Back to Normal

Yes! What a great morning. Rising at 5:00 am I spent time in prayer in the kitchen for a half hour. Abby C. and I have not been working out, so we made an agreement to run together at 6:00am. This gave me a half hour for prayer and another half hour to grab a bite to eat and get my warm gear on. Setting a timer on my ipod I sat in quiet communication with God. What a blessing it is to enter his presence whenever I'd like. Back at home I would often get up and spend early mornings in prayer. However, here my schedule is all over the place. Lately I've been up until 1:30am or later and then slept until 10 or 11am. That's a full 6 hours of sleeping in longer than I'm used to! My quiet times in prayer and devotions have seemed to be scattered all over. Don't get me wrong, I certainly appreciate having an open schedule and all the flexibility one could ever ask for. However, without a schedule my exercise, eating habits, devotions and prayer life have all taken a downward slide. Yesterday I was lazy all day long. It's nice to have those days occasionally, but I've seemed to have them quite frequently lately. Sitting inside eating all day is not glorifying the Lord with my body. 1 Cortinthians 6:19-20 reminds us that our bodies are a holy temple of the Lord. Right now with my lack of exercise and poor eating habits I'm certainly not treating my body like a temple of God. So I'm going to change it!

     My alarm went off to conclude my time in prayer, I was so bummed. It was a refreshing feeling to have my precious time in prayer back to normal. Eating a banana and getting my winter running gear I was now set to go. It's amazing to run in Ireland in January. Unlike Wisconsin my lungs were comfortable with the crisp air, as opposed to home where they feel like they're going to explode taking in the frigid wind. Usually my first run, after a long period of not running, my legs are killing me and body is in rebellion. However, this mornings run felt great! I love the quiet of the morning, running under the moonlit sky, speckled with stars and listening to birds chirping.

Read to run!

     Today marks the first day of my Bible Course at Emmaus School of Scripture. I will be taking a course called Biblical Interpretation. I'm excited to learn more and grow in God's word as I take this course for the next 12 weeks.

     Last night as Abby C. and I discussed running, we brought up the idea of running a 5k here in Ireland. There seems to be a 5k almost every weekend in the states, so they've got to have them here as well. Somehow jokingly the topic of training for a triathlon came up. I thought about it for a second and came to the realization that I have everything I need had I desired to train for one. My running shoes, swimsuit, cap, goggles and bike (still need to rent the bike). It wouldn't be at all impossible to train for. Different? definitely. I wouldn't have the YMCA to train in and lift weights, nor would I take it very seriously. Either way the thought of it makes me giddy! So I began my search, triathlons in Ireland. Quite a few options came up. The one I'm most excited about is the Spiddal Triathlon, which would include swimming in the blue flag waters of Spiddals's sheltered beach, cycling on the closed road through beautiful Connemara and running on the flat loop through Spiddal village. Ahhhh it sounds like so much fun! I need a goal, something to work towards. Simply running gets boring and I loose motivation. However, if I have a deadline and a finish line, something to earn, I can stay motivated in my training. I have yet to pay the entry fee, because I figured 11pm wasn't the greatest time to make my decision. I'll think about it for the next few days, knowing that I'll be traveling and not doing very intense training. Crazy? Yes, but nonetheless I think it would be amazing!

Harbor where the swim would take place

Cycling course in Connemara

With Love from Galway