April 3, 2014

This week has been very relaxing because I had to call in for jury duty every day this week. They didn't require me to come in though. On Tuesday I hung out with, my right hand man, Jesse Kaupert. We have been led to be roommates at Brigham Young University: Idaho. At the end of last semester, we decided on goals for next semester. One of the goals was to run faster than a specific time for a long distance. I plan to break ten minutes for the distance of two miles. This was my goal during my senior year of high school, and I was unable to seize the opportunity then, and Jesse's goal is to run faster than five and a half minutes for a mile. I have been offering my encouragement and wisdom to run faster than five minutes for the mile, but he insists to run by his own wisdom and means. He decided on a strict routine that he got from a amateur sprinter. This kind of surprised me, but he still rejects my advice. He is going to wait until the end of the semester to see, if he will meet his goal.
I did a mile time trial last Tuesday after we did his work out. His work out was to run four one hundred meter sprints. This is definitely a sprinter work out. A long distance runner would do this as a warm up, and have a much more lengthy and harder work out after. I hope that he meets his goal.
I had to decide on a conservative mile trial strategy. I started my winter break training very well; however, I did my aggressive training after work, which took a toll on my body, because I was working out after an eight hour work day, standing on my feet and doing physical labor the entire time. Running seven to nine miles a day after work made my feet hurt, and I had slight knee pains after a month or so, when I first got home from school. Last summer I ran before work, and that was fine; however, this break, running after work, I can't be as aggressive as I am use to. I have had to go easy on myself this past month or so. This was my reasoning in my strategy. I planned to run eighty seconds per lap and a five-twenty mile.
I didn't feel very confident in my time trial. It didn't feel like how it use to in high school or in cross country at the university, but the feeling is kind of standard now a days. Running mile time trials is not new for me. I felt like I wasn't pushing my mental strength, but I was barely hanging on to it. I have found that mental strength is very important in running. There is a saying in racing that I don't believe. Coaches say that at the end of the race everyone feels the same exhaustion, so just triumph over that and you can be the winner. I don't believe everyone is the same in track and cross country. In my time trial, I ran the first lap in seventy seconds, which was ten seconds faster than I attended, and I tried to keep the same intensity the entire time. Jesse didn't get my other splits, but he said that I ran practically exactly five-twenty. I was surprised that I hit my goal time.
In high school, I learned the strength of mental fitness. One of the most impressive of my friends is Georgi Dinoluv. We did a pull up contest my senior year of high school in a weight training class. I worked out probably double the amount for the event, but I still lost to him because he has a greater capacity for achievement. One thing that I regret was that he asked me how much I think that I can do, and I said that I am at eighty percent when I do twenty pull ups. Guess what. My one hundred percent of the contest was twenty-four because I gave myself a mental limit. I learned then not to give myself mental limits. Georgi got twenty-seven or something like that. I trained better than him, and he admired me for that to help him train well. Performance is oftentimes when it counts the most though. I always focused on pushing my mental limits in training for my past cross country season and the beginning of my winter break, and I need to get back into this attitude now that I have adapted to my new lifestyle.
It was raining as I did my time trial, and for the people that would like to know more about Jesse Kaupert, when he is a single university student. The rain got to him, and he had to go puke. He seems to be an occasional puker. He is not super competitive. I suggested that he should do a time trial with the track team, but he doesn't want to do that. He does his personal best though. I have seen many people puke during work outs and training, but I have never been one of them. The is probably because I don't go all out, giving myself a mental. Who knows?

I LOVE POST FU!!!!!!

Oogway: "Ah! I see that you have found the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom!"
Po: [Po turns around with a lot of peaches stuffed in his mouth] "Oh! Is that what this is? I'm so sorry! I just thought it was a regular peach tree!"

The last thing I remember...

