The time is now.

I must say that things have been going quite well so far this week.  Of course things always seem to start off well, it's the beginning, beginnings are easy.  You're motivated, things are new, you have a strong desire to succeed.  The tough part comes later, once you get in a rhythm, once you get comfortable.  I have been too comfortable that past several months.  Yes we had a baby, yes I took some time off for injuries but each time I came back my head was less and less in the game.  I really thought I could get fit and lose weight working out twice a week, maybe I didn't truly believe it but it was what I was telling myself anyway.  Bad idea.  If you have convinced yourself you are doing what is best but you are not achieving your goals then you have veered off the path towards success.  I veered off, then took a U-turn and ended up in a ditch.  I needed some time to regroup and remember what is was I really wanted.  I want to be fit, I want to be healthy for myself but now also for my family, and I want the fit body.

The latest craze around these parts lately has been soccer and of course our US hero, Tim Howard.  After watching him defend against Belgium I wanted to read about his diet and exercise routines, because frankly he is a friggin beast.  He does Paleo which is not something I have really looked into much yet, but he said something when asked about his diet that struck me deeply, especially since at the time it was something that had been on my mind the moment I was reading it.  "Sure, I like ice cream, but when you keep a healthy lifestyle, its: Do you prefer sweets and crappy food, or do you prefer to have a nice body?  It depends on what you want more."  I thought to myself, I like ice cream too, I love sweets and crappy food, but I think recently it has finally started to settle in that I want a nice body too.  Not just that I want it but I want it more.  Just like the feeling I had yesterday was better then one hour extra of sleep, I want the fit body more than I want junk food.  Yes, I enjoy making a Bobby, with extra peanut butter, but that feeling of my clothes fitting better, or tightening up my belt by one loop, or that compliment someone pays you when it's obvious you have lost weight feels so much better.  Oh, so very much better.  It's time.  I am not getting any younger.  I have never had the fit body that I have always dreamed about.  There have been times I have come close but this isn't horseshoes or hand grenades, close doesn't count.  It's time to achieve, instead of just dream.  I am ready, and I accept the challenge.  Game on.  The time is now.

Last night I dreamed of success, today I woke up and worked for it.

So I have to admit the 4:45 wake up call was not too bad.  It's essentially only an hour earlier than I normally get up.  I made sure my bag was packed and ready to go last night so all I had to do was get up, kiss the wife goodbye and be on my merry way.  I have not been to the gym in a very long time, plus my gym has recently done some remodeling so I didn't really know what to expect this morning but I did have a plan.  My plan was to do a 25 minute interval run and then some upper body lifting exercises.  Because it was my first day and I was unsure of how long everything would take (other than the run since it was timed for 25 minutes) I probably will do things a bit different next time.  I had to find the locker rooms, figure out where everything was in the gym and then get situated.  I was also unsure of how long it would take to get ready in the locker room, different place, different routine, a lot unknowns.  So I got to the gym about 5:05, and was running by 5:10.  This is the interval run I did and really enjoyed it.  Found it through the interwebs yesterday.

After a few minutes of cool down walking I decided against the lifting exercises.  My plan was to be in the shower by 6 and on the road by about 6:20 so with only 25 minutes left to workout I knew I would only get through a few sets of a few different exercises and I wanted more than that so I decided to do as much of the 5-4-3-2-1 workout that I could with the remaining time.  I got through three 10% sets (10% = 10 burpees, 20 push ups, 30 sit ups, 40 squats and 50 jumping jacks) and then used the remaining time to work on some shoulder strengthening and stretching, only about 5 minutes.  I have been lax on my shoulder exercises and really need to devote some time to that, my shoulder is still so weak and its been over a year now.  Finished up about 6:05 and was in the car by 6:25.  Boom.

Now sitting at my desk I feel fantastic.  Ate a banana on the ride in, crushed another egg sammy and am now sipping some coffee.  Because I have spent the last several years working out in the afternoon I have forgotten about the feeling of being done with my workout by 6 AM.  Damn this is a glorious feeling.  No more worrying about the heat this afternoon, there is no way something can come up and distract me or take me away from my workout.  It's done.  I like that a lot.

That extra hour of sleep is not worth how I feel right now which is absolutely fan-friggin-tastic!!

We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.

Albert Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  That is pretty much where I have been that last few weeks.  I keep thinking that working out twice a week and barely following a food plan will help me lose weight and stay fit.  Let me tell you that it is not working one bit.  I have continuously been gaining weight and because of all the summer activities, working out less.  Miss a day here, miss a day there and before you know it two weeks have gone by and I have worked out twice.  Ain't cutting homey.  Time for a change.

