Staying Active
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We have a philosophy where we like to stay active in life. Our interests help drive us but are not the focus of our lives. We don't get bent out of shape if we do not start or finish them. The only question we ask ourselves at the end of each week, month, or year is did we produce fruit or waste the time given to us? Even if we only accomplished a few items on our list during the week, with this “accountability,” we find that we achieve more in our lives than without it. This year was no exception. Running – In anticipation for entering police academy, I have been running for a couple of years now. This August I was approached with the opportunity to train and run in a marathon. Running such long distances had never occurred to me. It was exciting and intimidating to think of what I would have to do to prepare for such a feat. The group that Laurel and I joined (Laurel is training to run/walk the half marathon) is called Chances for Children. They are a non-profit organization with the desire to help low-income children learn to be fit by running. The children are given shoes and accessories, coaching each week and the chance to run in a few races to celebrate all their efforts. Nutrition and moral coaching is also given to the parents as well as the children also helping them make healthy choices. Since we have started the program I am convinced I could not have been where I am at now had I done this alone. One vital element that changed my entire view of running and getting in shape was getting a metabolic test. This test allowed me to see how my body reacts to exercise at every level from walking to full sprint. At each stage the body uses a different means to acquire the energy necessary for such output. From walking to jogging your body uses mainly oxygen to maintain the moderate amount of excursion. As you increase the intensity you begin supplementing more of your stored sugars for energy rather than oxygen until the intensity is so high your body no longer is using oxygen and relies solely on sugar. This of course is called going anaerobic. Through this testing your heart rate is recorded in each zone. What amazed me is that I had seen very little improvement with my past running in areas of weight loss, speed and endurance. The reason behind this is that I was running too fast or in too high of a zone for any improvement to occur. In other words I had to run slower to go faster, lose weight and last longer! By running at a slower pace and maintaining the right heart rate, my body could use oxygen more readily and go for longer periods of time. This would stop my body’s use of turning sugar into energy which inhibits weight loss. By running at a constant heart rate, my body actually began to run faster while maintaining the same HR. When I began my heart rate would be 153 beats per minute while running a 8:45/mile pace. In only a few months, with the same heart rate of 153 my mile pace is now 7:50! I could go on but with this training I now see myself running the marathon even though it is still daunting! But more importantly, both Laurel and I have used this experience to solidify our health and can now confidently call ourselves runners! Involvement in the community – This year we have become more involved in our community. Since the city is so new and small, those that are involved are a small little community inside of our community. With my volunteer time at the Police Department I have been introduced to many people, events, and opportunities. The network of friends with like minds and the joy of giving are hard to beat. It is amazing how a little involvement can snowball in a good way. You feel good about yourself and want to do more. You make great friends and find the amount of good relationships keeps growing. The more you are exposed to opportunities the better you can find something you are passionate about and find the perfect niche for yourself. As with all things, there tends to be a million excuses such as no opportunities, bad timing, etc. But the truth is all you have to do is be willing to be challenged and inconvenienced initially and then your eyes will be opened to the flood gate of opportunity. Hobbies – As you now know from the Christmas letter, I was able to get my hands on a larger aquarium. With our first aquarium my goal was to learn how to have a lush live plant aquarium. Getting deeper into this hobby, it has been fun to increase my knowledge and experience creating just the right aqua-scape between fish and plants. As I grew, I would ask myself if I had it to do over again how would I do it differently. Now I have that chance! With live plants the chemistry is much more delicate and more effort is needed balancing many more minerals, and nutrients. This of course is still a build up to our future desire to own and operate a vibrant reef aquarium. Since the costs can add up, we are learning slowly so as not to make costly mistakes. Then of course there is waiting for the perfect deals on Craigslist as I could not afford this hobby any other way. The waiting paid off. I was able to get a new 55 gallon aquarium with furniture style stand and matching canopy and canister filter for $120. This set up was only a few months old and to buy it new would cost $800. The filter, which is one of the most important pieces, is a very nice canister style that usually costs $250. It was quite a find! I hope to set it up this December when my folks are visiting for Christmas. Climbing – For years, after I got out of the Navy, I got into rock climbing. You can see some pictures here on the website. But for the last 5-7 years I let it go. That is why I was surprised when my dad called me up asking if I wanted to climb Mount Rainier with him this last June. For dad, he hadn’t climbed in years and years so it was exciting for us to get in shape and plan this together. I had always dreamed of climbing one more mountain with dad as he is the one who introduced me when I was a kid to mountain climbing. Many of my fondest memories are of him and me making some climbs together in the Absorka-Beartooth Mountains outside of Red Lodge, MT. Click here to see our climb. So, I got back into climbing mode and fortunately had kept most of my gear. In the back of my mind I always wanted to resurrect my passion in the field so that I could introduce climbing to my sons just as dad had done with me. Rock climbing is so much fun and has different elements to it. From major cliffs to simple bouldering and even the fun indoor gyms! It really is for any age and skill level and the safest portions of the sport, bouldering and indoor gyms are actually the most fun! Blog – With blogs becoming popular I thought it would be nice to use that combined with this website to keep everyone connected to us. This makes sense and is fun and easy to do. I encourage everyone to try it as it is very rewarding. To visit our blog click here. |