Finding Joy By Letting Go of Expectations<\/p>\n

I recently took a trip to the big island to participate in the Hawaii 70.3 triathlon.<\/h4>\n

As some of you know, the way I like to do triathlons these days is as part of a relay.\u00a0 Though I’ve done plenty of tri’s as an individual, I’ve really taken to the team concept – so much less stress & SO much more fun!<\/p>\n

For Hawaii I was the swimmer & boy, was I looking forward to it!\u00a0 I planned out my training so I’d be in peak race shape.\u00a0 I started focusing on the race time I wanted to get.\u00a0 And then, at about 6 weeks out, my shoulder started hurting.\u00a0 Over the coming weeks it got worse & worse until finally, 3 weeks from race date, I headed into Physical Therapy.\u00a0 The PT treatments were helpful, but the pain was stubborn & I began to question whether I’d be able to swim at all.<\/p>\n

Two days before the race I arrived in Kona with a shoulder that hurt in all ranges of motion & kinesio tape holding it together.\u00a0 My teammate & I started troubleshooting.\u00a0 Maybe we could switch our entry to individual & he could race the whole thing?\u00a0 Maybe I could swim\/drill it?<\/p>\n

All previous expectations of setting a PR (personal record) time were gone…now I was into Plan C, Plan D, Plan E!<\/h4>\n

Ultimately I decided to do a combination of backstroke (for some reason that stroke felt better), 1-arm butterfly, 1-arm freestyle & kicking.\u00a0 Crazy…but it could work…I’m comfortable doing all those skills…why not just do them in open water in a race?!<\/p>\n

Race morning came & we headed to the swim start.\u00a0 As I put on my swim cap & goggles, I looked out over this beautiful ocean & thought to myself, “I am the luckiest person alive.\u00a0 Look at what I get to do 1-arm freestyle in!” Suffice to say I had a great swim!\u00a0 In fact, I’ve had 2 amazing swims in my life & this was one of them.\u00a0 I started conservatively with some drills.\u00a0 As my shoulder warmed up it actually felt pretty good & I was able to swim…with some backstroke included to give it a break.<\/p>\n

Was it my best swim result?\u00a0 No.<\/h4>\n

But without those outcome-oriented expectations in my head, I was able to focus more clearly on this unbelievable venue – the warmth of the water, the scuba divers underneath me, the fish darting in all directions, the sand on the bottom drifting in the waves, water so clear I could see every swimmer’s form around me.\u00a0 Complete & pure joy!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finding Joy By Letting Go of Expectations<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finding Joy By Letting Go of Expectations I recently took a trip to the big island to participate in the Hawaii 70.3 triathlon. As some of you know, the way I like to do triathlons these days is as part of a relay.\u00a0 Though I’ve done plenty of tri’s as an individual, I’ve really taken<\/p>\n

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