Life Transitions

The Beast Swimming the Crawl

2009-11-05T20:29:00.003-05:00

This is my little triathlete in the making -- she already swims on her back faster than me.

2010 ATP

2009-11-02T23:04:00.005-05:00

I have not completed a triathlon in over two years. I went from one sometimes two or three a month from 2003-2005 to nothing. I've still done a few road races and that sort of thing but since my divorce and then re-marriage and a baby and a whole new larger family plus I've been working like a fiend I've just been completely unable to string together a plan and schedule in any sort of consistent way that resulted in my completing a race. I have decent fitness. I'm capable. What I know is that I won't perform to my standard (though those standards aren't all that high) so I just tend to avoid it. Fact I had been training for a late season olympic distance that was to be oct. 18th of this year and I elected to take the family to Disney instead. Lucky for me as it turned out because that was our first 'cold' day of the year and wet on a bike and 60 degrees is not fun.

I have let my weight creep up to 195 which is 21 pounds heavier than I was in January of this year when I ran a PB of 21:52 5k.

All that being said tonight I re-signed up for the Training Peaks web site as a premium member and set up my annual training plan for 2010 with two weeks of 'prep' period built in for this week and next. I've got to get a fire burning because this random training is all unrealized potential.

First workout of 2010 ATP was tonight: 3 minute intervals @ 30 minutes. Felt very strong. Good lungs. Gotta drop weight

Started working more free lance

2009-07-16T22:26:00.004-04:00

Let me get this out of the way first. The baby is great.

I know I've been in and out a lot lately basically non-existent really. I've basically determined that twitter is more my style of banter little quick short notes vs. writing big long posts you can follow me @heliocreative. Mind you I try to only use twitter for work purposes though sometimes I can't help myself considering the state of affairs in my once great nation that some how or another has become Erkel-In-Chief's socialism sandbox.

I'm still running nearly every day with Cooper. He's a big dog living in the burbs so the only exercise he gets is when we go out and pound some pavement. Don't worry he mostly runs in the grass where he attempts to stop and pee on nearly every mailbox he can find. I never run him more than 5 miles typically in the 3.5-4 range.

I know in the past I rarely talked about technology. Even though its a big part of my life and puts food on the table its not always something I'm overly excited about. I've got my little free lance company Helio Creative Palm Coast Web Design (yes that is an SEO trick) up and running. Before you go ripping on the misspellings etc on my site understand I'm not a creative writer I'm a guy that really likes to build sites that people can use.

My aunt has a natural skin care site that has been my first project at www.robins-spa.com. I've also been doing some work on my dad's drive shaft site www.aandibalancing.com.

While I've been working on these I've been picking up bits and pieces of jquery and slowly but steadily thinking about bailing on ASP.NET as a core technology and making the switch to PHP. As a Mac family I've grown somewhat tired of all of the bending over backwards I have to do every time Microsoft releases a new product. I can proudly say that aside from needing it to VPN to work I have not run VMWare Fusion at home in well over a month and I can tell you every time that happens the teeth grinding begins.

This blog may start to feature a bit more technology items in the hereafter. A good portion of which may be my returning to my development roots. PHP and Javascript. My first foray into this being what IDE to use.....To be continued.

First race of 2009 - Matanzas 5000 - PR

2009-01-25T07:19:00.008-05:00

Its funny to me to say race because my main competitor is myself and the clock but it gets the job done. My primary goal for this race was a sub 24 minute 5k in order to get a top 2000 number for the upcoming (March 14th) Gate River Run. My time was 21:55. That is actually 3 seconds faster than my previous PR of 21:58. When I ran the 21:58 I was 23 pounds lighter (presently 186) so that should be a small hint at my present running fitness. If I could drop a couple more gallons of milk I may set a new PR this year. My goal is a sub 20. 19:59. My training partner, Jose, finished in 18:56.

