Hey friends! I have been experiencing a very busy summer between keeping up both of my podcasts and my other responsibilities. I haven’t been as involved in open water swimming in the last 2 years as I once was but I still really love the sport. Last year I didn’t do the swim at Deer Creek and I really regretted it. It’s such a terrific event and there’s no pressure as far as time because we all have support and the 10 milers (I still can’t believe there are 10 milers!) give me plenty of time to finish before things are done.
Even though I really wanted to, I was nervous about participating this year because of my terrible sleep schedule and my lack of training. I knew I wasn’t as ready as I should be but I felt I could still do it if I could wake up in time. I gave it some thought and decided to go for it. Then 3 days before the swim my paddler had to cancel and I thought that might be the end of it. However, to my joy my friend Lisa agreed to paddle for me, which I am super grateful for.
Last night I was actually able to get to sleep at a decent hour! It wasn’t all REM but I got a good 5-6 hours which is great for me so I woke up nervous but excited. Then I started in on the race and the water felt great. Half of the race is mental because it feels like you aren’t making any progress and it can get very discouraging. Luckily I had support and I just keep swimming (as Dory says!). It got harder towards the end because there were more boat waves but I kept going and eventually finished. It was a slow but I did it.
You can watch it all in the above video. Another race has come and gone- 12 races in total for me. Now I just want to get even more ready for next year! What a great experience!
Sorry I haven’t posted this week but I have been in love with watching the Olympics in Rio. I have been in love with the Olympics since I was a little girl- both summer and winter. I used to beg my parents to get cable TV just so we could watch the Olympics every 4 years. There is something about the sacrifice and intensity that inspires me and is like nothing else. Every other competition they have another shot but this is 4 years in the making, which is unbelievable.
This Olympics in Rio we have been able to see not just the best win a gold medal but we’ve seen some of the best gold winners ever. I mean what Michael Phelps has done is awe inspiring. He was already a hero to most Americans but to see him mount a comeback of all things ups the ante even more. His life was off track, he figured things out and then he’s back on top. How inspiring is that? 22 gold medals. I can’t even put my mind around that. Just wow!
And then over in gymnastics it has been awe inspiring. Dubbed the Final Five, the ladies not only one the team gold but did it with positivity and team spirit that really impressed me. Simone Biles is so great the other gymnasts are asking her for autographs and shaking her hand. Tonight her and Aly Raisman went gold and silver in the all around and what an amazing achievement. It’s like the judges had to go searching for deductions they were so good. The crazy thing is if the stupid 2 per country rules wasn’t there than we would have probably swept the podium. It’s just been tremendous to watch.
The last amazing story I’ve enjoyed watching (along with a million other ones) is Kerri Walsh Jennings over in beach volleyball. The 3 time gold medalist and mother of 2 is looking for gold 4 and whether she ends up with it or not it’s been incredible to watch her play. She has never lost a game in Olympic play and I think only lost 2 sets! That’s just mind blowing. I love the fact that she has used it to help her be a better mother not a distraction. She says she’s good at “having babies and playing volleyball”. Ha! She’s also so gutsy when she had some injuries on her shoulder I believe and yet she keeps going strong. She’s just fearless. She’s at these games with a new partner but seems to be doing well with her as well. It’s nothing short of impressive.
What athletes and stories have stuck out in your mind? There are so many so please share in the comments section.
And by the way USA is totally rocking it in the medals count!!! Wahoo!
Hi! I’m excited to tell you another open water swim is in the books! This is my 11th swim and unfortunately my only race for 2016. I was hoping to get 2 in this year but with my travels it just didn’t work out. Hopefully next year will get a few more in.
I will be honest with you I felt a little under-prepared for this race and like I always do I got very nervous this whole week before the race. What if this is the swim that I can’t finish? I feel like it is eventually going to happen one of these days but so far it hasn’t. As I got my Dad and drove up to the race I felt nauseous and began to wonder ‘why do I put myself through this?’. Even as I got in the cold water (it seemed colder than last year) I wondered if I could do it.
But then I start swimming. I got about a 1/4 mile and I really was doubting my abilities. The 1/2 mile marker seemed like a million miles away. It seemed impossible I would ever get there. But I divided it up into small amounts, 100 strokes, 50 strokes, even 25 strokes and I kept going. Finally I made the 1/2 mile marker and wished the race was over but I had to keep on going.
I did several 100 lap batches and at the 3/4 mark there were a lot of boats so the waves get large and difficult to manage (especially when you are tired from swimming for nearly an hour). But I just kept going. My friend Etsuko was my paddler and she helped encourage me and boost my spirits. When I finally saw the finish line I knew it was almost over. I had almost done it and I could feel the adrenaline sink in. I gave one more push and hit that buoy with conviction! Wahoo!
