How to tie you shoes

I just saw this video and learned something so I thought that I'd pass it along. Here's a way to tie your shoe to keep your heels from slipping. Great idea.

Super Proud of My Amazing Wife

So, Yvette got a call from some girls that she has been running with and some friends of theirs needed a runner for a Ragnar Run team that they had put together ( http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ ). This is a 200 mile non-stop run that goes from Ventura to Dana Point. She was running in a team of 12. Her 3 legs would total a little over 13 miles and she would get her first chance at night running, starting one of her 4 mile legs at 12 am through Van Nuys. She traveled with a group of 6 girls in a van for about 24 hours in order to do this and she knew none of them before the race. I was totally stoked for her and at the same time a bit jealous of the fact that I wasn't racing. Mostly though, I was just happy that she has gotten into endurance racing and enjoying the camaraderie that those events offer.

We followed her race on her Facebook posts and set out to pick her up on Saturday morning after her last leg of her run, a 4.9 mile jaunt through Wilmington at 7 m in the morning. She said she got to see more than one homeless sketcher just crawling out of their box to glare at her as she ran.
We picked up one happy and tired girl ( she only slept about 2 hours all night) on Saturday morning and put her blood soaked shoes into the car ( she forgot to cut her toenails so they cut into her feet) and took her to a well deserved lunch at Mimi's Cafe. She excitedly told us the stories of her adventure while we ate and drove home. Once home, she crashed out on the floor next to our 3 year old as both took a much needed nap.
I laced up my shoes and headed out for a run, filled with the excitement of her adventure. I headed out on an old loop that I used to train on that leaves my house and goes straight up for 2 miles before a slight reprieve then more climbing through the Etiwanda Wilderness Trail. I had to do the small loop in order to be home in time for showers before Family Mass at our church.
The details of my run are in the link at the bottom of this post. It ended up being 7.25 miles and I had a stupid high average heart rate, but all in all it was a great run.

A special congratulations goes out to Yvette and her "Big Rig" team. Great job love. I am super proud of you.

This Weekend's Taekwondo Test

All 3 of my kids tested for new belts this weekend at their Tae Kwon Do studio ( Performance Martial Arts Center ). Below are videos from Bella's and Diego's test. I forgot to record anything from Cruz's test. Proud Dad moments here.

10,000 Push Ups. Can you do it?

OK. So here's my current deal. My friend Chuck Goetschel posted that he had just finished his 10,000th push up. That got my attention. He then went on to say that he had done it by doing 100 push ups per day for 100 consecutive days. I thought to myself, "self, you could do that". So I responded that I was "in for the challenge" as he started his second hundred days.
Two things, I know, will result from this. First, I will pick up some muscle mass over the next 3 months. Second, and more importantly, I will use this sharpen my discipline. You see, doing 100 push ups is not that hard ( I currently break it up into 2 sets of 50), it's doing something consistently for 100 days that is the bigger challenge. It is also the reason that most people don't succeed in life. Most people do the right thing, occasionally, few people do the right thing frequently or consistently- at least that has been my observation and certainly my personal story (lest I sound like I am lecturing anyone but myself here).
Years ago I read that simply doing something like putting your shoes in the same spot every night would create a discipline pattern that would spill over into other areas of your life. I tried it and they were right. Then, over time, I got away from it. But, the day I started this push up challenge, I was instantly reminded of that success concept.
So, here's to 100 days of exercising my triceps, chest, back, shoulders, and most importantly my discipline muscle. I'll keep you all up to date as to my progress.
Join me if you feel compelled. If you can't do 100 at a time then do them in sets of 10 or 25.  Heck do them in sets of 5 and only do 50 for a total of 5,000 push ups- you'll still sound cool.

Feel free to email me if it helps you be more accountable.

Wishing you "your success".

Chris