It's All Good!

Sometimes... well, a lot of the time, life throws out curveballs. It happens to all of us if we're truly honest.

Sometimes... we just don't feel like doing something and once we get into it, we soar and we're glad we did it!

The last week has been one of those weeks for me, I won't go into the details, its not that important. And so this morning when it came time to go train my group of walkers, I thought seriously about blowing it off. I didn't, in fact I ended up getting up early, heading down to the ocean and scoping out places where we could do some simple strength training moves.

And so, my day started with a run to the ocean, about an hour of just plain ocean watching (very therapuetic), a workout at the original "Muscle Beach" just south of the Santa Monica Pier, a great walk with a good group of people who were full of questions and appreciation for my help and then a run home.

Not a bad way to spend the first few hours of any day!

Followed this all up with a return visit to the beach and a dip in the Pacific and a little quality sun time!

Probably go for a short recovery run tonight!

I guess when it all comes down to it, as they say; "No matter what life throws at you, if you decide it is... It's All Good!"

More Than Just A Lifestyle Change

As I work with individuals looking to regain health or maybe go to a new level of fitness, the conversation often goes to "lifestyle changes".

I am a big believer in changing lifestyles for lifetime maintenance of health and vitality.  As Zig Ziglar says... "You wouldn't keep a million dollar race horse out all night, drinking and smoking!"  Its critical to long term success to look at life in a different way, find the things you enjoy because those are the things you'll do consistenly that will keep you healthy and quite frankly to place a higher value on your personal health annd well-being.  If you can manage to make these mental changes, you will have success in changing your life and setting up a life of great health.

However... all that being said, there comes a time when if you want to get results (make changes), you are going to have to put in some good old-fashioned supreme effort!  While it is true that once you reach your desired level of fitness and weight you can maintain it doing things you enjoy including anything from bike riding to walking to gardening and even housework, when it comes to getting to your desired goal you are going to have to put in some work... OK... a lot of work.

You don't drop 20,40,60,100 lbs or even more over the course of a year by simply going out and mowing the lawn every other week.

You may hate walking or jogging or running or riding an exercise bike or lifting weights, but if you want to drop the weight and get back into a state of excellent health... well quite frankly you can't avoid them.  And, although you may be able to maintain your health with  a 3 mile run three times a week at a leisurely pace, that's not going to cut the mustard while you are dropping the weight initially.

I'm sorry if I'm the first one to say this to you but... you didn't gain the extra weight overnight and totally by accident.  You didn't just wake up one morning and find you were overweight.  I did not simply go to  my closet one day and find that the only pants I had to wear that I could fit into were size 42!  And quite frankly, I did not just wake up yesterday and suddenly realize I could wear size 32 jeans.

On the contrary, over the last year I  have worked my butt off! (literally)  I have logged thousands of miles both walking and running.  I have done more crunches in the last year than I had done in the previous 45 years of my life.  I've donne more pushups and curls and presses in this last year than in any other year off my life including those years when I was bodybuilding in my late teens and early twenties.

I have weeks when I am in a constant state of soreness.  I have ignored pain that in the past would have had me avoiding workouts for days or even weeks.  And most importantly, this time around, I have done it all for me.

As I was out on a run today, I caught myself doing what most of us do at some point... comparing myself to the other runners I saw on the street.  I know I'm not the only person who does this.  For me it usually happens when I'm on a long run and someone goes whizzing past me.  Now quite honestly, I really don't need to compare myself to anyone else and quite frankly because I'm running  over 10 miles on most of my runs I can pretty easily explain why someone running a couple miles is moving faster than me, but still I can't help it.  The problem is, when I do this I either spped up which only throws me out of my rhythm or I just get distracted and end up slowing down.  Either way the result is not productive.

Today, when I found myself doing this comparison thing, I finally smacked myself and said; "This is not about anyone else!  This is only about you!"  It worked!  And it was true.  This last year of training has not been about impressing anyone else, its been about taking back my life and creating a lifestyle I enjoy and that I can maintain for the rest of my life.

If I have my way, I'll still be running when I'm 100 and loving the freedom it gives me.  I happen to love running.  Maybe you love tennis or walking or yardwork.  Whatever you enjoy that keeps you active, I hope you enjoy it well into your later years in life.  But if you are out of shape now, you are going to have do some work, some of it not  so enjoyable to get back into shape.

I think a lot of people get frustrated with a training routine because they don't enjoy it and quite truthfully, I don't blame them.  I'm not a big "gym" guy any more.  I really don't enjoy weight training and yet, I know that to regain the health of a lifetime, that is the short term price I'm going to have to pay.

I'm here to tell you that there will be pain.  There will be days when it hurts just to run a mile.  There will be days when you will feel like throwing up after a particularly tough strength training session.  You and I made our choices in life up to this point and now if we want to get back to health, we are going to have to put in the effort.

The upside...

One of the best parts of working out is the way you feel when you finish!

The way you will feel when you reach your goal weight or run your PR in a race or finish your first marathon or whatever else it is you're seeking, is absolutely incredible!

Your whole life WILL work better if you have great health and an active lifestyle, its a proven fact!

You will be extremely proud of yourself when you finish a workout that a few months ago you wouldn't even have considered doing!

When you finally throw away your "fat" clothes for the last time, knowing you'll never need them again, it will be one of the best days of your life to that point!

The day will come when you look forward to being active every day!

Here's a bonus thought from today's run.  If you are self conscious about working out in the gym because you think everyone is watching and judging you... forget it.  No one is evaluating you if you are overweight but are working out and trying to improve.  If any one is having thoughts about you at all it is generally thoughts of encouragement.

People do however notice you if you are overweight carrying the double bag of McD's or the two for one pizza deal!  That you should be self conscious about!

Its time to stop making excuses.  Get ready  for a little (who am I kidding.. a lot of) worthwhile soreness!  And look forward to the day when you can do whatever activity you want to maintain your new healthier you!

Insanity Begs for an Opportunity!

OK, so I've been itching for the opportunity to get out there and go the distance so to speak for quite some time now!

I guess, ever since my 24 hour treadmill run for charity was cancelled last January, I've just been looking for the chance.  I'm in training for an ultra marathon next January of 50 miles, but I really wanted to get out there and test my legs, so to speak and maybe see what I'm really made of.

When A friend who plays in a band, sent an invitation to hear them perform at the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Culver City, a little switch went on in my head.  You know the switch?  The one where sanity meets its alter-ego.

