P70X

You know that exercise program P90X, your supposed to get ripped in 90 days or something? Well I've got 70 days, not to get ripped but get in decent shape. In 70 days my brothers and I are going on a campout for a couple days. Well camping in a trailer near all services. I can't believe I'm 37 years old and we have never done anything like this before, just me and my brothers doing something, all of us together. Gonna be really cool. Not only that but we are going to Moab!
For 3 days we are going to explore Arches and Canyonlands National parks. Not sure how much we'll get to see, surely not enough. I've done arches before with Liz and we did 2 1/2 days in there. I'm looking forward to going back and seeing canyonlands this time.
Anyways, I'm out of shape and overweight,again. So gonna try and get some exercise in and eat less junk. I don't wanna be the one slowing us down, got alot to see and a short time to see it in. Looking forward to seeing Corona Arch, dead horse point, mesa arch and some slot canyons. Also looking forward to seeing Delicate arch again, and whatever ones we make it to again.

Sweet Potato Pie ' per

I can't remember but I think at 5-6 months old you can give babies solid foods, well pretty much mush or puree food. Piper fortunately loves it. She really likes sweet potato mixed with gerber's version of rice. The other night I gave her some turkey junk mix with rice. I being fat tried it. Thats the nastiest stuff! Its like what robots would feed humans if they ruled the world in order to keep us alive but didn't really care about our feelings. But she ate that stuff up.
So today Liz was having a REAL sweet potato and decided to give Piper a taste. Well I guess she ate alot of it. Tonight I had the other sweet potato for dinner. I sit down on the floor next to Piper to keep her company. She sees my plate and FREAKS OUT!!! She knew what it was. This baby evolved from just sitting up to crawling,pulling herself up, walking and and doing kung fu in a matter of seconds. So yeah, I shared MY sweet potato with her. I couldn't cut, mash and shovel fast enuff for her. She kept diving, clawing and screaming at me and my plate.
To be fair she screams at me alot. Its not her fault though. I'm slow to recognize what she needs and wants sometimes. I have little patience, I get frustrated with her as she does with me. I think its just because we both want the same thing at the same time so its a battle of wills. We want something to eat, something to drink and go to sleep. I have alot of "Maybe I am not meant for these duties" moments (Nacho Libre reference for those of you who are not inclined).
Luckily most of the time she is an angel. And I swear when she smiles, her eyes twinkle. She has an infectious laugh and you do all you can to make her do it and often. I know every parent says their child is adorable,cute,pretty, ect... But when 100's of other people genuinely tell you, you KNOW. Everywhere we go people always have to stop, have to look at her, have to comment on how gorgeous she is. For crying out loud she really is! I'm amazed, but not really surprised at what me & Liz created. I'm a beast so I sometimes accused Liz of stepping out. All of our kids look pretty much the same, so I always tell her, "they are either all mine, or all someone else's".
We all call her Pie, short for Piper I guess. Having a little girl is a whole new ball game compared to having 4 boys. She's just so much more delicate and precious. She's rare, which makes her that more special. I don't know what I'm gonna do when she gets older? Am I gonna be too overprotective that she hates me? Or give her everything she wants, and everyone else hates me? Either way I'm doomed right?
Maybe everything will be hunky dory in order to make up for all the damage the previous kids will do, who knows? Its all part of the adventure I guess.



And now sad that its all gone....



I made a video a couple weeks after she was born. Thought I'd better make a newer one now thats she's 6 months old, sheesh. Here is the new one.

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Now what are we supposed to do?

