A Big Recap

...for all of those who are interested to know what has happened over the last few months. Here's the scoop.

The Job Front:

In mid-July I was laid off of work due to Medicaid cutbacks (and for some other personal opinions that I will keep to myself). I immediately went from working with people on welfare and food stamps to becoming somebody on Unemployment and food stamps. I am very grateful for the Unemployment Benefit program and for food stamps. I never in my dreams thought I would ever be on either one, but would not have been able to survive without it. It was a very humbling experience.

It was a bitter-sweet lay-off from my job. I was ready to kick them to the curb anyway but had not found another job to transfer to when the lay-off came. I was happy to be free from the agency I was working for and especially happy to still have some of the summer left to play without having to work around a job. I kept to the unemployment benefit requirements of actively looking for a job, but was a little more focused on having fun and enjoying my summer. Plus I was hoping to get into a Paramedic program at the start of September and so getting a job wasn't at the top of my priority list. After finding out that I would not be able to enroll in the Paramedic program nothing changed a whole lot. I was still thoroughly enjoying my play-time.

Shortly after September rolled around I had a week of financial realization; a realization of the little money I really had being on Unemployment and food stamps. I had the greatest desire to get a job again because I knew I wasn't getting anywhere fast. I had been applying at jobs every week with little return on my effort. I knew that with the Lord's help and a greater determination and effort to really get my hands dirty in job searching that I would have a lot more success. At the start of that new week I printed out a list of 40 Psycho-Social Rehabilitation (PSR) agencies in the area and began calling them one by one. With a little more effort on my part to fax my resume to a half dozen or so agencies who stated they were hiring and then going to some agencies to fill out applications I was able to land a few interviews. And from perfect timing orchestrated by the Lord I was offered a job by the end of the week! An amazing blessing and miracle.

I now work at an agency called Children's Supportive Services (CSS) doing the same thing as before - working with mentally ill and emotionally disturbed individuals in the community - but mostly with children. Due to my experience working with adults - and being the only PSR worker there with this experience - I do have a split caseload of kids and adults whereas the other PSR workers have majority, if not all, kids. I am just grateful to have the job that I do and with the agency that I do. It is a lot more than I could ask for. This coming week will be my first week full-time with my own clients. I have been shadowing other PSR workers for the last month and am excited to get out on my own now. This job provides me with a complete well-rounded work experience as I have worked with teenagers at ANASAZI, adults at Beehive Rehabilitation and Counseling, and now with children at CSS. I am very grateful for everybody who kept me in their prayers and gave me their encouragement and support during this period of time that I was unemployed.

The Home Front:

I have moved. Again. I have almost reached the same number of times I moved with my family growing up before leaving for college, which was 17 times in 19 years. This last move will be number 15 in the last 8 years. Whew, breaking the record! Getting paid with this new job is a wonderful thing, but it only happens once a month, on the first. That is the same day my rent is due as well. Knowing that my landlord does not tolerate late rent (despite the grace-period) I knew I needed to make special arrangements with him to have my rent due a day or two later than the first of the month since I can't get rent to my landlord the same day I get paid. With this request to him I received a response back telling me that I needed to be moved out by the end of the month. I was very shocked and very frustrated. I was being asked to move out for something that was completely out of my control.

I was able to get all of my belongings into a suburban and my car for one quick haul over to the new place of residence. I don't know how many times I've been able to do that. It was quite the accomplishment. I now live in a much larger house in a neighboring city with a single 45 year old lady who has a Goddaughter the is frequently over visiting. Every move has its pluses and its cons, but it is a new adventure and I am looking forward to what it will bring.

On another note, we have completed the gardening season but we are still reaping many things that we are continually enjoying. The last of the vegetables to come out of the garden were string beans, carrots, beets, and pumpkins. Unfortunately all of the pumpkins that were harvested were stolen and smashed by a couple of teenagers. On the flip side, we recently won first place in a community-wide garden salsa contest from tomatoes harvested from our garden. We did well with our garden and have really loved learning how to grow an organic garden.

The Family Front:

My brother Ben has returned home after serving an honorable 2-year mission in Guadalajara Mexico. I am SOOOOOOO proud of him for his deeply dedicated and selfless service and am extremely excited that he is now home. I was very sad that I was unable to go to Texas for his arrival, open-house, and homecoming but am looking forward to see him at Christmas and having him back in Idaho when he returns to college in January. He is my happy thought and I love him so much.

The Health Front:

I have wanted to become a vegetarian for a few years now after reading the book, "The China Study" but drug my feet doing it by not being able to completely give up meat even though I had cut certain meats out. I have always had a desire and aspire to live a healthy life-style that includes eating healthy and exercising/being active on a regular basis. This desire has increased dramatically over the last year. I decided that I wanted to kick off my vegetarian diet with a cleanse as a way to start fresh/clean and to help with another health problem that I had been dealing with for a long time.