How perfect an event.  First it is for a great cause; the American Cancer Society and since my Dad and younger brother have both had Melanoma operations I'm a big supporter.  Second it is a walking event around a track (easy to support).

Its Wednesday and the event is Saturday so there's not a lot of time for preparation.  Fortunately, my training has been "spot on" lately and the mileage has been very strong!  Fundraising - Thank God for Twitter, Facebook and a heavy email contacts list!  And thank goodness, I am not one of those people who ask folks to donate all of the time so I can call in a few chips.  The ink was barely dry on the first email before the donations started coming in!

I have awesome friends!

Other prep - Supplies like water, Gatorade, Clif Bars!  Since it is a walking event, I think the North Face Arnuva Boas(all 4 pairs) will probably get the nod over the Sauconys.  A lawn chair, a donation sign, other creative stuff for fun!  Most of the teams will have tents and such for the times when their members are not on the track however, since Team Tim is a one man show, I don't really see much need.  Maybe an easy-up if I can get my hands on one before the event.  Oh yeah and I get to try out my Black Diamond headlamp (very cool)!

Training schedule change - maybe a couple of quick 3-milers tomorrow to keep the legs loose and then rest on Friday.  Get good sleep on Thursday, since I will be pretty nervous on Friday night.

This is really cool!  I know there are those who might think this is insane or nuts, but I never really claimed to be otherwise so... OK!

I'll of course give you the full report after its done!

Amazing Grace and the Incredible Run!

I will be the first to admit that my Christian walk is not exactly what it should be.  I do however enjoy listening to all kinds of music when I do long runs including contemporary Christian music.  I find it to be peaceful and rejuvenating.

This morning as I ran my 8 mile loop which takes me out about 5 miles before I hit the infamous Santa Monica 4th Street stairs. View Video

I was listening to one such artist, Chris Tomlin.  Now throwing the stairs in at mile 5 is a pretty cool and extremely taxing exercise and I'll admit, there was some handrail holding going on by me as I made the climb up to the top.

As I reached the top and continued my run the thought hit me about just how blessed I really am to be here at this moment climbing stairs that many people won't even try especially not in the middle of a run.  When you add to that the fact that just about a year ago, I was lying in a hospital bed after having a heart attack, it takes on additional significance.

Suddenly, as if almost on cue Chris Tomlin's rendition of "Amazing Grace (MyChains Are Gone)" came on my ipod.  I often refer to running as an emotional and almost spiritual experience.  This topped it all!  I have to admit, for the five minutes the song played there were no dry eyes for Tim!

Say what you want to say, believe what you want to believe, in my book there is absolutely no doubt that there is a Higher power than us and for me it is God!  Needless to say the remainder of my run was highly empowering!

What a great day!  Amazing Grace and an incredible run!

What Defines You?

Hard to believe, I've had a love/hate relationship with running for nearly thirty years now.

One thing I know to be true about running or any other form of exercise for that matter is; there will be plenty of days when its easy to get out and get moving. The longer you are involved with running or jogging or walking or strength training or whatever other activity you choose the easier it becomes to consistently get out and do it. In fact it becomes a regular and hopefully enjoyable part of your healthy active lifestyle.

The other thing that I know is, although there will likely be more good days than bad, there will be plenty of bad days. And, its not the good days that define who you are. Rather it is how you handle the bad days that build the real foundation for creating a healthy lifestyle.

It is in those moments when you really would rather not get out and train that you determine who you are, not just as an athlete but also as a human being. Do you push forward and through or do you allow yourself to be derailed by every little obstacle real or imagined that comes along?

I had one of those days yesterday. My training has been going quite well lately. But yesterday, I really wasn't feeling it. I procrastinated through most of the day before finally pushing myself out the door.

By the time I got out on the road it was pretty warm and I wasn't feeling too great to boot. About halfway through my run I started getting stomach cramps and my legs had been aching almost from my first step. Now I was faced with a decision. I could stop running and walk home or I could keep running. Walking would have certainly meant some relief for my aching legs and yet I found that as I slow to a walk for a couple of minutes my stomach cramps actually got worse. The thought then occurred to me: If this was mile 35 of a 50 mile ultra marathon who would be there to help me through this?

The answer was simple. The only person who could make me go on is me. No amount of encouragement from anyone else could have made me run through the soreness. If I was going to finish this run or finish an ultra marathon, it is up to me to dig deep inside of myself and find the strength to go on.

And so I did push on. This was not a particularly long run for me but it was perhaps one of the best 6 mile runs I've completed in a while. Not the fastest or strongest performance, but great because when it came down to decision time, I made the right choice. The fact that I chose to push on will carry with me throughout other areas of my life.

Today is going to be a much, much longer run, but something tells me its going to be one of those days where its easy to get myself out and moving. After all, I've already proven to myself that I have what it takes when things get tough.

What do you do in a similar situation? Do you persevere or do you fold? The choice is yours and making the right one can take you to a totally different level!

Have an awesome day and go get active!

Find Your Inspiration

I have to say my training has been crazy lately... in a good way!

I don't think I've felt this good running since I was in my early twenties.  Oh sure, there are those times when I just really don't feel like it and yet once I get out there everything just really seems to flow!

At 46, I think it is all together possible that I could set a 5k PR at any time just pick a race and go.  I am not specifically training for speed in fact quite the contrary, I'm really just looking to put in the miles and drop the final few pounds of body fat that have plagued me for the last several years of my life.  Still I find my speed dramatically improving.

Some of it may very well be attributed to the Run/Walk training I mentioned the other day.  What's been happening is that because I am in essence getting a small rest during the walk periods my run is at a much quicker pace.

Hurray for Galloway!

It may also be that I have really been putting my nose to the grindstone so to speak.  I am currently doing a series of two a days.  Training longer in the morning, maybe a couple of hours and then coming back later in the day and doing a quick 5k around the neighborhood.  My favorite 5k route takes me just down along the ocean front and then back up a couple of nice little hills before reaching home.

But from the title of this post you can tell all of this training talk is not the subject I want to talk about.  No, instead I want to talk about what really pushed me in the last few weeks to put the hammer down.

A while back I mentioned that I was going to be working with a group of individuals as a Team Trainer for the Momentum Walk-It Challenge sponsored by Weight Watchers.  It has been an incredible experience to say the least.  I am working with a group here in Santa Monica and then also offering training advice to others online.

These folks have got me totally fired up!

