Basketball is OVER!  Finally.  We finished up the season over the weekend and I'm looking forward to getting some time to myself and my family as I have not been off from coaching since August.  The break will only last a month as track will be starting but so will longer days and warmer weather too.  

On the training side I have found this great dirt road that leads out to the middle of nowhere that has hills, hills, and more hills with beautiful NM desert scenery.  It is not singletrack or at all technical, just a dirt road that is tough.  For the last 2 weekends Mike and I have gotten out for 2 hour rides and I know that by keeping this ride as part of my training I will benefit from it.  It's nice to be out on the mountain bike because you go a little slower which is great in the colder weather and no cars to watch out for.  I need to remember and bring my camera with me the next time I go out there.  I even think it could be a great night ride if anyone is up for it.  

Also starting tomorrow, I am on an intramural basketball team here at the university.  The team is made up of people that I work with and it should be fun.  

Take care and have a great week.

Yesterday, Emma accompanied me to my third doctor's appointment. She insisted she come, because she knew that we would be able to hear the baby's heartbeart. She sat patiently and when she heard it she said "wow, that is loud, and very fast!" It was really special that she was there for the first she hears her brother/sister heartbeat. Later that night, we decided we would trick daddy and she told him about hearing the baby. He asked what it sounded like and she said, MEOW, MEOW...:) so, dad said oh man, we are having a kitty, I was a puppy!

Needless to say, Emma is very excited about being a sister. She says she wants it be a girl, but if it is a boy she will still be happy. She just " won't change poopy diapers".

After being pretty sick for the first trimester, I am finally feeling normal! I am showing much sooner and much more than with Emma, and Steven and Emma have been great. They enjoy talking to the baby. They say "Baby, I just want you to know that your sister/dad is coo-coo!" It's fun.

"...In the end, people either have excuses or experiences; reasons or results; buts or brilliance. They either have what they wanted or they have a detailed list of all the rational reasons why not."

~ Anonymous (taken from Matt Erbele's, It Takes Time to Get Good)

I found this quote an a random blog I ran across the other day and I have had it stuck in my mind for a few days now. Such a great, honest truth.

Here's the rest of the day in pictures. I ran with Kona and went on a picnic!

This little picture sums it all up for me.  I started the new year like so many people, full of steam, only to break and wind up doing more sleeping in than working out.  Even right now, it is almost 11:00 on Sunday morning and I am on the computer when I should be finishing a run.  

I did however, read the newspaper and made pancakes for everyone.  I can hear Lindsey and Emma now and I think they are getting ready for something, I know Emma wanted to go on a picnic today.  What do I do?

Although I know this, it is hard to follow.... get up early and get the work done before anyone wakes up and before the day starts.  I try to look for inspiration from a friend of mine, Matthew Napier.  Matt has an engineering job, a family of 5, and he is a badass triathlete.  In fact, he recently qualified for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii which will be his second trip there.  Matt recently told me how if he doesn't finish working out by 8 in the morning he probably doesn't work out because of other commitments. Waking up in the middle of the night to get in a trainer ride with a brick run is not uncommon for him.  The schedule Matt keeps may seem extreme, but so are his results.  Proof that if you want something bad enough you will make sacrifices and do what it takes to get you there.

I am also very fortunate that I can look to my older brother Mike for inspiration and a little bit of competitiveness.  He too has been to Hawaii twice for the World Championships.  Any triathlon he enters he is a favorite.  Mike however has been known not to start a workout until 8.....PM!  Mike likes to work out in the evenings and in fact he called me last night on his way home from the pool and I was getting Emma chocolate milk for bedtime.  Mike still puts in the work, just later on in the day.

Now as for me, I am neither.  I don't work out consistently no matter what time of day or night it is.  I keep telling myself that basketball is almost over, just 2 more weeks.  Then I can focus on me.  I also have to write a dossier for work during the month of February.  Well I guess excuses can be found whenever you need one.  And truth is that there are no excuses, you just do or you don't.  I need a little more do in my life right now.

I'll make another post this evening on how the day finally ended up.  Peace.    

Here we are 11 days into 2009 and I am starting my 14th year of doing triathlons.  I was reading a thread on a triathlon forum recently that asked readers to post their "old school" triathlon pics.  It was a pretty funny thread and so I thought I would do the same here for you all to see. The first picture was in 2001 in Puerto Penasco, Mexico after a race and supporting the sponsors (look at the giant inflatable beer can in the background).  The second was with Mike at the Hawaii Ironman in 2001.  Third is with Mike in Lubbock and fourth was finishing the swim at the Carlsbad, NM triathlon.  The fifth picture is not me but it is a person who reads the blog, Mr. El Carne and another friend of mine, Terry Moore, at the Stealth Triathlon at Holloman AFB.  The last two are at the finish of the same race in 1998 and 2000.  Check out the improvement!  I wish it continued to drop like that but no such luck.      

 
 

  

   

Happy Birthday to Lindsey and Happy New Year to everybody!

*Look at the bump starting on Lindsey's tummy*