So this week I turned 38. That means I’m almost 40. Wow! At least I’m not actually 40 but it’s coming! I can feel it!
I am not one to moan and groan about my age but it does kind of shock me that almost 40 has come so fast. Where did the time go? 2018 marked 20 years since I finished high school. That makes sense because that feels like another millennia ago. But other stuff like the end of my mission in 2005 seems like it just happened. Even something like moving into my home has somehow ballooned into 6 years! Mind blown.
Luckily I can’t feel to badly about turning 38 because I’ve had such an amazing year. Currently I am busy covering the Sundance Film Festival and you can find my reviews on rottentomatoes.com! My podcasts/channels are both doing well and I’m super proud of them and things are going well with my job. So life is great. I am very blessed.
So I’m not really sad about turning almost 40 but it is a little sobering. I certainly thought I would be married and have a family at this point but it just hasn’t been in the cards for me. (If you know anyone who might be interested please let me know 😉 ). It makes me a little sad to think about that but there’s nothing I can do about it so oh well.
The other day I was thinking about the people in my life who didn’t get to be almost 40 (my cousins Lisa, Riley, Raquel RIP). A family and spouse may not happen (I’m aware it could happen but it might not) but think about the many experiences I do get to have which they did not? It reminds me to be grateful for the gift of life and another year on this planet. Even in the bad times I am growing and changing into the person God wants me to be. He is behind all the lessons of my life, and I’m confident He has something special in store for the almost 40 version of me.
If January is any test 2019 is shaping up to be a very memorable year and I’m ready for it! I’m a little overwhelmed and wish I had more time but I’m as ready as I can be. Fortunately, I have tons of support both in real life and online for which I am truly grateful.
So I make mistakes sometimes… Yes my friends I am far from perfect and sometimes it can be incredibly frustrating especially when I do incredibly stupid stuff. I don’t think … Continue reading When People Screw Up…
Another amazing open water swim race has come and gone. Honestly I’m so exhausted I don’t know how much I can write but I will do my best.
I’ve often said I race partly for my swim family, partly for nature, partly for fitness but mostly for life. Every swim teaches me something profound about life and this was no exception.
Here I am before the race:
I was really nervous as I always am. Great Salt Lake is so unpredictable and my last 2 years have been very tough for me, even 2012 when I was so well prepared was a beast. Both of those years there was wind advisories and the races were nearly cancelled. I was praying so hard that we would get smooth water for once…
And my prayer was answered. Smooth water!
When you enter the Great Salt Lake it is like no other experience I can describe. Your whole body screams with all the salt. Your tongue swells up, your nose burns, and any soft skin let’s you know quickly it doesn’t like it. All this adds to the challenge.
But luckily I decided to go for it and this year my friend Anna came with and she did amazing! A lot of my other friends weren’t in town or didn’t swim for one reason or another. In fact, it looked like over half the swimmers were new to GSL. There was one group from California that flew in for the race. They go to races as friends all over the country. How fun is that!
So they started the race in an odd way. We had to climb over all these rocks and I had flip-flop sandles on. I felt like I was going to slip and break my ankle. It was kind of nuts.
Here I am trying to get down to the start:
Then the race started and within the first 5 minutes all the sudden my whole right side cramped up. I felt like I could hardly move. It seemed like I would have to pull out with that much pain so early on.
Luckily there was an awesome kayaker who helped me calm down and encouraged me to try another stroke so breaststroke it was. It seemed to strain my side less and after about 3 sets of 100 the cramp was mostly gone. (I count strokes in batches of 100)
I was still doing a lot of breaststroke but then worked in 100s of freestyle and even got a 150 in. It was so shallow that it was hard to do a freestyle stroke for a lot of the race.
There’s me in all that water. Surrounded by nature and all that water. It will never get old. So beautiful!:
See how close the kayaker was? He was a lifesaver and was so encouraging.
I also decided to not worry about sighting and just swim. The current was very light so I didn’t have to worry about getting pulled inward like I did last year. I was confident enough in the kayaker that I knew I could just swim. With my lazy eye sighting is not my strength but it’s especially hard at GSL because there are no trees or big objects to sight on so it’s sort of a fruitless enterprise. I’m glad I abandoned it all together.
