Bishop on a new ship!

Since about the first week of December or so, life has been a roller coaster…an exciting and exhilarating on at that.  Lets set it up for a moment:

My wife graduated school the first week of December (yay for her, she worked so hard and finally got it done…what an accomplishment!).  So, now the weekends have opened up a bit, the weeknights we have more time to spend with each other and the kids, and some of the weight has been lifted off both of our shoulders.  Expectations have certainly changed as well, but in a good way.  It’s funny how now that I have “perceived” more time to work out and train, since the date of her graduation I have trained considerably less than I did this past year before.  Ponder that and try and see if that is you sometimes as well.

When your under the gun, so to speak, do you find it stressful to find the time to train..yet make it happen…and feel so much better when you have done it and achieved something in it?  When there is NO pressure to work out or train…isn’t it almost that much harder to get yourself motivated?  And even if you do get it done,the satisfaction isn’t always there like you hoped it would be?  I believe that when life is stressful and you stress about your workouts (how you’re gonna fit them in) and you don’t find the time to do the training and put in the time, they then become a chore.  When you are stressed and you “make” the time to get it done, it becomes your release!

This year is a great time to start finding your solitude in your workouts, your training should be a safe-haven where you can “relax” and unwind, under your terms and conditions all the while pushing your body to its limits (at times) and finding the joy in something so simply complex.  I found this funny….my wife was browsing through the local paper the other morning and found a coupon of sorts for the local Yoga establishment (?)…they were advertising a grand opening or a new year resolution plan of sorts.  She laughed a bit out loud and asked me if I had ever seen the local yoga instructor around town at all, I hadn’t, and wouldn’t know her if I did.  Funny thing was this, my wife said she is always a mess, stressed out beyond belief, frantic at the stores and never happy.  Oh the irony of it all.  Now I’m not judging her as an instructor or a person…just simply pointing out that she, in my opinion, would be case and point for someone who has taken something and lost the joy in it, lost the passion of it…has put the stress of finding time to doing something she must have enjoyed at some point and made it a more stressful thing by adding to many layers to it.  Yoga, to her maybe, is not as simple as yoga should be…not anymore.  My hope is that we don’t turn into to the yoga “instructor” this year, but maybe the best yoga student!

I credit the lack of training (not the absence of mind you) to having a very busy holiday schedule this year.  Mainly, trying to find ways to manage the lack of money, and time and still be able to “please” everyone over the holiday weeks.  When I say “please”, I don’t mean merely with gifts and treats, or cards and pleasant words.  I simply mean…trying to see everyone we need to see, get to all the kids holiday events, show up for certain festivities that may only occur this one time, make room for training with the buddies, etc.  Trying to “please” everyone was really my (our) way of really pleasing ourselves, we had it backwards.

We took the kids to the indoor water-park which is not too far from our house in the NW suburbs of Minneapolis.  We had some gift cards and some time to enjoy, so we thought we would take advantage of all of it.  Without getting into too many details, we had a good time with all the water-park activities, time away form the normal day at “home”…for kids its like a retreat (staying in a hotel)…they don’t worry about the cleanliness, or lack of, of the bed furnishing, they don’t worry about the guy at the bar of the restaurant that knows everything about everything, but could hardly make it to through the front door because he had too many barley pops…they don’t notice, or care about the front desk people not having a clue how to redeem a gift card.  For our kids (and most) going to a hotel for the weekend is a fresh start from the norm.  Uncharted territory waiting for adventure seeking kids like themselves.  They love it!  And I sat back and loved it with them.  We had a great time, and I’m happy that we got to enjoy that one week before the chaos of Christmas!

Now Christmas week was upon us…i had the rest of the year off from the 23rd of Dcember on through the New Year! We had lots to do (some things chores, most things family fun), and plenty of time to get those things done. Christmas Eve at the In-Laws is always a treat. Great food and spirits…causual atmosphere and plenty of great gifts from G-ma and G-pa for the kids. the big ticket item for the year…nintendo Wii (along with the Wii Fit). From Christmas Eve all the days up to today we all have enjoyed the Wii, it’s really alot of fun.

Christmas morning is all about the kids at our house. We get up, brew some java, put the christmas music on the radio kick back in our pajamas and just enjoy the fresh day…reflecting a bit on what its truly all about and let the kids dig in to the gifts and stocking stuffers. Between more Wii stuff and games, new clothes, gift cards and funny little gifts…we had a blast.

Christmas night we spent the evening with my Dad and his wife. Read the Christmas story had some dinner, exchanged some more gifts and relaxed a bit more. All in all, we had a great Christmas week.

New Years was wonderful as well. We spent the Eve with our good friends Brian and Melanie (who live right down the street form us). We had all the kids together and played guitar hero on the Wii, a few board games, kicked back a few adult beveragess…and had a great time ringing in the new year.

2008 was a great year…many new beginnings, new understandings of life…why we live it, what to do with our blessings, understandings of limitations or lack there of. 2008 was full of a lot of “firsts”….first running race, first half-marathon, first triathlon, etc. I am in love with endurance sports and everything that goes with it. All the pain and intensity, the growth and the struggles, the glory and the grace. It’s what I am now and WHO I am. i thank my wife and my 3 kids for putting up with my new infatuation that has helped, in my mind at least, make me a more complete person. I am thankful for the new friendships I have made through this whole deal, and the old friendships that have been strengthened through it all.

I look forward to 2009. many new goals, lots of fun races and the opportunity to learn and grow. i paln to really start ramping up the training into February and then going full boar in order to be ready for a half Ironman this summer somewhere local in Minnesota (I have a choice of 3). Tahnks to all my friends here who have tracked my work and training and kept me in the loop of what they have going on…even though we have never actually met, I feel like I know many of you very well and look forward to someday meeting and maybe having the pleasure of racing with you.

Finally, to my Endurance expert and favorite Multi-sport store owner operator….Stephen McCarthy at GEARANDTRAINING.COM……..you have been very helpful and the NW suburb Tri Guys really appreciate you and look forward to a great 2009.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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