I read the book, "The Lemonade Diet" before going through with the 10-day cleanse. I highly recommend both books I've mentioned to anybody who is wanting to learn a lot about the kind of food people eat without thinking twice about it and who want to live healthier and avoid (or reverse) a myriad of health problems. Both very enlightening books! Anyway, the cleanse was worth every minute of it and a great success! I have been greatly enjoying my vegetarian life-style and have found it a lot easier than expected. I have loved the knowledge I am continually learning in so many ways and on many different levels. A lot of trial and error, but the successes a lot more fulfilling.

In the Future:

My efforts for the next 8-10 months will be focused on and dedicated to 1) getting out of debt with enough money saved up to go into the Paramedic program to live on with minimal income and 2) training to compete and finish a Half Ironman Triathlon (1.2 mi swim, 56 mi bike, and 13.1 mi run).

Rush Results

FINALLY!! I've waited long and...well...not very patiently for these results to come in from my team's participation in the Rush Triathlon (see previous post). I am ecstatic about them!! I'm so proud of my team members for doing so amazing!

Finish Time: 01:55:15.1

Sprint Relay FEMALE: 2nd place

Sprint Relay OVERALL: 7th place

Becky's swim time: 00:20:53.140

Swim Relay FEMALE: 1st place

Swim Relay OVERALL: 1st place

Swim Sprint FEMALE OVERALL: 2nd place

Angela's bike time: 00:55:17:633

Bike Relay FEMALE: 4th place

Bike Relay OVERALL: 9th place

Rachel's run time: 00:37:30.713

Run Relay FEMALE: 5th

Run Relay OVERALL: 11th place

As you can see my two team members kicked some serious trash out there! As for me on the other hand, I'll just say that I'm grateful that my team members love me unconditionally. I don't think we could have expected a better result from the training we each put into the race - some of us more than others - but we are all very pleased with the results. WAY TO GO TRIO CHICKS!!

PS: The 'professional' pictures taken during the triathlon have been published on the internet for viewing. Stay tuned for digital copies to be posted!

The Rush

Out of all of the triathlons that I've competed in, the RUSH triathlon has been by far my favorite. Maybe because it was the first triathlon I did, which started my addiction to this multi-sport race. Or it may be because of the vast variety of terrain it offers that challenges each athlete. Whatever it is I love it and I was so excited to participate in this year's Rush triathlon with two of my buddies, Angela and Becky, as a relay team. We call ourselves the Trio Chicks.

Left to Right: Angela (biker chick), Me (runner chick), and Becky (swimmer chick)

This event was not only exciting just in itself, but it was a significant milestone for one of the members of the team who has made a dramatic life change and used participating in this triathlon as a goal and celebration for this change. It was a celebration of a milestone in her journey.

Race morning always starts too early for my liking, but it doesn't take long for the excitement of the race to kick in, fading away the morning grogginess. It would be soon enough that total nervousness and anxiety would take hold of our emotions as the beginning of the race crept closer and closer. Then in the instant that the shout, "GO!" rang out nothing but full-throttle adrenaline surged through the body. It was race time and time to put on our game faces to show everybody what we're about.

Becky, leaving everybody in her wake!

Becky was a competitive swimmer in high school, but having so many years between now and then she was very nervous about her performance despite her training. To nobody's surprise, it ALL came back to her! She kicked some butt in that lake!! Becky was one the first five women to emerge from the water and had even passed many of the men who had started the race 15 minutes prior to her start. Becky had swam the half mile so quickly that Angela wasn't waiting at her bike for the hand-off between the two of them like planned; she was thinking that she had plenty of wait-time.

In a fury Angela ripped the timing chip off Becky's leg, wrapped it around hers, and then grabbed her bike. She was gone in a flash!

By the time that Kristy (Angela's mom), Becky, and I caught up to Angela she had already biked 10 of the 14 miles. She was HAULING!! It was taking us so long to catch up to her that we were getting nervous that she had already completed the biking and was waiting at the transition area for me to make the hand-off. I was pretty relieved when we finally caught up to her, but it still didn't leave much time for us to get to the next transition station with much time to spare.

In fact, after we parked and started making our way towards the transition area I started an easy jog to make sure I was in position and had some time to stretch before I ran my 3.1 mile run before Angela got there. Just then I saw Angela dismounting off of her bike. I set off into a sprint in order to enter the transition area before she did. Our transition was slick; she entered the transition area two athletes behind me so it was a fast exchange of the timing chip before I was off. No stretching for me!