So, I kept going in batches of 100 strokes. Another one and then rest 20 seconds, and another. Finally I got to the spot to run in and it was probably 200 yards. I actually speed walked because I was worried about turning my ankle on that type of rocky/sandy beach. (Plus I was exhausted).
Eat your heart out Bo Derek! 🙂
Here’s the crazy thing- cramp, stops, breaststroke and all I finished in 1 hr 4 minutes. Last year it took me 1 hr 23 minutes! Almost 20 minute faster this year! I still can’t believe that!
It just goes to show a lot of obstacles can be in your way at the beginning of your goal but if you keep going, do 100 more, and then another, and another, you will finish. Like I said, swimming teaches me about life. And what a perfect lesson to learn this week starting a new job for new company, doing something new!
I will never forget crossing the line and knowing I did it! Cramp and all I did it! Please take my story and set a bold goal. People of all shapes and sizes can do awesome things.
Thank you to the organizers, kayakers and my friends for cheering me on both at the race and away. I might not have done the race at all if it wasn’t for all the wonderful encouragement.
It feels good to be Rachel today!
A brick of salt for a salty race. Love this photoMy awesome kayaker. Such great supportAnna did amazing. 35 minutes first GSL/open water race!We did it! I love my open water family
I’ve been thinking this week about stories. Why are stories so important in our life? Why do they matter? And why do some stories create such an impact on me and do nothing or the reverse for others? Why do we care so much about these stories?
Of course what made me ponder on the topic was my disappointment at the end of the story for How I Met Your Mother. A story I had invested 9 years on and did not end the way I wanted it to. It is after all just a TV show. What’s the big deal?
Well let me tell you a story and maybe it will make a little more sense why it was such a big deal. After my mission I got a job working in a cubicle, entering data and printing checks. It was supposed to be a temporary position till I could find something else but a year stretched into two and then I started school so two became three.
I wanted to quit everyday, and I knew that God wanted me to quit, but I lacked the courage. The courage to dive off into an unknown while going to school. At least the horrible job was something and the unknown could be even worse?
I was scared and fear is an evil little sucker. I was also unhappy but I saw no break in the unhappiness if I quit. It seemed like I should be happy. Other people were unemployed and had no job so what was my problem? Why couldn’t I feel happiness any more?
I did have a manager who was extremely manipulative and treated me like a bug that needed to be squished, but even if she would have been a saint, I would have been unhappy. I usually am when I am scared and not doing what God wants me to do.
So I kept going, and going, and the anger and resentment built up inside me until I was scared I would explode. Finally, one day in Feb 2007 I kind of did. I grabbed my purse and I ran out of the office. Then I called my head boss and let it all out.
I proceeded to then have my first panic attack. I felt like I would lose control and all those feelings would come out and I would embarrass myself. I couldn’t breathe or speak and for a second I wondered if I was going to die. It was awful. One of the worst days of my life.
The next Monday at the office things were awkward but I made it through and things started to be better. I had a new manager, less assignments, hours and even a desk by the window. I made it through the summer and yet the nagging feeling of unhappiness didn’t leave me. It was less a boiling point and more of a steady simmer. It still wasn’t what God wanted me to do and I was still afraid to take the leap.
Finally in September, I made the decision- I quit. I gave my notice and helped them train a new person and December 21, 2007 I walked out of the office with a box of desk nicknacks and shouted in the air ‘I did it!’. I had quit my job. I was diving into the unknown and looking for work in 2008. Only crazy people quit their jobs in 2008, but I did and it was one of the best days of my life. I knew it was right. I knew for sure.
That day my friends and I went and celebrated my freedom at Bucca di Beppo’s and a weekend at the Marriott in SLC. This isn’t the greatest picture but it is one of my greatest memories.
But you know what happened after I took this great leap? It took me 6 months of interviews before I found a job, and even then it was only because of the mercy of my Dad letting me manage his properties I found anything. I knew I had done the right thing but it was scary nonetheless. God does not always iron out all the wrinkles when he gives you a new shirt to wear. At the end of 2008 I said on this very blog (I started the blog in May 2008):
“It has been a year of healing and growth, and I am immeasurably stronger as a result. It all started last December with my taking the big leap of faith and quitting my job. I knew I needed a change and that the Lord wanted me to be doing something else, so I left everything in His hands.
