10-10-10

After writing up my post Friday night after the football game, I told myself that I was going to take the weekend off from blogging.  But, when I turned on the television this morning everything was about today's date, 10/10/10.  Could I let this date pass without posting something on my blog?  Obviously, not.

Fridays post was a lot of deep, serious thinking out loud.  I found myself thinking about the topic at different times yesterday and also this morning.  It seems that the older you get, the faster time passes.  It becomes so clear the importance of making every day count.  Not wasting ones life on things without value.

So in honor of this date, I am going to attempt to put together a list of 10, ten ways not to waste our life.  I am not trying to say that I have mastered these things.  In fact, just the opposite.  I am just once again thinking out loud of ways that I can better myself.

It is impossible to live without running into difficulty along the way. And it’s too easy to pile regrettable decisions on top of bad choices and be faced with overwhelming despair.  This list is not a bunch of don'ts and shouldn'ts or feelings of doom.  Instead, the idea of  not wasting our lives is all about positive choices. Every road to destruction has an alternative, positive, route.

1. Believe: belief is the most powerful, positive life-changer there is. Believe that you are a valued person with something to contribute, and chances are you will.
2. Know where you’re headed: The saying goes that if you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere else. Goals, both short term (I am going to lose 1.5 pounds this week) and long-term (by my next birthday I am going to lose 33 pounds), are necessary for purposeful change.
3. Understand the true standard for success: Know that the standard for a successful life is found in serving others, being a great dad, loving our spouse, etc. These standards provide more satisfaction in life than “Spoiled, because I’m worth it”, or “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
4. Value relationships as #1:  "No man is a failure who is loved by a child." That principle extends to our spouse, neighbors, friends and co-workers. To love, is the cure for the wasted life.
5. A dependence on anything external for happiness is unnecessary: When we “need” others, or achievements, to feel worthy, or happy in any way, we’re focusing on the wrong things to validate our success in life. 
6. Live in the moment: “I’ll feel like I’ve achieved something when ‘such and such’ has happened.”  This kind of thinking will always leave us needing something more for satisfaction.
7. Learn to value long-term rewards and not short-term thrills:  This is a continuation of #5. When we believe we are dependent on externals for genuine satisfaction, then we will sacrifice what is real (relationships, stability, respect, hard work etc.) for things that are superficial. Grabbing what we can now and not placing value in what is lasting amounts to nothing short of waste.
8. Always continue learning: Learners ask questions rather than act as if they know all the answers. It’s difficult to waste your life when you are humble and open to new ideas.
9. Don’t sweat the small stuff: Knowing what we value puts it all into perspective. If we know why our life is not a waste, then we’re not as likely to get fooled.
10. Never do anything you wouldn’t be comfortable doing in the presence of your Mother:  What would Leona do?  I was lucky to be born to one of the greatest moms ever.  If I could live my life as if she was always by my side, I would have no problem mastering this list.  My mother exemplifies a life not wasted.  My mother truly lives this list.  I love you, Mom.

Is that enough deep thought for one weekend?  I guess the point I am trying to make in these last two posts is that life is shorter than you think, and we don't have time to waste any of it.  We need to focus on winning every day.  Thank you all for your love and friendship.  I am truly blessed with the best family and friends.

RUN LONG and LIVESTRONG

Today, we again awoke to a bit of rain.  It just kind of acted all morning like it didn't know what kind of day it wanted to be.  It would start to rain for a few minutes, then stop for a few minutes.  Mother Nature was having a hard time making a decision.  As a result, so was I.  Do I run outside and take the chance that it isn't going to rain too hard?  I don't mind a little rain, kind of enjoy it actually.  I just don't like being soaking wet (like Wednesdays bike ride).  Or do I stay inside and run on the treadmill?  There's not many things that I find more boring than running on the treadmill.  I can do it if that's my only option, but would rather not.

