2011 Retrospective

Sorry to be slow posting again this week.  I had a nice (in my own humble opinion) all typed up on my iPad but the app crashed and I lost all my changes!  I am retyping a slightly varied version with another app (Blogsey) and hope it does better.  If you have any suggestions on any experiences you might have had blogging on an iPad, let me know.

I thought for my last post of the year, I would look back on the year.  It helps me to realize what progress I have made and be greateful for how the year went.

Kiwanis 5K

This was my first race after working back from an injury.  It was a wet slushy run but I came in third in my age group.  And in case you were wondering the we're more than three people in my age group. :)

Kiwanis 5K

Several Great Hikes

I had a great time on several hikes this year.  With all the snow we had this spring, we had to be creative on our hikes, but all of them were great.  The highlights were:

July Uintah Hike with Troy, Mike and Gordon

September Timp Hike with Paul and Gordon

Kings Peak Hike with Evan and Gordon

The Kings Peak hike was the highlight because it completed my Three Peak Challenge that started me on this journey.  If you noticed, my brother Gordon was a part of my hiking.  He's a great brother and we've had some great times together.

Two Half's Don't Make a Whole

At least as far as a marathon goes.  I ran two half marathons this year.  Hobble Creek and the Halloween Half.  Both were a challenge to complete, but I was able to finish both of them.

Halloween Half

  Hobble Creek

I have had a lot of positive experiences this year.  More than I could have ever imagine!  Thanks for following along with me!  I would be interested to hear of some of your highlights of the year.  Feel free to comment.  Next week a look ahead as we celebrate a new year!  Happy New Year to you all!

Hang in there and I will too!

Merry Christmas

Things have been busy this week. I kept hoping to post something longer but it will have to wait until next week.

Have a Merry Christmas and I will too!

Catching Up

I thought I would do a little catch up on what has been going on.


Thanks

First of all, I enjoyed your comments about running from your monsters! Makes the blog worth writing with the such great comments! Thanks!


Earn Your Turkey Run

This was a 4 miler on Thanksgiving morning. I have not been running for speed lately so I didn't expect to be fast. I thought if I finished up between 45 and 55 minutes, I would be happy. I finished up at 44:29 so I was quite happy. I didn't start out too fast, I stayed steady through out the race and had just a little extra in the tank at the end to finish strong. I was really happy with the way it turned out.


Accountability
I said that I would be accountable about my weight over the holidays.  I am down a few pounds from my initial weigh in from just before the holidays so that is great!   I need to be careful because I have let up a more than a few times. I don't want to gain weight over the holidays. I think the running is saving my bacon here!

A Little Bragging

My daughter Sarah had her first baby during the last week of November.  He is a cutie and it is fun to see Sarah and Mike as first time parents.  They are doing great and my new grandson is (of course) a cute kid.  That puts us at 14 grandkids! Holy cow! The two youngest and I are getting by as my wife is back east helping out. Yesterday I got up at 5, sorted and started my laundry, ran 7 miles, made sure the kids were out the door OK and went to work. I don't know how single parents do it!  Helps me appreciate my wife!

Goal Accomplished

I was hoping to get in over 2000 miles for the year and I turned over the odometer in the last couple of weeks. Yes!!!

Saturday's Long Run
The mileage for my long runs is nudging up  This Saturday was an eight miler. Most of the trail was ice free until I got up to Bridal Veil Falls. The water from the falls had overflowed onto the trail and iced over. Baby steps! Baby steps!

Bridal Veil Falls Starting to Ice Over

Ice over the Trail

Biggest Loser

I am a big fan of The Biggest Loser. Tonight is the finale! It's always fun to see the changes that the contestants make in a relatively short period of time.  I don't know who is going to win but I am glad Ramon is in the mix because I have always enjoyed his upbeat attitude. This interview with him shows why exercise is so important in a healthy lifestyle. As he mentions in the video, he was diagnosed as the most unhealthy of all the contestants who competed this year including those who were in their 60's. Ramon is one of the youngest! As he pointed out, he had diabetes and sleep apnea but in a few short weeks of eating right and exercise, he has not only lost over 135 pounds, he was told that he no longer has diabetes! Physical activity is not just a weight loss tool. Exercise is the best medicine we will probably ever find.

nbc.com

A lot of you are doing great on not gaining weight over the holidays.  Keep up the great work.   Hang in there and I will too!

Running from the Monster

When I was young, I spent many of my summer weeks at my grandmothers house.  There were many things I like about her staying with her.  A creek split at the top of her property and surrounded her house that my grandfather built.  There were fish to be caught, trees to climb, cherries to eat and most importantly someone who really loved me.  It was an acre of paradise.

Another great thing about spending my days there was the fact that two of my uncles had homes on adjoining properties.  So not only did I get to spend time with my grandmother, but my cousins were close at hand.  Those growing up years were filled with many fun filled memories.

One memory that I had wasn't pleasant though.  Sometimes I would be at my cousins' house until after it was dark.  That meant when it was time to go back to my grandma's house, I had to go down a dark driveway.  This wasn't just a short driveway, but more of a dirt road that connected their houses.  It was a long walk down that road.  But usually it wasn't a walk, it was a run for my life.  I would pause at the top of the drive, screw up my courage and then run like crazy.  I ran past the trees, the duck pen and the unseen monsters that lurked waiting to grab me.  I raced as fast as I could go and then make a sharp left, head for the porch and burst through the door out of breathe and grateful that I made it home alive.  I'm sure my grandmother knew why I was a little wild-eyed and breathing hard but she loved me enough not to say anything.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I don't think I realized at the time that there was a monster.  But it wasn't in the trees or the duck pen.  The monster was inside of me.  I had created it and hid it along the drive.  I couldn't outrun the monster because it was running right along inside of me.

I think we all have a monster or two inside of us that keeps us from doing what we would like.  They freeze us into inaction or get us running off in the wrong direction.  They cause us to place the blame somewhere outside of us.

I had one of those monsters that was keeping me for living a more healthy life.  It was making me believe that it was to late for me to make a change and lose some weight.  I'm glad that I had something give me hope that that mosnter wasn't real.  I could make a change, I could be fit again, I could lose weight.

I've still got some monsters that I need to quite believing in and quit avoiding the fact that I am that I am the one I am running from.  One of them is this last thirty to thirty-five more pounds I need to lose.  Why am I not willing to quit running from it?  What's it going to take for me to get rid of this monster?  I hope I can face this monster soon and get it out of my life!

You got any monsters you need to get rid of?

Hang in there and I will too!