Feels SO good!

As of about five minutes ago, I'm one third of the way done with my MBA program. The term ends in three days, but all my assignments are complete and my course evaluations are turned in. This means a solid WEEK of NO STUDYING!

And what am I going to do with that week? I'm going skiing in Colorado - what else?!?! I've been waiting and saving my pennies for the trip since the fall and I'm SO EXCITED! The funny thing is, I think I'm equally looking forward to the skiing, etc. AND just relaxing without the demands of work and school hanging over my head. When I return, I'll definitely post photos for everyone!

All right, friends, time to finish packing. Enjoy the sunny day!

Yet another reason...

...to look forward to the upcoming race season: Mitch and I have been invited to join a small group of mid-Michigan riders on the new race team for On 2 Wheels, a bike shop in Jackson! We loved the camaraderie we developed with other riders during our first season and anticipate it will be even better as members of the team.

I'm definitely a bit apprehensive about my impending move to the sport category, but I think I've been building a good strength base this winter and am committed to more riding as soon as the snow clears. I hope to get my back all healed up within the next few weeks, too, having resigned myself to the idea that I might just need to take a little time off lifting. While I hate the thought of losing even a little of what I've worked so hard to gain, I'm comforted by the fact that this is a convenient time to back off a bit. Between trips for pleasure and work, I won't really be able to stay consistent anyway. But I'm hoping to take my bike on a business trip in a couple weeks and have already identified some places to ride, provided the weather is decent.

Affirmation

This weekend was particularly nice. As usual, I spent a good chunk of Saturday doing homework. My final paper for O.B. is on the organizational culture and structure at Alma College, and my research involves interviewing some of the members of our executive staff. I have a good shell to work with now, based on speaking with my VP, but on Wednesday I'll get even more viewpoints from the Academic and Advancement sectors. Does the fact that I am REALLY looking forward to putting this together make me a super-nerd? Yes, probably...

Aside from homework, I also managed a stint on the trainer and was pleased to see that my average speed for an hour-long mountain bike workout is increasing. I was also surprised at how tired my legs were, even at the beginning. It seems our lunchtime workouts are becoming harder and harder as we push each other to do more. I will need to remember that, on race weeks, my leg work should probably be limited to some easy riding.

I'm not always very confident when I meet new people; in fact, I'm very self-conscious about whether they'll like me, so I don't always have the best, most relaxed time at first. But on Saturday night, we went to Jon's to drink some wine and had a fantastic time with him and two other couples, whom I had never met before (Mitch knew one of the guys). We stayed way later than we were supposed to, but we all agreed that Jon needed to have another get-together so we could all hang out.

And then there was the MMBA Expo on Sunday (which is why we were supposed to get home at a decent hour on Saturday night!). The best part was getting to see all the folks with whom we share our summer weekends and talking about the upcoming season. I think it made everyone anxious for the races to begin! We didn't even spend too much money: Mitch got a great deal on aerobars for his road bike and on a new pair of shoes, and I bought a gift for Adrienne.

Well, my little work break is over. I have lots of projects to catch up on over the next week, so I better get back at it. Thanks for reading!

A Feel-Good Post

I'm tired, I'm stressed about school, I'm sick of the weather, I need a vacation and my back hurts. BUT, oh dear friends, there is so much that is good in my life. Let's recap:

With as stressed as I am about school and as challenging as I find Applied Quantitative Analysis, I took an exam on Tuesday and only missed one question. And I only missed 4.5 points on the 150 point Organizational Behavior exam I took on Sunday. This term is over in two weeks, and I only have one more test and one more paper. Wahoo!

We were bummed about having to pay in on our taxes this year, but a reexamination (thanks to the fact that I had to file the FAFSA to get more loans for next year) revealed that we get tax credit for my educational expenses so we ARE getting money back this year. Yes!

I may complain about "kids these days" as I work with needy Millennials and their helicopter parents, but I swear to you that we have the nicest students in the world. I am the Ski Team's advisor this year, and as a thank-you for doing the simplest things (like signing reimbursement requests), the team pitched in and bought me a Black Diamond soft-shell jacket with the team name and my name embroidered on it. I get a little teary just thinking about their kindness, and vow to bake them cookies for their races next year.

This weekend, we have the MMBA Expo/Annual Meeting. It's supposed to be just awesome, with lots of cool mountain biking-related vendors, advocacy speakers and just a general good time with other crazy people who love our sport. Mitch is going along for the pre-Expo ride (brrr!) while I help out with vendor check-in, nice and early in the A.M. I just love that we've gotten involved in such a fun activity and met really great people through it. Bring on the race season! (Well, not yet...I need a little more trainer time, though strength training workouts are going strong.)

In just a couple weeks, I'm heading out to Colorado to ski with Adrienne, a good friend from high school. Because I will be between terms for school, I won't have any homework to worry about. Other than calling home, I'm going to be OFF THE GRID and I cannot wait! I know we'll have some memorable adventures...

Alma-Ecuador

Since my life is excruciatingly boring right now (at least, it probably appears so from the outside because I'm not gifted like writer Joshilyn Jackson, who has a talent for making the mundane entertaining), let me try to inject a little excitement into this blog by highlighting a new initiative at Alma College:

Alma, Equatorialis Sign Articulation Agreement

This is a HUGE deal that has been in the works for a very long time. Alumni reading this should be very excited and extraordinarily proud of the College for embracing this innovative initiative! In ten years, I truly believe we'll look back on last Friday and consider it an historical event.

My Foray into Physical Therapy

After establishing that muscle relaxants and massage were not improving my back, my doctor sent me off to physical therapy. I had my evaluation and first session yesterday; here are the results:

• I did something to the part of my spine that experiences a lot of rotation. Not sure really what, but now I have exercises to do with a Thera-band.