Not knowing where life was taking me I entered the job hunt- interviewing for nearly 40 companies over 6 months. There were so many jobs that I thought for sure I would get and then I wouldn’t. The Lord definitely made me wait and show my faith before helping everything to work out.”
So, you perhaps can understand why it was so meaningful mere weeks after quitting that I saw this:
Someone got it. Someone understood my story. That’s why I stuck around for 9 years. That’s why it meant so much to me. It was the story and just like my story ended well, I wanted to see Marshall and the gang’s end well. I’ll get over it. I promise.
We all have our stories, and they all matter. Stories matter.
I was going to wait and post about my party tomorrow but yesterday’s post was such a downer that I didn’t want to leave that as the heading on the blog for long. Friendship has always been a highly important part of my life. Next to faith there is nothing more valuable to me than a loyal friend. I was reminiscing with my roommate about groups of friends we’ve had, parties thrown etc, and I had a minor epiphany about friendships. Friendship is essential to at least my function but it manifests itself differently in different times of life. Hanging on to the old manifestation can lead you to miss out on the current phase.
Let me explain…
When you are a child and especially a teen your friendships are chosen by you but fellow-shipped by others. For example, I may have chosen Meredith as my best friend in high school but it was our parents, teachers and other activities that facilitated that friendship and made it happen. At the very least people were driving us places, teaching us lessons and coaching us in choir/sports. We became friends through participating in these activities and even when we tested out our leadership skills it was under a controlled, monitored environment.
These were my 3 best friends from high school
It is this structure in friendships that causes some teens to party and rebel- trying to make their own choices when really still relying on others to make those poor choices. Fortunately I had good friends who were supportive of my beliefs and I never steered too off course (I was also incredibly strong willed).
Your teen years are also the time when your friends center your life, which is why we worry about teens having or cultivating good friends. No other time in life will who your friends are (for most of us at least) be more influential.
Then your 20’s start and a new degree of independence is given to most people. You are free to go your own way, make decisions and make friends dictated less by others and more by common interests and personalities. Aside from classes and maybe an errant roommate nobody is really forced to be friends with someone in the 20’s the way they may be in your teens. However, you still have a lot of the structure of your teens facilitating activities and the meeting of new people (even dating).
Whether it be through a church group or college setting most people I know met their college friends through some type of organization, fraternity or class. The interesting thing is in college the friendships are often made in such activities but forged in something much more casual. This is partly due to lack of time a college student has but also a lack of funds. Most people I knew in those years didn’t have a ton of money to spend on friend experiences so you spent time together watching movies, TV, sports events and cooking/eating food together.
College friends (my cousin Julia, me, my sister Megan and Emily)
My roommate Heather and friend.My friend Miriam and I are still friends from collegeMy friend Joni from college as she left for her mission.
I have such warm memories of that time in my life. It really helped me become the person I am and was a very happy, simple time. Because things were so casual you do end up wasting a lot of time seeing bad movies, eating junk, and for lack of a better word hanging out but there’s a certain freedom in that. How do you know what movies you like if you don’t see a couple of turkeys? All part of the learning experience.
After my college experience I had my mission which was so separated from normal life I will skip over it for this entry. Then you get into my later 20s (I got home from my mission when I was 24 1/2). This was actually one of the most social times in my life but interestingly enough it mixed the casualness of my college life with a little bit more structure. At this point my friends and roommates had jobs which gave us a little bit more money but less free time. We would still see the occasional bad movie but most activities were researched and thought out.
There was also a lot of routine socialization that happened at that time. For a long time I had a daily dinner group (which I still think was brilliant) where a bunch of us singles were assigned a day of the week to make dinner for the group, so you got a social experience and only had to cook once every 12 days. So great. I also had groups that met regularly to watch a lot of tv shows like American Idol and The Office. For a while in my apartment in American Fork we had 3 or 4 nights a week that had some kind of TV viewing together. I watched Lost every night for 2 years with friends and then I moved and never watched it again. That certainly tells you the influence of friends!
This was actually a hard time in my life personally and it’s amazing I fit so much socializing in when I was working 60 hours, serving at the temple, had 2 other callings and going to grad school. I wouldn’t have done much of it if it wasn’t presented at my door with little to no effort. The house in American Fork was especially good for socializing because we were the only one’s with our own apartment in the ward. Everyone else lived at home so our place became something of an escape for our friends. It’s funny that time in my life is probably where I maintained the fewest of my friends. People got married, moved, and the friendships are mostly through facebook or gone and that’s ok, just interesting.
