RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL

So, it's been four days since my last post.  I could blame it on being really busy.  I could blame it on a bad weigh in Monday that I haven't wanted to post.  I could blame it on being really tired, both physically and tired of blogging.  As I knew it would, this blogging takes a lot of time.  It gets late at night and I just feel too tired, too unmotivated, to sit down and blog.  And I don't know if anyone is reading this stuff anyway.  But I do enjoy going back and reading my past posts.  And I know I will enjoy it even more a few years from now.  So, I will keep blogging.

You probably noticed my reference to the Devil in the title.  It seems like I am crossing paths with him with increasing frequency.  A recent post title also referenced the Devil, when Brooke and I visited his kitchen.  And my weigh in on Monday was definitely influenced by him.  They say that all bad things are from the Devil, so that's my excuse for gaining 2 pounds last week.

That's all I am going to say about the weigh in.  It was definitely depressing and left me questioning if this is all worth it.  But it was just temporary depression and I will not be denied of my ultimate goal.  It was his fault.

Monday we also received our first snowfall here in the valley.  I stepped outside that morning, saw the snow and felt the cool breeze blowing on my face, and couldn't help but get excited for the ice fishing season that will soon be here.  So after the depressing weigh in, and dropping Chase off at school, I took a short drive up the canyon on my way home.  It was beautiful!  The colors of fall covered in white snow.  Someone was definitely at work in all His beauty, and it wasn't the Devil.

 

 

 

 

After returning home, Heidi and I decided it was time to get moved in to our new house.  I know we have been here for four years now, but that didn't stop us from having a move in party.  We purchased some patio furniture for our back yard this summer and wanted to place it in the basement now that the snow is starting to fall.  That meant that we needed to go through the boxes that have been sitting mostly untouched for the last four years.  We needed to discard some things, and rearrange the lucky items spared from the landfill in order to make room for the furniture. I should have taken before and after pictures because we did a really good job.  And now we are finally all moved in.  Send gifts if you want. (Heidi really likes Cabela's gift cards)

Tuesday morning I had another run in with the Devil.  Heidi and I hit the rec center for some weight lifting and a spin class.  We had a substitute instructor in spin class, you guessed it.  He tried to disguise himself as Randi, but he couldn't hide the horns sticking out of his head.  Some of the people thought it was just Randi in a costume, but the ride she he put us through, left no doubt.  Randi would never have been that mean.  I wasn't fooled.

BIG NEWS!   Today I signed up for an Ironman triathlon.

There is a little catch.  As the picture shows, I have two weeks to complete the required miles.  Which is a good thing.  It's going to take me that long to swim the 2.4 miles.  The bike, 112 miles, and the run, 26.2 miles, shouldn't present too much problem.  I just hope we have good weather and I can get my bike miles outside on my own bike.  I can't imaging riding 112 miles on a stationary bike.

I went to the fitness center today to get my run in on the track.  I went to run an easy paced 5 miles.  I never could imagine myself saying this, but I still felt strong after those 5 miles were done.  And it had only been about 45 minutes.  Remember when my goal for an hour run was 5 miles and I missed it by 10 seconds?  So I figured I would run the full hour before quitting.  Fifteen minutes later I ended my nike+ workout program and it said that I had run 6.66 miles!!!  That's right, I had been running with the devil.  I left him with 1172 calories to take back to hell and remember me by. 

After my run I went for a swim to see if I was up to the Ironman challenge.  I have mentioned before what a strong swimmer I am.  If I recall correctly, I think I said I can't swim to save my life.  That hasn't changed.  But I don't think that will be required of me in the 6 foot deep pool. Let's hope.  2.4 miles is 170 lengths of the pool at the fitness center.  That breaks down to an average of 12 lengths a day to finish in the 2 weeks.  Sounds easy doesn't it?  Unless you can't swim.  I figure that at least 3 days of the week I won't be able to swim, because of work.  That means I will probably need to average about 25 lengths a day, if I swim every day that I don't work.  Am I going to swim every day that I don't work? Probably not.  So realistically, I am probably looking at about 35-40 lengths each time I go swimming.  Does that still sound easy?  Maybe to Heidi, but not to me.  But today I swam 20 lengths before getting out.  I still felt pretty good.  I probably could have done 35-40, I think.  So considering that I had just ran a little more than 6.5 miles before swimming today, I felt confident that I could complete the swimming portion.  So it's official, I registered.  Beginning Monday I begin my quest to become an Ironman.  A two week Ironman.  Wish me luck.