My Good Friend

Recently I had a good friend and mentor of mine pass away. His name is Ron.

(This is Ron)

 He lost his battle with cancer last week and not to sound selfish or to diminish the loss of his family, I want to say that I miss him and his positive influence on my life. I was able to take an opportunity last weekend to consider where I am versus where I want to be and I am relearning the importance of keeping family, life, hobbies, and work in perspective. There were so many people that walked away from Ron's memorial with their great memories of my friend and his life with them that I came to realize that is how I want to be remembered by my friends. I want them to walk away with great memories of the times we spend together. Since Ron and I are both Jimmy Buffett fans I am reminded of a verse in the song Barometer Soup about “keep her well stocked with short stories and long laughs” and I want to keep the boat of my life well stocked with these things. Because of who Ron was I recognize that there is a greater lesson in that simple song for myself and how to make that verse become a greater reality, but I am going to save that insight for myself and continue to think on it. So, in much the same way he was my mentor and teacher when I started in my career as a counselor, he continues to set an example that I am learning from.


Thank you my friend.

Ouch part deux!

In a recent post I lamented that I had not been as diligent in my training and I believe I even made reference to starting a new workout regime. If I did not allow me to in form you that I did start a new program. I joined a small group at my church and it is "Pump and Pray". I knew it was going to be a challenge, but this is ridiculous.



Me and several other men are working out with the pastor and the gym owner. The gym owner is huge and bends metal for Jesus or did at one point. Well I went twice before Meg went out of town for her conference. Day one was pulling and day two was legs.



I figured I would be fine on legs and I am for the most part.



Now before I go further let me say that this was to be able to improve run times. What it did for me was make it nearly impossible to bend my arms! Now before you all laugh and think "shows you right for showing off". I DID NOT SHOW OFF!!!! If anything I was the most conservative of the bunch.



That being said let me set the stage for you. I left the gym feeling fine a little sore, but no biggie. Then at about 4am it happened my arms were so sore it woke me from a dead sleep (you can ask Meg, that is hard to do). I stumbled to the bathroom closet looking desperately for some muscle rub; no dice. I finally found sone Advil and popped a few and went back to tossing and turning. I was so sore my arms literally stopped bending!



So I did what you would expect - I woke up and went to work my legs when the alarm wore off. The work out was fine as long as I did not bend at a greater then about a 20 degree angle. I was miserable. I did finally find my muscle rub and used it though out the day and Meg was helpful with applying it to my mid neck area. I was miserable all day.



I have since not been for a workout since and today is Saturday and I have only recently began to be able to move my arms in a full range of motion with out applying tons if muscle rub...I did learn something from all of this and it was this: I am thankful for straws! With the aid if straws I was able to make it trough the day and keep hydrated. With my minimal reach it wasn't like I was going to be eating that day...oh the price I pay to stay buff and pretty. 

Man it has been a while!

Wow little did I realize how long it has been since I have updated all my fans on what has been going on and for that I apologize. I know it is hard to be inspired if I neglect you and it is my goal to inspire everyone to be more active in some way. In many ways I think my training reflects my posting and I have been very lazy on both fronts. I am still training, but I have to admit I have had a bad year following my ultra-marathon. Lets recap how I got to this sad state shall we.

First, I once read a quote stating that I was not ready for my next marathon until I could forget about my last marathon, I now know what is meant by that...I think. I think it means that if I am still focused on the marathon and I have not taken it upon myself to heal and repair my body and my thinking then I am not ready for another one yet. I have to admit it did a number on my body and I did give my self about a month to heal and I came along fine, but it is the mental part I struggled with. I was still there and I think in many ways I still am, it was so much fun and I want to do it again. Heck I still think about it so I may not be ready, but I am going to have to be ready I have one coming forward in November.

Second, the weather was horrible and I don't mean just hot (I know that is going to happen), but there were these wildfires burning over a hundred miles a way and there were days were the ash was falling from the sky like snow. That is not a condition by which a person can run and I know - I tried. My lungs ached from the effort. It took months for them to go out and truly it put me behind to the point that I probably will never catch my schedule back up no matter how much effort I put into it.

Third, I have not been able to find the balance that I so desperately need. I have not been committed to running because I have been trying to make time for other things in my life and I have been totally slack about being committed. I want to run, I like to run, I really think I need to run, and when my life is not in harmony then I don't run and when I don't run - I just really don't like being around myself. So, if nothing else I have to be balanced and committed at the same time.

Fourth, I have not been good to myself (maybe this should be under my third point). I have not been sleeping and eating correctly and I have been allowing a lot of stress to invade into my life in a way that has drained all my energies. Work has changed and my family and future is changing and I have simply been feeling the drain. I used to sleep and eat better and I have begun to suck back into the bad habit of being up too late and eating to feel better. Ugh that paragraph alone is a shining example of blah!

Fifth, I lastly think that what has also put me here is my lack of motivation and poor time management. I think these go hand in hand as I have not been truly motivated to do my running and there for I have created excuses to not run like I should have. I have done a marathon and then I ran an ultra distance and I have been struggling to find a way to stay motivated. I thought by taking on a double marathon would help, it did not. I thought that taking on the Goofy Challenge would help and it did not. I finally I had to face the fact that my motivation had to be as it has needed to be all along an internal motivation that is mine and I can not longer allow myself to rely on the outside world to make me go forward.

I have to stop here and leave with this thought: Taking care of self allows me to take care of the others around me and for now my favorite form of self care is running and I think it is time I get to running.