failure keep me from reaching this goal that I decided I wanted to do years ago. Or the fact that I haven't completed things in the past keep me from trying.

I could fail, and fail miserably but the cool thing is I could finish, I could finish an Ironman. I sometimes visualize that finish line and think about that feeling that I will get and that's what keeps me going at 5:30 am workouts.

At the end of the day I really don't know what is going to happen come Dec 1, 2013. But I do no that I will not let fear or the lack of confidence from others or myself keep me from reaching this goal.

I Can Do Hard Things

My sister in law makes these custom necklaces and bracelets. She is one of my best friends and has been through some tough things. This one has been in their shop for a long time and it is one of my favorites.

I have been thinking about some of the tough things that I have been through this past year and I realized that I really can do hard things.

In 2012:

I graduated from college even though I never believed I really would go to college. I can do hard things.

I have been trying to land a good job where I am happy and feel needed, I finally did. I can do hard things.

I found healing through the atonement of Jesus Christ after finding out some tough news about some very close to me. I can do hard things.

I watch best friends and siblings have the blessing of having families of their own everyday thanks to a horrible thing called facebook. I can do hard things.

I was able to pick myself up from two heart breaks. I can do hard things.

I realized and continue to realize some needed changes in my life. I can do hard things.

This year I will embark on the toughest physical challenge I have ever faced in my life. I can do hard things.

I may be crazy wanting to do this Ironman and I may not really understand how tough it is going to be. But what I do know is that anything truly is possible when we put our minds to it and allow the Lord to guide us along the way. I picture daily the moment when I am going to cross the finish line and I am ready to take this challenge on.

I can do hard things.

New Years Kiss

Over the last few weeks I had debated what I was going to do for this new years. After a tough year I thought it would be nice to spend it alone. I convinced myself that was what I was going to do. I talked to an old college buddy about it and he told me there was no way I was spending it alone and we would do something together. After going back and forth up until the last minute on what do do we settled on the Institute dance up at the U.

I convinced my roommate and another boy to go and we were about ready to go when I got a call from my friend saying he had hit his head hard snowboarding and wasn't going to go out at all. We still decided to go up until the last minute when me and my roommate both felt icky about going. For the next hour we tossed and turned about what we were going to do and finally the other boy said "We are going to SLC!". We hoped in the car and left. And I am so glad we did.

On the way we talked about some of our new years resolutions which I will share in the next blog. And then I said "all I want tonight is a new years kiss" and after that was said I was DETERMINED to get it.

We got to the dance and it was CRAZY. There were so many people, and you could see everyone on the prowl. It is hilarious to watch singles at social events like this. They often talk to one person while scanning the room for others. I giggled to myself as I saw a few guys check ladies out. One guy said behind me as we were walking in "bro, I want to watch this girl work it". SERIOUSLY? But who am I to judge, I was on the prowl myself tonight.

We walked into the actual part of the dance and one of the first guys I noticed was Him (his identity will be kept secret). He was standing with a group of guys, all pretty good looking guys. He loked at me and made that look like He was trying to figure out how he knew me and asked, "hey didn't you serve in my mission, Rosario?". I stumbled a little, He did not look familiar to me at all. Apparently he remembered meeting me the first day in the field for Him and my last transfer. I was picking up my Greeney and I made a comment on how nice their shoes looked (nice new shoes I hadn't seen or worn in months).

We talked for a minute but they ran off dancing crazy and I found some other guys to dance with. We left the floor for a while and I still looked around thinking "who am I going to kiss!?". Then a slow song came on and I rushed back in to search Him out. Found Him with only a minute in the song to spare, we danced slow, danced hip hop, danced crazy with my friends and his around. I thought, "this is it, I am going to kiss Him tonight". I felt like the last ten minutes were the longest ever on a dance floor.

As we counted down Him and I were facing each other I got close (I know I was being forward) and said "New Years kiss?" And BOOM. I don't want to put all the juicy details on here but DANG it was good. It was tender, sweet, and good. Wow. Yea. It was awesome. And then I said "thanks for giving me my New Years wish" and I just left. No number exchange, no talk of meeting up again and really I didn't care (however, if he somehow gets ahold of me and asks to hang I wont be mad;).

Tonight I rang in the New Year perfectly. I set a goal, I reached it, and now I feel even better about moving forward with all of my goals including IRONMAN DEC 13TH 2012 COZUMEL!