My homestay in Santa Monica

Its a Sunday morning in Santa Monica, and Karen and i just got done with a beautiful trail run in Will Rogers State park with our coach Siri Lindley ( http://www.siri-lindley.com/ ) . We had breathtaking views of all of LA. I so wish i had my camera with my and i could have snapped along as i ran. It really reminded me of Table Mountain in Cape Town which overlooks the whole city and ocean. Unfortunately i couldnt appreciate it as much as i would have liked to because i knew one wrong step, especially since this was only my 2nd time trail running, would have had my sliding down the path or even worse - over the hill. It was like yesterday on the bike, i could climb all day and well , but when it comes to going down hill i am over precautionary , kinda like having my hands on 10 and 2 while driving and then breaking when the car 15 meters ahead is breaking. yes, i could have driven miss Daisy and she then would have told me to speed up. unfortunately , yes , this translates to me running and biking downhill. The good news is, i do this in training, but in a race as Eli says "Go big or go home" or "go home in an ambulance" - is my addition to his favourite saying.

The main purpose of this blog today is to honor my awesome homestay hosts. Lamar Sepulveda and Rosalind Jarret. Before i tell you more about who they are and their resume per say, i first want to say that if i hoped to be a certain kind of person and have a lifestyle in a certain way when i grow up , these would be my models. Rosalind and Lamar , in their 60's and 50's respectively, have more life and energy than i would have on a good day. Lamar - ultra athlete, did a triathlon yesterday, went all day yesterday taking care of us, meeting with some folks from La tri club to work on logistics for a race, helped cook us dinner, and then proceeded to get ready for a marathon that he was running today. and by the sounds of things - this is a normal weekend for him. He disclaimed all of this by saying it was just training for his big 80 mile ( i think ) race next weekend, which is getting him ready for the ultimate goal of running a 100 mile race.. Did i mention he has a full time and very taxing job to top this off.. yes, i know all of your jaws or dropping. mine certainly did . Rosalind is right there with him, which makes them perfect for each other. If you are going to be this active - you need someone by your side who loves to do the same. And they really do love it. Rosalind volunteered for the triathlon, came home and cleaned up for hours and i guiltily ( is that even a word ?? ) slept on the couch, and then she proceeded to make us dinner before getting ready for the marathon tomorrow , which she too is running right now... yes..wow...

After doing some research , which was easy to do since they pop up everywhere on google. i found two great links which i attached. Check the links out !! I am not going to right about it, you can go there if you want to read more :). http://payitforwardchallenge.net/ ; http://www.ubchanginglives.org/Home/About/DAC/DACmembers/RosalindJarrett

To end this blog, i want to say that i feel very fortunate for the people God puts in our lives to help open our eyes to His Glory,to make us aware of our purpose in this world and to appreciate this life that he has all planned out for us . Not a day goes by that i dont love and trust in Him more . We are all here for a reason, like a piece to the puzzle, and once we all do our part , the puzzle will be complete.