We live about 30 minutes south of St. Augustine and we are up there about once a month or so to walk around so the Matanzas 5000 is probably my favorite 5k. It's a loop around town and far as I'm concerned they easily have the best looking long sleeve shirt design. Eye of the beholder. The race has a purse and draws over a thousand people many very competitive runners. Could be the shirts, the course and the long race history, not the purse, that causes the big draw for a 5k. Whatever it is if you live in the area skip the novelty of the race at the speedway (been there done that) and run St. Augustine. Has a real family feel over the more corporate feel of the race at the track that typically falls on the same weekend.

In the picture is my step-daughter. She ran her first 1 mile fun run after my 5k. I went with her just to kind of show her how to do it. If you feel a little tired slow down but don't walk just shuffle until you feel better. She did great and is psyched to start training for the big races after seeing another little girl about a year older that ran the 5k earlier and then the fun run. She is convinced that at the next one she is doing both. She is only 6 so I'm going to have to do a little looking up what that kind of running does to a child's bones although it reminds me of my own childhood there was no 'what is this doing to my bones' we just went and played all day. Let her go as long as its fun for her.

What's next

Most likely my next race is going to be a half marathon in Melbourne, FL on February 8th. I actually spent most of my youth living in Palm Bay and going to school in Melbourne and have only been back to visit once since my parents moved to Michigan when I was in the 10th grade. I'm not so confident I'm prepared to run that far yet so we'll see how my runs feel as the day gets closer. No PR's for that one just finish strong.

About iPhone Running Apps

I have tried just about every iPhone GPS running app available the latest being Trails and let me just say almost every one of them is just about completely useless. The iPhone has some rules that things can not run in the background so I have to make a choice between using my favorite app, Pandora radio, or give yet another GPS running tool a try to see if it produces better results than the previous. I am done wasting my time and will just enjoy my Pandora radio and map my routes on the gmaps pedometer which when running roads and not trails has a nice new feature "automatically for runners". Maybe some day I'll get a Garmin 405.

With the iPhone GPS apps, most had trouble finding signal running on open roads and those that didn't either just randomly quit working 30 minutes or so into a run. So I'd go out for an hour or so run look at the phone and it read 39 minutes 5 miles. I personally even though I work in technology am not a huge fan of technology. I don't like gadgets I just like things that make my life easier or more simple. This is completely contradictory to running with the phone in the first place but it serves two purposes. On dull days when I don't want to listen to traffic I get a little music and emergencies....somebody finally runs me over. Groove Armada radio here I come.

For family dying for new baby pitchas - My view while writing this post

Links

Matanzas 5000 & Fun Run
Gate River Run
Melbourne & Beaches Musical Marathon
Gmaps Pedometer
Pandora Radio

Introducing Virginia Adelaide

2009-01-18T19:00:00.003-05:00

Born at home: January 17th - 10 pm. 9lbs. 14oz. 20 inches. chubby little thing :)

Let me just say this...Home birth is a far cooler experience than I had ever imagined it to be. Do it again without a second thought.

Blink and you'll miss it.

2009-01-14T21:15:00.006-05:00

Life goes by incredibly fast even at 31 I get it. I often listen to preachers like Charles Swindoll and I've heard him talk about how fast life goes 'Blink and you'll miss it'. I'm one of those people who kind of got that pretty early on in life. That it goes by fast no matter who you are and I fully expect to be 60 any day now. Most people I know would probably say something like 'aren't you 60 already?' with my constant ranting and raving about the state of the world. Gotta lighten up.

I've been running around the last few weeks saying 'for the first time since Ironman' I've trained such and such distance or such and such time and its crazy how fast it all went. A month after Ironman I was side swiped by a school bus..just scrapes and bruises no injuries. The month after that my wife left. I instantly lost 12 pounds and started doing P90X. Following spring I did 2 or 3 sprints I went to do an Oly in Clermont my chain popped on the first climb and I haven't done a triathlon since 2006. I took up surfing the rest of that summer and spent just about every minute I wasn't with Maddie at the beach. Then I drug her to the beach :)

2007 got re-married, 2008 pregnant with our first child together, 2009 that bundle-o-joy is due any day.

