needing a run

I have been feeling down a little for the past couple of days because of talk of my dad and the big "C" word. We don't know much of anything for sure but he is going to have surgery sometime in the near future. I heard from a sibling that there is a "mass" around his pancreas. I think we are all trying to stay positive about the whole thing and not assuming anything. I have been having a hard time staying positive though and really am fighting the negative thoughts. I couldn't run over the weekend due to the beautiful wife's birthday and her friend visiting from LA. So last night I finally got out for a much needed run. I felt great and the weather was amazing, fall is here for sure. I do feel better since the run and I think the time alone was what I really needed.

Love and hug your LOVED ones every chance you get and live life to the fullest everyday!

4 slow miles and cooler weather coming

Went for a short 4 mile run last night just to keep the mucles moving in the legs. The mucles were a little tight but there were no real issues once I got moving. Weather wasn't too bad for the run and I came home to eat dinner and stretch. I had no time to do anything else but glad I got the run done. It is raining and getting a little cold outside today which is making me excited for fall. I love the warm weather and also love the cold weather, as long as I get to go outside and live in it.

That was awesome!

Woke up early on Saturday to get a long run in no matter what. I was feeling good heading out in a foggy and hazzy morning with a determinination to go as long as I could. There was a ton of garage sales going on in our community as well as the development that is connected to ours (which I don't normally run through). I was feeling good the whole way and also feeling strong. I had a bottle of my watered down gatoraid and some sharkies gummies. I took them at around the 3 mile and 6 mile mark which was perfect. I ended up running 8.6 miles in 1 hour and 30ish minutes. Felt great even though I was soaked from head to toe with sweat pouring off of my hat brim. I stretched at home and was going about starting my day when the wife yells at me to get the patio completed. So I changed clothes and went rock shopping. Came home and started to dig the 6 inches for the patio base and stones. I then went to the rock store and bought the 2000 lbs of stone and proceeded to load the flagstone rocks into the back of our minivan and then drive home to unload the stones and go back for more. I worked outside in the 90 degree heat and 98% humidity for over 8 hours, as well as the long run in the morning. I drank so much glasses of water and was soaked with sweat all day. I got the patio partially temporarily completed though for the visit of a frien of my beautiful wife this weekend. I took 3 ibuprofrin and called it a night. I was done. I am glad I did all that on saturday and spent all day sunday with the big boy at a birthday party and playing with his friend, good time.

Love and hug your loved ones every chance you get.

a needed run

I needed to get out for a run as soon as possible to clear up all the thoughts in my head. As soon as I could last night I went for a great 5 mile run and it was absolutely awesome. I felt good during the whole run with a strong focus the whole run of how awesome my life is and has been. I am really lucky to have done all that I have and I wouldn't change anything. I don't like the fact that I assumed the worst with my dad and told myself during the run to not let something that could happen overtake and occupy what is happening. What is happening is everything is awesome and wonderful and I need to let everyone know.

I came home after the run and the big boy and beautiful wife told me I was gone for a long time. I feel bad that I am gone for some time during family time and will probably keep to shorter runs during the week. I am planning on getting a long run in this weekend early in the morning.

Love and hug your loved ones every chance you get.

My son

My big boy son is growing so fast in both size and emotionally. The big boy has always been taller than most of the kids his age and has been maintaining his height growth all along. The big boy is also growing emotionally more and more everyday and I want this to always continue. I always make time for him and all that he does and wants to do as well as try my best to explain as much as I can to him about all that life has to give. He loves learning about everything there is in life and I love teaching him that anyone and everyone can learn to think how wonderful life is. I believe in the positive way of thinking and use this thinking in explaining to the big boy how things happen and for him to decide on the best way to go about things. He is a very quick learner on everything which makes his beautiful mother and I very happy and proud. One of the many talents and gifts I have in this world is the ability to always keep things on a slow and even pace so as to enjoy all that this wonderful life has to offer to all living things. I believe all living things are blessed in many ways and concentrating on the positives (protagonists) is better for all in this world and the short time we are all here.

My big boy cried a couple of weeks ago because he didn't want anyone to die. I tried to explain to him that everything has to die someday but not to think of that but always think of how awesome it is now and enjoy all there is to enjoy today. I believe he understood my point but it was very cute that the first person he said he didn't want to die was "coach" ( my father). Having only seen him maybe once every year of his life, I wondered how and why he thought of my dad first. I have thought about this also but I haven't spoken to anyone about it. To many people that know my dad, he may be a little strange. Like he wants all of his grandkids to call him coach. He lives for youth soccer with almost every day is consumed in shome fashion with soccer. He used to coach, he still refs games almost once a week, and helped start a breakaway league of soccer in our hometown. Soccer has been a way of life at my parents home since I can remember and my grandmother used to say "I think he will miss my own funeral because of soccer!" He didn't miss her funeral or even come close but youth soccer is his life.