• E-stim is pretty awesome...like a little mini-massage.

• My activity level is only mildly restricted. I can't do exercises like the plank because of the strain it puts on my spine, and I also need to avoid anything that hyper-extends my back. Other than that, I can do everything else.

Riding is most definitely not affected unless it starts aggravating the area. Since I still have quite awhile before conditions allow for anything but trainer and road rides, I don't see this being a problem even when I get out on the trail.

Other than dealing with that, I've been trying to stay on top of my coursework. I've been so bogged down for the past three weeks that, after last weekend's residency, I was ready for a little break. So I coasted for a couple days but now realize I need to get back on the wagon. Over the next two days, I need to learn two chapters from the-class-formerly-referred-to-as-stats-but-now-called-management-science, write a paper for organizational behavior, and do some serious studying for OB. Over the weekend, I have to take tests in both subjects. But after that, I just have one more management science test and one more OB paper, and I'm officially DONE with my second term of graduate school. Two down, four to go!

Freaking Awesome Ride

On most days, I would not classify my typical road route as any sort of awesome, much less freaking. But in February, any time I (as one particularly opposed to winter riding due to my inability to manufacture my own body heat) get out on my bike, it is usually freaking awesome. So yesterday's ride, despite the headwind, was FREAKING awesome. And FURTHER, my typical road rides range somewhere from 12-17 miles, but I willingly rode 20 miles! This gives me hope that, when the weather really breaks and the sun stays awake until the late evening, I WILL be able to ride my lovely little Scott home from the office. She is excited already.

Let me share something else riding-related, while I'm on the subject: I had my first real racing dream a few weeks ago. Now, it was pretty weird because there was a climbing wall in the middle of the course. Think about the big starting hill at Pando. Now make it super steep but pretty short. Now add both a climbing wall and a chairlift. In my dream, you dismounted your bike at the chairlift and some nice volunteer took it up the hill for you. In the meantime, you scaled the climbing wall (maybe 25-30 feet with NO ROPE) and topped it out, then got back on your bike and continued the race. In my dream, I was also racing with one of my friends who rides in real life but doesn't race. She broke her bike and our "resuce crew" assumed I would not be finishing the race, either, and dismantled my bike. I was TICKED and made them put it back together, but then I couldn't find my shoes. Thinking I would get reprimanded for not having my shoes, I grabbed my slip-on Teva fli-flops and quickly pedaled away into the darkness (because we had been on the trail FOREVER). Sometime shortly thereafter, Chip's efforts to expel a hairball woke me up.

By the way, can you tell I'm making up for the fact that I haven't really blogged much over the past few weeks? Grad school has been kicking my behind, but I'm now in the home stretch of this term. Just over one more year and I'll have my MBA! And no, depsite his fantasies, I will probably NOT be landing a big, fancy job and providing Mitch with the means to pursue life as a professional mountain bike racer (or even as a bike bum). Sorry, honey. :)

Hungry

I've been waiting for my church to post this sermon for a week, and it's finally up. We're doing a series on the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, and the one I've really liked so far was on Matthew 5:6:

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

If you want to listen to it and have the time (it's over 40 minutes), here's the link:

Are You Satisfied?

Basically, he talks about how some people see this verse as an admonishment and think they are not hungry enough for a relationship with God because of the things they fail to do. They don't go to church all the time, they don't read their Bibles all the time, they don't pray for hours and hours. They think that doing those things shows hunger for a relationship with God, and if they're not doing them, they're not really hungering and thirsting for God.

Instead, he says, we all have this hunger inside. Somewhere, sometime, we've all felt this aching for something that maybe we couldn't define. We need to be satisfied, so we go searching for satisfaction in life in all sorts of ways. It could be by pursuing a challenging career, having a family, engaging in hobbies, traveling or all sorts of other really positive things. We could also try to fill it with negative things like unhealthy relationships, alcohol, gambling and other destructive behaviors. It stands to reason that these negative things won't ever really satisfy us; they'll fill us up for awhile but still leave us feeling empty, sometimes even more so than before.

But, he says, even the positive things won't really satisfy us permanently. Only a relationship with God will truly satisfy that hunger, will finally fill us up. And when we realize that we need that relationship with God, then we are hungering and thirsting for righteousness. We shouldn't feel as though we need to fulfill certain obligations, to do certain things, to meet the criteria of hungering and thirsting for righteousness; realizing that we need the relationship with God and truly hungering after it is enough. And yes, when you experience that realization, chances are you'll want to spend more time in prayer, to explore his Word and do other things that bring you closer to him. But it's not the actions you take - it's the realization that nothing but a relationship with God will satisfy you that means you are hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

At least, that's what I got out of it. And I do remember times, before I really knew what it meant to be a Christian, when this longing would just hit. I've always had everything going for me: I have an amazing family (including a wonderful husband), my friends are the best, and I generally achieve what I set out to do. There have been bumps and poor decisions along the way, of course - and I know there are more to come - but by mainstream standards, I should have been satisfied a long time ago. But I remember being in high school, driving my trusty Ford Probe, and getting this urge to just go. There's something else there, I'd think. And maybe if I just drive fast enough and long enough, I'll find it. And in college, I made a choice that I thought would make me happy. It was a popular enough choice and I thought it was a fine one, but in the midst of all of it, I found myself knee deep in Lake Michigan, on a cloudy, windy day, with that same urge to just go. There's something out there, I thought. And if I could, I'd swim far enough and long enough to find it.

To sum it all up, I guess, all my advantages and achievements made me happy but not satisfied, not filled. When I finally realized I needed and could have a relationship with God, I felt like I was just brimming over. Like the song I've Always Known You by Ten Shekel Shirt says, "Maybe I've always known You, I just didn't know it."