During my later 20’s is also the only time in my life where I through big parties with lots of people. Or I should say my roommate and I did. We had great Halloween and New Years parties, planned outings and group dates together, concerts (went to more concerts then than ever again), and seemed to find excuses to wear costumes on a number of occasions. Despite it being a challenging age, I have many warm memories. I often drive by the house in American Fork and feel a wave of nostalgia for the good times had just watching TV together with my friends.
Then my 30’s came and things started to change (really more at 28 but close enough). Seemingly overnight the big group TV sessions and parties stopped and everything became more one-on-one, highly planned, intimate interactions with friends. This may not seem like a big deal but I remember feeling so sad that I had no one to watch American Idol with any more or celebrate Halloween (our last ‘big’ party was 2009).
While still loving to entertain it takes a lot more effort now than it used to. No just casual ‘let’s go to the apartment and watch The Office every week’ kind of thing. It takes work but that work can be a joy. It took me a long time to realize that I really enjoyed gathering my friends together and coming up with fun activities. I did swimfests, book clubs, baby showers and dinner parties and loved every one of them. Occasionally I could still pull off the big party like last year for my open house (or tomorrow to celebrate 40 book club books!) but it’s just different.
In 2009 I wrote a post on this very blog about a book club I threw where nobody came and how discouraged I was. http://smilingldsgirl.com/2009/06/10/thoroughly-uncool/ I remember feeling so sad that nobody had come to my party: “I am merely puzzled by my recent inability to attract new friends. It isn’t just with Enrichment but the few times I have had parties the turnout is low. I used to be able to always attract a crowd. Weird, hah?”
The problem I was truly dealing with was looking at a new era of friend-shipping through old eyes. Like I said, sometimes I still feel nostalgic and a little sad for those times. It can feel like I make so much effort and in a selfish mood it can seem underappreciated when it really isn’t. People love it and it means a lot to them but it just takes a lot of work to make friendships in this era of my life function.
Truth is those friendships are better because I’ve had to work hard for them. Unlike the fun time in my late 20s where most of the people have come in and out of my life I have a feeling the friends I have made in the last 5 years will always be a part of my life. That’s what work tends to do. Plus, in a way it is kind of a circle of friendship. When I was a teen others allowed me to make friends, now I am facilitating that experience for others. That is a great gift not a burden.
Anyway, I don’t know if this will mean much to any of you out there but even my friends online (twitter, facebook, this blog) take work but I’ve learned so much from that process. I’ve learned to cook, decorate and entertain. Plus, I’ve learned to actually appreciate and discuss the arts, movies, theater, etc. It’s not casual like those days in my 20s but it’s very rewarding and great.
In the end, enjoy the season you have now. Look fondly on the past, remember the smiles and moments and then try to learn and serve as much as you can in the present.
It’s a good life and I’m grateful for my friends! To a fun day tomorrow!
So I laughed harder today than I have in many years. Yes, years. The kind of laughing where you can hardly breathe and your side aches.
What made me laugh? Well, lately the website buzzfeed.com has been doing a bunch of surveys to determine all kinds of things like ‘Which Jane Austen Heroine are you Like?’ or ‘What superhero are you?’ etc. They’ve become popular with my friends so I mozied on over to take a few as a lark.
The first one I got was quite the ominous survey ‘How will I die’. I mean who doesn’t want to know that? Would certainly help when purchasing life insurance. So I filled out the survey and the results pop up. I am not altering this in any way. This is what it told me:
“You will be suffocated by existential dread. An unbearable sense of the sheer pointlessness of it all, once tamped down by booze, drugs, and the occasional, ultimately meaningless sexual release, eventually becomes too much for you”
That’s rough…Who knew I was both so thoughtful and such a rebel. So existential dread is defined by our friends over at wikipedia as “It is used in English to describe an intense feeling of apprehension, anxiety, or inner turmoil. In other languages…. it is used regularly to express fear.