Races so far this year = ONE
3rd annual Keith Young Memorial 5k came and went. I lost, Nathan beat me by like 1 second or something. Missed Ragnar this year, there hasn't been any talk of the diry dash again. I have thought about maybe doing the Bryce Canyon Rim run at the end of August. 5 miler along the top rim of Bryce canyon. Should be a good view, its also a trail run, mostly dirt I think.
I've been running twice since the first of January, how sad is that? I tell myself its the heat, but its not. I just need to start going at night, when its cooler and the baby is asleep or something. Maybe its cuz I'm addicted to soda again? Maybe cuz I eat too many donuts? "Maybe I am not meant for these duties" -Nacho Libre

Edge Of Glory

We are a week away from the 3rd annual Keith Young Memorial 5k race. Would I like another month to prepare? Sure I would. Would I like to be 12-15 pounds lighter? You betchya. Would I like to be meaner, leaner, faster? Without a doubt.
I'm not these things this year. Not sure what happened. Thought I could figure it out, haven't yet.
"It's not about winning a game, it's about fixing whats broken". You see that on the wall in almost every episode of "The Biggest Loser". I'm trying to figure it out. I can tell myself all the motivational crap there is. But its just not working.



I've been on a couple decent runs where I think I've got it figured out. where I've made it and thought to myself, "This is it. I've pushed through that threshold. It gets easier from here on out." Next time I go out, I come up short, slow, weak and depressed. I haven't had the time and opportunity to run as much as I'd like, but even then I find myself thinking if I would have used those opportunities anyways if I had?
Right now I believe I can make it the 3.1 miles needed, but I'm at between 27-30 minutes. Far cry from last years best of 21:30 mins 5k and 13 mile half marathon at seasons end.
Won't be doing Ragnar this year either. Was hoping too, hoping it would motivate me or maybe I would suprise myself by doing well or something. Not sure whats next. Alot going on this summer with kids and new baby. Plus races are expensive. Maybe save up and get on a team for the Red Rock Relay in September or something. The RRR is like Ragnar (long relay race) except for down south in the Cedar City/St.George Area.
I'm hoping for 3 practice runs this week, get stronger/faster without wearing myself out. On kind of an edge it seems. Push it and win or push it and fail. Take it easy and win with rest, or lose with being too rested or something.
Either way, one good thing to look forward to is seeing family n friends, but most importanlty - race day Mohawk!!!!!

If the shoe fits......

I was thinking of some sort of prophetic,prolific or higher message to convey about getting new shoes. Instead I got sucked into the Marvel marathon on the FX channel.
Maybe something about an upgrade, out with the old in with the new, the lease on life, new motivation, some crap like that. But I got nothing.
When I first started running in the spring of '09 I had some "tennis shoes" that I used. Everything hurt when I ran. I thought it was because I was overweight and really hadn't ran before. That was true. But also had to do with my shoes. When playing basketball you use basketball shoes, football-football shoes, made sense.
So I got some "running" shoes. That made a huge difference. Right tool for the job. Nothing spectacular, just some basic Asics shoes. They had some gel and good foam for cushioning. Basic shoe for a basic runner.
Well this year has been a struggle so far, with everything, losing weight, running, ect. Feet,legs and back have been hurting. Thought it was because I was chubby again and out of shape. That was true. But maybe it was my shoes too? They say depending on how much you run you should change your shoes accordingly. If you can they say you should change shoes after every run. So when training use one pair of shoes for a run, then your next run use that different pair, and so on. Shoes, like your body need resting periods. A chance to fluff up the cushioning after being impacted from a run.
Well 2 years was my limit I guess. I was saving to get a really good shoe, but needed one now. so again I got a basic shoe. Maybe a little better than basic. Nike outlet store on sale, so not too bad. Nike air Max Moto 6.

I've been on a couple runs so far with them and its a good shoe. It's helped with foot pain already. I've been on a 3 miler and a 5 miler. Feet feel fine, my legs still need to get stronger for farther distance. But I'll rotate with old shoes to keep the new ones still fresh. Maybe that will help?
Just over a month before the running season starts. Starts late this year for me. Probably wont do as many races this year, who knows? Hope the shoes help, hope it gets easier, and hope I can put up decent times this year.
New song this year to get movin' too, "awake & alive" by Skillet.

