Ringing out 2011. What a Year!

Hello Readers,

This is my annual year in review post. Looking back 2011 was an incredible year for me both personally and from a fitness perspective. I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know some incredible people in the last year, I have reached many of the goals that I set for myself, and I have myself ready to make 2012 another great and successful year!

2011 saw me list as my goals to better myself as a person, continually improve my fitness level, and take more chances. I can honestly say that I achieved all the goals. I think each of us are always looking for ways to better ourselves. One of the ways I have tried to better myself is to see all situations in a positive light. As I move into 2012 this is a goal that will remain with me. There are certainly ways that I can continue to grow as a person and continue to better myself. I look forward to seeing the results in the coming year.

The second goal was to improve my fitness level. This goal seems like it might have been a difficult goal to achieve as 2010 saw me stretch myself to the ultimate limits. Amazingly I was able to reach this goal by finding new limits to test. In 2011 I ran my fastest half marathon ever, I broke 2 hours for the first time and hope to be able to better that time in 2012. I competed in three triathlons in 2011, one of them being an international distance event. This pushed me to that next level, not only was the distance the greatest I have completed, but the day the race was on was one of the hottest days in KC last summer so I was pushed to the maximum mentally as well as physically. With 2012 in sight, I have a couple huge fitness goals in mind and will share them in my upcoming goals post.

The third goal of 2011 was to take more chances. I do feel that I succeeded in this goal as there were times last year I stepped out of my comfort zone. Chances are something that for me are difficult. As many crazy things as it sounds like I do, my personality is one that is actually very conservative. Running and fitness have afforded me the opportunity to gain much self confidence in my life which allows me to take more chances. Taking chances will be something that will remain on my personal lists of goals every year, as I do believe the more chances I take whether fitness chances or personal chances the happier I will continue to be.

As I look forward to the challenges that will be 2012, I look back and think I can only hope that it brings me the happiness and greatness achieved in 2011. To my loyal readers, let me know what your goals are for 2012, if there is anyway that I can help you achieve them don't be afraid to reach out to me. As much as I love succeeding in my own life I absolutely love being able to help others reach their dreams and goals. Happy New Year to ALL!

Life is short, live it hard!

Ryan

Seasons Greetings!!

Hello Readers,

Seasons Greetings to all! Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and families, I know I did. If many of you are like me you over-consumed both food and beverage. Honestly that is what Thanksgiving is for! That weekend was especially fun for me as I saw several great people and friends. On a personal and fun note, the weekend was also significant as Mizzou played their final border war game with Kansas. This game brings back some amazing memories for me. The great news is Mizzou finished the series properly by putting the Hawks and Turner Gill down for the count. Go Tigers!

I don't know about you, but for me this is a crazy busy season. It seems I have something going on constantly for the next three weeks, it is extremely important that during this busy time we don't forget or neglect to finish the year strong toward completing our goals and maintain a strong exercise ethic. For me this hasn't been a problem, I was out of town last week but still managed to put in my longest run so far of training by doing 13 miles. I have found that for me, the key during this busy time is finding hidden time in your day. For instance, instead of going out for lunch or sitting in the break room for lunch, I use my lunch time to get in my daily training run. I then eat my lunch at my desk. I understand this may not work for everyone, it is just one idea. The real point is that we are all busy, but we can find a way to make some time in the day to find and remain healthy.

This week I was watching the biggest loser on TV, this was their marathon week. I am not sure how many of you watch this show but it the marathon episode is one of my favorites each year as you get to see each of the contestants reach the pinnacle of their own personal journies to become healthy and lose weight. You can see when you watch this episode the true emotion felt by each contestant and the pride and self confidence they have by completing this. I can speak from experience and someone who has gone through the battles the contestants do that the show is the closest to reality of any reality show I have seen. I know after watching I am inspired and ready to do battle with my next marathon course in Little Rock.

I want to say to everyone enjoy the next few weeks, enjoy what the holiday season is all about, cherishing time with families and friends and lastly be safe.

Life is short, live it hard!
Ryan

Remembering Others and the Building Phase

Hello Readers!

Wow, has this year flown by or what? We find ourselves one week before Thanksgiving. I wanted to remind everyone what this time of year is all about. As the holiday season comes upon us we need to remember others. In one week I will be running a 5K with my best friends and their families. While running a 5K is not out of the ordinary the point of the race is to raise money for a great organization. The event will benefit Harvesters. This is one of my favorite charitable organizations in Kansas City, they are the largest food bank in the area. They will be collecting cans that day, they also collected cans at the Girls on the Run 5K I completed last weekend. This time of year we need to remember that everyone wants to celebrate the holidays with their families but not everyone has the means to do this. I urge all my readers to compete in some sort of event or do something for a charitable organization that they might not normally do. This is the season of sharing after all and we have the ability to make the season incredible for all families.

