There are no words

It has been awhile since I have posted. Life has been busy as always. The days blur into weeks and then months. 

Since Ironman in January, I have found it hard to muster the motivation to wake up early to workout. In the evenings, the sofa and a cold beer have replaced the bike and my running shoes as a daily ritual. After accomplishing my goal and climbing the mountain, you forget that beyond the peak is a valley just waiting to steal your drive.

Over the last two months, everyday I say to myself, "today is the day to start fresh." Unfortunately, my fresh start is still waiting to happen, but not anymore.

Have you ever felt so fired up that you could barely sit still? That is how I feel right now. I have a friend that I respect and admire. No matter the day or the situation, she always has a smile on her face. She always asks how I am doing and wanting to know what Riley and Linds are up to. She is like this to everyone I see her interact with. She is special and a blessing to everyone that she touches.

Without going into detail out of respect for her privacy, her family has experienced a tragedy beyond my understanding. After learning of this, my heart broke. I am not effected by this personally, but when I look at Linds and Riley, I felt like I needed to do something.

I am signing up for the Beach 2 Battleship half ironman which will be October 25th. I was on the fence about another race this year, but not anymore. I will be racing and raising money for the Carousel Center. The Carousel Center is a non profit organization whose mission is to provide a child friendly environment for abused and neglected children and to support child abuse prevention efforts in Southeastern North Carolina. My goal is simply this, to raise as much as I can for this great organization. When I am feeling sore, tired, or lazy, I know that there are those that have endured far greater that I can imagine.

I hope that whoever reads this will help me spread the word so that we can be Jesus for those who need him most.

Please check back as I will update you on how you can donate.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

Henry David Thoreau

My Ironman Journey

I am writing this with my left leg elevated and swollen with snow on the way. To think, only 3 days ago at this time I was on my bike riding A1A in the Florida Keys. As the song says, "Sunny and 75". At 12:01am New Year's Day 2013, our journey to Bone Island Full Ironman Triathlon started. I say "our" journey because as the year and training progressed, you realize how much your entire family is committed. The months of training, the early mornings at the pool while Linds got Riley ready by herself, the 4+ hours Saturday and Sunday workouts, the postponing of house projects, the "I'm sorry Riley, Daddy is too sore to carry you", and the falling asleep at 9pm effects the whole family.

I am not fast. I will never qualify for a Kona slot with the top age-groupers. I race to challenge myself, for the community, and for the love of triathlon. It is hard to describe to some. The idea that racing for hours sounds crazy to most. A few years ago, it sounded crazy to me too.

Race morning, standing on a palm tree lined white sand beach watching the sun break over the ocean was emotional. What a blessing to be standing here! God is good! One of the athletes lead the invocation, then the national anthem played. Over the noise of the generator, Eminem is pumping from the speakers, "if you had one shot, or one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted. one moment would you capture it or just let it slip?" The air horn blasted and we were off. The swim was 2.4 miles in the ocean. The water was a crisp 68 degrees, but was crystal clear. This was my first time swimming in water that cold and it took a good 30 minutes before my breathing got into a rhythm. Once I got comfortable in the temperature it was just a matter of swimming to the finish. I am more of a sea turtle than a dolphin when it comes to swimming. Slow and steady, but I always get there. I exited the water at the end of Higgs Beach Pier, removed the wetsuit, and put on my bike gear. The bike course was 112 miles starting with a few miles to get off the island of Key West and then two loops down A1A to Middle Torch Key, then back into Key West. The temperature was perfect. There was a headwind the way out on both loops of the ride, but I was able to hold a steady pace. The bike course was open to traffic, which was heavy, and the road surface was pretty rough in sections. I saw several riders changing flats. Thankfully on this day, my ride was uneventful.

Back in Key West, the final leg was a 3 1/2 loop run course for 26.2 miles. The first loop was not too bad. I felt good and my pace was decent. By lap 2, my legs started to give out. My pace slowed, the bottoms of my feet were blistered, and my shins were throbbing. I never thought about not finishing, however my goal quickly shifted to putting one foot in front of the other. That is when I heard a car horn and saw Linds yelling out the window. "You got this, I love you!". This was a push right when I needed it. 7 miles later with 3 miles to go, Linds and Forest were on the side of the run course waiting for me. They "ran" with me the last 3 miles. As the finish line came into view, I burned the last bit of energy I had to run as fast as I could across the finish line.

The folks at Setup Events put on a great race. I would recommend this race to everyone. The volunteers were great, the aid stations were good and well stocked, the police were super nice, and the locals were very supportive.

Reflecting on this journey, I learned a lot. I learned what I am capable of and that anything is possible. I learned that I am blessed with the best support system in the world! The outpouring of support has been overwhelming. Hearing that people have been inspired by my journey is exciting. So many of us work desk jobs and finding endurance racings has provided me more energy, a way to release stress, and a reason to be active. I am looking forward to continue racing and challenging myself in triathlons and endurance events. If I never get 1st in my age group or qualify for Kona, I will not be disappointed. There may always be someone in front of me, but as long as I know I left everything I had on the course, I was successful.

My better half

I won the lottery! My wife is equal to those powerball winning stats. She is without question 1 in 175 million!