So I am a finisher! My 11th race is done and it was an amazing experience. My Dad also finished which is an awesome accomplishment especially for someone who can’t swim freestyle.
In the end, it was an amazing experience and I’m so proud of my medal. I know it is an Olympic medal and I was one of the last ones to finish our little race but it feels good to watch these Olympians and know I did something physically hard today too.
Day 2 and 3 have come and gone here in Valencia and they can be defined by one word- BEACH!!! I’m sure some people would be up in arms at my missing out on cultural attractions and historical landmarks but aside from seeing my sister the reason I came on this vacation is to go to the beach. (Today we should be getting more of those cultural attractions). It’s also been so hot that all I really want to do is be at the beach.
Day 2 we went to a beach called Pinedo Beach. It is close to where I went on day 1 but a little more crowded. I’d like to find that beach from the first day because I think it was still the nicest I have been to yet.
This time Anna and Steve were able to join me at the beach and we had a great time together. These beaches are different than what you get in Hawaii- more of a commercial feel but it is still beautiful and tons of fun!
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When we got home Anna made Italian food, we talked and then crashed! I still haven’t adjusted to the time zone change yet and have fallen asleep very early each night I’ve been here. That’s probably why it is 6 am and I am writing this post right now. I am also finding it a bit hard to sleep with the heat. It’s just tough to deal with being hot all the time.
I have started to get more sun despite my best attempts. I think it just goes with the territory when you are the beach a lot. Everyone gets a little pink.
The next day was Sunday so I went to church on my own. That was an interesting experience attending sacrament meeting without understanding a single word that was spoken.
Then I ducked into some little shops which was really fun to interact with the local Spanish people. So far I haven’t had any real Spanish food yet but everything I’ve had has been delicious. There is a pastry shop close to my sisters that was a lot of fun to try the various treats.
We were all so overheated we decided to go to the beach again but this time went to Playa de la Patacoma. This is a very crowded beach but it had nice big waves that were very fun to play with.
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I almost wished I’d had a surfboard but it was fun to use my safe swimmer and ride the waves a little bit. I think you can see in these videos how strong the waves were. It was great!
We were all pretty tired out from the strong waves and 3 days of sun but it was still a wonderful time.
After the beach I started to notice I had been bitten by something in the ocean. This of course concerned me especially with how purple it appeared. I didn’t want it to have some kind of venom that would really hurt me.
But Anna and I went to a pharmacy and got some gel with antihistamine and pain relief qualities. It has already helped a lot.
Between the bite and having more than a little bit of redness from the sun we may not do a beach day today. I think it is good to give your body one day to heal and then be ready for the next day! Like I said we are going to the market today and that should be very fun.
I hope you all have a Happy 4th of July holiday and we will be celebrating America one way or another here in Spain!
Sorry it has been a few days since my last post. I have been a little overwhelmed getting ready for my upcoming trip to Spain. I am trying to make sure my youtube channel isn’t dormant during that time so I am trying to get my Family Movie Night, Friday 5’s and Disney Canon Project videos all pre-filmed and scheduled before the trip. Of course, this requires watching all the films, taking notes, filming and editing the videos. No small task. Last weekend I finished all of the Friday 5s for when I’m gone.
Listening
I also did last week’s Friday 5 which was songs not in your native language and I went with Hawaiian music!
Viewing
So last weekend I filmed the Friday 5 for a lot of fun upcoming topics. And I also filmed reviews for Finding Nemo, The Goofy Movie, Independence Day, Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron and 3 unboxing reviews. You can see the Finding Nemo review here. I should be able to see Finding Dory tomorrow and post the review so keep an eye out for that.
On Monday I got to see an early screening for a new comedy called Central Intelligence and that was really funny. I genuinely laughed a lot.
And then today I did a podcast with my friend Tom on the 3rd Star Trek Movie- Star Trek 3: The Search for Spok
Not only have I had video reviews but also written reviews for my blog http://54disneyreviews.com and my column for LDSBlogs.com .Make sure you check all of that content out. In addition I have done some posts for Rotoscopers.com including a review of Make Mine Music and a piece that got a lot of discussion going on The Lego Movie and The Other Pixar Films. I’m tired just reading all of that! Nobody can accuse me of not creating enough content!
Reading-
But it’s not all viewing I also have done some reading. Recently I read Lady Susan and Love and Friendship the more obscure Jane Austen novels and loved them. It’s so funny with Love and Friendship Austen feels like a teenager of today complaining about her parents (she wrote it when she was between 11-15). Lady Susan has Austen’s most devious and selfish heroine but she is hilarious. I loved the book and the movie. Check out my review of the movie here.