I have spent a considerable about of time trying to come up with a new plan for said change.  As of this weekend I have made a decision.  Simply Filling.  Still part of Weight Watchers but essentially no more counting.  The idea here is to eat good wholesome filling foods and cut out all the processed crap.  Fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and whole-wheat.  Today is day one.

Hila made a trip to the grocery store last night and stocked up on all the foods to help me succeed. Breakfast today is an egg sandwich on a light English muffin with Canadian bacon.  BANGIN!!

Lunch is a pork chop with brown rice, asparagus and half and ear of corn.  Not much of a change from what I would normally eat except no white flour or processed foods and meats.  Snacks are cherries (totally in season right now so run out and get as many as you can, they don't last long), grapes, banana, apricot, and strawberry Greek yogurt.  Isn't it strange that all the healthy foods are from other Countries?  Canadian bacon, Greek yogurt, I wonder why that is?

My workout plan is still boot camp twice a week since that is all the afternoons I can fit in with Eli and Hila's workouts.  But the change here is to get up early and go to the gym twice a week.  The issue with this for me is I have to be to work at 7, so a morning gym trip means waking up at 4:45 and being at the gym at 5.  Ouch.  I need just about a full hour to workout then I need to shower and get dressed and still drive the 30 minutes to get to work.  This is not going to be easy but I will see how it goes.  Maybe on some days I will skip the gym and just run, either way I need to do something more because what I am doing is not working.

The time for change has come.  I have the same destination just a new route I am taking to get there.

If you have a goal, failure is impossible.

You are not hallucinating, there is no need to adjust the resolution on your screen, this is in fact an actual blog post.  Let me recap what has been going on the last month.

1.  So much for all the BS is said about making time.  It's hard, really really super hard to make and find time.  It's not BS at all actually but I have now had to deal with several outside influences that have changed my priorities these last few months.  Having a baby will tend to do that to you...

2.  Fear not!  I have been working out and eating well in my time of absence.  Except on the weekends.  I have been able to make it to class twice a week with a goal of working out on the weekends as well.  I am batting a solid .500 since not one single weekend workout has occurred.  Yet!  Hila and I are doing the every other day thing where I get Mondays and Wednesdays and she gets Tuesdays and Thursdays.  That is our time to fit in the best most killer workout possible.  For me that means getting to class a bit early and trying to get in a few miles beforehand.  Seems to be working out nicely so far.  I clocked 8 miles just last week.

3.  Army 10 miler - Number 3 is on the books.  One of the things I have been doing is running again.  At least once a week and somewhere between 4.5 and 5 miles.  I seriously love running Burke Lake.  It has not been too hot the past few weeks and I have actually had the pleasure of getting in a few rain runs.  There is just something about running in the rain.

4.  One of the reasons my time has become less available is because, actually let me back up first.  A few long term goals in my life have been:
     a) marry the most beautiful woman on earth - CHECK
     b) have the most beautiful baby on earth - CHECK
     c) have a sandwich named after me - CHECK
     d) have an assistant - CHECK

Note d) is what I would like to expand on.  Yes, I now have an actual assistant.  As a matter of fact right now I am dictating these words as he is typing them, no not really, but I could if I wanted to dammit.  Needless to say I have spent a substantial amount of time getting him up to speed on all the wonder that is me.  I feel like this has been a great accomplishment for me in business and I am quite proud of this.  Since we are finally getting to a place where I am spending less time teaching him how to do things like me, I am able to free up a few minutes a day to just do my own things.  Hence, writing aforementioned blog post.

5.  This has been a rough year for me working out wise.  Injuries, more injuries and having a baby.  I finally feel like I am getting back on track a bit and am starting to feel like the old me.  I can run a bit faster, I can push a bit harder, a few more weeks and hope to be setting the pace again in class.  Now, my goal for June is an ab working going around on Facebook.  I am very excited about trying something new and setting and achieving another goal.  I have based much of my life on goals.  There is even a sign in our office that says "If you have a goal, failure is impossible".  How very true that is.  You can always keep trying to succeed.  So my goal for June is a 30 Day Ab Challenge.  The first couple of days look easy but I am sure the last few days will be anything but.  Regardless I will do this and I will succeed.

Fingers crossed for finding and keeping time to keep writing.  I have missed you friends but I will be back soon.  For some strange reason we have decided to take on the task of trying to travel with a newborn...yeayyyy us.  So we are off to to the windy city for the weekend, so I doubt I will break my no-workout-weekend streak but there is a chance.  We shall see.

Good to be back people, good to be back!

The snowball effect.