I layered up and headed outside.  Being fairly new to running in general, I certainly know nothing about running in cooler weather.  Before completing the first mile it became uncomfortably clear that I had overdressed.  Luckily, I run with a belt that holds my water bottle, ipod, etc.  I was able to remove my long sleeve shirt and gloves and tuck them in the belt.  Life was good again.  Except for the fact that I was still running.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to living across the street from the new high school in Herriman.  For example, the kids aren't going to need rides or cars to drive to school, advantage.  Austin and his teenage friends will probably be stopping by after school to raid the fridge and pantry, disadvantage.  Today, I found another disadvantage.  At the end of my run, the last mile and a half or so are near the school.  My run was concluding at the time that school was getting out for the day.  This resulted in a long, steady line of cars leaving the school and coming down the road.  Any thoughts I might have had of walking for a few minutes were now gone.  These were kids without their mothers in the car with them.  Who was going to tell them to stop honking horns and teasing the struggling fat man?  Certainly not their friends in the car that were doing the same thing.  I would have to finish my run strong.  No coasting in to home today.  That's what I get for not running in the dark.  So thank you Herriman High students, for forcing me to finish strong.  You unknowingly helped me to Win The Day.  And to those of you that still honked, enjoy the calories.  I threw 1580 calories into your cars while you were waving your arms and honking your horns.  Wait until the girls see you in school Monday with all those extra calories.

What kind of effort did it take to lose those calories? 9.1 miles of effort.  Not only did I lose the calories, I heard a new voice.  "This is Lance Armstrong. Congratulations on completing your longest run so far."

Tonight I went to the football game at the high school with Austin.  Herriman had a home game with Copper Hills.  This was the first home game of the season that I didn't have to work.  This was also the first home win in Herriman's history (first year school).  Maybe next year the school should work something out with Smith's to make sure I am able to be to all home games.  Herriman won the game 12-7.

The Copper Hills team was wearing pink wraps around their ankles and shoes.  Their fans were also wearing pink shirts.  It was announced that one of their players had just lost his mother to breast cancer and this was their way of showing him their support.  Austin was asking me about cancer and I made the comment that "it is what your father will probably die from."  I hate cancer.  I fear it.

After making that comment to him, I spent the next little bit thinking about life and death.  What will come of what I am doing today or tomorrow?  What will come of my whole life?  Massively deep questions.  So why do you do what you do?  Is it all really worth it?  Death may be inevitable, but there’s a lot of benefit to taking into consideration some of the elements of your life that will outlive you.

1. Your children: Our kids represent a kind of immortality - or at least an extension of ourselves where not only our DNA, but preferences, priorities and personality traits make for a kind of continuity.
2. Your relationships: That’s relationships across the board, by the way; the good, the bad and the ugly. We have this powerful opportunity to remain vested in the lives we have touched long after we’re gone.
3. Your values: Our values don’t disappear the moment we die – there’s a latency, a cumulative effect that takes years to dissipate. In fact, if our values were clear enough that they took root in others, the effect will never go away.
4. Your financial decisions: Will a lifetime of generosity leave a legacy of hope? Was I careful with my resources?
5. Your debts: Here’s a difficult truth: if we die overextended, and up to our eyeballs in debt, then someone’s going to pay and that someone will likely be our spouse or our kids.
6. Your investments: There are countless opportunities for us to invest. Invest in other people, churches, business, education. They all need investments of time, personal interest, hard work and vision. And most of these will outlive us. Thinking about the long term, rather than short-term gratification, will allow our investments to pay off long after we’re gone.
7. The way you have loved: Love is more durable than gold, and it’s certainly a better policy against an uncertain future than the stock market. The manner in which we love our spouse, family, friends, and community, may well be the most enduring legacy we will have.
8. Your enemies: The whole “keep your friends close, and your enemies closer” loses traction after you die. Wouldn’t it be great to pass away knowing you didn’t have any enemies?
9. Your God – or gods: We all have a god. Gods are, by definition, the focus of our primary allegiance. Power, money, ourselves, family, … or the Creator of the Universe? Our choice of god(s) will survive our death.

Just some thoughts I had.  More reasons to try and win every day.  I hope you all have a great weekend!

BAD DAY OF CYCLING vs. GOOD DAY AT WORK

Us fishermen have a saying that "a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work".  But what about cycling?  Can the same comparison be made between cycling and work?  Prior to today, I would have said yes, without hesitation.  Prior to today I had never had a bad day of cycling.  That's not totally true.  There was that one day in June.

Once upon a time in June, there was this aging, fat man that thought it would be fun to go for a bike ride after work one night.  He really liked riding his bike because it made him feel less like an aging, fat man.  Bicycling made him feel younger, and thinner.  He almost felt like a superhero when he would ride his bike fast.  It made him feel as though he were flying.  Although the night was dark, the sliver of moon providing no light, the aging man continued in his quest, feeling younger with each turn of the pedal.  The darkness of the night played tricks on his mind, causing him to forget his age and his responsibilities as a husband and father.  The aging man decided to do something very stupid.  He decided to see just how fast he could ride his bike coming back down the canyon road in the darkness.  The aging man was riding flying too fast through the night.  In a split second, the blink of an eye, the fun ended.  The sound of the front tire explosion was followed closely by the sound of a shattering helmet and bike and man going separate ways down the road.  Then all sound was gone.  The aging man felt old again.