I decided last January that in 12 months, I was going to complete my first Ironman. I don’t think the time commitment sunk in until October as I started focusing on longer training sessions. During the 12 weeks prior to the race I have and will be swimming, biking, and running more than I ever have before. I say that, not to brag but to set the stage. Linds and I have always shared the parenting and household workload. As my morning swims are getting longer, I am not able to get home before Linds and the monkey leave for school. I was cutting my swim short a few weeks to get home on time, before Linds told me “finish your workout, its ok”. This might seem small to some, but it is huge for me. I get R up, make her breakfast, and make sure she brushes her teeth each morning while Linds gets ready. We have this done to a science. The alarm would go off (for the 15th time) at 6am. By 6:35am Linds and R are out the door, dressed, showered, and fed. Now 3 mornings a weeks Linds is getting herself and R ready and still having to leave at the same time.

On Wednesday nights, Linds teaches a running group at church which does not get us home until around 8pm. Last night, like so many before, Linds started cooking a great meal at 8pm after working a full day and leading the group! On Tuesday night, Linds was cleaning tables at McDonald’s for the PTA, and a few Saturday’s ago she volunteered to sit in a chair for 15 minutes and get pied in the face to help her school raise money. I have never done a load of laundry in 16 years because of Linds!

Linds is both my anchor as well as the wind in my sails. She always knows exactly when to push and went to reel me back in. There is no way I would be where I am without her.

When I cross the finish line in January, it will be because of her support and encouragement.

I love you Linds!

Cleaning out, not up

If your house was on fire and you had less than 5 minutes, what would you take? Would you be able to deal with losing everything else?


“The things you used to own, now they own you.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

This is a great quote. Over the last month Linds and I have been cleaning out. We are on the verge of the biggest yard sale in history. What happens after the sale? Everything that is left goes to Goodwill. Nothing goes back into the house.

I started asking the question of; “why do we hold on to stuff?” For example, how many cups do you have in your kitchen cabinets? Now ask yourself, have you ever had that many people at your house at one time when you did not use disposable cups? If your answer is no, then why are you keeping them? It is easy to get overwhelmed and stressed with always having to clean the house. But, in reality we are mostly “organizing” not scrubbing. I read on a blog that “organizing is nothing more than managed hoarding”. Since we cleaned out, it takes far less time to really clean, which means less time and stress.

Too often we hold on to things as a way to have a tangible memory. I have a lot of great memories. I remember helping my grandpa build a tree house in our back yard. I remember learning to ride a bike and getting my drivers license. I remember boarding up a house on Sunset Beach during a hurricane and sitting with Linds after surgery watching 90210. When the memories fade as I know they will, I will still know I had a great life. I don’t need a program from my Eagle ceremony to remind me of my scouting days. I have the memory of Dad and I taking turns pumping up an air mattress for what seemed like forever.
Now, I am not saying that you should sell everything you own and go live in the woods (although the thought has crossed my mind). I am simply saying that letting go of stuff does not mean that you are letting go of the memories too. Let your possessions add value to your life, not define and control you.

Being thorough is fine, but I was talking about Thoreau

It has been exactly 6 months since my last real post. A lot has happened during that time.


Most recently Linds and I have started to embrace the ideas of minimalists. We are not planning on moving into the woods and living with the wildlife, so no need to worry. I look around the house and see all of the “stuff” and think “Why do I need this?”. I can admit that many purchases I have made over the years have not been out of need or function, but simply out of the desire to impress myself or others. When I started to take stock of a lot of this “stuff”, I was surprised at the emotion that is attached to some of these things. Why should getting rid of a movie, a game, or whatever be so hard? Too often we attach value to something because it reminds us of a good memory. I have wonderful memories and pictures of the trip Linds and I went on to Europe after high school. But why does that make me hold on to a half used bottle of cologne from France (that does not smell that good anyway)? I am learning and accepting that the value added to my life is not the stuff but the experiences.

The plan is to reduce the clutter down to the “stuff” that we use, value, and/or serves a purpose. The second and more challenging part will be to keep the “stuff” to a minimum.

I am hoping that with the house simplified, the other parts of our lives will be easier to manage. It always seems to be easier to stick to a budget, a workout/training plan, or a meal plan when you come home and it is clean and neat.

This weekend will be a yard sale, trip to the dump and goodwill, and then hopefully some re-focusing on the budget, training, and cooking plans.

With focus being the goal, I think that ……………..Oh look a squirrel!

Vacation

I'll be back to the blog on Tuesday. I am at the happiest place on Earth.

My Truck kept my key and my wife took my money....No wait, reverse that!

“Sometimes grace comes as a punch in the face”-Mary Elder




This past week has been full of excitement for Lindsey’s marathon and our upcoming Disney trip. I let R watch the Disney promo DVD that we got in the mail last year. R must have watched it 10 times on Sunday! She is pumped. The last few days have also been filled with getting back into some routines that were let go during the holiday season. Workouts, grocery shopping, and meal planning have are getting back on track. I still have not made it back in the pool, but I know that will be coming.
Yesterday, R stated that she was big enough to ride all of the rides at Disney so we decided to test her theory. She is not quite tall enough to make it on all the rides, but she has grown about 2 inches since August! Linds had to get her some new pants to make sure she was not sporting high waters.

In the prep for our trip, I dropped the truck off for scheduled maintenance on Monday Morning. Little did I know that based on my mileage and wear, I needed not only an oil change and tire rotation, but a timing belt, water pump, brake pads, routers, and a battery! $1,675 later I am contemplating selling a kidney on e-bay. This morning got going with another speed bump. I got in my truck this morning to realize that my key was on Lindsey’s key ring since she picked up the truck yesterday! Oh Joy. So, Lindsey being very sweet, drove all the way across town after the school day for her had started to return my key.

Now, this is certainly a test in patience and resilience. It would be very easy to become depressed, but as a VanWilder says: “its like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it does not get you anywhere.” So I am taking this as a wakeup call that I need to tweek my organization and budgeting.