The first 100ft of the run felt great! Everything after that was pretty miserable. This run would be the first time I have ever "couched it" meaning that I did not do any prior training for an event. I certainly learned my lesson! What a huge difference training makes even for as little as a 3.1 mile run. The first mile and a half was an incline; the last half mile of it being a steep, dirt trail that felt 10 degrees hotter than the run on pavement. At the top of the hill, the halfway point, there was an aid/water station that had ran out of water but was passing out sports drink, which was not ideal. I needed water!

The rest of the course from the halfway point was downhill, leading to the high school's track where I had to run three-quarters of the way around to the finish line. In the above video I am making my way towards the entrance of the track. Angela joins me for the final stretch.

WE FINISHED!!!

We're still awaiting the final results to be published, but according to the unofficial results we placed 8th out of 11 relay teams, coming in at 1 hour and 56 minutes. We don't know the break down of each discipline yet, but the results will be posted as soon as they are released. All I know is that we each gave it our all and that we had SO much fun!!

We're all grateful for our supporter and photographer, Kristy!

From the Dust of the Earth

I have helped in a couple of gardens my mom created growing up, but I was so young that I don't remember a whole lot, just a few select memories. Last summer I attended the Idaho Fall's celebration of Earth Day where I learned that Idaho Falls offers community garden plots for the summer months. I thought that was an awesome opportunity Idaho Falls provided for those who are interested. This past June I was invited by Angela and her mom to be apart of a garden they were planning on growing, a garden that would provide food for four families total. This garden would be grown on a plot of ground in one of the many community gardens since none of us had a yard where we could grow a substantial garden, especially for four families.

One of the great things about this community garden is that it is completely organic. There aren't any kind of chemicals allowed whatsoever in the garden. The plot of land was only $40 for the summer and if we contributed to keeping the garden clean and attended work parties we would get $20 of the initial cost back. It didn't take us much time at all to sign up.

We were given a tour of the community garden to see the different plots available to us to choose from as well as get a feel for what other gardener's had already begun planting on their plots of ground. We decided upon a plot of ground about 30' long and 15' wide. It seemed plenty big for the three of us to manage. We all made a list of desired fruits and vegetables we wanted to plant, then condensed our lists, and then plotted it out on paper. It didn't surprise us that we had a lot more plants than we did earth to grow them in. Kristy had a gardening book that listed which plants grow better together and which plants we needed to keep away from each other. This helped us tremendously in planning where everything would be planted in the garden.

Then came the weeding, tilling, measuring/plotting, and planting. It felt so rewarding when we finally got everything planted and the weed-filled plot of land we started with looked somewhat like a garden. The real excitement came when we finally started seeing the plants start sprouting out of the ground!

Right side: Squash

Front/Middle: Lettuce

Back: Tomato and Bell Peppers

Front Left: Radish and something else, Zucchini (not pictured)

Second & Third Row: Carrots and Bush Beans

Fourth Row: Strawberries & String/Pole Beans

Far Back Row (against fence): Corn & Pumpkins

We had an unexpected freeze early one morning that almost killed our tomato and bell pepper plants. We were lucky that they survived; some of the other gardener's weren't so lucky. It did kill some of the corn seeds, we later discovered, which was disappointing but grateful that it wasn't worse. Idaho weather is really unpredictable.

Once everything is planted it seems like all the hard work is done; just sit back and let it grow. But a garden is not something that can be neglected. We learned that when we realized how bad the weeds had taken over the garden after a short time of sitting back to let the garden grow. Many hours and days were spent crawling around pulling weeds, not exactly one of my most favorite things to do. But it looked so much better!

It's been about two months now since we began this garden. Take a look at it now!

HOLY GARDEN JUNGLE!!

Take a look at it up close...

Everything you see in this picture is lettuce. Whoa.

Squash

Tomatoes and Bell Pepper plants (forefront)

Tomatoes

More Tomatoes

Bell Peppers

This is the right side of the garden where you will find Radish, Carrots, Bush Beans, String/Pole Beans, Strawberries, Zucchini, Corn, and Pumpkin plants.

Close up picture of the Bush Beans with the Carrot tops below...and my finger.

This shows the back right section of the garden: Strawberries, String/Pole Beans, and Corn.

Here are the rows of Carrots and Bush Beans.

My mom has also created an amazing garden that could feed a colony of people. In her family emails she always talks about how her garden is doing, the large amounts of produce she's harvested, and any interesting findings she's had. Some of these findings have been little critters, some good and some not so good. In my most recent visit to the garden Angela and I found a couple of little critters ourselves, both not so good.

You might be wondering why I am holding up a bundle of carrots from the garden and how they have anything to do with critters. These carrots were affected by a not-so-suspected critter. As Angela and I were driving up to the community garden to water we spotted three little critters in the midst of our garden. We quickly jumped out of the car and made our way to the garden to ensure that these critters did not get away. Hiding between the carrot and strawberry rows were three little kids, all with carrots in their hands. After asking them non-accusatory questions we instructed the kids (none of which were related) to take us to their parents so we could talk to them.

