Rich and I were set apart this morning (6:00 a.m.) as temple workers. In his setting apart, Rich was blessed that he would feel great joy in his temple service; that he would be blessed in his duties at home and work as he served. He was also blessed that he and I would be safe as we traveled to and from the temple each week. In my blessing, I was told my mind would be quickened to learn, understand and retain the things I needed to know. This evening I mentioned to Rich what a wonderful blessing he'd gotten. He said, "Really? What was it?" I told him and then also told him what mine said. He said, "You mean, like the fact that you remembered both of the blessings and I didn't remember any of it?" Yeah, something like that!

TRI retrospective

I got into the Triathlon last year at Joella Peterson's encouragement. We trained together all year, starting in January 2011! It really strengthened our friendship and was great fun. When I started, I didn't even know HOW to swim freestyle. I could only do a few strokes before getting very tired and resorted to the side stroke or backstroke. Then I got a video from the library on how to swim freestyle, which was very helpful. I put into practice all the tips from the video and found I could swim 10 minutes of freestyle! That built up to where I was swimming for an hour just freestyle quite comfortably. Before practicing for the Tri, I didn't really enjoy bicycling all that much. I felt I wasn't very fast and it was a chore that made my legs tired. This year, with my second year of training, I found I LOVE biking! My leg strength has increase so much that biking is effortless and so enjoyable. I went from biking the 13 miles in about 70 minutes (last year) to finishing in 47 minutes this year. The best part: this year I was performing 20 pounds lighter than I was last year! I feel really good about my weight loss and general fitness levels. I'm trying not to be too obsessive about "dieting" but find it is actually a lifestyle of eating better, exercising more and respecting what I put into and do to my body. The nice thing about the Wonder Women TRI is the camaraderie and encouragement we give to each other. It's an all-women LDS organized event. There is not a spirit of competition except with one's own abilities. Everyone you pass (or passes you) gives out encouragement and cheer to spur you on. A great time was had by all.