Running with a Purpose

Alright, have you ever heard the saying "Run with a purpose" or "Exercise with a purpose"? Well I had one this morning. Last night I realized that I had to take a Blockbuster movie back that was about a week overdue. I figured, I have to run in the morning and I need to return the movie, why not kill two birds with one stone? So off I went, running through Sugar Land with a water bottle in one hand and the movie Taken in the other hand. (By the way, I didn't think the movie was as good as everyone said it was.) Got the movie back and recorded about a 4.5-5 mile run. I haven't mapped it on MapMyRun.com yet. I also burned about 900-1000 calories. Don't really know for sure how many because my Heart Rate Monitor quit working about a mile into it this morning. Boooo!

When I got home, it was normal get to work on time routine. Kandy has been on me because I make too much noise, so this morning, I tried to be extra quiet. It didn't work. Will woke up with the nastiest, stinkiest, blueberry filled diaper you can ever imagine. He was yelling, "Momma, Poo Poo". That woke Ethan up, and the rest was down hill after that. Everyone was up and ready for the day, and it wasn't even 7:30 yet. I proceeded to change the diaper like any great husband would do at that point. Then it was off to work.

I wish I could have stayed there with Kandy and the boys today. It would have been a good day. Almost time for vacation though. Two more days of work and off to Uplift with the Youth Group.

Purpose of this blog

Ok, I am new to the blogger world, and you probably won't see new posts every day or every week for that matter. This blog is for me to talk about what is going on in my life as I try to juggle being a multi-sport athlete, a working father, and a great husband and partner to my wife, Kandy. I intend on posting as much as I can when I get the chance, whether it be a fatherly moment that occurred, a health or workout tip, a description of my day's workout, or just something random. I will also talk about events I will be training for, and how that affects my everyday real life from going to work, to coming home and being Daddy.

I have been multi-sport training for the last 11.5 weeks, and I must say, it has been trying on the family. I have learned to get up early, go run at lunch, and ride my bike on the indoor trainer after the kids go to bed, and I am only training for a Sprint Triathlon. It only takes about 6-8 hrs per week. Imagine those guys training for Half-Ironman and Ironman distance races. Those guys train up to 20 hrs per week. How do they work? How do they have a family? My goal is to get there and figure that out, so maybe next year I will be blogging on "Half-Iron Daddy 101".

Well, I have been running in local 5K/10K races, and decided to kick it up a notch. I participated in the "Give Me Some Sugar 5K" in February and ran it in 30:51. I was proud of that. The next one I ran was the "Bluebell Fun Run 10K" in Brenham, TX. You can guess what they had at the end...endless Bluebell Treats! That was enough motivation to run in the thunder, lighting and rain that was coming down that day. I finished that in 58:20. I was shocked at that time since it was so much better than my training times. The last one I did was the "Astros Race for the Pennant 5K". I finished that in 24:30. I was floored at that time...it was a 7:54 average mile. Folks, I haven't done that since 1997 at Basic Training.

I've got a big summer ahead of me and even a bigger fall and winter. Kandy has been gracious enough to let me sign up for 3 Triathlons this summer and fall. I can't tell you how supportive she has been. She even let me join a local Multi-Sport club, the Fort Bend TriPsyclones. So far I am signed up for the Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Tri on June 28, the Bridgeland Tri on August 9, and the Try Andy Tri on October 18. They are all Sprint Triathlons. Two of them consist of a 300m swim, 10 mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. The Bridgeland is an 1/8 Ironman with about a 480m swim, 14.5 mile bike ride, and about a 3.5 mile run. Can't wait to start competing in those. My first one is a pool swim, and the others are open water swim...I am a little nervous about the open water swim.

I even got so crazy that I signed up for the full Marathon in Austin in February. Why do I keep doing this to myself? I ask myself that every day, but going from 270 lbs last August to about 187 lbs right now makes me feel like I can do anything. My family has loved and supported me all the way, and I just keep raising the bar.

As I continue to train for these things, I will keep you posted. If I come across anything cool - tips, recipes, books, articles - I will post that as well.

I have posted some before and after pics to show what eating right, running, and endurance training can do for the body.