The house

You know, your house seems fine to you when you're not thinking of selling it. Yeah, there are things you know need attention, things that need to be fixed, and of course the dreams you have if you had endless amounts of money to remodel the place, but when you're thinking about selling it... all of sudden everything is wrong with the house. You can spend endless hours thinking of all the things that need to get done to get it ready!

I am in that spot... all I think about is all the little things and all the big things. The thoughts of, "Oh some potential buyers would turn their nose at cream colored walls or red kitchen cabinet doors and ugly counter tops. It doesn't cost much to replace the doors and counter tops we should do replace them." I'm getting ready to sell something big which will give us several thousand dollars to use to prepare the house. I'm really ready to use that money... my wife... well she wants to meet the realtor first. Probably a good idea.

Another strange thing is the guilt I feel for leaving my neighbors. I have GREAT neighbors on either side of us. The people are across the street are the only exception, but nothings perfect right? My neighbors have put up with things I've put off and now I'm really working hard just to sell it. In the grand scheme of things I know this is the right decision for us, whether or not the mini-golf idea works out or we just end up buying a cheaper house, I just can't help but feel like I'm abandoning my neighbors who like us and want us to stay.

Oh well I guess we'll see what happens!!!

Commuter Cyclists

Ok now I used to hate cyclists. I couldn't understand why they were allowed on the road. It was dangerous for them, a nuisance for me and why would anyone want to ride their bike that far anyway? I hated that I had to drive 15-20 miles an hour because some morons thought pedaling through the hill country would be enjoyable.

Fast forward 10 years and while watching a rerun of the Ironman World Championships, I decided that and Ironman was something I wanted to do. And, if you didn't know it, the Ironman bike portion is 114miles. On a bike, on the road, for 5-6 hours. So I got a bike, and quickly discovered that riding a stationary bike is kind of boring and it is really really enjoyable to be on a bike in the middle of the country with nothing but some water, a few snacks, and hopefully a riding partner.

Since starting, I have put thousands, no really thousands, of miles on my bike and while I've had a few close calls from drivers not paying attention and close calls while building my riding skills, I haven't been seriously injured. Yet people think I'm crazy for riding my bike or commuting to Austin. Mostly, I think because they, like I used to, hate cyclists. Plus I feel safer in downtown where people are accustom to driving around cyclists than outside the city where people drive too fast and don't usually encounter cyclists. The commuting by bike thing; is great, even if it takes twice as long there is no A/C and no radio, it is really great. AND if you look at the statistics you're much more likely to die in a car crash than as a cyclists.

If you want to commute by bike, here are a few tips from me.

1. Have a backup plan. You might be really tired when you get where you are going or the weather could unexpectedly change and then you might be stranded.
2. Consider your smell. If you are going to work, do you have access to a shower? If not bring some wet wipes or get good at wiping yourself down in the bathroom. You kind of feel like a bum when your co-workers come in but it is worse to be the person in the meeting who's smellin' up the place.
3. Don't try it two days in a row. You're gonna be tired from the first day and unless your commute is less than 10 miles one way you should probably start out with 1 or 2 days a week, with a day of rest in between.
4. Wear your helmet. You'll figure out pretty quick that people in cars, treat you like a car. Which means if you've ever been tailgated, cut-off or almost hit by someone not paying attention, then it will happen to you on a bike. BTW if you are driving don't tailgate a cyclist, they can't go any faster and it takes all of 5 seconds to pass them, just go around!! You're not going to "teach them," by tailgating or driving close, they just think you're uneducated and probably a jerk.
5. Pay Attention! They treat you like a car, but if they hit you, everyone finds out that you're not built like a car.
6. Plan your route!! Try and stick to less traveled roads or road with bike lanes on your first attempt. Don't just jump into heavy traffic on your first adventure, you'll get frustrated and so will the other drivers.
7. Practice Handling Skills. Just like when in a car, sometimes things happen. Objects in the road, someone, including pedestrians, might pull out in front of you. You might have to brake hard, etc, etc. DO NOT commute the first time back on a bike in 10 years. Practice and hone your handling skills, because you WILL need them. It is really embarrassing and painful to crash in front of lots of people.
8. Be Predictable and Steady, Not Twitchy. Again cars, are expecting you to behave like a car. So don't make sudden movements in traffic. Ride in a straight line and signal if you need to change lanes. Drivers don't like cars that whip in and out of traffic, and it is difficult to drive around a twitchy cyclist.
9. SIGNAL!! See number 8. It is frustrating when you don't know what another driver is about to do and the same goes for cyclists. If you signal it helps drivers know they can pass you or they need to wait.
10. Have fun! Unless you're in a hurry enjoy the fact that you are not trapped in the car. Or if you're a Greenie, that you've just reduced your carbon footprint and probably your waistline.

Competition!

I love competition!! I can't wait to get into a triathlon, that moment as they count down to the start and the thrashing water that insues. I love at a running race where you try and figure out who is REALLY going to set the pace and not just going out there to blow up half-way into the run.

However, I'm feeling really outta shape right now. Except today! This morning I managed to dig myself out of bed at 4:30 and was in the water by 5:20 for a pretty vigorious swim workout. The thing is, I felt great! Finished strong and felt like I could do more!

Then at lunch, I made myself go to the gym even though I wanted to go bike drooling. On my plate was just a 5k run. I've been struggling to leave the 8min pace, which is pretty slow for someone who wants to run up front. Today I ran in the 7's and the last 600m at a flat 6min/mi pace. I felt great!

SOO maybe I just have been letting my body convince me I'm outta shape when really I just needed to push a bit harder. I can't wait for the season to start!!!

