Back to the Books!

Ugh! I forgot how intense studying can be! I wasn't ever a bad student in school, it has just been a LONG time since I've had to sit down and study! While he was here, Donny convinced me to do my Rescue course online and then we would spend time next week working on the dives together. I feel VERY lucky to have someone as qualified as Donny to help me expand my diving skills and to learn from and I am SO excited to be able to spend a ton of time in the water next week...

I am heading back to Catalina and I CANT WAIT! I also learned that you can dive at night and catch your own lobsters -- I am strangely excited about the possibility of "catching" my dinner. I also am determined to find an octopus -- but I will not be eating or catching him! They are just too cute to take home :)

On the running front, I am looking forward to a nice, quiet run today... outside. It is a brisk 30 degrees outside, and the perfect weather to hit Fletchers. I love running in the cold, even though I HATE being cold. There is a sense of calm and quietness when there is nobody else on the trail with you. Being that it is Christmas Eve (omg where did the time go), I am sure there will be others out there too. :)

Anyway - for those of you reading this (all 2 of you, lol) -- PLEASE make a comment on my blog application for Bali. It is truly a dream for me, and I need as much help and support as I can possibly get to help the judges pick me.

The link is here and you will need to register (they won't spam you - just send you the password). Follow the link and log in using the password that they sent you. You will then need to follow the link back to my page and make a comment below my name. THANK YOU in advance for taking the time to help send me to Bali!

http://www.bestdivejob.com/blog/?p=48

Catalina Dreamin'

I just returned from another trip to Catalina... where I sadly (sigh) did not dive. I had the chance to do it, but I was so cold by the time we had the time to do it that there was NO way that I was going to enjoy myself... so I ended up at the bar (whoops). BUT I am going back in a couple of weeks and I WILL dive :) I am sad that I didn't dive but there were other reasons that made the weekend great and since I know I will be back in 2 weeks it makes it a little easier. I would feel so lucky to be able to have the opportunity to dive EVERYDAY... (so hint hint, go make a comment on my application for Bali ... www.bestdivejob.com/blog) I can't WAIT to be underwater again - it is so peaceful and whatever stress you have just melts away as soon as you take that first breath. I loved my last experience in Catalina (diving) -- something about the gigantic kelp and the beautiful fish is so different than diving in the Caribbean or off the shore of NC... it's cold, but certainly not as cold as the quarry!

As for running, strangely I am very excited about hitting the pavement outside today. Even though it is 18 degrees outside right now, there is a calm about being in the bitter cold. I am going to head to Fletchers later this afternoon and hopefully the sun will be up. I've trained for 2 marathons in the cold and I prefer to run when it is chilly outside. :)

December Blues....

Well I don't exactly have the December blues... at least not yet. I am actually pretty happy it's December 1st... I've got a good month ahead of me.

Being that I don't exactly live in the diving capital of the world, once the quarry closes, I am s-o-l... so I have been kind of lost during the weekends, so that is why I decided to train for the marathon (as of right now...) and today marks the first "official" day of training. I'm not 100% sure if I will actually RUN today, as I kind of tumbled down the basement stairs yesterday (yes, I have skills) and busted my ankle. I did train this am and we will see if I can hit the treadmill later this afternoon. It's not bad, I think my ego is more bruised than my foot.

In addition, December is going to be a good month because I'm headed out to Catalina again in a week and I will be able to dive out there...and anytime I have the opportunity to be underwater, I'm happy - plus I have been promised an octopus. I don't really know why but I really want to see one...

Regardless of it being cold, in reality, I don't think it could be much colder than it has been at Millbrook. Plus, I will be diving with an incredibly experienced (oh and hot) diver, who I know will help refine my skills. Needless to say, I am EXCITED!

Anyway, happy december! :)

And don't forget to drop a comment on my application for Bali - it would be a dream come true for me! :) www.bestdivejob.com/blog

Paris, Bali, Diving and Dreams

I haven't posted in forever... and that's because I've taken almost an entire year off from running. Actually I think it is almost over a year... anyway, the time has passed and I've been lucky enough to enjoy the time away from training and reflect on a lot of different things - and I think that it is time that this blog molds itself into something beyond just marathon training.

Running has always been something that's difficult for me - it is a challenge. It is HARD. oh, and it HURTS. Something that I am NOT great at - I will never be the fastest person, I will never win races -- and that's okay. It isn't about being the fastest, it is about accomplishing your goal. This has taken me a LONG time to recognize, but it still doesn't make each time I run easy.

I just reread through all these posts and in one of the very first ones that I wrote, I said that one of the reasons why I wanted to try for a marathon (er, now three) was because running ISNT something that comes naturally to me, like swimming did.

