GIVING THANKS

In our life, we sometimes spend too much time complaining about the things we do not like or have. Today, being thanksgiving, I want to take time to give thanks for the blessings I have.

I am thankful for the family that raised me.  We are all where we are today because our parents or guardians raised us.  Not just our parents but our siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.  I definitely have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful for the family I now have.  I consider my wife and children to be my greatest blessing in my life.  Everything I do is because of them, or for them.  They are my greatest source of joy.  Nothing in life compares to making memories with my family.  This morning I took the kids out for some sledding before dinner.  Watching them smile makes you feel good as a parent.

        



 

  

 

I am thankful for friends.  True friends encourage us, motivate us and push us to do better.  I have been blessed with some of the best friends in my life.  I recently joined facebook after saying for a long time that I never would.  Why did I finally do it?  To reconnect with my friends.  Friends have played such a role in my life and facebook has given me a chance to continue those friendships.  It has been a lot of fun to see where everyone is and what they are all doing.  I only hope that my kids will be blessed with friends as good as mine have been for me.

I am thankful for a roof over my head.  If am thankful that I have a place to rest and relax.  A place of safety and encouragement.  I am thankful that Heidi and I are able to provide this same blessing for our children.

I am thankful for laughter.  I am thankful for the laughter of my wife, my children, and my friends.  It is said that laughter is the best medicine.  As a pharmacist, I should know.  Laughter is contagious, try it.  Share a laugh with someone and make your day brighter.

I am thankful for my job.   A job is a great blessing, whether we are happy with the job we are in or not.  I am lucky to have a job that I enjoy.  As a husband and father, I am thankful that I am able to provide the necessities of life for my family.

I am thankful for the freedoms that I have.  We have so many freedoms that other countries do not have and it has cost some men and women their lives.  This freedom continues to cost people time away from their families and physical injuries.  I am thankful for the opportunity I had to serve this country and for those members of my family who have, and continue to serve.

I am thankful for my health and the health of my family.  Heidi and I both work in the medical field so we are often reminded of how lucky we are for the health that we and our children enjoy.  So many people in life have physical limitations that they have to deal with.  I am thankful to be able to run, ride my bike, hike in the mountains, hunt and fish.  Without my health, what hobbies would I have?  Probably not the ones that I enjoy right now.  This last week has been a good reminder of that.  While my health hasn't been compromised, some of these things that I enjoy have been off limits.  Last Friday I underwent an outpatient surgery.  As a result, the doctor told me that I shouldn't exercise this week.  It has been a little frustrating not being able to run, or ride my bike, or go swimming.  These activities have become a significant part of my life.  And with my current goal of weight loss, it has been even more frustrating.  With each day that passes, I feel like the work I have been doing in the past is being wasted.  I just feel myself getting fatter. And today being Thanksgiving didn't help.  But it has also given me a nice break and a new sense of dedication once Monday is here and I can start exercising again.  I am again thankful for my family who has taken care of me during my recovery.  The first couple of days were spent doing not much more than laying on the couch watching television.  Chase thought it would make me feel better if he piled all of his favorite toys on me.  He gave me all of his favorite stuffed animals and his balloon.  Could a father be any luckier than I am?

Thank you all so much for making my life what it is.  I especially want to thank my wife and kids.  I love you all so much.

DRESSED IN SUCCESS

After getting the kids off to school this morning, I decided to go down to the fitness center and get some swimming in.  Mid morning, 9:00-11:00, usually seems to be a good time for those of us less-than-Phelps swimmers to get a little water time.  Early morning usually has a couple of people in each lane.  Not a good time to get in and work on my self taught swim stroke.  My water wings usually get in the way and I keep hitting the other swimmers in the head with them.  Mid morning I can usually get a lane to myself. The younger generation is busy going to work, the seniors are still home watching reruns of Little House On The Prairie, Bonanza, and Hogan's Heroes.