Let's say I have a rockin few days when it comes to eating well.  Monday, BAM ate within my points.  Tuesday, BAM did it again, Wednesday, well you get the picture.  Then comes Thursday and we decide to go out to dinner.  I order a steak, bring a nice bottle of wine, eat the bread, get a salad, and maybe a few bites of an appetizer.  Okay not terrible but definitely a lot of points.  I skip writing down and say I'll just start fresh tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow being Friday...so some friends come over, we grill, we have snacks, more wine and no counting.  Wake up Saturday morning and say today is the day to get back on track.  2 PM we get a call, "Hey come over, is beautiful outside, we are sitting on the deck having a beer".  At this point we are now drinking said beer, enjoying some pita chips and hummus, drinking more beer and ordering late night pizza.  Sunday rolls around, weigh in coming now in one day.  I have not counted for days, what's the point in starting now.  I will enjoy my Sunday, and start fresh Monday.  This my friends is the snowball effect.  I take a teeny tiny little snowflake (Thursday dinner) and roll it down the weekend hill.  By Sunday that snow flake is a raging bull of snow, pizza, wine, snacks and fatty fat fat rolling down the hill straight to my waist.  This is just about how most weekends go for me.  This has to stop.  I need to allow myself to enjoy a meal but get right back on track.  My one meal seems to last be the better part of four days, and that is not okay.

Goal for the week, avoid the damn snowball.  Just because there is one bad meal or one bad day does not mean the rest of the week is shot.  I have mastered convincing myself that I will be okay, tomorrow is another day, I will worry about this later.  Yes tomorrow is another day but not if I keep telling myself to start tomorrow, to get it in check tomorrow.  Then it's just another day to be fat and out of shape.  There seems to be an endless amount of tomorrows, and fewer, "I killed it yesterdays".  I say let's start today.  I may fall, many times, but I just need to pick myself up and start again.

I am not going to let the snowball effect beat me this week.  It keep rearing it's ugly head and beating me.  I am stronger than this.  I can beat this.  I will beat this.

Distracted eating.

The other day, for no particular reason I decided to reward myself with food.  Not because I had eaten well for weeks and weeks and should be allowed a cheat day, I just thought to myself, pizza sounds good, eat pizza.  So I ordered an individual bacon pizza, because frankly bacon pizza is the only way to go, it's the dog bullocks, the mutts nuts, the bees knees, whichever colloquialism you deem necessary to describe something that is the shiznit.  So I sat at my desk and ate my pizza while mindlessly searching the madness that is the internet.  Click here, scroll here, watch a funny video there, and before I knew it the pizza was gone, kaput, no mas señor.  Where could it have gone?  I had a vague memory of eating it but no way could I have already finished this delightful pizza that was my reward for being me.  Literally the memory is gone, I could not remember the flavors, forgotten was the feeling inside that you get with you eat something that is pure deliciousness.  All I had was a full unsatisfied belly, I am Jack's broken heart.  Until last week's Weight Watchers meeting I never put a term to what I was then referring to as "the time someone stole my damn pizza", go figure they talked about this and called it distracted eating, that was lesson number one.

Last week I was sitting with Hila enjoying a lovely breakfast of eggs, Canadian Bacon, fruit, and my good friend the hash brown, toasted to complete perfection.  The deliciousness of this alone forces it to be eaten last, that is just how we eat food, save the best bite for last.  As we were talking, the was phone ringing, the baby was crying, and Hila looks as me, eyes wide with an empty plate, "I don't even remember eating my hash brown".  Once again utter heartbreak.  Lesson number two in distracted eating.

We are busy people, tied to our cell phones, our iPads, God forbid we don't reply to a text message within seconds of receiving one.  We have become a people controlled by this technology and it is making us fatter.  I can eat, a lot, if I am distracted I can eat even more because I am paying zero attention to what I am doing I am just shoveling.  As a family we have decided to try and disconnect, unplug, put the damn phone down during meals.  We used to eat all our meals in front of the TV, zone out and veg and eat.  Now eating at the table is the rule not the exception.  I enjoy my meal more when I am focused on what I am eating, I find that I feel fuller longer being more aware of what I just ate.  Go figure I also know more about how my wife is doing, we talk, we look each other in the face and talk.  Don't get more wrong, I love instant messaging, text messages, email, etc. just are much as the next guy but I am now working on a way so these easy means of communication do not run my life.  

In one instance above the interwebs distracted me because I let it and I cannot remember just how delicious my pizza tasted, or figure out who stole it.  In the other instance, life was the distraction and it got the better of Hila through no fault of her own.  It just happened, life that is.