Also existential philosophy is the brainchild of Soren Kierkegaard. The idea is you use your brain to perfect yourself and separate from the empty, meaningless world. (Catcher in the Rye with all the ‘phonies’ is an example). Anyway, who knew that it had such a hold on me enough so that it would suffocate me and lead to my death’. No more deep thinking for me! 😉
‘After sitting alone thinking about the earth and all the shallowness and emptiness I thought ‘why not take another survey? I mean it won’t mean anything but I might as well’…
So I found one that seemed pretty innocuous ‘What sandwich are you?’ Perhaps I was eating lunch and needed some guidance but you won’t believe what I got as my sandwich. Again, I am not making this up. It said:
‘You got the Sad bologna sandwich. Look at your life. Look at your choices” Now I’m really experiencing some existential dread. Look at my choices? Look at my life? I never knew I was so off track. And it’s not just a bologna sandwich but a sad bologna sandwich. Even my bologna is sad. Now that is existential…
What’s a girl to do? Existential dread, a sad sandwich. Look at my life choices…I’m a mess. A bit of an academic mess that likes cheap mystery meat but a mess!
But then I found some comfort in an article in the Huffington Post and again I am not making this up. It said:
“New research shows Tylenol may have the unseen psychological side-effect of easing existential dread….We think that Tylenol is blocking existential unease in the same way it prevents pain because a similar neurological process is responsible for both types of distress,”
Phew! What a relief. I’ve got to stock up on tylenol.
But what do I do about my sad sandwich? And my life choices? When I see bologna in the stores it’s going to have a whole new tragic appeal to me. How can a sandwich be sad? Evidently if it is my sandwich it brings on all kinds of anxiety, distress and sadness. Perhaps the poor life choices have something to do with the tylenol too! Maybe that will help me get a happy sandwich?
Anyway, I thought it was hilarious, but I implore all of you to watch out for any existential dread posts or if you see bologna in my fridge give me a hug and ask me how those life choices are going. You may be my only hope!
How do you determine the success of a health regiment or diet? I would wager that 90% of you would answer “weight loss” or if you didn’t you probably would be thinking ‘weight loss’ in your head but saying something more socially acceptable.
Here’s the thing- THAT IS WRONG!!
Every day there seems to be more evidence that the link between weight, even obesity, and actual health is not as strong as we once thought. This defies the logic of the ‘war on obesity’, Michele Obama, scores of trainers/dieticians but that doesn’t mean it is not true.
Read this book. It will BLOW YOUR MIND
Think it is just one woman’s crazy enabling antics? No. The book has 7 pages of detailed recommendations from doctors, leaders, scientists etc. (see articles for more back up
To start the book Dr Bacon (I know ironic last name) shares her testimonial. Here it is directly from the book:
This quote might lead you to believe the book is merely anecdotal but its not. There is real science to back up what she says about eating healthy, being happy and not worrying about weight. She leaves no stone unturned answering questions about diabetes, cholesterol, heart disease, bone density, and even has the most brilliant defense against gastric bypass I’ve ever read. I’m telling you it will change the way anyone, not just the obese, look at eating, health and exercise. Here is my favorite (this is also quoted in Amy Farrell’s brilliant book Fat Stigma):
UC Davis.
“In this study, a group of fat women was divided into 2 groups, one receiving coaching in restrictive eating (diet) and exercise, the other being encouraged to eat a healthy diet, listen to their bodies cues, to foster ways to engage in fun exercise and take part in a fat acceptance discussion group.
Significantly group 1- the traditional diet/exercise group- initially lost weight, but by the end half had dropped out; most had regained weight; blood pressure, cholesterol, and other metabolic measures had not improved and self-esteem levels had dropped.
In contrast, group 2 hadn’t lost any weight, but most stayed with the 2 year program; their blood pressure, cholesterol, and other metabolic measures had improved dramatically; their self-esteem levels increased substantially; and they exercised regularly. Encouraged to pay attention to their bodies, to stop restricting calories, to fight the discrimination they experienced as fat people, and to enjoy their bodies through physical movement and eating well- the non-dieters showed significant health improvements. But, and this is the key point, they never became thin.”
Doesn’t that blow your mind?