I was thinking about all this during my swim last night. It was cold last night probably 55 and raining which pretty much means the pool is covered with one lane open for those willing to brave those 15 steps on the deck in your skivvies. Pool felt great and being empty it was easily the most peaceful swim I've had in a long time. I typically use these times when I feel this way to talk to God. Instead of counting laps I'm counting blessings and with each passing lap the lane seemed shorter and shorter it was like a swimmers high. Before I knew it I had finished 3,200 straight in a slow but very comfortable 1:11. I honestly believe with no family obligations I could have gone another hour. Course had I done that my blessings are home without me wondering if I'd drowned.

Finally some progress on the weight front last week. 189.6 on Friday morning. The biggest change I've made is being absolutely militant about not digging around the peanut butter jar or milk at 10 at night. [In regards to the comment in the last post ....throwing away peanut butter = blasphemy]

Last week was an extremely busy training week for me culminating in a 2 hour 18 minute trail run at Graham Swamp 7 am Saturday once again chasing Jose.

I keep meaning to post my tentative race schedule for the year but I've been too tired from all the training to actually do it. I know my first one is coming up on Jan. 24th in St. Augustine at the Mantanzas 5000. I've you've never done it you should. Great shirts. Which is really the only reason I do the races :)

On the baby front
Stubborn little girl is passed her due date. Im going to respect her right to privacy and keep quite on all the details.....soon.

Hard to run carrying all this milk

2009-01-05T20:43:00.009-05:00

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...I swam an hour and 2 miles on Friday night. Ran a 2 hour half marathon on a trail on Saturday morning. Then a 3 hour (2:45 - 48 miles bike 15 minute run) brick on Sunday....I went into the weekend weighing 195 I left the weekend 195.

I don't know how to train, lose weight and MAINTAIN POWER at the same time ....that is without starving. I'm constantly hungry. Even while I write this all I can think about is the giant jar of Peanut Butter with honey on my counter. Which is why I'm sitting here drinking a giant bottle of water trying to curb the hunger. I know throw it away. The PB not the water that is. If that weren't there it would just be something else. Like milk. I drink milk every night at bed time. It is a life long habit and I lost weight doing it before but I'm beginning to think I'm gonna have to suck it up and let it go for a while.

Took my first crack at timing 1,000 in the pool tonight and finished at 19:34. Anything under 20 minutes I could live with. Hopefully within six weeks I'll have that under 19 maybe even close to 18. A guy in the next lane challenged me to a race and he beat me by a body length. Course he caught just after my 1,600 but he still beat me fair and square.

I know men aren't supposed to be worried about weight. Get your weight up not your hate up. Thing is that my endurance feels great my body feels great I'm finishing my workouts strong not exhausted. However, when you're running a trail chasing the world's fastest unknown Venezuelan (my buddy Jose) and carrying around what amounts to 3, that's right THREE, extra gallons of milk its a little difficult to not get frustrated.

December Numbers

I'm really psyched to be able to post some numbers from an entire month of training, even though it was the holidays and there were several missed days either recovering from tough workouts that I'm not used to yet or recovering from the holiday sweets....gee wonder why I can't drop some of that weight. :)

Swim: 12,500 yards
Bike: 240 miles
Run: 56 miles
Strength: Unknown but roughly 5 hours a week.

ps: How bout dem Phish!

1 and 15 to 11 and 5. Wish they could have had a better outing yesterday but ay things are lookin' up babee

Welcome Back, Your dreams were your ticket out

2008-12-10T20:09:00.005-05:00

Hola! Long time no see! I wonder how many times I've now come back to this blog with reports of running and dreams of races never seen.

Just another blog that never gets updated. For the first time since my divorce I actually have a membership to a pool. This past weekend I swam 3000(not continuous) for the first time since the Great Floridian race over 3 YEARS AGO.

Holy Cow Batman!

On the family front we are on official countdown now. The baby is due on January 6th. My wife is a private person so I'm going to limit the inclusion of family in the majority of posts going forward.

Here's the real kicker. Since getting remarried I've gained 30lbs. All that work to get rid of this sludge in the first place and its just steadily crept back. I've been training for 3 weeks straight now and my endurance is getting better every day but I've just not been able to drop the weight yet.