Ok, off of my soap box and back to training. Exactly one year ago this week I was in San Antonio finishing my first marathon. As I continue preparing for Little Rock in March, I was thinking back on last year and how I am going to improve my time. My goal is to take 20 minutes off my time from 4:49 to 4:30. This is a lofty goal, but I have developed a strategy to achieve this. I completely tuckered out last year on the race, I took it out in a very quick pace and didn't have the gusto to finish strongly. I am going to stress pacing this year. Currently I am in the building phase, my miles are ramping up. I have been working on not necessarily worrying about how quick I am but maintaining a solid pace. This has been a difficult concept for me as I always want to do everything at 100% but I know this will benefit me in the end. Something else I am really incorporating into my training this time which should prevent me from tiring out is lifting. I have been hitting the weights three days a week. Don't get me wrong I am not bulking up, but rather I am cardio lifting which should really show results come March.

In closing this week, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! Have fun celebrating with your friends and family. Be safe in celebration!

Life is short, live it hard!

Ryan

Fall Fun

Hello Readers!

It is the first week of November now. I am hoping everybody is doing well. It once again has been a while since I posted but want to let everyone know that training is going well. I am right on schedule for Little Rock. I actually ate lunch this week with my great friend who will be running with me Jen and we are both excited for March 4th. Recently I have been providing updates of what I have been doing, but I find this to be slightly boring for my readers. I always tell people to live life hard but I rarely let anybody into my own personal life. I let everyone know about my training but this week I will let people know I am actually a real person and do enjoy my life and live it as hard as I preach.

First I just wanted to mention that this is the busiest season for half marathons and other races. About three weeks ago was the KC Half Marathon and Marathon. This was a rare occasion when I didn't participate in a race I actually went out and watched runners. That day reminded me just why I love running so much. Runners support each other. I ended up seeing about 20 people i knew on the course and really enjoyed seeing each of them reach their own personal goals. Congrats to everyone!

As I mentioned earlier, I do love living life to its fullest. I always speak of my training and believe me this is important but I think it is truly important to let people know I also love living and there is so much more to my life than just working out. The past few months have been difficult on me from work perspective, but this has not let me stop living. I wanted to mention that I passed my AAP Exam which is an important and difficult certification. My friends have kept me busy, we have had Halloween parties, we went to see my favorite teams play such as the Monday night Chiefs game agains the Chargers, the Sporting KC Eastern Conference playoff game against the Houston Dynamo, and my trip to Phoenix for the Mizzou/ASU game. Thanks to my brother and all my friends for taking my mind off of daily stresses and reminding me of why I put in all my hard work.

A couple weeks back I mentioned that one of the reasons I am doing a spring marathon is that I want to make sure I hold myself accountable during the holiday season. I wanted to remind everyone that daylight savings time rolled back yesterday. This makes for a difficult time of year as the days are shorter and many of us are saddened by this. I am also this way, but this means it is time for us to increase our activity. It is very easy to slack off as it is dark so much of the time, do not let this happen! Listen to my advice here, switch up your routine but find something to keep you active as you will be tempted during this season to eat more, drink more and be inactive due to the weather. Live life hard and make the most of every day.

LIfe is short, live it hard!

Ryan

Week One Marathon Training in the Books

Hello Readers!

As promised I wanted to get out here and post a little more timely this time. I can tell everyone that week one of marathon training is officially in the books and it was a hard week! I pushed myself very well. I did my standard Monday - Friday workouts, but then on Saturday I decided to really push myself. I started the day with an awesome 35 mile bike ride called Tour de BBQ. This was an awesome event that benefitted the Lance Armstrong Foundation. I rode with some of my great friends from the "Y" Larry, Chip and Joel. We toured all of Kansas City and got to stop and taste BBQ at five different delicious joints. I found a few places I had never been, but will go back even though they aren't legendary in this BBQ town. At the conclusion of riding, I met my good friend Rachael for a 7 mile run. I hadn't done 7 miles at one time in quite a while and my legs were already exhausted from the ride, but she didn't allow me to use that as an excuse and when I stopped to rest she lit into me making sure I finished strong. Time wise I was very happy as I completed the run in 63 minutes which kept me on a strong pace considering.

Many people have come up to me and asked since I have already completed one marathon, why on God's green earth are you doing another? I thought I would dive into that subject a bit this week. For me there are a few simple reasons: first, the holiday season is coming up. With the holiday season comes two fo my favorite things to do in life eat and drink! By knowing that every Saturday or Sunday for the next 5 months I am accountable to run no less than 8 miles this will allow me to enjoy the finer points of the holidays eating and drinking and not feel as guilty. Secondly, I saw a phrase that I feel summarizes everything with the marathon. "The Pain is only temporary, the Pride is forever". I was looking at my picture from San Antonio and it just brings so much pride to me. I want to recapture that moment and the feeling I felt at that moment. Lastly, most people know that my true goal is still to complete the 70.3 half ironman next year. If I am in the shape to run a marathon, then continuing my training and being in shape for the 70.3 should be very attainable.

