Skip to main content

Such Great Heights

Many of my blogger friends post about their weekly training accomplishments. Because my other blog topic fell a little flat (I still need to work on it a bit, but it is about 'faking it') and I committed myself to a post every Sunday, here I am trying to figure out what to post about instead. I simply don't have the energy to be 'creative'.

I figure, there is no better time to provide a progress report on my life journey than now. We are exactly one quarter into the year, so perhaps I will make this a 'thing' and post about my speed bumps and accomplishments on a quarterly basis? We will see what happens as the year progresses, no promises though.

SO, here we are, April 1, 2012, and what a year it has been. I have been living this life as it is meant to be lived, without abandon! I've enjoyed the new friendships I have made and, in true Girl Scout fashion, have kept the old. No friendship is better than the other, just different. With that being said, one of the greatest friendships that has developed this year has been with myself.

When you are training for an endurance event, no matter what your poison, you have a lot of time with yourself. Sure, I run with a group, but a lot of my silent time (OK so those who run with me are probably thinking WHAT silent time, Sarah likes to chat!) is spent on self reflection. I have challenged myself to break through some social barriers, major fears about life in general and of course challenged my body. What I have learned is that at no point in life should we ever hold back. What is the point? You miss out on life when you hold back.

I have some plans for conquering other fears this year! More to come about that later... I have decided there is no point waiting until you are old to challenge your body or your mind.

I go to this Church in Columbus that allows the youth to preside over a service a few times a year. About two years ago, the youth at the church lead us through a meditative exercise that included visualizing our lives as 'old' people standing on the edge of a diving board. They asked us to reflect on our lives and determine whether we had done everything we wanted or if we were still standing on the edge of the diving board thinking about jumping in. I remember crying during this service because I somewhat felt as though I had not jumped in to life yet. Last year was an amazing year for me; I was happy with life, enjoying the people around me. Simply put, life was on track and I was truly living but I encountered a few obstacles as I approached 2012.

I had a choice. I could be bummed out or I could enter this new year from the edge of the diving board and jump. I decided to jump!!!

With that being said, here are some of my outcomes:

Running: 312 miles logged (Yesterday, I had a rockstarish 10.4 mile run in part because of a great friend.)

Swimming: 6.6 miles logged (over 5 workouts in the last three weeks)

Cycling: 39.5 (This included my fantastic 13 turned 33 mile ride with my good friend Laurie. Have I mentioned she can walk FASTER than I run? Amazing woman I tell you.)

I guess the biggest lesson is that everything falls into place and fits together as it is supposed to, especially if you take ownership of where you are going and how you are going to get there. The song I have linked you to here (I prefer the Iron and Wine version but the tempo is simply not right for this post so you get the Postal Service version), Such Great Heights, is a great song. I ask that you listen closely to the first six lines of the song. It speaks specifically to things fitting together perfectly. I guess the first few lines of this song explain how I feel about life right now.

Here are the lyrics that you should pay attention to and the video:

Such Great Heights

I'm thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes are mirror images
and when we kiss they perfectly align

True, it may seem like a stretch
That god himself did make us into 
Corresponding shapes like puzzle pieces from the clay


Comments

  1. This is an awesome post. As always! Glad we spent the weekend together! New friendships are so fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome post! Those are some crazy miles there!!! Kudos!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All in a Day's Work

I don't even know how to begin this post... Several months ago, my sister had this bright idea to do her first half iron distance triathlon. I have always wanted to do one so I told her if she did it I would do it too. Next thing I know I was clicking register now on the registration page of the Highcliff Triathlon in Wisconsin. You can read about some of the reactions I received when I announced to various friends that I was going to do this race here . Over the months my friends have taken on the challenge of being supportive and cheering me on along the way. This was no easy feat as I was on the training roller coaster. As the day approached, I thought about all of the possible things that could go wrong and right. I had visions of myself standing on the side of the bike course with a flat tire, me holding on to a lifeguard boat, dreams about wearing clown shoes for the run, and on and on... I also day dreamed about the finish line, what it might look like, who would be the

I Have Multiple Sclerosis

One of my favorite bike rides ever! I have debated whether I was going to make this public for quite some time, however there really aren't any significant reasons why I wouldn't share. It hasn't impacted my life dramatically, and if I'm lucky, it never will. I also don't want to be a poster child, nor do I require or want any special treatment simply because I have MS. The thing is, I know more and more people who are impacted significantly by this disease and I feel compelled to help the cause. So for one purpose only, I am outing myself. Here's the brief story. Two years ago my tongue went numb, my arm went numb and I though I slept funny or had a mini stroke. I brushed it off as sleeping funny day after day, after day. Then my eye started twitching, among other symptoms. I decided I was simply crazy... After a while all of these symptoms became so infuriating so I went to the doctor. While at the doctor, he chalked it up to stress, but after a closer

Jumping the Gun!

This is a 'total' bonus post for the week. I highly recommend reading my previous post, to better understand where I am coming from. You can check it out here .  I am not going to go into details but my name and grandma have been used in a sentence TWICE the past two days. Seriously? Do I look or act that old??? I must... Perhaps it is all the pie making! I am a woman of my word (for the most part, we all falter from time to time) and I mentioned in my last post that there was a chance I was jumping the gun with my dramatic flare related to being sidelined! Well, sidelined I am, but maybe for less time than I initially anticipated. The doctor will tell me my plan in three weeks. The overarching goal? The Chicago Marathon!  While running the Columbus Marathon, last year, I was blessed with amazing spectators and also running companions during the race. One of my companions was my sister. Somewhere near mile 25 she took a picture of me STILL smiling. It isn't ofte