The level of exercise experience is wide open.  I have some folks who haven't done anything in years and some who have been involved in some form of exercise albeit maybe not consistent all along.  More importantly, they all have made a real commitment to improving their health through exercise and most are really putting in the effort to improve themselves.  Everyday I see reports from them as to the workouts they did and its impressive.  Not just the numbers, but also the excitement and enthusiasm they show when they complete another day with activity and they feel better.

I can tell by their words that each one of them is feeling better about themselves because of their renewed commitment to being active.  How totally inspiring!

And so, me being the trainer can't think of a better reason to be even more committed to my training.

I guess its true... sometimes the student becomes the master!

The More You Run...

I have to admit, I've been puttering around with runs of 3,4 or 5 miles lately. Just enough to get the blood flowing and yet not real solid training for me.

Today however, I had to go to Culver City (5 miles one way) and so I decided to strap on the backpack and run!

It's a few hours later and I am still flying high! Mentally, emotionally and physically, I'm on a cloud 9 ride.

Sometimes as a runner we get caught up in everything else and forget just why we run in the first place. Yes, there are obvious health benefits and that is something I can truly appreciate (heart attack May '08). At the same time its so much more than just that.

Running relieves stress, increases your metabolism, helps your body create endorphins (I like to call them the "happy" chemicals) which in turn stimulates overall good feelings. I find myself much more powerful, enthusiastic, outrageous (in a good way) and empowering when I am running longer distances regularly.

If you are a new runner just getting started, I know that it can seem a daunting task to consider even running three miles and yet maybe that's just because the "carrot" you're after isn't compelling enough.

At some point in our lives we have got to commit to something even if at first it seems like we're climbing a mountain. We all start somewhere. I remember, five days after my heart attack I was chomping at the bit to get out and go for a run. I had a mission and I was going to achieve it no matter what!

That first run was a whopping 1.57 miles and took almost 30 minutes to complete and yet I did it! Having run marathons, it would have been easy to get discouraged. I mean here I was celebrating completing 1/20th of a marathon like I'd just done the whole thing!

It took weeks and even months to get my distance up over 10 miles again and yet through perseverance, I made it. But it was more than just commitment that kept me going. After every run, the feeling of health and vitality and the bump in endorphins had me looking forward to the next run.

And then there was that other "Carrot". On January 11th of 2009, I retraced the route I was on when I had my heart attack and "Conquered My Demons!"

It was the longest single run I had done since March of 2008's LA Marathon. And it sent me soaring!

I guess what I'm saying with all of this is running (or walking) gives us so much more than just the perceived health benefits. That's not down playing the cardiovascular and weight management benefits. If those alone aren't getting you through the tough walks or runs then find a better carrot because they will take you to places you've never experienced before.

The pure joy that comes from running is inspiring, contagious, empowering and incomparable in its power!

What ever level of walking or running you're at, I encourage you to get out there and be consistent. Put in the extra effort when you feel like giving up or backing off. The rewards will be worth it!

Welcome to Big Bad Runners

When I first started writing this blog, I think my outlook on running was in a little different place than it is today.

I was tired of lining up for a race and being twice as big as most of the runners who were expecting to be competitive in that particular event. I was tired of lining up at the back because I wasn't an elite runner and feeling in someway that I didn't even belong there.

Let me just say... it was all in my head. Oh sure, there are runners who would take a look at me today and figure there is no way I'm running this race! It just that those people are the "few and far between", not the norm.

Generally, the running community is incredibly warm, friendly and supportive to runners of all shapes and sizes. Go to a group of runners and ask a question about a running problem you're having and most of the time they will share openly and genuinely try to help.

I've spent a fair amount of time in discussion rooms on sites like Active.com (a great resource) reading the concerns, questions and general thoughts of new runners or folks trying to get back into running after long lay-offs from activity.

The underlying theme of most of the posts is that people are just looking for advice and sometimes good old-fashioned encouragement.

With that in mind, this blog has become a place for just that. I try to keep it entertaining and yet mostly, I hope that it truly is informative and encouraging.

If you are someone looking to get into running or walking, whether it be for the first time ever or the first time in many years, this blog is here to empower you to take those first steps and to learn how to make health and fitness a lifestyle not just an occasional distraction.

Any and all honest and sincere feedback is always welcome.

If you have questions or write on the discussion board, I will try to tailor the blogs to the topics of interest.

Don't get me wrong... I still enjoy lining up at the back of the pack in races and seeing the looks on peoples' faces when the big guy passes them, its just not the overall theme of this blog! :-)

Thanks for checking out this blog!

I Remember When... Use It or Lose It!

If you're just getting started in a fitness routine, you probably have a memory in your mind of a time when you were fit and active. Maybe it was high school or college and as you remember it, you were the Energizer Bunny.

Today however... five, ten, fifteen or maybe more years later you are kind of wondering whatever happened to all of that health and energy.

Where did the flexibility go and when did a 5 pound weight get so heavy and who on earth moved the mailbox so far from the front door that you have to stop half way there to catch your breath?

Fear not, you are not alone. Many have gone before you! Even some of those folks you think are fitness buffs have had their moments. Anyone who has had an on again, off again relationship with fitness has experienced this incredible disappearing act of their athletic prowess.

Welcome to atrophy! The actual definition... a decrease in cross-sectional size of a muscle resulting from inactivity or immobilization. It affects not just your limbs but your cardiovascular system as well. We see it most commonly in someone who has had an injury where they are immobilized for a period of time. In those cases atrophy can begin to set in as quickly as two to three days.

In our case, where we have been sedentary, it is a slower and more gradual process and yet over time the effects are the same.

Now that I've depressed you, the good news is that it can be reversed and does so at a much quicker rate than it occured.

Muscular strength can be maintained with as little as two moderate weight training sessions per week and cardiovascular fitness can be improved depending on your current level of fitness with as little as 20-30 minutes of aerobic exercise (walking,jogging,cycling, etc) two to three times per week.

Research has shown that cardiovascular fitness in folks who have been inactive will improve with an effort in the range of 45-55% of Maximum Heart Rate, and that... is a slow walk!

Remember when, because it will give you something to aspire to! Actually... forget that because we can never go back. Create a new picture of the you that's in your future and go for it!

All you have to do is use it!

Sometimes a lousy run...

Ever have one of those runs?

You know the one where maybe you didn't feel like it or maybe you got going and just felt like garbage?

