Tacos are my new Energy Food

Yesterday, was rather uneventful; and still I didn't make time to post. I make no excuse. In fact, I try to live an "Excuse-Free" life--everyone should give it a try today. When you catch yourself trying to justify something, explain something away or reason your way out of/into something, just accept responsibility for whatever you did or did not do, and move on. (Remind me to tell you about the day I was late to the MTC for work and I decided to become "Excuse-Free".)

Anyway, !TAcoS!

Monday, I had only been awake for 10 minutes before answering a phone call from my sister who was leaving work in Columbus, OH. (Mental cogs spinning...Columbus is 2 hours ahead...5pm...Subtract...WOW! Bryan sure woke up late!) While chatting with my sister, she said something that reminded me that I was hosting my 12-person dinner group at 6:30pm!

Grateful that I had a full hour more than I gave myself last time to prepare, I finished my morning routine and went shopping for a Deluxe Taco dinner with mashed potatoes on the side, and root beer soda with BYU ice cream to top it off. I took my time preparing the meal. When everyone arrived, their days were coming to a close while all I had done to that point in the day was cook. When people asked how my day was, I told them. I don't think they believed me. I sounded a bit like a bitter, old housewife who never does anything fun due to her constant household demands. That wasn't true, of course; I just required an extraordinary amount of sleep the previous night/morning/afternoon.

I stayed to enjoy eating with my dinner group instead of abandoning them for an early FHE. It was to be held in Spanish Fork at our new Stake High Councilor's house, 15-minutes after my dinner group had began. Fortunately for me, I found out later that the event was canceled. A car load of people drove all the way down there just to turn around once they had arrived. Randy, my FHE Dad, said that they had a lesson on the car ride home and actually had a pretty good time despite the "miscommunication".

Soon enough, 9pm rolled around and I was at my Mon. night Yoga class. I arrived just a few minutes late due to the extra time it took to scrape the newly-fallen snow off my car. When I arrived, the class was jam packed--but I was determined to work off the 5 tacos I had for dinner. I managed to squeeze my mat into a 3x6 foot area wedged between the instructor and a pillar. I focused on my core (abs and lower guts) as I was still planning on swimming after class. (Yoga and pilates are great pre-swimming exercises since they prep the essential muscles needed to stay afloat.)

Swim trunks donned and goggles at the ready, I hurried out to the pool area to make sure I would get a lane. There were two lanes open. I hopped in the first lane, and started splashing myself and dipping my goggles in the water as part of my pre-swim ritual. Then out of the blue, three Mexican ruffians tumbled out of the sauna room and into MY SWIM LANE! ...And then they just stayed there...looking at me. I tried to act calm, like I wasn't furious at them for contaminating the whole pool with their sweaty bodies, by smiling and stretching one arm across my body...and then the other...waiting patiently.

All the while, they were chattering amongst themselves making as if they were drawing straws for the scary assignment to voice a question for me. The one with the least amount of English seemed to have won because he called out, "We can have this lane?"

"Of course not, I was obviously here first. I want you to go in to the middle lane so that it will be less convenient for you to flop into the water with your friends in the future!" I though quietly to myself.

"Claro que sí." I replied. BLAST me and my automatic-missionary-response trigger. I moved into lane 2 and began to swim.

They say, when you're driving in your car, that you should not drive angry. Angry driving impairs judgment and can be the cause of a traffic accident. This is not the case in the swimming pool however.

I had never swam angry before. I swam harder and longer than I think I've ever swam in my life. I managed to look at the clock as I left the locker room, 10:04pm. When I finished swimming off my determined angst, the clock read 11:11pm. There is no way to tell for sure, but I think I swam well over 2 miles NON-STOP! THAT IS IRONMAN MATERIAL! When I initially took off from the wall, I had absolutely no intention of doing what I did. It started out like a typical warm-up. I swam a 100 breast stroke in only 10 breaths. (I swam most of it completely submerged underwater.) I didn't want to come up for air and face those inconsiderate hooligans that ousted me from my lane. To my surprise, my lungs maintained maximum integrity and I was able to control my breathing like never before. FORGET THE WARM-UP! After the 100 breast, I switched to a full-out, backstroke sprint.


50 meters. Solid flipturns and pushoffs. My neck and shoulders were riding on top of the water like a twin engine speedboat. 50 then became 100. Usually, I take a 3 breath break at this point in the warm up, but I saw the outlines of the Mexican posse standing above me on the edge of the pool. And there were a lot of them! THEY WERE NOT going steal this lane from me too! So I kept swimming backstroke.

400 meters. And they were still standing there. 800 meters. Their positions had changed but they were still looming (perfect word choice; YES! That rarely happens.) So I kept swimming.

By this point, I typically start to feel slight stomach cramps or at least some signs of fatigue, but I felt powerful. Energized by my negative determination. I was going to prove to those guys that I deserved to be in that lane by myself! I wouldn't stop for anyone!


Finally at 11:11pm, I sensed I was alone. There were no reflections of bodies at the ends of the pool, the only waves I felt wash over me were my own, and my ears, nose and taste buds were convinced that I the last one in the pool. I finished my last 50 meters and stood up. It was true; the Mexicans were gone and so was everyone else.

A smile gradually crept across my face as a sense of accomplishment overwhelmed me. My mind and body had just been taxed for over an hour and I still felt strong and able. Just to prove it I did 16x25meter laps of the butterfly to "cool down". Between laps, I tried to figure out what it was that enabled me to swim so for so long. Angry-swimming helped motivate me to keep going, but that wasn't what made me physically capable. It couldn't have been the yoga class because I do that all the time and never saw those results...It was the TAcoS! The tacos gave me the energy to be able to swim forever! I'll have to remember that the next time I run a half-marathon.


By midnight, I was home, showered and had changed into my PJs. I watched two Star Trek episodes (just started season 4) while downloading and organizing some new funny pics that I'll be posting later on this week.

Then I remembered, THE BLOG! I promised I would finish the Utah State story! Well, that will have to be postponed once again. Hopefully, I'll get to it today.



How can I be so disciplined in one thing and totally space another? OK, a lot of other things?