Spark

I am swimming again.  I have never actually stopped swimming, but I am REALLY swimming again.  with Gil Stovall, my most favorite swim coach.  (Thank you thank you thank you Gil for coaching again!  I have been hounding, texting, and begging him to start up another program.  He is so tolerant of me- I am super grateful.)

If you are in Memphis and not swimming with us, I don't understand.  Come!  What an amazing coaching resource for us.  

  

So this is week two of 4:20am wake-ups, and I am still pumped.

Some thoughts the team environment and how it really brings me a spark of joy and enthusiasm:

It really hit me today how much I thrive in a team environment.  I have been excited to wake up, I love seeing my friends, I am focused during my workouts, and I am appreciative of my coach.  I was able to reflect on the fact that I have spent almost every day of the majority of my life in an athletic team environment.  Practice with friends is just what I did!  I am an intrinsically motivated athlete.  I can train on my own, race on my own, and do the work on my own.  But I find it interesting that as my opportunities to train with others have dwindled over the past few years due to losing our Master's Swim program and my schedule as a mom, my spark was a little dull as well.

But I feel like even in the past two weeks, that spark has really started to brighten!  My training has more purpose to it, I am working harder, and I am loving it.

And it makes sense.  When I started doing some of my running with my running group (the GeneralOWLS... lol!) this fall, my running spark was ignited again.

And the bike?  I can't remember the last time I rode with friends.  Maybe 3 x in the past 3 months?  Dull spark.

So, it is not that I can't train by myself, as I am certainly comfortable doing that quite a bit.  It is more that a team environment is a very familiar and fun thing for me, and has been for a long time, and I seem to enjoy it, so I am just in a happy spot and need to make sure I keep taking advantage of these group opportunities, because being with a team isn't a given as an adult.

And those were some thoughts that I had, as I left swim class super chipper this morning.  

And Isla and I are watching Nemo right now, so "just keep swimming" is certainly a good thought on which to finish the day.