Maybe after only a mile or even less, you found yourself with an urge to walk or even turn around and just head back home?

I just had one of those runs. About half way through, I just wasn't feeling it and I started to walk. At first I was frustrated by my inability to motivate my performance and then I began to think about how I would feel when I finished. Knowing full well that even if I just walked the rest of the way, I had gone out and trained.

I thought about how great I always feel after I get done training. It hit me that even if this wasn't the most stellar performance of my life, it was still movement and that is key.

I am a student of human behavior and I have learned most of the ways to get the most out of yourself and surely if I'd dug deep enough I could have found a way to keep myself running instead of slowing to a walk and yet sometimes that's not the point at all.

Sometimes it is just moving. If you exercise; walk, jog, run, weight train, yoga, Pilate's, whatever it is you do; you are doing something for your health that not a huge percentage of Americans do at least not on a regular basis. To have great health doesn't require huge blocks of training, it requires consistency. It requires movement!

It doesn't always have to require great effort in order for it to be a great workout.

Just a thought!

Gratitude

I haven't written much about running lately and today is not going to be much different.

Today is my birthday and a very special one indeed. Not because I'm a certain age, I'm 46 (which is not exactly a milestone birthday as near as I can tell), rather because this is the one that almost didn't happen.

If you don't know me well then you may not be aware of the fact that last May, I had a heart attack and it was a doosie! So the fact that I am here to celebrate another birthday, this being the first since my heart attack makes this a pretty special day for me!

What do you do on such a birthday?

As with most days, it starts with a good long run! And then I will do what most of us don't do enough of. I will spend the rest of the day in total complete gratitude!

I believe one of the most powerful tools or gifts we can give ourselves is gratitude.

It's so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of every day living or "the daily grind" that we lose sight of all the things in our life we have to be grateful for.

It seems it is easier sometimes to focus on all of the negatives or the things we don't have yet or how bad things are with life or the economy. This makes for a pretty miserable life! And even worse, it sets you up to get more of the same!

No matter where you are at in life, if you are living and breathing, you have something to be grateful. And the more you are grateful the more empowered your life will become.

As Zig Ziglar says; "The more you show gratitude for the things you already have, the more you will have to show gratitude for."

So where will I begin?

Obviously, I'm pretty grateful to be here to have another birthday. You know, once something like a heart attack happens to you its hard to look at life the same ever again. (Its a shame that for some of us bull-headed people we have to go through something like that to finally pay attention.)

Then it's total gratitude for my family and my incredible friends. And how about the fact that I can write this. And then of course there's the fact that I live in sunny Southern California. My list will go on for hours and hours I'm sure because as I show gratitude for one thing another will come to mind. By the time my day is over I will be unstoppable!

Gratitude is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself. If you practice it regularly, its life changing!

I personally can't think of a better gift to give myself on this a very important birthday than gratitude!

Have an awesome day!

Make Today What You Think It Should Be!

Title catch your attention?

Want to learn how?

Guess what?

You already make every day exactly what you think it should be. The only difference is that your level of expectation may be a tad bit lower than it ought to be. If you wake up, get out of bed and stub your toe on the bedpost you might already be predisposed to thinking the day's not going to be that great. If you don't do something to change that outlook you probably won't be disappointed. On a day in and day out basis you get exactly what you expect out of life. Not what you wish for, but exactly what you believe is going to happen.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating; whatever you focus on is exactly what you get. The problem is that most of us don't spend enough time focusing on the results we want and as such we end up getting the things we don't want because that's what we're focused on.

So how do you make the important distinction in your focus and make the change?

Start with something simple. Write down those things that you want from life. This does not have to be your giant elaborate list of goals, just the things you'd like to have happen on a daily basis. Things like; being happy, having a great day, being a good friend, being healthy. Write these things down on a card and keep it with you all the time. Review it in the morning and several times throughout the day. Every time you feel yourself having negative focus, take out the card and read it.

Life is meant to be lived, not survived!

If you spend all of your time focused on the way you don't want things to turn out you will miss the fact that they are actually going the way you want them to. I know this sounds overly simple and quite frankly it is. Get up tomorrow and decide that you are going to have a great day.

Guess what?

If that's what you focus on... that's what you will get.

Why?

Because the little bad things that happen to all of us over the course of a day don't really add up to much of anything in the middle of a really great day. Just think about it. Remember a day when something really good happened to you and it seemed like everything was going your way? There were probably some negative things going on at the same time, but you just didn't even notice because you were focused on the great stuff!

So, my challenge to you...

Decide what you want today to be like and make today what you think it should be!

Talk to you soon!

Stop Saying You Don't Have Time!

The more I talk to people about what they want out of life the more I hear the same thing coming up over and over again... "I don't have any time!"

All I can say is STOP IT!

We all have the same number of hours in each day, so why is it that some people consistently do what they want and others don't? It's simple... they stop the excuses.

Think about it.

What did you do last night?

Maybe you had plans to get home and work on something you wanted to accomplish, but then everything just kind of got in the way. You walked in the door and you needed to unwind from a stressful day so you decided to just sit and watch a little television and then you'd get right to it. Next thing you know its two hours later and now you're surfing around on myspace and im'ing with your friends and you still haven't started whatever it was you planned on doing when you got home. Now your friends call and they want to go for a couple of drinks and who are you to stand in the way of a good gathering so it's out the door and several hours later when you return home exhausted it's really too late to start anything new so you head off to bed... but you'll get started tomorrow after work.

Don't you get it?

We all have time; it's just what we decide to do with it.

No matter what you say you want out of life, if you are doing anything but exactly that, you're lying to yourself. Doing something else or doing nothing at all is the same as saying that your goals and dreams are not really your goals and dreams... they're just fantasies.

You have got to decide what it is you really want out of life and go for it like there is no tomorrow and you can't stand another minute of your life without it! That my friend is the only way you are going to get more time for the things you want in life.

You won't get more time because you quit school, quit your job, get a different job, or end a relationship. You will get more time by doing the things you want to be doing instead of avoiding them. You will get more time by getting up a little earlier and taking time for yourself. You will get more time by going for it with all of the passion you can muster and not accepting anything less from yourself than you know you are capable of.

That is how you get more time for the things you want in life.

Stop Saying You Don't Have Any Time!

It All Begins With One Thing!

Think about a time when everything seemed to work for you. A time when you had a plan and it actually worked out the way you wanted it to.

What happened?

Why were you able to accomplish this particular goal, while day in and day out you struggle to complete just about everything you set out to do?

