Weekend Recap aka Temptations

Hello there.  Welcome back!

I usually try to update regularly on Sunday evenings, but this past weekend was busy.  Deceptively busy.  What does that mean?  I had stuff to do but I didn't think the weekend would be too bad.  It wasn't a bad weekend in terms of quality.  I spent time with the family, went down and spent time with my friend/bro-in-law and his lovely wife and son, and even squeezed in a run.  Being busy just snuck up on me.

Friday started the two week challenge for Active:Water.  This meant my first day without coffee or any non-tap water beverages.  The first thing I did was head to the pool.  My goal was to hit the 600 yard mark.  Hit it.  It was a great, tired, feeling.  Aside from being a little hazy, and tired, it wasn't all that bad.  Towards the end of the work day I developed a little headache, but I set out that day expecting the headaches.  In hindsight, I probably should have scheduled my swim for another day since swim days are usually my "multiple cups of coffee" days.  Whatevsies.  That night the misses and I went to small group, where the theme was breakfast foods.  You know what goes good with breakfast??  COFFEE!!!    Ok.. ok... calm.. calm...  Anyway.  Yes it was breakfast night and Scott made his world famous cinnamon pancakes and they were all that's cracked up to be.  For the first time that night I starting losing consciousness during the discussion portion.  Not for lack of interest in the topic.  You know.  No coffee.. blah blah blah.

Addison had trouble sleeping so Saturday morning was tempting.  I'm an addict.  I know.  These past few days have brought this realization to me.  I felt these same things last year when we did the challenge.  Perhaps this year I will learn my lesson.  Anywho.  We were up at 6ish and we had a pretty jam packed day.  Aimee had photo appointments, had to make a delivery a couple towns over, and we went out to dinner as a family.  Throughout all of this I went on a run.  I wanted to do a running/bike brick but it wasn't in the cards.  My training plan for my first sprint tri, in April, is very loose.  I feel like I'll be ready for it.  I don't think I'll know till race day. 

Back to the run.  Last year I ran a route and crapped out halfway through.  Since then I avoided the those certain roads.  When driving on them it felt as if they were laughing at me.  I didn't have a set amount of miles to run (see loose training plan).  When I left my house I didn't even have a route in mind.  I made my way towards that dreaded route and decided I'd give it another shot.  Phew.  It was as tough as I remember but this time I was able to accomplish it.  Nice combo of hills and more hills.  It's by no means a marathon or ironman finish, but it made me feel good.  So far this year I've shed 20 lbs by eating right and exercising.  It's definitely paying off.  I can feel the difference. 

Saturday night we were at a local dining establishment and there was a wait.  After Savannah told us a few dozen times that she doesn't like waiting, we took the first table we could get.  That meant putting our 1 and a half year old in a booster seat for the first time.  To the outsider this may not seem like much of a big deal, but if you know the stability of a one year old you may change your mind.  I was nervous that she would slip out, slam her head on the table, and the entire restaurant would look at us and simultaneously call the police for child neglect.  My arm didn't leave her side.  She did much better than I thought (you can see how high my expectations were).  At one point I took my arm away to cut my dinner and she got curious, looked under the table, and fell sideways onto the booth.  It was funny.   She just laid there for a few seconds taking in all that happened.

Sunday we lost an hour of sleep (just in case you haven't already heard about it a hundred times by now) and went to service.  I appreciated that Pastor Mary Kay spoke about sacrificing your time and planning with a purpose.  How appropriate.  After church I made my way south to help my brother-in-law move.  I planned on not having a workout since moving is a workout in itself.  Well, I made it down there and there wasn't much to move.  Most of the big stuff was already gone.  Don't take that as complaining, by any means.  I got free pizza and was able to spend time with family and friends.  Unfortunately, I still did not workout.  A missed workout won't bring me down though.  This brings us to Sunday night.  Ok, there's nothing to report here.  We watched a couple episodes of Psych and fell asleep.  Oh yeah!

A new week has begun.  I've got a St. Patricks Day 5k on Saturday and my first triathlon is inching closer and closer.

Little pool update: our pool sessions have been in a 25 yard pool. AKA A mind numbing amount of laps to reach goals.  Tomorrow the pool will be set up for 50 meter lanes.  The distance worries me a little bit, but I'm ready to accept the challenge.  No more small breaks every 25 yards.  

I'd like to end things with another comment about the two week challenge.  Over the weekend my wife and I were tempted to end the challenge.  We can just donate money and not sacrifice, right?  It's still the same amount of money, and it's still going to help people who need it.  After a few rough nights of my youngest not sleeping I was ready to pull the trigger.  I'm happy to say we didn't do it.  It's easy to point fingers at other people's addictions, which I have done, but breaking something isn't easy.  I've already quit all fast food this year and it was easy compared to this.  I pray that this small, miniscule, sacrifice can get me closer to those that need help.  A couple quotes are running through my head so I'll share them:

"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back." - Regina Brett

"Don't let your inability to do everything undermine your determination to do something."- Cory Booker

I'm more than fortunate that I'm able to blog about nonsense, drink all the coffee I want, and eat whenever I want.  Maybe I can't change the world, but I trust in the one who can.  I pray that the Lord can use me in mighty ways with all that I do.  I fall short on more days than I succeed but I'm going to keep moving forward.

Thanks for reading!