I hate that story.  Although, technically that was a bad night of cycling.  So, that still makes today my first bad day of cycling.  How bad you ask?

I wanted to get a nice, long ride in today of about 50 miles.  Knowing that would take me a little more than 3 hours, I had hoped to get an early start.  We woke up to rain.  Strike one.  I began to think that it would be a good day to go do some strength training and some swimming.  Swimming is something I would really like to be able to do.  I can't swim to save my life.  I can't swim to save your life either.  So you might want to bring someone else with you if I ever invite you to go swimming.  But I want to learn.  Not only for the exercise, but I would like to start doing some triathlons with Heidi.  Hard to do when you can't swim. 

The rain and clouds soon gave way to a blue sky.  It wasn't a sunny, blue sky, but I thought it would be enough to get my ride in.  I got myself ready to go, went to get on my bike, flat front tire.  Strike two.  Were these signs of things to come?  No, couldn't be.  That would be silly to think that.

The ride began quite nicely.  As nice as it can when the wind is in your face.  Seems like the wind is always in your face when you're riding a bike.  I just kept thinking that for the effort I was having to put in, the wind had better be at my back when I turned around to go home.  At this point I was having a good time.  The overcast sky was keeping the temperature down, which helped make up for the wind.  Mother Nature wasn't  being all bad.


Riding South on Redwood Road towards Utah Lake

 When I got out along the lake, the wind was blowing really hard off the water.  I decided to backtrack a bit and turn west out through The Ranches area of Eagle Mountain.  Really nice area of the valley.  I had never been to that area before.  I will give it a second chance, another day.

I was getting to the point in my ride when I was considering turning around to make the return trip home.  As I was deciding whether to ride another mile or two or turn around, the decision was made for me.  I had gone far enough.  But there would be no return trip home, on the bike.

I guess the back wheel got a little jealous of the front wheel getting a new tube before the ride started this morning.  Not satisfied with just a new tube, it decided it wanted a new tire as well.  Strike three.  Ride over.




Not what you want to see when you're 30 miles from home
with an unrepairable tire


I had no sooner called Heidi to come rescue me from another ride, when the clouds opened up and the rains came again. It would take her about an hour to get out to where I was.  I had nothing else to do but start walking, walking in the rain.  While walking I kept myself warm by thinking of the 1790 calories I left blowing across the valley like tumbling tumble weeds.  I smiled knowing they were out there freezing in the rain, without my body to keep them warm.  So freeze in hell you tumbling calories.  A wise man once said, hell is cold

So, is a bad day of cycling better than a good day at work?  I will let you know as soon as I have one.  As for today, I would do it all again.  Probably will.

Rescued

Randi's Health Tips:

• It takes your brain 20 minutes to register that your stomach is full.  So eat slowly and don't take second helping till you have given your mind time to catch up with your body.
• Chew lots of sugar free gum!!  Often the sensation of chewing can help you fight the craving to eat.  Minty gum will curb your appetite.
• Instead of going for a late night snack go brush your teeth.  Brushing your teeth will keep you from wanting to eat.
• Often when you feel hungry you are just really thirsty.  Try drinking a big glass of COLD water and give yourself a few minutes to get hydrated again.  If you still feel hungry then choose a small snack with a protein and a carbohydrate.  Example: peanut butter on a banana or on whole wheat toast.

HORSING AROUND

This will be a photo post.  Yesterday I had to work.  The rest of the family had a great experience after school.  Heidi has a co-worker that owns some horses.  She invited Heidi to bring the kids over and ride them.  The kids were so excited.  None of them had ever ridden a horse other than in a small circle at the fair.  They really had a fun time.  They were very excited over the weekend, and the day did not disappoint.  Brandon said, "it was funner than Lagoon."  Thank you to Heidi's friend that made this possible.  It was a day that my kids will never forget.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 



click this one for sure
Chase's face is priceless

  

I KEEP HEARING THE VOICES

As you know, today is weigh day.  To be honest, I have been a little nervous.  I did have a peak at my weight at some point, don't remember the exact day, so I was a little optimistic this morning.  But I was still nervous.  Nervous that I might be disappointed at the result of my week and begin doubting myself.  If there is something I am good at, it's doubting myself.  I think.

