50 Things About Sarah

1. Growing up in Toronto, I was always proud to call it home. Now, Vancouver is 'home' and I don't see that ever changing.

2. Triathlon changed my life. It made me a better person because of all the lessons it has forced me to learn. The physical benefits have little to do with what drives me to continue pursuing it.

3. Passion is what drives me. I feel blessed to have passion in my life and feel that everyone should find a passion no matter what it is.

4. I'm a bookworm.

5. Some of the people I consider closest to me live the furthest away.

6. My mother is my hero.

7. Silence does not make me uncomfortable. In fact, I find I am able to connect best with people that I am able to share silence with. Being able to sit in silence and people watch, enjoy the scenery, read a book or just sit back and daydream with someone is incredibly powerful.

8. I’m quirky. I do not like to wear pants without wearing shoes. I do not like to wear outside clothes in the house, especially on or in my bed (I change into “house clothes/sweats” as soon as I come home).

9. Un-tidiness/messiness makes me anxious. It's a condition once described as "cleanie-tidy-up-ous". Organizing and tidying makes me feel calm.

10. I love mornings and will get up before the sunrise every chance I get, Consequently I go to bed early.

11. I secretly love having people in my life that know me almost as well as I know myself. But I’ll never admit it.

12. I recently learned to knit and have become very fond of it.

13. I am fiercely competitive but lack natural athletic ability. It's a very frustrating and vicious circle.

14. I have a very active imagination. Not to be confused with creativity, that gene was completely skipped, but I often daydream about the wildest, most outrageous things that I, for the most part, can’t explain. Most often these include daydreams of being a rockstar or something where I’m doing some kind of performance in front of a crowd – like salsa dancing or something.

15. I didn’t graduate from college. I failed an elective "Introduction to Psychology" in my final year because I misunderstood the exam instructions and thought that I didn’t’ have to come back on the second day and do the other half of the exam. Two years later I took a night class at George Brown (in Toronto) and got the final credits that I needed. That was in 2003 and I still have not had my transcripts mailed so that I can “officially” get my diploma.

16. I hate parades.

17. My favourite sound is rain in the morning, it's one of the only things that I will stay in bed for. I will listen to it as long as I can.

18. I LOVE coffee. It's sometimes the only reason I will get out of bed.

19. I can not do math in my head. I will do simple addition/subtraction using my fingers.

20. I rely on spell check to spell inconvenience 100% of the time I use it.

21. I don’t obsess over “coulda shoulda woulda”’s or “what if’s” or “had I only”’s. I believe that everything happens for a reason.

22. I believe in setting goals. I use New Years Resolutions as goal-setting in disguise.

23. I want to write a book.

24. Can't is my least favorite word. There are so many reasons why you "can" and all to often "can't" is used as an excuse.

25. I don't believe in 'love at first sight' but I do believe that you can know right away if this is someone that you COULD fall in love with. I take love to seriously and think that it runs to deep to think that it could happen so quickly.

26. I remember fondly the days when horses were my life and hope that someday I can bring them back into my life.

27. I never had a nickname that stuck.

28. I can't do a crossword to save my life.

29. I have constant anxiety about life being to short to get everything that I want done, done. I am all to aware that we only have one shot at life and I am constantly worried that I won't get it right.

30. I love nights in watching movies. I like going out to movies even better.

31. I love getting flowers.

32. I don't do winter sports.

33. I don't do winter.

34. I am a sigher. I love to sigh. A big huge SIGH feels sooo good. It's often misinterpreted by those that are around when I sigh. I promise, it's not because I'm bored.

35. I speak my mind.

36. I believe timing is everything. I'm trying to marry that belief with the speaking my mind thing...

37. I am a list maker. I love making "to do" lists. I think I make lists just for the satisfaction I get from checking things off of them.

38. I would love to make a living as a writer. A novelist.

39. I think that making yourself happy should come first and foremost in everyone life. Sometimes it could be selfish, but if you are not happy, you can not make anyone else happy.

40. I'm learning every year that the things I know for certain, are not for certain at all.

41. I can be extremely socially awkward at times.

42. If life were a movie, I would want to play the supporting role. I never want to be a leading lady, but I'd be one of those characters that makes the perfect side kick. The movie is never really about them, but wouldn't be the same if they weren't there.

43. I keep my life full. Sometimes to a fault. I keep myself busy until I get overwhelmed with everything I have on the go. Then I cut back on everything and in a few weeks get terribly bored and start taking on more projects.

44. I like to work.

45. I'm extremely self conscious.

46. I love to learn. I have learned so much about myself and have paid attention to the choices that I've made, the consequence of those choices and the series of events around those choices. The process fascinates me.

47. I have learned alot about fear and the way we are all restricted by it. How it can dictate our lives without even realizing it. My mother taught me how to overcome fears, one tiny little fear at a time. Now, I look for things I am afraid of create goals out of them.

48. I have moved 15 times in my life. Gone to 8 different schools and lived in 6 different cites.

49. I love change.

50. I want to learn to cook fabulous meals, have people over for dinner and have them all talk about how good my cooking is.

Dreaming of 2010

Finally! I've started to daydream about Ironman. As mentioned in my last post, I've stopped stressing about how much I've enjoyed the off season so far. I'm not training, I'm barely staying in shape and my focus has been on anything but triathlon. But recently, I've started to get small little glimpses into the year ahead, and I start to get the tingle. The butterflies of excitement when dreaming of what lies ahead. With Christmas inching closer, 2010 is right around the corner. If I think about everything that's coming at me fast and furiously in the next year, I run the risk of getting overwhelmed.. so I have to break it down into digestible chunks.

December: I've started to swim once a week and get my water wings back into working order. It feels great to be back in the pool. I was sort of dreading the nights where I walk 20 min in the dark and cold just to get into a cold pool, work hard and freeze during the even longer, colder and darker walk home afterwards. Fortunately, it's been anything but dreaded. Swimming is such a release. It's a great workout, it's a great way to quiet your mind and actually quite relaxing. As for the walk to and from... well - now I have a car.. so it's much less painful :)

December also marks the beginning of outdoor winter sports for me. Today, I'm heading up to Cypress for some skate skiing with the girls. It's a rare bluebird sky day in Vancouver, so we're taking full advantage.

Come January the whirl wind will begin. Because of the Olympics, I won't be able to plan ahead much more than week by week. I'm still hoping to get in some indoor rock climbing to keep things interesting, but since the LETC (my Tri Club) workouts start the first weekend in January, I'm not too sure I"ll be able to fit it all in. I'll have to keep reminding myself to start SLOW. The key words this year for me are FUN, SAFE and SMART. No overtraining for me this year. Slow and steady.

February and March are a write off. I will exists on a day to day basis :)

April I'm hoping to get in some much desired travelling. I have my eyes set on Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia etc. I hope to be gone for 4-6 weeks.

May - what?!?! It's May already... holy crap.. only 4 months to Ironman. I'd better get training.

June, July, August.... training, training, training...

So, as you can see. Before I know it, it will be August and I'll find myself somewhere out on the 180km bike course saying "what the heck just happened?"

Well - seeing as it's a beautiful day out there, I"m not wasting anymore time in here. I'm off for a quick 20min run around the park, then to grab a coffee, some groceries, then up to the mountain for some winter fun!

S.