When I got to the fitness center, they gave me our shirts for recently completing the Ironman challenge that they were sponsoring.  I asked him if I could tell everyone that I won first place in my division.  What division you ask?  Forty year old men named Leon, that live in South Jordan, work as a pharmacist for Smith's, have 3 sons and 1 daughter, one smokin' hot wife, and a blog called Win The Day.  He looked at the results and told me that I was 4th in that division, just finishing out of the medals.  So I added in the qualifier that you had to finish 4th in the previously mentioned division, and just like that, I won my division.  That's right, taking home the gold!!!  Heidi, also won her division.  What division you ask?  The division of women married to a forty year old man named Leon, that live in South Jordan, works for Smith's........just kidding.  Her division was women who could beat their husbands in each of the three events.  I might have slacked off a little bit to allow her to win that division, maybe.  She also won the swimsuit competition.  I came in a close second.

It was nice to swim this morning without having to try and keep track of how many laps I had swum.  My swimming has improved a lot.  For the most part I can swim trying to concentrate on improving one specific area of my stroke.  I'm not swimming anymore trying to think about all of the components of my stroke at the same time.  What are my legs doing? Why can't I keep them near the surface?  What are my arms doing? Why do I always get so gassy when I swim?  Forgetting that you can't breathe in while under the water.  Try thinking about all of those things and having to keep track of the number of laps at the same time.  So it was a nice break to just swim today without counting.

After the television reruns were over, the senior crowd started to show up.  I started to get squeezed out of my lane.  I was ok with that because I had to pick Chase up from school.  It's too bad though.  For the few minutes that we were all there together, I was definitely the best swimmer.  I usually can't make that claim, best swimmer in the pool.  Too bad I couldn't stay there and drown myself in that feeling.

After picking up Chase from school, I thought I would get a little running in.  He played the wii while I watched him from the treadmill.  It amazes me how well these 4 year old kids can play with these electronic devices of today.  I know that I couldn't play those games near as well as he was.  Does that make me a bad parent?  The fact that my 4 year old can kick some wii butt.  Today's games are so much more complicated than the PacMan, Asteroids, Missile Command, and Centipede games of my day.  And today's Donkey Kong would literally pick up the Kong from my day and just throw him off the screen completely.  I'll stick to the running.  That I can do, kind of.  Today I did 6.5 miles of it, leaving 1156 calories to roam the galaxy with Mario.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

This weekend was definitely made up of the good, bad, and the ugly.  Let me explain.

THE GOOD: I guess we'll start with the good stuff.  As you know, the last two weeks Heidi and I have been participating in the Ironman challenge that is being sponsored by the South Jordan Fitness Center.  Saturday morning Heidi was needing to finish a few miles of both running and cycling.  I had finished the swimming (2.4 miles) and biking (112 miles) but still needed just under 8 miles of running.  We reserved bikes for Randi's spin class that morning.  A one hour spin class can be used for 15 miles of cycling, which was more that Heidi needed.  I would say that Randi's classes are harder than riding 15 miles, and she proved me right again.  The spin class was a good way to start the day.  I love walking out of her classes feeling fully spent, knowing that I got my moneys worth.  Heidi managed to pull a fast one on me that morning.  She woke up early and finished her running before the spin class.  I think she wanted to finish the Ironman before me, knowing that I would still need to run after the spin class.  Well played Heidi, well played.  At the end of the day I did get my run in, challenge complete.

Hot chocolate on a cold day is always a good thing!!

