My Hundredth Post!

Wow. 100 blog posts. That seems like...a lot...

I am struggling with the theme of this post. Should it be:
A) Race Recap of today's mermaid tri? It was a great event, but the fact I did the relay and my portion of the race was a 2.5 mile run does not seem to justify a whole blah blah-blog post.

B) The fear of this Saturday's swim event? 3.6 miles. No wetsuit. Open water. To quote Sixteen Candles, "Lake. Big Lake." Pool time since Big Kahuna? Um, one pool workout. Mainly because work has been--

C) Crazy. In a good way though. We had a big event on Friday and I found myself on-stage speaking to an audience of over 150 people. If you told me four years ago when I got laid off from the mortgage industry that I would be in the non-profit world and on a stage asking people for pledges I would have been all, "Say what?!" Don't get me wrong--it still terrifies the heck out of me being on stage addressing a crowd, but I somehow got through it.

Much like triathlons. And life...

And really, the truth is, challenges make life more interesting. Getting out of your comfort zone, pushing yourself, celebrating your successes and accepting your failures, constantly looking to the future of what is next...it's pretty cool.

A couple weeks ago I was taking a walk with my 7 year-old niece. She was talking about how she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Then she asked me:

"What did you want to be when you grew up?"

I had to think.

"Um," I said. " A fashion designer. Or a child psychologist." (Yes, even at a young age I was all over the place. Not much has changed.)

"Is that what you are now?"

"No."

She looked at me a little disappointed. Or maybe it was surprise. "Why not?"

I thought about it. How do you explain this to a 7-year-old? I barely know how to explain it to myself.

"Well," I started slowly, "I think it is because when you get older, you start to see more things in the world. You discover other things that interest you."

She was not convinced.
"Not me. I am going to be a teacher no matter what."

"That's awesome!" I told her.

I think what is interesting that for me the adult version of "What do you want to be when you grow up?" had turned more into a "What do you want to be next?" And there are so many possibilities to that. An ironman? A person who can do one measley pull-up? A member of an improv comedy troup? A writer (like, a more than an occasional blog post writer)? A better friend? A better listener? A better leader? A better follower?

When you think about it, it's pretty exciting to think that there is a different "you" right around the corner...just depends on what path you take.

ew...i know...what's with all this positive thinking stuff. ick. What can I say? It's been a bit of an emotional week...and I think I am a hugger now...plus it IS my 100th post. I can be a little sappy, right?