Olympic Excitement

O.k., I gotta admit that I've become rather addicted to the Olympics this year. I mean, sure, I've watched them before, but never with such dedication. Which has actually been quite a challenge since I don't really have a T.V. here... But it's worked out all right. Though I'm sad to see them end.

Still, there are certain "sports" which I just find amusing, too. Like fencing. And the "modern" pentathlon. What's up with that? And synchronized swimming. Beautiful, sure, but odd, no? And walking? When did that become an Olympic competition? So, what do you think are the strangest events, in either summer or winter Olympic Games?

Well, anyway, I just wanted to share this fantastic collection of Olympic photos with you all. Check 'em out if you haven't already. Makes me want to be a photographer... Oh, and enjoy the closing ceremony tonight!

Keepin' Busy

Wow! Where've I been?

Well, in addition to working, I've been having a little fun here in Princeton. Meeting some people, watching some Olympics... You know.

Yeah, so I've made a good friend in my neighbor Debbie. (In fact, I'm sitting in her house right now typing this, with her sweet cat to keep me company.) And I've found a couple of really neat groups of athletes to train with. There's a cycling club out here I've been riding with once a week or so. And on one of those rides I met a girl who told me about this running group that does track workouts every Tuesday and longer runs on Thursdays. There's a coach guy that volunteers his time to help other runners since he can't run much anymore, so it's free for us to come out and be on this makeshift track team. (Which is cool, 'cause a couple months ago when I helped a friend out with his school's track meet, I remember thinking, "I wanna be on a track team!" and now I kind of am. Even if it's just for a couple of weeks... ) And finally, some of the runners I met also do this master's swim class thing at a local fitness club, which I checked out last week. And it was awesome, let me tell you what! I used to just jump in the pool and swim for an hour or so, but that's not necessarily smart training. These workouts are probably more strategic, and are really just more fun 'cause they mix things up. Plus you get to do it with friends, which is just cool.

So, yeah. I'm gonna miss Princeton...

But I'm also really looking forward to coming home. :-) See you guys soon! (Aug. 30th...)

Central New Jersey Triathlon

For those of you who can't exactly picture what the transition area at these races looks like, here's a pic. But keep in mind: even though it looks crazy huge, this is really only about a quarter of the entire area!

And this is how you set up all your stuff, usually on a small towel under or next to your bike, which is propped up on those pole racks. Just FYI: You're assigned to a particular rack based on your race number, but you can put your bike anywhere along there where it fits. Obviously, it's best to be closest to the inside aisle, though, so you don't have as far to run or as many other people to maneuver through in transition. So, get there early! (Mine's the third bike there on the rack.)

And for anyone interested (or just for my own personal records later), my times at the triathlon last weekend were as follows:

My overall time was 2:55:08, which was 476th out of the 739 total competitors in the olympic distance triathlon.
I was 135th out of 265 women in the race.
In my age group, I was 22nd out of 38.

My swim (1500 yards) took 32:44, which was 379th overall.
My first transition was 3:08.
My bike (24 miles) took 1:10:16, which was 343rd overall. I averaged 19.8 mph.
My second transition was 1:54.
My run (10 km) took 1:07:08, which was 602nd overall. I averaged 10:50 min/mi.

I Was There

Irmgard, the 73-year-old German lady I'm staying with in Princeton, always greets me in the morning or when I come home with ads, articles, events, etc. that she thinks I might or should be interested in. Well, the headline she showed me this morning was: "Triathlete feared drowned." Apparently, a 52-year-old local man never came out of the water after the swim leg of his race yesterday. Rescue workers searched the lake in the afternoon, but thunderstorms impeded their efforts, so they're supposed to be resuming their search this morning.

Here's the full article I saw this morning. And here's a shorter blurb, with pictures.

This just in...

And here's the follow-up article from Tuesday's paper.

The Champion of Whatever

Chinese fortune cookies amuse me. I mean, besides the fact that they don't actually have fortune cookies in China, the "fortunes" often aren't really even. So I think I'll start sharing some of my favorites that I find. Today's:

"Go for the gold today! You'll be the champion of whatever."

Why?

Why do I like ETS and this job so much?
Why are my mentors so cool?
Why is Princeton so pretty?
Why is everything so close and convenient here?
Why do I enjoy the diversity so much?

Why haven’t I met many Christians here?
Why is the church not as warm and welcoming as CCC?
Why don’t I get to play guitar anymore?
Why is Princeton so expensive?
Why do all my co-workers feel stuck here?
Why are my friends and family so far away?