The lesson here is to avoid distractions, disconnect, focus on what it is you are eating, sit and enjoy your meals.  Life will still be there afterwards, I can promise you that.

Let's go.

Oh how I hate Monday's.  I work as hard as I do so the days seem shorter, when the days seem shorter they go by faster, all in the hope that Friday comes along even sooner than expected so I can get a friggin day off.  We are not meant to work 40-50 hour weeks, it just makes no sense to me.  On a good day I get four hours home, other than sleep.  Four friggin hours.  That sucks.  We have become a people who work for the weekend, Loverboy had it right all along.

Ok, I am done bitching, at least for the next seven days.  So let's recap on the goals from this weekend.

1. Back on track - This was tough.  We had dinner out, we have friends over, and we had wine.  Not necessarily in that order but you get the picture.  I wrote down for the most part and I can easily say that I went over, by a lot.  We will see how badly tonight at the weigh in but I am still expecting a loss.  Fingers crossed for a half a pound.

2. Working out - Goal was four times.  Boom.  Goal met.  Bootcamp Monday and Thursday, driveway bootcamp class with Hila and our ever cheerful spectator Eli, and a bike ride yesterday at Wakefield Park.  The bike ride was not necessarily a sweat to the core type work out but I was active and it was beyond beautiful yesterday.

3. Help Hila - Check.  She has started Insanity while at home and if she didn't fit in a workout while I was at work, I made sure Eli was taken care of so should could once I got home.  At this point in time she cannot make it to her bootcamp class, not until we can find someone to watch Eli.  For lack of a better word Insanity is an insane workout so she is at least getting the best workout possible under the circumstances.  So that is good.

4. Blog - This one was tough.  I have been beyond busy at work and I find it harder to come in early to blog with a newborn at the house.  Regardless I did what I could when I could, and I am okay with that.

Plan this week is to keep up with writing down my food and continuing my four workouts a week.  Bootcamp and Weight Watchers tonight.  No more excuses....Let's do this.

Keep moving forward.

Just as I suspected, gained 5.4 pounds.  Ouch.  I now weigh 220 pounds.  Essentially in three months I have gained back all the weight I have lost since I started writing this blog.  Well one pound less, whoopdedoo...

Well at least I had a good start to my first day back on.  Boot camp last night was miserable, I mean marvelous.  The goal was to do as many rounds as possible in the 60 min of class (less warm up and stretching) so really 45 minutes.  Yeah... I saw on Facebook that other clients were able to get in 4 plus rounds, oh how I miss the good old days. I was able to do a little over two.  Others in class did three or a little over.  I will get back there its just going to take sometime.  At least now I know where I stand, next time I will do better.  That is the outlook I am going to have from this point on.  I may not be there yet, but I am closer than I was yesterday.  Thanks Tom for the motivational words earlier today.  You honestly made me feel better, its about establishing a base and then keep moving forward.  I knew there was a reason we kept you around...  I have set a reminder in Outlook for thirty days from now, I will try this again in a month and see how I do.

Try the workout yourself and let me know how many rounds you get in.

I have a meeting this afternoon and cannot make it to class but my goal is to get in at least a quick (again the term is used loosely here) three miler.  I am ready and motivated after seeing the scale last night.  Back to counting and writing everything down today!  One step at a time but those steps keep me moving forward.

Sabbatical

²sabbatical

 noun

: a period of time during which someone does not work at his or her regular job and is able to rest, travel, do research, etc.

Yeah, yeah, that's a good one, I think that is the best word to describe my last two weeks.  Better than Suck-Ass-Lazy-Dipshit, because frankly that is not appropriate for a blog post headline.  Regardless I am back and ready.  

Goals for the week:

Get the frig back on track - Start by going to Weight Watchers tonight to get an initial weigh in on the books.  Estimated weight gain to be 5 pounds.  I will report back tomorrow with complete details.

Work the frig out - Starting tonight with a boot camp class, I truly hope I can even remember how to get there...  Four workouts, that is my goal for the week.  Maybe two boot camps and two runs.  Runs are easier (I use the term loosely here since I am fat and out of shape again) for me since I can do them at the house which allows me more time at home with Hila and Eli, or Heli as I am now going to start referring to them as a single unit.  Look, it makes sense in my head okay.

Help Hila to work the frig out - She has been cleared to workout now and I want to help her just as she has helped me.  I will do whatever shes needs with Eli so she can start back on the workout hot tamale train.  She is someone who greatly benefits from a good workout.  Much like me it's her stress reliever and for the past eight weeks she has not been granted that luxury.  That time has come to an end, I am here to help my love.  Let me know what you need and consider it done.