I've laid out my 2009 ATP (Annual Training Plan) with my first 'A' race being the gate river run in March with a goal of being top 1000. I figure that means I need to run it in the 1:10 range. We'll see right now I'm running just a touch more than 5 miles an hour in Zone 1. And about that St. Anthony's that I mentioned 2 or 3 posts ago ALMOST A YEAR AGO? That registration was deferred to this year. No way I'm missing it this time around.....

Some visual evidence....a picture from my 30 mile ride on Sunday.

I promise I will be back to post the progress.

An interesting video on the current financial turmoil

2008-10-11T20:31:00.000-04:00

Recent Trip to Chicago

2008-07-02T01:32:00.000-04:00

The Big Announcement

2008-07-01T23:58:00.002-04:00

For old friends that keep up with me through the blog. My wife and I are expecting our first child together in January.

I have no idea what to do with this blog

2008-07-01T23:42:00.003-04:00

I'm barely running and not racing at all...We started a softball team and that has kept me busy since February. The surf this year has been near non-existent and oddly enough though still active all I've been doing is gaining weight since I quit running...wonder if there is a correlation :)

In addition to softball I've also taken up learning to make beer...don't worry I AM NOT DRINKING ALL OF IT. Its genuinely a hobby but I'm sure has not helped with the weight.

The price of gas has got me commuting on the bicycle more but even that has been hit or miss with the hectic schedule and now when I should be sleeping preparing to rest up for my first crack at getting back to early morning running I've been up working all night.....If anyone out there knows this blog still exists...I'll let you know how this goes.

Poor? Arthur Blank?

2007-12-11T22:14:00.000-05:00

Its hard to feel bad for a guy with a couple billion dollars in Home Depot fortune but the Michael Vick fallout continues and Petrino is out. Mr. Blank seems like a such a kind man for a gozillionaire and it just seems like his football team is going out of its way to break his heart. Luckily for him he is an "avid runner" who logs 20 miles a week. For me the opportunity to get out and put in some miles and not think about anything but what I've been reading in my Bible and one foot in front of the other is real pleasure. I don't know if Mr. Blank is Christian but for me personally thats where its at. Peace.

Even the head coach of my beloved Dolphins who is 0-13 has not given up. And Huizenga does not seem near as dedicated to the phish as Blank is to the Falcons. Arthur how bout you make a bid for the Dolphins last I checked Home Depot was worth about $8 a share more than Blockbuster.

Clermont after a 2 year hiatus - for real this time

2007-12-10T20:59:00.000-05:00

Ironman? Iron distance? I don't care what you call it on that cool October night in 2005 I did it in fourteen hours and twelve minutes. I have the pictures to prove it. 6 months after that race I went to participate in a Sommer Sports race the same day as the daylight saving time I was an hour late I got a speeding ticket and a half mile into an Oly-distance my chain broke. This by the way was also at the height of my divorce. That was in April of 2006 and my only DNF. Two years and 12,000 excuses later and I finally got a chance to go back out to Clermont to train for long distance triathlon. Went with my buddy Jose very slow pace just out riding the hills 4 hours and 60 miles later and my legs was butta. Have the pictures to prove that too.

Signed up for St. Anthony's AGAIN gotta get ready. Of course two days after I signed up I started noticing that that irritation in my hamstring and butt are still acting up. My amateur diagnosis is piriformis. Im hoping this doesn't end up same deal as the knee and hanging out for a while.

Runners High

2007-12-03T21:35:00.000-05:00

Sweet for the first time in a loooooong time I actually experienced a couple of short but blissful runners highs tonight. Short 45 minute very slow paced run but for a good 5 minute span on two different portions I had that feeling like I can run forever. I know its minimal but I can feel it.....only problems going on right now is my right hamstring is really tight. I don't know what the deal is but I can feel it right up to my butt.

Only slightly more amusing while I was looking for an image to go along with this post I came across this Japanese rock group. Not really my style. Don't understand a word. Funny.

Not one triathlon this year...but there's always a silver lining

2007-11-24T14:00:00.000-05:00

I got married. She has 2 kids. I have 1. We have 3. 9,5 and 4. Beast is the youngest.

I also got a new training partner.