Best Buddies (most of the time)
Brandon either has a hot chocolate mustache,
or a fat lip

Brandon has been losing his front teeth lately,
he's either pulling another one or eating a marshmallow

Chase and his marshmallow mountain

THE BAD:  After the spin class we went to Austin's football game.  His team was playing Brighton for the state championship.  His team beat Brighton earlier in the season 28-27, in what was probably the best game of the year.  I was expecting, hoping for another game just as exciting.  It wasn't to be.  If the first game between these teams was the best game of the year, this was the worst.  Brighton scored a couple of quick touchdowns, while Austin's team just couldn't catch a break.  Two plays in particular set the tone for the game.  A false start on us when we had 1st and goal on the 1/2 yard line, we didn't end up scoring.  Brighton drove it down the field and scored again.  Instead of being a 13-7 game, it was now 20-0 and our boys began to look beaten.  On our next drive, our running back had gotten behind everyone, nothing but green grass between him and the end zone, he tripped and fell.  It was obviously not our day.  We just could never get anything going and ended up losing 33-6.  It was sad to see them have such a good season and then struggle in the championship game.  I was so proud of Austin.  He proved to be so much tougher than I thought he was.  It was fun to watch him learn the game and get better every week.  I will miss not being able to watch him until next year.  I love you Buddy.

THE UGLY:  The ugly was the University of Utah losing a football game for the second week in a row.  They went into Notre Dame and lost 28-3.  To think that two weeks ago we were ranked #5 in the country, and probably won't be in the top 25 after this week.  It shows how far the football program has come when losing at Notre Dame is considered a disappointment.  But it still was just that, a ugly disappointment.

All disappointment was forgotten this morning.  Today being Monday, meant it was time to weigh in again.  My goal is to weigh 220 at the end of this month.  I almost saw that number this morning.  This past week I lost another 3 pounds.  That makes 12 pounds that I have been able to lose in about six weeks.  I still have a long way to go, but so far, so good.

12 down, 21 to go

GOD BLESS THE USA

Today is Veterans Day.  Having served in the Army Reserve, I know the pride that is felt in serving your community and country.  It's not always fun.  It's not always easy.  But it is always worth it.  A lot of people have sacrificed friendships, time with family, put their careers on hold, missed births of their own children, and many other things, including their lives for our freedom.  Thank you doesn't seem to be enough.  That being said, thank you!  Thank you for putting country before self.

Today we had a break in the weather.  At least it wasn't raining or snowing.  But it was cold.  I was still needing about 33 miles on my bike to complete the 112 miles needed for the Ironman. I decided to go for a ride that would exorcise my demons.  The last couple of rides that I have taken to the Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain areas have not been without incidents.  Either the back tire blowing out and needing to be replaced, or the three flat tires on the last ride.

Today's ride was almost perfect, almost.  I recently purchased some cold weather riding gear and today it did it's job.  At least the stuff I decided to wear.  I thought I would be ok without my insulated shoe covers.  I thought wrong.  The first half of the ride was great.  The climb towards Camp Williams has never been so easy.  Usually the wind is in my face when I make that climb, not today.  I blew right past the areas where I had my flat tires on the last ride.  This was fun.  No flats, demons exorcised.

After riding to Saratoga Springs, I turned West towards Cedar Fort.  Seven miles later there is a road that turns South and goes into the city center of Eagle Mountain.  Today was the first time that I have ridden this road.  I found a new favorite stretch of road.  Unfortunately, it was only about 5 miles long.  It is a nice little country road out in the middle of the farmland, nothing but open fields on both sides.  It had bike lanes, and very little traffic.  I couldn't believe it.  Was I dead?  Was this heaven?  It was a clean road, no little rocks covering the bike lanes, and with the wind at my back I was flying. One of those moments when everything is perfect.  Although I was moving fast, it almost seemed like I was in slow motion and everything was still and quiet.  I could have ridden forever.  Then it ended.

I turned back towards the North, towards The Ranches of Eagle Mountain.  I found out why I had been flying down the road so fast.  Now I was riding into the wind, and I had to climb.  It didn't take long to realise that I should have worn my shoe covers.  That wind had my toes freezing in no time.  As miserable as the wind was making things, it was a neat stretch of road.  It was another 4 or 5 miles of open country to bike through to reach The Ranches.  But along the road the city had positioned flags about every 1/4 mile.  All of those flags flapping in the wind definitely created a feeling of patriotism.  It was fun to ride for a few miles and think about some of my friends and experiences in the military.

