Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott
Change your thoughts and you change your world. - Norman Vincent Peale
In order to change we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.
- Author unknown
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Grand Columbian Ironman...Baby
Yes, that's right, Ironman my friend...In just two short months.
Let me repeat that...two..short..months.
Chris and I have decided that we don't want to wait until June of next year to take on the mother of all races, we need the pain now.
My plan you ask? Well, yes, it's true that I can not, as of this moment, swim 2.4 miles. And yes, it's true that my marathon in May almost killed me and that was without swimming or biking. Yes, it's true, I haven't ridden 112 miles since I rode the STP last year.
So my plan? I'm going to train like mad for the next two months. Well, I guess I can't train this week, I'm sick after all (damnation!), and I guess next week really won't work since I have my big Vineman, Half-Ironman triathlon next weekend. And I guess that really puts a damper on the week after that, sooooooo... I'm going to train like hell for five weeks!
Well...I guess, really, if you think about it, I probably need a good two week taper or more before the race, so I'm feeling really good.
Oh no.
I have three weeks of training.
Oh my god.
Ok, so....plan? I'm going to do a 2 hour swim and a 112 mile ride followed by 10 miles of running once per week for the those three weeks, that should do it (who am I kidding?). If that doesn't do it, well, I suppose we'll find out on September 15th.
Who needs all those miles of training anyway? A real Ironman doesn't train, he just saddles up and faces down the demons. Or something like that.
In other news (seriously, news?...I'm not totally sure, but I'm relatively positive noone reads this, and even if someone did, are they really curious about news in my life...probably not), My ball and chain, my long time foe, the bonney lake house, which I have been 'building' for 2 years is almost complete. Haaaalllleeeluyah, Haleluyah, Hallllleeeluyaaaaaaa. Probably two more months and it will be totally finished.
I've spent many hours in the last week cleaning up debris from around the house, sweeping up the inside, and caulking the outside (I'll refrain from any caulk jokes at this time - this is a family show).
Though I have one final hurdle to overcome, that of the infiltration trench, once that is done, I'm home free. My credit and income are good enough to get a good loan, so I'm going to refinance it and rent it out, woohooo! We might, just maybe even make some money on it!
Next...I'm getting a job. I think a woman just screamed outside, or maybe it was on the tv, I don't think it was in my head, right??
Seriously though, it will be a relief to have a job again, even satisfying, which I never thought I would feel that way. Funny how things change. I may begin working for a large builder, Jerry Mayhan as a site manager, or I may get a management job at some sort of retail store, not sure yet.
WE shall see what God brings. It's in his hands. I have seriously turned it over, I can no more control that then I can the weather. I finally understand that. All I can do is put in the effort and let the chips fall where they may. But I won't get all spiritual or philosophical on you,
Mike
Let me repeat that...two..short..months.
Chris and I have decided that we don't want to wait until June of next year to take on the mother of all races, we need the pain now.
My plan you ask? Well, yes, it's true that I can not, as of this moment, swim 2.4 miles. And yes, it's true that my marathon in May almost killed me and that was without swimming or biking. Yes, it's true, I haven't ridden 112 miles since I rode the STP last year.
So my plan? I'm going to train like mad for the next two months. Well, I guess I can't train this week, I'm sick after all (damnation!), and I guess next week really won't work since I have my big Vineman, Half-Ironman triathlon next weekend. And I guess that really puts a damper on the week after that, sooooooo... I'm going to train like hell for five weeks!
Well...I guess, really, if you think about it, I probably need a good two week taper or more before the race, so I'm feeling really good.
Oh no.
I have three weeks of training.
Oh my god.
Ok, so....plan? I'm going to do a 2 hour swim and a 112 mile ride followed by 10 miles of running once per week for the those three weeks, that should do it (who am I kidding?). If that doesn't do it, well, I suppose we'll find out on September 15th.
Who needs all those miles of training anyway? A real Ironman doesn't train, he just saddles up and faces down the demons. Or something like that.
In other news (seriously, news?...I'm not totally sure, but I'm relatively positive noone reads this, and even if someone did, are they really curious about news in my life...probably not), My ball and chain, my long time foe, the bonney lake house, which I have been 'building' for 2 years is almost complete. Haaaalllleeeluyah, Haleluyah, Hallllleeeluyaaaaaaa. Probably two more months and it will be totally finished.
I've spent many hours in the last week cleaning up debris from around the house, sweeping up the inside, and caulking the outside (I'll refrain from any caulk jokes at this time - this is a family show).
Though I have one final hurdle to overcome, that of the infiltration trench, once that is done, I'm home free. My credit and income are good enough to get a good loan, so I'm going to refinance it and rent it out, woohooo! We might, just maybe even make some money on it!
Next...I'm getting a job. I think a woman just screamed outside, or maybe it was on the tv, I don't think it was in my head, right??