And here I thought I was going to have a normal birthday... "Happy Birthday by the way. Heard you had quite the surprise." Wait, what do you mean, how'd you know something happened? "The nice Analogyzer guy told me, oh and shared quite the tail about kindness." You didn't think to, oh I don't know, hail an officer of the law (Number 12 cough cough) or stop him? "Nah." You spelled 'tale' wrong. "I know how I spelled it. At least you know what Chloroform smells like now though." I have a headache again... That stuff was NOT diluted enough... "You live a pretty rough life... If that's what happens with your friends, I'm terrified to hear what your enemies do to you..." Yea, it ain't easy being me. Sometimes I think, 'Man, I don't know If I can even do this anymore. I mean, It's always something. It's just thing after thing after thing.' "Do you really feel like that?" Of course not! I'm Elder Lopez! Nuff said! "Ugh..."

Not pictured: An impressive Fu
Man Chu

So the reason I'm so Awesome! happy with who I am is because of a lesson I learned a long, long time ago. "In a galaxy far, far away?" No, I already did that one... But you are right, It does have to do with a similarly themed movie. In the movie Kung Fu Panda, there is a Panda named Po. "What does that have to do with Star Wars?" I told you, I ALREADY did that one, that ship has sailed. So anyway, Po is a panda whose dad is a Goose with quite the impressive Fu Man Chu. That has nothing to do with the lesson but I just thought I'd give credit where credit is due. So anyway, Po's whole predicament, conundrum, whatever you wish to call it- "What do you do call it?" It is... Not important... So, he wants to be a Kung Fu master but there's that one thing that gets in everyone's way at least once in their lives, he has the problem of being 'a big, fat panda.' "That doesn't even make any sense. You're right, that Chloroform stuff did get to ya." Ugh... you have no idea, I'm like still smelling colors... But that's besides the point. Long story short, Po gets picked as the Dragon Warrior, a warrior who is pretty Awesome! and filled with Kung Fu... stuffs... "Very smooth." You ever heard of Occam's Razor? "No?" Look it up... So, I totally lost my train of thought... "Dragon Warrior?" Oh yes! Dragon Warrior! 

One Elder Lopez was harmed in the making
of this post.

So there's this scroll, appropriately titled, 'The Dragon Scroll' that comes with the territory of being the Dragon Warrior and when the evil Tai Lung threatens the land of... Umm... "You don't remember what it's called do you?" Haven't a clue, but it's not important, the point is, he threatens it. "You know it's China right?" You're China... Only the power of the secret contained in the Dragon Scroll is enough to save the land but when Master Shifu and Po open it, to their complete and utter surprise, there's nothing. It's just a blank reflective scroll. So now you can imagine how much of a 'Man we're done for' moment they were both having but eventually, Po learns a valuable lesson. "That it's illegal to lick doorknobs on other planets?" Well... I suppose he learned that one too.. But I was gonna go with the value of self-worth. "I guess that one works..." 

You see dear reader, we are the greatest creations ever created! Think about it, everything we are, we are cause we are. "Sigh... Okay, I'll bite out of what I'm assuming is supposed to be a rational thought... Elder Lopez, whatever does that mean?" You're quite the sassy one today. Rather than describe it myself, I'll let someone a little more suited do it, and man do I wish I had their accent.

"You might say, “I’m not the creative type. When I sing, I’m always half a tone above or below the note. I cannot draw a line without a ruler. And the only practical use for my homemade bread is as a paperweight or as a doorstop.”
If that is how you feel, think again, and remember that you are spirit daughters [and sons] of the most creative Being in the universe. Isn’t it remarkable to think that your very spirits are fashioned by an endlessly creative and eternally compassionate God? Think about it—your spirit body is a masterpiece, created with a beauty, function, and capacity beyond imagination."

How's that for three slices of Awesome! pie? Every single time you look in the mirror, you see one of the greatest things ever thought of! Don't believe me? Ask Dr. Seuss!

"Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive who is youer than you!"

The secret of the Dragon Scroll is that power comes from within, and who gave you that power? That's right! Our Heavenly Father! Po defeated Tai Lung just like we can defeat our metaphorical Tai Lungs cause God loves us and although we often don't know our Awesome! self worth, God sure does, and He often times will send a little reminder to keep us going. For some it's a fortunate event, and for me, it's a mirror. "I just don't know what to say to that." Probably better if you don't... So go be Awesome! reader and remember, You can't spell Awesome! without M-E!