Blog the frig daily - I think that one is pretty much self explanatory, please feel free to reach me by phone, email, or facsimile transmission if you need further explanation.  Thank you.

Looks like a pretty good plan for the next 7 days.  Wish me luck, although at this point I don't need luck, once my mind is made up it's as good as done...

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one...

Okay, I have much to discuss.  First things first.

My trainer Tom Kalka with Custom Fitness Concepts (my boot camp program) is up for The Next Top Trainer with Men's Health Magazine.  Many of you may not know who he is but you can take my word for it that he deserves this nomination.  Other than the minor effort it takes to show up to class on time, I contribute all of my success to Tom and the program he has created.  Please, please, please visit the link below and vote for Tom!  Plus you can vote once a day, we need to work together to get as many votes as possible.

Vote Here!

Secondly, it's only been four days of eating well but I can honestly say I feel fantastic.  Just getting back on track for a few days has changed my general attitude recently.  That and one night of eight hours of sleep!  Monday was a rough day for me.  No sleep the night before, Eli was just fussy and awake for just about the entire night.  Even with two hours sleep I still decided to try and go for a run with Brent.  Big mistake.  I was beyond exhausted and the run was hard, real hard.  I had to walk three times, I could not get up any momentum, it was just a bad run.  That night the girls had book club at the house, to escape the chaos that is twelve women I went the room to read.  This was about 9 PM.  Exactly three sentences in I was passed out cold, dead to the world asleep.  Hila, bless her heart, let me keep sleeping.  She handled all the night feedings, changes, etc. and let me sleep the entire night.  I seemed to have forgotten what a full night sleep was like after five weeks.  It was glorious.  I woke up Tuesday morning feeling more refreshed than I have felt in many moons.  I was more productive at work, I was more patient with people, and I sat down and wrote my best assignment for writing class yet!  I felt like me again.  The past couple of weeks have been hard on me and I am beginning to think that so much of that has to do with lack of sleep.  Life with a newborn is tough and I am grateful for a wife who noticed that I was falling apart at the seams and allowed me the much needed sleep I was lacking.  Thank you very much Hila, one night I will bottle feed Eli and let you sleep the night, you deserve so much more but it's a start!

I am going to keep with the proper eating and hopefully make a weigh in on Monday night.  Goal for the weekend is to get in a run.  The weather should be frickin fantastic this weekend.  There will definitely be a Burke Lake run in my futu...wait a dang minute here...it may just be nice enough to bust out the old mountain bike.  New goal for the weekend, a trip to Laurel Hill.  Boom.

Accept what you can't change, change what you can't accept.

Everyone says the husband gains weight throughout his wife's pregnancy, sympathy weight they call it.  Well for me I did not even gain one single pound, yeay go me....until the baby was born.  Needless to say it has been a downward spiral of destruction since February 24th.  The overeating has gotten out of hand, eating out all time, ordering delivery simply due to convenience, neither of which are bad until you just order whatever it is you want all the time.  I am okay with treating myself occasionally but every single meal gets to be a bit out of hand.  Sometimes we gain weight and even though the scale says so you don't really feel it yet.  I can feel it now, I can feel it is my belly.  I am to that point where my pants are tighter, I feel it when I sit.  Time to get this in check, today.  As of this morning I have convinced myself to get back on the good food bandwagon.  It won't be easy, it never is, but once the decision has been made it's much harder to renege.  I don't want to fail, so putting a goal out there for all to see makes that decision to cheat or give up that much harder.  I am back on track with counting my food, if you bite it, write it, that is my motto starting today!  I easily lose weight when I follow Weight Watchers to the tee, the tricky part is actually following it.  I need to get back to going to meetings and not just occasionally showing up to weight in.  I can no longer accept this path of mediocrity, time for a change, time to shine.  See you on the other side.

Already need a few days rest.

I have been practically back pain free for almost two months...until yesterday.  It started in the morning and I didn't really think much of it, the doctor said it would happen so that's what I thought I was dealing with.  It progressively got worse throughout the day but I still felt like I could go to boot camp, especially after my recent motivational boost within.  So I get to class, start doing what we do and the pain is just too much.  I end up leaving class about 15 minutes early and while I am driving home I remember a recently forgotten memory from yesterday morning of me, while walking around the car parked in the street, completely biting it on the icy pavement.  I mean ass up, flat on my back fall on the ice.  I can't seem to figure out how I blocked this from my memory yesterday other than the fact that it did not hurt at the time, at all.  So now I give it a few days rest and see how I feel, then get right back to it.

You can actually see dudes face bounce of the ground.  Why is seeing people fall so funny?

If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.

