Water

Once the clouds finally opened up and let a little sunshine through today, I decided to go on a bike ride out to Utah Lake via the Provo River Trail. I'd done the trail before, but on my roommates extremely small bike, so I was flying on my new (new to me) bike I got off of KSL. I was flying by, but so was the water that I was riding next to. It's been raining nonstop here for the past week so the water was really high and just crui

sing! Watching it rush by and seeing how much flooding it has caused around it got me thinking about the power and destruction behind it.

It's crazy to think that one of the most powerful and destructive things on this earth i

s also the very thing we need in order to live. Water. Our bodies are mostly composed of water, so w

e need to intake water everyday in order to operate normally. That's a beautiful thing! It keeps us alive. The ocean, on the other hand, is also known to have made massive things disappear and has caused quite a bit of casualties over the years. That's the destructive aspect of water. I think we, as human beings, have underestimated the power of water and continue to do so. We seem to think that we can conquer everything on earth, but in

reality we can't. Water sets us in our place.

I love the water. I love swimming, floating, the ocean, water sports, boating,walking in the rain, showering, drinking...anything! I also love learning about water. When I was younger, I used to read all sorts of books about sharks, natural disasters, and ships that have sunken in the ocean. But the thing is, water also scares the living crap out of me. The power that water has scares me, and if you know me well, then you also know that I have a hard time enjoying the water when I know that water creatures are in there swimming around me. That may sound funny, but if water is so powerful, then the creatures that live in it are as well because they've conquered it enough in order to survive. We sure can't say that for ourselves! You hear about all of those stories of people getting swept out to sea, victims of drowning, hurricanes, tsunamis, and even the creatures that live in the water becoming curious when human beings step foot in their habitat, and it's kinda scary. Now, I'm not saying that we should all avoid the water and everything involved with it, but I'm just learning more and more about my love/hate relationship with the thing that keeps me alive. Maybe someday I'll get over it and just be able to love it :)

Water. It's a beautiful, but dangerous thing.

Running...

That's one of my goals this summer, to run a lot more. Well, it's really a sub goal to a bigger goal of mine this summer, but I'll mention that later.

So it rained today, and I ran in it. It was perfect. Most of the time I can't stand running without music in because the sound of my own breathing and pounding on the pavement drives me crazy. I usually need something to distract my mind from over thinking too much, but today I just didn't want that. I wanted to listen to the rain fall on my jacket, and hear the sound of the water rushing down the streets as I climbed up them. I wanted the freedom to think about what I'm going to do next. Most of all, I wanted that opportunity to build my inner strength, the courage that I can do great things. The mind is one of the hardest things to overcome on runs and I feel like mine hasn't been in the right place lately. I feel like I need to retrain my brain to think good things, and to trust myself that I can do things that I set out to do, good things. I will no longer accept defeat from myself. I can do great things.

I mentioned before that I have a big goal for myself this summer. Most probably won't know what I'm talking about because it deals with rugby, but I'll tell it anyways. Currently I am a back. I've played most positions in the back line with my favorite probably being scrumhalf. We lost a lot of people at the end of this season for multiple reasons (graduation, missions...) so next year should be my chance to impact the team and become an asset to them. I would also like to try out new things. It's probably a little crazy, but I want to train for a forward position. That way if things don't work out with the backs I can try with the forwards, or vice versa. If they don't work out for either, then maybe it isn't for me anymore. All sorts of crazy thoughts running through my head these days! Anyways, the plan is to run more and to lift and strengthen my body and mind more for the upcoming season. It's going to be a great summer!

WE DID IT!

After so many years of struggling and having things taken from us... my rugby team finally made it to the final four!!! We just got back from a weekend in Minnesota where we trudged through the worst game conditions we've played in in a while. The first day we played UCLA in the cold and wind, but we handed them a 31-10 defeat. It was such an ugly game though. That seems to be our method though. Ugly game Friday and a better game on Saturday. Anyways, the next day was actually kinda nice. We played Navy and beat them 7-0. We totally dominated their forwards though and we should have scored more often, but it just didn't happen.

So now we are gearing up for the final four and championship game that we are hoping to be in. We play Army May 13th and then most likely Penn State the next day. It's so close!!

In other news, I'm busy trying to get everything organized into my new place and at the same time trying to get used to taking spring classes. It's only the second week in and I'll already have two tests next week! Crazy.