"The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else." -Oswald Chambers

When the baby was born, I had those thoughts of "is she breathing?" I can rationally prevent myself from sneaking into her bedroom to feel if she's breathing. But I do think about bad things that could happen to her as she grows up. In that way I'm connected to my co-worker who had a baby at the same time. I can relate to their worry about their little baby, because I worry about mine too. But they do worry more, a lot more, and it is apparent when you talk to them. I am certain this is because we fear God, and they do not. We trust in the Lord for our baby and they do not trust in the Lord for even themselves. Disclaimer: I do have to be reminded to trust from time to time.

I can tell you, I do not want our GREAT baby to die or suffer, while I am alive. I pray that is not in His plan. I don't want to live that day and I don't want to see that day for anyone.

I can connect with a lot of people. I start conversations with complete strangers in crowded places. But I carry the gospel, I know its weight, I understand its gravity and I know it has power. Unlike the strangers I talk with or the encounters I have with people in my life, I have built a relationship with my co-worker that can hold and support the weight of the gospel. So why haven't I told him about my faith? Maybe it is fear...

212 days old!!

The baby is 212 days old today!!

Crazy to think that I started counting down to her birth at 210 days and over 400 days later she's moving and playing on her own.

I think of all the things I want to do for her as far as places to take her, experiences, school, college and it makes me think I need a better job and that I have a lot of exciting things to look forward to.

Right now I am really excited because she's getting bigger and her head is getting close to the 18.5" diameter mark. Once she's there I can buy her a bike helmet and we can start riding the bikes as a family again. The wife and I used to ride to Sonic during happy hour and get drinks and soon we can start doing that again.

I am already looking forward to Christmas because the baby will be about the age to get her first bike. It will be a run-bike so she can practice the control without also having to learn to pedal at the same time and hopefully skip the whole training wheel thing. I am SOOO excited about both of those events. A couple of hundred more days to go!

The Power of the Holy Spirit

I started blogging about starting my training for the Buffalo Springs Half-Ironman today, and how proud of my wife I am for how serious she's taken to her training for the Austin Zooma half-marathon; however, I saw a quote today that really hit me hard. Someone on a blog about Haiti posted a comment in a response to a comment about Pat Robertson's view of why an earthquake hit Haiti. It simply said, "I would take Haiti's Voodoo over America's Christianity any day."

Whether good or evil, people easily recognize things that are supernatural. Unfortunately, in America, Christians live so passively that people mostly see the evil around us. Rarely, do they see the power of Christ majesty. I think it helps people to become cynical of "organized religion." They then, lump Christians together with all other powerless religions because we don't live our lives with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Today I am going to start praying, for life changing power from the Holy Spirit to be evident. Change in my life and change in the lives of people around me. I want to be apart of lives being changed.

BANDERA 50k: It wasn't as hard as I thought!

IT WAS HARDER!!

Ok so if you go all the way back to the beginning of this blog, it started out as a training log to complement my cousin's training blog. We were comparing styles of training against each other to see how they might prepare us for a 100k race.






Well after an injury and much protesting by myself we decided, and thankfully so, to do the 50k instead of the 100k and here is a report from Saturday's Bandera 50k.






First we woke up at 4:30am to eat, get dressed and drive to the race location. 4:30am is an hour that most people never see unless they can't sleep or have a sick kid. The temperature outside was around 10 degrees according weather records for the area. 10 degrees!!! The really crazy thing is I looked it up AND some people in shorts!!






So we start the race at 7:30 a few minutes after the dawn and it gets light really fast but since we're in the valley there is no warmth from the sun. It is cold but my beard is holding steady and my warm clothes were perfect. The thing that made the real difference were the toe warmers. it is no fun to run with cold toes and the toe warmers were absolutely perfect.





Everything was great until about mile 10, supposedly the first 10 were the hardest, however since I was wiped out and hadn't trained consistently for this race the next 20 miles were the hardest for me. People hear that you're running 31 miles and they think the mileage made this race hard. The truth is, if you were to put all the hills back to back and the race was only 5 miles, then it would have been just about as difficult.





At the 12 mile mark I finally convinced my cousin to leave me behind and salvage whatever time she could. She managed to finish in 7:17. I walked/limped and almost crawled to the 15.5mi aid station. There I promptly announced, "I'm done!" continued to a chair and sat down. The volunteers graciously told me to just sit there and think about it. I announced several times I was done. They convinced me to eat a grilled cheese sandwich and I drank two glasses of coke. As I was sitting there thinking, it occurred to me that one day I might have to tell my daughter that she couldn't just quit something because it was hard. And if I wanted to teach her that lesson, I'd have to make sure I believed in what I was saying and had lived it myself. I had also been reading about the power of the Holy Spirit and how has American Christians we don't place a lot of value or believe there is a lot of power in the Holy Spirit. So I prayed, that I would have the strength and ability to finish this race and that I knew it was impossible for me to finish the exact same distance I had just finished by myself. I ran the next 11 miles.





It was nothing short of a miracle in my book, it really completely changed how I felt about marathons and the half-ironman races. I was really surprised because I had tried electrolytes, I had eaten carbs and I had taken water. I had tried to keep my physical needs met and so when I couldn't go further I just figured it was my lack of training or actually just my lack of just plain exercising. 15 1/2 miles was the best I could do. I had only put in about 30 miles of training so it makes perfect sense that I couldn't do this. So that's why, as goofy as it sounds, I really thought it was the Holy Spirit trying to show me that there is power, beyond what I'm capable of. I'm sure scientists and myself could rationalize it away, as electrolyte imbalance or calorie deficiency. But I had taken some of that in and it was more than just "getting my second wind." I did something I was sure I couldn't do. Something I would have bet money on that I couldn't finish.





I think I will always cherish this race because I found my breaking point before half of the race was over and had to rely on my belief that through the Holy Spirit it could be finished.