The last ten days or so I have been in a funk.  Actually it is more than that, I have felt utterly unmotivated.  I was going to title this post "Unmotivated" but then I started thinking that is not a strong enough word.  The word I am looking for is "Uninspired".  I have not wanted to do anything other then be home with my family.  I have not worked out, not pushed myself at the office, not payed any attention to my food intake and frankly I have just been going through the motions.  The questions that have been running though my mind have been "why don't I want to workout" and "why don't I feel like working hard".  I don't know the answers to these questions but I have figured out that I cannot wait for inspiration to come to me, I need to go out and get it.

I think that I have actually made myself more lazy just by being lazy the last couple of weeks.  Granted I am still trying to figure out this whole fatherhood thing.  How I can do what I want while still being home for my son and my wife?  I work a long day, I am gone for over 10 hours before I workout.  It's hard to get home at 7 PM and only have two or three hours with my family before we have to start getting to bed so we can be up half the night taking care of a newborn.  I want to be home, I want to relieve my wife who has taken care of Eli all day.  Plus I want time with my son, just me and him.  The hours are limited and I am still working out that balance.  Balance is a great word for this because that is exactly what it is. Finding that balance between what I want personally and what I want for my family.  Laziness is not the answer, neither is waiting around to be inspired, because right now I feel like Beetlejuice when he is waiting for his 9,998,383,750,000 number to be called and they are now serving number 3.  It's time to make my own number 4.

Just sitting around waiting to feel good, or saying I will do that tomorrow does not push you any farther than the other side of the couch.  I am tired of feeling like crap and I have let this "funk" I have been in get the better of me.  It's time to stop feeling sorry for myself and get out there and make a difference.  Motivation and inspiration have escaped me as of late but I am on a quest to go and find them.  I am not sure where this journey will take me but I am finally prepared to start.

I run to add life to my days.

The majority of running I have done in my life has been by myself.  Not because I smell bad after a 5 miler or anything like that it's just that other than running with some peeps in class I don't really have anyone to run with.  My wife has ALWAYS been faster than me so when we run together I slow her down.  There is not much worse than running for an extended period of time at a pace slower than you are able, for really fast runners that slower pace is harder on them than their normal fast pace.  I slow my wife down and I want her to succeed and run as fast as she can all the time so we end up not running together that much.  Yesterday my friend Brent and I went out and ran Burke Lake.  We both run at similar paces and do not despise each others company.  The run was fantastic, it was cool, sprinkling a bit at the and and all around a damn good time.  As we finished the run I looked and Brent and said wow that went by crazy fast.  We ran 4.5 miles, talked just about the entire time, about work, about life, about whatever and literally the time just flew by.  Even today I look back at that run and know that it made my day a little bit better.  Having a partner in crime eliminated the monotony of running alone just listening to your own breathing.  We didn't have music playing, we just chatted it up like a couple of school girls and had a great time.  I think we are going to make this a weekly thing.  Hit boot camp as often as we can but run Burke Lake once a week.

You're only one workout away from a good mood.

It's amazing how much better I feel after just one day of getting back on track.  Yesterday, I ate within my points, I worked out and I feel fantastic.  Yesterday started as one of those "if I am pushed much farther I might go on psychotic murder spree of rage and destruction" days, but I worked though the anxiety and stress and kept telling myself that a good boot camp class was a few hours away would that alleviate all that added tension.  You know what, as much as I hated yesterday, once class ended I didn't even think about the hours earlier in the day, all of that worry literally vanished like a whisper in the wind.  Seeing my family helped with that as well but I contribute most of it to the fact the working out is a stress reliever, possibly the best one I have ever found.  No matter how hard my day is, how much I want it to be over, I am only one workout away from a good mood.  Whether it be a run, a bike ride, a boot camp class, it doesn't matter.  They all work.  Elevating the heart rate, breaking a sweat, those are the only things needed to elevate your mood and break yourself from the shitty day you were having.  We are all going to have bad days, some days are really bad.  Yesterday was a really bad day for me.  Even though I walked into the same issues this morning, I am having an easier time dealing with them because I have lowered my internal stress-o-meter.  Sometimes it bubbles over, and sometimes it fills so tight it explodes, a solid workout drains that stress away and allows me to start new.  I am not saying that it won't fill up again because it will, but at least now I know what to do next time it happens.

I will either find a way, or make one.