Having people steal from the community garden is an on-going problem that has been happening from the creation of Idaho Fall's Community Garden. The only thing that 'protects' the garden area is a chest-high chain-link fence (as you might have noticed in the background of some of the pictures). The gates to the garden are not locked; the fence can easily be jumped if the gates were pad-locked. Finding somebody in action stealing from the garden is rare since there is usually somebody working in the garden at any given part of the day. Finding things stolen out of the garden is a lot more common as it is not monitored during the hours of the night. It is a chance you take when growing a garden in a community garden area and not on your own property.

Another obstacle you face when growing a garden organic-style, is this:

This grasshopper was huge! It was immediately disposed of after discovering it in the garden.

It has been a lot of fun growing this garden; a great learning experience. I am seeing a greater and greater need and importance for growing gardens for health, financial, and self-reliant purposes. Plus having the satisfaction of enjoying a meal or sharing your crop that was created from the work of your own hands can't be found elsewhere. I am so grateful that I was invited to join in growing this garden!

A Perfect Weekend

Surprisingly, I have come to find out that not many people know what a Yurt is. Let me be the first to introduce you and give you a tour. Reader, meet Yurt....

...a tentlike dwelling of the Mongol and Turkic peoples of central Asia, consisting of a cylindrical wall of poles in a lattice arrangement with a conical roof of poles, both covered by felt or skins.

Wythia Yurt at Harriman State Park in Idaho. Complete with a picnic table and fire pit.

The Yurt comes with many nice accommodations, such as a stove, a bunk bed, and a table....

...As well as another bunk bed, lantern, and firewood for the indoor wood burning stove (not pictured - to the right of firewood) and the fire pit outside. Also, not pictured, is a circular sky light in the middle of the yurt's roof, which provided light during day and a beautiful view of the stars during the night.

And then there was the gang that had the opportunity to inhabit this Yurt.

Left to Right: Me, Alicia (my roommate), Angela, and Kristy (Angela's mom)

Not pictured: Betsy (Angela's roommate).

The above five mentioned took the weekend of August 6th to ditch city life and all its flare to escape into the mountains and enjoy a wonderful, peaceful, yet adventurous vacation. It was exactly that. Not to mention, perfect.

We arrived at the Yurt a couple hours before nightfall on Friday, giving us just enough time to get settled into the Yurt, start a fire (busting a coal style, of course), and get dinner underway. Everybody pitched in and we had our bellies full from a delicious dinner of shish-kabobs and a divine dessert of fresh fruit chocolate torte. The stars came out to provide added beauty and awe to the surrounding mountain scene lite by the glow of our campfire. We enjoyed one another's company until the thought of bears coming into our campsite from the smell of the left over food began our nightly cleanup ritual before hunkering down for the night.

We took full advantage of being up in the mountains with the limited time we had. After a hearty breakfast on Saturday morning we set out on a hike at Mesa Falls. Mesa Falls consists of two falls (an upper falls and a lower falls). The upper falls has a boardwalk which takes you up close and personal to the top of the waterfall. On the other hand, the lower fall's view point is a couple hundred feet up the steep canyon wall. You don't get much of a feel for how awesome this falls is when you're that far away. A year ago my friend, Carrie, and I sought to get up close and personal with the lower falls. We did just that...and more! (My facebook profile picture is of me enjoying the mist of the lower falls). We not only got in touching distance of the lower falls, but we hiked up the river to the upper falls where we were able to get incredibly close to the bottom of the upper waterfall. (Click here to check out that experience).

It's a funny thing how time erases the difficulties of past experiences giving one renewed confidence in their ability to experience something over again. This was the case with me when I was telling the group about how awesome the hike was from the lower falls to the upper falls and that it is a hike you will never forget because of how personal you get with many elements of nature. I failed to remember just exactly how personal it becomes....

(Meet Betsy, in the white shirt, the fifth member of our group).

After climbing down a rock wall we had to slide on our rear ends down the steep embankment to avoid loosing our footing which would send us right off the edge of a 50ft cliff and into the raging river below. Once it was safe to stand we scooted along a thin trail where, once passed, we had to again scramble down another hill which ended at the top of the lower falls. Kristy's expression on her face clearly depicts the fear and questioned sanity of this hike. It was only the beginning.

But of course once we made it to the top of the lower falls, a sigh of relief was breathed by everyone, and the thought, "That wasn't so bad..." was mutual among us. We enjoyed the breath-taking views and the cool spray of the water, but we were quickly on our way again towards the upper falls, which would prove to be a lot more difficult than I remembered it being a year ago.