Why doesn't everybody accomplish every goal they have?

If you're one of those people (most of us), who struggles with goals and frustration, don't panic! There is a way out. And it's not your fault!

There are literally thousands of books, articles, audio series and seminars on setting and attaining goals available for you today. Most of them are reasonably accurate in their description of the steps to a goal.

The problem with most of them is where they list the most important step. What is that step? What is it that keeps most of us from reaching our goals?

Let's take a look... shall we?

I'm not going to cover the goal setting process here, rather I'm going to say this about it...

the goal setting process is exactly that... a method for figuring out what you want in life and how you will go about getting it.

We are taught through different methods to figure out what we want, decide how to do it, decide what's most important to do first, figure out who can help you (if you need help), and then finally as a subscript to the whole beautiful plan you've created the final step is...

Take the first small step.

An entire 360 page book can be filled all the way to page 359 with how to figure out what you want and then finally, almost as an afterthought, the author suggests that you take a small step, the first step towards your goal.

It's like saying that it's not actually important to achieve the goal, it's just the figuring out that matters!

What?

I am a firm believer in having a clear vision of what's important to you in life and I think it's a shame that most people don't ever have any idea, however, knowing what you want alone is about as fulfilling as as going to a fine restaurant, ordering their best steak and then when they bring it to your table just sitting there staring at it.

What's the point?

Whatever you want in life. Whatever you don't have or want more of or really believe is important in your life, will never come to be unless you do something to move you towards that end!

A new car, a healthy body, a great relationship, an incredible career... none of those things are just going to fall out of the sky into your lap! Yes, fortunately, cars don't fall out of the sky!

The "Last" step in most people's goal setting programs is taking action. WOW! The last step? It's no wonder most folks read a goal setting program and come out with a big list of ideas and not much more!

I love reading and listening to Tony Robbins. The reason? Not because he's a guru. Not because he's so full of energy! No, the reason I enjoy him is because right from the very begin of any program he presents, he is encouraging you to get moving and take action.

And, yes I know, if you do something it could be wrong, but how will you ever know if you don't try?

If you sit around waiting for everything to be perfect or until you know all of the answers or until you think it's the right time... ten years from now you will be in the same place wondering what went wrong!

Do you really want to be sitting around ten years from now making a new list of the same goals you made ten years ago but never went after?

Or...

Do you want to look back ten years from now absolutely amazed at what you've accomplished in life? Do you want to sit sadly wishing for a different life or do you want to look back gratefully at the incredible experiences you've had in life on the journey to your goals?

Don't you want to be sitting down ten years from now setting new incredible goals that are based on the higher level you created for yourself because you actually took action?

I know for myself... that's what I want! And I know that the only way that's going to happen is to DO SOMETHING NOW that will move me in the right direction. And I think you do too!

It doesn't have to be the perfect first step. You just have to take action!

What are your goals?

Whatever they are... do something! Get up and go for a run or go to the gym or read that book or unplug that TV or hire a Personal Trainer or get a life coach or apply for that new job (even if they don't have a help-wanted ad) or sit down for a conversation with your loved one or whatever it is... do something now!

I promise... you'll be amazed!

Easy As 1-2-3!

Imagine you're watching one of those TV infomercials. You know the ones. They talk about how you can have anything you want. The perfect body, the perfect life, the dream relationship.

And it's all as easy as 1-2-3!

Let's be frank here. It doesn't work that way!

If you're like most of us, you have probably even tried some of those things and now you have a collection of DVDs and strange contraptions piling up under your bed or in a closet out of sight.

I am a positive person but, the truth is anything worth having in life takes some effort. Anyone who tells you otherwise is probably looking to sell you something!

I mean think about it... "5 minute abs", "3 steps to financial freedom", "start earning huge $$ in 24 hours", "get fit in 10 minutes a day". These aren't actual product names, so if you offer these things don't get offended.

However, if we look at all of these things I listed above, they do actually carry a redeeming quality that is hidden behind the misleading headline.

"5 minutes abs" is designed to reel you in and take action. Gosh, you mean I can have abs in just 5 minutes of my time? Well, not exactly but, if you think about it; anything that gets you moving instead of sitting on the couch watching infomercials is going to have some impact on your health. And... the reality is no one is going to actually spend only 5 minutes doing exercises once they get started.

Therein lies the redeeming quality.

No matter where you are in life. No matter how high or how low, if you want to change your life you have got to get your self to do something.

Think about it. If you're at point "A" and you want to get to point "B", what's the best way to get there? Isn't to start moving in that direction? Isn't it to get off your butt and take action?

It's great to have all kinds of ideas and plans in life, but they are absolutely worthless without action! Without taking action all you have is a great list of dreams. Your first steps don't have to be fancy or earth-shattering but, they do have to be forward and in the direction you want to go.

We all get caught up in the idea that if the first step we take isn't perfect and doesn't get us instantaneous results then it's either the wrong one or just not worth it. Nothing could be further from the truth!

If you're struggling in life right now, simply completing one simple step can be one of the most rewarding and empowering experiences you'll ever have. There is power in knowing that in spite of it all, you are taking control of your life to make a positive change! Believe me I know. Even if you take one step forward and end up sliding three steps back, when you took the first step, you were now finally facing in the right direction!

If you can see where it is you want to go at least you have one thing most people don't: a clear vision of what you want. And that, my friend will give you tremendous power. There is incredible strength in knowing no matter how difficult the journey may be, you have begun!

There will be setbacks along the road. That you can count on, but the power you gain from taking action will help you get through those times and keep you focused on the outcome.

I've been on the bench of life, not taking action and it doesn't feel real good. I've let one day turn into ten years and it happens so fast it seems like all you did was blink. I am happy to say that I am now moving in the direction I want to go and it is incredible! Every day is not perfect and there have already been setbacks and disappointments and still, I am moving forward.

As easy as 1-2-3?

Not a chance!

Worth it?

Absolutely!

See you along the road moving forward!

Do You Really Believe That?

(I originally posted this back in June 2008 and it bares repeating.)

Why did you get up this morning and go to work or go for a run or whatever else you might have done?

I bet you answered something along the lines of; because I have to or maybe ; because I get to or maybe; because it's what I've always done.

And if you did, you just confirmed one of the universal truths in our lives. Most of what we do in life is based on our beliefs!

What if you could completely change what everything in your life thus far means?

What if you could take any situation, event or even a thought and turn it into something completely different?