I'm not going to say much in regards to the family other than life is good. Of course while building this relationship I've gained 20 pounds and life has been pushing me around ever since. By that I mean work...lots more work and the requisite family time. I've been running a couple of days a week. We have a yellow lab puppy named "Cooper". He's only 7 months old but I've got him running with me. Great running partner though I never take him over 5 miles. Not fast just slow and steady as I've not really been training for anything.

For Thanksgiving I did the Outback Distance Classic 6k (the distance part of that title is that there is also a half marathon). 6k in 27:32. That's a 7:33 pace for those who attend our public schools. Yes, I went to public school too :). Not bad for a 20 pounds overweight fatbody. So over the past few weeks I've been working on riding the bike and getting my endurance up. I've got my swimming to a mile in about 30 minutes and I've spent the better part of today (while smoking a turkey man is it good) setting up my 2008 Annual Training Plan (ATP).

I've attempted to find a race every month but because I'd like to do the Great Floridian (iron-distance) again I've had a hard time finding a couple half irons that fit the schedule. Potentials (pending availability of course) that I've put into the ATP as "B" races are the Gulf Coast Half on May 10th and then 2-3 Olys including St. Anthony's in April. Not a whole lot of halfs in Florida in the middle of summer. Something Mid August-Early September would be ideal. My new wife is encouraging me a great deal and I've been trying to warn her that all this can be very time consuming so we'll see how she feels mid-season. If its too much maybe I'll only do Florida Challenge (half) instead of GFT.

All of this is of course "Lord Willing" and provided I'm able to stay injury free etc. You know how it is.

PS If you've found me and you're wondering what happened to the old web site well I was paying for the domain etc because I used to like to do free lance work. When I let the hosting expire my blog settings went with it so essentially all I had to do was come into blogger and turn off the FTP must not have been that important.

PS PS Im going to be 30 in 3 days.....Lord Willing.

Luke 1:47 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,..."

Tomato Hornworm

2007-06-06T07:52:00.001-04:00

Found this guy eating my tomato plants this morning....

Summer Breeze

2007-06-04T22:57:00.000-04:00

All right so my first crack at the whole love-post-divorce thing didn't work out as well as I would have liked. Not that she wasn't a great girl I just wasn't sure what I was looking for or that what I was in was what was right for me. So I let go, again, and it hurt and I've just kind of thrown myself back into the things I love. Reading scripture, The Beast, gardening, running, surfing and amazingly work.

Oddly enough I've found great new satisfaction in my work over the past 6 months or so. For the longest time I had been considering just getting out of the design/computer related field mostly because I was more and more finding the work frustrating and not overly fulfilling. Turns out I was going about the whole thing the wrong way the key is "Work as unto the lord".

Running

While I'm still running roughly 20+- miles a week I've elected to take a brake from the races mostly for financial reasons. I'm back on a single income and spending anywhere from $1-200 a month on races just aint in the cards right now.

The Beast

Baby girl did her first year of pre-school this year at a local Christian school and I am amazed at the results. She's able to sound out words are write. My pride and joy.

Gardening

I have a serious deer problem and as the lack of fundage problem listed above might indicate I can't really afford to put a fence in right now to keep them out. Temporarily I've taken to spraying my non-edible plants with a product calleed Plantskyyd (pigs blood). This stuff reeks when first applied but seems to do a pretty good job so long as I don't try to stretch the application dates. I wait one week longer than I should and the roses are decimated. I hate those deer.

Finally getting my feet off the ground

I've been trying to take a trip somewhere, ANYWHERE, for what seems like forever and it just never seems to work out. Well I found me some cheap round trip tickets ($174) from Ft. Lauderdale to San Jose, Costa Rica and August and I bought them. Going alone unfortunately (or fortunately!) figure I'll spend a week doing whatever I want. Of course I think it will amount to being a beach bum and surfing all week. I'm excited though about maybe checking out a volcano and some rain forests. I am the worst planner on earth though so I've kind of enlisted my poor sister to help me get some semblance of an itinerary.

Wish me luck.

