Hill Sprints

This week wasn’t extremely eventful. We did have a hard running workout on Tuesday that helped me realize how out of shape I am. We did sprints up a hill 10 times. The first five or six weren’t too bad but once we reached the seventh and on I started hurting a bit. That was the first real running workout we’ve done so far since school started. Luckily the rest of the week was pretty easy going so I didn’t die after all. I went on a few dates and those are interesting as always. First dates are fun but I always seem to be a little skeptical in case the girl is putting on a show. You would probably like me to go into all the juicy details of the dates but I never know who is actually reading this blog so I’ll just have to leave those out for now. Sunday was good. We had a good sacrament meeting as the speakers gave really good talks. I was spiritually fed today so that is always a highlight of the week. In Sunday school they showed a clip by Elder Bednar on “The Tender Mercies of the Lord.” I was really touched by what he said and it caused me to look around and look for ways the Lord’s hands have been in my life. How grateful I am for the Gospel!

Practice officially begins

Well track practice officially started this week so I am a little sore needless to say. Luckily we are just doing drills and agility stuff so I am not completely dead yet. That will come later. We've been lifting weights for two weeks now with our new weight coach. He is a lot more strict than our last one but I think it will be good for us. I lifted most of summer so the weight workouts haven't been too bad yet. It was entertaining seeing those who didn't lift over the summer. The next day after lifting they were in pain and everyone heard. "Oh, my legs are so sore... I can't walk" were the typical cries.

I "Tivoed" a bunch of professional track meets over the summer and hadn't gotten around to watching them yet so one of the days this week a watched about 4 of them straight. I fast forwarded so I could get to the good stuff... meaning the 400m, 200m, and 100m. I am a sprinter so naturally I tend to enjoy watching the sprints the most. I watched Jeremy Wariner run (one of the top 400m runners in the world) in a couple of races. The first one he got a cramp and pulled out. The second race I watched him in he ran 44.1 seconds which was the fastest he has run in over 2-3 years. He had the best 400m coach in the world (the coach of the world record holder in the 400m--michael johnson) and decided to switch over a money issue. That didn't go too well for him and he ended up running slower and missed his olympic gold in 2008. Now he is back with his old coach--Clyde Hart--and is back in form.

Watching these races has gotten me really excited for the season coming up. Last year I redshirted because I had just gotten back from my mission but this year I'll get to travel with the team and go to all the races. The only downside is I have to wait until January before the races start up. My mind is ready now but I guess I have a lot of work to put in first physically!

After we spent a few days up in Cairns (pronounced cans not carns) we headed to a placed called Hamilton Island and managed to get two full days of scuba diving in. The first day was with a group of about 300 people on a very large boat. The dive was fun but it wasn't as good as I expected to be. I thought it would be a little more lively. The second day we went diving again but with a smaller group of 30 and went to a different part of the reef. This is what I was hoping for. The second day dive was amazing as it was much more lively and colorful. There were a lot more fish and sea creatures to see too. I think the first dive group has exposed the reef a little too much to too many tourists that has had detrimental effects on the reef. I am really glad we got the second day in because it exceeded my expectations of the famous "Great Barrier Reef". I mean it is one of the seven wonders of the world so it should be amazing. Our last stop on our trip was to the city of Brisbane where I spent a lot of time serving the people of Australia as a missionary.

It was an amazing experience to see some of the people I taught and to see them still strong in the faith and progressing. A lot of memories came back as I walked the streets and visited places I had once been. It was a little emotional for me at times but no one noticed. I'm a man so I didn't make known those emotions. I was filled with gratitude for all of the hard work I was able to accomplish in such a short time frame. I truly grew to love the Australian people while I was there and noticed that I still have that love for them as I visited the place. I miss a lot of their phrases and sayings... "Too easy" "Sweet as" "Good on ya mate" "Gday mate" "Should be right".... and the list goes on.

Well now that I have given you a little look into what went on in my life this summer I can flash forward and makes my upcoming posts more recent. Stay tuned for more to come.