Friendly Competition

Ricki and I are both avid physical fitness nuts. Not only do we work out but we like to work out. While I think we are both in arguably good shape neither of us are really where we want to be. So in the spirit of friendly competition we have decided to participate in a physical challenge. 
Once I read the training regimen of am athlete I thought of as very fit. He spent an average of two hours a day training. Ricki recently met someone who came to her kickboxing class who says she trains two hours a day. Magical coincidence? Possibly. Madness? Some would say so.  
So, for a month we will both be shooting for as many days possible (6 days a week) of two hours a day training. There are minimum requirements for the activity, rules and we are deciding on a prize - and potential tie-breaker. 
It is friendly competition that ends up bringing us together multiple times of day to talk about progress and remaining time for the day. 
This means early mornings - Ricki more often than I right now, and late nights - more often me. 
Officially 4 days in and we are tied. I think it will come down to endurance. 
I know what you are thinking... If we tightened up our diet we wouldn't need two hours a day - but I really like to eat.

Today

I've been growing my coaching business and working with several career individuals as well as people who are simply struggling a bit. One of the key focuses I have in my approach is not to dwell on the past. Yes we all have issues. Yes we have all struggled and made mistakes. We can discuss yesterday until the cows come home without really moving forward. Similarly, spending all our time wishing or thinking about tomorrow will result in many wasted today's. I've been dragging my feet signing up for a fall race. I really wanted to do a 100 miler but I'm just not sure i'm in a spot to commit to the training. So instead I was going to do a 50. But my indecision was causing me to hold out. Now the 50 I wanted to do is full. I signed up for the waiting list, but that just doesn't drive me as much. So just do it today. Don't wait until tomorrow to make that jump, take that risk or step up and make the change you know you need to make.  

I keep saying I'm going to post more often - usually "later". So here I am, posting now.

Slightly Distracting

Keelyn thinks this is a fun hat. She tends to wanders aimlessly yet always near my desk while I try to work. Like a dedicated monk she chants as she wanders. "A puppy a puppy a puppy a puppy a puppy a puppy a puppy a puppy...." you get the point. Much like the youngest sister on Despicable Me and her thing with unicorns I fear Keelyn will soon be composing her very own puppy songs soon.

Been running places

My goal was to run my first 100 mile endurance race this year. I'm still semi planning in it but I haven't signed up and we all know you don't fully accept the challenge until the entry check is in the mail. But that is not the point. I've been running in some great places. I was in Seattle a few weeks ago, all beautiful and green. Last week we were running in snow and very cold winds. In a few weeks I'll be in North Carolina and Virginia for work. A local company has hired me to go do some work on the East Coast. Hopefully I'll get to sneak in some local runs. The point is, it is great to get out and run.

Just too funny to be mad

Have you ever had one of those moments where you really want to be mad at your kids because in all reality they just made your life more complicated? But then you realize that the situation and what has actually transpired makes you laugh, and not just a chuckle but that deep down laugh that makes your really sore abs from yesterday's enthusiastic workout really start to hurt again? Yeah. I had one of those moments tonight.
I was sitting with Ricki helping her with her volunteer grading work for Brigen's teacher (not sure how that works) when I heard the scamper of small feet dash across our bedroom directly overhead. Weird because I know all the kids were asleep. Deciding it would be wise to investigate I took a stroll up the stairs just in time to see Krevan dash across the landing and into his bedroom. Now you should know that Krevan has sleeping issues like me and sometimes he simply wakes up. I followed him into his room and noticed that he had what looked to be a death grip on his ... Ahem ... nether-regions. Now it isn't altogether unusual fir him to wake up late and need to use the bathroom. But something strange was afoot and I still wasn't sure what he was doing running around the upstairs. Sometimes Krevan just does things ... And I'm not always entertained by them. So I ask him "Kre, buddy, do you need to go potty?" he turns, looks at me and I realize something. His eyes are wide and he has this really cute not quite there look in his eyes tinged with a mild panic. "Yes" he says so I get into motion. Two quick steps and I'm in the bathroom, the nightlight is on and the toilet seat is up. But no Krevan. Confused I step back out of the bathroom and Krevan is not in the hallway nor is he in his room. I immediately head back to my bedroom since that is where I Belfast him in the first place but I notice him standing in the guest bedroom. Huh? Now he is using what looks to be a sort of tourniquet technique. Well beyond the pee-dance stage instinct has kicked in and Kre is doing everything he can to stop the flow. Unfortunately is just isn't enough. I ask him again "Kre, you need to use the bathroom?" and that is when I hear the sound. A kind of saturated fabric dripping. I grab Kre run him to the bathroom and set him in front of the toilet because clearly his navigational systems were not booting up correctly. I figured his pants were a lost cause so I head to his room for clean undies and pants. When I get back to the bathroom my overly keen senses detect something amiss. Kre is still in the bathroom, the toilet seat is up and Kre looks to be still. He turns his head and I realize that the engine has not been started. Cute kid, he's just still in la-la land. Which would explain why he hadn't bothered to drop his pants. He had to pee, I told him to pee - he was just being a good soldier, albeit a bit comatose. Now standing in the results of too few processors running and a direct order from Dad to pee Krevan gave me that look. Just step back and take it all in. Krevan, pants fully drawn, toilet seat up and the makings of our own water park. Sigh. All I could do was laugh. Poor kid. Now he is safe back in a warm bed with dry clothes and probably won't even remember it in the morning. And all I can think about his big blue eyes, vacant of expression staring back at me with that "what?" look.