One of Dr. Bacon’s patients describes her battle and realization of her own worth so beautifully:
I recently have become aware of the activist Jeanette DePatie, otherwise known as The Fat Chick. She gets it. I wish someone had explained this to me when I started exercising (instead I went into it expecting to lose 100 lbs in the first year. Sigh…)
I am happy most of the time. I love my life most of the time. I have times when I’m more fit than others but I’ve basically looked the same since I was 17 years old and I was always ashamed by that, like it was this big failure I could never overcome. Now I just make sure I have clothes that fit me in lots of sizes and work out at least 3 times a week. Would I like to be skinny? Yes, but I’m finally not convinced I’d be any happier if I was (or healthier). The guilt is for the most part gone.
I hope this encourages all of you. I started my journey saying I was the Only Happy Fat Woman in America and I had friends who fought me on it. They thought I was just being patronizing or disingenuous but it was true then and today it is still true (I really had someone argue with me saying I was basically full of crap. Not true). TV will make you believe you have to be miserable if you are fat (biggest loser sorry) but its a lie! Be healthy, be happy, be human, have bad days, eat cake and then work out for an hour the next day, find stuff you love, therapies that work and live the best life you can.
Every time Tanya and I swim together people look and have a surprised expression. I know they think ‘I’ve never seen a girl that looks like do what they are doing’ and that makes me so happy. It may be my greatest legacy of all.
So thats what I have to say on that. Get active. Be happy. Love life and Follow God.
And just keep at it.Do something you never thought you could do. I love MMA (kick boxing) and I’m not too bad at it!Do a fashion show when you find a cute pair of jeans. Who cares!Find something you love. Even after all the swims I’ve done it still makes me smileMy trainer who has stood by me for 4 years. She is why I go to treehouse and she is one of my rocks. I really love her.
I would also just add that my times in the water when I’m at my thinnest and best trained is about 3 minutes faster than when I’m not. My recovery is much better but my time really isn’t. Funny. It just goes to show what your definition of success makes such a difference in achieving it. If I was only focused on times I’d never be successful.
So I have made a difficult decision. I have decided to not swim Slam the Dam. Here are the reasons:
1. I miss General Conference for my church. I should have just abandoned the attempt in the first place because watching this live and tweeting during it has become a big part of my life. I need the nourishment and its just not the same watching it backwards.
2. Despite their best efforts I have not gelled well with the organizers and I’ll just leave it at that.
3. My friend won’t be able to go so she will be driving me down just to watch me swim.
4. The likelihood of my finishing was about 50/50 (being generous). My best time in a 1 mile swim is 54 minutes which is cutting it very close to the hour time limit. I get why they needed to have it but it just wasn’t the best for my friend and I to have the time limit.
5. With the government shutdown looming and very likely the race would be cancelled anyway because they rely on the parks department for the permit and race. I think the chance of everything being resolved by Saturday is very small. One of the organizers said “If the government shuts down the park will be closed and no swim. It’s that simple.” I think its very unlikely the race will go on at all.
6. I have gotten to the pool about 4 times in September. With vacation, sickness, back treatments and everything else it just hasn’t been a great training month like August was
7. In the end, driving 7 hours to not finish or have it cancelled while missing Conference just didn’t seem worth it especially considering I don’t really have any friends going or who would be there to cheer me on.
8. My friend summarized why she wasn’t going and her outlook and I agree:
“I’ve also withdrawn, asking that my swag bag and hoodie be mailed to me. I still dont regret signing up. I had a goal to reach for, and though I fell just short of it, I succeeded in becoming a swimmer. I will take that as the lifetime win it is. And, this just means my first “official” swim will be a SLOW swim. I think I love that!”
9. I will also be following the directions and repeated orders of the planning committee. Today they reiterated that if you are “unwell, ill, injured or generally “off” from your normal self (whatever that means?) or can not meet course cut offs times, please do not swim” . I will respect their request and not swim, leave it at that.
10. All goals just don’t work out and I think there is a lesson in that. This is the second year I’ve tried to do this swim and will be my last for a time. It’s just too busy a time for me and has been too stressful for all involved.
Thank you to all the volunteers and my friends for your amazing support. I love you all so much. Swimming is after all just a hobby. It needs to always be fun and the last month or so it hasn’t felt fun. I’m going to work on that. I know that I’m a good swimmer. Not swimming Slam the Dam does not change that. I know that it is all for the best.
Thank you especially to Tania for being my training buddy and becoming my cherished friend. You are the best. (I feel like I’m giving an Oscar speech but its true).