Shortly after taking this picture, I passed the place where my rear tire blew out the last time.  It was definitely more fun to ride this stretch of road, than to be pushing my bike through the rainstorm.  Rear tire full of air and me riding my bike, demons exorcised.

The rest of the ride was uneventful.  Only the wind got stronger, and my toes got colder. After 43 miles I was back at my truck, Ironman biking miles now complete.

A THORN IN MY SIDE, TIMES THREE

The weather last week was just too good to last for long.  It turned today, in a big way.  Knowing that the bad weather was coming, Heidi and I tried to get a bike ride in before it got too bad.  Our goal when we left the house was 40 miles.  Before leaving Heidi asked me if I thought she would be warm enough.  She does get cold easy, but I thought she would be ok.  She said she thought she would be ok too, as long as we didn't have to stop.  I think she jinxed us.

We headed south on Redwood Road towards Saratoga Springs.  We intended to ride to Saratoga, take a loop through Eagle Mountain, and return home.  Just before reaching Camp Williams I noticed my rear tire slowly losing air pressure.  I stopped to check it and found a thorn in the tire.  This would be a good opportunity to teach Heidi how to fix a flat. She has wanted me to show her how so that she would be ready if ever alone.  Why is it that when you are trying to show someone how to do something, it never goes smoothly?  It took way too long to change that tire.  When it was finally changed we got ready to ride, only to notice that the front tire was flat also.  What a disappointment.  We were so ready to start riding again.  The weather was turning fast and Heidi was starting to get cold.  And now I had another thorn to extract and another tube to change out.  This one went much smoother and we were soon riding again.  But we didn't get too far.  After about 2 miles of riding the front tire was flat once again.  It seemed so fast that I was wondering if I had pinched the tube or done something else incorrectly when changing the last one.  But a third thorn was found and removed.  It's a good thing Heidi was riding with me on this ride.  I usually only carry two extra tubes.  At this point I would have been out of tubes and calling Heidi for a ride home.  By now I was getting very good at fixing flats.  It was quickly changed, but so had the weather.  Heidi was turning blue, it was time to turn towards home.  We made it home without any more stops.  Unfortunately we only got 26.5 miles of riding, leaving us about 35 short of completing the Ironman.

Rainy, snowy, days are perfect for indoor swimming.  Still needing 68 laps to complete the 2.4 miles, I headed for the fitness center.  My swimming has really improved.  I guess swimming a couple of miles will have that effect.  That was one of my goals when I registered for this Ironman, improve my swimming.  Heck, I just might be competing in triathlons come next summer.  It's kind of funny that the swimming was the thing I was most worried about, and it's the one that I finished first.  I guess swimming is the first event in a triathlon, so it's fitting that I finish it first.

I did weigh in earlier this morning.  But I forgot and weighed in after eating breakfast.  I didn't get a picture but I am back down to 224, losing the three pounds that I had gained last week.  My goal is to be down to 220 at the end of this month.  That is going to be a challenge with all of the pumpkin pie coming later this month.  I love pumpkin pie!

A GREAT DAY FOR PLAYING FOOTBALL, NOT SO FOR WATCHING

My day started off with a couple hours of volunteer service.  Herriman was hosting some of the state playoff football games today.  I was assigned to walk the fence line watching for people trying to hop over, and kindly remind them that they needed to pay to get in.  I was the bouncer.  That's what you get for being such a big, muscular, intimidating figure.  What else would they do with me, stick me in concessions?  One look at me and they probably thought they better keep me away from the food.  I must have looked the part, as nobody attempted to climb over the fence.  Either that, or they figured it was a lot easier to pay the $3 than to try climbing over the fence while carrying chairs, coolers, etc. and then having to scale down a 10 foot rock wall.

After my service hours were complete, it was time to watch Austin's game.  It was time to get some revenge on the Alta Hawks.  Alta beat us earlier in the year, in a close overtime game.  Austin's team has gotten so much better since that game.  Each week they are a noticeably better team.  It has been a lot of fun to watch Austin learn the game.  Today, we dominated the game.  Alta scored a touchdown in the last minute to make it seem closer than it should have been.  We beat them 27-20, and will now play Brighton next week for the state championship.