Imagine if you could take an event... let's say, getting fired from your job (normally a negative) and turn it into the best thing that ever happened to you!

How would this change your life?

Would it open new possibilities?

What if you could really believe deep down inside that what ever you wanted in life you could have?

What if you could take a $135,000 debt and turn it into the springboard that launches a whole new opportunity in your life? An opportunity so empowering that you became almost unstoppable in your thinking and beliefs!

The Good News is that the way you experience everything in your life is based completely and wholly on your beliefs. And... you can change any experience in your life by changing your beliefs.

The only bad news here is that until you and I change that one belief; that everything we believe is in our control, we won't be able to use this powerful tool to our benefit.

So, if you're willing... let's begin!

Let's start by exploring where our beliefs come from. Virtually from our very earliest days in this life or as soon as we begin to be aware of the world around us, we begin to assign meaning to the things in our environment. Early on it may be as simple as; that heartbeat is where I came from or that voice is where I get my food from.

A little later it may be; if I cry I get attention (some of us never lose that one even in adulthood).

Why do we formulate beliefs?

Every second there is so much information being thrown our way that the only possible thing we can do other than being totally confused is to begin to organize our world. By generalizing what different types of input mean, our brain can quickly decide what needs to be received and processed and what can be filtered out and ignored. An example is when we learn that touching a hot burner on the stove causes pain, we need to take action to avoid it. We create a belief that says something like; hot burner equals pain.

If you think about being able to change what you believe, this is a great place to begin. Did you know that the mind is so powerful that it can actually manifest physical affects on the body?

In one test they were able to convince a person that a piece of ice would cause a burn and that individual actually experienced blistering where they came in contact with the ice. Simply by changing the meaning of a sensation, they got a whole new set of physical manifestations.

If this is really possible and it is, imagine the wealth of potential you have for changing meanings in your life! The opportunities are absolutely endless.

How does this all work?

Why does one person have a terrible day just because they didn't get bacon on their breakfast sandwich at the drive thru while another suffers a serious life altering accident and comes out with all kinds of possibilities and opportunities?

Its all in the meaning you assign to events in your life. So let's look at one event in my life and see if I can help you understand what I'm talking about.

A month ago, I had a heart attack while out for an extended bike ride. Most people would agree that this could be considered a life-altering event. It would have been very easy for me to have a nice little pity party after such a traumatic thing like this and I had to act quickly or it could have gone that way in a hurry.

Thoughts flooded my brain as I tried my best to make sense of this whole situation. To add to the complexity of things, I had been in the process of changing career paths and as a consequence not only was I not working, I did not have any insurance.

If this happened to you how would you evaluate things?

Being totally honest, my very first reactions were not what I would describe as stellar. I believe in full disclosure whenever possible so I'd like to share some of those initial thoughts with you.

What would people think of the guy who was supposed to be a runner having a heart attack? I was honestly concerned about my credibility as a fitness trainer and personal trainer.

What would this do for my dreams of running an ultra marathon?

Should I just go back to my old career path and forget my dreams? At this point, I was closer to my previous career of 25 years than I was to my new venture. It wouldn't be giving up it would be acting responsibly.

How could I ever talk about life improvement or success or empowerment with this hanging over my head? Again the credibility issue was looming big time!

How on earth was I ever going to handle the $135,000 bill I had just been presented with? This one will get most people's attention, I think.

How could this happen to me? Why me? How am I ever going to get back on my feet again? I'm trapped! There is no visible way to overcome this, I'm just going to spend the rest of my life in a job I hate paying off a huge bill.

Not very empowering thoughts for a guy who is arguably one of the most positive people you will ever meet! I wrestled with this for a couple of weeks maybe a little more. It was tough, I mean really tough!

Little by little, I began to come out of my haze. Instead of turning on the TV, I listened to Cd's by people like Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar and James Ray. If I was going down, it was going to be a spectacular, full blaze of glory!

And then the questions began to flow!

What else could this situation mean?

I know everything's not perfect right now, but what can I be happy about with this situation?

How can I use this experience to never ever let it happen to anyone else again?

What can I create so that when other people are faced with a similar event they have a road map out?

What do I really want?

What's pretty cool about everything that's gone on in the last three weeks?

As I began to ask these questions and dozens more, I began to get different answers. The meanings I had given my heart attack just a few weeks earlier changed and they changed dramatically!

I began to realize that I could use this in an incredibly empowering way. My feeling of doubt about credibility went flying out the window when I began to realize that there is probably no better person in this world to talk about how important your health and fitness are than the guy who has had a heart attack. I mean, if anybody understands the importance if good health, it's probably that guy wouldn't you think?

I had been working on some writing projects on and off over the last five years. Suddenly my fingers began to fly as the words flowed from my brain like an erupting volcano. Don't tell my cardiologist this, but there were several sleepless nights where it was just me and the keyboard all night long producing page after page of quality writing.

Ultimately what happened is I changed what things meant to me. I went from believing that I was trapped by an event that I didn't have any control over in the first place to; this heart attack that I brought on myself (nobody sat there and forced me to eat poorly and smoke cigarettes) was going to be the springboard for my new and empowering future. I was finally going to lose the weight, get in the best shape and even more importantly use all of the lessons from this experience to powerfully impact the world that I live in.

This was a dramatic change in my beliefs and the Good News is that anyone faced with the same situation could make the same belief changes to get different results.

Let's look at one more, simple example that you can do yourself which can make a huge difference in your life.

If you ask, in fact I did, what most people want in life invariably between 8 and 9 out of 10 will say something along the lines of; to be happy. Are you in that group?

What has to happen in your life in order for you to be happy? Does something need to happen in order for you to have happiness?

Asked these questions most of us will come up with at least a small list, for some it's a monster list of things that must happen before they can be happy.

Bull!

Happiness is a state of mind which means that at any time you can decide to be in that place and you can go there. Happiness is not an event and yet we treat it like it will only happen if X,Y and Z all occur simultaneously and then only in the presence of a full moon!

Think about how you feel when you're happy. How do you stand or what's your posture like? What are you thinking about? If you can describe those things to me, then why couldn't you at anytime think about what makes you happy, put yourself into that same posture and be happy?

Try it! You'll like it! If you were successful, you just changed your beliefs about what it takes to be happy. And even more importantly you now know how to be happy at anytime. So who's fault is it if you're not happy?