Anyway, I find out through my sisters facebook page that he was in the hospital for the last couple of days because of some sickness. What??? After several calls to my siblings, I finally discover that he had some tests done and we will find out next week the results. No need to panic but this has me wondering and thinking deeply. I came to the conclusion that I am not ready for his death, even though I have been trying to mentally and emotionally prepare myself for this. I consider myself phsycologically strong with a strong determination to live life to the fullest everyday. In the couple of hours following this news I am beginning to think otherwise. I stayed calm and talked myself through this and have told myself to continue to be strong and love all of life and its many blessings.

Love and hug your loved ones and tell your Dad's (and Mom's) you love them! God bless all the family and loved ones of all that were lost 7 years ago today! God Bless USA!

good weekend and new car

I didn't get any runs in this weekend as I was enjoying time with the beautiful wife and we slept in real late on sunday. The big boy was over the in-laws for the night so the misses and I went out to dinner at Outback where we enjoyed each other as well as the awesome food. The beautiful wife wanted to look into getting a new car so we headed to the dealership on sunday after we woke up late to attempt getting a new car. It took us almost all day but we did get a new car which we absolutely love. I was planning on going for a run afterwards but the in-laws had dinner ready for us already and I had a list of chores to get done. I had very bad pain in the right side of my back all last week which I finally was able to shake on saturday, so letting my back rest for two days was a good choice.

I did go for a short slow run last night with a plan of getting out and just going. Very humid out but it wasn't too bad. I am looking forward to getting some more runs in this week.

Love and hug your loved ones every chance you get! Later gators!

Storms

I haven't had any chances to go for a run this week but I am planning on getting in at least one this weekend. It does depend on the weather as Hanna heads up the coast. I hope we get lots of rain from this storm and I will go out in the rain and wind.

These storms make me miss the Coast Guard and the weeks of getting ready and then spending days and weeks helping people who weren't ready. I remember growing up at home with hurricanes hitting south Florida all the time. My dad owned a business on the beach and we would have to go help "tape" the windows and schools being out. I remember one storm hitting us and knocking the power out as we all slept in the family room so we could all see the storm together. We played board games and went outside when the eye of the storm came through, good times. Now Andrew is a different story, I was the last flight into to Homestead air base and then getting ready for the storm had a different urgency to everyone (even though it was real nice the day before the storm hit). When the storm hit, I, we, everyone was pretty scared and there were times during the night that I thought for sure we were all being wiped from the earth. I was "visiting" south Florida with a mission to buy a vehicle, after Andrew came through, that changed to helping anyone and everyone.

Times are a different now and the media love showing and giving time to the people that complain. If I lived in a "city" that is below sea level, I would have an understanding that there are going to be flooding issues. Anyway, I hope everyone stays safe and uses common sense.

Love and hug your loved ones every chance you get.

labor day weekend and World human race 10k

What an amazing weekend we had with hot temps but lots of good times with great people. We spent saturday chillin at the house with only a quick trip to the store as a family. Our neighbors down the street came over in the evening and ended up staying for dinner with our big boy and their big boy having lots of fun while playing together. We all played on the play set for a while which the 2 boys loved.

I woke up very early on sunday and headed to my favorite trail for a 6.5 mile run as I signed up for the Nike+ World human race 10k run. I had a fiber one bar for breakfast on the way there as the sun was coming up, I was feeling pretty good with no issues. I hadn't had many runs lately as well as any long runs, but the last couple of runs have been strong. I loaded up with a bottle of gatorade and some sharkies gummies and started out feeling good. I was aiming for a good strong pace for the first 2 miles and then just trying to get through the next rough 2 miles and then hopefully picking it back up to finish the last 2 miles strong. I did really well the first 2 miles and walked at the 2 mile mark with a quick drink of gatorade and some sharkies. I picked it back up going into the next hard 2 miles with several quick ups and downs. The weather was great although it was very humid so i was soaked with sweat the whole run. I had to walk a little in the middle of the tough 2 miles section but was still feeling good. When I got back out to the last 2 miles of easier trail, I picked it back up. I finished the run real strong and a time of 1 hour and 13 minutes. Very happy with my run overall even though I have not had many runs as of lately. Came home to a beautiful wife and awesome big boy waiting for me as we had breakfast and coffee.

We had plans to go to the city festival of Matthews alive with several of our neighbors and their kids. We got to the event at noon and walked around for the first couple of minutes. The heat was so extreme that the objective of the whole thing for us became to enjoy what we could from the shade. The kids had lots of fun with the beautiful wife and I spent all of our money on rides and food. I got a $8 quesidilla that was actually not bad for fair food. The big boy loved the event as well as both the misses and I loving every single second. The big boy and I went on a merry-go-round ride which was nice to enjoy some breeze. Then the beautiful wife and big boy went on a small train ride that he loved. We left after the train ride and went home to drink tons of water.

Monday was a nice and relaxing day at home with no plans or desire to do anything or go anywhere. We did end up going to babies-r-us for some baby shower gifts. The inlaws came with us and then wanted to go to dinner.

Love and hug your loved ones every chance you get.