Another typical Saturday

For my Saturday training this time, I was able to get up and go for a 65-mile bike ride and then did a 2300 swim.  Unfortunately, due to my crappy knee situation, I’ve not been able to get a ride in this year of more than 40 miles which I did last week with Don.  He got me to the 40-mile mark, of which I was thankful for. I finally felt that the knee would let me do it last week. So, last week I got 40 miles in on the bike with Don. And then this week, Eli did part of the swim with me. Of course it helped to have a buddy there with him, Ryker Smith, to push him along.  We swam together in the lap lanes of the American Fork pool. 

Another visit from Caya

 Yesterday, we got together over at Texas Roadhouse for dinner with Caya and her mom, Barry.  Caya came into Utah from Idaho for a rugby tournament with Grace. But, Grace broke her collarbone during the previous game so she was not feeling so great to come down for dinner. Caya is such an amazing friend. I’m glad she keeps tabs on me, because I’m horrible at keeping in touch.

New truck😁

Ethan helped me find a new truck. We had been looking through the auction and online for a while. Ultimately, we found the one I wanted through the auction. Ethan has been trying his best to get his dealership up and running. He’s done so well, and I’m so proud and happy he has found something he loves to do. I have been wanting my own full size, crew cab Ford truck for nearly 20 years. But, due to financial constraints, have never been able to fulfill that dream. Our company was blessed to do well this past year, and we had everything paid off with no debt, so upon receiving the bonus from Darin, I was able to have enough to pay for the truck. We picked it up a few weeks ago. My principle is to not have a car payment typically. It is so nice!!

2021 Races To Date

Back in February, I did the Sun Marathon, but I died at the end of that race. I finished that marathon in 3:23. My run conditioning has been not that great due to the stupid knee. I figured I needed to get a race in because of COVID shutting everything down. So, at least just get something in just to get the body back into racing.

Nearly two month’s ago I participated in a couple races. I did a Duathlon and a marathon. The Legacy Duathlon is a race event that Nichole, Ethan and myself did together maybe 8 years ago when Ethan was about 17 or so. This time, I did the Legacy by myself and did the run, bike, run event in 1:56:03 which was good for 11th overall and 2nd for my age group. Due to COVID-19, they did not have the finisher medals at the event, so I forgot to go get my medal at a later specified location.  

I was able to do the Wasatch Revel Marathon a week after the Legacy Duathlon. I had saved my leg for the race by not doing much running. I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my knee due to the knee injuries, but I really felt this would have to be a race I’d need to qualify for the Boston Marathon. My conditioning was ok for this race, but the knee gave up on me.  I had been able to keep my 6:50/mile pace up until mile 20. By mile 20, my knee was done. But, I was able to struggle through the last 10K with a “crunching” feeling to my knee every step. I did end up finishing it in 3:16:29 which was good enough for my third year of qualifying for the Boston Marathon. I had to come in under 3:20. So, I did come in under the allotted qualifying time.  So, yes, I qualified for a third consecutive year!😁

Knee Surgery

Yesterday was the big day of the surgery.  Coming out of this last marathon about 5-6 weeks ago, I decided it was time to put this unwanted and annoying  knee pain to rest. So, I went into Advanced Orthopedics and asked for an MRI which revealed a torn meniscus. I had all the meniscus tear symptoms, so I was relieved the MRI revealed the same. Dr. Allen would perform the surgery. Nichole drove me in, but only of course after she persisted she drive. I literally thought I’d be ok to drive and didn’t want to inconvenience her. Good thing she persisted because I was definitely out of it afterwards due to the anesthesia.  Nichole and I had a good laugh at the provided shorts they gave me (which is pictured). They looked like balloon shorts, definitely used for all shapes and sizes of individuals. Dr Allen repaired the torn meniscus, cleaned up two bad areas of cartilage and revealed arthritis as well.  Knee cartilage covers the bone to act as a shock absorber, but that was pretty battered as well apparently. So, it was a good thing I had the surgery because I was pretty hesitant due to the financial quotes I was receiving. Anywhere around $4,500-5000 seemed like something I’m unwilling to pay for just a few hours of service. But, I’m grateful the necessary service was performed. 

Valentine’s Day

 For this Valentine’s Day weekend, Jake had gone down to St. George with some friends to go see a good friend of his that had moved there a few months ago. This friend of his was feeling a little bit down, so Jake went down with a bunch of his other friends to see her and cheer her up and spend the weekend together. The rest of us were home together so we decided to spend some time with Nichole’s mom on Saturday during the day and then went to go see my parents Saturday evening for dinner. I guess Nichole’s mom was feeling pretty sad and lonely and depressed on Friday night. Nichole got a phone call from her mom around 2:00 in the morning asking her to come over to which she obliged. It was good to have lunch together and play some cards. Even Ava played this time. She usually doesn’t like to play cards. 

Nichole  and I wrote cards for all the kids. We did not go all out this year with gifts, but we did get each other some chocolates and flowers. But, it was good to spend the day together on Sunday. We ended up watching a lot of TV, which I sure wish we can cut that back a little bit. We all like to just relax in front of the TV. We need to stop doing that on Sunday’s!

The big 48!!

 Wow, I just turned 48 yesterday!  Age is just a number, so they say.  But, yeah, I was feeling my age yesterday morning for my typical Saturday morning routine workout. As I do every Saturday, I was able to get up early and workout for a few hours before the family gets up.  If it's a good Saturday, I'm able to get 5 hours in.  Yesterday was a mediocre workout day.  I got 3 hours in, but the motivation and effort was not as intense.  I only got a 2000 yard swim in, an hour of cardio around the track doing a 5K with HIIT/callisthenic intervals between each mile and an hour of weights.  I think I was just anxious to get home and be with my cute family for my birthday.  I also had to prepare for a talk in church for today's meetings.  So, my mental processes were not focused with the workout

I was able to get my wish for my birthday dinner/lunch.  With the pandemic, Jake and Ava were unfortunately exposed to the COVID virus from intermingling with their friends.  Jake is really worried about his dear friend, Grace, who is in a high-risk category and was infected and currently showing multiple symptoms of the virus.  So, Jake and Ava are now quarantined and unable to leave the house.  As such, we were unable to go out to eat, so we brought the restaurant home to us by having Ethan and Chani stop by Olive Garden and pick up lunch for the family.  We all enjoyed some time together eating our Olive Garden lunch 

Nichole made her 7-layer cake. And, the kids all went and got me so many presents. I was in desperate need of pants because I literally had not even 1 pair to my name of regular jeans.  I also wanted some sweat pants of which I didn't have any either.  So, they went out and got me those gifts. The kids were all so cute for doing that.  Ethan and Chani even got me a cool stylish workout hoodie which was just my style.  They know me so well.  Get me anything athletic looking, and I'll be a happy camper. They even each wrote me some cute personalized letters.  It was great to feel loved from my amazing kiddos