I don't think I've ever hated being a Miami Dolphin fan more than today

2007-04-28T20:59:00.000-04:00

How could you pass on Brady Quinn....I went from absolutely ecstatic yelling "Christmas in April" to I can't believe this idiot cameron is playing cute with the draft much like Houston and the mario williams pick over reggie bush. They let go of Wes Welker a proven professional for an injured WR who when he is finally healthy WONT HAVE A QUARTERBACK TO THROW TO HIM.

Winter Beach Run Jacksonville Beach

2007-02-05T18:59:00.000-05:00

Much as the triathlon bug has me by the toe I just can not afford to sign up for my pool membership right now so I've been sticking to running and cycling. My first and thus far only "A" race planned for this year is the Gate River Run in Jacksonville on March 10th. So, for the most part I've been using a Hal Higdon intermediate 15k training schedule and riding the bike as cross training. I haven't really decided on any triathlons yet but it most likely won't begin until April 21 in St. Augustine.

Really the most important part of my training at this point in the year is getting my weight down. I've so far last 3 of the 17 I'm trying to be rid of before the 10th. I can really feel the extra weight in my running its depressing but I've been getting faster little by little and the weight is gradually coming off.

This Sunday I participated in the 5 mile Winter Beach Run in Jacksonville. I've had some sort of respiratory illness or virus for over a week so running has been uncomfortable...I know below the neck I should be resting but I already shelled out the money and I don't plan on doing all that many races this year so I'm doing it. I figured I was just going to take it easy and finish sometime around 45 minutes to an hour. Found someone doing the 10 miler at a pace I thought I could hold and kept up with him the whole way ..... couldn't have done 10 at this pace ...yet.... but I sucked it up and went under 40 at 39:17. That's a 7:51 mile. Better than my 8:15 pace on a 5K last weekend. I would love to be in the 7:30 range for the 15k but we'll see. Least I've got a target pace.

Tomoka 4 Miler

2006-09-16T18:36:00.000-04:00

Of the many beautiful outdoor areas in our neck of the Florida woods one of my absolute favorites is the Tomoka State Park. I've made this particular piece of Florida my adopted home, quick personal history because I don't know that I've ever shared: born in Miami, mom fell out of love moved to brentwood ny, mom fell in love moved to palm bay Florida, dad went into business with uncle john moved us all to Michigan, I fell in love moved to Ormond Beach, FL I fell out of love, fell in love again moved to Palm Coast, FL where I am once again out of love. Love is keeping U-Haul in business...Got It? I digress back to Tomoka I'm sure to see it at least once a week either via bicycle or by cheating in the car......started with a relationship and now is part of my soul. In my most humble opinion the only way to really appreciate this stretch of road is to immerse your lungs and eyes in it....not through the windows of a car .... Its just not the same you gotta have some self propulsion. You may or may not remember I have previously been hiking in Bulow/Tomoka.

I had been talking to a running buddy of mine who will be doing his second marathon (Detroit) this year [Go Mikey! Boston here he comes or at least my prediction of 4:17] about pacing and told him I wanted to sub-35 it. With a good time, or a time I could certainly be happy with considering current form, of 32. He said 'no way' I said 'guaranteed'. So I self propelled myself through 4 miles in 30:08 WHILE PUSHING MADDIE in the jogging stroller and nearly made my fresh air filled lungs explode. That's a 7:32 pace. Not bad with a stroller. I had my eyes on my watch and when I saw I had the potential to sub 30 it I could not possibly will my legs any faster. That last mile and I was leaving it all out. Typically I finish my races strong but I think lower humidity today meant I was able to start a little faster than I usually do which meant by the end I was feeling it. Or as Tony Horton would say "Felling it. Feeling it. Feeeeeeeeeling IT!." I also started at the bop and with the stroller it takes a little time to weed through some of the slower runners. I actually had someone pushing me at the end when she saw me hit the wall 'You're almost there. You're doing great' typically that's me being a strong finisher. Thank you ma'am. Maddie is such a people magnet .... I must have heard...She has the most beautiful hair literally 15 times today. I just need her to work on not being so shy. She'll wave to anybody but if she gotta speak you can forget it. First in our age group was second overall so he got bumped which meant Maddie and I were just a little faster than the other guy in our age group.... First Place! ;) The award was a tile like a piece of tile floor. Probably the coolest idea I've seen for an award yet.

