But the Greatest of These is Love...

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.But the greatest of these is love. 1st Corinthians 13:13.

In my opinion, these are some of the most important words in the Bible. In fact, if I had to choose a verse that would define what the Bible is about, this one would be in the top ten. Sure, the Bible emphasizes the Gospel message. You know, how God created man, how (graced with the ability to choose) we screwed up His plan for us, how Christ redeemed for our sins, how we are able to accept this gift and spend eternity in the most awesome place that God ever created. But if you really pay attention to the themes of this book, you realize that it is not just explaining why we are here, and how we can accept God's grace and avoid the consequences of our sin. The Bible explains how we should live.

There are a billion self-help books out there, and many are extremely popular. Why? Because as a general rule, people aren't happy. It's not just because we are never satisfied with what we have, and are always thinking about how awesome our lives would be if things were different. It's because we don't know how to be happy. Sometimes we wonder if we even deserve to be happy.

Well let me tell you something. We aren't happy because we aren't focusing on the things that make us happy. You want to know how to be happy? Look at the way we were created! We were created in the very image of the One who said that love is the greatest thing that we are blessed with. We were created to love. To love not just God, but each other.

Think about it. When you do something for yourself, how long does that happiness last? When I get a great workout in, for example, I'm stoked. I'm full of endorphins and loving life. But that feeling stays for only a little while, 'cause if my next workouts aren't so great I get upset with myself and wonder if I'm getting out of shape. Say you take a vacation to some exotic place and spend a week or two relaxing and exploring. How long does that feeling of contentment stay, once you are back in the real world? Say you buy yourself a car, an ipod, a new item of clothing. How long does it take before that thing isn't new to you anymore? Before you start searching for something else?

Face it, when we try achieve happiness by pleasing ourselves, it never lasts. It wasn't meant to, because Life.Is.Not.About.Us. Say it again, and again. Understand this, and your life will seem so much more simple. Stop trying to do things for yourself!

Instead, do things for other people.

Last week I met this guy named Joe. He's a maintenance worker who was cleaning the yard of a friend of mine. We chatted for a while, and I told him that I'd love for him to stop by for dinner sometime (nothing romantic of course; I'm engaged and he is an older married man). Today I saw him again. He showed up at my door and asked me to make a call for him because his cell phone isn't working. I invited him in, and we made small talk after I placed the call. Turns out he's part Apache Indian (my nerdy history-obsessed self was fascinated), and was married to a blue-eyed lady with four kids, one of them in Heaven. He is nearly broke because his wife is in the hospital, and with little formal education he is trying to support his family as best he can by doing maintenance work for whoever needs it. He is one of the most fascinating people I have ever met. The stories he can tell! I told him to bring his wife by as soon as she is out of the hospital, and we can have dinner with my fiancee and just take time to learn more about each other. In the meantime Kip (my fiancee) and I are going to do whatever we can for his family. We don't have much in the way of material possessions or money, but we do have the most important asset in the world - love.

Love each other. How often do you take the time to get to know the people around you? REALLY know them. It's more than a smile, more than a "hey hope your day is going great". It's asking them about themselves, what they love, who they really are. It's using what you have to make their lives better. It's sharing. It's caring. It's love.

And love brings happiness. Joy. If you don't think this is true, you've never truly loved someone before.

You don't have to be best friends with someone to love them. You don't even have to know them! Offer a kid on a bike a ride home on a cold day. Tell someone you care about them - and prove to them that you do. Cook dinner for someone who is sick, and offer to stay with them for a little while. Bring someone a bouquet of flowers, not because you "like" them but because you want to see them smile. Offer to babysit so a couple can have time to relax together. Write an encouraging letter to someone who is hurting, and be there for them. All the time.

Give someone who you don't think deserves it a second chance. Or a third. Because who are you to say that they don't deserve it? Do you know them? Do you know what they are going through? Give this person an opportunity to show what they can do. If you are able to tell them what to do, then you are in a position to help them, to use who you are to help them become who you know they can be, to do what you know they can do.

Do you want to change the world? Then start now. Love your neighbors, your friends, everyone around you. God arranged the circumstances in your life so that you are exactly where He wants you to be. Nothing is left to chance when an omniscient, omnipotent God is on the throne! He loves us and created us to love other people. Before you ignore someone, before you tell yourself that they don't matter, that you don't have enough time for them, remember that God loves them just as much as you, and they are no less important to Him than you are. Who are you to say that your time, your money, you life should take priority over another's?

