Most Recent Stories & Articles for Health & Wellness
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Life Really is Good
- Posted On: 7/24/2007
Today is a really great day (for more reasons than I care to share with the world). I'm writing this entry today simply to share how much gratitude I have for my life.
Following are some highlights of my day (by the end of the day):
- Talked with my wife throughout the day while she is helping my mom on a catering job
- Reflected in my daily journal
- Completed security integration of a Windows Forms CMS tool for the unreleased re-write of www.AzBlue.com
- Helped my security director solve an urgent issue related to a bug in Internet Explorer
- Created an Excel-VBA macro for a friend to find text in a column and select the entire row for every match
- Rehearsed the dance "Tradition" for an upcoming Fiddler on the Roof production (September) by Starlight Community Theatre
- Continued to practice my song for my Arizona Idol audition on July 30
- Attended a daily meeting with friends
- Spent a moment talking to both of my parents
- Spent some time playing with my dogs
- Woke up and went to bed with a personal prayer
- Was so excited by the little things in my day that I felt compelled to write about it on a website for the whole world to see
I am truly grateful and I love the good times and I respect the bad times.
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How's the "Hard Body" plan going you ask?
- Posted On: 1/31/2007
Fantastic! Yesterday was day 34 on the 12-week program and it was the worst feeling. All of my workouts have been going great and I've finished feeling tired, but exhilarated by my progress. Yesterday, however, I ran 4 miles and did my upper-body workout. Ouch... I was at the gym for about an hour-and-a-half and came home using the word "annihilated"; completely drained. But, I was still happy with the progress. The four mile run was in preparation for a 5K race on February 11th. I did a warm-up (10 min/mi for 2:30 and 9 min/mi for 2:30) followed by a 20-minute run at 8 min/mi pace with a kick at the end of 5 minutes at 7 min/mi pace, and finally another .25 miles at 15:00 walking pace. Having run a total of maybe 15 times in the past year, this was great! An average of 7:46 pace for 3.2 miles! (FYI: I have been bicycling and rowing with some short walk/runs this past month.) The following chest, back, and arms workout sapped any remaining energy and left me a physical zombie. It was difficult to keep up the number of repetitions and the weight I've been lifting in previous workouts, but this lack of energy certainly proved my willingness to keep at it. A 7:46 pace for 3.1 miles is a long way off from 7:15, so I'll have to back off on my goal to 7:30 for the race, but that is still outstanding progress (just to be doing it!). My body is looking better than it has for a long time, although I'm not seeing everything I want to be seeing yet. We'll just have to see how I look when my wife and I go to Hawaii in April. BAM! :)
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Weekend Events
- Posted On: 5/1/2006
Weekend events included Red Bull's Flugtag in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday as well as running in the Tribute to the Armed Forces Triathlon on Sunday.
My mom made cool t-shirts for the family (right)!
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Youth Gets Old
- Posted On: 4/17/2006
You know, if I have to listen to one more person question my age by 10 years!!! This year, 2006, I am 27 years old. People usually assume 20-24. Last year I was stopped by a rent-a-cop with my step son (now 17) who was enforcing curfew!!! I was asked only a week ago if I could fill-in for a high-school student to play the part of "Rolphe" in their upcoming theatre production Sound of Music! 
When picking up a young man we were considering adopting, his friends at the group home wondered, "who is the dad?" between my step-son and I. The stories go on... I'll be the first to smile when I'm 40 looking 30, but the same sequence can definately get old quickly. I wonder how I'd do as a once famous child actor... "Hey! Aren't you that kid from that show? You know... the one where you... you know... 'Woah!' Can you do it? 'Woah!'" -
Down to an 8:30 minute mile
- Posted On: 4/17/2006
My latest training log update for this last week includes today's new goal of an average 8:30 minute per mile pace for the 4-mile race at the end of the month. This is a great stride from last week's 8:45 goal. I'll keep adjusting until race day and we'll see how far I've come in a month...
Also, I think I'm going to start an Anthem track club to meet regularly during the week in the early mornings. 6:30 AM so that we can be done before school starts at 7:40. We might push it earlier depending on how the time works out. Fun stuff!
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Training Log Update
- Posted On: 4/10/2006
I did an update to my training log for the week, which includes my new goal of running an average pace of 8:45 (mm:ss) per mile. The log won't be updated daily in detail, but will include major milestones on my journey toward the 4 mile run in my family's triathlon relay.