I got up early again this morning for my "last chance workout" run.  Heidi had to work last night which made it a little harder.  Without her here, who was I going to impress by pulling myself out of bed and throwing myself out on the street.  On the other hand, it was easier to get out of bed without having to look at someone staying in it.

The run itself went good. No, it went great.  I felt good.  I felt strong this morning after a restful day of celebrating football yesterday.  My ipod was even selecting good songs this morning.  Nothing worse that starting to feel tired, needing a pick-me-up and the ipod selects some slow country song that you remind yourself, again, that you need to take that one off.  I really need to set up some good playlists.  The run went so well that I just knew I was going to hear another voice at the end.  Who would it be today?  Tiger, again?  No.  It would have to be someone else this time.  Wouldn't it?  I mean, Tiger is pretty busy right now with the Ryder Cup going on.  Who would it be, if anyone?  As my run concluded the familiar voice of Tiger Woods congratulated me on running my fastest mile.  I was saddened at first that I didn't get someone new today.  But then it hit me.  With all that Tiger has going on this morning, in fact he was probably playing at the same time I finished my run, for him to take the time to congratulate me is quite impressive.  He really is trying to repair his past mistakes and improve his public perception.  Nice, but not enough.  I still like Phil better.  For those of you confused, I am running more than one mile each time.  It just means that somewhere during that run, I ran a mile distance faster than I have before on my other runs.

So I was now home again.  The kids were still sleeping, and Heidi was still at work.  It was just me and the scale.  I made the long walk up the stairs to the bathroom.  Silently praying the whole time.




Prayers Answered

  Sorry about the picture.  I don't know why it is flipping like that.  I am trying to find how to rotate it.  I will look more later.  Lunch break is over, need to get back to work.

CELEBRATING THE WEEKEND

Today is Sunday.  The LDS Church is holding their semi-annual General Conference this weekend.  So this makes it a weekend in which a couple of different things are celebrated. 

The first of these to be celebrated, and perhaps more celebrated locally, is the invention of ice cream.  The origins of ice cream can be tracked back to at least the 4th century B.C.  That's a long time, and a lot of celebrating.  From what I saw last night, ice cream will be celebrated for at least that much longer.

   As most of you know, conference weekend includes the priesthood session on Saturday night.  I happened to be working yesterday, and in the morning we were joking that we hoped the store had ordered extra ice cream for the weekend.  We knew what the evening would bring.  Sure enough, just like we see every 6 months, at about 8:15 p.m. the parade began.  From our position in the store we have a direct view of the ice cream freezers.  In fact, most of them walk past the pharmacy to get there. At any time during the 8 o'clock hour there is probably no less than 8 white shirts and ties looking at the ice cream.  Men and boys of every age.  Grandfathers, fathers, and sons all celebrating together.  Kind of neat to see these family traditions.  This tradition of ice cream following church meetings is nothing new.  I found this picture that had the included caption.

children making ice cream to be sold
for the benefit of the church at a ministers and deacons meeting

It got me thinking.  It's not just the supermarkets either.  I remember being surrounded by white shirts in Leatherby's (local ice cream diner) on one such Saturday evening.  What if you could develop a mobile ice cream business, like the ice cream man but with less annoying music, and set up just outside the chapels on these occasions?  It would have seating for those that prefer to go out for ice cream, as well as take out for those that prefer celebrating at home.  Maybe a couple of specially designed semi trailers at each location.  Let's call it Deseret Desserts.  Anyone want a job?  And how about the Sisters?  Do you have your little celebrations after your meetings?  If so, this could be really good.

In our house, and many others, the weekend also means celebrating the greatest game, FOOTBALL.


Austin seems to have football on his mind

 Austin is playing football this year for the first time.  He is having a lot of fun learning the game.  He gets better every week, although he still has a long way to go until he will be as good as his dad was.  He might never be that good, but I will still love him.


 
 

He is a big fan of the Minnesota Vikings. Not sure why.  At least he is a better pick when it comes to fantasy football.  He currently leads his league, having gone undefeated to this point.  He calls his team the Mustags. (his little league is the mustangs)

Hope you all have a good weekend!  Enjoy some football (sorry BYU fans) and some ice cream.  But, not too much.  Tomorrow is weigh in.

I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE DARK

Today was my second straight day of working a 13 hour shift.  That makes it a little more difficult to get in some exercise.  I often times have thought that I will get in a run when I get home from work at night.  At least that's the justification that I use after hitting my snooze five times in the morning, instead of getting out and running.  But who wants to go running after standing on your feet for 13 hours, and it's dark outside?

