Causeway Bike Ride
Hi. I just got done with a bike ride at the Amador causeway. I really like that place. I wish there were some traffic police as folks go there to ride bikes, skates, skateboards, scooters, and walk. Some of the cars are rolling at out of control speeds. It would be so easy to just stand there and hand out speeding tickets.
I have a friend who told me that she believes Panama could make a lot of money from giving speeding tickets. I totally agree with her. We would have enough money to fix all of the potholes! It would be nice to drive on smooth streets. We would probably need cameras that can register the speed, then take a picture of the license plate and the ticket is sent immediately to the transito. The more digital the method the better. That way it can cut out the bribes.
I needed that short bike ride today. I haven't been doing a good job of getting outside and exercising this week, partly due to the weather. It is the rainy season now. It can rain any time of day however, it usually rains in the afternoon. When I like to go out to exercise.
If it's not the rain it is the heat. Amador has mostly palm trees on the causeway. They look nice, however they don't provide much shade. The only shade is the walkway behind the officer's club. It can be pretty blazing out on the causeway during the middle of the day. Today was mostly cloudy with a nice breeze. On the way down to the end the wind was behind me and I was flying. It felt great!! The way back not so much.
Passion pull
I have been writing about comfort zones. looking back at my life I know how I have grown and how much life has changed, mostly for the better, when I step out of my comfort zone. It's not easy and I haven't always done it.
There have been times when I start to feel restless, not satisfied, or unhappy with where I am in my life. That I should be doing something else, or I should be somewhere else. I have learned that that's a clue, my internal voice telling me it is time to move on to something else. Now that something else...that is the challenge. I do not always know what that something else is. Other times I know exactly what it is, yet I struggle to make the move towards it. Then there's times when the passion for something just pulls me through.
I don't remember what grade I was in when I read in a magazine that the University of North Carolina has a soccer summer camp. They actually have a summer camp for many sports. I had been to soccer camps at the University of South Carolina -Aiken and Wake Forest before. Yet there was something more attractive about the UNC camp. For starters the women's varsity team was the best in the US at that time. Those same players were also the coaches for the summer camp. And it was for girls. The other camps that I had been to were co-ed. I remember wanting to go as soon as I read about it.
I don't really remember how it came about however, I went with my sister Jill. Was I nervous? Hell yeah! I knew that there was going to be a lot of girls of many different skill levels. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. We were there for a week. We stayed in the dorms and pretty much ate, drank, slept, and played soccer. Our days started with a 7am wake up for fitness training (running), then breakfast, a short break before individual skills activities, that shifted to small group drills until lunch, another short break then we did small team games that transferred to larger team games until dinner. There was a break after dinner until the evening game. This game was between the coaching staff and the best players chosen from the practices of that day. After that there was a break until the 10 pm bedtime.
We got our asses kicked! First we didn't have the fitness. We had never been properly trained, especially on technique, positions on the field, shielding when receiving the ball, what to do when you don't have the ball, the skill to have the ball at your feet and your head up at all times! It was tough. I learned so much. We left exhausted physically and mentally. I was definitely out of my comfort zone and I was ok with it. I even liked it. Prior to camp I thought that I was a good player. It was very humbling.
Yet, it opened my eyes up to a whole new soccer world. One that I wasn't a part of, but wanted to be. I don't know if that is something that has ever happened to you?
Thanks for sticking around to the end.
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