That's right, it's yours and that my friend is a very empowering belief! Knowing that other people or events don't have control over you gives you incredible power in your life!

So, if you really believe something and it doesn't empower you... change what it means.

Change your beliefs and you will change your life!

How Long Is Five Years?

(This was originally posted on my other now defunct blog back in September, it just kind of fits with a lot of the conversations I've been hearing lately.)

If you're at all like me you probably have served up more excuses to yourself for not exercising than you can count.

Let's be honest. We all have days when we just shouldn't workout. Days when we're genuinely sick or hurt and training is not going to fix anything or may even do more harm than good.

I'm not talking about those days. I'm talking about the other 360 days of the year when the only thing between a good workout and you, is a great big excuse!

Now I understand, I know how hard it can be to tie a pair of running shoes after a long day of work. And then there's the dilemma of not having the right outfit to wear. And there are at least a half dozen things you should be doing each day before you even think about going for a run. Life is busy!

But... let me ask you a question: Where were you in your life five years ago?

How many of the goals and dreams you said you were going to accomplish actually came to be? And based on the response I assume most of us gave; where will you be five years from now?

I'm not a pessimist, quite the contrary, I'm a huge optimist. I mean as one of my all time favorite speakers, Zig Ziglar say; "I'm so positive, I'd go after Moby Dick in a row boat and bring a five gallon bucket of tartar sauce!" or "I'm so positive, I'd spend my last two dollars on a money belt!"

The honest to goodness truth is that most of us have fitness goals we're not meeting and the biggest reasons are nothing more than excuses.

Maybe you don't have grandiose aspirations in the world of health and fitness like I do. And that's OK. I will suggest, as I learned the hard way, that while it's alright not to want to be an athlete, it's not OK to not have a plan for your general overall health. Every year in this country a greater percentage of our population slides into the "Obese" category and we go on like nothing's changed and everything's just fine.

As I look honestly at the pictures of myself just 3 1/2 months ago before I had my heart attack, I am embarrassed to say that I had slipped into that group of Americans who take health for granted and do little to improve it. I was kidding myself into thinking because I ran once in awhile and had done four marathons in the last two years that I was healthy. I even lied about my weight when they were checking me into the emergency room. I say lied, but the truth is I had paid so little attention to it lately that I wasn't aware of how big I had gotten.

Despite what I thought, I was a stout 250-pounder and all you have to do is look at the picture to see it. Amazingly, I ran a 5K race just three weeks prior. Had I gotten the race pictures back sooner, instead of the day after I got back from the hospital, I might have realized just how bad my condition was.

Fact of the matter is, most of us do this on a pretty regular basis.

Oh sure, we all know we aren't in perfect shape, but we'll get around to fixing it sooner or later, right? And five or ten years later we're still sitting around thinking about getting around to doing something about our health.

PLEASE, START NOW!

I can't say enough about how important it is. I can't impose, impress, stress or anything else, that you have to do something now, if you don't admit to yourself it's time to change now. The saddest part is that most of us know we need to eat better, exercise more, drink less, stop smoking, whatever and still we do little or nothing at all. Incidentally, if you know you are overweight, smoke, drink too much, have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes or anything else of that nature, please don't go out once a month, over train and call yourself fit. I for one would rather have you around than have you dead.

You don't get in shape overnight. It takes time. If you are overweight, there are two issues to be addressed; the weight and your cardiovascular fitness. Sometimes, it's important to work on the weight first just to get to the point where you can improve your heart. This all takes time. But again, let me ask you the question; If you don't start to make a change now, when will it happen? Where will you be five years from now?

Do you remember five years ago? In some cases it went by so fast it seems like only yesterday doesn't it? Trust me, the older you get the faster it goes! You blink at forty and suddenly, you're forty-five. What happened? And more important, what's changed for the positive?

So what do you do?

As I said earlier, there are a million excuses for not exercising and you've got to get rid of them all.

If you're overweight, start simple. Take a walk in the morning or at night... or both. This is arguably the best fat burning exercise around because it keeps you in the zone where you are burning fat the whole time you are exercising. Start with twenty minutes, ten minutes out and ten minutes back. If you handle that well, increase your time. If you are seriously overweight don't automatically try to graduate to jogging. We want to drop some of those pounds before we work too much on the cardiovascular system. I will promise you this; if you will commit to walking everyday for at least forty-five minutes a day, you will notice a difference in your weight and your shape within two weeks and instead of water weight, which is usually the first thing to go when you diet alone or try jogging, it will be fat loss.

Just do this! If you can afford it, get a personal trainer and join a gym. If you can't afford it, contact me and I'll help you with a training program and a plan to get you healthy free of charge (it's that important to me).

Incidentally, walking is also great because it doesn't require lots of fancy equipment or shoes. If you're embarrassed to have people see you, wait until dark, but at all costs get out and go! Besides, most of us see someone out of shape exercising and think: "Go for it!"

For those of you who have fitness goals involving competitions or races, let me just say... no more excuses! Today is the day where you get serious! If you really plan to run a 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon, ultra marathon or compete in a triathlon or some other fitness event, it's time to put your training first.

I know we all have the time constraints involved with work, family and such... so be it. If you're going to compete, it's the other stuff that has to be evaluated. Stop reading this blog and go run! Which will be more important to you five years from now, the fact that you took on a physical challenge and succeeded or the fact that you watched a particular episode of your favorite TV show?

Nothing in life worth having is easy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something! It's just that simple! Do you really think there is such a thing as "Five minute abs"? I don't know anyone who exercises five minutes a day, period. And likewise, if you want to complete some form of athletic endeavor, it's not going to happen in five minutes a day. You will find the time when your goal is important enough to you. When you finally decide that this is something you truly want for your life and you will be proud of five years from now when you look back after completing your twentieth marathon or whatever and say; "I did it!"

Tomorrow almost didn't come for me. That may one of the greatest blessings I will ever receive however, I don't wish that on anyone. The key is to get the "don't waste another day" feeling without having to go through what I went through. When you get that feeling, you stop accepting excuses from yourself.

I was talking to a good friend of mine the other day and I said to him, "I spent the last five years of my life, "Actively Disengaged". What that meant was, I was going through the motions. I had a good job, making decent money and I worked hard at it, but only as hard as I wanted to because it was in a business I had been in for twenty years and I could literally do it blindfolded with one hand tied behind my back. I mean it just didn't require me to be actively involved mentally. Accordingly, I unplugged in other areas of my life as well. I'm all for being laid back and relaxed, but I took "going with the flow" to all new levels. That's why it took me ten years to run my first marathon. I'd get to the end of a long day and even though I had promised myself I would go for a run after work, someone would say let's go have a beer and I was done for the night.