Thanks you guys!
This is what its all about in the end. Friends always
Guys- it was cancelled in the end so I’m extra happy with my decision (and glad I made my own medals in advance!). I am sorry for those hoping to swim that couldn’t. Karma…
For those of you who do not follow me on facebook you might not be aware of the recent drama in my life. It started in the summer when my new friend Tanya and I started training together. She was new to open water. New to swimming in fact. She is a student of my friend Kate who is a fabulous swim instructor for adults. She’s introduced so many people to swimming and open water over the years and has helped me tons with my own stroke.
In July Tania mentioned to me that she wanted to prepare for a race but didn’t feel she would be ready for Deer Creek in August. The next obvious choice was to take the trip out to Slam the Dam in Las Vegas at the beginning of October. I have done this race in 2011 and it was a lot of fun. I figured why not? (I had signed up last year but various dramas kept me from attending).
So the training began and we got to blackridge pond as often as we could and we both saw improvement. More importantly we had fun and became dear friends.
Tanya and me.
Tanya is honestly good for my ego because she thinks I’m such a good swimmer. I love to swim but pretty much always know I’m the slowest girl in the room and I’m ok with that. I get the job done and that’s all that matters to me. I’ve told Tanya repeatedly over these weeks ‘this is a hobby. If it isn’t fun you are doing something wrong’.
That said, I’ve had nagging doubts about my abilities all along. With my back and other chronic pain I haven’t been able to train as hard as last year, it was frustrating for me to feel like I wasn’t the swimmer I was just a few months ago. These anxieties were made worse by the realization of a strict time limit at Slam the Dam. For some unknown reason the park service would only give them until 11 am and then everyone has to be done.
This only gives the 1.2 mile swimmers 1 hour to swim. The organizers have told me it is ‘plenty of time for a swim’ but they don’t understand or aren’t interested in nurturing new/nontraditional athletes. My best time on a 1 mile swim is 53 minutes. At Deer Creek my time was 1 hr 2 minutes for 1 mile.
To make matters worse they sent out an email last week saying “If you are not adequately prepared mentally and/or physically, do not race” What does that even mean? I’m not mentally prepared for life let alone a race. I mean who feels adequately prepared for something so monumental? I bet if you asked Michael Phelps he’d tell you things he wished he’d done or worked harder on. To me this was baffling and kind of mean-spirited. (and I begged for some kind of an accommodation but no go)
They have also made it clear that you will be pulled from the water if you go over time, which I’m ok with but I just wish the time limit didn’t exist. It honestly makes me sick inside. Sick for my friend. Sick for me. Sick for all the other new swimmers who will be discouraged from participating. A side of me wants to throw in the towel and not make the effort to drive out there and be humiliated…
But where’s the victory in that? I’d say there is about a 50/50 chance depending on weather, current, course, strength, stroke etc that I finish the race. My GSL time after all was 1 hr 24 minutes so not even close to the cut off time because of the strong current. (Thank you Utah races for not having a time limit or at least a strictly enforced one).
50/50…so I either succeed and have a triumphant moment or I get a DNF (Did Not Finish). Even now there is a side of me that shudders when I say those words. It is so outside of my nature to not finish, and yet isn’t it always a possibility in any endeavor? At least anything worth doing can be a success or failure?
The funny thing is the ingredients are nearly the same for a finish and a DNF- both have training, goal setting, driving, racing, happy friends and lots of people who say to me ‘I could never do that’. The only difference is me and my pride. Kind of silly…
I love what JK Rowling says about failure. ” It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default”
I don’t want to fail by default. For me a DNF will be a DNQ (Did Not Quit)
How do you guys deal with DNF’s and potential failures in your goals? Its especially hard when it is so outside of your control. What are your strategies?
I can definitely promise you this- I will not be swimming Slam the Dam again anytime soon. If they only want athletes with a specific set of skills than they have got it. This will be the last year myself or my blog are involved. Too bad really…
I’ve gotten some great encouragement on facebook from the swim forums. Thanks everyone!
Shawn C Turner the worst that happens is a dnf (eh!) and a boat might pick you up before the finish (or race officials ask you to swim out near a feed station, depending on course layout). if you don’t mind the drive and want to swim the race, i say go for it.