Griswolds we are not ...

We didn't go crazy, but plan to add on a bit next year. The kids love the lights and our neighborhood does quite a bit of decorating so the boys are glad that theirs isn't the only house without lights. I'm thinking about building a star for our outside tree. It sadly looks as if someone decapitated the top foot of it and I think a star would help. When we get it done I'll post a new picture.

Miscommunication At Its Best

I've been meaning to tell this story for a while. For his birthday Brig really wanted to get a lava lamp. Grandma and Grandpa Angus sent him one (pictured below) and he loved it. He couldn't wait to turn it on and watch the manic happen. Of course anyone who has owned a lava lamp knows that it takes several hours to heat up and work as it should.
So for the first time we set it up the evening of his party. Occasionally he and his guests would storm the stairs and check it out. But, those visits were few and far between. He failed to really catch the process of the lamp heating up. Well, a night or two later I was sitting on the couch after what felt like a very long day. Needless to say I was tired. Brig was in bed and we had switched on the light just when he went to bed. While sitting on the couch I hear someone moving quickly upstairs and the trampling down the stairs. Brig bursts onto the scene of my relaxation and in a panic stricken voice tells me that something very bad has happened. "My lava lamp blew up!" it was both panic and despair wrenching his little heart and it was pure panic that drove me to hurtle the couch and sprint up stairs. I was envisioning broken glass, spilled hot fluids and possible fire hazards. I feel I'm pretty strong running up stairs but let me tell you I think I cleared the staircase in two steps. Much to my relief I found the lamp intact and in the condition you see below. Brig had seen lava lamps start and when they were going, but not in-between. Well when the lamp first starts the heavy material is in a block at the bottom. As it starts to heat up is basically melts and for a short time looks like this. Then it breaks up and starts flowing. I told Brig this while at the same time trying to shut down the million year old instinct of pure adrenaline pulsing through my veins in the case of emergency. Now every night he looks forward to the lamp "exploding" and tries to pick out shapes in it. Good times.

Our Little Climber

It is funny how each child tends to gravitate to their own activities. For instance, we are sitting at Kre's soccer practice where he is busily engaged in throwing the dirt clods left over from the aeration that has just been performed on the lawn. Brig is doing something similar, lobbing clods as far as he can - only occasionally hitting people. Keelyn on the other hand is single-mindedly practicing her hanging strength. She's been at this for about 15 minutes.

My Hot Ladies

Just thought I'd share a bit of the beauty in my life.

Why I Run

Why do I run? I'm asked this question even more often than "How do you run that far?" but not quite as often as I hear "I get tired driving that far" or some derivation thereof. So, I've always felt some sense of obligation to answer the question. I have never felt that I've really found a satisfactory answer for people who ask the question or really, for myself. But like so many things I keep doing it because I know it is good for me, I enjoy it and because someday I will discover a fulfilling answer. Today may be that day. And it is simple - as good things should be. I run because while I run I can see my own potential and it is always positive. I have never been on a run and thought to myself "Bard, you're going nowhere." I'm always going somewhere when I'm running. And I always see where I can go when I'm running. It is a meditation where I always see myself achieving something great. Finishing a race, achieving something in my personal life, doing something good in a relationship, fulfilling a life goal - you get the idea. Always good, even if it is only that I'm continuing to make forward progress when all the forces are against me. Running is the fermentation dish where good thoughts and self actualization breed. So run, spend time running easy enough to think good thoughts and see yourself going places.