I feel confident is saying that the past two weeks have been rather busy.  Family has been in town staying with us, we have had a couple of photo shoots, a few sleepless nights, I have worked all week and what was the last thing...oh yeah we have a baby.  We are working on getting into some kind of rhythm here but we have not found it quite yet.  Luckily Eli sleeps for about 3-4 hours at a time with his most alert hours being from 2 to 4 AM.  So Hila gets up and feeds him, then I wake up and change him and rock him back to sleep so Hila can get back to bed.  The system seems to work and we both do our part.  Even though it is a rather rough hour of the morning, I enjoy this time with him.  It is my time to talk, sing and look at him.  Just me and him.  Man to man.  Father and son.

Remember all that talk about making time, and wasting time well now it's time to put my money where my mouth is and make some time in these crazy days ahead.  See the thing is I have not worked out at all, well I ran Burke Lake one day, but that is it.  Have not eaten well either.  I mean Ben and Jerry's just released new flavors, needless to say those flavors have gotten the better of my judgement as of late.  All of that is coming to a screeching halt after this weekend.  In the next week or so family will start to pack it up and head back to their respective establishments and a sense of normalcy will being to return.  I need to get back to bootcamp, I need to keep up with my fitness and healthy eating.  I am okay with putting something on the back burner for a week or two because of some extenuating circumstances but two weeks is my limit.  I have already had a rough start to the year with my back injury so my fitness level is continuously dropping.  I was considering running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler but with only 4 weeks left to train I am afraid I could not commit to a rigorous training schedule on top of everything else we have going on.  I have quite a bit on my plate right now and that might be too much, I also don't want to unnecessarily take away time from my family.  Bootcamp, running, writing class, work, fatherhood, husbandhood, that's a lot of hats to wear at one time.  Instead of juggling them all and dropping one every now and then I need to find a hat the fits for all scenario's.  I need to find a happy medium, it cannot be all or nothing.  This will take some time and some hard work to figure it all out but I will.  Either I will find a way or I will make one.  That's just how I do.

We make plans and God laughs.

Eli Giora DeLong born 5:15 PM on February 24th weighing 6 lbs. 13 oz. and measuring 19" long.  Instead of sticking to the plan and joining us in late March he decided to grace us with his presence a whopping three and half weeks early.  Luckily we were as prepared as we could be which is not at all.  Bathrooms and nursery were complete but really how do you prepare for something like this?  I received the call around 10 AM on Monday while I was at work that Hila's water broke so I left work and met Hila and her mom at the hospital.  By 4 PM she was fully dilated, started pushing an hour later and in a matter of minutes we were holding a beautiful baby boy.  Even though he was born early he was not considered premature and has passed all his baby tests with flying colors.  Both Hila and Eli are perfectly healthy and doing very well.  We decided to not find out the sex of the baby so needless to say seeing that we were having a boy was beyond emotional for me.  I have never felt more blessed in my life, as a father to look into my son's eyes for the first time and tell him I love him has been one of the most amazing moments in my entire life.  I cannot wait to do it everyday until the day I die.

We were released from the hospital on Wednesday afternoon and have been home since.  I am only able to take off a limited time from work so unfortunately I need to be back in the office on Monday.  I cannot stress about this limited time off but at least Hila is off for the next six months.  I will miss him and his mom but luckily work is only an eight hour day.

Thank you to everyone who has come by with lunch or dinner, or stopped in for a visit in the hospital.  We are blessed to have such a great group of friends.

I have been lucky enough to do many interesting things in my life, I have traveled the globe, scuba dived in the Great Barrier Reef, eaten scorpions in the streets of China, floated in the salty water of the Dead Sea, jumped out of an airplane for no apparent reason but never in my life have I been more excited to start this new adventure with my wife and son, the adventure of parenthood.

This is my baby picture, as you can see there is a remarkable resemblance between father and son!!

Pyramid day.

A couple of days of upper body this week, push ups, dive bombers, chest press and such makes the simplest task a bit more difficult.  Like driving home, like shampooing your hair, or reaching for the alarm clock at 5:15 in the morning.  Add in last night's workout, pyramid leg day and holy hell I don't know how I am going to get up from my desk.  Let me paint a picture for you.  Stand up and do 20 squats, stick you butt out, keep you knees over your toes and your back straight.  Rest.  Now do 30, rest for 30 seconds.  Now do 40, then 50, then 40 then 30 then 20 more.  Go ahead, I'll wait...

Done?  Okay, so you just did 230 squats, well done.  That was just one of the leg exercises we did yesterday.  Add in a squat pulse pyramid, some sprinting, which may well have been a three legged race because that is about how well our legs were moving, a bicep curl pyramid, a military press pyramid and a couple of sets of two minute ab exercises.  Yeah....the stairs in my office are going to be a real challenge today...

Exercise is the most underutilized antidepressant.