The distance between the lower and upper falls is a mixture between overgrown game trails and stretches of lava rock. More lava rock than game trails. A lot more! (than I remembered). This added to the difficulty of the hike as well as the pace due to the instability that the rocks created. If we weren't trying to find balance as we scrambled over the numerous lava rock fields, we were blazing a trail by bush whacking through ferns, shrubs, wild raspberry bushes, stinging nettle, and ant hills...you name it, we probably went through it. I couldn't be more impressed by the positive attitudes and fortitude that everybody had despite the difficulty. They just kept chugging along, putting all of their trust in me. I must admit, I did/do feel pretty guilty for putting everybody through the ringer on this hike. It was h.a.r.d.

But from the look on everybody's face once we reached the upper falls we were all pretty happy to have made it to our destination and to be on flat, stable ground again. One tourist to Mesa Falls that Kristy made conversation with stated that she didn't know there was a trail from the lower falls to the upper falls. Kristy quickly corrected her by saying that there is one now because we blazed it. I don't know if that hike was worth it to anybody, especially since we weren't able to see the upper falls from below due to time constraints. Everybody was beaten, scratched, sore, stung, and exhausted. We ate a much needed and tasty lunch upon arrival back at the yurt. Then everybody crashed for a greatly needed nap (minus Betsy, who had to leave).

Knowing it would probably be our last and only chance to squeeze in a bike ride before leaving Harriman State Park the next day, Angie and I took off on our bikes to ride along the trail that circled the park's lake which has been dedicated as bird sanctuary. The trail was a really nice and easy single-track lane. There were a couple fallen trees that we had to lift our bikes over and lots of puddles from the late afternoon rain storm that left us dripping with mud; we looked like true mountain bikers. The above picture of the sun setting over the lake is what we ended our bike ride with. As we emerged from the thick forest that surrounds the lake onto the road leading back to our yurt we couldn't help but stop in awe of such a beautiful sight.

The next morning, Sunday, we were pretty sore from our previous day's hike so we had our own professional Yoga instructor provide a short 15-minute Yoga session free of charge. We all looked pretty ridiculous in an attempt to move our stiff, sore bodies into positions that they didn't want to or couldn't go in, but we had a lot of fun laughing at ourselves and each other. We spent the remainder of the morning cleaning and packing up camp.

Harriman State Park isn't that far from many surrounding attractions, one of which is Quake Lake that is located just North of where we were. I had no idea of the importance of Quake Lake or why it was such a desired attraction to go so until shortly before arriving. Kristy gave us an account of her experience with Quake Lake or what was previously known as Madison River Canyon.

Madison River Canyon was a camping hot spot. The canyon was lined with numerous camping areas that were continuously filled. As a kid, Kristy would often camp here with her family; it was their get-a-way place whenever they wanted to go camping. On one occasion they had decided to come up to Madison River Canyon to go camping for the weekend. After getting all packed up and loaded into their vehicle Kristy's father sat in the driver's seat for about ten minutes while his wife kept bugging him to get on the road since they were already late and it would be getting dark by the time they would arrive. Kristy's dad finally said that he didn't have a good feeling about going and would see how he felt in the morning. That night at 11:37pm a 7.5 earthquake hit causing one side of the canyon wall to sweep down the canyon and up the other side killing everybody in it's path. (To read the whole story and its many affects, click here).

You may need to click on the picture in order to see the drawing of what happened.

This plaque is mounted on a rock weighing 3 tons that surfed on the top of the avalanche from the opposite side of the canyon, resting about halfway up the other side of the canyon from it's original place. Three hundred feet or more below this rock rests the victims (listed above) that were killed in the avalanche. Many others were killed from different after-effects of the earthquake. We visited the visitor's center where we saw pictures of the aftermath of the earthquake, read personal accounts given by the survivor's, and watched an educational video of the event. It was mind boggling and very sobering to learn about this horrific event and have it hit a little close to home knowing that Kristy and her family could have had their names listed on that Memoriam plaque.

On that sobering note, the weekend was nothing less than perfect. It was a much needed trip to the mountains and forest that I have been craving for many, many months. In my perfect world I would spend my life living in the mountains. I am incredibly grateful for the people who willingly agreed to join in on the weekend adventure. It wouldn't have been as fun without them; it made all the difference!

The Seven Paths of the ANASAZI Way

The ANASAZI Foundation

Far Too Long

The weather in Idaho recently has been much less than ideal for normal spring/summer weather. We're a month or so behind the rest of the world, it seems. We have psych-summer weather spurts - just as we get out the door to enjoy a beautiful day the wind starts blowing really hard, dark clouds begin to roll in, and then rain (or snow) will begin to fall. Gotta love Idaho; if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.