God is in control over your life. So quit worrying about making everything perfect. Quit worrying about the future. "Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow, or reap, or store away in barns, yet our Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (Matthew 6:26). God has blessed you so you can bless other people! Take a look at your life - I'll bet that you remember and appreciate the things that others have done for you. My neighbors and friends have helped me and my fiancee a lot lately, and I will never forget it. I smile whenever I think about them. Love other people and you will be loved in return. You will be filled with a joy that cannot be described. Trust me I know!


So change the world. Change it with love.




...but the greatest of these is Love...

Pumpkin Season '10 and Race Season '11 !!!

Ahahaha it has been a while since I blogged about anything! Sorry...but Limo and I are in the process of starting up a joint blog/website that will capture everything going on in our lives - which will be a lot! The tentative name of the site is Runspire.com but that'll probably change since neither of us is too fond of the title right now. What do you think? We will also sell our own line of running-inspired t-shirts, greeting cards, and Kenyan goodies online. I really, really want to market my raw truffles and energy bars, but I am far too busy to start that yet. Hopefully I will begin to share my goodies in the Spring! They are incredible, if I do say so myself ;)

Well enough about that. Right now life is going smoothly, or as smoothly as it can go in grad school! Between reading, writing, and grading exams and papers I am kept crazy busy but it is all fun. In less than two weeks I will be racing Ironman Arizona, and to be honest I am not very excited about that. I'm still trying to figure out why I feel so ill all the time; the doctors have told me everything from hypothyroid disease to toxic mold poisoning to chronic fatigue syndrome. Who knows but it better go away fast.

After that race I will take a few days of offseason, then begin to build for ULTRAMARATHON season!!. I could not be more thrilled to be getting back to my all-time favorite activity. The Bandera 100K is January 8, and the following month I will race the Rocky Raccoon 100-miler. Rocky is going to be a blast, 'cause at this race last year I ran the 50 which was my very first ultra. I fell head over heals in love and don't see myself stopping anytime soon :). After Rocky I will begin to build for triathlon season '11 which is as follows:

New Orleans 70.3

Ironman St. George

Ironman 70.3 Hawaii

*maybe* the BSLT 70.3

San Francisco marathon - sub-3 baby :D

Ironman Wisconsin

Ironman Hawaii

Ideally, Ironman Cozumel...but I gotta make some serious $$ first.

So that's my race season! I'm stoked :D


On another note...mmm there really isn't anything new in my life besides this! Training, racing and school takes up every spare second of my time. Most of my friends tell me that I don't HAVE any spare seconds, but I do manage to make them so everything works out. But only one more month 'till Christmas break, and then it will be time to hit the kitchen for some serious experimenting with food. I cannot wait to perfect my stuffed pumpkin recipes. I am currently in the process of baking pecan pie inside pumpkins for a less-sweet take on pumpkin-pecan pie. Also thinking about stuffing the cute gourds with cheesecake, and obviously apple pie!. Then there's pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin-quinoa risotto, pumpkin protein pancakes, pumpkin-butter swirled butternut squash bread with walnuts, pumpkin tofu curry soup...and other non-pumpkin-y stuff too ;). I really miss my seed crackers, edamame hummus, and multi-flavored coconut and nut butters...haha I LOVE cooking and baking, especially with raw foods :)

Now I'm getting hungry. Let me go make some yummy Kenyan tea for Limo and I...be back with more soon!

Busy Bee!! :)

OH man it has been crazy these past few weeks! I've had a really rough time for a while 'cause I was really sick and couldn't figure out what was up. I hate, HATE complaining so I'm not going to get into that at all, except to mention that I'm really worried about how the last couple less-than-stellar training weeks are going to impact my performance in Arizona. Suffice to say that I probably won't be running sub-3 in the NYC marathon either, but that will come! December...Vegas...I am so pumped!!! :D

Life has been just great besides that though. School is a lot of fun, and I've discovered that I have a mild obsession with the archives in the Southwest Collection here at Texas Tech. Reading and research are so interesting, at least to me....ahhh can't believe I'm such a nerd! Oh well. It's really tough trying to fit everything in but so far, so good. How can I not love life? I