Actively disengaged is that point where you go on auto-pilot in life. It may be where you're at right now. You may have dreams or goals in your life, but their attainment is something of a haphazard approach of whatever, whenever or even, if ever. It's not a really cool place to be. Most of us have something more we want for our life and when you are actively disengaged you get a lot of feelings of frustration because you're not really moving in any particular direction, let alone towards your desired outcomes. It's kind of like being in neutral.

For me, having been through a heart attack, I know that allowing myself to be actively disengaged no longer means "neutral", it means "park" and "park = dead"! I am at greater risk now that I've had one to have another and even more likely not to survive if I do have another one. How's that for a stimulating ultimatum? I no longer have the choice to be disengaged. I have got to do everything I can to get in the best shape of my life. As odd as this may sound to some, it really is a blessing! I'm not really interested in being dead right now, so my alternative is to get in great shape.

Are you actively disengaged in your life? Do you get home from work and instead of throwing on the workout clothes, you sit down in front of the idiot box... (most homes now have two different kinds of them; the TV and the computer) and chill out. It's easy to come home and tell yourself you just want to unwind for a little bit by doing something mindless. Stop kidding yourself. That TV show you're watching is not going to make you feel any better and it certainly is going to be of no use at mile 18 of your next marathon or halfway through the swim in a triathlon. And there is no scientific data to back up the theory that two hours of mindless TV can improve your 5K time by 20%. There is however, a lot of data to support doing some good solid running or weight training or cycling.

Being "Actively Engaged" in your life is not easy. Oh boy, here we go again with the whole; it's not easy thing again! It is however, very rewarding. When you take the time to know what's really important and then follow up with the right decisions to ensure that you take the right actions, you will experience abundance like you've never known. Look at all the truly great athletes in life and you will see a group of people who knew and made the right decisions more often than not.

I'm not saying you can't be spontaneous once in a while when everyone in the office is going out for a celebration, it just can't be every single night and in lieu of training. If you're serious about your training, people around you will know that and act accordingly. If they'd rather have you out with them every night, even though they know how important your training is to you, you might want to re-evaluate who you hang out with. "If you ain't for me, you're agin me!"

If you're actively engaged in life you make plans and you do what you can to stick to them. It takes (I know people don't like this word)... discipline, but it's worth it!

So, how long is five years?

Not very long and yet it can be a lifetime! It can represent the best or the worst part of your life. And more importantly, you can decide today what you will feel when you reach five years from now. You can commit to what's really important and go for it or you can let life take you like a leaf in the wind. The choice is absolutely yours!

Make it a great five years!

Always Learning

If you are striving to be a better all around athlete, you need to pay attention to all of the details.

Being competitive is more than just making yourself a little faster. Its about physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. And its about improving in all of those areas.

That's a hand full and requires patience and time (something most of us wish we had more of). In my quest for an ultra marathon next January, I've started looking at all of the areas that need improving. I then begin working on them as time permits. Time does permit, its just up to you and I to decide; at that point we'll find a way. Many years ago I made a commitment to myself that I would read, just twenty minutes a day. I was constantly complaining that I didn't have enough time, but twenty minutes seemed doable and so I began.

I have likely read over a thousand books in my lifetime, most of them since I made that decision just a few short years ago.

My point there is; you have time if you're committed enough.

The last few days I have been really focused on my walking form (yes, there is such a thing). I love walking, almost as much as running. Walking can be critical for an ultra runner and as such needs to be part of your training. What I found though was that after a two or three hour walk, I would be more sore than after a run of the same length.

How could this be?

The answer; form.

I've done a lot of reading and research on the bio mechanics of walking and running, which I won't get into here, but I will over the next few days share some of my observations as to what I changed and how.

I can tell you that some of the small changes I have made so far have removed most of the post walk pain and at the same time made me faster when I want to be.

I'm heading out now for a two hour "experimental" walk. I'll let you know how it goes!

Who ever thought at 45, I would be learning more than I did at 18?

Never Ever Stop!

Its raining outside right now. I know you may be thinking "Big Deal", its snowing here! We don't get a lot of rain in Southern California. For me it is an incredibly refreshing thing. I actually plan my runs so that I can get out and get wet.

It seems to me though that I hear lots of folks talking about how the weather gets in the way of their training.

If you'll stop training because of the weather, you'll probably stop for any other little reason you can come up with.

The question really is... how bad do you want it? If you don't find a way to get out and train, you're not really that committed to it! Whatever it is that makes you move is not as strong as whatever it is that's keeping you from getting out there. And that, is a problem!

Now before you go and get all offended because I said you weren't committed and I don't even know your circumstances, remember one thing...

This is my blog and its about the mindset behind getting extreme performance out of yourself. You don't have to agree with everything I say and you don't have to read if you are offended. All I'm really saying is that if you want to be healthy and vital, set a new P.R., complete a triathlon, run a marathon, walk around the block without losing your breathe... whatever it is you want you have got to go for it rain or shine.

If you shy away from training when the weather isn't perfect, I challenge you to get out in the rain or the snow. You may find that the variety is just what you needed to spice things up and at the very least, you will be proud of yourself for never ever stopping when others do.

That's all! My rant is over for now!

Now get out there and do something!

Miles, Miles, Miles!

This is building up to be a great year!

With my primary goal being to prepare for the Buffalo Run 50M next January in Catalina, I'm looking forward to a lot and I mean a whole lot of distance this next year.

I've set up a pretty intensive training program with loads of speed work and a lot of recovery runs to keep the volume up. I am also going back to strength training probably three days a week. It will be a test of my commitment and I am really looking forward to it!

I had been feeling a little flat since my 24 hour treadmill run got canceled and had kind of floundered around with my training for the last month. Now with a new plan in place, I'm re-focused and ready to roll.

I sold my mountain bike which means I am now completely one hundred percent a pedestrian. (I got rid of my car Feb. 2008) I can't run everywhere because... well quite frankly, I can't show up sweaty all of the time! In lieu of the run, I have been working on my walking form which I think will likely come in handy in the future with my ultra marathons.

Its about quality and quantity and I'm excited!

Watch the miles tick up on the sidebar! I know I will be!

Time to focus and Rock-n-Roll for 2009!