Friday, November 22, 2013

Maintaining Happiness

If you're in Lafayette, and you love cycling and mountain biking, please please please take part of planning the Horse Farm! Even if you're not in Lafayette but feel that the city can benefit, you can take part in the survey too!

Go here: TAKE THE SURVEY BEFORE MONDAY!!!
Planning with some of my favorite people :)

I've been doing a lot of thinking on what I can't control, and what I can. I really try not to dwell on what I can't control. Sometimes it gets the better of me, so it's good to be reminded time to time! A friend reminded me today. It's not productive to waste energy dwelling on things I can't control, and also trying to please everyone. SO
*What I can't control, well, I've got to move on with what I can. I have to make sure I've covered all my bases then forget about what I can't and work with what I have. That's the tough part, knowing what it is you can and can't! Knowing when to relax. You've got to recognize you're human and therefore not perfect but doing the best you can, draw a line, and Let Go. Yikes! But it's how to stay sane.
*Trying to please everyone - here's the truth about me. I think this is going to disappoint people though I don't mean for it to!
I LIKED RACING BECAUSE i LIKED WINNING.
It was something I felt I had potential at and was getting better all the time. I was on a huge upswing with my speed. It's not that I liked crushing my competition, it's that I liked living up to the mental and physical challenge to have what it takes to be that good. That level of determination is still my goal. I have a lot of work and training to do, and I want that challenge. BUT, if I can't get to the place where I feel I can be competitive, racing this way will stop being my goal. The goal will be something else hard that I can do exceedingly well, like maybe climbing a crazy mountain or hiking a continent, or whatever else tough that if I focus on I can excel at. It's not that I'm against people racing just to better themselves, that's fantastic! That's how Nic and so many other amazing people feel and that's all good. It's just not why I personally had started getting hooked on racing, and why I stay focused on getting back to that now. I may never have been that fast, I my never be now, but I don't know that yet. I just watched Ride The Divide and I want that feeling. Keeping balance on the edge physically and mentally. THAT is my goal. It's when I'm happiest.
PS If I ever win a race, even just my AG again, I'm going to Norway. I don't know why Norway exactly, it's just sounds cool. Er, cold. Come with me!

What I CAN control: getting faster swimming all the time! Huge challenges with my body, but it works and I'm in love with the technical aspects of swimming. It's a perfectionist's dream come true! Here's my swimming log if you haven't seen it, it ain't much! Swimming Log
I am just now able to really weight train, and Anytime Fitness Upper Lafayette has volunteered to help me with it! Awesome, awesome, awesome. I'm so glad to be part of such a great community, where when a bunch of doors slammed shut for me all at once, a bunch more opened that I wouldn't have if I wasn't here. LOVE all of you!

Lastly, a tiny shout out to Couer Sports. Only tiny because they're new and I barely know them, but I'm stoked to see all the coolness they're doing. Couer is a new line of women's athletic clothing and while I haven't gotten a chance to try it out, as a company they've been fun to watch. They're already working hard to stay engaged with the public, and have started a "Heart and Courage" award that commends "the bravest move, have the most courageous race, or in some way exhibit tremendous heart on the field of competition." On top of that, they're going to give cash compensation to their sponsored athletes, and already donate 1% of their sales to The Challenged Athletes Foundation.  They're taking applications for ambassadors right now - check it out!

Not all the pics of me working out can be pretty ;) This is another Pilates machine, the "reformer", It makes me have a well-balanced body (my right side is looking good, right?) and I can even mimic running on it!
I kinda have the best Pilates instructor, ever. She's sweet and amazing, and I've learned so much already. Honestly, the best thing for my recovery outside of therapy. I really need to designate a whole post to this. You can find her here: Wise Body Pilates

LOVE!

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