Diving In.

How's everyone been? This is the longest I've gone without posting since I started this blog. Its been a crazy couple of weeks. School started up again and work got much busier than usual, (inconveniently) at the same time. Here are some highlights from the past 10 days or so, organized topically and semi-chronologically:

Yoga: As mentioned in my previous post, I finally dragged myself to some full yoga classes. I've been telling myself I should do yoga ever since I joined my gym. I have some muscle pains that happen every time I run over a certain distance, and stretching more might help with that. Some additional/different strength training exercises wouldn't hurt either.  So, yoga makes sense for me, but I have a hard time getting myself there. My lack of flexibility and coordination makes yoga very difficult for me. Also, I've had some bad yoga class experiences in the past, generally involving advanced instructors and classmates who had little patience for my incompetence.

I went to my first real yoga class since 2005 on Friday, Jan. 14th. That class, which was beginner-level, went just fine. I was able to follow along and both the instructor and the other class members were very laid-back. That Sunday, the same instructor held another beginner class, so I went to that too. Then, I went to her classes on Wednesday and this Sunday (I need to make things a habit in order to stick with them). They were all a bit different, and I definitely got lost a few times, but I never felt the combo of intimidation, embarrassment, and panic which I experienced in previous classes. With my yoga anxiety reduced, I signed up for a 6-week "yoga for runners" class at my gym starting in February. Thus far, its shaping up to be pretty small, so I'm looking forward to more specific, individualized instruction. Hopefully, at the end of 6 weeks, I'll feel like I kinda-sorta know what I'm doing. Hopefully.

School: The Spring semester at Loyola started last week. The good news is that this should be my final semester. Over the break, I submitted my registration for my final three classes and my graduation application, and I've been holding my breath ever since. The Loyola Pastoral Counseling department has been experiencing some administrative challenges this year and the way I've moved through my program has been a bit unusual. Thus, I am expecting some complications. So far, though, everything is going smoothly. Fingers crossed!

The bad news is that I have the worst schedule ever. Three classes, which all meet on Thursday: 9:30am-12pm, 4:15pm-6:45pm, and 7pm-9:30pm. For someone with a short attention span who is typically asleep by 9:30pm, this is a nightmare. Also, the three classes I have left are three of the most labor-intensive in the program, and two out of three profs have made everything due super-early in the semester "to make things easier." The week they chose to make everything due? The same week I take my licensure exam! Awesome. So, don't expect to hear much from me in March or April.

Swimming: After a couple of failed attempts coordinating our crazy schedules, my friend Ana and I went to the pool this past Friday for my first attempt at swimming in about 10 years. It was humbling in more ways than one. Friday afternoon, one of my co-workers invited myself and another co-worker out to a happy hour. I thanked her, but said I was meeting someone at the pool. My co-workers (who are about my age) both said "Oh- I've never heard of that? Is that a new bar- Pool?" As I replied "No, I mean the swimming pool," I felt about as old as I did jumping rope a couple weeks ago (see previous post).

Friday night turns out to be a great time to go to the pool, though. There were maybe a dozen people when Ana and I arrived around 7:30, and we were able to get adjacent lanes all to ourselves. This was good, because neither of us could go for more than 1 lap without stopping to rest. Overall, I am in pretty good shape, but this apparently means nothing when it comes to swimming. As I had feared, I have forgotten everything I ever learned about good swim technique. Even worse, I seem to have forgotten how to swim underwater. I felt panicky every time I tried, so I wound up holding my head up the whole time, which definitely made things harder. Overall, my return to the pool was pretty dismal, but two good things did come from it: (1) I am now very afraid of the swim portion of the triathlon, which should get me to the pool on a regular basis, and (2) I had a great time hanging out with Ana.   

Running: As part of Striders' half-marathon training 2011, I was scheduled to run 8 miles this past Saturday. For one of the only times in my history of training with the Striders, I bailed. I had missed a Group Power class earlier in the week and really wanted to make it up on Saturday. Plus, is was bitter cold and I was heading to Ocean City at noon for a youth retreat (see below). I knew I would not get much sleep Saturday night and thought I could use an extra 90 minutes Saturday morning. I felt terribly guilty for most of Saturday, but it turned out to be the right decision.

ROCK Retreat: As part of the United Methodist ordination process, candidates for ministry are assigned a "candidacy mentor," who is a clergy person in their local district but not their pastor. The candidate works through various parts of the ordination process with their mentor and can not proceed without one. To make a very long story very short, my process has been stalled for a long time because my first mentor assignment did not work out and I took forever requesting a new one. I was finally assigned that new mentor around Thanksgiving and I have been waiting eagerly to meet with him.

When I first contacted my new mentor in November, his wife (who handles administrative tasks for him) responded and said he would be in touch after the holidays. I heard from her again early this month, when she called to schedule a meeting at their church. During the call, though, she got very excited and announced that the church had space for one more adult at this year's ROCK, a huge youth retreat held by the UMC in Ocean City every January. I can't say I was thrilled at this suggestion, but I didn't want to make a bad impression by saying no, especially after she agreed to let me come Saturday afternoon so that I wouldn't have to skip my Saturday AM workout.

So, Saturday afternoon, I drove to Ocean City to meet my new mentor and work security at a Christian rock concert for over 6,000 youth. Despite my reservations, it was actually a good experience. I like my new mentor, the youth from his church are terrific, and I came away with a mostly positive view of ROCK itself. (I'll try to write more extensively about that when I have more time.) Best of all, my candidacy process is moving again after being stalled for a long time. This is both exciting and terrifying, but more of the former.

So, there you go. Highlights of a very busy week-and-a-half. I got back from ROCK yesterday around 2:30pm, went to yoga at 4pm, and was in bed by 6:30pm. I don't remember anything after that, but I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 7:30pm. Resting up for another busy week!