Rachel Wagner I think what has made me worry is the organizers sent an email saying “If you are not adequately prepared mentally and/or physically, do not race”. I never feel adequately prepared. Certainly not mentally.
Shawn C Turner i think they mean swimmers who might take the race for granted, or who don’t know what they’re getting into. they’re not talking about you. your objective in this race is that time limit; you’re close. concentrate on your technique, keep some gas in the tank, and when you feel you can kick it up a gear toward the end, go for it!
Isa Bird Which category are you doing? It looks like they have as many kayaks as swimmers!
Go for it, what an experience and as others have said, enjoy the journey and have FUN. Respect!
Richard Nuell It was interesting that the business of whether event organisers really want not quite so fast people was thrashed out quite recently either here or on another site. If the event took place last year, check the results if not, the general opinion was t…See More
Kelly Grace Winters Go for it Rachel! I am having a similar thing about a triathlon I’m supposed to do next weekend. I have an illness that prevented me from doing much training over the summer, so I am not exactly going to cruise through the thing. But what the heck! Go and do it anyway, and enjoy the day. Feel proud of yourself for giving it a go and doing the best you can.
Ann Schuette Apple Do it!!!!! You have trained for it and looked forward to it. Worth the drive because if you didn’t do it you wish you had for much longer than 7 hours. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!
Floyd Fisk Go for it and don’t worry if you don’t make the time limit (my bet is that you will). The statement in the emai is there to protect the race organizers and for those who are inexperienced in open water swimming. You have the experience as shown by your 6 previous swims. I’m sure you will do great. I will be there too and this will be my longest OW swim (2.4+1.2). Good luck!
Some things you might not know about me from reading only this blog- I have hard time being happy (even in the happiest place on earth) when I am A. Tired, B. Sore, or C. Hungry. I realize this may seem very ‘first world’ of me but there you go. We are all weak in our own way.
Well, today started out pretty good. I was feeling strong after my relaxed day yesterday and ended up spending the morning alone at California Adventure. I like spending time by myself. I like that nobody can hear me groan and I can go at my own pace, eat what I want, do what I want. I suppose this is slightly unhealthy of me but again that’s the way it is with me!
Meeting the big man himself.At Muppets 3D. Don’t I look Judge Dredd?
So everything was going well and then after a few hours my feet were beginning to hurt and I headed over to Disneyland to meet up with my sister and Mom. I waited for the omnibus which was taking forever. Then I decided to take the train and as I was traveling realized I didn’t have my cell phone. I had to wait until the train stopped, walk back to the omnibus area and it wasn’t there. (It was also close to 100 degrees plus humidity!). I went to lost and found and spent time filling out a report with a rather unhelpful lady (and very hard to understand).
I also didn’t know my sisters cell phone number or I would have called her to meet up. My Mom didn’t have her phone. Anyway, I had no idea what to do. Then we called my Dad ( I realized I only have 4 phone numbers memorized. Not good!). He was able to reach Madi’s phone and she actually had my phone! I guess someone had found it and called the last number which was her. Thanks kind stranger.
Anyway, I was pretty stressed out and then when I went to get back into the park I couldn’t find my ticket. Despite taking a photo of me and stamping my hand they still require a ticket. Sorry Disney but that is dumb! The whole situation made me cry.
So that’s what I look like when I cry friends
A lot of this has to do with my frustrations over my pain and my unmet expectations of training and working hard on my physical fitness. I was hoping to have more energy and fun this trip. It was very disappointing.
So that was the drama for the day (worthy of a Disney movie right?). Don’t worry though. It got better quick.
A smile back on my face
I’ve learned from this trip something about myself. I like vacations where I can sleep, reconnect with myself and soak in sun (and swim as much as possible). My Mom referred to Disneyland as a ‘walking vacation’. Here’s what I now know: I don’t like walking vacations. I like sleeping vacations.
My style of vacation
Good thing to learn about myself right?
So, I don’t want you all to think I didn’t have a good time or am ungrateful because that’s not true. I did have fun. I am grateful, especially for my Dad, everyone at Poler and my roommate for making this all happen. Thank you so much!
Now tomorrow I’m going to the beach. HURRAY!!!! I can’t wait.
So you’ve got to keep learning and growing. Hope you are all doing well.
Rachel's Musings 