Intellectual Devotional & training today

For whatever reason, I've been bored with the music I listen to while training and decided to go back to the Intellectual Devotional for awhile. I'm the worst when it comes to remembering details so I find this audiobook helps keep me sharp. Today I was listening to a very sad and disappointing part of our American history -- specifically the time when Jim Crow laws were enacted and the South fully embraced discrimination against blacks. One thing I found interesting was that prior to Jim Crow laws, baseball teams were mixed. Once Jim Crow laws were passed -- even baseball, the American past-time, was segregated. It wasn't until Jackie Robinson took the world by storm that baseball became colorful again.

I absolutely love the United States and honestly, now that I've lived somewhere outside of the US, I'm even more thankful for many of the incredible liberties and opportunities that exist in my native homeland. Of course that doesn't make us a perfect nation nor does it erase the dark marks on our nations history. I know we aren't nearly as prejudice as we once were 100 years ago, but it still exists and to me -- that's just disappointing.

A few weeks ago when I was talking at Alexandra bookstore about pop-culture, self-image and identity in God, I brought up an experience I had in college. I think I've shared about Susan in the past but basically she became a friend of mine during my second year. When I first saw Susan on campus I was honestly scared and repulsed. She was a quadriplegic and could only use a few of her fingers to direct her motorized wheelchair on campus. She had a hard time keeping her head up and when she talked, her words were often loud and slurred. I was embarrassed for her sometimes. But as we became friends one day after meeting up at the elevator, I began to see her life as something of incredible value when at first glance I was honestly nauseated by the thought of going deeper than surface.

Susan was a quadriplegic but she didn't let that hinder her ability to make the most of life. She was full of confidence and joy and even when it was obviously hard to be in her situation, she had seen herself in the eyes of God and was not moved by other people's opinions. I can't tell you how much I learned from her. Yet, initially I categorized her and was afraid to engage. Oftentimes, awareness brings the ability to change and I guess I just pray that despite our differences around the world that we could see the beauty in others and not reject them based on first opinions and perceptions. Everyone has a story. Are we willing to listen to it?

OK, now that I'm off my soap box inspired by the Intellectual Devotional, I want to say.....Thanks for letting me ramble. I love having food for thought and discussing things like this. Now onto training....
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My training in the pool today was incredible! I was impressed with myself and encouraged. I had a 55 minute swim to make up from last week and fortunately, I did it with much more ease than I anticipated. The lanes were clear and wide open for training! I brought my hand and feet accessories and I inducted them at Margaret Island pool. :D I think I got the hang of using the flippers. Isn't it to do controlled foot movement? I need to watch some swimming instruction videos or something on that one. I'm curious.
Here's what I did for swimming.
4 x 100 free style for warm up
4 x 50 stroke and I used hand paddles (felt the resistance!)
2 x 50 stroke without paddles
1 x 50 free style
1 x 200 stroke with flippers (felt the resistance)
2 x 50 stroke without flippers
4 x 50 stroke with flippers
2 x 50 stroke without flippers
1 x 200 free style
(I spent the last 5 minutes back stroke and slow swimming. I forgot to count laps. I also lost an earplug halfway through training which would normally have tweaked me. I'm kind of a wuss about getting water in my ears, but that open water swim helped me get over a lot of fears and uncomfortableness. For that, I'm thankful!

If the race day swim goes as well as training today, I'd have to say the swim part of the tri is going to be a breeze. We shall see....As for the 25 minute run scheduled today, if the rain doesn't stop I don't know if I'm going to make it out there. I may have to get up early tomorrow and get it done.
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I'm excited about some additional staff meetings scheduled this week with a guest from the States. John has been a pastor, a basketball coach and many other things in his lifetime. He's in his 70's and is coming to provide some special training and encouragement to our staff. I'm looking forward to this time together later this week. In the meantime, I'm trying to re-arrange Thurs/Friday and fit it into the beginning of the week so I can attend these extra meetings.. We'll see if I can do it! I think I can.