Seriously though, it will be a relief to have a job again, even satisfying, which I never thought I would feel that way. Funny how things change. I may begin working for a large builder, Jerry Mayhan as a site manager, or I may get a management job at some sort of retail store, not sure yet.
WE shall see what God brings. It's in his hands. I have seriously turned it over, I can no more control that then I can the weather. I finally understand that. All I can do is put in the effort and let the chips fall where they may. But I won't get all spiritual or philosophical on you,
Mike
Monday, July 2, 2007
Quote of the Day
The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
Robert Cushing
Robert Cushing
Free haircuts vs 20 dollar haircuts
My wife cuts my hair. She has been for close to three years, and though she still takes a very long time to do it, seriously, sometimes it's almost maddening how slow parts of the process can be - carefully moving the clippers over a portion of my head several times without the clippers actually making any cutting noise - they turn out very well.
I'm always happy with my hair when she's done, which is pretty amazing considering the track record of professional hairistas (really, what do you want, barber?), probably 3 out of 10 haircuts I get at a hairmasters or supercuts or whatever turn out well. It's pretty abismal.
So, a couple of days ago, my hair looking pretty shaggy, I ask my wife to schedule my personal stylist for a hair appointment. She was tired, too busy and I guess feeling a little overwhelmed and insisted I go to a barber. Reluctantly, I consented.....
'There you go, you're all done...are we good?' the allegedly trained stylist inquired.
'uhhhh, yep. Guess it looks fine' Was my usual response...How the hell should I know? Let me go home, shower and have a look at it, then I'll get back to you. So I paid my twenty dollars, and went home to shower.
It was not fine. How does someone call themself a professional and cut a head of hair like she cut mine, look at it, think it looks fine, and release me back into the wild, tagged for tracking by my rediculous bowl cut?
She should have her license revoked (do they have a licensing system? if not, they should form a hair-bar association of some kind for the exclusive purpose of disbanding stylists of this kind).
There should be some kind of organization which stations highly-trained analysts outside of hair cutting places to view the customers as they leave, and judge whether or not they are being given a disservice. It wouldn't be hard right? They would have to ignore whether or not someone was attractive, just focus on their hair cut, and ask a simple question, 'does your hair normally look good? Or are you a lunatic who prefers bowl cuts?'
Luckily, my wife was able to repair the damage and safely reintegrate me back into the population, but not immediately. I walked around for two days with my goofy hair, I even held an open house, talking with potential clients about buying and selling, all the while just wondering what they were thinking about my hair.
I suppose it wasn't quite as bad as my wife and I thought, otherwise I probalby would have noticed before I left the hair cutting place, but it was pretty bad. Needless to say, Audrey has agreed to never again force me to throw away 20 dollars on a bad hair cut, so all's well that something something...
....Oh sorry, I was looking in the mirror, damn I look good. OK, just kidding, but it really makes a big difference.
Ahhhhh, anyway, I got up Sunday morning at 430 am and went on a 70 mile ride followed by a 6 mile run. Very proud. Usually I just do my workouts later in the day because I'm able to, or I just don't do them. Working out in the early morning is brutal. I drank a cup of coffee, and then headed off, up highway 410 to Mt Rainier. I couldn't eat anything, I never can right after I have coffee for some reason, so it was a hungry day. I took three baker's breakfast cookies with me, which was a good thing.
What a tough ride! Starts out with 410 up to bonney lake which is pretty tough, but then it just keeps going up, especially after Buckley, up up and away to the mountain. For only 70 miles it took a very long time for the ride, I think it was four hours, but I'm definately doing that ride again in a week, great way to build strength, especially at the very end, climbing up Janelle Estates to my neighborhood, it's a beast of a hill and at the end of a ride it will all but kill you. I've named it three-hanky hill, after Bob Babbit's naming of a hill in Kona. It makes me want to cry every time.
The day before my tough ride I swam for an hour at the lake, and I'm planning on doing between 1 and 2 hours at the lake tomorrow, I REALLY want to do well in my half ironman in California in two and a half weeks.
This coming weekend, my family is going to Ocean Shores with The Rhodies (Chris' family) for the Ocean Shores triathlon, and my wife is going to run the half-marathon. The Olympic tri has a 1500 meter swim, 400 meters shorter than a half-ironman swim, and my plan is to go absolutely, no holding back, all out on the swim. If I blow up, I blow up, but I want 2 things: I want to know how long I can really hang, and I want to get a really strong training swim in before the half.
When I swim tomorrow, my plan is to go out as hard as I possibly can for the first lap around the lake, then dial it back/try to hang on for a couple more laps. Each lap normally takes 27 minutes, so I'll judge how I do going all out on if it's quicker than that - it better be!