Today, I only hit the snooze once!  Getting up at 5:30 is not my favorite thing to do.  About the only time I will even consider it is if I am going hunting or fishing.  Do I need to paint a picture of how fun it was to be getting up to go running?  Yes. OK.  Picture Heidi laying in bed under the warm blankets,  the cold morning air is coming through the open window, no light, only darkness.  I had really weird dreams, REALLY weird, that kept me from sleeping very good.  Why would I leave this to go outside and see how miserable I could make myself?  Well, because if I didn't, what would I write about?  I did it for you.  Thank you for helping me Win The Day!

Did I mention that it was dark outside?  Is this really the way to convince yourself that running is fun?

     


I had an hour before I needed to start getting ready for work.  What would be a good goal for this run?  The obvious goal is to finish without having a heart attack, or passing out from exaustion and being found by a fellow runner.  The goal I set was to run 5 miles during that hour.  (remember that I am a 230+ pound man that hates to run)  Off I went into the darkness.

Something funny happened during my run.  I started to enjoy myself.  I started having some unexpected thoughts flash through my mind.  "This isn't so bad after all", I thought.  "Maybe my body is starting to get used to being miserable".  "Am I too old to try out for the Olympic Games?"  Running in the early morning darkness wasn't scary at all.  In fact, I might start doing all my runs in the dark.  It does have some advantages:

• It's dark (duh):  When it's dark outside nobody really sees the fat man suffering.  Nobody sees just how slow I am moving, or that look on my face.  You know that look that says you are working a lot harder than what your body is producing.  No passing cars have little kids in them that laugh at you until their mom makes them stop.  Dark is good.
• You can't see any landmarks:  How is this an advantage?  Well, the roads I was running on this morning have some long stretches of nothing.  This can sometimes make it seem like you aren't getting anywhere.  That telephone pole in the distance just doesn't seem to get any closer.  In my case, maybe it doesn't.  It can sometimes feel like I am running and running but getting nowhere.  But in the darkness, I can't tell how slow I am running, and soon smack into the pole.  Dark is good.
• It's harder to become distracted:  If you can't see anything around you, you don't get distracted.  This allows me to be alone with my thoughts.  I found that I wasn't having a lot of random thoughts.  I could keep thinking about the same things without interruption.  Something about exercise that just opens ones mind.  I enjoy the talks I have with myself while cycling and to a smaller extent, running.  I still mostly just keep thinking, "this sucks" over and over while I'm running.  Dark is good.
• It allows me to be "that guy":  If you ever find yourself driving down the road at 5:30 in the morning and you pass someone that is running, what do you think?  If you're like me, probably one of two things; "that guy" is crazy, or, I wish I could get myself out of bed to run in the morning like "that guy".  This morning, I was "that guy".  Dark is good.

I run with the nike+ program on my ipod.  Those of you that have, know that the little voice comes on every now and then to keep you informed of how you are doing on your goal for that run.  I usually set my goal to be how long I want to run for.  So my coach broke into my song to tell me I had five minutes left to reach my goal, 60 minutes.  Looking down at my Garmin watch, I could see that I wasn't going to get to my goal of 5 miles in that time.  Or was I?  It was just like in the movies.  The only thing missing was the song from Chariots of Fire.  From somewhere in the darkness my legs found an extra gear of youth.  I pushed it as hard as I could those last 5 minutes, and ....failed in my goal.  It took me about an extra 10 seconds before I registered 5 miles.  As I walked the last little bit to the house, cooling down, committing myself to push a little harder next time, something unexpected happened.  Out of the fading darkness, Tiger Woods talked to me through my earphones.  "This is Tiger Woods, congratulations on running your fastest mile today".  Thanks Tiger.  Dark is good.



Randi's Health Tips:

• Do something active EVERYDAY! (win the day)  Even if you just walk around the block a few times or climb a set of stairs a few times.  Make sure you are moving and include your kids or other family members!
• Eating healthy and losing weight is not going to happen overnight.  You must take it one day at a time and make a commitment to change you eating habits.  Eventually it will just become a lifestyle, just like the unhealthy one you may be living right now.
• Eating healthy does not have to add a lot of money to your grocery bill.  But if you do find it costs more consider the benefits of eating healthy.  You will spend less money on doctor bills by boosting your immunity with healthy foods and weight loss.  Also, being sick costs you time and money!  Your time is valuable - don't spend it in bed sick!