With all of the random and unpredictable weather conditions that has been toying with our minds I have had a growing itch to get outside...for longer than five minutes. It's like a bag of popcorn - and I'm the corn kernel. Hear me out on this. The popcorn bag is thrown into the microwave and turned on. As the heat rises the corn begins to do a little exciting jig because it's about to pop. And just when the temperature is right, POP! It becomes popped-corn. That's how I am when the seasons begin to turn from spring to summer, minus the little exciting jig part. My excitement comes out in the form of a little kid getting an ice cream cone. Pure glee. Long story short, I am excited when Idaho gives us a really nice day that lasts longer than five minutes. Today was one of those days.

It has been far too long since I have been able to get a really good ride on my bike, so today I set out to fill this void with three distinct purposes. And with temperatures estimated to be in the low 80's I couldn't pass this opportunity up. The purposes for my ride were 1) getting out to do something that I love and that brings balance, 2) learning how to ride with my sweet new slick aero bars, and 3) to learn how to ride with clip pedals. The third purpose would be taken on after my ride. I'm not as hardcore as some people I know (Sandra) that go out to learn how to use clip pedals on a ride. I'll take my time in a parking lot.

With no real direction or route in mind except the country roads I headed south. Getting out of the hustle and bustle of the city and into the country was wonderful. The wind wasn't calm, but definitely not a bother either. The sun was shining bright keeping me at a perfect riding temperature. It was almost perfect. Without having my odometer on my bike I had no idea how far I had ridden so I decided just to do a big loop instead of retracing my route. It ended up being 23 miles, which was more than I had expected or felt like I had biked. (Take a look at my route here).

I stopped off at the local bike shop on my way back home to see about having the stem switched out. I'm a bit stretched out across my bike, which causes some discomfort on extended rides. Stan, the owner, taught me how to determine the right stem length to get and helped pick one out for me. He had the mechanic trade them out even though I did not have my cards to purchase it. Somehow I earned Stan's trust and he allowed me to take both stems with the promise I'd come back next week to pay for it. I was shocked and very pleased. Just the quarter mile ride back to the house I noticed a substantial difference.

I walked out of Bill's bike shop and was hit with a wall of wind. The sun had been masked with dark clouds and the temperature had dropped because of the wind. I was glad that I wasn't too far from home, but was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to learn how to ride with my clip pedals. Overall, it was a fantastic ride; exactly what I needed. And done within the perfect window of time. I'm looking forward to another summer-like day to get out on my bike again; it's amazing what a bike ride can do for you.

Don't You Quit!

This is one of my favorite talks and have had a copy of it in my scriptures since my teenage years. His message rings more true to me now than it ever has. Don't you quit; keep walking. There are good things to come... It brings a quote I once heard into mind, "If you're going through Hell, keep walking!"

Triathlon Trailer

I went back to the Rigby Triathlon website to see if there was anything new posted and I saw a link to a promo video of the race. Curious, I clicked on the link to watch it. Thought you might like to see a short video footage from the actual race too.

WHOA! Did you see that!?! Yeah, that was me at the very end!! I'm also in there for a split second at 0:44. I'm person walking in the water with the sleeveless wetsuit. Go ahead, watch it again. I won't mind. I'll just pretend for a second that this makes me famous. Ahhh, the lime light.....

Seeing Past Limitations

I get a lot of comments from almost everybody I talk with about my love and ambition to participate/compete in triathlons. The majority of these comments include words like, "crazy," "nuts," "insane" ... well, you kinda get the picture. I usually just smile and laugh at these unfounded comments and think to myself, "They just don't know how fun it is!" But my most recent triathlon in Rigby, Idaho had me think twice about everybody's comments and question why I love triathlons and what it means to be a triathlete.

Twelve days prior to the triathlon I checked the weather conditions for race day to get an idea of what to expect. The day prior and the day after were cold, rainy days but Saturday's forecast was warm with clear, sunny skies. I was excited because that meant I would be able to wear my new triathlon wetsuit: a thin, sleeveless, knee-length official triathlon wetsuit. This was exciting to me. So exciting in fact that I didn't consider anything else or pay close attention to the weather thereafter. It was set, rain or shine, I'd be wearing this wetsuit.

Race day was preceded by a week of constant rainfall, wind, and 40 degree weather. Why would race day be any different? For some reason I had it in my mind that race day was a special and magical day, so of course the weather would cooperate and be perfect for this event. To think otherwise was absurd.

The morning of race day I woke up to the same thing I had been waking up to all week - nasty weather. In a fury of gathering everything up I needed for the race while making sure to leave in enough time to arrive in Rigby to get my transition station set up I didn't even consider the weather and how I would need to adapt to mother nature's given conditions. Driving to Rigby with my windshield wipers on high I desperately looked across the sky for some sign of relief or break in the clouds. There was none to be seen. When I stepped out of the car upon arriving at Rigby lake I felt how cold it was outside for the first time, but I put it aside as I took a few extra minutes to add some layers for warmth.

