Skip to main content

The Olympics


The last time the Olympics were taking place, I was participating in my first Olympic Distance triathlon. Since then I have had other significant athletic accomplishments. I love the Olympics and will probably spend more time watching TV than I'd like to admit, over the next several weeks. I am partial to a few sports, and there are a few sports I wish they didn't televise because I find them painfully boring, but that doesn't discredit the athleticism that goes into each sport, even the sports I don't quite understand. 

The last time the Winter Olympics were on, there were a few gems that inspired me and motivated me in my training efforts. One gem that I still think about from time to time is this quote by Apolo Ohno:

"Before every day you go to sleep, ask yourself one question; Did you do every single thing you could today to make sure that you did your best? It's hard to answer yes, every single day. I don't want to look at in terms of me outworking the other competition; I like to look at it as me conquering myself. Me being able to face my own fears and distractions and weaknesses and say that I overcame them." 

It is interesting, if you have been around me lately, you know that I have been in a bit of a funk. Nothing to get too worried about for now, but enough for me to notice. When I'm funky I get insecure, exceptionally needy, road rage filled and generally not as pleasant and care free as I like to live my life. I started pondering this funk of mine and when evaluating what I have going this year I realized that although I am super excited about all of the activities I have planned this year, I still feel something is missing. Before anyone reads what they want to read between the lines, I want to point out the following:
  • I am training for a half marathon in Canada this summer.
  • I am training for a two day one hundred and fifty mile bike ride in August.
  • I'm trying to convince my friend to bike the Smokey Mountain loop with me in Tennessee.
  • I am doing a ten miler with my sister and company in May.
  • I'm doing a triathlon relay this summer. 
Non athletically:
  • I have the most solid person I know, as a friend, and thank my lucky stars for that daily.
  • I have a job that I love and excites me most days.
  • My family rocks, including my lovely pets (all 7 of them).
  • I have shelter, transportation, food and people who love me.
So what is the problem? Why the funk? Well I really don't know especially since I just identified some awesome stuff in my life, so I'm guessing that some stuff has caught up with me that I never finished dealing with and my diet has been less than desirable over the last several weeks (that is what a broken refrigerator does to you)? I NEVER want to discredit anything, or anyone, which is why I encourage people to NOT read between the lines of this post, because I have some very special things, people and pets, but sometimes, regardless of the awesome, a funk sneaks in.

 Which leads me to an entirely bigger discussion of the difference between happiness and joy, which I will of course compare to athletic events... But I'm going to save that post for next week.

 So for now, what am I going to do to conquer this funk? I am going to sign up for a triathlon... Oh, and watch the Olympics; that will surely help. 

Comments

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...
16 comments
Read more

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 ...
13 comments
Read more

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...
8 comments
Read more