Five Firsts

As a wise person on the internet has said “life without goals is like a race with no finish line; you’re just running to nowhere”.

I think my biggest goal in life right now is to be relentless. That feeling of being “comfortable” always sounds good in theory, but once I’m there living it, I hate it! Instead I want to always be pushing myself to be smarter, stronger, faster and happier along the way. When I am trying new things and challenging myself—as an athlete and in life—I feel like I am making the most of my time on this planet, and thats what its all about. Although my goals are constantly shifting; this time last year a 20 mile run was a challenge (I was training for LA marathon) and now a fast 7 mile run is trying, as long as I am always setting new objectives for myself and striving to reach them I am a happy chappy.

With that said, I have a fun list of firsts for 2016 to share with you. They are not necessarily HUGE achievements but they all made me smile at the time:

I signed up for my first race of 2016!!!! I was telling Kelly last Saturday that I really need to sign up for a race to get me completely motivated. And boom. That night I signed up for Desert Triathlon International in Palm Springs. Bring on the speed drills, I have 3 weeks!!
I changed my first flat tire. This was a pretty monumental occasion for me considering I have been cycling consistently since 2008 and have never been able to do it. Words of wisdom – do NOT buy beaded tires, they are impossible to get back on! I am ashamed to say I have had more than one damsel in distress moment on the side of the road. But, now that I have regular tires I can man up and change my own 😉 Gotta love these sexy greasy fingers.
I have finally managed to get my run speed back up into a comfortable 8.25 pace after a few months off from running. I have been wearing my heart rate monitor religiously and trying to maintain a steady 146-150 HR instead of just going off of feel like I normally do. I also had my first outdoor morning run in shorts the other day…Spring is here and I am loving these amazing blossom trees that are all around my neighborhood.
I swam 2.5 miles for the 1^st time and felt great. Kelly and Marjan are crushing these distances a few times a week, so it was time for me to step it up. I am feeling stronger every week, thanks to Kelly’s torturous workouts 😉
I drove home in my cycling shoes last week because I was so tired and hungry I forgot to change out of them haha