I have clearly been neglecting my blog. One of the reasons is because I've been kicking around the idea of giving up on it. My main reasons for starting to blog have morphed into continuing the blog so that I have a place to record what's going on in my life: 1. for myself, to look back on in the future, and 2. for sharing with those out there who might be interested. I seem to have found an alternate form of recording my life's events for myself through journaling (more on that later). And since I'm pretty sure there are about two people who regularly read my blog (hi mom and Mandy!), I'm not sure it's worth the time, since both of them already know what's going on in my life. So I think I've decided that I'll keep it up through the end of the year, especially as a forum for my "12 for 12" goals, and then probably say good-bye to my blog. If there's anyone else out there that reads this thing, let me know, and maybe I'll reconsider.
In the meantime, to catch up on updating my progress on my "12 for 12" goals, I'm going to try to post several times for the next week or two. For this post I'm going to share about goals 1 & 2.
#1: Take swimming lessons.
I posted way back toward the beginning of the year that I took one swimming lesson, and would take more only "as needed." Though I haven't taken any more lessons, I did spent a good amount of time swimming on my own both in the pool at the gym and in the bay. I think I do alright with the back stroke and freestyle, but I definitely still need some work on the breast stroke, especially since it's theoretically the most efficient of the three. Hopefully I will be motivated enough to work on that this fall/winter in the pool. I even learned how to swim in a wetsuit. They're certainly helpful, but man are those suckers hard to put on! I still don't love swimming, but I can tolerate it as an alternate form of exercise. I think I probably feel about swimming what a lot of people feel about running. ;)
#2: Try a tri(athlon).
Done! In the middle of September, I successfully finished my first sprint-distance triathlon! My goals were to finish, and to not be last. I met both of these goals. I wasn't even in the bottom pack of people. Granted, I was nowhere near the front either, but I was so not expecting to be. I did very well with the run portion, but I need to work on improving my speed in the swim and bike. I also definitely need to cut way down on my transition times. I don't think I'm going to be racing more triathlons than running races, but I think it's likely I will do one again next year. Overall, I felt good during the race and afterward and I'm proud that I can now call myself a triathlete.
The past week was a pretty good one, overall. It was pretty busy, so it was also a little tiring at times, but it was mostly a good kind of tired. If that makes sense. It's because it came with a sense of accomplishment for what I got done during the day. On the work side, nothing major happened, just got a lot of stuff done. On the personal side, I spent some time with friends, and did a little shopping in Smithville (love that place!), finished my second book of the year (Prince Caspian, which means I'm more than halfway through the Narnia series), and took my first swimming lesson! It turns out I may not need to take a series of lessons. He taught me proper technique for the crawl stroke, breast stroke, and back stroke all in one lesson. So basically I'll just spend some time working on these strokes on my own and building my endurance, and then if I need more help I can schedule another lesson. On the one hand, I felt way more confident in my abilities after that lesson. On the other hand, I was surprised by how much there is to think about with your arms and legs and breathing! I hope to be able to stay motivated enough on my own to get to the pool on a regular basis.
.jpg)