I have also finished reading I Am Malala for book club and found it very moving. Here’s my goodreads review:
It’s not going to win any awards for great writing but sometimes life is just captivating on it’s own. I really loved learning about Malala’s family most of all. Her Dad seems like the coolest guy and her Mom as well. The fact they all spoke out at great risk and then had to deal with their daughter getting shot in the face is pretty remarkable. I felt like I got to know her well and that it wasn’t just a fluff type biography. It worked for me.
I started out hating it as another YA love triangle, strong mystical woman book but after a while it won me over. It’s extremely silly but I felt it embraced the campy world. The kissing scenes were fun and it was all very over the top with auras melding together and an extremely silly bad guy. Definitely too long and drawn out for how silly it is but I had some fun with it. I don’t think I enjoyed it in the way the author was intending however. It’s pretty dumb. So if you are expecting a great fantasy read than you will probably be disappointed. If you want an over the top campy romance with fantasy elements than you might have fun with it. Doing-
I got my first taste of open water for the year last week with my friend Etsuko. That was so much fun! I can’t wait to be in Spain and swimming my heart out.
I got 3 new swimsuits for my trip and I think they are pretty cute!
And I got my new passport so I am ready to go!
Finally I went and saw the Broadway touring company of Newsies and it was everything I wanted and more. I have a lot of nostalgia for the film and the Broadway musical has made it even better. It was so much fun! I also got to do it with the Utah Theater Lovers who I’ve wanted to meet up with for some time. I hope I will continue to be able to see more things with them.
Finally we had our first meeting Sunday of the new Midsingles Ward and it was amazing! I felt such a good spirit there and I know it is where I need to be. I can’t wait until some activities start and things really start going.
So all in all things are going pretty good in my life. I’m certainly staying busy. I hope things are going well for you.
So I need help from all of you. I am trying to make a decision.
This June 4th is the Great Salt Lake Open Water Swim. If I swim it I will be my 5th time completing the 1 mile race. Here’s my struggle.
It’s EVIL but very REWARDING!
When I say evil here’s what I mean. You step into the water and your skin burns. Your pores sting and you feel your hands and toes getting chapped and swollen. Your nose gets raw and then your throat starts to burn and your tongue gets numb.
Then there is the race. They always seem to have to start the race in a weird spot. Twice we have been climbing over rocks to get to the starting point. Then there is nothing to sight while you swim so it is hard to keep up morale. You feel like you are on a swimming treadmill and aren’t making any progress. You don’t have your own kayaker like at deer creek to motivate you (although normally I’m so far behind that I have one by default!).
The water saps energy from me so it is exhausting and brutal.
But then and here’s the rub…
I FINISH!
I get that medal and hear my friends cheering me on and it is all worth it. It’s great because it was so hard. It’s an accomplishment because I really pushed myself.
But aren’t things like this supposed to be recreation, supposed to be fun? I’m super out of shape so I guess I’m nervous on that front but I’m sure I can do it. It will just be insanely hard. A side of me thinks why put myself through all that? Especially when I can do Bear Lake and have a much more pleasant experience with time to train in July.
What do you think? Should I do it and make it a 5-peat or take a break for a year? What would you do if you were me?
This post is kind of a product shout-out that I am excited about. You will all probably remember that I recently completed my 10th open water swim race. Until today I had those medals on 2 nails on my wall. The idea was that looking at the medals each day would help motivate me to keep swimming and trying to stay in shape.
Well, a few weeks ago my friend over at http://www.disneyinyourday.com/announced a giveaway on her blog for a medal hanger from https://www.medalhangers.com/. I had never heard of a medal hanger and I thought they were really beautiful. I entered the giveaway and to my delight I won!!! I never win everything so it was so exciting! I used my prize and added a little bit to make a custom hanger and I love it so much!
I came up with the saying ‘Water Knows No Size” because I think it encompasses my swim philosophy. There is no other place where I could win 10 metals but in the water and in that sense the water knows no size. In the water it is about how fast I move my arms and legs not how much I weigh. I’ve always felt at peace in the water and most girls are self conscious in a swimsuit but oddly enough it is where I feel the most confident. Go figure!
I went with 2 layers on my medal hanger but you can have more than that. There are also a number of fonts and icons that you can pick from. Here are some others on the site I liked:
Anyway, I know a lot of you race and I thought I’d share this quality product. They have 100% satisfaction guarantee and they are built to last. Your medals are something to proud of and this is a way to show them off and hopefully be encouraged by them. I think it would be a great thing for kids to see and hopefully encourage them to enter their own races or other athletic enterprises.
If you get a medal hanger I would love to see what you chose. (I’m not receiving anything from them. Just thought it was a good product and I’m really enjoying mine.