Yesterday was a hard day for me.  I have some issues on a couple of my projects and they seemed to come to a head yesterday morning resulting in a rather unpleasant afternoon.  From about 10 AM on I was pretty much just pissed off.  I was angry with a coworker, I found myself being lazy and unproductive, I wanted to eat the mound of cookies and brownies we have sitting in the pantry, I just honestly no longer wanted to deal with anyone or anything.  I was letting my feelings and emotions get the better of me.  At one point I mentioned to my wife that I was "done with today".  That is exactly how I felt, just plain done.  I had a hard time sleeping the previous night, and on top of the stress from work I just more or less had a miserable day.  Anyone who knows me knows that is not typical for me.  If anything I am probably too easy going at times and I try not to let the small stuff get me down.  Yesterday that was simply not the case.  Finally 4:30 rolls around and I head out to go to class, eyes heavy, and the laziness continuing to take root.  All of this forgotten on the first warm up lap of class.  Literally gone.  My trainer Tom even asked me what was so funny because even though I was getting my hind end handed to me I was smiling from ear to ear.  You know now that I think about it, I was just plain happy, truly happy.  I had stopped thinking about work, and just devoted my time and energy to a good solid workout.  As much as work was weighing heavy on my mind yesterday, from the moment that class started until the moment I came in this morning work did not once even enter the proximity of my mind.  Six hours of hell immediately alleviated by one hour of exercise resulting in twelve hours of absolute peace.  Even if the stress from work starts to build up again today, I know I have another miracle hour awaiting my attendance tonight.  I find comfort in that one thought alone.

Thank you Tom, this was exactly what I needed today!

Time is precious, waste it wisely.

I have written about this topic previously but something came up last night and I wanted to expand further.  I was asked how I find the time to write this blog every day.  For me it was an easy question to answer, I make the time.  The process that gradually brought me to this answer was a bit more difficult.  This not only applies to the blog but to many other aspects of my life.  Two of which seem to make people ask the same question above.  Reading and working out.  I do an extensive amount of both.  Before I started reading, writing, and working out I actually thought I was busy.  Now I have no idea what I did with my time before.  Let me explain.

I read about a book a week.  Sometimes more sometimes less but that is the average.  How do I find the time to read so often, you ask?  Easy, I make time.  Sometimes a book is so good I get up early, drive to work and just sit in the car and read for a half an hour.  Do that twice a week and that is a solid hour of absolute silence to just read.  Often times I take my lunch break and drive to the same spot and read for the whole hour.  Let's say I do that twice a week.  With these two simple weekly modifications I have just freed up two whole hours of time to read.  I made time for something I wanted.  All I "lost" was a few minutes of sleep and a lunch hour that I probably would have just worked through anyway.  I have also eliminated television from my personal life.  Yes, I watch several shows with my wife, but if I am home alone the TV just no longer gets turned on.  I am more interested in the book I am reading or could be reading than the mindless dribble that is on TV these days.  Come and see me if you think a particular TV show is better than a book, I can show you some books that will literally change you life.

The same applies to writing as well.  This is something I want to do so I sacrifice other things less important to me.  Sleep, free time and lunch breaks.  Yes, sometimes that means I end up working late or coming in early but how important are these others things compared to what I really want?  I find them to be significantly less important to me the more I give them up.

As I said this has not been an easy process but at no point have I felt that I was missing out on anything.  In all reality I feel have only gained.  I am learning to be a better writer, I have read some mind blowing, fantastically amazing books.  I have rearranged my schedule for the past few years to make sure I get in a workout.  Boot camp has been that answer for me when it comes to fitness.  Nothing else has worked, no gym, no spin class, nothing.  I needed the structure, I needed the discipline.  I needed to take my head out of the equation, to do that I needed to put my heart into it instead.  I stopped making excuses and started making it the way.  Now, working out has simply become part of my routine.  Of course I want to go home and sit on the couch and relax and get to bed early and sleep in.  I want all of these things very badly, but I want something else even more.  I want to be in shape, not just in shape, I actually want to be the best.  I have a drive in me that pushes me to succeed, it gives me that extra motivation/desire/strength/want/need to run faster, to push just a little bit harder.  I have had several obstacles placed in front of me keeping me from being the best.  But no obstacle is so big that I cannot jump over it, run around it, or just climb over the damn thing.

All the obstacles in life, whether they be sleep, time, a torn rotator cuff, or any other of the endless list of things that get in our way, are simply just obstacles to be overcome.  Time, is an obstacle that we will always face, all day, everyday, the key is to stop trying to find time and start making time.  The time is there, the hard part is figuring out how you want to fill it.