Still processing...

I've had several people ask "so where's your Next blog?" Next as in the conference I went to this past weekend. It's coming folks...I'm still processing the amazing messages I heard. So until then, here are a couple of pics to tide you over. We took 13 people to this conference (more than double from last year!) and it was a great group. Dustin and Megan are our singles group leaders and Dustin was a trooper, having to hang out with 12 women for 4 days...I'm sure it was really rough... ;-)

Our group

Me and some of my girlies

My new toy!!!!

So after at least 6 months of research and pricing and questioning and praying...I finally got a bike today!!!!

Seriously, I think I have now spent about 6 hours in bike shops asking questions and trying bikes and probably annoying the serious bike guys with my ignorant novice questions.

I was supposed to go check out a bike I had found on craigslist this evening. The components were good (Shimano 105- which is what I was looking for), the price was good, but the frame wasn't exactly what I had in mind.

A co-worker of mine is an avid cyclist and told me to go to the bike shop where he gets his bikes. So I did. I walked in and said "this is what I want and this is how much I want to pay, what do you have?" And lo and behold the owner said, "oh, I have something your size" and he pulls out this:

It's the '08 Specialized Roubaix Compact- aluminum frame, carbon fork, ALL Shimano 105 components...and he gave it to me for about half the retail value!!! And even better, if I decide that I want to upgrade to a better bike or a tri bike later, I can TRADE this one in...I don't know of any other shop that has offered that...how cool is that?

So yay for this blessing. I know, I tend to be a bit frugal, but I just want to make sure that I am being a good steward of what God has blessed me with...I am glad I waited for this one! Fast like lightning- whoosh! :D

Silverlake Sprint Triathlon 2009

So, have I mentioned that I love triathlons? This was only my second, but at least I know now that me loving my first experience wasn't a fluke.

Post race, in the transition area

I am REALLY happy with the results of today's tri. My publicized :) goal was to complete the 0.25mile swim, 10 mile bike, and 3 mile run in under 1hr 45 min. My secret, type-A personality, perfectionist goal was to do it in 1 hr 30 min. My actual time? 1 hr 22min!!!! The rough breakdown is 11 minutes for the swim, ~ 37ish minutes for the bike, and GET THIS: 28:28 for the 3 miles...yeah that's right, I ran a 9:41 minute mile!!! Holy moly!!!

And before I could get too high and mighty about how much I rocked, after crossing the finish line, I saw my sports medicine doc who helped treat my stress fracture and encouraged me all along that frustrating 6 months of injury recovery. I went over to her and gave her a big hug and thanked her (she's awesome, still knows me by name and everything!). So, it was a great reminder from God that He gave me the healthy leg and the health in general for me to be able to complete today's race. So, glory to Him :). I put in the training hours and He blessed that. Sweetness. And it was great to be racing with Lisa again! Next tri? June 7th. :D.

Lisa and me

Knowledge

I just finished re-reading "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. You should read it. One of my favorite parts is this conversation between little-girl Corrie and her father. She asks him a tough-adult question (they are traveling on a train and he has his work-bag with him). Here's their conversation after Corrie has asked her question and dad hasn't answered yet:

" At last, he lifted his traveling case from the rack over our heads, and set it on the floor. 'Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?' he said. I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning. 'It's too heavy', I said. 'Yes,' he said, 'And it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a heavy load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."

And the parallel that I drew:

God is the same way with His children. He doesn't overburden us with all the details of His plans, He gives us the knowledge we need at the exact moment we need it- not before, and not after. Perfect timing. He knows when we are strong enough, prepared for the next step-whatever that might be. And we, as His children, must trust Him to keep His plans, to carry that knowledge for us, until that perfect moment arrives. Wow.

Whoosh!

That's the sound of my ego being deflated. Here's the scenario:

This past Sunday, we had people over (duh, if you read my blog, you already know that). Among them was my pastor and his family. Conversation between me and Grady (my pastor):

Grady: So, you do triathlons?
Me: Yep!
Grady: When's your next one?
Me: Next Sunday
Grady: So show me your muscles, you gotta have muscles right?
Me: Yep! ::makes arm muscle::
Grady: That's it!?
Me: WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S IT!? :: tone of righteous indignation::
Grady: Well, I was expecting some serious guns if you do triathlons

Whoosh.

Thank you Grady, for keeping me humble.

Bottle Mastery

How's that for a blog title? I'm talking the type of water bottle that you put on your bike. I can now consider myself in the class of people who can remove the water bottle from its holder while riding the bike, drink from it (and actually get fluid in your mouth, no chin dribbling allowed), and put it back, all without falling over, dropping the bottle, riding into a parked car, etc.

Baby steps I'm tellin' ya....

Hospitality #3

This probably could be called Hospitality #4, since Claire had #3 while Pam was in Costa Rica and I was in Russia, but, I made a command decision (it is my blog after all ;-) ) and I am calling it #3. Honey Baked ham, green beans, macaroni salad, fabulous desserts (thanks to Claire and Mike and Molly!) and lots of laughs...good day.

The Van Wright family, the Crews (minus Jon), Mike, Molly, and Maddie, Josh (we missed you Lisa!) (MIA- Dustin and we missed you Megan!)