While setting up my transition area and surveying the competition around me I noticed that everybody was putting on full-body wetsuits. "Interesting" I thought as I brushed the foolishness of it off. Finishing my transition set-up I made my way over to the lake to watch the Olympic distance triathletes begin the race and to wait for my two awesome supporters to arrive. It was soon after that the Sprint distance triathletes were to begin the race. I made my way to the water's edge and stripped down to my wetsuit. I was instantly cold as the rain hit my skin and the wind blew around me. I thought maybe I'd be warmer in the water. Ha! Can you tell that I had remembered everything but my brain!?! I stepped through the mud to get into the water and found colder temperatures. (Nooo waaay!) Quickly scanning and sizing up my competition while uncontrollably shivering I again noticed that I was the ONLY person with more than hands and feet not covered by a wetsuit. A lot more! The count down began, the whistle blew, and we were off!

Do you see something terribly wrong with this picture?

I had noticed that some of the triathletes during the Olympic distance swim were walking parts of the swim section. The water in Rigby lake was shallow enough in places that one could touch the bottom. There were no rules against it so for one reason or another people were doing it. Once I went rushing into the lake and the frigid water crept higher and higher around my body I decided that I would walk as far as I could before being forced to submerge the rest of my body into the freezing water. With each step I took and with every second my body was exposed to the water I found it more and more difficult to breath or feel parts of my body. It felt as though my muscles were constricting around my rib cage preventing my lungs from expanding as normal. My hands and feet were completely numb and the numbness continued to crawl up my arms and legs until my entire body was void of any feeling but complete frigidness. I began to become scared. I feared drowning due to my lack of ability to breath normally and the lack of feeling throughout my entire body.

My fear was mentally almost too much for me. As the water got chest high and I knew walking would no longer be an option in a very few short steps I began making my way over to the side of the lake. Standing in waist high water, shivering wildly I debated whether to keep going or throw in the towel and walk away. Two young female safety volunteers in a canoe saw my distress and came to see if I was ok. After telling them my thoughts and condition (mentally and physically) they gave me the options: One, if I got out of the lake I would automatically be disqualified from the race and be unable to continue onto the biking or running portions. Or two, to just keep swimming. They highly encouraged me to keep swimming and told me that I needed to get my body moving to keep the blood flowing which would keep my body temperature up. If I just stood there my body temperature would continue to fall, which I knew would bring on a series of undesirable conditions.

After several attempts and lots of encouragement and reassurance from the gals in the canoe I finally submerged myself in the lake to begin the last two-thirds of the swim. The gals in the canoe stayed next to me as I doggy-paddled my way around the lake. They were my saving grace; without them I would have most likely walked away from the race after only a few minutes into it. Their encouragements became the strength I drew from to keep swimming. Surprisingly the distance and time it took me to finish the swim didn't seem like that long at all despite my doggy-paddle pace. I stumbled out of the lake like a drunk because I couldn't feel the ground underneath my feet. I was numb head to toe...and purple.

Race volunteers stripped the wetsuit off of me. After several futile attempts of taking my goggles and swim cap off my head I had to ask for help because my hands were completely useless. I got to my bike, quickly grabbed my towel and wrapped it around me in hopes that it would almost instantly warm me up and thaw out my frozen limbs. No such luck. I knew I needed to get dry clothes on to help the process so I started to put on my biking pants. After struggling with this seemingly simple task I realized that I needed to get my biking shorts on first before my biking pants. I felt defeated; my own arms and hands were useless to me and had become a handicap. While looking at my two cheering supporters just outside of the transition area for some kind of motivation a race volunteer saw the despair in my eyes and quickly came over to help me. She took off her jacket and beanie and put them on me before helping me get into the clothes I would be wearing the remainder of the race. My friend also took the coat off her back and gave it to me as an added layer for warmth. Every layer was crucial for warmth and protection against the elements.

I may have looked incredibly ridiculous but I was more concerned about my body temperature rising and finishing the race than how much 'race fashion sense' I had. Despite my nervousness riding my bike with numb limbs I cruised through those 12 miles with ease. My upper body warmed up, but my legs become more numb to the point of having no feeling. I could see that my legs were pedaling my bike but I couldn't feel anything waist down. This only made me a little weary about my next tasks, running. My thoughts went back to my first triathlon last year when I made the transition from bike to run; I almost collapsed to the pavement when getting off my bike because my legs were numb.

My transition from biking to running was a little more graceful than I had expected, which I was grateful for. I quickly racked my bike and took off all of the extra layers except a light rain jacket. I was off again for the final portion of the race, a 3 mile run. I had the same experience running as I did last year. My legs stayed numb for the first mile before I got feeling in them again. And for the record it is such a wonderful thing to have feeling in your legs again!