I mentioned in my last post that I don't much enjoy failure, and by not being ready to do the 70.3 this year I felt I failed myself and everyone else who expected that of me. Needless to say I will not let this happen next year! It is important that we all keep are expectations high, and always strive for excellence. Week two of training will see me continue the same work. Hopefully everyone has a great week of training!

Life is Short, Live it Hard!!
Ryan

Expectations and Good Times Ahead

Hello Readers!

It has been far too long since I have posted. I apologize to you readers for that. I am going to philosophize just a bit here. People who know me know I put extremely high expectations on myself. Sometimes my expectations get the better of me, whether on the tennis court where I feel I should never lose and can be seen giving myself stern pep talks, or in running where I feel I should run a faster race every time. The fact is there will be times when we can't meet are expectations. I have learned that in reality not meeting expectations is not a failure. It is actually something that can be used as a tool to push ourselves to new limits.

My summer ended as crazy as it began. I have been extremely busy getting myself back in good shape. I think after I ran my two triathlons I let my fitness slip a bit. There was a bit of time there where my motivation lacked, the good news is this has passed. I feel that in that period I forgot what my own slogan on life is and that is "Life is short, live it hard". This is a slogan I refuse to forget in the near future.

The funny thing is I was reminded of the slogan when teaching in Girls on the Run. It is absolutely amazing the amount of energy and zest for life these 3-5 graders have. This is only the third time I have worked with my group but they come to class every Wednesday ready to go. They are always eager to learn the lesson for the day and they really want to hit the track. In a class where I am supposed to teach them about life, they remind me every time no matter how tough times are that in reality life is good!

I am ready to attack this fall season and winter with new zest. In the past couple weeks I have been back to my crazy two a day workouts. I have been running 3.5 miles every day at lunch then I mix in boot camp Mondays, 2000 Yard Swimming Wednesdays, Volleyball Thursdays, 2000 Yard Friday's, 25-35 mile ride Saturdays and Les Mills body pump class, and finally 2000 Yard Sundays. This mad training will all lead to the ultimate prize, I will be running my second marathon in March of 2012. The plan right now is to run Little Rock, this is something Jen, Jeremy and I have been talking about for a while and I look forward to completing this challenge with my friends!

I will talk to everyone soon, I hope everyone continues to be motivated and most importantly make sure they live life hard, it is short!

Ryan

Long Hot Busy Summer!

Hello Readers!

I am sure most of you probably think that I have forgotten about my blog, but no I haven't I just have been extremely busy. Sometimes summer is the most difficult time to keep up on your exercise as it is so hot and humid outside. I want everyone to know I have not slipped up, I have been extremely busy with several events. I will say this may disappoint many of you but my training schedule didn't allow me the time to prepare for the 70.3 in Branson. I do still intend to run the sprint triathlon there that weekend but training for a 70.3 is almost like a second job. No worries it is still a long term goal of mine to complete and you will see future posts on my quest.

When I say I have been extremely busy this summer I mean it!! I have completed many great achievements for me the first and foremost being the Shawnee Mission Triathlon. I did the long course which was 1000 meter swim, 18 mile bike and 4.5 mile run on a day in KC which reached over 100 degrees. This event was extremely special for me as my mother was able to attend. This was the first distance event she has had the opportunity to watch and it meant the world having her there. My great friends Jen and Jeremy competed and were also there to cheer me on to my finish. Thanks also go to Marquita my boss who came out to support on a brutally hot day. I have also completed two other tri's this summer, one in Leavanworth and one in Cameron.

Triathlons are not the only thing which have kept me busy this summer, thanks to my "Y" friends I have gotten into biking. I competed in my first road race by doing a 32 mile ride around the city with my great friends. The "Y" folks also really helped me to push my boundaries with a 2 mile lake swim on the 4th of July. This was a great challenge and I was happy to accomplish this feat. With summer in full swing I have had to be much more creative in training as running has been near impossible due to the brutal heat but have no fear I will be back at it in full effect soon as I plan to do the Cerner 15K and be ready to pound a half marathon in a matter of two months.

This past weekend I aged another year, but I have not let that effect how I go about my life. This has just inspired me to continue to push my boundaries. This last weekend was pretty special for me though as I was able to celebrate doing the things that make me happiest with the people who make me happiest my great family and friends. Thanks to Jay for making it down from Iowa for a great round of golf, Ocean's of fun and then Dinner. Saturday the celebration continued as I competed in the Warrior Dash which is a 5K obstacle course. Lets just say this was totally crazy!! Then was the annual Dive 2 Survive Charity VB tournament which my team may not have won, but I can promise we had as much fun as any team!

As summer is near ending, I want to say to everyone reading continue having fun, exercise smart in this brutal heat. Most of all remember my slogan Life is Short, Live it Hard!!

Ryan