Inspired by others

We had an amazing active weekend! I am still physically tired from the activities but emotionally inspired and awe by others. World is a beautiful place when we are surrounded by positive vibe and inspiring stories.

This pic of before sunrise pretty much captures my feeling. Isn’t it beautiful?! Witnessing it could be the sole reason I run 5-6 times a week. Although after a rest day on Friday, my Saturday easy run felt more tired than usual but I was still smiling because of the nature.

Right after my run I took Lizzy to swim competition. I didn’t realize until later that there were two competitions going on on the same time, so our original plan was not going to work (Lizzy had a piano performance at school at 10am). We arrived 11am, just to catch Sofia playing with her friends. Oh well.

Although the swim competition organizers really messed up everything, the Brazilian parents and coaches were so patient. We were not and left early to catch Lizzy’s piano lesson at 7pm.

Sunday: I woke up surprisingly feeling rested and recovered, thanks to a good night of sleep. Since this was a de-load week, I was planning to run 8 miles. But then I felt so well that I changed the plan/course to see if I can bike to the Brasilia Ironman 70.8 venue after the run. I ended up running 13.1 miles, inspired by people who were doing ironman. Not only that, I felt still full tank after the run that I attempted chin up. I am getting there! 🙂

Then I had breakfast ad went out biking to see if I could spot my colleague who was doing the race. Oh gosh… I could just sit there and watch them, these are really super human, all so fit and strong in their last leg of the race. And I SPOTTED my colleague!!! And what’s even more inspiring? He only started ironman after he recovered from cancer!!!

I realized that watching the race in person felt so different than YouTube. I almost could feel their “pain” and excitement. I felt moved and inspired. It is also a mostly male dominated race, saw few women but the majority were man.

Brasilia is really the perfect place for such a race, look at this! Maybe I could attempt an ironman during our stay?! The big challenge would be the swimming. Oh well…. let’s see.

I ended up biking almost 16 miles, only got home past 11am. What a great morning to be outdoor, feeling the movement. I was surprised by the lack of lower back pain that I used to experience while biking. Again, I can only attribute to the workout routine that I am loving. It really seems to work in so many ways. Despite working out 4 hours, I didn’t experience hip/back pain as I used to.

Lizzy also had a great day outdoor with her friend playing by the lake. She’s the one sitting. They spotted many capybaras in the lake.

I also had the energy to cook up lunch: a gigantic sushi burrito for the family and a vegan version for myself. I also made sourdough sandwich, an aduki bean pound cake, apple cake, and soy yogurt.

My energy finally plumbed by 5pm, perfect time to get my weekly massage. After that, I felt exhausted and went to bed to read/rest while girls watched Netflix.

Q: What would you do if you didn’t need the money and didn’t need the attention? From this book.

I would spend a lot of time running/being outdoor, cook for my loved ones, chatting with my girls and husband, and spend time reflecting/absorbing.