On a completely unrelated note, the fall weather if settling in and I could not be more thrilled. In my mind, cooler weather and squash are the best things about this season! At least in Texas, where we aren't able to appreciate the gorgeous fall colors up north. I just ate half a kabocha squash roasted and mixed with smart balance (does anyone know a healthier butter substitute, or is actual butter, as a whole food, the best option??) honey and pumpkin pie spice for breakfast, and am sipping a homemade soy pumpkin spice latte. So good! I'm planning on making a ton of squash dishes in the next few weeks. My favorites include butternut squash lasagna, where I substitute Ezekiel bread for the noodles so it ends up like a savory bread pudding. Stuffed squash will definitely make an appearance. For a sweet treat I stuff a roasted acorn or blossom squash with a mix of roasted apples, honey and spices, and top it with a spoon of homemade walnut butter. Best. Dish. Ever! Oh and soup/stew in pumpkin bowls is also incredible. I just scoop the seeds and stringy stuff out of a small pumpkin, season the flesh, bake it and fill with homemade soup! When you dip your spoon in you come away with bites of tender pumpkin flesh and soup together...ahhh I want to make this now!

Only I can't 'cause I gotta get my boy to the chiropractor. His back is hurting him pretty bad but hopefully in just a few hours it'll be fixed :) So I'm off, but more to come soon 'cause I'm so happy I want to share it! Plus I'm a girl and I ALWAYS have something to say ;) Have a great fall day everyone...train hard, smile, love life and never, ever take anything for granted :)

Congratulations Kona Finishers!

I just want to say a huge "congrats" to all the finishers of the Ironman World Championships today, especially my friends. WOW, so many of you posted great times...can't wait 'till I can be there next year. It's going to be incredible!

Training this week was really light, 'cause this next week is another crazy week of training. Starting tomorrow with a 50K run. It has been too long! I'll try to update more about school and life, but to be honest school and training IS my life, and honestly, does anyone really want to hear about what a history grad student does? I think not...but if you do be sure to let me know! lol.

So I'm done tracking for the night and off to bed. Have a great week everyone!

Ultra...week?

Well this past week of epic training is over. And I feel great! I little winded, and my legs warned me today that they will not be pushed too hard for a little while. But no matter - for I have officially logged 41 quality training hours in the past 7 days. Crazy but totally worth it, and definitely worth doing again before Ironman Arizona.

I committed to training each discipline once per day, for a total of three sessions/day. Five of the days started out with a ride, so my legs were fatigued going into the run, but hey they just gotta learn to suck it up. The cumulative fatigue towards the end of the week resulted in some less than stellar run workouts, but my goal this week was to log the miles, so I didn't care too much about sustaining a zippy pace. I just wanted to push myself as hard as I could go and get the mental boost from knowing that I am fully capable of doing what I tell myself I can.

I had a great schedule down, and just stuck to it. I would log the actual workouts here but right now I'm far too lazy. Spent all day in class and in the archives, and while I kinda enjoyed it, I'm beat. Maybe I'll put all that down later.

Anyway, today is a rest week of sorts. I was supposed to swim yesterday but the weather was just too gorgeous so I ended up on the bike for a couple hours instead. Then it was off to dinner with Heath, Jennifer and Bryton Pennel. So much fun! Dinner was incredible, and a much better success than my protein pancakes were earlier in the day. I was out of almost everything, so I tried to create my protein pancakes but omitted the oats, egg whites and banana (out), and just mixed the vegan protein powder, flax and water. EPIC fail. Ya live and learn... Anyway, today was a trail run that turned into a tempo run on the roads, and boy did it feel good to feel speed in my legs again :)

Now I'm about to hit the books 'cause I have two book reports to write by Thursday, a topic proposal due Wednesday and some more research to do in the archives. If you live in Lubbock and haven't checked out the Southwest Collection yet, go! It's really awesome. Have a great week everybody, and be sure to watch the Ironman World Championships this weekend. I'm gonna ride a double century Friday and run a 50K Saturday in honor of the epic event. My legs will hate me but it's good for them. Good luck to all my friends who are racing, I'll be praying for - and tracking, you all! :)

My Legs Can Suck It

Three days left of an insane 7-day volume overload period. Unlike many triathletes who prefer to start their weekly training blocks on Monday, I start on Sunday. Why? Because Sunday is long run day, duh! I like to start a new weekly training block with a long run, as opposed to finishing that way, 'cause it just seems right. Only this particular week I am shaking everything up a bit, and I'll tell you why later. I'm not divulging the details of this block yet 'cause I am not done 'till Saturday. But I will say that it will be (and is already becoming) the hardest training week of my life, volume-wise. I am exhausted, insanely sore and know that I'm gonna have to rely on mental strength to finish these last several sessions. My legs can suck it! I don't care how they feel now, this week I am proving to myself that I am capable of what I believe I am. Following weeks will be filled with intensity and all that, but this week, I am just putting in tons of miles and spending hours every day doing what I love. It hurts in a very, very good way. I'm not afraid!