After the game and a trip to In-N-Out burger, which Heidi correctly predicted Austin would ask for after his game, it was home to watch the University of Utah game on TV.  This should have been a good game to watch.  A good ending to this day of football. Utah was ranked #5 in the nation and TCU #3.  Unfortunately, the game got out of control quickly and the Utes never had a chance.  When I woke up from my nap, Utah was losing 40-0 before going on to lose 47-7.  Oh well, you can't win them all.

My day ended in the pool.  Heidi has already finished with her swimming for the Ironman.  I still have a long ways to go, having completed only 28 of the 170 laps.  Tonight I was able to get a little closer.  Make that, a lot closer.  When they closed the pool I had swum 74 more laps, a little over one mile.  So I now have 102 of the 170 laps completed.  Who says I can't swim?  I do.  But I'm getting better.

A LONG WAY FOR A GATORADE

Finally, I have a chance to get back on here and catch up.  This week has been so busy.  I worked Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Three straight 13 hour days tend to put everything else in my life on hold.

It's been kind of frustrating because my Ironman started Monday and I have felt like I haven't really had a chance to work on it.  I am still stressed about the swimming mostly.  Now I have to try doing it on the weekend and I know the pool will be crowded.  The pool only has two lanes, and it's rare that someone or multiple people aren't in them.  I am not a strong enough, confident enough swimmer, to jump in a lane and share it with multiple people.

Monday was a day off and I thought I would try getting some of the swimming done to relieve my anxiety.  After taking care of my parental responsibilities in the morning, I went down to the pool in the afternoon.  It just happened to be the time that one of the youth swim teams was having a practice.  There were about 30 kids crammed into those two lanes.  No swimming done, increased anxiety.  When would I get some pool time in?  I headed home thinking I could get a couple of hours on my bike before it got dark.  I was certainly frustrated.  When I got home, Heidi suggested that I wait and try to swim after dinner, thinking the pool might be less crowded in the late evening.  What did I have to lose?  I got back to the pool a little after 8:00 hoping to find empty lanes.  Wrong.  One lane had a father and daughter in it, the other a young boy.  I figured they were all together and that if I got in the lane with the boy, he would get scared of the big man and move over with his dad and sister.  By the time I had changed into my swim trunks and entered the pool, the boy was nowhere to be seen.  The lane was mine.  That's the good news.  The bad news was that the pool closed at 9:00, not 10:00 like everything else.  That left me with only 40 minutes to swim.  It's times like that I wish I was a good swimmer.  Forty minutes later I had completed 28 laps, not bad for me. Only 142 more to go.  Note to self, don't swim after eating tacos again.  I was tasting those tacos the rest of the night.  They were good the first time. Thanks Heidi.

Working the next three days meant early morning runs.  That was my plan when I signed up for the Ironman.  Swim and bike on my days off, running the mornings on days I worked.  Tuesday came and went, zero miles ran.  Wednesday morning I found the strength to pull myself out of bed.  It hasn't gotten any easier to get up in the mornings for a run.  Probably never will.  It helped that Heidi was meeting her friend April to run that morning also.  I managed to pound out 5.66 miles in just under an hour.  And it was a pounding.  I never felt like I could get into a good rhythm.  My hip has been really bothering me since my run last Thursday.  I think my last two runs, about 18 miles, on the inside track at the fitness center affected my hip.  Running on that little track put a lot of pressure on my inside leg during all those turns.  Whatever the reason, my hip has been hurting to the point that this was my first run in a week.  About 1.5 miles into my run I considered turning around for home.  My hip was hurting, and even though I wanted to run I didn't want to do more damage to my hip.  And I knew that Heidi wasn't home to call for a rescue pick up.  I didn't want to get too far away from home and then have to limp home arriving too late to get ready and get to work on time.  I chose to continue on.  I figured the worse that could happen is that I would have to walk home and get to work a little late.  I'll take that risk.  I walked for 1/4 mile trying to stretch it out a little and then finished my run.  As awkward as I felt, kind of felt like I was running with one leg shorter than the other one, I still finished my run close to my normal pace.  In the process, I left 997 calories out there looking for a handicap permit.