Why did I make up my mind before I came that I wouldn’t like it?
Why did I assume I wouldn’t stay even if I were offered a job?
And yet, why did I decide to wait to sign a new lease in Cincinnati?
Why do I feel like crying whenever I think about moving here?
And yet, why do I feel like it might be a really good opportunity?
Why do I choose what I want rather than what I think I should do?
And yet, why do I assume those two things are different?

Why can’t I have it all?

So basically what I’m saying is: I’d appreciate your prayers. :-)

Small and Weak

So I've been in Jersey two weeks now. I'm really enjoying the job, and I've met some nice people, but I'm still just really missing everyone back home. It's funny, 'cause I don't think I took my friends for granted while I was in Cincinnati - I knew they were great and I treasured time spent with them. But I still can't seem to fully engage with my new surroundings because my heart just isn't here. In fact, I think I'm afraid to really like it here because I don't want to leave Cincinnati for good.

But anyway, the point is... I've been trying hard to keep in touch with everyone in Cincinnati, and I so look forward to chats and emails with old friends. But I can't help but wonder why I don't treasure my God as much, why I don't look forward to time spent with him the same way I long to connect with those he's created and placed in my life. I do take him for granted, and I know it, but I still don't know what to do about it. I think the problem is that I'm small and weak. My mind can't possibly comprehend the depth of who God is or what he's actually rescued me from. He seems distant and impersonal, even though I know that he isn't. And I think that's what's most frustrating: the discrepancy between what I feel and what I know, between how I want my relationship with God to look and how it actually is.

Hmm. Guess I just wish I knew how to love and enjoy God more. Any thoughts on that one?

Stuck in the Middle

At work, I'm old. Other times, not so much.

See, the other three interns in my office are 19, 20 and 21. Two of them can't (legally) drink or gamble, none of them can rent a car, they're all still in school. Sometimes it's funny, like when I'm talking about a musical I was in in high school, 15 years ago, and the other girl says, "Fifteen years ago, I was FOUR." In fact, we joke about the age difference almost every day, which is fine, but sometimes I do just feel a little out of place with them.

Then I come home, and hang out with 73-year old Irmgard. And the other guy who rents a room from her is probably in his 50's and always calls me "kiddo." Then on Monday I went up to the library for this "Noodle Talk" group thing, and it was basically me chatting it up with a bunch of 50- and 60-year-olds again. Interesting, but still, felt a little out of place.

So, yeah! Life's a little strange right now. But it's o.k.: keeps me on my toes!

Philadelphia Women's Triathlon Results

So I realize that these were "only" women competing, and that it was probably the first race for many of them, and that a lot of them probably weren't there to be really competitive, but I still think I did really well! Here are my times (keep in mind these were shorter distances than the last one I did):

My overall time was 1:39:06, which was 157th out of the 723 women who completed the triathlon. In my age group, I was 23rd out of 80.

My swim (700 yards) took 14:18, which was 206th overall.
My first transition was 2:54.
My bike (17.1 miles) took 49:54, which was 46th overall. Yea! I averaged 20.4 mph.
My second transition was 2:06.
My run (5km) took 29:55, which was 380th overall. I averaged 9:39 min/mi.

So there ya go! Good times... (I meant "fun" when I first typed that, but pretty good times for the race too!)

A Different Kind of Race

So, today I was in the Philadelphia Women's Triathlon. Now, I've done two of these before, but this one was different. First of all, there were almost 1000 competitors, where the other two had only two or three hundred. And there were more than 70 women in my age group today as compared to six or eight the last two times. Plus, this time the athletes were all women, which was cool. The other two races were both at a rural park, too, while this one was in the center of the city, so there were a lot more spectators today as well. But most notably, there was a huge sense of community or camaraderie this time. It all began with the pre-race meeting/pep rally event on Saturday. I met a couple of nice women there who were doing their first triathlon. I found them again on Sunday, too, so it was nice to kind of know a couple other people even though I signed up for the race alone. Anyway, after the race, most people hung out for awhile, too, and they even had an awards ceremony! All this was new to me, since the last two times, people pretty much took off as soon as they were finished. So, put all these things together, and you have a great race experience! I did well, too, though I'll post the details later, once they're online. And now I'm totally excited for my next race in two weeks, which might be even cooler since there will be 2500 triathletes there!