We have a Piper Down

So anyways...since last blog we've had some things change around here. 1st off I haven't been running :( I have just started this last week. Was asked if I wanted to do Ragnar again so I'm using that as my kick off point. Hopefully I can stick to it and get better. Right now the pace and distance is miserable. I can run 3 miles but I'm at like at a 35-40 min pace, poop. The really bad news is that this winter I've put back on 12 or so pounds, poopity poop!
Our little GIRL joined us almost a month ago! She is adorable. Pretty much how I' thought she'd look ( just like all the others ) except a girl. Our house is full of pink stuff. Liz asks me to go get that pink shirt with the stuff on it, I come back and say, "Which one"?
It won't be long before she's smiling, when that day comes it will be a bigger fight over her than it already is. I'm sure Liz has wanted a girl since like 4 kids ago. She's not out numbered 5 to 1 anymore! We were sure it was never going to happen. We were actually done planning on having more kids after #3 (Owen). Someone else had plans of their own I guess.
I wouldn't trade her for the world. Having girls is a whole different world. Right now in the baby stage its not too much different, but just thinking about whats to come. Before she was born I was always asking Liz questions like:
What do you feed a girl? Am I gonna have to go see all the fairy princess movies now? Do you think she'll like Wonder Woman and Batgirl?
I like to tease Piper when she's screaming or has a big 'ol load in her pants by saying, "Thats not very lady like."
Here is just a short video clip of a couple pictures. I put it to some music from Keith Urban's new song "without you", ahhhhh.

Newton's 1st Law

Here is a little more hypocritical gargin I’ll try to dispense, make myself feel better or lousy attempt at motivation.
I was asked to help with scouts this week. They worked on Scientist belt loop or badge. They did some experiments and talked about Newton’s 1st law:
An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force; An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. That statement kinda hit me on Saturday. I’ve had a cold for a couple days, and I’m nervous about taking “night time” medication. Since it was Friday night I decided to take some. But it seemed to stick with me for a good portion of the day. Just felt blah and lazy I guess.
Went running with Nathan on Thursday at the end of the work day. 1st excersize and run of the year. Haven’t been since Halloween. It felt good. I was surprised I was able to go farther than a mile. Thought to myself, “Hey I can do this again, that wasn’t so tuff. It was easier to start than in previous years”
So Saturday I had big plans to go running again, start some sort of routine or something. But just couldn’t get the “umph” to go do it.
Thought about Newton’s law for some reason and how it totally pertained to me. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. I was sitting there, and was going to stay sitting. I wouldn’t have gone running unless Nathan (unbalanced force) got me moving.
Last year when I said, “I don’t feel like running”. That was when I went. “When I don’t feel like it is when I need to go the most”, I’d tell myself. Its been hard to say that lately. I’ve been content to “stay at rest”.
Last year when I was “in motion” is was easier to “stay in motion” The unbalanced force hat stopped me was the season, or was it? I guess I need to figure that out, or do I?
I’m not a “goal oriented” person. Last year I did set some goals and achieved them. It was pretty cool. Maybe that’s what I need this year? Just feel so overwhelmed when I think about all the things going on this summer/year. I want to do all the runs I did last year, but not sure I will be able to, do to money and scheduling. I want to do better too, but I pushed last year, and it wasn’t very fun. The end result was great, but training for it wasn’t.
Well I woke up today and told myself, “Just go, start the motion. Who knows, maybe you’ll tend to stay in motion”. So I went today for a run. It was nice outside. Sidewalks and paths were mostly clear. I wore shorts in January! Went 3 miles. It was tuff. I had to stop a few times, catch my breath. Don’t know what from, I was totally going slow. I thought maybe it was the season, there isn’t any air during the winter, even though it didn’t feel like winter. My legs were mostly willing to move. At about the 2 mile mark though they were ready to be done. My lungs on the other hand were done at 1 mile. After I got home I had to take Oliver for a walk in the stroller, we walked for another 2 miles. Helped cool down and get some sun, even thought I hate the sun, it was good to see it. Maybe I’ll keep it going. Even if I don’t run, I need to stay in motion. I have a basement that needs finishing and it ain’t gonna do it by its self. I’ve got some more materials and need to put them in place. Don’t get overwhelmed by the whole project, just do little by little.
Anyways, there it is. An object in motion tends to stay in motion. An object at rest tends to stay at rest, unless acted upon an unbalanced force. Find your force and get in motion.

Made a little mix of last year's 5k playlist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHSC1NoOhnk