Thursday morning's run was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday's.  My hip was still sore.  It causes me to shorten my stride with my right leg.  Because my left leg isn't smart enough to realise that something is wrong on the other side, it continues to take a full stride.  Or maybe it's like a brother/sister thing.  My left leg (brother) sees the right leg (sister) suffering but continues to take a full stride to tease and irritate the sister.  This leaves me feeling like I am running on a right leg that is shorter than my left.  Not real comfortable. I have to keep getting between brother and sister to separate them.  While trying to keep the family peace, I ran 6.72 miles and left 1183 calories on the road promising to be nice to each other if I wouldn't spank them.  I spanked them anyways, hard.  Now they're someone else's problem.  That's 12.38 miles of running so far, only 14 more to go to complete the running requirement.

Today was going to be such a good day.  I was going to get 75 miles of bike riding done.  Heidi was going to be sleeping after working last night.  The younger kids were going to be at the daycare.  It was just going to be me and my bike.  And the day was beautiful. Sunny, no wind, and probably close to 70 degrees.  Perfect.  Then life got in the way.  A couple of times during the year we get an extra employee discount at the Smith's Marketplace.  Today was one of those days.  They really come in handy, especially with Christmas next month.  Heidi was tired after working all night.  I guess that's a good enough excuse.  So I was chosen to get some of the Christmas shopping done.  No problem.  I had the list.  In and out in less than an hour.  Right.  You can't shop on one of these days without running into people you have worked with at other stores.  And you can't just say hi and then keep shopping.  You have to stop and talk about your kids, hear all the gossip from each others current store, etc.  That one hour shopping trip soon turns into three.  But it was soon over, money was saved, it was time to ride.

I had Brooke take this picture before I left and she proved herself to be all girl.  She commented that my new black and yellow helmet didn't match my shirt or my bike.  That's why she picked a white helmet, so that it would always match her clothes.  I told her that it was ok because when it's on my head I can't see it.  Because I was getting a later start than I had originally planned, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get in the full 75 miles.  Heidi had some afternoon meetings at her work, which meant that I would have to be back to pick up the boys at 5:30.  But I figured that I had enough time to get in at least 50 miles.  My plan was an out and back ride to Cedar Fort.  I have done this ride before and knew that it was 50 miles.                      

When I got to Cedar Fort I stopped at the one store that is in the small town and bought a Gatorade to drink and take a break before turning back around for home.  As I was obviously riding a bike, the cashier was asking me some questions about cycling and commenting on the perfect weather.  She made the comment that I had ridden a long way to buy a Gatorade.  I told her they always taste better if I ride a long way to get one.  And it did taste good.  The Gatorade was gone too soon.  Time to ride for home.                               

It was a perfect ride.  As the picture shows, I got back home at 5:10, just in time to pick up the boys at 5:30.  I always hate riding when I know I have to be home at a certain time.  Those are usually the times that something will go wrong.  It just adds a little pressure to the ride when you are on a schedule.  I put 53.30 more miles on my new back tire.  It's so nice when the tires cooperate, unlike my last ride in the Eagle Mountain area.  I dropped 4199 calories on the road to feast on all the roadkill.  I think I saw more roadkill on my ride today than any of my other rides, ever.  When you are riding a bike, and you are breathing hard, stinky, rotting roadkill is not what you want to frequently encounter.  And the fourth number in the picture, zero.  Today I had zero incidences.  No flat tires, no ruined tires that need to be replaced, no crashes, no mechanical issues, nothing.  Only 70 more miles left to complete the biking requirement of the Ironman.  Why can't swimming be this easy?