I always give everything I have left in the home stretch to the finish line, but because my body had used up so much energy to try to keep my body warm during the swim and to warm up my body on the bike and run that I literally had nothing more to give than what I was already expending to just run. I gave this race everything I had.

I want to give a huge THANK YOU shout out to my two amazing supporters who sacrificed much to be there for me in so many ways. And a big THANK YOU to the two canoe gals and the girl at the transition who literally dressed me. These five individuals gave me the strength to keep going!

Official Race Times:

Final Time: 2:15:32

Time Back: 0:51:31

Swim: 0:22:47

T1: 0:17:53 - HOLY ETERNITY!!

Bike: 0:52:01

T2: 0:02:01

Run: 0:40:48

Place: 17/18 (age division)

Place: 84/91 (sprint overall)

So, why do I love competing in triathlons and what does it mean to me? My short answer is simple: It's a good excuse to help me stay in shape. But in all seriousness, the quote at the top of my blog says it all, "Limitations are only a creation of the mind." I strive to stretch my limitations to see how far I can really go or how much I really have to give. People say, "The sky is the limit" but I ask, "Why does it have to be?" This triathlon really proves this belief. I could have easily given up during the swim and I almost did. But was I going to limit myself to that or push myself to see how far I could go despite the conditions that I faced and discover what I had in me? Being a triathlete is one of the many limitations I am drawn to try to stretch. It's different for everybody. But there's always a greater potential that can be reached, it just needs to be discovered. One never knows their potential until they see past their limitations.

Wisdom and Emotion Collide

In the summer of 2007, after months and months of researching and searching, I bought the vehicle of my dreams - a Toyota Tundra. It was love at first sight and I was thrilled to have it. This vehicle provided me with the ability to go and do so many things that I otherwise would not have been able to do. It also provided many opportunities for me to serve others, which I felt had become a positive obligation; I enjoyed very much helping people in all sorts of circumstances and situations because of the fact that I had a truck.

I never in my wildest dreams thought of selling or getting rid of my truck. The thought made me shudder. I was planning on keeping my truck until 'death do us part.' I had become emotionally attached to it. And as dumb as that sounds - becoming attached to a beautifully shaped piece of metal with a roaring engine - it's true. I admit it. So you can imagine how I felt when I came to the decision to sell Squirt, my truck. H.E.A.R.T. B.R.O.K.E.N.

With the amount of driving I do for my job I got sick of listening to the variety of music stations offered in southeast Idaho. My favorite CDs were even becoming drab to listen to. I flipped from FM to AM and found my new 'radio addiction' - the Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingrahm, Glenn Beck, and Dave Ramsey programs. This is where it all started - the Dave Ramsey program. For those of you who don't know who Dave Ramsey is or know anything about him, he is a financial advisor who helps people get out of debt and become wealthy through a very basic, simple, straight-forward process that is tried and proven a million times over. (Check out his website to get the whole gig; it's awesome stuff if you're serious about getting out of debt).

Before listening to Dave I was ho-humming my way out of debt, which was beginning to prove to be unprofitable unless I wanted to spend the rest of my life in debt. I got hooked. I wanted to become serious about getting out of debt. After crunching some numbers and looking at all of my debts I realized I was in a lot deeper in debt than I had been kidding myself to be in. I was determined to do everything it took to get out of debt.....except sell my truck that is. It really wasn't that big of a debt or that expensive to keep. (Did I mention something about kidding myself?). I was. It took me about a month to finally stop kidding around and make the decision to sell my truck - my biggest debt and monthly payment, not to mention the $300+/mo. in gas. This is where wisdom and emotion collide.

Wisdom won, as you might have suspected. I posted my truck on Craigslist on April 26th. An interested buyer came to look at it and take it for a spin on May 2nd. It sold on May 7th. Heartbroken? Very. Blessed? Undeniably. And I might add, strangely happy knowing I had just made a BIG step towards my financial freedom.

I was even more blessed by being able to buy a very reliable, fuel-efficient vehicle - 2004 Hyundai Elantra. I bought this vehicle from a good friend who also jumped on the getting-out-of-debt bandwagon. Her mode of transportation now is a bike. (How fuel-efficient, green, and awesome is that!?!). Totally the way to go. I'd jump on that bandwagon in a heartbeat if I could. Anyway, I am saving hundreds of dollars now just from selling my truck. It's amazing to see that money go towards my other debts making them smaller and smaller each paycheck instead of seeing it go into a black bottomless pit. Even though a part of my identity was taken (as a co-worker stated) and even though I miss my truck a lot I know that it is worth it in the long run. As Dave Ramsey says, "Live like nobody else now, so you can live like nobody else later."