Maddie also did her first kids fun run today.....At first she thought hey this is great you shoulda seen the smile on her face but when she saw we had to run back that smile was quickly turned upside down and I suddenly felt like the parent pushing their kid to do something they didn't want to do .... Even though running with the other kids WAS her idea. She got her first hardware though nice little finishers medal. So it begins.

I recently purchased "Road Racing for Serious Runners" in the hopes of getting a real plan for faster short course racing...I've been talking about that sub 20 5k for two years and haven't taken one step in that direction. Will start blogging progress and splits.

Am I the only just absolutely gloating that Michigan is stomping the national championship hopes, and possibly Brady Quinns Heisman, out of Notre Dame. I quote "Total domination"....woo hoo!

For Uncle Wally

2006-09-14T20:12:00.002-04:00

Last time I saw you, you told me you read my blog to keep up with me so I figured maybe this would be a good way to drop a note to you brother.

I know you're going through a tough time right now and in that way I feel like we're kind of kindred spirits. Must be that whole shared blood thing. :) Seems like everything in life when you and I go about it has to be done the hard way.

I know I haven't called you specifically mostly because I figure you're getting plenty of calls of love and support and prayers and who needs a constant reminder of the struggle. I do call Mom and Grandma regularly to see how you're doing.

I want you to know that I pray for you every day several times a day. I know nothing can describe what you're going through and nothing words can say can ever make the uncertainty easier. You can take refuge in knowing that we love you that your family will always be there for you and the Lord will always be watching over you.

I don't know if this is the right way to tell you I'm here thinking about you. Hearing my mother in tears today and grandma so frustrated and angry really made me feel like I had to reach out to you some way and this was it...

This has been some year. Walk through everything as a family. I love you.

-Sean

2006-09-08T10:23:00.000-04:00

One of the most natural smiles I've ever taken of Baby Girl ... Love this picture not so much color or clarity just that beautiful smile.

Fa fa fa fa Betta

2006-09-07T18:57:00.000-04:00

edit: I've been doing so well at my workouts etc and I just blew my diet by hitting the Almond Butter & Honey on wheat toast.....its not so bad that I ate it .... its just that I ate it at 10:30 at night I go through the occasional eerily quite sad time and I reach for the comfort food....Now I think Im going to have to go out for a run at 11 at night someone recently told me that they don't eat after dark I forgot to ask how that policy worked with daylight saving time ;) ....I know as much training as I do and following the Zone diet its best to not fast for so long so I typically will eat a 1-2 block snack about an hour before bed....this, what I just consumed, is the equivelant to a 3-4+ block meal at 10:30 at night ohhhh the guilt. I need a kick in the shorts over my nutrition discipline. I felt like listening to a little Bob Marley tonight anyway .... good middle of the night running music. "Then we would cook oatmeal porridge, Of which I'll share with you;" --- That's soul right there!
end edit:

I've had a week of hitting all my workouts and training sessions and then some for the first time in MONTHS! After the personal turmoil and the transition and the bike accident post century ride and the pulled rib muscle Im finally back at it almost full on. I've gotten my runs in some surfing all of my P90-X scheduled workouts (Even the Ab Ripper) the bike trainer for an hour last night (not Spinervals yet) and 20 miles my favorite out and back tonight down 100 to flagler beach spend some time staring at the water wishing I was in it head back. Followed by yoga. Ohhh the yoga hurts so good. I still can't do crane must be weak midsection.

I still get some discomfort in my rib so Im not 100%. Deep breathing is uncomfortable but aerobic paces are a "walk in the park". This is all exciting to me because mentally I've turned the corner and have lost the mindset that when I caught myself enjoying something or slightly uncomfortable physically I would remind myself of my problems which pretty much sucked the life out of me to this point this year. Cryyyyyyy baby.