But with all that said, I think that I am going to try to train for the Paris marathon in April. My friend Heather made a goal to finish a marathon before her 40th birthday and asked me to train with her. As of now I am going to do it with her, so we will see. My parents are over the moon that I have decided to run/train again so I know I will have them supporting me (either that or they want to come to Paris!). I've been to Paris once and I don't really remember much of it, so this will be a great chance for me to really see the city.

On another note, I've fallen in love. Yep. IN LLLLOOOVVVE. Ok - sorry to burst your bubble, it isn't with a person, its with scuba.

I went on vacation with Kristina in July to Grand Cayman and on a whim, I decided to sign up for a resort scuba course. Kris didn't do it with me -she is not much of a water person... so it was a very independent experience for me. Anyway, from the moment that we put our regulators in our mouth and went underwater, I was HOOKED.

I've spent my entire youth underwater -- swimming back and forth, competing and training. I was lucky enough to be good and a lot of hard work paid off for me and I had a very successful swimming career (GO PIRATES).

I've always found the water as my peace haven. There is a moment in time when you are competing in which you hear and see everything - then you push off the wall and it is total and complete peace. Nothing but the beautiful silence of the water. As a child, I would spend all day at the pool and one of my favorite things to do was just push off the wall and glide underwater, watching the lines of the water on the bottom of the pool from the sun... it is just so peaceful. After I stopped swimming in college, I have looked to find that type of peace in other things - running, cycling, work - but I have never been able to emulate it... until I went diving.

Immediately I fell in love. The peace and calmness that I felt, even in the POOL, was undeniable. Then when we went out into open water, it was even better. Granted, I am not sure it COULD have suck being in 100 foot visibility in 80 degree water... I had such a great dive, I decided the next day to do a repeat dive and once again, found the calmness that I had been missing in my stressful everyday life.

Once home, I signed up for my Open Water course. I was devastated to find out that I would have to wait 2 months, but September came quickly and I devoured the information and loved every second of the class. I can't remember the last time that I WANTED to study for something (except the stupid videos... PADI really needs to redo them, the cheese factor on them is too much to handle).

Ever since that first course, I've consumed myself in learning everything I can, taking additional courses and diving at every chance I have.

Now, there was a chance that I was going to get into the water in DC and not have the same feeling as I did in GC -- Don't get me wrong, the quarry is a beautiful place - to LOOK at, but it is NOT exactly clear underwater. BUT, it didn't matter to me how far I could see in front of myself, the feeling of peace and calm was immediately there when I went under. The entire thing just came so naturally to me. My OW instructors continued to comment on how comfortable I looked underwater and I was...

Since then, I have been lucky enough to continue diving ALMOST every weekend.

The weekend after my OW, I went out to Catalina (and Venice Beach Gold's Gym, AMAAAZING), and it was incredible. It was totally different then anything I had seen before with the beautiful kelp beds and schools of fish.

The weekend after that I was back at the quarry for my AOW, where we did 5 dives ("wreck", deep, nav, search & recovery, peak performance) -- and Mark, my instructor was awesome. Again, he commented on how comfortable I was in the water and he invited me to tag along during some of his other classes.

After a trip to the OBX and a pair of wreck dives the next weekend, I tagged along with Mark in a couple of his classes and did my first night and Nitrox dives in the quarry. Even though the quarry isn't the most beautiful, picturesque place, it just about being underwater and away from it all. When I am there I feel totally free.

One of the classes I tagged along with was an OW class - and it was their first two dives and it was so cool to see the two guys experience diving for the first time. It was amazing to see Mark instruct them, and to see them experience this freedom for the first time.

Additionally, I was lucky enough to take a quick trip to Puerto Rico, where I got another pair of dives in (with a hurricane having just passed through it was super rough and there was a massive current, but I still felt that feeling). I am heading back to Catalina again in a couple of weeks (sooo excited) and I hope that I will be able to do at least two dives while I am there :)

Anyway -- all this comes together because I've been able to find something that I absolutely love - I've even gone so far as to enter a contest to try to win a seven month scuba instructor training in Bali, which would be a TOTAL life changing experience.

I am already working on my plan to become an instructor with the help of Mark and The Dive Shop, but if I won this trip, it would truly be a dream come true. Although I know it is a total long shot, it would give me the opportunity to do something I love everyday and eventually give me the chance to teach others what I love.

It reminds me of cycling - I fell in love with cycling, and now I've been teaching it for 6 years. I've always followed my heart with the jobs I've had - and I've been lucky enough to take things I love and make them my life (sports, Golds...) and if I could do it with diving, that would be unreal... but we will see. It is a lonnnng shot, but hey, you never know when lightning will strike.

As I continue to train for the race in Paris, dive and live, I am will update the blog... Diving, like running, comes with some great stories (and usually beer), so it should get entertaining!

Here is the entry that I put together for the Best Dive Job contest. Part of the way to win is to get as many comments on the application and video, so if you can, please make a comment and "SEND SAM TO BALI!"