When I first started this thing, I knew I would struggle in keeping it up to date. It appears my thoughts were prophetic because here I am 2 months later without a blog post. :)
I can’t believe my half-ironman is only 12 days away! I promise to give a full report of how it goes shortly after the race.
Until then, I should probably give a quick update on the last couple of months. This has turned out to be a rather difficult year. Once I recovered from my surgery, my dad was in and out of the hospital with respiratory issues. Turns out he had a blood clot in his lung at one point…but even now that his blood is thin, he still has difficulty on occasion. At the end of June, he was taken to the Emergency Room since he could not breathe. He stayed overnight. The next day, while my sister Lauren, and her fiancé, Brian, were on their way to see my dad in the hospital, they were in a serious motorcycle accident. They both have a long road to recovery ahead of them….but they will live! At the end of the day, that is all that really matters.
While I am not going to go into all of the details of all the various hospitalizations, I will take this time to express things I am truly grateful for:
• My family! We don’t always get along (actually most of the time we don’t), but in difficult times, we always manage to be there for each other. It is times like this that I am thankful to have such a big family.
• My faith in Jesus Christ! It is the hard times in life, when I am humbled to my knees, that I feel his love the most. Without that love, it would be very difficult to have a positive outlook on life during the bad/hard times.
• My mom and dad! I know I already said I am thankful for my family, but my parents are in a class of their own. I truly am the luckiest girl in the world.
• My Job. I have a job that I enjoy, and a paycheck that pays the bills. It doesn’t get any better than that.
• My dog. I have the craziest little dog, but I love her so much! She is a welcome distraction when life gets hard…she loves me no matter what!
• My health. Despite the few medical issues I have, they don’t stop me from doing the things that I love! I love triathlons! While it is frequently difficult to run, and sometimes it is even difficult to bike, I know that the bad days will be followed by amazing days in the near future. That gives me hope and makes the good days all the better.
• Sundays! With all of the different things going on with my family, it had been a while since I had been to my Ward at church. But I was able to go yesterday and it was fabulous! I did quite a bit of scripture study before hand, and even took a nap. Church isn’t until 3 in the afternoon, so I had a lot of time. :) I love that I don’t train on Sundays. It is a day of relaxation and spiritual fulfillment. While I like to think I am spiritually filled every day, there is definitely a difference on Sundays.
• IRONMAN TRIATHLON! Obviously I am training for an Ironman Triathlon. Having this goal has kept me focused. It drives me to work harder at the gym. It has forced me to figure out some of my medical issues. It gives me something to look forward to…I know that I am doing something with my life. I have a really big goal, and I am working incredibly hard at achieving it. How many people can say that?
