{"id":357,"date":"2013-07-13T04:38:35","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T04:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=357"},"modified":"2013-07-18T18:59:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T18:59:31","slug":"grand-intentions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/?p=357","title":{"rendered":"Grand Intentions"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you read my last post, you know that I spent the past few days in Michigan with my kiddos visiting Mama J.\u00a0 As we left town on Monday, I had grand intentions of getting up early every day to swim in Lake Michigan to ensure that I\u2019ll be a pro for the open water swim at Racine.\u00a0 However, intentions are what we make of them.\u00a0 Due to an arrival time of 4am (Thanks to Diet Mountain Dew and Jason Mraz), I didn\u2019t manage to crawl out of bed until about 10am on Tuesday, which I still thought was fairly respectable.\u00a0 The kids had slept the entire drive, so they were up early and ready to go.\u00a0 Grandma hauled them all off to the beach to let me keep sleeping.\u00a0 That was the day that swimming in the lake would have been ideal\u2026I repeat, would have.\u00a0 There was a haze in the air and the water was like glass.\u00a0 But sadly, I let the opportunity slip away.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday morning, I went off for a long-ish run down the lake road that I love so much.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t intend to go far, but I felt good, and that road has the capability of drawing me farther and farther along, so I let it.\u00a0 Running out of water on a humid day, meant it was a good time to call it quits.\u00a0 I considered jumping in the lake for a quick swim, but I got back to the homefront later than I planned, my mom had somewhere to be and the wind was really picking up, so I decided to wait thinking the next day might be better.<\/p>\n

By Thursday, the wind was whipping and the waves were rolling.\u00a0 Fun to play in, but swim?\u00a0 Not so much.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 What to do?\u00a0 I really wanted to post this blog and brag about my impressive feats, like saying I had managed a full mile, or two even, in the open water waves.\u00a0 But, Alas, I cannot.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s talk about highlights of the week.\u00a0 Tuesday night we swung by Nancy\u2019s and grabbed milkshakes to take with us to the beach for a fantastically amazing show of a sunset.\u00a0 We lucked out with that one, because earlier in the day it stormed and we weren\u2019t sure we\u2019d see the sun again.\u00a0 But New Buffalo came through for us, the clouds moved on by and we got our sunset.<\/p>\n

We pretty much started and ended the trip at the best burger joint in the world.\u00a0 Redamak\u2019s.\u00a0 A Jacobs tradition since 1975, give or take.\u00a0 I had my usual. Both times.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s my biggest highlight\u2026walking on the beach with my kiddos.\u00a0 On Wednesday, Ethan crashed on the couch right as I was offering a walk to anyone who wanted to go.\u00a0 Ally and Silas were my takers, Ma offered to stay with Ethan.\u00a0 So, picture this\u2026LJ strolling down the beach, looking like a total hoosh (For my non-St. Louis friends, that\u2019s short for Hoosier, which is the equivalent to Kirksville\u2019s \u201ccricker\u201d or in Michigan we go with straight up \u201cwhite trash\u201d).\u00a0 Yeah, so, I\u2019m meandering down the beach in my cut-off jeans that I\u2019ve had since college (literally) and a wife beater style tank.\u00a0 In classic Lindsey fashion, a visor covered my hair, which had gone unwashed for\u00a0a\u00a0few\u00a0days.\u00a0 Random side note: The other day I got a text from Diana declaring that she had gone almost a full week.\u00a0 Dang!\u00a0 She broke my record.\u00a0 Now the challenge is on!\u00a0 I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019ve got this in the bag since if you\u2019ve known me for more than say, 5 minutes, you know how I put off washing my hair.\u00a0 And this new messy hair look that\u2019s in, just go ahead and ask me how much I love that?!\u00a0 I can rock a pony-tail or a messy bun like nobody\u2019s business.\u00a0 Throwing on a visor earns me at least another couple days, right?<\/p>\n