Today my friends I am a finisher, 10 times over! Yes, I finished my 10th open water swim at Deer Creek and I couldn’t be more thrilled (and tired!). If you’ve been a follower of mine on the blog you might recall my very first race back in 2011. In fact, after my first open water swim at the clinic that year I posted “Yesterday was the best day of my life!” I hope that everyone is able to find something they love like that in their life. Once was all it took to get me hooked!
What a journey it has been since that first attempt. 10 races have come and gone and they all are treasured memories.
Like always today’s race had its fair share of challenges. I went in to the race feeling pretty confident. I felt strong at Bear Lake and then did a practice swim on Thursday that went very well. My plan was to break up the swim into sets of 100 strokes and then do 25 strokes of breaststroke. The problem was for some reason my asthma was bothering me and I felt pretty wheezy. It didn’t seem like I could get enough air which was causing me to get a lot of water up my nose and in my mouth. This is not the ideal way to swim by any measure. But I kept going…
This race was really neat because my Dad swam it with me. Typically my family and I don’t share a ton of common interests and so it was really neat to share this experience with him! He did the entire race alternating between breaststroke, backstroke and sidestroke but finished and did very well! It’s been a cool month for me with the swim with my Dad and doing the book videos with my Mom. Both meant a lot to me.
It’s the weirdest thing when you are swimming open water because it feels like you are on a swim treadmill. No matter how fast you go it feels like you aren’t making any progress and you will never reach the darn buoy. Then you do and it is so exhilarating! You would think after 10 races it would get less exciting but it is still such a thrill.
My time wasn’t good on the race but the important thing was I finished. I’m very proud of that as I am for all of my finishes.
I’d like to thank my paddler Michelle for taking time out of her busy schedule to help me achieve my goals. She couldn’t have been more encouraging and wonderful. It was so great to catch up as she isn’t my trainer at the moment since I left that gym.
I also want to say thank you to Jim Hubbard and everyone at Salt Lake Open Water for being such a wonderful community that nurtures all types of swimmers. I couldn’t be more grateful that I am accepted and cheered on at every race.
Hey guys! I got back today from my little vacation up at Bear Lake. For the last few years they have had an open water swim up there but I have always had a family commitment. Well, this year I didn’t so I decided to go for it. (Plus, they were doing a 1/2 mile swim which was super nice of them). I found the only motel in town which looked like something out of Bates Motel but it was somewhere to sleep and headed up there Friday afternoon. (I also saw Ant-Man and Mr Holmes this weekend so make sure to check out the movie blog for those reviews).
It’s kind of a weird tourist destination because aside from the lake there isn’t a ton to do. There are only 4 or 5 restaurants and a few little shops. No movies, bowling, or other activities for tourists. I guess the lake is more than enough but Friday and Saturday afternoon it was raining and so it dragged a little. I don’t know if I would want to get a place up there because when I couldn’t swim it would be kind of boring.
But luckily this trip the rain didn’t stop the race and I did get to swim. You can see from the photo up above I finished and got my medal! With the weather it was very choppy waters and so I was glad I went with the 1/2 mile instead of the mile. I finished in 39 minutes which I was proud of. I know technically it is slow but for me that was a pretty good time. Here I am in the water:
It was a small group of 1 mile swimmers but everyone was so friendly (as is always the case in open water events). It was neat about 10 minutes into the swim I noticed a girl stopping and it didn’t seem like an ordinary stop. She was gasping a little bit so I stopped and asked her if she was ok. She said she was swallowing water and her asthma was bothering her. I’ve been there so I told her to do some breaststroke for a little while to get her confidence back and calm down the nerves. She did and she finished the race! Afterwards she told me my encouragement had meant a lot to her. That’s what is great about open water swimming- the community spirit that accompanies the sport. Even though I am far from a typical athlete I probably was the best one to encourage someone like her to finish her race. As I always say ‘if I can do it so can you!’.
Here’s a picture of all of us swimming the 1/2 or 1 mile races:
I made this little video after the race. It’s what I call old school- just my laptop and chatting, so don’t be too tough on that part of it. The internet was very bad up there so I would have done more if I could.
Here I am showing my medal to Jim Hubbard who first introduced me to open water back in 2011 (I call him my open water missionary).
After the race we all chatted for a bit and then I went back to the hotel room and had some breakfast and a good nap. Then later on in the afternoon the sky cleared up so I decided to go back to the beach and wear my glorious sun hat I bought a few weeks ago.
The lake was beautiful and the sun felt great. I wish I could have laid out in it even longer! But alas the sun went down and this morning I had to drive back home. Still, it was a nice little break and I hope to do the Bear Lake Monster Swim next year and hopefully eventually get up to the 7 mile full race instead of just 1/2 mile. My next race Deer Creek Open Water Swim will be my 10th open water race! Can you believe it? I can’t.
Rachel's Musings 