Crosstrains

Warning - Blogging May Affect Your Life

2007-02-03T06:42:00.000-06:00

Someone should have warned me. Maybe there should be like a Surgeon's General warning when you sign up. "Warning - Blogging May Affect Your Life - Mentally, Physically, and/or Emotionally. Use at your own risk." I know that I wanted to use blogging to analyze things and live deliberately, but come on. (see my first post if you haven't already). Now I'm narrating things in my head like I'm

Naked Feet

2007-01-30T15:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a good day. I went back to the gym and actually lifted weights. It's been a long time and I’m sure there were some grannies there lifting more than me, but that’s OK. Luckily, they’re not in my age group for the 5K's or triathlons. I followed that with a short swim. I’m not sore today, nor did I expect to be.Today was an even better day. I ran faster than I ever have without

Tri-Tagged

2007-01-30T06:00:00.000-06:00

All right, I was "tagged" in a game of tri tag by TriJack so here are my answers:1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever. I have to be honest, I've only been able to do one triathlon ever, so that makes it pretty easy. It was a sprint triathlon. I remember the feeling I got when my wife and 2 kids (there were only 2 at the time) arrived and I saw them. The look and excitement on my

A (Bad) Run

2007-01-26T06:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's run was both good and bad. The good - awesome weather - sunny and 60 degrees. I didn't have a running buddy, so there was time to reflect and just to listen to my music. The bad - what happened to my legs?! I had "dead legs" and just couldn't get it going. I had to stop and walk a few times. But the REALLY good? - I did the 4.5 mile run in 41:39 - which is 9:15/mile according

It is COLD!

2007-01-23T13:15:00.001-06:00

I almost ran today. I was on my way to the gym to change (it’s walking distance from work) and at 41 degrees, it started raining. Given the right inclination, I may have done it. Just to prove it. But then I thought, “Hey, I don’t have anything to prove” and I went to run some errands for my wife. Filling up the negative balance in that account, if you know what I mean. There'll be other

When I Let Them Down...

2007-01-23T07:38:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I dragged myself back to the pool. I felt like a floundering fish. I swam 800 m and it took way too long. It wasn’t a waste, though, because it’s about more than duration or speed. I had an epiphany during my flip turn. Actually I watched the guy next to me, wondering how he got off the wall so much more quickly than me. He was doing everything more quickly, but I couldn’t figure

Leaving the Comfort Zone

2007-01-18T16:00:00.001-06:00

Comfort Zone – let me back in. I like the comfort zone – hence the name, I know. But while my rational side knows it’s good to leave it, a big part of me wants to stay or resents the force pushing me out. TriJack at MyDailySpin has a great entry about this. Anyway, I have a student intern that started today. I like giving back to the profession and know having a

Ice Days

2007-01-18T09:15:00.001-06:00

I’m back at work after two ice days. You, see, in South Texas, we can handle cold weather, but we can’t handle cold weather when it’s wet. So when the temperatures hung out at about 29 degrees for 2 days and we accumulated ½ “ ice, the city shut down. I’ll admit,too, we can’t drive on ice. We’re ice idiots. But this idiot stayed home and let the other ones slide

Gluten Free Crosstraining

2007-01-10T05:47:00.000-06:00

Gluten free is going well. I won't recommend the diet to non-gluten sensitive people, but I've lost 6 pounds in 6 days and 2% body fat. The meals aren't bad, just different. And I try not to think about not eating my favorite cookies. At work they called me the Cookie Monster because chocolate chip cookies were my weakness. Now I eat a lot of fruit, healthy snacks, and drink a lot of water. Some

What is Gluten and Why Can't We Get Along?

2007-01-06T10:28:00.001-06:00

Last week I was thrown for a loop. I found out I am "gluten sensitive." That means my body, instead of digesting gluten, makes antibodies and attacks it like a virus. Well, that's bad, because fighting an infection with these antibodies starts tearing you up on the inside. If you believe everything you read, you'd think gluten is responsible for nearly every modern ailment. At the least, it can

God's Will

2007-01-03T15:41:00.001-06:00

I had a great run yesterday – 42 minutes for 4.5 miles. That, for me, is an accomplishment. I do almost all my exercising at lunch. I’ve been running with a buddy from work. He can run laps around me, mostly because he also bikes a couple hundred miles/week. Well, yesterday, we didn’t have to stop so I could take care of menial tasks like breathing. We even talked most of the run. I really mean “

When I Became a Runner...

2006-12-29T17:21:00.000-06:00

I went running today at lunch. You might be jealous that I have a job that allows me to run at lunch and even more jealous that is was 75 degrees, but that's besides the point. Today's run did not feel good and that got me to thinking.I used to be a cyclist. Just a cyclist. That was before kids. I don't have the time for 3 hour rides like I used to. I only started running to finish the third

Belonging

2006-12-28T06:03:00.000-06:00

When I started this blog, I thought the answers in life would just come to me. That I'd have these grand visions. The blogs I've read seem to be overflowing with deep knowledge. Yesterday, I realized something - the great truths are in everyday life. They're not these grand visions that are going to appear in a flash of light. They're the dim lightbulbs that appear when I watch my

It's Time

2006-12-22T06:07:00.000-06:00

It’s time. It’s time to start living deliberately. It’s time for me to stop letting life just happen, and time to start steering it where I want it to go. Don’t get me wrong - I’m happy where my life’s headed so far, but I’ve been lucky. I’ve had some great things happen to me and some bad things, who hasn't? But that’s just the thing – they happened to me. I’ve been letting things happen