Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Mileposts and Milestones!

Wow, What a weekend!

I have been home about 24 hours now from my little trip to Madison! I volunteered and watched what I consider the "Greatest Show on Earth". Although I did see a clown, I am of course referring to IronMan!

Saturday was relatively relaxed. I love getting up early in the morning, so waking up at 5 to be picked up at 6 by Ironmomjenny and her adorable daughter Ally is a great way to start a weekend and meet new friends. I also met Steve who is a local triathlete and is quite likable even though he isn't a blogger ;-)

I started blogging on May 17th and I was immediately hooked (for reasons I will share in a future post). One of the fun things about blogging and triathlon was "watching" people that have been blogging for years finally meet up with each other at a triathlon or other race event (Wildflower is a great example)

I am incredibly blessed by 1) that many bloggers live in Minnesota and 2) after blogging only 4 months, I was able to meet and/or see many others for the first time already. What an incredible group of people: 21stcenturymom, Laura and Greg, Laurie (who is utterly terrific), another non-blogging, I forget their name, couple at the Hojo, IronNick, Robert, T-Storms and her husband, Kona Shelley and then of course TriMama and the tribe. I was also fortunate to fleetingly meet other blog rockstars like Bolder, Greyhound, TriDummy, TriBoomer, Taconite Boy, RunBubbaRun and the list goes on. Then there are those that I cheered for but they had no idea who I was, IronWil, SimplyStu, RuralGirl, Chris, John Shelp, Dan Cohen, Pharmie and hairless Steve.

I am not name dropping above for the sake of name dropping, I am seriously excited about this group of people.

And I am seriously excited about what I learned from everybody. Dedication, effort, heart, faith but also not taking everything too seriously! What is the sense of all the training and achievement without life? Life with friends, family, God, good food and beer!, intentionality (an explanation of that ahead) and of course more.

Which brings me to an important milestone of my own!

It's really interesting. I am sitting in the front lobby of the Hojo on Washington Street in Madison and TriMama asks me, "Do you like football?" The conversation ended up being about how her and Taconite Man watch Sunday Night football together as just their time. It's an easy time to spend some alone time and talk!

It is intentional time together.

Later, I get home and my wife is a little upset. Had I talked to her all weekend? Did she know when I was going to get home? Did she know with whom I was staying and where?

Anybody that knows me will say that I practically worship Angela. I love her and adore her beyond any description! In return, I give her Soooo much. Yep, so much grief, frustration and probably stress ulcers.

Angela knows I love her, my kids know I love them, but the relationship(s) can't just happen (and in many ways, I don't let it just happen). It needs to have that same kind of intentionality as training for triathlon does.

When it comes to intentionality, triathlon is easy! You have goals, so you intentionally reach for them.

But relationships need that same intentionality. TriMama and TaconiteMan understand that, as evidenced by setting up time together and how proud she is on how, then known as Taconite Boy, he handled his training and family.

This weekend, I realized that I have many people to look up to and not just because of their endurance achievements!

But it also made me wonder!

Where did Taconite Boy get his super powers? After meeting all these incredible people and thinking about my wonderful family and friends, I see where I do and I will get some of my strength!


P.S. One other smaller milestone, I was able to stretch and touch my toes today with legs fully straight. Woohoo.

5 comments:

  1. Hey..it was so cool meeting you, I hope your triathlon/racing journey is a great one and I intend on following you all the way!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOO HOO on touching your toes!
    It was GREAT to meet you in person and I hope to see you around more!

    There are some wonderful people out there in the world - people like Tac, Trimama and the Tribe are priceless and we're all better for knowing them and having an opportunity to learn from the masters. :-)
    Glad you had an awesome weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love the intentionality thing! Trimama and Taconite Man are an incredible couple and they have great kids too. Everyone can learn something from them.

    It was nice meeting you. I just have to say that I am 'udderly' terrific rather than utterly ;) But I will take the compliment either way!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey it was great sleeping with you! (Calm down, people - I was on the rollaway bed all by myself!)

    What a great weekend that was, eh? I also really loved it and loved meeting everyone.

    Sounds like your word is "Intentionality". Click the link to see what I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Laurie,
    I fully intended on using udderly. Man I'm kicking myself in the butt right now.

    21st,
    Thank you for that link. I guess it is my word (for now at least).

    It was awesome meeting the both of you!

    ReplyDelete