Ok, back on topic\u2026so cruising down the beach, looking really classy.\u00a0 We were picking up beach glass and cool rocks.\u00a0 Silas had a collection of odds and ends, mostly sticks.\u00a0 Just as we got back to the public beach, I stopped and faced the water.\u00a0 I held my arms out like I was flying and closed my eyes.\u00a0 Ally asked me what I was doing.\u00a0 I said, \u201cI\u2019m feeling the wind\u201d.\u00a0 I stood there, eyes still closed, listening to the sound of the waves crashing and the seagulls calling.\u00a0 Feeling the\u00a0spray of the waves, the sand between my toes, the sun on my cheeks and just feeling the wind.\u00a0 Feeling the wind reminds me\u00a0to enjoy being alive.\u00a0 It reminds me to\u00a0feel everything.\u00a0 The good, the bad, and everything in between.\u00a0 This is kinda like that thing I do when I run down hills with my eyes closed, but not as likely to send me to the ER.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to Thursday, another walk on the beach, this time all 5 of us.\u00a0 The kids knew I planned to swim and they really wanted to see me get out there.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure it was going to happen, so we were talking about it.\u00a0 Silas asked why I wasn\u2019t swimming.\u00a0 I was whining about how cold it would be, and being afraid because the waves were so big, and blah, blah, blah.\u00a0 I grew up swimming in Lake Michigan, so when did I turn into such a wuss?\u00a0 Silas kept at it.\u00a0 I mentioned something about fear of the unknown.\u00a0 And then he reminded me of the time I swam out to try and retrieve a raft that had blown into the lake.\u00a0 As we sat in our beach chairs, some woman approached us and said, \u201cUmm, isn\u2019t that your raft out there?\u201d\u00a0 I looked\u00a0from her, to the raft, to\u00a0my brother and simply asked, \u201cYou or me?\u201d\u00a0 I shouldn\u2019t have asked.\u00a0 I lost.\u00a0 I swam out, way out; so far that my kids freaked because they couldn\u2019t see me so they sent Uncle Adam out on the boogie board to get me.\u00a0 I made a valiant effort.\u00a0 I went about halfway to Chicago (ok, not really) only to give up on the $2 raft that definitely wasn\u2019t worth my life.\u00a0 So, swimming in Lake Michigan wasn\u2019t really the unknown, but it was still a little scary because now I should know what I\u2019m doing, even though I\u2019m not convinced I do.\u00a0 The unknown part actually has more to do with what lies ahead in Racine.\u00a0 But, I\u2019ve faced the unknown enough in the past years that I know I\u2019m brave enough to do it.<\/p>\n

When we returned from our walk, I stripped off my t-shirt and shorts, grabbed my goggles and Garmin and set out into the waves.\u00a0 The temperature was surprisingly perfect.\u00a0 The waves, on the other hand, were ultra-ridiculous.\u00a0 I set off toward a buoy. Just as I would start to get into a rhythm, a wave would splash me in the face and send me gasping for air.\u00a0 I regained my composure, I can do this.\u00a0 A few more strokes, I\u2019ve got this. Practice sighting, wave in the face, choking on water.\u00a0 And so it went.\u00a0 Swim, breathe, swim, gasp, swim, coughing fit.\u00a0 I managed a whole, whopping\u2026wait for it\u2026quarter of a mile.\u00a0 That\u2019s all.\u00a0 3 days at the beach with a half Ironman coming up and that\u2019s all I\u2019ve got.\u00a0 Weak.\u00a0 But, in my defense, the yellow flags were up and we saw the rescue team out, so it\u2019s probably better that I made the smart choice and called it quits.<\/p>\n

I guess what it comes down to is this\u2026Intentions are good, they give us purpose, they give us something to shoot for.\u00a0 But, whether it\u2019s sports or life, we need to keep in mind that even with the best intentions, things won\u2019t always work out the way we\u2019ve planned and there could be something else in store.\u00a0 Sometimes, you have to know when to suck it up and be courageous (sometimes you have to know when to be safe and smart) and sometimes it\u2019s ok to just stop and feel the wind.<\/p>\n

As we enter into the final week leading up to Racine, I don\u2019t have any delusions that I\u2019m gonna rock out some outstanding time next Sunday. I\u2019m really just hoping to cross the finish line within the 8.5 hours allowed to make it official, claim my medal and then slap that 70.3 sticker on the back of the Pathfinder.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to spend the weekend with my friends and attempt something amazing.\u00a0 My only intentions are to be courageous and to remember to feel the wind.\u00a0 I think those intentions are realistic, but they\u2019re also pretty grand.<\/p>\n

\"Yep,<\/a>

Yep, I still like to write my name in the sand<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you read my last post, you know that I spent the past few days in Michigan with my kiddos visiting Mama J.\u00a0 As we left town on Monday, I had grand intentions of getting up early every day to swim in Lake Michigan to ensure that I\u2019ll be a pro for the open water […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-memorablerunningmoments","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-5L","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=357"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}