It doesn't matter what goes on in your head. You tell yourself what to think! It doesn't matter what goes on in your life. Deal with it! An true athlete pours their heart and soul into training and racing. No matter how bad it hurts, or whatever setbacks you face, you gotta keep your eyes on your goal and never, ever lose focus. On race day, the win will go to the athlete who wanted it most last month, three months ago, last year. The athlete who planned, trained and raced according to plan all season long. The athlete who gave their all, every day, and not only trained but LIVED their sport. It's not just about training...every little thing you do either brings you closer to your goal or pushes you back. That's what's about to change in my life - I've always lived for the excitement in sport, looking for new ways to get an adrenalin rush. Never cared about recovery or anything like that. But I want to see how far I can go in triathlon, and I am willing to commit to whatever it takes. I have a ton of support from friends who want to see me in Kona. Also I'm living next door to an incredible ironman triathlete who is one day going to win the IM World Championships. How can I not want to pour everything into swimbikerun?

I am so glad that I'm still in school, albeit grad school. I have a much more free time than do most people living in the "real world" and of course I devote this time to training. I have to keep in mind that I am supporting myself, which means that my grades stay UP or else I lose my scholarship and have to take a second job. uggh, no way, so everyone please keep reminding me to focus on school. It's hard when I feel so much pressure to qualify for Kona already.

Like I've said before, I am incredibly blessed. I don't know why, but I *know* that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I've always felt at home wherever I've lived, but it's never been like this. THANK YOU to all my friends and fellow athletes who brighten my day with a smile or a few words. It gets really lonely with all the reading and research I do, and I appreciate all the random encounters and funny texts more than I can say ;)

Sometimes a girl just needs to run...

I don't think I've mentioned this much here, but I've been really sick lately. NO idea what's been up with my body but finally everything is getting better. Training is ON!!! Six weeks 'till the NYC marathon and 10 'till Ironman Arizona....I could not be more excited or ready to trash myself on a daily basis to get where I want to be :D

Anyway, after nearly a month of sickness/something after IM Louisville, I had a GREAT training day today. Which is weird, 'cause Saturday I went for a short ride and barely hung on for an hour. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. But today was completely different. I started my run out at Buffalo Springs Lake (love that place, can't ya tell?!), ran a loop then headed out to Ransom Canyon. Found a farmroad I liked and just kept going. I felt strong and fast, only stopped 'cause I wanted to get a swim in before the pool closed for the day. According to mapmyrun I got in a full 23 miles, and I wasn't even tired. YES, finally!!! I really think that running can cure just about anything, if not the body then the mind for sure. There's nothing quite like running, it's just so natural and relaxing. I am in love...

The swim was great, held a tempo pace for 6000 and again, didn't want to stop. But the lifeguards made me... :(. lol

After that I jumped on my bike for a quick spin and called it a day. Ahh, finally a full day of strong sessions and I even have energy left over. I ate a deconstructed smoothie for dinner (wanted the ingredients but not a cold dinner) which was basically a banana-protein powder pudding-like concoction, and a salad (all my smoothies are made with romaine, love it!). Then I worked on some assignments for a bit, tossed fish and veggies in the slow cooker for lunch and dinner tomorrow, and now I'm about to hit the sack. I SHOULD fold some laundry first though...

Tomorrow is a busy day so I'm gonna start bright and early. Well early anyway, not necessarily bright. A short tempo run, longish steady swim and 4hr ride are on tap. Also two classes and TONS of errands. But I have energy for it all! This is so so exciting :)

I really appreciate all my friends for bearing with me these past few weeks, I know I wasn't as chipper as I usually am. Sorry :( Just know that I am back and ready for some fun! Hopefully next weekend I can act like a "normal" college student, whatever that is ;) THANK YOU to all my awesome family and friends...you make my life so beautiful :) :) :)