Sunday, July 17, 2011

51, briefly shining

Again, I know it's been awhile.  It's not like nothing has happened, it's just that I haven't felt like blogging about it.
So...I'll briefly mention a couple of things.  
The other day, several weeks ago probably, I was swimming at the big Olympic sized outdoor pool in preparation for the upcoming triathlon.  I had been wondering if I should really attempt to get in shape to swim the whole tri distance doing the "crawl", or "freestyle" stroke.  It's a harder stroke for me, and I have always thought I have a very strong breaststroke.  And while I've been training, I've been doing nearly the entire 1600m using that stroke.  It's just, more comfortable for me.  And then, the older gentleman in the lane next to me and I came up to rest at the side at the same time, and he said, "you have a HECK of a breaststroke!"  I thanked him, and told him it was good to hear because I wasn't completely sure.  He said, "I can't believe the distance you get with your kick!"  I thanked him again.  That guy made my day!  And maybe my whole swim training experience.
Then really the other day (as in, yesterday) I was out for my bike/run bit.  Side note: I really don't like this combo.  It sucks. In fact, after I finish it for the triathlon, I hope to never combine these two activities again.  Unless I do another tri.  Anyway, a woman came up behind me on the trail on her bike and asked, "how far are you riding today?"  I told her, "not too far, I'm doing a bike-to-run brick today." <pause due to blank stare> "I'm going to ride a short distance, and then run when I'm done."  She asked me more about it, and why I would intend to do such a thing, and we talked about how nice the weather has been and how green everything is because of all the rain.  Before we parted ways on the trail, she said, "You'll do great.  From here, your legs look strong".  Awesome.
Two completely different people, offering me unsolicited support in my endeavors   Thanks, Strangers, for those compliments.  It's more meaningful to me than you'll know.