I'll leave you with one final thought: The secret to obtaining lasting happiness in your life is this; maintain, under all circumstances, an absolute, unwavering confidence in yourself and in this life! Absolutely never, under any circumstances give in to the doubt and discouragement that will try at every turn to pull you down. If you can master just this one aspect of life, and I mean absolutely master it, your key to unending happiness will be yours.
It's a quote from my book, and it rings true for me on an almost daily basis. Doubt is a killer, a thief of beauty, happiness and success. Blocking doubt, being almost absurdly confident, is an amazingly difficult thing, but if you can do it, you can do anything.
I'm always happy with my hair when she's done, which is pretty amazing considering the track record of professional hairistas (really, what do you want, barber?), probably 3 out of 10 haircuts I get at a hairmasters or supercuts or whatever turn out well. It's pretty abismal.
So, a couple of days ago, my hair looking pretty shaggy, I ask my wife to schedule my personal stylist for a hair appointment. She was tired, too busy and I guess feeling a little overwhelmed and insisted I go to a barber. Reluctantly, I consented.....
'There you go, you're all done...are we good?' the allegedly trained stylist inquired.
'uhhhh, yep. Guess it looks fine' Was my usual response...How the hell should I know? Let me go home, shower and have a look at it, then I'll get back to you. So I paid my twenty dollars, and went home to shower.
It was not fine. How does someone call themself a professional and cut a head of hair like she cut mine, look at it, think it looks fine, and release me back into the wild, tagged for tracking by my rediculous bowl cut?
She should have her license revoked (do they have a licensing system? if not, they should form a hair-bar association of some kind for the exclusive purpose of disbanding stylists of this kind).
There should be some kind of organization which stations highly-trained analysts outside of hair cutting places to view the customers as they leave, and judge whether or not they are being given a disservice. It wouldn't be hard right? They would have to ignore whether or not someone was attractive, just focus on their hair cut, and ask a simple question, 'does your hair normally look good? Or are you a lunatic who prefers bowl cuts?'
Luckily, my wife was able to repair the damage and safely reintegrate me back into the population, but not immediately. I walked around for two days with my goofy hair, I even held an open house, talking with potential clients about buying and selling, all the while just wondering what they were thinking about my hair.
I suppose it wasn't quite as bad as my wife and I thought, otherwise I probalby would have noticed before I left the hair cutting place, but it was pretty bad. Needless to say, Audrey has agreed to never again force me to throw away 20 dollars on a bad hair cut, so all's well that something something...
....Oh sorry, I was looking in the mirror, damn I look good. OK, just kidding, but it really makes a big difference.
Ahhhhh, anyway, I got up Sunday morning at 430 am and went on a 70 mile ride followed by a 6 mile run. Very proud. Usually I just do my workouts later in the day because I'm able to, or I just don't do them. Working out in the early morning is brutal. I drank a cup of coffee, and then headed off, up highway 410 to Mt Rainier. I couldn't eat anything, I never can right after I have coffee for some reason, so it was a hungry day. I took three baker's breakfast cookies with me, which was a good thing.
What a tough ride! Starts out with 410 up to bonney lake which is pretty tough, but then it just keeps going up, especially after Buckley, up up and away to the mountain. For only 70 miles it took a very long time for the ride, I think it was four hours, but I'm definately doing that ride again in a week, great way to build strength, especially at the very end, climbing up Janelle Estates to my neighborhood, it's a beast of a hill and at the end of a ride it will all but kill you. I've named it three-hanky hill, after Bob Babbit's naming of a hill in Kona. It makes me want to cry every time.
The day before my tough ride I swam for an hour at the lake, and I'm planning on doing between 1 and 2 hours at the lake tomorrow, I REALLY want to do well in my half ironman in California in two and a half weeks.
This coming weekend, my family is going to Ocean Shores with The Rhodies (Chris' family) for the Ocean Shores triathlon, and my wife is going to run the half-marathon. The Olympic tri has a 1500 meter swim, 400 meters shorter than a half-ironman swim, and my plan is to go absolutely, no holding back, all out on the swim. If I blow up, I blow up, but I want 2 things: I want to know how long I can really hang, and I want to get a really strong training swim in before the half.
When I swim tomorrow, my plan is to go out as hard as I possibly can for the first lap around the lake, then dial it back/try to hang on for a couple more laps. Each lap normally takes 27 minutes, so I'll judge how I do going all out on if it's quicker than that - it better be!
I'll leave you with one final thought: The secret to obtaining lasting happiness in your life is this; maintain, under all circumstances, an absolute, unwavering confidence in yourself and in this life! Absolutely never, under any circumstances give in to the doubt and discouragement that will try at every turn to pull you down. If you can master just this one aspect of life, and I mean absolutely master it, your key to unending happiness will be yours.
It's a quote from my book, and it rings true for me on an almost daily basis. Doubt is a killer, a thief of beauty, happiness and success. Blocking doubt, being almost absurdly confident, is an amazingly difficult thing, but if you can do it, you can do anything.
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