Speaking of jogs in the park I recently dropped $320 on custom leather orthotics in the hopes it would clear up my knee problems and so far I'm happy to report I've been running pain free in both knees since I started using them. No Patt strap when at 5 miles or less and aerobic. Of course my first anaerobic workout and Im sure as a result of scar tissue at least some pain will return particularly in the right illioltibial band. Im still feeling pretty good about them.....I better be at $320. I'll put my anaerobic theory to the test this weekend doing some race pace intervals.

Im feeling so confident I signed up for my first event since Beaches Fine Arts in May. I'll be doing the Tomoka 4 miler at High Bridge in Ormond on September 16th. Because of the way the schedule works out I'll probably be pushing Maddie in the jogging stroller unless I can drag someone (ahem Mikey, Melissa, random stranger/volunteer?) with me to keep an eye on her. She likes doing runs/events with me (probably for the free food) she waves to everyone although Id hate to be on the other end of the wave because if you're getting passed by somone pushing a jogging stroller you may be hurting a little. Its happened to me before. I'm looking forward to seeing the familiar faces you get at local races. Kind of hoping this leads to a few late season triathlons.

This weekend I might have an opportunity to do an off road ride with a friend. I'll be using my original women's MTB from my first triathlon season. I've done very little off road type riding so hopefully its relatively easy....they have more experience than I do off road don't want to get dropped "On the road to nowhere" [Another 50 points to whomever can name the Artist by the way Cyndi claimed the last 50...this will be a fun game, points for finding song references in my posts make it a competition whoever has the most points at Christmas time (Cyndi will probably be the only person to guess) gets a brand new bag of my favorite Dove dark chocolate shipping/delivery included :) ].

NFL season starts tonight GO DOLPHINS! And to keep my tradition started in this very blog last year here is the song of all songs Miami Dolphins Song and if you have the time check out my sisters Miami Dolphin theme MySpace Page

I want to offer an open apology to the way I write. In looking back at some of the old posts I've found the way I talk and think in person is much different than what comes out of my hands on a keyboard...Im reading this stuff thinking what a dork! At least I think its different :) I need to learn to write like I talk.

I'm alive Oh Oh, so alive

2006-09-03T23:57:00.000-04:00

50 points to whoever(whomever?) can name the band that sang today's title. Sorry for the month long disappearance ... I know many of you are waiting with bated breath for my newest diatribe and random thoughts on life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Truth be told I actually found surfing is not as injury free as I had once thought and I managed to pull an intercostal muscle in my ribs which if you have never experienced is quite painful and can last a considerable amount of time. It hurt to breathe to twist to lie on my back to lie on my stomach. I can't describe sneezing. Let's just say I learned to muzzle my sneezes. I also recently came across a more well known surfing hazard and that is that I was stung 5 times on my face by a jellyfish. Never even saw the culprit all I know is it brought the pain.

So, rather than bore you to death with my constant whining over the pain and physical therapy and massages, much like I did with my knee, I figured I'd cut the blog a break until the stupid thing healed (at least for the most part) before I dropped a new line. I've been in such a great mood lately I hate it not to be reflected in my blog by constant whining.

My ribs are still a little 'cagey', pun intended, and while not 100% at least manageable. I've gotten back to running and have hit two 45 minute runs and an hour run this week and am hoping maybe to do the Space Coast Half Marathon the day before my 29th Birthday. November 26th. Some days when my knees are good I feel like I'd like to give the bike and swimming a rest and try to work up a plan to qualify for Boston. Of course typically when I get those delusions of grandeur my brain sends signals to my knee 'hey this guy has gone nuts remind him we aint built for that distance' ... Instant flare up in the ITB.

On the personal front

Most of my bitterness has faded post divorce and I've been doing great. I'm finally in a position where I have a genuine positive attitude about it and true peace. Thanks everyone for the nice comments and e-mails during the whole ordeal. I've decided to go back and delete most of those posts while heartfelt and a reflection on what I experienced I'd rather not have a permanent record of the last 7-8 months and all that they entailed. To anyone going through a divorce one of the first things I heard when it started was that after about a year you'll be alot closer to your normal self. I aint a hundred percent but 8 months after it started and I'm doing a whole lot better. This too shall pass.