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April 2006 Training Log
- Posted On: 3/31/2006
I realize how out-of-shape I am for this upcoming triathlon relay I'm signed up to do with my family. 4 miles of running after not running in forever... Well, today is March 31st and, although not yet April, I thought I would start running and logging my time. I could use my fancy athlete logs, but they can sometimes take the fun out of working out. Besides, knowing that the world could read about my progress, I might as well live up to my past as a "good" triathlete by getting back in the game with the pressure of everyone watching.
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Triathlon Relay
- Posted On: 3/30/2006
Well, that's it! I'm on the hook to run 4 miles in a Triathlon relay on April 30, 2006 with my oldest sister and dad. If you're in town, travel down to Tempe and feel free to boo at the slow runner... me. You may even get to see a physical collapse!
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Angelina Skin Care
- Posted On: 3/20/2006
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Rocky Point Triathlon
- Posted On: 3/1/2006
UPDATE: (2006-03-02)It looks like the race was cancelled. Now the family's squabbling about where to take a vacation together... joy.
My family was getting all excited and prepared to race in the relays for the upcoming Rocky Point Triathlon hosted by Tucson Racing this April. We began to hear rumors that it might be cancelled because the race director was in prison there in Mexico! ... not a good place to be. To top it off, my sister, who was in charge of the run, had to have ACL surgery and can't even ride the bike. So, someone else in the family will have to fill the spot. Anyways, it appears that the race is still on, but we need to sort things out.
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Sugar will be the death of me
- Posted On: 9/10/2005
HOLY SHIT!!! I am going to die!!! I am well on my way to become a diabetic, if I'm not already one. My craving and additiction to soda is now very clear... For the first time in my life, I did a review of my soda drinking habits in the last 2 weeks, because it's been exceptionally high. I've found myself under a TON of stress, working incredibly long hours and I've been craving Cherry Coke and Coke.I have consumedmore than7 pounds of sugarin the last 2-3 weeksin sodas alone!!!I wasn't even paying attention to it... 2 cases of Cherry Coke (42g of sugar in each can!!!) and glass after glass of "Coke or Pepsi please" at every restaurant...I'm freaking out!!!!!What have I done to my body?! It doesn't show yet, but OH MY GOD!!! I probably can't just quit cold-turkey... I'd probably die from that too, or throw myself into a diabetic shock without having diabetes. Shit... Alright, alright... I'm gonna start downing water and vitamins over the next few weeks and wean myself off of the juice. dammit! I knew better too... I was minoring in Nutrition for God's sake!!! I certainly can't blame anyone else for my actions, but it sure was f*cking easy to do!!! Shouldn't be this easy for kids or people that don't know about nutrition... -
Brave Soldiers
- Posted On: 12/18/2004
A lot of people ask me about my crash photos from 2000. The photos were taken the day after a horrible downhill crash on my road bike without a helmet going about 40-50 miles per hour. The crash happened the day before Collegiate Triathlon Nationals as we were checking out the course! grr... Fortunately, Brave Soldier was there to take pictures of the doctor's work to put me back together. I have since recovered from my injuries with minimal scarring. My left eyebrow is missing its tip and my whiskers don't grow in a couple of places, but it's hardly noticeable. Fun stuff...
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Light Cigarettes Aren't Light
- Posted On: 12/16/2004
Smoking is just plain crazy... Who are we kidding with these "light" cigarettes? I'm gonna start selling you all "light" crisco to use in place of butter. I used to debate that "Suicide is illegal, so why isn't smoking?" However, this morning I heard the story about Marie Ellis who smoked for 90 years to her death at an astounding 105 years old!
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Light Cigarettes Aren't Light - Trustworthy, Physician-Reviewed Information from WebMD
Despite Marie Ellis' unusually long, smoke-filled life, it's certainly no excuse for not quitting:
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Body for Life Update
- Posted On: 12/16/2004
Ugh... that about sums it up. I've been on the Body for Life program for a couple of weeks now and I missed a workout yesterday and wanted junk food badly. Healthy food is great, but it's not delicious without extra effort. Discovering and learning the many marinades and sauces for making healthy foods delectible is time-consuming... Sure, I'm a bit lazy when it comes to cooking. I just want to heat it and eat it. I missed a workout yesterday, partly because of no motivation.
Well, I certain hope today will be better and look forward to looking incredible in only 74 more days!
