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Friday, November 16, 2007

Nikki, the Biathlete!

This is old but I have a lot ofcatch up to do since I just started bogging.
So my friend Amy Adams, the only friend in my ward who gets the whole 'running thing',calls me one day and says "hey Nikki, there's this race at Zuma beach, it's a swim and run and it sounds like fun wanna do it?"
"Sure I love running, I'm not a swimmer but I'll try anything once."
So it's a 1/2 mile swim in the ocean onto a 3 mile run. Piece of cake.
So I'm training twice a week, swimming laps in the pool at the gym. I'm not a swimmer, remember? A 1/2 mile is 34 pool lengths, 17 laps. The first time was tough but it kept getting easier and I was getting faster so I thought I'll do great!
Let me tell you something swimming in the pool is nothing compared to the ocean! I thought I was going to die! It was so hard to get out past the break and I was all freaked out because you can't see anything when your head is in the water. I had the wrong wetsuit on, I used Jacob's for surfing which is way to thick and heavy. I wanted to take it off so bad but I thought Steve would get mad at me. I kept looking at the bouy and thinking I'm never going to make it! It's all mental I kept telling myself, "yes you can, your an athlete, your not a quitter, you can do this, keep going"
It worked I made it. When I ran up on the beach I felt amazing I was yelling " did it, I made it!" I had a pretty decent time like 45 minutes give or take a few seconds, I never officially checked the results. The moral of the story is you can do anything you put your mind too. It's 25% physical and 75% mental. If you think you can't, you probably won't!
I don't know how soon I'll be swimming in the ocean again, so don't expect any triathlons in the near future. What an amazing gifts our bodies are. I can't imagine being afflicted with any kind of illness or pain that would limit my pyhsical abilities. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this gift he has given me, my physical body, I treasure it and I love challenging it!
Thanks Amy, I'm so glad we got to share this experience, it was fun!

2 comments:

Melissa C. said...

You're awesome!

Nicole said...

I was so amazed that you girls did this! Great job pushing through the tough spots! What a great accomplishment!